by Tamara (MagickRidinghood)
One of the recurring themes in the alt.religion.shamanism community, passed down through years of practice and hard experience, was the warning to "keep the balance" — to stay grounded in this world while working with the others. Tamara, who had been exploring shamanic paths for nearly a decade, returned to the group in February 2008 after a six-month absence to restate this wisdom for a new generation of explorers. She distinguishes between two things practitioners often conflate: respecting a spirit, which is appropriate and even necessary, and embracing a spirit so fully that you lose your footing in ordinary life. The post carries the weight of someone who learned the distinction the long way.
Something on my mind as I catch up on reading here. This is not meant to sound preachy — it's just on my mind after reading a little this morning, and someone out there lurking may need this reminder.
One thing I don't see discussed here as much as I used to see it in the old days of ARS would be the reminder to "keep the balance." This used to be an almost weekly reminder here by those who used to post.
I'm so thankful I was led here in those days, back when I first began to explore and ask questions about what seemed to be calling me spiritually all my life. Little did I know how important those reminders were. Little did I know those who posted those warnings really knew with depth just what they were warning.
It's been almost ten years now. So much I've explored, so much I've experienced, so much I've gathered and put in my backpack. And so much I've left out of my backpack purposely.
Just because something is real and reveals itself so vividly, and even its agenda to you, does not mean it's something you "have" to follow or accept as "your" truth or way.
I see it sort of as channel surfing the television. All channels are real channels, and all channels have something to say, and what they have to say may even be interesting as hell. But it doesn't necessarily mean I have to sit on that channel and follow that channel the rest of my life.
It's okay to explore — it's even almost mandatory to explore if one is pursuing a shamanic path for themselves. And I firmly believe that while exploring, respect for those spirits is imperative along the way. But respect and embrace are two different things, and it was a big long lesson I had to learn.
At one point, I mixed respect up with embracing — almost worship. Not always wise.
I've never considered a spirit "evil." I've respected some who went so far as to kill a dog in order to give me my sacred space back. I suppose that was a gift from that spirit to me. It was quite apparent. And it humbled me. I felt "special." I felt called.
Hmm. Now days I think a real shaman would laugh at that. And some probably did, or at the very least may have been amused with my zeal mixed with my wide-eyed wondering innocence, and how much I had to learn yet.
Basically, I came to realize, it was simply the nature of that spirit, and what happened wasn't so out of the ordinary for that spirit, and I wasn't so special after all.
I am thankful I was allowed to get to know that spirit as closely as I did. And I can still call on that spirit today, if needed — because the core of my relationship with that spirit was built on respect. Accepting what "just is" about a spirit. But I learned: respect does not require embrace. Most spirits I've come to know just require a simple offering along with basic respect. But they do not require a loyal worshipper in order to work with them.
It falls under the category of what the old-timers warned: "keep the balance."
I walked in the otherworld basically twenty-four hours a day, even at work during the deepest days. Everything was coming in flashes and dreams. Realities were a matter of which world I chose to see. For instance, my old neighborhood — I knew the otherworld map of that land area and otherworld neighbors in the neighborhood just as keenly as I knew the streets and corners and neighbors of this physical realm. That became deep. And imbalanced for me.
It was helpful to know and see those things and realms to help others or to work with. But when allowed to become "out of balance," it almost became a hindrance to what I am to do in this life, this realm.
Now days, I try to stay with this world mostly. I no longer go pursuing the otherworlds, but they reveal themselves to me anyhow, and in so many different ways along the course of a day. I see things, acknowledge what I see, respect it, and know if needed what to do with what is shown me. But I keep with my day, keep with the now, and no longer embrace and get lost in it.
I've learned to keep the balance, and I now truly understand the old-timers' warnings.
So to all those out there exploring your spirituality, exploring your call, exploring the levels of worlds and levels of spirits: more power to you, and I wish you well. Please never become the guy who walked off in the desert never to be seen again.
And one thing Brett once told me, which still sticks with me today — he told me privately, "just because you can doesn't mean you have to." The gist of his advice is the same, and still sticks with me.
I learned over the years — the long way — not to lose myself in what was revealed to me, and just because a channel comes in clearly doesn't mean it's "my" personal channel.
There are a lot of channels in the otherworlds.
Keep the balance.
— Tamara
Colophon
Posted to alt.religion.shamanism by Tamara ([email protected]) on February 26, 2008. Message-ID: [email protected]. Tamara was a long-standing member of the alt.religion.shamanism community who had been practicing for nearly a decade at the time of writing. She posted under the handle "MagickRidinghood" from Galveston Island, Texas.
The phrase "keep the balance" was a recurring communal teaching in the group's active years, circulated by early practitioners and regularly passed to newcomers. This post is one of the fullest articulations of what that warning meant in practice.
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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