It was on my 50th birthday that I had a party and invited 50 of my friends. Each was asked to bring a present, but the catch was that they could not spend any money on the present. One of the women at the party, Vivain, brought a stone from Sedona, where she had studied with a shaman who explained to Vivian that the stone was not for her, but that she was to carry it to Ohio. He went onto say that Vivian was to give this stone to a shaman who did not yet know that she was a shaman.
Vivian held onto the stone for several months, often looking at the stone and wondering if she’d ever find out who she was to pass it along to. Then came my birthday party, and Vivian knew the stone was to be given to me.
When she put it into my hand and told me the story, I tried to withdraw. It had been years since I had thought about shamans and shamans’ journeys. Now here I was being pulled back into this world of healing and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. Yet, our personal journeys have a way of pulling us back no matter how far away we may seem to venture, and eventually we learn that even the so-called venture away from ourselves is in truth just another avenue that leads us back to ourselves and the truth of who we are.
Today, in spite of trying to not accept the stone, and at another time actually giving it away, the stone now sits on my altar or I often wear it as a wire-wrapped necklace. Whenever I do, others always take notice of it. Its energy – which I have long since come to respect – is strong with the shaman’s healing energy, an energy I am blessed to share as I journey my shaman’s journeys of healing.