Carla Person – Shamanic Healer

In August of this year (2008) I was blessed with the chance to teach a workshop on Shamanic Animal Communication and Journeying with Reef Life on the Big Island of Hawai’i. The experience was magic from the minute I stepped onto the airplane.

On the way over I journeyed to the Grandfather who has been visiting me every time I journey to the ocean. I met him when I was working in Bonair. As I slipped through the shimmering portal into the ocean’s heart, the ancient teacher came and said “What you are looking for isn’t here. You must come to Hawai’i.” Since then I have traveled with him repeatedly in non-ordinary reality. Now I was on an airplane to Hawai’i, ready for the complete immersion. On the flight he laid out the plan for the 3rd day, when we would be swimming in the ocean and then journeying to the reef life.

“First” he said, “You must give thanks and offerings to all the spirits of the land who support you with food water and shelter.

Honu Honoring the Shore

Then you turn to the shore and give thanks to the spirits of the breaking surf, for the connection between the worlds. Then you give thanks to the spirits of the ocean, and ask their blessings to enter and journey safely into the deep.” Over several hours he and my usual tribe gave me the details for all three days of the weekend. I was ready!

I was coming a few days early because I wanted to do the journeys in advance, and I wanted to share life with my hosts, Carolyn, her sisters Liz and Patty, along with their friends and family. Liz and Dennis were hosting a wedding at their Big Island home, so my stay began with an all night extravaganza of old Hawai’ian kinship. More about the wedding at the end of the post….

Daniel and Carla

After the wedding we had a few days of recovery where I got to know Liz’s dear friend Daniel Giamario, an accomplished Shamanic Astrologer, whom I highly recommend for all things celestial. http://www.shamanicastrology.com/. Then we rolled into the Workshop Weekend.

Our Workshop at Dana's House

The first two days of the workshop were hosted by Dana in her beautiful Kona home. It was a small group, so we had time for extra curricular work. The three sisters, Carolyn, Liz and Patty, were having a rare reunion with their aging mother, who also lives on the Big Island. (Carolyn and Patty live in Chicago) As these big events often do, it gave them a chance to see their core family “stuff” and to bring it to the attention of the spirits for a deep down clearing and healing. So Sunday afternoon we did a Spiral in Time for them that was just wonderful! At the end of the day we packed up shop and moved south to a tourist rental house called Hale Honu (turtle house, of course!) (Here is the link if you want to rent it. http://www.vrbo.com/4964) On Monday we would do the work with the ocean.

Alter at Hale Honu, with gifts for the Ocean

My plan with the Spirits was to do journey work at the house in the morning, and then we would all travel the two miles to the beach and snorkel in a connected and honoring way, returning to the house for follow up journeys. But at the end of the day on Sunday someone suggested that we adjust our plans to begin early at the beach so we could swim with the dolphins (who tend to come around 7:00 AM) and then do the other things after that. I was swayed and we changed our plans.

The group working on Monday was small and magical: Beth, who flew in from Chicago and was in love with the turtles and Hawai’ian life, Liz, Carolyn, Dana and Daniel. All of us except Dana were staying in the house. Dana was going to meet us at the beach. That evening I was feeling apprehension about the change in plans and I was trying to figure out what to do. We all agreed it would work out and went to bed. We had two hours of sweet dreams, and then BAM, at 1:30 AM the Spirits moved in. I was jolted awake by a very frightful but meaningless nightmare. Daniel said he saw all the lights come on and the house filled up with spirits making all sorts of noise. The women were all awakened with different experiences. My Ancient Teacher joined me and said, “Come. Now.” and he guided me on a journey through a lava tube that led to a chamber with three distinguished elders. They reiterated the importance of the instructions I had been given on the plane and filled in additional details on the precise way we were to create offerings, honor the spirits and conduct ourselves with the ocean. They warned me that if I were to violate these rules someone may not come out of the water. This was very serious. Then they gave me teachings about the relationships between the “big” marine spirits like dolphin and turtle and people, and they ended by giving me a lei and sending pure love into my heart. As you can imagine the first thing I did in the morning was to call Dana and divert her path. We started the day at the house doing the ceremonies and rituals as prescribed.

Our Beach

The water was fantastic. The marine life was abundant and chatty. We swam for about 45 minutes, and then as agreed we came back on the beach, all of us except Dana. This was my “test”. The last I had seen Dana she was heading out of the bay toward to open ocean. The “reasonable” side of me knew that she was a strong swimmer, was in connection with her guides, and that since she lived there and had snorkeled this site a lot that she was in complete control of herself. The “I’m responsible for the group, and I have been trained in Ocean Rescue” side of me was making plans. And the “shaman” side of me was checking in with her and asking her to “Please come in now”, and hearing her reply that she was “I’m on my way and all is well”. These three sides were confounded by my ordinary reality self, who was scouring the water for her and couldn’t see her anywhere! Daniel and I stood above the bay and searched hard. We could see a lot of snorkelers, and we identified groups of them swimming directly under the rocks where I was standing. Finally the concerned part of me got the upper hand and I asked, “When and how do we call the Coast Guard?” sending a shutter through the group. That was her cue, of course! At that moment she surfaced onto the beach, completely composed, and in her sense of things she was right on time. She said had been snorkeling immediately in front of us, right where I was looking. My eyes were clouded. I had been tricked!

“Ha, ha, ha” said the Spirits, “Good lesson for Carla!” And it is true, it was a good, playful lesson. I learned a lot, and I made another offering of gratitude.

A few days later Matt I and returned to that beach for more snorkeling. The reef loved us and we loved her back!

Libby and Liz

Patty

Beth

And now about Kalani and Julie’s amazing wedding …..

Julie and Kalani

Kalani is a master of many things, among them carrying the spiritual knowledge of his ancient Hawai’ian lineage. This was an authentic and connected experience beginning with the choice of the day on the perfect Huna moon. One of my favorite moments was watching Auntie Maile and her apprentices create leis. These aren’t the kind you find in the stores. They are elaborate and powerful garlands of leaves, flowers and love, temporal and perfect! When I journeyed to ask the Spirit Teachers about them, they said that the flowers and leaves can be chosen as medicine for the person, and that their interweaving is a perfect harmonious agent to bring healing and blessing to the person receiving the lei. (Note to self – ask Kalani about this…)

The best garage band in the world came in from Honolulu, and played excellent rock and Hawaiian non-stop. Everyone who knew how danced Hula to the Hawaiian songs: kids, elders, gorgeous people like you see on the postcards and pudgy haoles dancing the old stories together. Perfect harmony, aloha plus! (Haoles, by the way, is a term used to describe outsiders in general, and more specifically white folks. Its origins are interesting: ha is the “breath of life” and ole means “without or no” so that the real meaning would be “without the breath of life”, since the missionaries often did not breathe a lot, or it seemed to the Hawaiians as if they held their breath!)

The chefs provided constantly changing refreshments. My favorite was the ahi, done at least three different extraordinary ways. When the Kava Kava drink no longer could help me and I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer I kissed the bride and groom goodnight, and Kalani said, “What! You will miss the pig and the pasta!” We had been eating since 6:00. It was nearly 11:00, and they hadn’t yet dug the pig from the roasting pit. When I arose at dawn (still being on mainland time) the food was gone and people were scattered about fast asleep. Such bliss! No doubt the guests went home with doggy bags; could they really have eaten that much? Maybe so!