Thistle Spirit

Connections to another order of reality are widely reported by those of us involved in shamanic work. In the culture at large such experiences are often considered coincidental or imaginary. In shamanism the experiences are accepted for what they are; a vision of a holistic order deeper and more complete than the consensual reality of modern cultures.

I was teaching in a small circle in Northern California about ten years ago and as usual was demonstrating a healing ritual called an “extraction.” Extractions are healings in which the shaman looks inside the physical body of a patient and removes what appears to be a spiritual intrusion. An extraction is a high energy process requiring skill on the part of the shaman and support from the community.

In this instance we were meeting in the home of a young nurse. I do not remember her name. I knew basically nothing about her except that she wanted to have the extraction work before she had surgery for some physical problem. It is important to remember that I knew nothing about her history or background. As I remember, she was about 30 years of age.

I saw something in her upper body that looked like an intrusion and I removed it. Then I saw, in her right leg, a beautiful, bright, silver thistle plant. I don’t know the name of this thistle but it is common along roadways, has a beautiful spiny head and is sometimes used for decoration. I was surprised to see the thistle and decided that I should not remove it. After the ritual was completed and the circle was discussing the work I mentioned the thistle to the young woman. She gasped in surprise and said “oh my god!” She then related a story to us about thistles.

When she graduated from her Catholic high school and walked across the stage to receive her diploma she discovered that it was a note saying that when her parents paid her tuition, she would receive a diploma. She then went to a graduation party and proceeded to get drunk with her friends. Later in the evening she rode into the country with her friends and was abandoned by them outside town, in the dark, wearing no shoes. In her attempts to walk back to town she fell into a large patch of thistles and ended up in the local ER to have all the spines removed from her body. She said the pain was excruciating and she still had nightmares about it.

Clearly the young woman had a relationship with the thistle spirit. Unfortunately I was prevented from doing more work with her because she moved away but I have always remembered that extraction as providing a clear window into a field of information far outside consensual reality.