,

My journeys have been successful and amazing. I did indeed find my power animal although it took several "trips" to meet him. I also discovered that a technique I have been using for years to think up new ideas & artwork was really a form of journeying. I always thought of it as my "really thinking." I stretch out with a sketchbook & "zone out." (I actually first discovered this when I had rotator cuff surgery. I would take a pain pill & then stretch out, etc. Drugs. You gotta love them. I now do this with out the pills & it works the same just may not be quite as fun. )I let my mind wander here & there & sketch or write down thoughts, ideas & pictures. The key is really letting go. When your mind wants to hop back to household chores, or garden weeding and so on, you have to stop & go back to free thought & not worry about the mundane.

I would love to know if others are on this path. Or if you have had similar experiences. Oh, one other book, that I really am enjoying is Singing the Soul Back Home by Cailin Matthews. She breaks her book into "practices" to help you pace yourself. The information regarding shamanic journeys is essentially the same but just presented a little differently according to the author's style. Eliade's book is more of a textbook & history of Shamanism  than a "how to" book.

love, luna ;>D