My Second Life as a Virtual Shaman
in Second Life
I am a virtual shaman in a Second Life world. Do you hear the
call of different realities? Are you ready for another kind of
adventure? Please join me in the Huna Village. I will be happy to help
you with your explorations. Lois has started a service for those wishing help in this adventure..
Changing Realities
I began a new journey into a reality called Second Life. I
received the calling: “You can be someplace else. You can be someone
else and you can look as you dream yourself to be. It is your dream and
you can choose who you are, how you look, where you live and what you
do. You can change whatever you create as many times as you want. You
can change your personality and your interests in fact you can be more
than one person if and when you choose and you can fly!” This was my
invitation and I accepted.
I came into this life as a newbie. My movements awkward as I began
to explore this new landscape. Navigation was my initial obstacle. My
computer and internet speed were slow and I often found myself frozen or
crashed. Unable to move, I found myself frustrated with this new
experience. I wanted to be in control and I found that I wasn’t. It was a
shamanic journey into the underworld of Milu. I had obstacles to meet
and to move beyond. This test was met with a simple restart on my
computer. When tired of restarting, I simply quit the session for the
day. This would do until I could get a first level fix with a high speed
connection and a faster computer. I also learned that the SL program,
as was myself, in a process of updates and fixes.
My next obstacle was communication. Still unsure of myself, I
could not initiate conversations with other avatars. I did not know the
rules and I lacked confidence to make my own. So I silently moved around
orientation island sometimes bumping into other avatars and unable even
to type in a simple word like “sorry.” I wanted to be invisible. Where
was my invisibility cloak? I practiced talking to trees and waterfalls
and flowers. One day an object talked back. It was a beginning.
My next obstacle was appearance. I wanted to change the way I
looked. I wanted my outward form to reflect my inward desires. I needed
to make the invisible visible. First I had to learn how to make changes.
Change making takes a certain amount of risk taking. I was afraid to
lose what I had. Could I reverse my decisions and go back to the
beginning again? This obstacle was met by making small changes until I
was satisfied with my temporary look long enough to go out into the
world.
The next challenge was to step off orientation island where I was
surrounded by newbies like myself and integrate myself into the bigger
world called the Mainland. I stopped off on Help Island, still trying to
get a knowledge base that would help me in my future adventures. I
learned how to get information about the things in my environment and
about the people surrounding me. I learned how to accumulate
possessions. I went on a spree of collecting that would later be my
demise. Many things in this world are free and I could not resist having
it all.
Questions started to appear. Do I bring some of my RL fears into
SL? If I start making changes and doing new things in SL will I transfer
these changes to my RL?
Pali Uli
Aloha International through the direction of Dr. Serge Kahili King
bought an island. Our own Huna Village called Pali Uli was developed.
My very first explorations took place there. I felt safe among the
familiar huts on this tropical island. The first visitors were members
of the Huna Fellowship and I began my first conversations there. There
was an area called Melemele that was just for members to explore, enjoy
and create. I met friends there and felt comfortable among people who
took the vow to make this world a better place. Serge held a Talk Story
one Sunday morning and fellowship members from around the world
attended. I learned how to add people to my friends list. We were all
new to this virtual world and laughed at ourselves as we flew through
walls, floors and ceilings. At this time voice was activated and we
could listen and talk to each other as if in RL. Well almost, there were
a few bugs that had to be worked through. I soon purchased a headset
and microphone to make communicating easier. Our aka cords became
stronger as we gathered. I connected with friends Barbla from
Switzerland, Miko from Japan and Kahu Akina from New Zealand. I am
typically a person who never uses the telephone and rarely initiates
correspondence. In SL I found myself instant messaging and chatting. A
new pattern emerged that might effect other changes in my life.
I began experimenting with the many objects that I found in my
extensive inventory. This inventory was made huge by my visits to
Freebie Warehouse and Freebie Planet. Places where you could unload
crates of clothes, jewelry, furniture and more. The best part was that
everything was free L$O just click on buy and it was yours. The bad part
was that my inventory soon became out of control with stuff that I
would never use. I began to delete things that were not useful to me at
the moment. I returned to Melemele and rezed objects (click and drag to
the ground) to see what mysteries lay in those crates of mine. I found
refuge in one of the huts that became my dressing room. All I had to do
was open the crate, select something and click on wear. Instant clothes
and they fit perfectly. Something that is not so easy for me to do in
real life. Change is easy here and yes you can usually revert to the old
and comfortable if you choose to. However, it does take developing a
knowledge base to make you familiar with the rules of this world
The World Is What You Think It Is
There still was much to learn. Serge lent me his books on SL and I
read them from cover to cover. A Real Life practice that has been with
me since childhood.
It was during this period that I found out that things were not
always what they seem. Kahu Akina and I met at a beach. When I arrived
he was floating in the air above his beach towel. I loved the effect and
asked him how he did it. He said that he was not floating and that what
I experienced was only my view of things. The world is truly what you
think it is. This has happened before when Kealoha Huet and I sat in
different rooms and went from his computer to mine and saw differently.
Everything Is Working Out Perfectly
I was in a hut in Melemele trying out different appearances. I
clicked on what was called a particle cape. I thought that it would be a
sparkling cape that I could wear. When I made it appear. Let us revert
to our memories of Harry Potter. When I made it apparate. It sent a wave
of particles that took the form of moving blue specks from within the
hut to outside its walls. Cool I thought until I tried to take it back.
No matter what I did I could not control the action that I initiated. I
could not delete the particle cape. It wasn’t until the next day that I
traced the cape back to its owner and found the secret to unlocking the
cape. The experience was one of learning about transparencies and all
was well after all.
“Your World, Your Imagination”
Imagine a world where you point your finger at something and
abracadabra something appears. Point again and its gone. Move something
from the invisible to the visible realms and back again. It’s a simple
keyboard stroke and mouse click and magical things begin to happen. Walk
through walls, underwater and ground. Fly above the stars. Teleport
from one place to another. Fall from a cliff, brush yourself off and
walk on. Die and come back to life. Come back to life as another person
or an animal. Swim without getting wet. Eat and Drink with no caloric
consequences. Do what you dare to do with no fear. Possess magical sight
and look through walls, zooming in at a distance. Build castles in the
sky. Create and live your dream. Set your wildest imagination free.
Teleportation, astral travel, bilocation, shapeshifting all are
possible. Living in Second Life is living the shamanic way.
Everything Is A Dream
To the Shaman everything is a dream and because everything is a
dream, you can change your dream and change your reality. Shaman’s go in
and out of different levels of reality. In our tradition we talk about
the 4 levels. In Second Life you can experience these levels. In the
first level of reality everything is separate. You are different in
personality and dress from the avatar standing next to you. You are
different from the tree you are standing under and the bird that is
flying by. You move differently and you communicate differently. Science
has studied these differences and you can be affected by these
differences as you interact with the environment created within SL.
On the second level the shaman sees everything as connected. This
is the telepathic area where psychic skills are observed. Here you can
talk to the trees and they will talk back. You can open a chat window
and open the connection. Using the magical symbols of the alphabet you
can read the mind of someone worlds away. I enjoy going to a special
place set aside for Alakai (Spiritual leaders of Huna International). It
is an island with a fire pit and hot pool. I go there to relax. I can
sit in the hot steamy waters and heal. The sound of the bubbling jacuzzi
calms me as the steam blankets me in comfort. I identify with my avatar
and can feel the relaxing effect on my Real Life body. We also have a
waterfall that we can stand under and doing so helps to make me feel
refreshed.
On the third level the shaman sees everything as a dream where you
can create whatever you imagine. This is what SL is all about -
Creation. Using what is called prims, you can build anything that you
can imagine. The creators of second life have given us the tools to do
this and it is amazing to experience what people have dreamed up. Life
is a journey and an adventure. Read the omens and symbols and determine
the path that you are to walk. If you see the world as a dangerous place
then you will find that place in SL. If you see life as a loving place
then you will find love reflected in your SL experiences. When looking
at life as a journey and adventure, SL opens magical portals for you to
explore.
On the fourth level the shaman can become one with something. This
is the mystical level and for the shaman it is one of shapeshifting,
grokking and astral travel. In SL you can become an avatar with animal
characteristics called a furry and in SL you can fly. I have become one
with my avatar. If someone was to bump into me I physically react with a
slight startle.
Shapeshifting
I am born again over and over in an endless array of costumes. Change comes more easily to me now as I realize that nothing is really lost, just different. I have endless possibilities if I dare to take a risk. At first I took small steps in making just slight changes to my appearance. With an increased knowledge base, I became braver. I am now exploring the question that when I assume a new body in SL (second life), what are the characteristics that I will mimic in RL (real life)?
Grokking
I copy the patterns of water in SL just by standing under a waterfall
and feeling the water flow with no conscious attempt at change. I walk
away refreshed as the obstacles of my day are washed away.
I imitate wind
I role play earth
I adopt and become the pattern of fire. As I become one with it, the
resonance that I have developed will make changes in me. In a long
distance healing mode the changes in my behavior will have an effect on
the behavior of a fire that I am focusing on.
I can fly. Not only that, I can teleport to another location world's
away. As I sit in Real Life I bi-locate to another reality in Second
Life. I can even hold more than one conversation at a time.
Communicating with three avatars, located in three different SL
locations, who have real lives in three different countries, worlds
apart. We share a common SL time but have different zones of time in
real life. Simultaneously today is their yesterday.
I am a virtual shaman in a Second Life world. Do you hear the call
of different realities? Are you ready for another kind of adventure?
Please join me in the Huna Village. I will be happy to help you with
your explorations.
by Heinani Huet aka Lois Stokes