> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://stories.terrasecreta.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Crazy Doctor’s Assignment: Carrying The Weight Of Golija Mountain - URL: https://stories.terrasecreta.net/the-crazy-doctors-assignment-carrying-the-weight-of-golija-mountain/ - Published: 2026-10-22T19:11:30.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T11:05:00.000Z - Description: Twelve kilometers, one heavy log, and the ruthless initiation that changed my perception of reality. - Author: Iggy Ardo - Tags: endeavor On my second shamanic retreat, our teacher walked over to the two of us and gave us a special task: to carry a log to the top of the mountain. Twelve kilometers. One birch log, five meters long. Two novices. And no permission to put it down. I was twenty-something, and I was still a skeptic then — the kind who listens to other people’s spiritual stories and quietly weighs them under their self-deception on one pan, or their conspiracy to fool the rest of us on the other. I had not yet found a third option. **This was the day the pan broke.** ## Special Assignment Around half past ten, Vuk called us to the wooden veranda of the main house. As usual, he was slowly enjoying the ritual of puffing on his pipe, while the scent of tobacco mixed with the summer heat. He looked at us significantly with his dark, piercing eyes, deeply set beneath thick, scattered black eyebrows. He turned his head and nodded with his chin toward the base of the porch at the tree trunk lying in front of the house, cleaned, straight as an arrow, and about five meters long. “**Your mission today is to take this birch to Janko's stone**,” he said. He said that slowly and significantly, yet casually, as if he were asking us to take a walk to the neighbor's house. His gaze moved away from us, and he began to slowly and thoroughly clean his pipe. He scraped the pipe with slow, rhythmic movements while Paya and I stared at each other, stunned. As nonchalantly as possible, without looking at us, he added, “**Without stopping**.” As if he had just shared some completely trivial, offhand information, rather than the hardest part of the task. ![An striking older man with a grey beard holding a wooden pipe, smiling, with green hillsides behind him](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/e9/20e98126-39e2-4fb0-9855-d80878f54d11/content/images/2026/10/data-src-image-04f4dc48-49de-4d18-a0df-fcf33945f719.jpeg) Dr. Wolf, our teacher, with one of his pipes and one of his rare smiles Paya and I observed each other like two companions in a painful drama. Ahead of us were 12 kilometers of serious mountain ascent and an elevation gain of over 1500 meters. And that with a tree on our backs. Without stopping. All our energy and enthusiasm were rapidly fading, as if drained from us. A year earlier, I had been to Golija for the first time, and I reached the summit. I didn't remember the path because there were many winding, intersecting forest trails to get there, and for Paya, it was his first shamanic gathering. He had no idea what Janko's stone was, let alone where it was. ## Impossible Mission And Making Excuses We lifted about seventy to one hundred kilograms of raw material onto our shoulders. I never found out the weight of the birch, but I will never forget that feeling of weight on my shoulders. We started slowly and uncertainly. Our enthusiasm was close to zero. We appeared more like convicts on their way to some kind of torture. The first two kilometers were a constant, intense uphill climb to the Krst intersection, along a dirt road with sharp, uneven stones, fallen branches, and deep ruts carved by rain, snow, and tractors. Carrying a tree together requires serious synchronization. Every misaligned movement of ours on uneven ground was an unpleasant jolt. Every unsynchronized step intensified the jolt and pain that echoed through our shoulders, backs, and further down the rest of our bodies. We stumbled. We had to walk unnaturally bent to the side to maintain the balance of the trunk, which had no intention of easing the journey and, as if on purpose, constantly shifted its center of gravity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/e9/20e98126-39e2-4fb0-9855-d80878f54d11/content/images/2026/10/image-1.png) The slopes of Golija, with the quiet clouds coming down Already within the first few hundred meters, as the cold bark of the tree scraped against the skin of my neck, shoulders, and arms, my mind began to scream. It was searching for logic, an escape, and an excuse. We weren't special forces. We weren't soldiers either. Just two ordinary guys who, at that moment, hated that day, the task, the burden of the wood, and the one who had forced us into it. I cursed it all silently, and a bit more besides, just to make sure I missed nothing that might be worth cursing. Perhaps Vuk sent us on this mission out of some malicious, sadistic whim. My self-doubt was significantly undermining me. I was absolutely convinced that there was no way we would reach Krst, let alone the top of the mountain. The task seemed impossible and unrealistic to me. I felt powerless; I was almost desperate. I was arguing with Vuk in my mind. Paya was silent, but I knew he was going through the same storm in his mind. I was thinking about leaving everything behind, getting in the car, and returning home to the city. My ego wanted to give up and throw the tree into the abyss, but some deeper thread was pulling us further. It all came down to the next step, the next meter, the next curve. ****This is where the excerpt ends. The story continues.** ****I HAVE A GIFT FOR YOU** [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/e9/20e98126-39e2-4fb0-9855-d80878f54d11/content/images/2026/10/M001---Ghost-Medium---Text--2400x1350-.jpg)](https://terrasecreta.gumroad.com/l/the-crazy-doctors-assignment/S001GIFT/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=S001) The whole story is in my short book “****The Crazy Doctor's Assignment: Carrying the Weight of Golija Mountain**.” (PDF and EPUB) [GET YOUR GIFT ](https://terrasecreta.gumroad.com/l/the-crazy-doctors-assignment/S001GIFT/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=S001) ### Go deeper with Terra Secreta **I write regularly.** About esoteric experiences — shamanism, astral journeys, inorganic beings, inner work, and spirituality. **You can find me here:** \- [**Library**](https://www.terrasecreta.net/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=S001#library) \- Books and guides — some of them free \- [**Instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/iggyardo/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=S001) \- Insights, inspiration, and announcements [**Email**](mailto:iggyardo@terrasecreta.net) \- If you have a question, suggestion, comment, personal experience, or insight you would like to share — feel free to write to me. I read every email. ****I wish you all the luck and success on your spiritual journey.** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/e9/20e98126-39e2-4fb0-9855-d80878f54d11/content/images/2026/10/Perun-Sign-B-SPACE-1200x360-px.png) ## ****Follow The Map** NEW REAL SHAMANIC STORIES AND INSIGHTS in your inbox, before anyone else. From my own journey and from inorganic beings — my astral friends. A guide through the other realms and altered states of consciousness, with techniques you can use. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Usually once a week. Unsubscribe anytime.