04-14-2005, 12:00 AM
Article from Jonathan Horwitz
Got a Rattle?
My second shamanic teacher told me "the first time I went to the 'World of the Spirits' I was standing with three other people in a small circle. We were all rattling. Suddenly the Earth opened up in front of me and I fell into the Underworld." When I heard this I thought, "I'd better get me a rattle."
The rattle I got then has been with me since. Rattles are something special. The rattle is one of the most important helpers in the shaman's kit. Most of us had rattles as young children, and a nicely surprising number of people have them as adults. Sometimes people tell me, "I've had this rattle for years. I don't know why I bought it. It just seemed to speak to me. Now I know why!" The shaman's work is to go to, or call to, the world of the Spirits to ask for help, be it as power, healing, knowledge, or wisdom. I use the rattle to send my voice to the Spirits. The rattle is one of the easiest, quickest, and most powerful helpers we have for doing this.
Calling the Spirits
The shaman works by asking for help from the Spirits: 'no Spirits - no shaman'. Calling the Spirits is the most basic of the shaman's work. I have what I call 'a basic rattling ritual' for calling to the Spirits. Quite simply, it involves facing in one of the four directions and shaking the rattle four times, calling to the Spirits of that direction, asking them to come and help me. After calling out to the first direction with my rattle, I turn 90 degrees and rattle to the Spirits of the second direction, again asking them to please come. I continue around the circle, until I have called out to all the Spirits of the Four Directions, asking for help.Then I go to the Earth. I rattle four times to the Earth, asking the Spirits of the Earth to help. I call to the Heavens, asking the Spirits there, also, to come and help me. Finally, I rattle all around the Circle, asking any Spirits whom I might have forgotten to invite, and who want to help me, to please come. This is the basic rattling recipe I started with to call to the Spirits to ask for help. My rattling ritual has changed now, but if you listen carefully you can hear this recipe in its roots.
Over the years, what has happened for me is that as I was rattling the different directions the Spirits came and taught me how to call them. When I call to my ally from the upper and lower worlds I use my voice, as well as the rattle. Some of the Spirits like to dance, and so I dance. And all the time, the rattle brings me closer to the Spirits, and brings the Spirits closer to me.
The directions one uses are different from culture to culture, and from one person to another. I start in the South, and then go around the circle, first to the East, then North, and then West and back to South, closing the circle.
The Power of the Rattle
I often call the rattle a power antenna. Sometimes when I'm standing and calling the Spirits, I feel like a man holding onto a lightening rod as I feel the power flowing through me. Many people have this experience. On one group I was teaching there was a woman who hadn't brought a rattle with her. "I felt foolish going to buy a rattle," she said. So I loaned her a rattle I had made. I noticed as we were all standing in a circle, rattling and singing, that she was very active, in fact her rattle-arm was flying all around her head and body, down to her feet and up again. Afterwards she said. "I have a complaint. The rattle wouldn't do what I wanted it to do! It was like it had a mind of its own!" There was a good teaching for her in that experience: intention. The reason we were standing in the circle singing was to call our Spirit-helpers to ask for help with the weekend. The Spirits had obviously responded, so much so that she had lost track of her intention. Her new intention became to control the rattle, rather than receive the power (help) the rattle was trying to give her. It turned into a wrestling match, and the Spirits 'won'! I got a note from her a month later, "I've made four rattles since the course, and they all work!"
There was a second important teaching for her in that experience: All that exists is alive. The true power of the rattle is in its Spirit. Learning to work with the rattle is learning to listen to its Spirit. For me, the rattle is not a tool, it is an ally.
Listening to the Spirit of the Rattle
In the beginning, working with the rattle can be an exercise in exceeding your boundaries, or as don Juan used to say, in losing self importance. The first time you stand alone in your home or in the forest with a rattle and think "Now I'm supposed to call the Spirits?!?" it can be that you feel a little foolish, embarrassed maybe. This feeling generally disappears after the second or third shake of the rattle. For most of us it doesn't take long before we find it's not only empowering, but also exhilarating. But the work of the shaman is not just to experience the ecstasy of contacting the Spirits. The work of the shaman is to step through the door of that ecstasy into the world of the Spirits to find the wisdom, the power, the help she needs to do her job in the physical world. This means that one must learn to listen to the voice of the rattle. The rattle, like everything else, is alive, and it is trying to tell you something. Listen! But don't only listen with your ears. Listen with your entire being.
In our attempts to understand, we, in the western world, have broken everything down into classification systems. We label everything. Admittedly, this can be very helpful, but the side effect is that what is too sensitive to be measured and classified is reduced in importance until it seems to disappear. The soul has been reduced to five (or six) separate senses. Hearing is just one of them. But when you listen to the rattle you must recombine all of your senses. Ask your rattle to help you, and then open your self to the help that comes. Opening yourself to that help is perhaps the most difficult task of all. Most of us want to control our lives. We think that as long as we are in control everything will be all right. We have invented the myth of security to make ourselves feel better, as if feeling better is an end unto itself. However, the way the shaman works is to surrender to the Spirits. When you surrender to the Spirits, you fill yourself with their power. You may or may not be able to control the situation, but you will be able to face it in a power-filled way.
The Rattle as Healer
After becoming friends with your rattle, you will find that it has many aspects. The healing power of the rattle is one of them. This was shown to me in an experience many years ago.
A woman contacted me because she was 'blocked'. Could I help her to open these blockages? Blockages was not a term in my shamanic diagnostic vocabulary at the time. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I trusted that my Spirits would know what was going on. So I replied that I didn't know if I could help her, but why not come over and we'd see what we could do. When I asked my Spirits, they said "Use your rattle." So after calling to the Spirits I began to rattle over her body. She began to shake, more and more violently, and then to convulse. The part of me that was in ordinary reality began to be quite alarmed. I asked my Spirits what was going on, and was told to shut up, pay attention, and keep rattling. Finally with a roaring-barking sound, she heaved one final huge convulsion and something left her body, flying out of her mouth, and out the opened window. She sighed a sigh of relief and asked me what I'd done. I quite honestly replied that I just shook the rattle and it took care of the rest.
As the years have gone by, I have relied more and more heavily on the rattle. I have learned from the rattle that it is excellent for doing diagnostic work, for opening up areas where energy is blocked, for re-establishing energy flow, and for helping to remove inappropriate energy.
Something to Consider One idea I often hear from people goes like this: 'A big drum (rattle, crystal, etc.) is a powerful one, and more powerful than a little one.' I have also seen people become dependant on their power objects, for example, 'I can't do a soul-retrieval without my eagle-feather.' To my understanding, shamanism is a spiritual practice which enables one to directly contact - and work together with - the Spirit Power of the Universe.The point of the shaman's work is to bring the power of the Spirit World to the material world, and to let that power flow through him. The more the power of the Spirits flows through the shaman, the more powerful she becomes, as long as the power is handled in a proper way.
The Spirit Power of a rattle, drum, or any other power object, has nothing to do with it's physical size, it has to do with the power of its Spirit. The real power objects in shamanic practice do not exist in the physical world. The most important part of the rattle is its Spirit. You can call it to you, even if you've left the rattle at home.
********************************
While I cannot atest to everything said here, I can say that my rattle has a will of its own. It will move to the direction I need power from. It is my indicator.
Dok
For the Standing Mother,DG
(edit: changed capitalization of the letters in the title)
Got a Rattle?
My second shamanic teacher told me "the first time I went to the 'World of the Spirits' I was standing with three other people in a small circle. We were all rattling. Suddenly the Earth opened up in front of me and I fell into the Underworld." When I heard this I thought, "I'd better get me a rattle."
The rattle I got then has been with me since. Rattles are something special. The rattle is one of the most important helpers in the shaman's kit. Most of us had rattles as young children, and a nicely surprising number of people have them as adults. Sometimes people tell me, "I've had this rattle for years. I don't know why I bought it. It just seemed to speak to me. Now I know why!" The shaman's work is to go to, or call to, the world of the Spirits to ask for help, be it as power, healing, knowledge, or wisdom. I use the rattle to send my voice to the Spirits. The rattle is one of the easiest, quickest, and most powerful helpers we have for doing this.
Calling the Spirits
The shaman works by asking for help from the Spirits: 'no Spirits - no shaman'. Calling the Spirits is the most basic of the shaman's work. I have what I call 'a basic rattling ritual' for calling to the Spirits. Quite simply, it involves facing in one of the four directions and shaking the rattle four times, calling to the Spirits of that direction, asking them to come and help me. After calling out to the first direction with my rattle, I turn 90 degrees and rattle to the Spirits of the second direction, again asking them to please come. I continue around the circle, until I have called out to all the Spirits of the Four Directions, asking for help.Then I go to the Earth. I rattle four times to the Earth, asking the Spirits of the Earth to help. I call to the Heavens, asking the Spirits there, also, to come and help me. Finally, I rattle all around the Circle, asking any Spirits whom I might have forgotten to invite, and who want to help me, to please come. This is the basic rattling recipe I started with to call to the Spirits to ask for help. My rattling ritual has changed now, but if you listen carefully you can hear this recipe in its roots.
Over the years, what has happened for me is that as I was rattling the different directions the Spirits came and taught me how to call them. When I call to my ally from the upper and lower worlds I use my voice, as well as the rattle. Some of the Spirits like to dance, and so I dance. And all the time, the rattle brings me closer to the Spirits, and brings the Spirits closer to me.
The directions one uses are different from culture to culture, and from one person to another. I start in the South, and then go around the circle, first to the East, then North, and then West and back to South, closing the circle.
The Power of the Rattle
I often call the rattle a power antenna. Sometimes when I'm standing and calling the Spirits, I feel like a man holding onto a lightening rod as I feel the power flowing through me. Many people have this experience. On one group I was teaching there was a woman who hadn't brought a rattle with her. "I felt foolish going to buy a rattle," she said. So I loaned her a rattle I had made. I noticed as we were all standing in a circle, rattling and singing, that she was very active, in fact her rattle-arm was flying all around her head and body, down to her feet and up again. Afterwards she said. "I have a complaint. The rattle wouldn't do what I wanted it to do! It was like it had a mind of its own!" There was a good teaching for her in that experience: intention. The reason we were standing in the circle singing was to call our Spirit-helpers to ask for help with the weekend. The Spirits had obviously responded, so much so that she had lost track of her intention. Her new intention became to control the rattle, rather than receive the power (help) the rattle was trying to give her. It turned into a wrestling match, and the Spirits 'won'! I got a note from her a month later, "I've made four rattles since the course, and they all work!"
There was a second important teaching for her in that experience: All that exists is alive. The true power of the rattle is in its Spirit. Learning to work with the rattle is learning to listen to its Spirit. For me, the rattle is not a tool, it is an ally.
Listening to the Spirit of the Rattle
In the beginning, working with the rattle can be an exercise in exceeding your boundaries, or as don Juan used to say, in losing self importance. The first time you stand alone in your home or in the forest with a rattle and think "Now I'm supposed to call the Spirits?!?" it can be that you feel a little foolish, embarrassed maybe. This feeling generally disappears after the second or third shake of the rattle. For most of us it doesn't take long before we find it's not only empowering, but also exhilarating. But the work of the shaman is not just to experience the ecstasy of contacting the Spirits. The work of the shaman is to step through the door of that ecstasy into the world of the Spirits to find the wisdom, the power, the help she needs to do her job in the physical world. This means that one must learn to listen to the voice of the rattle. The rattle, like everything else, is alive, and it is trying to tell you something. Listen! But don't only listen with your ears. Listen with your entire being.
In our attempts to understand, we, in the western world, have broken everything down into classification systems. We label everything. Admittedly, this can be very helpful, but the side effect is that what is too sensitive to be measured and classified is reduced in importance until it seems to disappear. The soul has been reduced to five (or six) separate senses. Hearing is just one of them. But when you listen to the rattle you must recombine all of your senses. Ask your rattle to help you, and then open your self to the help that comes. Opening yourself to that help is perhaps the most difficult task of all. Most of us want to control our lives. We think that as long as we are in control everything will be all right. We have invented the myth of security to make ourselves feel better, as if feeling better is an end unto itself. However, the way the shaman works is to surrender to the Spirits. When you surrender to the Spirits, you fill yourself with their power. You may or may not be able to control the situation, but you will be able to face it in a power-filled way.
The Rattle as Healer
After becoming friends with your rattle, you will find that it has many aspects. The healing power of the rattle is one of them. This was shown to me in an experience many years ago.
A woman contacted me because she was 'blocked'. Could I help her to open these blockages? Blockages was not a term in my shamanic diagnostic vocabulary at the time. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I trusted that my Spirits would know what was going on. So I replied that I didn't know if I could help her, but why not come over and we'd see what we could do. When I asked my Spirits, they said "Use your rattle." So after calling to the Spirits I began to rattle over her body. She began to shake, more and more violently, and then to convulse. The part of me that was in ordinary reality began to be quite alarmed. I asked my Spirits what was going on, and was told to shut up, pay attention, and keep rattling. Finally with a roaring-barking sound, she heaved one final huge convulsion and something left her body, flying out of her mouth, and out the opened window. She sighed a sigh of relief and asked me what I'd done. I quite honestly replied that I just shook the rattle and it took care of the rest.
As the years have gone by, I have relied more and more heavily on the rattle. I have learned from the rattle that it is excellent for doing diagnostic work, for opening up areas where energy is blocked, for re-establishing energy flow, and for helping to remove inappropriate energy.
Something to Consider One idea I often hear from people goes like this: 'A big drum (rattle, crystal, etc.) is a powerful one, and more powerful than a little one.' I have also seen people become dependant on their power objects, for example, 'I can't do a soul-retrieval without my eagle-feather.' To my understanding, shamanism is a spiritual practice which enables one to directly contact - and work together with - the Spirit Power of the Universe.The point of the shaman's work is to bring the power of the Spirit World to the material world, and to let that power flow through him. The more the power of the Spirits flows through the shaman, the more powerful she becomes, as long as the power is handled in a proper way.
The Spirit Power of a rattle, drum, or any other power object, has nothing to do with it's physical size, it has to do with the power of its Spirit. The real power objects in shamanic practice do not exist in the physical world. The most important part of the rattle is its Spirit. You can call it to you, even if you've left the rattle at home.
********************************
While I cannot atest to everything said here, I can say that my rattle has a will of its own. It will move to the direction I need power from. It is my indicator.
Dok
For the Standing Mother,DG
(edit: changed capitalization of the letters in the title)