Sounding Your Visions by Steven Ash
It is well known in natural healing that the anchoring of your visions and healing experiences into songs, poetry, paintings and dancing not only brings the vision alive but it strengthens their reality and memory into the depths of your consciousness. This improves and empowers your abilities as a medicine person, since you are manifesting substance sound and form out of a pure energy experience.
In early September last year three of us went into the Karawenken Mountains on a Vision Quest. It was powerful with non stop rain day and night. On the third morning whilst opening the medicine wheel, I had a huge visual experience, which sent me flying backwards down the hill. When I regained consciousness around twenty minutes later I discovered in the fall I lacerated my right thumb down to the bone. I left the vision quest and had it stitched up in hospital, but three days later we discovered it was infected with a super bug. After three eventful operations and a week later I came home from Villach hospital on systemic antibiotics.
I have written the vision down learning to use my left hand, created a new song called ‘I walk with my friends I am walking’ and recorded it, painted the vision on a drum so that I can enter the vision through the drum as I play and I have been taking every opportunity to explore this initiation and rite of passage through my creative skills and drum journeys.
It has been extraordinary, four months after the experience my guitar playing has become totally transformed and my right thumb is doing things like never before, it has so much power and deep strength, although the first joint hardly moves at all.
In my life I have left a chapter behind and entered the chapter of an Elder and every time I sing the song I see more, hear more and know more about me in my life as a servant of life.
The series of experiences associated with the vision experience on the mountain and the following hospital care are clearly falling into a pattern which is purely archetypal. I am being taught by spirit through the pain, exercises and tissue healing that a trauma like this entails.
Encouraging and helping clients to create songs, sound, movement and visual arts from their deep personal trauma and suffering, changes the perspective and allows healing that can be life changing. It is said that Phythagoras created a song for or with each of his patients.
I have included the words of the Vision Song below.
I WALK WITH MY FRIENDS I AM WALKING
by Steven Ash Oct 2017 O
Chorus:
I walk, with my friends I am walking
The way, to the lodge of my Elders
The road, is as clear as the blue sky
I float on my feet as I am walking
White mist rising cold over pine trees,
Yellow deer weaving gold through the green grass,
Sunrise is as red as my hearts blood,
Mauve rainbow is bridging the valley
Chorus:…I walk
Mouth portal with flames is wide open, I pray looking South on the mountain
Round door in my eyes I am seeing.
There is no way, there is no way looking backwards
Chorus:…I walk
I fall into blank and oblivion, I’ve been to the place where there is mystery.
Awake I’ve awoken to being grateful, and grown to the place of an Elder.
Chorus:…I walk
And gone is the false and the struggle, and gone are the years when I’m fighting
And gone is the fear of survival, and gone is the mask I was wearing
And come is the peace I am now clothed in, and come is the joy in my living
And come is the love I am sharing, and come are my days being happy
Chorus:…I walk
And gone are my mothers and fathers, and come are their spirits for always
And gone are my youth and my wild dreams,
and come is a way looking onwards
Chorus:…I walk
