The sound seemed to be outside in nature, certainly not in my head or imagination. After my experience, I decided to further interpret this shamanic journey using the Journey Oracle cards.
The first card I draw represents the situation: my going to the stone and hearing the sound of the conch horn. This card's image is one of my favorites. The intensity of the animal's gaze is so compelling and yet disquieting. Shamanic journeys are like that. The other world intensity of the experience is quite often for me a combination of attraction and apprehension. What am I being shown? How am I to manifest this message? It is shamanic to understand that the communication is real in that world and yet cannot be explained in this world.
The second card represents my experience of this situation. I see a figure mostly submerged in portions of fire and mud, mostly floating in the orange of attraction yet also reaching into the sky of seeking. The dramatic yellow lower torso feels like an expanded solar plexus chakra, the location of personal will. Feels like a pretty accurate portrait of my shamanic journey : hot mental commentary and muddy doubt, swimming in the attraction of the experience and yet reaching into the unknown, buoyed by my will to travel in this strange territory.
The third card represents change. I see a bird with outstretched wings flying to the left, which represents spirit to me--leaving dark clouds and confusion behind, moving into a rosy lighted sky.
It is shamanic to seek the aid of Nature in all its guises, and to use its teachings for regaining balance.
The fourth card represents the resolution of this situation and I see a conch shell! The whorled opening on the left, the fluted ridges on the right. The shell seems to be resting on a beach with a band of surf across the top of the image. What a surprise and confirmation of the shamanic journey. Since I go to this stone teacher on the full moon, I think I now have a month to be looking for a conch shell to find me. And a month to reconfirm that all natural phenomena exist in both the physical and spiritual dimensions and all are teachers of great value.
