respect, and friendship towards someone attuned to their existence with mutual feelings on the part of the mortal, they often express their delight with a physical token, such as a natural artifact, a curio or a magickal pearl; these gifts often come as a surprise to the one so-attuned with Nature; sometimes they are specifically requested through occult means–shamans the world over are well familiar with the principles and the processes involved and regularly practice them. The modus operandi of this occult-retrieval, however, is not an exact science, and Nature does not always respond in the manner hoped for–greed, doubt, arrogance, harmfulness, wrong-timing, etc. almost always prevents the psychic-connection and the bonding from being established with Nature. Shamans treating Nature with love and respect while functioning under a magickal-trance and attuning to her life-rhythm are rewarded for their congenial expressions accordingly. This is not to say that just anyone can approach Nature and request pearls from Her and then be given them. It does require a certain degree of mastery and the unfoldment of shamanic/psychic powers aside from the development of purity and a spiritual consciousness–these are cultivated through years of difficult training, discipline and struggle. In Indonesia, the art of acquiring pearls from Nature is a specialized knowledge and not all indigenous shamans of the class called “pawangs” possess this power or know-how; traditionally, the mantras and “Ilmu” (occult-power/knowledge) of this type of work are transmitted from father to son only–one reason why sources for these pearls are scarce.
The search for one’s animal-totem in a shamanic-journey also often concludes with the practitioner being