Friday, February 1, 2013

My Date with Destiny


We got a little bit of snow last night. I love it!

Faith is flammable. It's a dangerous substance, like some kind of highly flammable rocket fuel. It's like the batteries on the Dreamliners. It must be handled delicately and with restraint. Otherwise: something's going to explode.

Here's what I'm thinking today - I'm friends with so many atheists of all stripes, from the vociferous to those who aren't worried about the big picture and see no need to try to figure it out. I'm drawn to atheists and I'm wondering whether their presence in my life provides some kind of ballast for my devotional heart.

Perhaps the number of atheist friends I have has nothing to do with belief systems - they are lovely people, kind, interesting, funny and like minded. That's good enough for me.

Enough about that! Whew.

Thirty four years ago today I was hit by a Southern Pacific freight train, after which I was unconscious for a long time. When I woke up, I had a spirit guide, just like that. I didn't know it yet, but she was there. Also, for the first time in my life, after the accident I suddenly had the where with all to seek the help of an "alternative" healer, the brilliant Paula Eschtruth, an osteopath who is still practicing in Salem, Oregon. She is 74. Wow. She brought me back to life, she did.

After the train hit me, my personality radically changed. I was more cheerful all of a sudden, more optimistic. It was a defining moment, that train wreck. Good lord!

If I were an atheist, I would try to understand this profound experience and the blessings it brought in terms of brain science. Because I am a believer, my way of understanding what happened goes like this: I was taken out of mundane reality to a very mysterious, deep space where a whole lot of negotiation took place. I have no memory of this nor did I think about it at the time, of course. When I woke up, in many ways I was a completely different person. When I woke up after the train hit me, I was a shaman. I've been a shaman ever since.

It was a divine knock upside the head, literally and spiritually too. It's traditional for shamans to be called by way of injury, illness or madness - or all three. I heard the call and decided to stick around. I was not conscious of it right away of course. It took years for the impact of that day to register in my mind, but nevertheless from the moment I woke up, my foot was set upon the path of shamanism.

Eventually I completely recovered physically, of course. Though when a front is coming through, my collar bone always aches. It was snapped in two that day, 34 years ago today. That was then and this is now. I am a shaman, and all is well. Shalom.


Ducks at National Capital Bank.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Speechless here Reya. Hit by a freight train??? You don't do things by halves! Were you a pedestrian...driver?
A bit too blown away to comment on the rest of the post. I am so pleased you survived!

Hammer said...

"Lots of respectable people have been hit by trains."
- Holly Hunter to George Clooney in "O Brother Where Art Thou?"

Reya Mellicker said...

Thanks Pam. I can say more about it if you're interested. It was definitely a turning point.

Hammer! A comment and a vm. Yes, our paths are coming into alignment. Yes please let's get together soon.

ellen abbott said...

you have referred to this before, the train hitting you I mean. I would like to know the circumstances around that myself.

If you had ignored it it would probably have driven you mad.

Linda Sue said...

JAYSUZ! No body gets hit by a train , becomes more cheerful and then becomes a
REYA! So, yeah, that is VERY special and amazing ...I had a car fall on me when I was seventeen but did not have anything special happen to me other than having to learn to walk again.Pretty mundane.I think that I frightened my spirit guides away!

Reya Mellicker said...

I'll write more about it, Ellen.

Linda Sue, you have lovely spirit guides. You do.

Steve Reed said...

Ah, yes, I remember you writing about the freight train episode. How many people can say they've been hit by a freight train?!

It makes sense that such an event would change your personality -- maybe bring you closer to the preciousness of life, and appreciating its transience.

Anonymous said...

Yes, please do write more about it Reya. I would too would be interested.