May 30, 2003
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The Adventures of Melody Andrewsdottir,
Lady Shaman
Unfortunately, the Mysterious Manuscript detailing her adventures has become more and more illegible, and has been forwarded to the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople for examination and testing. Their work should be done in time for the next issue.
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Following episode two of Melody, in Fall of 1990, The Shaman Papers consisted of a news release announcing the formation of The Denali Center for Holistic Health and Personal Growth, and a single-page Letter from the Editor:
With this issue, TSP will go on a bit of a hiatus. The enclosed news release will give you an idea of what is going on. When you read this, I do not know where I will be or what I will be doing–hunting diamonds in Arkansas, scaling Devil’s Tower, doing psychic readings in Montana, whatever.
This is a big step and a big challenge, especially for one who had had a civil service job for over 18 years, and who lived his entire life within 30 miles of the birthplace. But the wheel turns, changes happen, and life goes on.
One interesting change which I have not spoken of publicly before is a change in religious orientation. Once a Seax-Wicca solitary, I am more and more leery of any religion with capital letters. The best I can come to defining my own beliefs is animism, pantheism, and reincarnation. But I don’t so much as believe in these things as know these things. I know that the mystery of the infinite is in all things, I know that all things have their spirits (or consciousness resonance matrix, as Larry Cornett puts it), and I know I have been here before, and that I will be back. What has all this to do with shamanism?
Off hand, I dunno. Maybe this is just some editorial self-indulgence. On the other hand, John Muir wisely observed that when we try to pick out any one thing by itself, we find it to be hitched to everything else in the universe.
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Finally, everyone who reads this–please keep in touch. My personal correspondence has suffered greatly lately due to the demands of getting ready to leave my job and move to Alaska.
