How to use Singing with Mushroom Medicine
Auxiliary Shamanic Healing Techniques for Psilocybin Journeys
The famous Yakut shaman Tüspüt had been ill at the age of twenty; he began to sing, and felt better.
— Mircea Eliade (1963)
In my previous article, How to Use Mushrooms at Home, we delved into the initial setup of a medicine ceremony. How to prepare, how to clear the air with palo santo, how to set the intention, turn the lights off, etc. These are all crucial ingredients for a great healing journey.
However, this doesn't really inform the initiate on what (s)he might face whilst journeying. Nobody knows what one shall face; the goal is to explore the unknown. But additional techniques can help make the trip more smooth and comfortable. When experiencing intense pain and suffering, singing can be used for great relief.
The best way to show how to use your voice is to share my latest trip. I ingested 25g of High Hawaiian Truffles (psilocybin tampelandia). This excerpt covers only the first 15 minutes of a 6+ hour trip.
Chicken Trip (Sunday 18 Feb, 2024)
The journey immediately started out with processing something personal. I was 3 years old and at my grandparent's place (mother's side) in the south of the Netherlands. My grandfather kept chickens in a pen at the end of the backyard next to the greenhouse. I could see my mother being there when she was an 8 year old child. They used to have bunnies too.
One day, my mother, as a girl, got overwhelmed. She doesn't understand what happened, but feels it intensely. One of her bunnies or chickens went missing. Then she figured out her father had killed one of her favorite pets, and had it served for dinner that night. The murderous act he had performed on the animal went like a dagger into her spirit. I could feel all of it. Worse, that dagger was somehow in me. The abuse she felt, the pain. How could her father commit such horrible act? She lost her innocence that day.
"Out!" I said. "Take it out. This is so painful. It hurts. It hurts! Take it out now. Be gone!"
Once you notice you are wounded like that and can finally feel it, only then one can exorcise the emotional and physical violence. This is not yet singing. But the voice, the 5th chakra, is a powerful tool in healing, even when it is merely uttering words. Articulating pain helps affirming the wound and in lifting the spell. A lot of healing is language based. If you can pronounce it, and convey it to others or spirit, then you can break the evil spell.
The experience was reminiscent of Frodo getting stabbed by the Witch King at Amon Sûl. After I had removed the dagger from my body, a memory returned. I was indeed 3 years old. I used to help grandfather with feeding the chickens. He showed my how to scare them away by kicking them back, so we could go into the pen to feed. One day, I was careless, and left the hatch unlocked. One chicken flew out and they had to chase after it. I can't recall whether it escaped. Shame engulfed me. Not sure I was punished for it, but they signalled it had been bad. Unknowingly, I still carried that shame.
But then I understood, I actually had done the chicken and my mother a favor. Somehow, at the age of 3, I had acted out something unconsciously and set one of the birds free. Those poor chickens in that small shit-covered pen. It was so abusive. That generation thought it normal to keep birds locked up in small cages. My grandmother also had a yellow singing bird in the living room, that had to breathe in their cigarette smoke in a claustrophobic barred enclosure.
I became so heavy of pain suddenly I desperately needed discharge. I journey with music on usually, and listened to Natalia Beylis Mermaids album. Unbeknownst to me, the music shifted into chicken noises at track #6. The oddest coincidence. A natural urge came to sing for release. You have to understand that I really don't know what I'm doing, but also completely know what I'm doing. I had not read this anywhere, but innately understood to sing in my own words.
Chicken-paw Song
I matched the ground tone of the music (like OHMMMmmm) and sang,
"Chickenpaaaaawwwwssssssssssss"
This prayer affirmed the chicken and recognized the wounded animal inside. When a chicken is murdered, our body viscerally understands this atrocity, and it understands the pain and suffering involved. Both for the little girl who lost her chicken, but also for the chicken itself.
I continued with,
"Chickeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnn! I am a rooster. I am a rooster!"
This was all on one single note. At this point it had turned funny to me and I could smile again. The pain was gone. Anything goes when pain alleviation is achieved. Doesn't matter what you say, as long as it works. (this is the golden standard for all shamanic healing!)
Certain notes resonate with the pain stored in the body. You will understand at which frequency the release happens. One can try changing the pitch until your vocal cords vibrate with the cells in the muscles or fascia holding the trauma.
Creating Songs
There's absolutely no restriction in what one can sing. One can makeup anything. To compare, on another journey I found the Pain Song. That one helps vocalizing and affirming agony. The lyrics again are very simple.
Why (does) it hurt(s) so much?
Why it hurts so much?
This one is more melodic than the Chicken-paw Song. Each monosyllable corresponds with one note. I am not a professional composer so the way I perform it is slightly different than the SoundCloud track, but it is very close. It is a children's song using only Germanic monosyllables of the English language. It is literally a song for my inner child. One of the stages we sometimes have to move through is just to simply articulate the pain. This song is for doing just that.
Open Source Shamanism
If you think these songs might help you, please use them. Especially the Pain Song is potentially useful for most. But don't be afraid to make your own. Just find something that works for you. Or whatever the moment calls out for. Call in the muses and make a song just for you. You'll see how wonderful it is. When the song is your own, it is properly potent.
Good luck on your journeys.
Blessings
Addendum
- I had sketched two birds before doing this trip. My mind was somehow already becoming aware of this bird trauma story.
- Also had my eye a couple of days earlier on a limping pigeon. Made me feel very sad. The bird made an easy target for a hungry cat. 🤷♂
- The day after the journey I got cookies with my cappuccino. I never eat them, so I went outside to feed the birds. Some pigeons ate out of my hand. They must have had a decent sugar rush and loved it. Hope their pancreas handles it.
Sources
- Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy — Mircea Eliade (1963)
