*The following is an excerpt from the book “Dreaming of Cupcakes: A Food Addict’s Shamanic Journey into Healing:”

Throughout this book, I’ve already spoken a lot about how I’ve utilized my animal totems to show me where I needed to heal and how to do it.  I realize this may seem strange to someone who has never experienced a drum journey into the spiritworld and I don’t expect to convince anyone of anything.  It’s really something one has to experience to believe.  I was skeptical when I first started journeying.  I wondered if what I was experiencing was real; my mind was in overdrive.  At first, it was hard to stay present because I didn’t expect to sense or see anything.  When images and sensations started coming, I didn’t know what to make of them or how to interpret them.  It took a while for me to figure out my own dreaming symbols and what they meant to me.  It took time to learn to quiet my mind before a journey…

What I know over the last decade of working with my animals is that they are real and ready to support me on my spiritual journey.  They know things that I don’t know consciously and they can help me find missing pieces that I need in order to live my Sacred Dream here on earth.  Since I began working with them, life is easier.  They show me how to bring the reality I am experiencing in the spiritworld down to earth in ways that I can’t always figure out on my own without their assistance. 

In addition, they speak in the language of symbols and metaphor. The ego has a harder time interfering with messages that come in these forms.  I’ve discovered that messages from my totems have a different “feel” to them than the ones coming from my ego.  Time is suspended and I enter into a different space when my totems enter the scene.  I am no longer operating in ordinary reality; all my senses are flamed on. And they don’t have to come only in the dreamtime; they also come when I am awake to give me messages.

Jennifer Engrácio has been a student of shamanism since 2005. Jennifer is a certified teacher who has worked with children in many different education settings since 2001. She is a certified shamanic coach, reiki master, and lomilomi practitioner; in addition, she runs Spiral Dance Shamanics. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she now lives in Calgary, Canada with her life partner.