Shamanism

“Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?”
Garth Nix

A full morning pulling together the last remnants of the Photobook about Dad's life, ready to upload for printing in time for Christmas - and to get the extra discount before the end of the month!

That finished, I hit the road to head for Lampeter to attend a seminar on Shamanism at the University at 5pm.  An interesting journey through the valleys, still draped in frost with frozen waterfalls along the road.  The temperature on the dashboard didn't get much above -2, and in the valleys was usually -3.5. So it was cold.  But the sunlight on the uplands was so vivid it made the journey a delight in colour, light and shadow as I headed West into the sunset.  The Autumn colours are so rich in the sunlight, and contrast with the blue of the sky - but I had limited time to stop for a photo, so I decided on a grab shot of the wind turbine on the hillside between Hollybush and Tredegar, heading up the Sirhowy valley.  Fortunately I'd allowed 3 hours to get to Lampeter, I made it with about 15 minutes to spare.  Not surprisingly the talks prompted more questions about Shamanic practice and the various forms of it that have evolved over the millennia.  I did find the reflection on my journey there and back to be an interesting parallel with the Shamanic practice of journeying in the other worlds.