A Shamanic Journey

The drumming started and I sat comfortably letting my mind go.  In my mind's eye I was sitting crosslegged on the bank of a quiet stream, looking on the ground in front of me there was a red and yellow dart frog which I picked up and put in my shirt pocket. I walked across the stream and shape-shifted into a weasel,  as the weasel I held the frog in my mouth and entered a small cave that appeared in front of me. The frog started to glow with a red light lighting as I was running through the tunnel which slowly inclined down and and down going deep into the earth.

It ran for a few minutes and then saw a light through a hole in the cave, at the entrance was my mother, who crossed over 3 years ago next week. Running past her I noticed she was holding a curtain back for me to walk under.  Stepping into the light,  there was a large room with dirt walls. Next to the fire at the center of the room was Shiva, covered in ash,  sitting there calm and peaceful, watching me with dark eyes. He held out his hand to me and I became him. 

I was in his place seated next to the fire. I remember then looking at my hands and noticing the skin was dark, the fingernails long and blackened with dirt. My skin covered in ashes, like Shiva, my hair in long dreadlocks.  Reaching my arms into the fire and pulling out the smoke, using my hands to push the smoke to my face and then breathing it in. I didn't understand why. 

Then I was back in my own body, the form of Shiva sitting a few feet in front of me, his eyes remained closed in meditation,  waving his hands and arms through the smoke, a large serpent suddenly appearing from behind him.  My vision cleared and I saw stacks of gold bars about 4 feet high, like a small wall half surrounding him, behind him a wall of gold and in front of him a blazing fire,  yet not a bead of sweat appeared on his skin, the ashes covered him in a perfect sheet of grayness. Grayness broken only by the dark of his eyes when he opened them, he had three eyes...of course he had three eyes.    

He opened his eyes again. they stared at me dark and calm. His eyes looking into my eyes, one of the gold bricks appearing in his hand... He was holding it out to me. Taking the brick, I put it under my clothes on the left side of my torso, it was a large brick, about 18 inches long and 8 to 10 inches wide, he said (without moving his mouth), "You may have this gold, but you must be willing to carry the weight, when you become one with the smoke you will understand".

I said I was ready, and that I would, I then noticed that the large block of gold  felt very light ...I then  thought to myself that it may not always be so. The smoke from the fire then filled the room and I saw the form of Shiva catching the smoke in his hands and waving his arms lifting the smoke higher. Then the vision ceased. The smoke and Shiva were gone. 

I was back,  sitting cross legged on the ground by the creek side. I noticed the dart frog was in my shirt pocket. Then the drumming shifted and I knew it was time to return. I opened my eyes... and found myself back in my living room. 

I could still make out the faint smell of wood smoke as I began to wiggle my toes to re-enter ordinary 3D reality.