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10 The Journal of Shamanic Practice VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2 FALL 2012 Studying shamanism showed me that these were the voices of my Ancestors and that they were teaching me their knowledge. I started cooking in city high school kitchens four years ago. I love working in the kitchens complex environment with its enormous amounts of food support- ive staff frenzied pace and most especial- ly the ebb and ow of energies spiraling in and around me as I created appealing delicious dishes for students and teach- ers. Unexpectedly and now daily this is where some of my shamanic work began to take form as I connected through the meat and vegetables directly to the spirits of those animals and plants. My rst high school kitchen was near the shore of Lake Ontario in upstate New York. In this school were two separate dining areas the teachers eating area and the students cafeteria. When I started working here most of the teach- ers brown-bagged their lunches and very few came down to purchase a lunch. At that time the most popular choice of food for the students was the breaded chicken patty ground-up chicken carcass breaded with added avor and coloring. As the new chef I learned that no one has input to the menus ownership of that belongs to the food corporation who won the bid to provide food service to the city school district. Menus are based on a theory that daily amounts of red or white meat in addition to vegetables grains and fruits are needed to provide adequate nutrition to students. There- fore large quantities of meat crossed my stainless steel table. Over time as I worked with the bodies of chickens packages of ground beef and numerous boxes of sliced bacon along with other forms and shapes of chicken or beef I became conscious of a communication of sorts happening between the meat under my hands and me. At rst it felt like a pulse but then I began to hear a quiet kind voice beyond me and I wanted to understand what that was about. As I usually work alone in my job I decided to journey to this voice and this is when things began to get very interesting. In the journey I was shown where the meat comes from in todays contem- porary culture and how in the process- ing of meat a basic tenet of civility for acknowledging and respecting sacrice is ignored. Spirit had me consider whether there is someone in the factory to bless the animals as they are being guided down the death chute and hung on the hook or someone to say Thank you for the gift you give us. I was clearly shown that no one is there for that. People who do the slaughtering do whatever work is available in their area in order to survive and an animals life is primarily a means to get the money they need. So I decided at that moment if there is no one on a factory farm blessing the animals or recognizing their sacrice I am a link in this chain of events and can give that rec- ognition and begin doing my small part. I began to change how I worked with the meats beginning with a daily ritual blessing of the kitchen space and giving thanks to the spirits of all the animals coming onto my countertop. I softly sang and spoke to them as I prepped and cooked listening to them and connect- ing to their spirits. My journeys the majority of which were middle world journeys took me to many places including the fatory farms. In a particular journey that seemed to repeat itself many times my power ani- mal and I are ying through the middle world toward a huge factory farm. We see a dark cloud covering the farm and as we y toward this cloud it begins to blow away. The animals stop milling around frantically and look up while a soft gentle song begins singing to them and the air starts to smell sweeter. They calm down and relax as we circle them infusing the farm and its occupants with the scent of sweet grass song and calmness. At times my power animal also leads me to smaller farms and into slaughterhouses where we do psycho- pomp work and soul retrievals. In the midst of all these journeys I am stand- ing in the background focused softly singing and chanting holding space with love as the work is done. In the slaughterhouses there are very large groupings of the spirits of slaugh- tered animals drifting around the hooks that held their bodies and my power ani- mal has a certain whistle that draws them together. As they come close to us they are directed to move toward the light that has opened up above us. There are a series of whoosh-whoosh sounds as they change from a darkened being to a light being and disappear into the light above. The soul retrievals are done individu- ally. My power animal goes to the ani- mals that are tightly packed together and milling around right before the slaughter and touches a foot to their forehead. The detached soul part immediately comes into the animal being touched. This hap- pens so quickly that many many animals can be helped within a short time. The change from helpless despair to a feeling of calm and contentment affects even those animals in the vicinity not receiv- ing the soul retrievals. After some time of being very focused on working with the spirits of animals I became aware of the spirits of the plants nudging me. The potatoes seemed to be a cheery group of vegetables they loved being washed scrubbed and checked over for spots. They had a contagious song that always got me tapping my foot as I worked with them. Their joy ex- panded with the baking their happiness enveloping the students and teachers on baked potato days. Generally cauliower broccoli carrots peas and green beans are not popular items with the students. But as I tuned into the songs of these spirits blessing and thanking them they showed me ways to make them more ap- pealing. The overall goal of the food ser- vice corporation is to have the students choose a vegetable as an item on their lunch tray because the corporation needs to meet or exceed standard state meal regulations. While I basically follow the recipes given to me by the food service corporation the spirit of each vegetable informs my power animal and me as to which seasoning herb or spice to use with them and how much so they will have more vitality. This vitality seems to