Encounters with Mother Mary in Shamanic Journeys
Looking back at a crossroads of liminal spaces and spiritual practices
I was in my early thirties, the joys in my life being squelched by hardships, when life changing information was offered to me during a chance encounter: A practicing shaman offered services within a thirty-minute drive of my suburban New Jersey home.
The whole of me quaked at this news. A seeker, I’d been longing for a spiritual teacher for a long time. There was a shaman…in New Jersey?! I called her immediately, and soon thereafter began attending her circles.
I took to shamanic practices quickly, falling easily into a clear meditative state as the shaman played a repetitive drumbeat, like a mother’s heartbeat. The reverberations carried my cares away, along with any sense that I was inhabiting a body.
Some part of me — my brain? My soul? — was set gloriously free. With the animal guide I had met in my first shamanic journey, it went off on a trip to other realms. I was seeing imagery, hearing messages, and experiencing enchantments in abundance, all related to whatever our intentions were for that gathering.
A change in drumbeat rhythm would indicate when it was time to come back, at which point we’d write down our experiences, and then share them with each other.
Circle after circle, journey after journey, marvel after marvel… This was nothing like church, or anything I had ever known before. I felt increasingly connected with nature, and much more alive.
I always received excellent guidance; as I applied it, life began to feel more manageable. It struck me that though this practice is ancient, it makes complete sense as a modality for navigating complicated modern times.
Over the years, the shaman often brought up themes for us to explore in our journeys. Some of them revolved around different faiths and philosophies. To my delight, we spent a good stretch encouraged to journey to Mary, The Great Mother, meeting her in her era.
Having been raised a Catholic with great reverence for the Blessed Mother (a reverence that lived on even after I had left the institution of Catholicism behind), I had goosebumps as the drumming for our first journey to Mary began. My brain cleared, and my body fell away.
My essence greeted my animal companion, and together we once again traversed time and space, this time to the nitty-gritty of a life whose humanity, and capacity to love, had inspired devotion across the world, over centuries.
It was magnificent to see this beloved figure in what appeared to be 3-D. It’s not that Mary looked much differently from other women who were present, so it wasn’t her appearance itself that moved me.
It was her realness; the sweat soaking through her modest garb, and her changing facial expressions as she lifted a jug, patted a child’s back, or held on to the arm of a friend, looking into her eyes, while talking intimately. It was the dirt on her sandaled feet as she went about her everyday rounds. It was her laughter — such a surprise to me! I smile at the remembrance.
In successive circles, the opportunities to meet Mary upon her own betwixt-and-between thresholds were plentiful (pick any decade from any rosary mystery — boom: liminal space). It was extraordinary to be on the sidelines of those moments. It was an honor to “witness” Mary’s ordinary humanness. It was humbling to realize that she wasn’t born “perfect;” rather, a brilliant loving clarity grew within her as she exercised her free will, one choice, one step deeper into her authenticity, at a time.
These experiences with Mary in shamanic journeys inspired me to pray my rosaries more often, which eventually led me to The Way of the Rose (aka WOTR, a Facebook community), and participating in WOTR 54-Day Novenas. They also inspired me to play with the words of the Hail Mary in a way that reflects this particular time I had with her in liminal space (it’s a work in progress):
Hail Mary, full of grace,
love flowing to and from thee.
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed are all your creations.
Holy Mary, at one time
an earthbound infant, child,
maiden, mother, crone,
and quiet empress,
now and ever
the Queen of the Cosmos,
thank you for keeping us close to
your sacred heart,
now and always.
Amen.
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Today is the sixth anniversary of the death of my father who, as with most people in our family, was a Mary devotee. I post this in his honor with love, and with gratitude for our enduring connection. Love you, Dad. xx
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This post was written for Day 18 of a WOTR 54-Day Novena, on Sunday, November 19, 2023, a day dedicated to the Glorious Mysteries. The theme for writings posted during this novena is “liminal.”
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