My Shamanic Journey

An 18 year Alchemical Odyssey:
Blending Saturn and Neptune

    My journey to Astrology began in 1986 when I left home to attend Va. Tech. With Neptune as the handle of my "bucket" chart pattern the subsequent “special capacity or gift” and the “consequent nozzle-like focus or release of energy” is indicated by Neptune who is also the most elevated planet. My first experiences of the outer world eventually became much more spiritual and transformative in nature than academic.

                                                                                     Kayne's Celtic Tarot

    By 1989 I had become completely disillusioned with the impersonal labrynthian heirarchy of post-secondary academics. I had been reading much about Native spirituality, the Shamanic tradition, and Earth religions. At this time Saturn and Neptune in Capricorn had joined to complete my Moon/Mars trine in Earth signs into a transiting Grand Trine -with Jupiter adding the tip of a kite -and heralding a journey. I had an overpowering urge to leave academia behind and connect with Mother Earth. I spent much time outdoors in the National Forest and in the New River -even exploring many of the limestone caves of the region.

Finally, I decided to formalize my inner disconnect. I had been practicing with Carson & Sams Medicine Cards. I continually drew and felt an intuitive connection with the Bat card and energy. This energy is about the idea of Shamanic death -a ceremony symbolizing the death of the initiate's old ways and identity. The "night of fear" is a ritual where one goes into the woods and spends the night in a grave-like depression -covered only by a blanket. In typical Aries fashion, I impulsively set out one evening for a mountainside I felt connected with. As I entered the woods at twilight, I shortly came upon an overturned tree. In the space where the rootball had been was now a depression about the size of a shallow grave. To top it off the tree had popped a stone out of the ground which was standing erect at the head of my "grave." This put me into a state of extreme reverence at the "synchronicity" of my situation. As I lay down and covered my grave with the blanket, I said a prayer -willfully discarding my old Self and asking that Great Spirit show me the way to my new path. Just then a large Owl began hooting nearly right over my head! (The Sabian Symbol for my mid-heaven involves an Owl -and Owl has a classical association as Psychopomp -or Guide of Souls)

    While I definitely felt transformed by this experience, I was still searching for what to do with myself. I thought if I was going to quit school -I needed another path. I decided to take up a Vision Quest. I had a friend follow me as I dropped my car near the Appalachian Trail and he drove me about three days journey further north. We had often played guitar together, so as we drove he turned on songs from "Tea for the Tillerman" by his favorite singer Cat Stevens. He left me with "Miles from Nowhere." I hiked for three days with little food and drinking the water from the springs along the trail. After the third day of hiking, I came in the evening to a remote shelter. I was sore and tired, but the rain had finally stopped and I sat quietly and watched the Sunset. I hadn't seen anyone in days -it was still early spring. But I heard some strange sounds coming from the valley below. I heard the continual squawking of a crow -but this was interspersed with what clearly sounded like a person shuffling thru the leaves. As these sounds got closer, I became apprehensive. It was getting dark and any sane person would be setting up camp. I wondered if this was some sort of weird joke by some hillbilly with a crow call. Visions of "Deliverance" danced through my head.

    Then, all of a sudden, I had a very clear lucid thought -whether it was my own or that of a spirit guide I cannot say. I realized that the auditory apparition approaching me was a manifestation of my own fears and that as soon as I stopped fearing it -it would go away. At this very instant something strange happened. I had a "Vision" of my spiritual development along my path. I was reassured that I was on the right track -I had learned many things and was following my Heart. This "Vision" lasted a little while and then I was very tired and fell straight asleep. When I awoke in the morning the Sun was shining and it was an incredibly beautiful day. All the soreness was gone from my body and I fairly skipped down the trail to pick up my car. Later, Crow would come to speak to me in Dreams also. It is Crow medicine I often use when doing Mundane Astrology. Crow medicine is Sacred Law. Sacred Law is very different from man-made law. Crow medicine people "caw" it as they see it -they are not "politically correct." As I understand it, anyone who "calls a spade a spade" is using Crow medicine. Crow also holds a classic association as Psychopomp.

    I began to understand that I was not going to get a clear linear vision of my path like that of a university curriculum. Thank goodness! I spent the summer living on an organic herbal farm. I worked in the fields all day and slept on the ground looking at the Stars. I remember very clearly how good it felt standing in the middle of my field, hoe in hand, seeing nothing on the horizon but the fields that I tended and nurtured. And at the end of the day I would sit, eating a simple meal of stuff I had just plucked from the ground. I would watch the Sunset across my field and observe the birds and animals. I particularly liked to listen to the beautifully raucous song of the Mockingbird and to watch the little Flycatchers dart from atop an irrigation pole, snatch an insect from the air and then settle back down. Sometimes something more unusual would happen -such as a Deer coming out to graze or a Hawk snatching a Snake up and flying off with it.

    One evening, as fall approached, I saw a group of Red-Tailed Hawks soaring and playing above my field. They cried and cried and swooped and careened past one another. It didn't occur to me then, but they must have been migrating. I sat and watched them in awesome rapture -and I remember asking them "what is your message for me?" They immediately stopped circling and flew straight away toward the West -into the Sunset. There was no mistaking the message. My journey to the Sunset Sea unlocked the power of my Whale medicine and my connection to the Star Nation and Astrology -through the gift of a Tarot deck and the dreams I had after studying it.
(the rest of my journey West is chronicled on the "about me" page)

    While I was out West, I encountered some of my other totems: Coyote, Bobcat and the Mountain Lion. Coyote came to me often - I even saw a pure white one once! Everywhere i have lived, the animals come to me and speak to me. Many come to me in Dreams as well. When I had a house on the Shenandoah River, Eagle visited and fished with me on many occasions. When I lived in Mars Hill, NC I had Hawk, Coyote, Bobcat and Owl living on the mountain with me again. It was a joy and a blessing to once again spend time in their presence and behold their beauty.

    As I mention in my Saturn opposite Neptune article, their cycle is now Full. What began 18 years ago at the Saturn/Neptune conjunction has now reached its zenith -the full phase of Enlightenment. Again Jupiter interacts with the pair -from my tenth house -suggesting it is time to spread the wisdom gained. I now have the four elements Air, Earth, Water and Fire represented on my altar by sacred objects found throughout my journey of the last 18 years. For instance, some of my Earth objects are fossils I found in a creekbed near Sedona Arizona and its famous vortexes. Recently, to formalize a channel for my abundant fire energy, I consecrated wands from a Sacred Mountain near the Asheville, NC vortex -using an extremely auspicious astrological timing.

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Gary P. Caton

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