by Sandy Dollar

Sandy Dollar shared a sustained series of lower-world journeys on alt.religion.shamanism in the mid-2000s, conducted using Michael Harner's core shamanism method. This fifth journey, posted 1 January 2006, takes place roughly a year after the fourth — which had ended in witnessed destruction within the spirit-landscape. Returning to find that landscape renewed, Sandy Dollar encounters a lone purple-and-blue pansy that speaks of extinction, before recounting how she acquired her power animal: a tiger matched with a mysterious black cat. Short, precise, and quietly elegiac, it is one of the more unusual contributions in her series.

This is the last of my journeys on the right side of the "Y" tunnel. I waited almost a year before going back, as in the 4th journey I saw the destruction of a small part of the lower world.

I go my usual way following the right side of the "Y" again. When I get to the opening, I find the membrane or skin is gone. I am surprised to see that everything has renewed itself. Foliage, trees were in different places and somewhat sparse. I saw a couple of old trees that had fallen down — they were still there, but had no limbs, only the trunk part. My Indian spirit (Nightflyer) was not there to meet me.

I am guessing he left me because it had been so long. I find a very small flower close to one of those fallen tree trunks. This was just one lone pansy-type flower of purple and blue colors. I ask the flower if it wanted to talk to me. The flower then says: "I am the last of my kind, as I am going extinct — and you are also going extinct." I left the flower a gift and came back to the physical world.

Wondering about what the flower (girl plant) meant by extinct. Should have asked, but didn't. Hindsight here.

Note on the Spirit Animal

I did get my spirit animal by taking the left side of the tunnel, coming out into a jungle setting where I was stalked by a tiger. There seemed to be a big black cat stalking the tiger, but that turned out wrong — these two cats were together (an unlikely match, but in the lower world anything is possible). I did blend with the tiger and he is still with me. The black cat had yellow eyes, which made me wonder if this tiger wasn't really the Indian spirit (Nightflyer) and his grey wolf with the yellow eyes, transformed. Guess I will never know.

I did not go into detail on how I got the tiger as a spirit animal because it involved some very personal information which I didn't want to put on the newsgroup.

I have a couple more trips to the lower world I want to post, which took place after my husband passed away in 1999 (after an eight-year illness) and I moved from Washington State to the Medford, Oregon area — just above the California border.

Hoping that after reading my journeys, it will inspire those wanting to try a journey for themselves. It has been a real learning and spiritual experience. It only takes imagination and will, so go for it. Remember you are only moving in states of consciousness and not physically, although it feels physical.

Thoughts are real things.

Colophon

Written by Sandy Dollar and posted to alt.religion.shamanism on 1 January 2006. Part of a multi-year series of lower-world journey accounts, conducted following Michael Harner's core shamanism method. The flower's declaration — "I am the last of my kind, as I am going extinct — and you are also going extinct" — is characteristic of Sandy Dollar's visionary register: plain, matter-of-fact, and deeply unsettling. Original Message-ID: [email protected].

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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