JOURNEYING with PLANTS and STONES

In the middleworlds, I plant things. This is a traditional practice, and not one I think many neo-shamanists do.

Sheoak - Casuarina - for example, is a tree energy that I'm very close to (along with swamp paperbark and karri). In order to cultivate that energy in more than just real life, I took a fertile seed from 'real life' and held it in my hand, journeyed to the middleworld and planted it in the small haven/meadow that has - because of the hard work of my ancestors before me - become a sort of place that I exert some influence over.

It grew faster than it did here, but it still needed watering, love, attention, nutrition etc. As it grew, so did its spirit, and soon I found I could talk to spirit of sheoak as a person or tree spirit or however it chose to appear if I visited the tree. Now, when I bushwalk, if I meet a sheoak, I see its otherworld counterpart and spirit as well as the 'real life' tree.

Sheoak doesn't 'journey' with me, but sheoak is a rich repository of wisdom and I will sometimes just journey to sit with the spirit and talk, or listen, or even just to hear the sound of the wind through its branches.

I am one day hoping to take the time to create a greater forest or grove of sheoaks, but the one is enough for now.

The same goes for swamp paperbark and karri. Karri spirit in the otherworlds is... very strict and almost arrogant, but also deeply loving. There are otherworld forests of karri that exist, that I haven't planted, and they call to me sometimes.

So while I can't answer what a plant might be like as a personal totem (maybe you'd have a shaman who actively journeyed less, but still learnt a great amount of wisdom, for example), I can say how I choose to interact with plants in the otherworlds.

As for stones, I encounter stone spirits a lot, I think because of where I am in Australia, and also because there is a pre-existing culture of Indigenous Australians who cared for and acted as custodians to many of the rocks and rock landmarks here. I think this has helped to create a culture of respect to anyone who is willing to listen.

There is for example a granite outcrop not too far from where I am, which is said to be / house sleeping spirit of a Waugal, or sacred rainbow serpent (who brought water to this dry land). The Waugal there has been respected for over 10,000 years, pretty much continuously. The rock isn't just a 'metaphorical' place for the Waugal, in the Noongar/Nyungah beliefs, this granite outcrop is the Waugal. Harm done to the rocks, will harm the great sacred spirit within it, and in turn will harm the people who live near or who have a connection with that granite outcrop or the Waugal.

So for me, many rocks and landscapes are not just 'rocks and landscapes' but gods and spirits, that could literally be killed, hurt or sickened if their manifestation (a granite outcrop for example) was damaged.

They're not so much totems then, like 'amethyst totem', but greater gods or spirits. I don't really believe (sorry to those who do) that a tiny tumbled piece of quartz could be a totem. Nor do I believe that a particular granite outcrop could be a totem if it was being revered as a god spirit. Maybe that just makes me close-minded, because I haven't encountered it yet. If anyone has, I'd be happy for you to let me know.

BUT, I do believe that say the 'energy' of all amethyst could potentially be a totem. Maybe.

It's one of those 'potentially in theory, but not necessarily in real life' thoughts, because I've never met anyone who has ever claimed to have a rock as a totem.