People in the know often say that when one is called to the path of the shaman they have little choice but to answer the call. They also warn of the dire consequences of rejecting that call. One of the other signs of being called to the path, is of near death or dying. In the briefly dying and coming back, often thanks to modern technological advances, one experiences something profound and returns a changed person. There is something about overcoming that struggle that opens up your receptiveness to the spirit world, as well as opening your heart and mind. This usually winds up with the chosen one seeing beyond the physical and past the mundane, and into the realm of the spirits. For many, the experiences are so traumatic that they resist and spend their lives struggling for the rest of their days; others resort to drugs or alcohol to dim the pain and fear.
When you are very young, you are not sure what is going on, but it is frightening and strange. Should you attempt to tell a parent or adult you trust, you are apt to be met with disbelief, contempt, ridicule or fear. One of the worst and most scarring is to be called a liar when you are telling the truth.
At the very young age of five or six, I saw the first truly bizarre and unnatural thing in my life. I knew what I was seeing was wrong, wasn't right or natural, it was something very dark and deadly.
My mother, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother had decided to go to the river to fish. This was a common activity for many in the area and with warm weather and the sun shining brightly it was the perfect opportunity for relaxing.
At times like these, I stayed close to the adults and looked for rocks or played in the dirt. Things a little kid often does for fun.
As I was doing my thing, I felt something off. I think it was the first time I had ever noticed feeling like that and the sensation was very alien to me. I looked up and saw it.
Swimming along parallel to the river bank was the biggest, longest black snake that I had ever seen. It locked eyes on me, and I on it. That was when the chill hit me, when I knew this was wrong. It stared at me with menacing green eyes. They were an unnatural sickly green. In my heart, I knew that I stared in to the face of true evil; that this snake was not normal.
My mother and aunt were laughing and fishing, my grandmother was preoccupied, yet my great-grandmother saw this thing and cried out as she grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me up the riverbank toward higher ground. I was startled and terrified as I tried to keep up. For an ancient lady she was amazingly strong and surprisingly fast.
As I tried to keep up, I watched this snake cut sharply toward the bank and come after me. It moved with an unbelievable speed. Its eyes never left me, I felt its intent. It was going to kill me.
I watched as it passed my mother by no more than three or four feet and she did not notice. It was shortly after that my aunt and grandmother did notice.
My great-grandmother was still shouting to hurry, to run! The others looked at her as though she were insane. When it finally dawned on them that she was hauling me away from the jaws of death, all the lady-type crying and screaming started.
I was hauled to safety. It was all kind of a blur at that point. I remember the frantic conversations going on around me. The snake disappeared. I don't know where it went, or how it went. My heart was racing so fast it was all I could do to gasp in air.
When all was said and done, no one but my great-grandmother even realized that what had happened had been intentional and that the snake was unnatural. The rest of them fell back on their version of reality.
Years later, the incident was pooh poohed as my vivid imagination. But my imagination was never that vivid. I also had a credible witness, whom they later claimed was unreliable. Her view jarred with theirs, therefore it was null and void.
This was the start. This was the beginning of my being called to something that I would not understand until much later.
In Peace,
Jade
