A friend recently shared this popular poetic translation of a creation myth from the Inuit shamanic tradition:

MAGIC WORDS

“In the very earliest time,
 when both people and animals lived on earth,
 a person could become an animal if he wanted to and 
an animal could become a human being.
 Sometimes they were people
 and sometimes animals, 
and there was no difference.
 All spoke the same language.

Picture of a half-animal half-human in a Paleolithic cave painting in Dordogne, France.

That was the time when words were like magic. 
The human mind had mysterious powers. 
A word spoken by chance 
might have strange consequences. 
It would suddenly come alive 
and what people wanted to happen could happen—
all you had to do was say it.
 Nobody could explain this.
 That’s the way it was.”

—Translated from the Inuit by poet Edward Field.

This story has interesting echoes with other cultural stories (as in the biblical verse “In the beginning there was the word….”), and of course it also reminds us of one of Ruiz’s lessons from The Four Agreements: “Be impeccable with your word.”

The Magic Words tradition also reminds us of the power of intention through words. But it is not enough to just ask for what we want. We must ask impeccably. When we are both impeccable with our word and we speak what we want or need, we very often bring those wishes/hopes/desires/goals into fulfillment.

This Inuit tradition also reminds us, people and animals were one and the same. We spoke the same language. What does that mean in terms of articulating your goals and intentions?

In the Shamanic tradition of shapeshifting, the dissolution of our identity on this plane into the spirit world and back again offers us an opportunity for perspective, for connection, and for understanding that common symbolic language. When we embark on shamanic journeys, we are re-remembering our forgotten language, our animal ancestry. We might ask, in terms of how to be impeccable with our words, WWSD? Or, What Would Spirit Do? What Would Jaguar Do? What Would Wolf Say?

When we embark on a shamanic journey, and spirit speaks to us, we are privileged to be able to reflect upon and reconsider our intentions. We are privileged to remember that words are magic. It is up to us to choose how to best be impeccable with our words.