The Bushmen of the Kalahari desert are master firewalkers. They believe that their ability to walk, roll and play with fire comes from consciously raising their num, or energy, to match the energy of the fire. These primitive people are masters of awareness--and are able to shift their own consciousness at will. We can learn much from these ancient peoples, and from other earth-based, shamanic traditions across the globe.

One common link of these traditions is the understanding that we are not only flesh and bone, but also beings of energy who have the ability to transform ourselves--to heal, to travel to other realms, to create changes around us simply by shifting our own awareness. This shamanic ability to shape and mold reality is dependent on energy. While we are all born with a good amount of energy--hang around with any three year old to see this in action--we are not taught how to contain this energy. Usually we leave trails of energy everywhere we go--we give our energy away to people, leave energy behind in the places we spend time at, lose energy in interactions with our friends and lovers and family.

What Hooks Our Attention?

We spend most of our energy simply surviving, with not enough left over to use as fuel to break out of old habits and patterns. We are like walking colanders--filled with holes, leaking everywhere, not able to accept and hold energy because we have become so accustomed to letting it slip away. This allows us to maintain the exact amount of energy we are familiar with. The holes we leak our energy from are old agreements and patterns, places where we've unconsciously created a channel to something or someone outside of ourself. Since we allow our awareness to be constantly hooked by the outside world, we do not have the focus and energy necessary to make changes on either the physical or the spiritual realms. Shamans throughout all cultures use various techniques to hook their attention internally rather than externally--drumming, trancework, dancing, prayer, meditation, yoga, etc.--which gives them the clarity and power to create magic and healing.

Tools for Transformation

In my travels along the spiritual path no set of tools have been as powerful in my own transformation as the Toltec practices of stalking and dreaming. Stalking is a method to reclaim energy. We learn to stalk ourselves--our habits, our patterns, our minds--to see where we are not holding our energy, to understand the ways we let our awareness and attention be hooked by the outside world. Dreaming involves visioning, trancework, and dreaming at night. Here we learn to travel into the spiritual realm to gain insight, clarity, and messages from spirit. For many years these Toltec practices were kept underground, similar to the suppression of the Craft in Europe. Carlos Castaneda, in his books about his teacher Don Juan, was one of the first to write about some of these ancient Mexican shamanic traditions and make them available to the Western reader. Today these powerful teachings are being made more and more available, due to a shift in energy brought about by a new calendar cycle called the Sixth Sun. The information contained in this article is my own understanding and interpretation of the teachings of Don Miguel Angel Ruiz, whom I've apprenticed with for three years (at the time of this writing). I've found that the Toltec shamanic practices of stalking and dreaming compliment and deeply enhance my witchy spiritual work.

The Art of Stalking

Cats are perfect stalkers. They silently watch their prey from a distance, using all their senses to take in information about its habits, patterns, movements. When they sense the time is right, they leap, without hesitation, towards their goal. The art of stalking is in becoming like a cat--vigilant of how we handle your energy body, and ready to act to make changes when we see the need. We must learn to hold the space of a compassionate but impartial witness to our own process, and to see with clear eyes how we handle our energy. Ask yourself: What hooks your attention externally? In what ways do you create drama in your life as a means to release excess energy? Where are your holes, and whom do you feed and support with your energy, perhaps as a means to control them, or out of fear of abandonment? In what ways do you go against your own integrity? In what ways do your wounds rather than your heart dictate your actions?

Ruthless Compassion

Compassion and ruthlessness are two key element to stalking. We lose the majority of our energy in either judging ourselves or pitying ourselves. The seesaw of self-judgement/self-pity is a huge use of energy. The balance point is to learn to not sway to either side, but simply witness your life and actions as though you were watching an amusing movie. This space of witness must be cultivated and nurtured. When you begin judging yourself or become discouraged that you so easily fell into an old pattern, simply bring your awareness back to the present, with as little self flagellation as possible. Ask yourself--what is my focus? Am I delaying my healing by dwelling on my faults and lack of perfection, or am I moving forward, witnessing my habits and patterns so I can make some real change? Becoming the compassionate witness means honoring the time lag between our observation of and the actual shift of an old pattern or habit. Being ruthless means being absolutely honest--getting behind the masks we create and wear to find the core of who we are in the moment. Often the truth that begins to surface is not comfortable. We have held onto an image of our "perfect" self, which we work hard to portray to the people around us. When we are silent, we often mentally abuse ourselves for our imperfections. Ruthlessness means cutting through to see who we truly are, rather than who we wish we were. It is only when we let ourselves open to our wounds and old agreements and patterns that we can begin to shift and transform them.

Recapitulation

Recapitulation is a powerfully simple technique based in breathing and the use of a focused will to reclaim energy. Its purpose is to gather energy that we have lost in past interactions. Reclaiming this energy from our past then allows us to make dramatic changes in the present. There are different theories of how to do recapitulation. Taisha Abelar spent the better part of a year visiting a cave each day and recapitulating her entire life. Victor Sanchez recommends building a box to use for doing all recapitulation work. I used to crawl under my desk to do my recapitulation practice, though now I often do it lying on my bed before I go to sleep, or early in the morning. The most important parameters are to be in a safe, comfortable, non-distracting space, to set you intent or will to reclaim your energy, and then to use your breath to literally breathe in energy. I like to imagine the energy which I am going back to reclaim is like pieces of light threads, and I use this visualization to breathe back these filaments into my body. Whenever you do recapitulation or stalking it is important to be coming from a place of love and acceptance. What we do not want to do is go back in our memory to a painful time and create more self wounding, either by re-living all the emotions or by judging ourselves or others involved, or re-analyzing the situation. Your purpose is simply to go back as a witness, with love and forgiveness, and reunite your energy in the present. If you feel emotions or judgement, then you are not ready to stalk that particular event.

Recapitulation Technique

Click here for more specific steps to recapitulate.