by bosco

Among the most valuable documents in shamanic practice writing are those that look backward — the practitioner who finds old notes and recognizes, with the clarity of distance, what they were actually doing before they had any language for it. This post by bosco (Ben) from January 2007 does exactly that. He found decade-old notes about an encounter with large, dog-toothed fish that were blocking the flow of his life, and recognizes it now as genuine shamanic clearing work. The account is remarkable for its matter-of-fact specificity — the shallow tannic lake, the improvised spear gun, the small bites to the legs — and for its honest uncertainty about whether he acted on his own instinct or was quietly guided.

I was looking through some decade and older notes I wrote and came across a story about some fish. I think I instinctively did the right thing at the time even though I had no idea what I was doing or why.

The gist of the notes was this: there were some toothed fish in the water with me. Very large silvery fish with large scales and teeth like dogs. They could not close their mouths as their teeth were too large. There were at least two of them and they were swimming around me — not like sharks, but just swimming in, around me and out of my vision.

At the time I didn't know the significance and I didn't think anything of it other than they lived in the body of water I was in, a large shallow lake with a few deep pools with water high in tannic acid, a lot like swamp water in some areas.

A few weeks later and everything was becoming a hassle and there seemed to be no flow in anything I did. I did my version of traveling and even though I was not in water this time the fish were still there and there were more of them.

I proceeded to shoot them with a spear gun I created, but it did not have much of an effect. I made a better tool to get rid of them and once it started they began to bite at me. I took a few small bites to the legs before the last one was killed. Within a day things started flowing like it should — nothing special, just not problem after problem.

Reading it now (this was before I knew anything and before alt.religion.shamanism), it is amazing to me that I made the connection and knew what to do. I was so new to all this, though — it may be I was told what needed to be done and did not know it.

No real point to this story, just thought I would post it and see if anyone has any stories of their own they would share.

Colophon

Written by bosco (Ben) and posted to alt.religion.shamanism on January 11, 2007. Original Message-ID: <2007011116165250878-boscopelone@yahoocom>.

The post is drawn from notes written a decade before, when bosco was practicing shamanic work before encountering any formal framework for it. The detail of the tannic lake, the improvised tools, and the small physical retaliation from the fish is characteristic of genuine journey documentation. His closing reflection — that he may have been guided without knowing it — holds the honest uncertainty of mature practice.

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

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