Welcome to today’s exercise, where we’ll embark upon a Medicine Drum Journey to the Web of Life.
I love this journey because it consistently delivers powerful and insightful experiences, especially for those seeking healing from addiction, trauma, and other associated mental health challenges.
Why? Because...
Addiction separates — The Web connects.
Addiction takes hold and sustains itself by keeping us isolated. It thrives when it distances us from:
Loved ones
What we truly love to do
Activities that inspire, illuminate, and expand our awareness
Places that evoke a sense of home and belonging
Isolated and feeling alone against our addiction, we become vulnerable to fear. It takes root, infects our thoughts. and gains a momentum that reinforces our limiting core beliefs. It convinces us that, in this moment, we are not okay just as we are. This is the great lie and one that tells us:
We deserve to be alone
These beliefs are true
Relief is only achieved through the familiar path of the cycle of addiction
The Element of Earth
We heal addiction’s pathological power to separate by administering the medicine of connection. We can most easily understand, access and apply this medicine during the Earth Element phase of our Five Element cycle. But before we embark upon our journey to receive its gifts, let’s explore how addiction hijacks the power of Earth—and what takes root in its place when we remain trapped in the cycle of addiction.
As shown in the chart above, the Earth phase of the cycle is when we finally consume our drug of choice. After all the effort spent planning, acquiring, and preparing, the moment of ingestion becomes the climax of this process. This is a powerful and transformative time, offering brief relief from our deepest and most painful beliefs. It is here that we experience:
The rituals of using
The Magic Moment when addiction "works"
Communion with our drug of choice
The Earth phase provides all of the above. And while The Magic Moment offers temporary relief, it is fleeting. Inevitably, the cycle moves into the next element—Metal—where the consequences and fresh heartbreaks come into focus. As a result, this is when the need to conceal our actions arise, leading to all of the lying, hiding and secrecy that is necessary.
Unfortunately, no matter how well we hide the events and consequences of the cycle from the outside world, we cannot escape the internal toll it takes. In the end, all we have done is reinforce our deepest, most painful beliefs. The original lie—that we are somehow not enough —now appears to have evidence to support it. We’ve unknowingly proven the lie to be true, and that is the only way it can survive.
To break this cycle in the present moment, we apply the medicine of connection. Through the journey to the Web of Life, we can receive this healing in a form that carries the spiritual power of:
Support
Home
Nourishment
Communion
Let’s Journey to The Web of Life.
If you’re ready to undertake this journey, prepare you time, place and have your pen & journal close by to record your experience and answer the after journey questions.
Journey Intention: “I will ask my compassionate and helping spirits to take me to The Web of Life.”
Here’s a 10-minute audio file of steady, monotonous drumming:
If you’re new, curious, and would like to know more, here’s The Sober Shaman’s Guide to the Shamanic Journey, which will provide you with step-by-step guidance to perform this spiritual endeavor.
After Journey Questions:
How did the Web appear to you?
What were your initial impressions and feelings?
How did connection occur here?
What were you connected to?
Was this close?
Far away?
How did these connections feel?
Did you travel the Web?
If so, what was this like?
Overall, what feelings did your experience provide?
What do you need to do back here in Ordinary Reality to:
Stay connected
Reinforce connection
Or dismantle the lie of separateness
Feed what is important to you
Summary
The Journey to the Web of Life can provide you with an experience of strong medicine. The popular recovery saying, “connection is the opposite of addiction” applies here and is especially true as we examine the ways your addiction keeps you from love, truth and all that your heart holds dear.
I would love to hear what you received on your journey to The Web of Life, so feel free to leave comments below or email me directly. Also, I’m happy to address any questions about your experience in an upcoming podcast, if you’d like to share. We never know how our experiences, whether we’ve judged them good or bad, can help someone right here and now.
With Blessings,
Randal
Don’t Forget…
We’ll be diving into the details for the journey to The Web of Life in the next episode of The Sober Shaman Podcast!
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Love this. Thank you. Of course it also calls to ming how we are addicted to thought patterns...(Obviously you know this!) But what is wonderful here is that you make it completely open to any and all or our addictions. I love defining them - in this case - by the personal losses that you so succinctly outline.