Hello to my return journeyers. A warm welcome to my semi-constant journeyers. And, a very special welcome to my new journeyers.

I’m so glad you’re here.

I recently had the opportunity to return to my first Anchor Spot. 

Nestled in the East Kootenays, there is a lake that is named for the Kootenai River that traverses both Canada and the United States of America – hence the name Koo-Can-USA. Lake Koocanusa was named after the treaty between the Kootenai tribe and the respective Canadian and US governments. This meeting place holds ancient wisdom. Not only is it a meeting place of 3 – a number associated in many wisdom traditions with the divine, creativity, birth, magic, and mysticism – but it is also a place where the water empties each year when the Libby Dam is opened. In the Spring, the Libby Dam closes, and the water fills the reservoir to a depth of approximately 370 feet, offering a place of abundance for the animal beings and humans that are called to this place. This cycle of filling and emptying is one that those practicing awake awareness can attune to in their own life.

The waters of Lake Koocanusa are healing – may you have the good fortune to find yourself at least once on your path in these waters. The Medicine Wheel that I work with holds relationship between sacred water and the West. Water is the place of magic and mystery – the unknown. Water is the place of the deep unconscious. We gestate in water. We are held in sacred water in the womb of our biological parent until we burst Earthside into this reality. Water is where I dive when seeking answers to deep questions involving my (or my client’s) emotions. 

West is the time of the setting sun. It is the threshold time that is neither daytime nor nighttime. It is a magical time in which we breathe in, pause briefly before the breath out. West is the time of the Crone – the wise woman – and yet again, another relationship of 3 (Maiden, Mother, Crone).

I have not stepped foot on the shores of Lake Koocanusa for 7 years. In Chinese Medicine, this is one life cycle for a female (at birth). I am often called here when I am seeking a shift. I will admit, I don’t always know it before I arrive what it is that I am seeking. And yet, this place has a way of cleansing and adjusting my perception filter in such a way that my inner vision becomes clear again. My trip to this place fell on the New Moon in August – my lifelong journeyers, you will know that I do love the New Moon. The New Moon is often associated with new beginnings, darkness, the depths of the soul and psyche. A fitting time to be in this place.

This sacred place of my (first) Anchor Spot is nestled between two mountain ranges. Mountains are the keepers of the North – the stone people – and in some traditions, the home of the Ancestors. As you round the bend, the mountain range gives way to an expansive lake that is the unmistakable blue of a BC lake. Before you reach my Anchor Spot, you must cross another threshold over a single-lane wooden logging bridge that a paved two-lane bridge has since replaced. This crossing over the water is very symbolic in Shamanism. Many myths involve a crossing over water, such as the ferrymen that ferry the dead, the heroes that must dive into the deep waters, the lands that have been lost to water, or the magical (and sometimes malevolent) creatures that dwell in the water. 

In Scandinavian lore, the mythological horse (the drum is also referred to as a horse whose beat mirrors the pounding of hooves and carries the journeyer into the Spirit World) appears near the edge of a river in foggy (read: threshold) conditions and carries the journeyer into the river where the journeyer drowns. This lore brings forward the relationship between death and life that is deeply connected with water. In Scottish mythology, Selkies are sea lions that shed their skin to become human. If a human man captured Selkie’s skin, she became his wife and was bound to the land. Should she reunite with her skin, she would leave her husband to mourn forever. Many stories of Selkies remind us that we cannot thrive in conditions that do not support our soul’s purpose or divine being.

When I arrive in my Anchor Spot, I am standing on the soft fine sand. It is early morning, the time of the East, the dawning of the sun, new beginnings, clarity, and illumination. The sand isn’t yet warmed by the sun, and I can feel the softness as I walk toward the water. 

The water is completely still. I can see the sand and the ruffling of the sand under the water. When I arrive, I always look around and see what I can see and sense what I can sense. Now, dear journeyer, I know that some of you are not visual journeyers. This is okay. You may experience your Anchor Spot in a completely different way – through body sensation or a kind of inner knowing. I know that my entire being – body and soul – has arrived in my Anchor Spot when I feel a settling-in sensation.

When you first start to carve out your space in the grid, be sure to center yourself in your Anchor Spot. Take several deep breaths. Use the centering space to walk/move several paces in one direction. Look around. See what you can see. Sense what you can sense. Then move back to center. Repeat this again for every direction, carving out your own Medicine Wheel here in your sacred Anchor Spot. Ask the Power Animal or Guardian Spirit that you have built a relationship with to be with you in your anchor spot. 

I invite you to use this drumming track when you visit your Anchor Spot. When the drumming picks up speed, you will be on your way out of this mundane reality into the Spirit World / Trance State / Shamanic State of Consciousness. Remember, when the drumming slows again and the pattern changes – this is called the journey callback – return to journey Anchor Spot. 

When you first learn to journey to your Anchor Spot, you will wonder if you are just imagining it. You will wonder if you are just remembering a time when you were there. Keep journeying. 

In my Anchor Spot, I always perceive that I am alone at first. When I practice awake awareness, I begin to feel the life force of the trees behind me, the mountain ranges, the water and the water beings. I feel the Earth breathing in and breathing out. Your relationship with your Anchor Spot will deepen with time.

Before entering the Spirit World, I strongly recommend that you ground in your Anchor Spot. An Anchor Spot is a place in Nature that has a strong resonance for the journeyer. Journeying is like meditation in that it takes practice. I have journeyed for several hundred people to date, and I have learned that no two journeys are the same. With that said, what remains constant is the places in the Spirit World terrain that the journeyer maps out journey after journey. Your Anchor Spot is one of those places on the map.

This month, you will find a guided journey to build relationship with your Anchor Spot on my gifted resources section of The Shaman’s Path. 

I hope this serves you well.

As always, thank you for your kind attention.

Until we meet again in this time, space, and place – happy journeying.

-Heather