Dr. Mary Gold

A Word from the Editors

Occasionally we receive an article recounting a personal journey or a healing experience which the author had that we believe our readers will benefit from, especially those who are new to shamanism. This current article is one of those.  It demonstrates the need to trust the information that Spirit gives us even if it doesn’t make sense right away. Sometimes we have to just stay in the mystery of what was given and allow the meaning to emerge.  In other words, allow the information to drift around in our consciousness until it resolves into some kind of clarity or meaning.  And if that doesn’t seem to be happening, we can always do another journey to ask our helping spirits for clarification. This article also demonstrates the need to be alert to synchronicities that may occur which also help us understand our journeys.

—The Editors

I started my shamanic training over 20 years ago with Micheal Harner when he taught his basic program, “The Way of the Shaman,” in New York City. At the time I did not fully comprehend what Michael called journeying and figured it would take time to resonate. It wasn’t until years later that I started to understand both the power and beauty of working with the spirit world. Since then I have taken all the courses offered by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and have worked with many other shamanic teachers.  Since then my life has taken an incredible turn.

One day, when I was still new on this path, I was on my way to work carpooling with a friend of mine, and we got into a conversation about his three-year-old  daughter having a terrible time with her health. She wasn’t able to sleep and had lost a lot weight.  Doctors were very concerned, but could not diagnose what the problem was, although they knew her adenoids were involved. My friend was an ordinary guy, hard working a nine-to-five job. I had just returned from a two-week training retreat sponsored by the FSS. I find it challenging to explain to people about working with Spirit and this was no different. I mentioned to him that I was involved with a healing group and if it were alright with him, I would do a healing session for his daughter. He said, “Bob, anything you could do, my wife and I would greatly appreciate.”

So that night when I got home, I performed a healing journey for his daughter. This would be the first time I journeyed for someone outside of my small shamanic group. I created sacred space, invited the spirits for support, and did a fifteen-minute journey. I received only a name: Mary Gold. When I returned from the journey, I assumed Mary Gold was a doctor of some kind who might be able to help my friend’s daughter.

When I googled her name, the search turned up several doctors named Mary Gold from all over the country. Which one was I suppose to look for? I was a bit confused so I journeyed a second time and again only the name “Mary Gold” was given to me. Now this was early on in my training and I wasn’t aware that I could ask further questions about the information the spirits give me.  I assumed it was my job to figure it out.  So my search went on for a couple of days but I was no closer to discovering who she was and what I was supposed to do.

On the third day as I returned home from work, there was a book at my door that I had ordered over a month ago but was put on back order.  It was a book on alternative healing. As I entered my apartment I opened the book to skim through it, I remembered my friend telling me the doctors were looking at his daughter’s adenoids so I looked up adenoids in the book and there it was under alternative treatments : marigold

It’s a flower!!!

I conveyed the information to my friend, and a few weeks later when I ran into him, he told me his wife wanted to thank me for the flower essence.  They were using marigold for their daughter’s healing. After expelling a mass from her sinuses, she was now gaining weight and sleeping well.