Andalusia Land of Shamans

andalusia

land of

shamans

Published by Thomas Gottwald at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Thomas Gottwald

ISBN 9781310920820

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of

the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial

purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

This book is available as a printed copy at most major book stores.

The author

Born in 1952 in Germany, Thomas Gottwald,

a salesman, constructor and hobby musician.

Involved as a master in spiritual teaching for about 25 years, today he works as a life coach and hypnotherapist.

Running a guesthouse in a small Andalusian village

is part of his occupation.

Acknowledgements

To all the blessed souls Otto met on his journey.

Without you, we would have nothing to say.

To all who helped in the process of writing, correcting, editing and publishing this book.

In alphabetical order:

Axel Risse – Berlin – Germany

Belen Castiello Valle – Granada – Spain

Felix Rey – Bristol – United Kingdom

Jamie Agoglia – Los Angeles – United States

Janu Jivanantha – Surrey – Canada

And to all the hundreds of visitors during the last years,

who patiently listened to our stories

and encouraged us to write this book.

Dedicated to all those, who on their way back home,

came to know the Secret.

And all those who are still walking the path,

with unbreakable need and hope.

Contents

About the author

Acknowledgments

Dedication

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Growing up

Moving again

Towards the island

A greater experience

Don Carlos

Living in town

The strange lady

New place, new life

Missing something

A new family

Where to go now

A final comment

Contact

Foreword

Don' t ask how - say wow

That's the underlying message throughout the book. Taking a step from all our logical and reasonable understanding towards a world of fantasy and wonder that always existed and still exists. From where you are, dear reader, Andalusia may have an exotic flavor, inspiring your mind and thoughts or even evoke emotions to fill the Andalusian landscape with unknown secrets where everything seems to be possible.

But looking from Andalusia to your place, wherever you might be right now, Hawaii or New York, Senegal or Paris; any place in the world is gifted with an exotic touch. Wherever our attention goes, that's what the world will show us, what it puts in the game for us. Sometimes the place we live seems to be a little worn out. Our worries about life, stress and anxiety help to discolor our environment. All appears grayish, lacking life. So shifting your focus a bit towards fantasy and wonder you might become aware that a world, similar to the one of our book, might exist just next to you.

The purpose of this book is to suggest and hopefully help the reader to open up and get prepared to use more frequently the word maybe instead of sentencing your perception with a definite yes or no, closing all the doors to a more abundant life.

"Those who don't feel this love pulling them like a river,

those who don't drink a dawn as a cup of spring water

or take a sunset like a supper,

those who don' t want to change, let them sleep."

Mevlana Rumi

Introduction

"The Secret will not be found by searching

yet only the searcher may find it"

Unknown

The book on hand is a novel. The story, the life and adventures of a German fellow who decides to leave his homeland. Let us call him Otto, of course not his real name. It's a novel, not an autobiography. Even though Otto´s character is quite close to us. The main purpose of writing this book is not to tell the life of Otto but to give the reader a clue about the extraordinary people Otto met on his journey.

All names, respecting the privacy of every one mentioned in the book, are not as you would call them if you would be lucky enough to meet them. Even villages, places, mountains or rivers are called differently. Only Andalusia maintains her original name. Because here it is where all these strange events took place. Believe and be sure that all that is told in this book is based on experience.

Of course there might be moments when a mountain is painted a little higher, a valley deeper, a forest darker and from time to time the sun will be allowed to shine brighter than it did in that moment. But these are only some added ingredients to our story. All these events you will become a witness of, happened as we describe them. All the characters appearing in this writing are real.

We would be happy and feel blessed if this book could help you to become more aware of our never fully discovered abilities as human beings. Especially in our western culture, for too long, we have focused mostly on logical thinking, the need to be able to explain and understand everything. We have an urgent need to give a name to each and all, to everything. Without that name we feel unsafe, uncomfortable, fearing to drown in that unknown world. To how many objects or events in our life have we given a name without knowing anything about them? Electricity, ocean, internet, space etc. Who knows what we are really talking about?

Maybe a few, but most of us have no idea what these things are or how they really work. By knowing the names we feel safe. There is an explanation, something to hold on to. How does a radio or TV work? Thousands of songs or images floating in our room, invisible. But we don't doubt about their existence, even though we are unable to see, to touch, to smell or hear them. The only thing we need is this device, a receiver, and now we can enjoy the songs or images.

And what, if we humans have the ability to become a receiver for a different kind of songs, images, knowledge or even wisdom, coming from a deeper, more profound source? A more profound source, part of ourselves. So deep that often we are not even aware of its existence. To satisfy our need of explanation or name we could call this source soul, spirit or subconscious mind.

In our western world we have been trained to manage life depending only or mostly on our conscious mind. This wonderful tool that has brought us the greatest progress. Cars, space travel, internet, only to name some positive ones. All these sophisticated inventions we use to make our world a better place, hopefully. Yet the knowledge and understanding discovered by our conscious mind seems to be incomplete.

Taking a look at this little bird flying from Norway to Senegal to spend the winter time and then, looking at ourselves, we might wonder how it is that we get lost using our sophisticated GPS. When observing the healing process taking place while a disabled child spends some time with a dolphin, what is more important? To understand the process or to be a witness of this most wonderful healing? We might not be able to understand, but we can still enjoy the results.

What if we could be a little more flexible, saying maybe instead of yes or no, black or white? Leaving a door open for chance or intuition. Let’s put some more color into our lives.

So what is a shaman? From our point of view and our experience a shaman is a human being, man or woman, young or old, maybe from some ancient tribe, or a modern urban shaman. The shaman is a person able to connect in a natural, innate way to a higher source. The Source can be named in any way: Spirits, Angels, Aliens or the Divine. The name itself depends on the social background and does not represent an absolute truth. Shamans bring help, understanding, mercy and love. His or her way of working might consist in performing some kind of ritual or interacting with their visitors. But it does not necessarily. Simply by being in their presence for a moment may change the life of a person. The shaman is always conscious of being a tool and not the Source. Power or healing does not come from him or her, but they are able to invoke help.

If you would buy a mobile phone for your grandma, and you buy the one with big numbers, so grandma can handle it easily, the problem comes in the moment the credit on grandma’s mobile is spent. She does not know how to recharge the phone. But you do. You take your special phone and ask the company to send credit to grandma’s phone. That is how healing works!

Growing up

Not yet grown up but already a little man, Otto shared his home with his parents and siblings. The house they lived in was a huge building. Very huge for Otto. There were offices, a store and Otto’s nightmare, a large warehouse. This warehouse was filled with strange, very long iron bars and a workshop. All this space was quite dark, with two doors. A narrow one connected the warehouse with their home. And a wide door towards the exterior was the entrance and exit of this frightening place.

Outside that door there was a path surrounding the entire building. The path was covered with little pebbles. Grey, black and white. A high old walnut tree was part of the grounds that belonged to the house. A friend to Otto, this silent being shared all these years with him until he grew up and moved to another place. These grounds were a playground for Otto, where he and his friends spent hours and hours and he was even allowed to play when it started to get dark, at sunset. One side of the house was flanked by the street. Just opposite to the building there was a stone wall, and in front of that wall there stood a lantern. One of those old gas street lanterns.

Every evening at sunset a man with a uniform would appear to light the lanterns with his long stick. High up there, next to the lantern’s glass body, there was a small metal ring. That ring was to ignite or turn off the light, a little gas flame. So, patiently Otto and his friends, all a bit younger than Otto, were hiding behind some bushes. The bushes were part of a small garden to the left and right of a short pathway leading to the entrance door of the house. Green grass, flowers, some bushes and two trees, still young and low, a larch and a birch. Otto loved these trees, subtle and fragile beings of great beauty.

Waiting until the uniformed man was out of sight, they would cross the street and mount the stone wall. From there it was easy to climb the pole of the lantern up to the top and then pull on that little metal ring. In one moment the light was gone and darkness reigned all around. And that was perfect for Otto and his friends. Now they were ready to start playing their favorite game, hide and seek.

Of course there were days when the gas man returned, angrily shouting, and everyone would run away ending the game. On these days Otto and his companions would wonder about how boring the adult world was, until their parents or brothers called them to return home. This call confirmed to them their thoughts about the boring adult world. All was structured, as if put into a little box, a cage. No colors, no fun, no fantasy, no change.

Otto's parents, the whole household, everyone there was living in that small box of conscious thinking. Their only concern in life was the business they were running. Selling car accessories and very heavy, long steel springs for vans or trucks. Their life was only work, work and more work. The little garden at the entrance of the house: never did anyone sit there to rest and enjoy a moment. A huge terrace, a really huge terrace, this part of their home appeared to be like a desert. No flower, no tree, nothing to sit on, no table, just complete emptiness. No one there to take pleasure in sunshine or rain. Not on that terrace nor in the small garden in front of the house. It seemed that no one had time or a need for rest, for dreaming.

Their lives were focused on buying and selling. Opening the shop early in the morning and closing it late in the evening. While working they did not even realize when Otto and his gang turned off the lantern on the street. It was the biggest effort to keep that business running. Apparently they were living a high middle class life. The mansion, a lovely neighborhood and the car. A limousine. Nice and expensive. All of which needed care and income.

There were quite a few members of the household. First and of course most importantly the parents, then a sister and a brother, both a little older than Otto. There was an aunt and two cousins and later the boyfriend or girlfriend of his siblings. And there was always a