I remember sitting at the very top of a waterfall in Macquarie Pass, completely alone, in my first year of recovery from that dark mental health crisis. I’d climbed all the way up, following the water to its source, and sat down to meditate.
That’s when I felt it—a powerful presence behind me in the bush, moving back toward the stream. I stayed still, eyes closed, and three animals came to me in that meditation. The black jaguar, offering the gifts of action, patience, and stealth. The elephant, bringing intelligence and gentleness. The wolf, carrying leadership and community.
They’ve stayed with me ever since. More have joined—the Andean condor that glides above me when I trail run, connecting me to father sky. Quetzalcoatl appearing recently with wisdom, creativity, and healing messages that come as intuition. And the serpent, presenting itself in many forms, particularly meaningful since my Mayan cosmological life path is 10 Kan.
Whether these are metaphorical or something more, I use these energies—these archetypes—to guide my path. I summon their qualities when I need to process information, when I need physical power, when I need intelligence.
And I’m far from the first person to do this.
What Carl Jung Understood About Ancient Wisdom
Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist who broke away from Freud, spent decades studying mythology, religion, and the human psyche. What he discovered was profound: certain patterns—archetypes—appear across all human cultures, throughout all of history.
The Hero. The Shadow. The Wise Old Man. The Great Mother. These aren’t just stories we tell. They’re blueprints in our unconscious mind, shaping how we see the world and ourselves.
But here’s what fascinates me: indigenous tribes have known this for millennia. They’ve been using shamanic journeying to connect with these archetypal powers long before Jung gave them psychological names.
The Shamanic Journey: Ancient Technology for Inner Power
Indigenous cultures worldwide have practiced shamanic journeying as a way to access wisdom, healing, and power. From the Shipibo in Peru (where my mother’s lineage comes from) to the Aboriginal peoples of Australia, from Siberian shamans to Native American medicine people—they’ve all understood something essential.
We contain multitudes. And we can dialogue with these inner powers.
I’ve been fortunate to learn the art of shamanic journeying through an experienced shamanic practitioner who trained with American indigenous tribes. The method is beautifully simple: the rhythmic beat of the drum naturally moves people into an altered state of consciousness where they can access this ancient technology.
When a shaman journeys to meet their power animal, they’re not just engaging in ritual. They’re accessing archetypal energy that lives in what Jung called the collective unconscious. The jaguar carries specific qualities—stealth, power, sovereignty. The eagle offers vision and perspective. The serpent brings transformation and healing.
These aren’t random. They appear across cultures because they represent fundamental patterns of being.
My Own Practice: Journeying Multiple Times a Week
That day at the waterfall in my first year of recovery wasn’t an isolated incident. It was the beginning of a relationship with these energies that continues to deepen.
Now I journey multiple times per week. Sometimes I’m asking questions about what to do next in my practice or my life. Sometimes I’m seeking guidance on a difficult client situation. And sometimes, honestly, I do it just for fun—to connect with that sense of power and wisdom that’s always available.
I’ve seen incredible results in my own nervous system, my outlook on life, and even my cognition. When you regularly access these archetypal energies, something shifts. You become more grounded, more resourceful, more connected to your own inner wisdom.
When I need to make a difficult decision, I call on the jaguar’s patience and precision. When I’m working with a client who’s struggling with community and belonging, I connect with the wolf’s energy. When I’m running trails in the bush, the condor reminds me to see the bigger picture, to rise above the immediate struggle.
These aren’t just nice metaphors. They’re sources of genuine power and guidance.
The Persona and the Shadow: Jung’s Core Archetypes
Jung identified two archetypes that show up constantly in my clinical work: the Persona and the Shadow.
The Persona is the mask we wear—the professional face, the competent leader, the person who has it all together. For high-achieving professionals, this mask often becomes the problem. They’ve worn it so long they’ve forgotten who’s underneath.
That marketing executive I mentioned earlier—the one who said “I don’t even know who I am anymore outside of work”—she’d over-identified with her Persona. The successful professional had consumed everything else.
The Shadow is everything we’ve rejected about ourselves. The anger we’re not allowed to feel. The vulnerability we’ve been taught to hide. The parts of us that don’t fit the image we’re trying to maintain.
Here’s what’s powerful: indigenous shamanic practices have always known how to work with the Shadow. They call it by different names—the wounded parts, the spirits that need healing, the energies that need integration. But it’s the same work Jung was describing.
Why This Matters Now
We live in a time of profound disconnection. From nature. From community. From ourselves. The corporate world demands we show up as one-dimensional—productive, logical, controlled.
But we’re not one-dimensional. We’re complex beings with access to ancient wisdom, archetypal powers, and inner resources we’ve barely begun to tap.
When you understand that your anxiety isn’t a personal failing but a universal pattern—the Orphan seeking security, the Warrior unable to rest—it changes everything. You’re not broken. You’re experiencing an archetypal challenge that humans have faced for thousands of years.
And like those who came before you, you can access archetypal power to navigate it.
What I’ve Witnessed: Incredible Results
Through my work with shamanic journeying—both personally and with clients—I’ve witnessed some remarkable transformations. People’s nervous systems regulate in ways I haven’t seen with other modalities alone. Their outlook on life shifts from one of scarcity and fear to one of possibility and power.
Even their cognition changes. They start thinking more clearly, making decisions more confidently, trusting their intuition in ways they never have before.
The drum-induced altered state isn’t some mystical experience you need special abilities to access. It’s a natural human capacity. The rhythmic drumbeat—typically around 4-7 beats per second—shifts your brainwave patterns into a theta state, the same state you experience in deep meditation or just before sleep.
In this state, the barriers between conscious and unconscious dissolve. You can dialogue with archetypal energies, receive guidance, retrieve lost parts of yourself, and access wisdom that’s always been there but couldn’t break through the noise of daily life.
Accessing Your Own Archetypal Guides
The shamanic journey isn’t some exotic practice reserved for indigenous cultures. It’s a birthright—a way of accessing the wisdom that lives in your unconscious mind.
In the workshop I’m running, we’ll use the drum to journey into altered states where you can connect with archetypal energies that can guide and empower you. Whether you meet a power animal like I did at that waterfall, or connect with ancestral wisdom, or discover inner resources you didn’t know you had—the journey opens doors.
I’ve learned this practice respectfully, honoring the indigenous wisdom-keepers who’ve maintained these traditions for thousands of years. This isn’t about cultural appropriation. It’s about recognizing that these practices work because they tap into something universal—the archetypal patterns Jung spent his life studying.
Moving Forward With Power
Jung believed the goal wasn’t to eliminate parts of ourselves but to integrate them. To become whole. The shamanic traditions say something similar: we reclaim our power by integrating the energies we’ve lost or rejected.
The jaguar taught me that power and patience can coexist. The elephant showed me that intelligence includes gentleness. The wolf reminded me that true leadership serves the community.
These aren’t just poetic ideas. They’re practical tools for navigating life’s challenges.
Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, burnout, or just a sense that there’s more to you than you’re currently accessing—archetypal work offers a way forward. Not through fighting yourself, but through befriending the powers that live within you.
The patterns are already there, written in your unconscious. The question is: are you ready to meet them?
Lawrence Hand is a clinical hypnotherapist at Inner Rhythm, specializing in results-driven hypnotherapy and strategic psychotherapy for professionals dealing with stress, anxiety, and burnout. Combining lived experience with evidence-based clinical training and shamanic practices honoring his Peruvian heritage, he helps clients access their inner power and create lasting transformation. Inner Rhythm bridges ancient wisdom with modern therapeutic approaches.