Other Books by Sandra Ingerman
Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self
Welcome Home: Following Your Soul's Journey Home
A Fall to Grace (fiction)
Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins
Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner's Guide
How to Heal Toxic Thoughts: Simple Tools for Personal Transformation
Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation
Audio Lecture Series (produced by Sounds True)
The Soul Retrieval Journey
The Beginner's Guide to Shamanic Journeying
Miracles for the Earth
Shamanic Meditations: Guided Journeys for Insight, Vision, and Healing
This edition first published in 2010 by:
Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
With offices at:
665 Third Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94107
www.redwheelweiser.com
Copyright 2010, 2013 by Sandra Ingerman
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages. Originally published in 2010 as How to Thrive in Changing Times by Weiser Books, ISBN: 978-1-57863-466-8.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Ingerman, Sandra.
The shaman's toolkit : ancient tools for shaping the life and world you want to live in / Sandra Ingerman.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-57863-544-3
1. Shamanism. I. Title.
BF1611.I54 2013
201'.44dc23
2013006177
Cover design by www.levanfisherdesign.com/Barbara Fisher
Cover images Artemiy Bogdanoff/Shutterstock, keelll/Shutterstock, Dja65/Shutterstock, Daniel Cviatkov Yordanov/Shutterstock
Interior by Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Typeset in Minion Pro with Gotham HTF and Bryant Pro
Printed in the United States of America
WOR
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).
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In honor and love for my parents, Lee and Aaron Ingerman.
In honor of the earth, water, air, sun, sky, moon, and stars.
In honor of all of life and the heartbeat that connects us all.
Contents
Imagine...
Imagine.
Before you were born you were just a little spark of light connected to the creative force of the universe.
You looked down on this great earth. What a beautiful planet filled with wondrous life-forms. You started to ponder the possibilities of life on earth. As a human I would get to see beautiful colors and a wealth of beauty that the earth has created. I would get to experience a range of feelings from love to outrage and from joy to sadness. What energy there is to experience and express on earth as a human being.
I would get to smell incredible fragrances and taste amazing food that earth, air, water, and sun joined together to produce for me.
I would be able to touch and feel sensations through this incredible and amazing body that I would be given. I would have the magical and joyous experience of being a spiritual being of light clothed in a body that has the experience of creating beauty into form. And I would feel such joy to have such an experience as others who have gone before me and those who will follow.
I am told here in the realm of spirit that there are no limitations to what can be created, and that I live in an unlimited universe and I am going to the earth, which only knows how to produce in abundance. And I am also told that humans have forgotten how precious life is. That there would be challenges in my lifetime and to remember that my destiny is to experience joy in a world filled with form. And my destiny is to bridge the invisible realm of being an unlimited spirit with the visible realm of living in a body.
My destiny is to experience joy in a world filled with form.
I consider for a moment. And I decide to accept this great opportunity.
In that decision I find myself in the womb of my mother. And the element that I am greeted by is water. Water holds me and grows with me. Water protects me from any harm and rocks me in unconditional love.
As I am ready to enter into the world, water breaks, ushering me into the light of the earth. And I am now greeted by air as I take my first breath. Air will continue to be in relationship with me as I take each breath that keeps me alive. And air will be the last being I say good-bye to as I leave this great earth.
Now I am ready to greet the earth. First, of course, I greet my parents and look into their eyes. Have they forgotten the unconditional love from which they were born? The light of joy seems to be shadowed by fear. I do hope I remember the joy. Is this the challenge I was warned about? Don't they remember the true power of love? Don't they remember they are spiritual light that cannot be harmed? Don't they remember the gift of life? Well, we will see.
I am taken home where I can gaze upon the beauty of the earth. Such glorious colors and how many incredible life-forms there are. All that I need to live and be happy comes from this earth as long as I remember that I am love and a being of light.
And the sun above mewhat a brilliant being it is! I can watch and feel how all of life absorbs the rays of the sun, bringing energy for all life-forms to thrive.
I am so lucky to be here. What an amazing adventure to be a human on earth. I was told before I came that it would be a joyful experience.
And I now remember that it is my destiny to experience that joy. I remember that I was told that this is a planet of unlimited abundance, as the universe is just energy which all can be created from. I must respect all that gives me life. I would not choose to pollute the water, air, and earth that give me life. All life was created from a loving creative force, so I am that love too. For I was told that I am merely a reflection of my creator. All is possible. I must hold the vision!
Reader, do you remember the preciousness of life and that all life was created to experience love, light, joy, harmony, peace, equality, and abundance for all? If you can feel this in your bones, then you know it is true. If you cannot, do not despair, for I will help you to remember.
We are a community of people who can gather our spiritual light and energies together to remember and to create a wondrous life for all living beings. We must remember our vision and then focus on it and hold the vision together. This is how we thrive together in changing times.
You wonder how? Then read on and I will show you.
Introduction
When I was a child I was very influenced by a Star Trek episode titled Shore Leave. In this 1966 episode, an exhausted Captain Kirk and crew went looking for a planet for a short holiday. They found one, and part of the crew beamed down to see if it was a suitable place for a good rest. The planet was quite beautiful, a healing natural environment with forests and meadows. The landing crew thought there were no animals, people, or worries there. They thought they'd found a planet of only peace, sunshine, and good air.