Shamanic Medicine /57

the past several years. Sharing and receiving such totems is a privilege of
the shamanic path. When the energy is clear, the gift becomes a channel
of strength in and of itself.
The first place to begin your everyday attunement to the shamanlc
medicine of totems is in your personal environment, your home.
There will be some totems and ceremonial objects for special purposes
that you choose to keep separate and out of sight. However, there will
most likely be many more with which you form daily relationships.
The best way to get those relationships usefully rolling is to bring out
your totems. Make them a part of your everyday life.
This is not using them for decoration; this is living with them. I
know that some people feel the need to keep all their totems wrapped
up, boxed up, and hidden from view. This is understandable for some
private totems or ceremonial ones, but not for all. The shamanic path
is one of living to the fullest with the energies of Nature. Nature
totems cannot be hoarded or stored without losing their energy. So
go ahead and pull out those totems you don't feel strongly about
keeping separate for personal reasons.
Fill bowls with stones and feathers. Start gathering bunches of
dried herbs and flowers. Go on and display that rather strange mask
you found at a local bazaar. So what if your house looks like a
medicine person lives there? Let it be. Live with your totems around
you and deepen your connection. Admittedly, this is easier when you
live with someone who is at least a lover of Nature. But most people
really are, when they remember it. Remind them.
It's also good to shift your totems around from time to time.
Usually this occurs naturally when we get in the habit of taking them
out in the room, carrying them with us, or using them for specific
purposes. It's really interesting to find what sorts of groupings occur
with these totems, often without much conscious planning. When
you realize how much shamanic medicine you practice without
structuring it, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Every action we take with focus and intent is a form of magick.
Every time we arrange a few stones and feathers together with aware­
ness, we are using shamanic medicine. Take a close look at some of
the totems you put together. You may find you have collected totems
to serve a very specific purpose without even realizing it. Later, as you
become more familiar with the totem attributes, you will consciously
place these together. Even then, you'll find that a surprise or two
always seems to sn•··•k In to give more support to your work on the