The Cacao Journals: Wisdom & Guidance from the Drum

Shamanic journeying is the inner art of traveling to the ‘invisible worlds’ beyond ordinary reality to retrieve information for change in any area of your life–from spirituality and health to work and relationships. – Sandra Ingerman

Journeying to the drum for others is a beautifully intimate experience where I am entrusted with a vital question to which someone wants an answer that they simply cannot access on their own. And it brings me such joy to share this work.

First we frame the question, so that it can be received by my guides in such a way that their answer offers valuable wisdom and guidance. The question is always stated in the present tense in shamanic journeying and often takes the form of a “What, Where, or How” question. “Why” questions are not recommended as the “Why” of anything can be so complex, as are questions about the future.

I’d like to share a journey that I experienced on behalf of someone whose question was, “What am I to focus on in my work?” I knew nothing about this person other than his full name and where he lived. I journeyed to meet (and merge with) my Power Animal, the Jaguar, and she took me on a lovely journey emerging out of a dark underwater cavern into a night sky full of stars and a landscape lit by a full moon. We ran towards and through a forest of evergreen trees, and found ourselves at the edge of a lake flooded with the light of the full moon.

My Jaguar entered the water and began swimming across the lake toward a fire we could see on the other side. She dove below the surface of the water and began walking across the sandy bottom. I said, “Wait, you can’t do that!” And she answered, “In this world, I can do anything.” Note to self: in the Lower and Upper Worlds, anything is possible.

She’s a shapeshifter, a real trickster, haunts dreams, sees the unseen – Katalin Koda

We surfaced and began walking toward the fire, which was sending sparks up into the night sky. Surrounding the fire were four people. I asked my Jaguar who they were and she responded with, “They are engineers.” I immediately questioned this and said to myself, “I can’t share that! What if it’s totally off base?” I had to let go of my rational mind and just trust that what I was receiving had some purpose and meaning. I followed my first question with another, “What are these engineers building?” Her response rocked me: “A gateway.” How was I going to share that?

Up a slope behind the fire was a beautiful, log-cabin lodge full of luminous light. Then suddenly I was being called back by the drum and had to return from the journey.

When I returned I shared what I had received, worried somehow that it would not make sense to the person for whom I was journeying. The language of journeys is always symbolic and sometimes quite literal, and often a mix of both. I began by sharing the journey and my interpretation of the symbols of the full moon, the lake, the fire and the log cabin full of light.

The full moon often symbolizes the feminine, so it seemed to be telling him that he needed to be in touch with and guided by his feminine wisdom in his work. Water is the deep feminine, our intuitive guidance system, so the message was that he needed to dive deep into his intuition and walk there comfortably until he could surface with deeper knowledge.

The fire is a masculine symbol symbolizing creativity and life force energy, and the sparks showed that whatever was being created by the fire had some juice! The log cabin up the hill full of light was a beacon of hope and inspiration.

When I shared the journey and my interpretation, the silence was deafening. I had to ask, “Does this resonate with you?” because I couldn’t tell.

This is what he shared: “Nicole, I just returned from a business trip to New York where I had a meeting with four key engineers, who were arguing about one of our more innovative, but not main products.” I began to breathe more easily when I heard the words, “four engineers”.

He continued: “They could not agree about the product and were thinking about shelving it. Normally, in these meetings I play a certain role, but this time I found myself coming from a different place and being an advocate for this product because my intuition was telling me it was a game changer, would revolutionize the industry and that we needed to patent it because it was so innovative.”

I asked with curiosity, “What kind of product is it?” He responded, “In our world, it would be considered a ‘gateway’ product.” He beamed from ear to ear, having just had his intuition validated. He knew with such clarity what he was meant to focus on in his work. I was stunned, amazed and overjoyed.

This work is powerful. I’d be delighted to journey for you if you have a question you are struggling to answer about your work, life, or relationship. I can do this work in person or remotely, so you can live anywhere and receive this wisdom and guidance.

All you need to is connect with me here: nicole@soulscapecoaching.com.

Copyright ©2018 Soulscape Coaching LLC.

The Cacao Journals: Integrating our Masculine & Feminine

When the Condor of the South flies with the Eagle of the North, a new day for Earth will awaken. – Inca Prophecy

Before each cacao ceremony, I always look into the significance of the day in the Mayan Calendar and allow the energy associated with it to inform ceremony. Some days are more auspicious than others; some are feisty and need to be balanced; and others provide deep reflection or spiritual connection. When we align ourselves with these energies and allow them to guide us, our days flow more easily.

So, in preparation for my upcoming Elemental Cacao Ceremony at FLOW Studio on November 4, I looked up the Day Sign, which is 2 Kawoq. The numeral 2 (of 13) represents the galactic tone energy of the day; and Kawoq (1 of 20 signs) is the Day Sign energy, spirit or essence of that day in this year. Together they are a system of astrology and divination that is celebrated in daily ritual and sacred ceremony.

Two is the symbol of duality: birth and death, joy and sadness, night and day, darkness and light, and male and female; while Kawoq is the divine feminine, which can bring a certain wild storminess, while supporting spiritual connection and communication. The combination of the two requires directing this wild feminine energy toward positive desires, and to do so means seeing “very, very far down the road you are traveling…so you may see a clearer, deeper, purer truth (Mayan Calendar Portal).”

Art by Brady Wedman and Maya Jensen

As part of my Elemental Cacao series, I had chosen the element, Air, to be honored in this ceremony. Air symbolizes clarity of vision, inspiration and the ability to see expansively like the eagle, which soars above the land seeing far and wide. The clarity of the eagle, balanced by our inner desires and intentions, brings us to a deeper truth than either would on its own.

Many indigenous prophecies foretold that human societies would split into two paths: one of the Eagle, which symbolizes the path of the mind, the material and the masculine; and the other, the Condor, which is the path of the heart, intuition and the feminine.

The prophecies also foretold that the potential exists within all of us for the Eagle and the Condor to come together and fly in the same sky when we create a new level of consciousness and live in balance with nature and within ourselves. It is up to us to activate this potential.

When the sacred masculine is combined with the sacred feminine inside each of us, we create the “sacred marriage” of compassion and passion in ourselves. –Matthew Fox

The path we are being asked to take now, in these times of crisis and chaos, is towards a higher expression of ourselves, to balance and integrate our masculine and feminine energies. We’ve gotten off center, out of alignment, either too much in one or too much in the other, which throws us and society out of balance.

It is the will of our hearts that allows these energies to come together again, to be in balance. This deep truth and heart wisdom will heal us and allow us to be whole again. Integrating the positive aspects of our masculine and feminine energies is an absolute requirement on our journey to wholeness.

Having spent 18 years in the corporate world, I had developed a strong, masculine side and had to relearn how to be vulnerable, trust my intuition, be comfortable with uncertainty, and open myself to the flow of life. What I found as I integrated my feminine side was a lightness of being, loving acceptance and a deeper trust of myself, and infinite joy.

Being aware that this integration of the masculine and feminine is necessary and critical to our wellbeing is the first step. Opening to the positive aspects that we have not embraced in ourselves (and that we often look to others to fill) is next. What’s missing in our lives is found within ourselves….

Copyright ©2017 Soulscape Coaching LLC