I like to tell the story of one of my first Akashic experiences. I didn’t know anything about the Akashics at the time nor did I know that we would be working with it. I was with a group of students working with one of my Native teachers and we were doing a weekend workshop learning about our totems. Most of the students were non-native and my teacher had asked me to join because I wasn’t raised on the res and there were gaps in my understandings of things. This was the easiest way to fill them in.
So the idea was for the weekend we would be taken into meditation as a group to find at least four of our personal totems. In the Cherokee way we see seven totems, one for each of the nations: four legged, winged, swimmer, creepy-crawler, tree, plant, rock. We had been doing exercises that morning and this was to be our first meditation to see a totem. We sat in a circle as the teacher guided us through to see our swimmer. The meditation was general enough that we could envision any body of water from the ocean to a fish bowl and anything in between. In this meditation we didn’t see our totem, we were our totem, so we experienced in first person what it is to be at home in water and to have our physical selves adapted to moving in water. We were able to experience our surroundings, find food, and interact with other creatures.
When we were brought back to our bodies and the room we began to share our experiences and the wonder and shock took us by surprise. While a couple of us had been river fish and been on their own, the majority of us, 13 or more if memory serves, were all ocean going animals. Not only that, but we had seen each other and interacted with each other while we were there. One had been a shark and had noticed a fish but refrained from chasing it and went after something a bit farther off and more difficult to catch. One had been a hermit crab on the ocean floor who had seen the shark and went “Holy s**t! There’s a shark!” One of us had been the fish who had noticed them both. Each of us had seen each other and, while acting appropriately to our natures in that form, had realized who was a participant in the class and who not and chosen consciously to not do them harm.
We laughed and who had been what and worked with the teacher to begin the process of learning what that means, what wisdom these totems had for us at the time, and to come to an understanding that what we were creating was a relationship with that totem and with our true selves.
So when someone asks me if what they are seeing in meditation is real or all in their heads, I give them a rational explanation that helps them understand and further their journey. But what I really want to do is get them in a group with others and lead them on a meditation or two so they can see that they are all there together. That they can share and interact there as much as they do here. That they are opening up another plane of existence and have them explode with laughter when someone says “Holy s**t! There was a shark. That was you?” *whispers ‘Thanks for not eating me….’*
