Peacocks, Radical Healing and Shiva

I’m not much of an animal person but I am always amazed at how animals love to have mini reiki sessions. When I go to someone’s house, the cats or dogs will come and push their head (or whatever part of their body that needs healing) under my hand, and they will stay there until they’ve had enough, or they fall asleep on me. Many of my reiki students have commented how much their animals love reiki. In fact, if I ever visit a zoo, the animals do seem to come to me — a looming giraffe can be unnerving.

Since Chris got a peacock to display its feathers last summer, when we were on holiday in Turkey, I’ve been seeing peacocks everywhere. Perfume bottles, postcards, book covers, toys…the Peacock appears when I am least expecting it. In the Shamanic tradition, if an animal appears to you in meditation it has a message for you, or the “qualities” of the animal, it’s “Medicine” is around you now. Usually, the animal can’t appear physically but it will appear on the TV, on jewellry, on someone’s T-shirt. In the past, I had similar encounters with Owl (wisdom), Butterfly (transformation) and Dolphin (healing energy).

When a Power Animal reveals itself to you, you must find out the message and “honour” the animal in some way. That could be by buying a picture or piece of jewellry, or token of some kind. And if you don’t, the amount of animals you see just increases. So I got a card with a peacock on it, and some peacock feathers but still I see it everywhere. I had in my head that Peacock must be something to do with Self-Worth or Talent. But I read recently that Peacock is symbolic of Integrity and Honesty. So whenever I see the Peacock, it is a reminder to me that doing everything with Integrity is key.

I often get insights and guidance from opening a book at random, a method of divination called stichomancy. Today I picked up a book from my shelf, that I haven’t touched in years. Radical Healing by Dr Rudolph Ballentine is a wonderful book that explores all the major mind-body practices, including Homeopathy, Indian and Chinese medicine, Nutrition and Energy Healing, with practical applications and advice. A must for any healer.

The book has over 600 pages, which is pretty hefty for a paperback. The page I turned to (p180) confirmed a theory that I have been teaching my students for some time now. In the ancient scriptures known as the Shivagama, Shiva (or Siva) the masculine dynamic god, explains to his beautiful feminine consort, Parvati (Shakti energy) the origins of the Universe. The Shiva energy has to connect with the Shakti, nurturing, creative energy. Together they create the Lifeforce, the Big Bang, where all life springs forth. This magical process is also illustrated in the reiki Power symbol — the top line represents the dynamic masculine energy streaming across the Universe and entering the receptive energy of the earth, or the body, activating the 7 chakras. Another book which is out of print now — The Eye of Shiva by Amaury de Riencourt — explains in great depth the Western science theories of Quantum Physics and how Eastern Philosophy has been describing these complex concepts for 10,000 years.
Mind-blowing.