A Deeper Look Into Our History

Power Animals have a long history in the practice of shamanism. They are one of our primary spirit helpers. We have acknowledged such wisdom and ancientness in our circles this year.

 In circles past and articles written I have talked about caves with ancient altars to Bears and Jaguars. Cave paintings still adorn the walls where our Ancestors lived for thousands of years. Most cave artefacts were left between 35,000 and 10, 000 BCE. The most beautiful of what remains of cave art was obviously made during this long time period.

 In the cave Les Trois Freres inPyrenees, there are over 500 paintings and engravings. Many of the ancient paintings represent figures of man in various transitions between animal and human. From top to bottom a whole wall is covered with engravings. The surface has been worked by your ancestors with tools of stone, creating the animals that lived at this time in southern France: the mammoth, rhinoceros, bison, wild horse, bear, wild ass, reindeer, wolverine, musk ox; also, the smaller animals have been engraved: snowy owls, hares, and fish. In many of the pictures are seen darts everywhere, flying at the game, enacting the hunt. Several engravings of bears have holes where the images were struck and blood is shown spouting from their mouths.

 In circles past we gathered to do Jaguar postures. The postures we chose to do were of the jaguar shamans, half Jaguar/half shaman, referred to as the shapeshifter. Many of these paintings have very intricate details of the animals going so far in detail as to show movement. I believe the most intense of all of the trance postures I have ever done, Jaguar has been the most powerful.

 The Inuit call the shaman “lord of the beasts”. I think that we created such beautiful creations of animals because we found a medium to express our experiences traveling through the doorway. We could finally translate what we experienced. That very thought leaves an indelible impression upon me. The paintings of the animals are not symbolic, or at least rarely. Man is often a stick figure, not a great deal of attention was paid to humans. That may be for two reasons, first the artist knew everyone knew what a human looked like, and secondly the artist may have been attempting to portray that his presence was of little consequence. We move again to the cave, to the depth of the cave. I don’t think it is a hard leap to make, to say that the deeper we move into the darkness of caves in our journeys, the deeper we feel connected to the Sacred.

 We were originally hunter/gatherer societies. The animal would have been the most sacred and sought after spiritual helper. Glossolalia must have its origins in the first days of animal human relationships. For those who don’t know, glossolalia is the proper word for Tongues.  Shamans globally learnt the language of the animals, through sounds, gestures, observations, costumes… the shaman remembered the importance of NOT separating from a sacred language. One of the first things you learn at any basic shamanic workshop is to journey, or to take a voyage, to meet your power animal. This has been a basic step of shamanism throughout its history, which incidentally stems from the Ice Age and has continued without interruption to present day. If we look to the myths and stories we have studied this circle season we have seen a pattern. The myths tells us of a time when animals and humans spoke the same language and were in harmony. For various reasons the worlds, as they were, could no longer exist together. Separation occurred. The shaman’s first journey is to reunite the connection between the land of the animals and the land of the humans. That is an ecstatic experience. A balance between the human’s need to eat and the animal’s (often referred to as brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather…) right to life.

 In circles past I have talked about bear ceremonies and the altars.  Any trip to the library will allow the casual observer of shamanism the opportunity to see pictures in various books of shamans wearing head dresses of birds, coats of wolf skin as well as masks of all shapes and sizes. Power Animals still enable us, as they did our Ancestors, access to both the inner and the outer world. Over time we heal the rift that has developed and separated us into accepting that there is an inner and outer world, nasty duality.

 Story telling is an important part of our shamanic heritage. Some of the caves the initiates walked through ranged in depth of ½ kilometre to several kilometres. The use of stories told not only the initiates, but others involved as witnesses, the complex relationship between the world of the human and the world of the Spirits.  The stories also held deep meanings.

 Have you read the stories Bone Collector and Skeleton Woman? Skeleton woman is an Inuit story instructing the initiate about the importance of the skeleton. They believed that the skeleton was both death and resurrection. The flesh died away but the bones often did not decay, so it was an immortal event. Initiates journey to with the hope of finding their skeleton when they reach the Spirit World, for they then have truly crossed the barrier between the place where time exists, to the place where no time exists.

 The Bone Collector is a story of resurrection, however it also teaches the initiates to listen to the bones and to hear the language they speak. The phrase “the shaman is to be like a hollow bone” comes from these very thoughts. Shamans feel spirit in their bones, whether in their physical body or in the spiritual body. The Bone Collector sang to the bones, the vibration creating life in the bones. Healers sing to the bones of the dead, asking them to take their messages to the spirits and grant their request. Some Bear Shamans, as have been mentioned elsewhere on my site, were particularly adept at fixing bones, most times these shamans sang to their patients, the power of the song is what is used to bring the shattered parts of the bones back together. The divining shaman throws bones to find where the animals have gone. Animal bones played an enormous part in the role of the shaman.

Bear Medicine

 Bear Medicine

Power specifically associated with the Spirit of the Bear. Bear Shamans have been blessed particularly with the ability to heal. Anthropologists have remarked on this occurence as it is known in virtually all cultures within the bear’s range. In 1926, anthropologist A. Irving Hallowell studied bear ceremonialism throughout Europe, Asia and North America and noted that very different cultures shared language taboos when referring to bears. Often they called them Brother – and begged Brother not to hurt them. Sometimes the word for Bear in certain languages cannot be used when hunting them. They are often hunted with spears or axes even when guns were available. Many elaborate, and at times days long, rituals were held to honor Bear Body. It would be decorated beautifully, perhaps placed on a platform as a place of honor. Tribal members would make speeches.  It is also common in various tribes to observe similar restrictions on the eating of bear meat. Different tribes had different rituals or preparation ceremonies for the Bear Bones. 

Hallowell concluded that these ceremonial hunting practices shared a single, paleolithic origin that was then widely distributed around the boreal zone in Eurasia andNorth America. Even with much new data available about Siberian, Lapland Saami, and Japanese Ainu bear ceremonialism, scholars continue to agree with Hallowell’s thesis. Bears are referred to as the Constant Dreamer. In many traditions Bear is one of the Primal, or First Beings. So, to a simple person such as myself, it makes sense that Bear spoke to everyone who dreamed. Bear, apparently, was very specific regarding their treatment. I find that fascinating.

Certainly the bear’s liminal ability to navigate above and below ground gives it shamanic status in many cultures.  I use the word liminal to imply that Bear has the ability to see between worlds, as in between life and death. (hibernation).  

In western Siberia, the bear is thought to mediate between the living and the dead. In Jewish tradition, the bear is sometimes associated with one of the six directions—that of the earth.

 The bear is also known in many cultures as a great healer, since it seeks out plants for its own healing. North American brown bears and Kodiak bears are known to dig up Ligusticum porteri (also known, not surprisingly, as “bear root”) and chew on it and then rub it on their fur; the plant is known to have antibiotic properties, be good for stomachaches, and repel insects. I have been given a piece of bear root to stick in my mouth while singing. It worked quite well. Alaskan brown bears are known to chew on sedge to rid themselves of tapeworm and parasites before hibernating. And the common names of many other plants reflect bears’ usage: bearberry, bear’s paw, bear tongue, bear clover.

 As an animal that disappears in winter to reappear only in spring, the bear is also the symbol of renewal, rebirth, and the regaining of health. The ancient Greeks associated Artemis, goddess of plants and regeneration, with Bear; indeed, before marriage young Greek girls were secluded and called arktoi, or “she-bears” (interestingly, a menstruating Ojibwa woman was called Mako-wii, “bear woman”).

 Bear is also a species known for its strong maternal ties. The she-bear was worshipped by the Celts as the bear goddess Artio. And of course, Zeus changed Callisto into Ursa Major, the “Great She-Bear” of the sky.

 Bear medicine is powerful medicine, bringing healing, renewal, and rebirth. This is the gift that Grandmother Bear brings those who live in bear country.

Carl Jung referred to Bear energy as feminine. Many myths refer to Bear as Female. In my shamanic journeys I have often met Bear when she is digging or just inside her den. All around her are roots of many plants hanging down. She has been a good teacher of medicine for me. One of my journeys I was buried in the Earth and Bear dug me out tearing the nose off my face. She got my attention. I did take her advice and dug around deep into my self,  ‘rooting’ out what was hidden. Caverns, Caves, Grottos are often referred to as symbols for our deepest levels of subconscious.

Spend some time with Bear. I have found Mudjekeewis to be a splendid teacher. Not always a gentle teacher, but deeply loved and appreciated by myself.

Further thoughts on Waking The Bear

Waking the Bear – March 17, 2012

When we Dreamt the Dark for Winter Solstice we sang, drummed and aspected Eros. We learnt the word “parthenogenesis” which comes from the Greek  parthenos, meaning “virgin”, and genesis, meaning “birth”. Just in case you missed that the first time <insert fun wink>

 We discussed the duality of Eros the “ two-sexed, two-faced, glorious Eros”. Eros portrayed as a beautiful golden-winged hermaphroditic deity wrapped in a serpent’s coils. I picture the coils of the serpent to be silver, liquid silver.

 Eros, in the beginning myths, was that of “coming together of that which has always been separate.”  The Unconscious and the Conscious… the Primordial Creative Cause – the element that binds and attracts Spirit and Matter together. The binding together of two aspects of Eros – the penetration & blending energy of matter, with its counterpart and complement, Spirit. Esoterically, Eros is the leading force within a seeker that takes her/him away from a level of duality to a level of unity and wholeness. Eros wedded Psyche – Goddess of our Soul.

 Eros bestowed upon us a powerful vision; the passionate bond between the Seer and the Seen. Cosmic Eros “creates living seeds” and harmonizes the random elements of Primal Chaos and Primal Earth into a living world. Eros not only drives all organisms to procreation, but also into relationship with each other: mating, bonding, nurturing, and all other forms of desiring, not excluding hunting and preying, for passion hungers like the hunter for its prey.

 Eros is the cosmic force which causes the unmanifest (Chaos) to seek self-manifestation: it is divine love, will, desire; the desire to manifest in creative activity, and thus to give life and existence to all beings. This desire, which “arises first in It”, is in the gods and in all nature. After the worlds have been manifested, Eros then becomes, the ever-active force which brings together and combines the elemental atoms.

 Funky heh!! I thought so. And then I asked to be placed in the Bears Den and Dream Waking the Bear. How does a Bear Dream from Eros. How do we gather to Manifest Bear from the “ever active force which brings together and combines”… Bear, The First Being; One of  THE ANCESTORS.  A sky nation recognized by Beings on Earth.  Bear led me on a Dream….

 Come on into the Den…. You know you wanna…. <insert yet another playful wink>

 On March 17 – Waking the Bear – we seek to expose the soil of our souls; the dark rich soil, much like the Dark –  Den –  Bear –  Slumbers. In. Waking the Bear, our chance to connect with our Constant Dreamer. Bear also known as the Dreamer That Never Awkens. Dream on Mama, Dream On

 Give me Your Visions Mama

We seek Bear Dreams the World – the Constant Dreamer, as our guide to waking our Dreamer within. Eros awoke us to the Duality the Unconscious and Conscious within ourselves. Now, we must awaken from the slumber of the Dark Night and put our Dreams into Action. Do we have a clear vision? A good question to ask ourselves.

 I do not know what position, or role, you will take in the coming time nor do I have to… our work together for Waking the Bear is just about March 17, 2012. How, you will be, on March 18, 2012, is your own story.. your own mystery… a mystery of which I am not involved in.. but for right that night…you are in My Dream, My Mama Bear Dream, you are all a part of Bears dream to Embody (Aspectors), Aliven (Joikers) and awaken Her Dream (Drummers) … We are all a part of the Dreamer That Never Awkens. Constant Dreamer, Dream On Mama Dream On

 We are in very troublesome times. However, as the end of 2012 approaches, my dreams are asking me to become solid within myself  (ourselves) and (my) our own intuition BEFORE we reach out to others. 

 I Give you My Body Mama

 We are all gathered here and we are all healers in our right.  Bear in long old myths refer to Bear as the Original Healer. It is speculated, and I imagine true, our Ancestors – GLOBALLY – watched what Bears ate, so they too could learn which plants are safe. So, how did they know the Bear stomach would be similar… and not the Dear? Just asking…. We know some of our strengths, but certainly not all of them. 

 Healers come in all forms, shapes and sizes. All forms of abilities. Some, gasp, even work with the Light. Why yes, yes they do. Shocking to the likes of me… <smiling> One aspect of healing for me is altering the world from within the parameters you have.

 Waking the Bear require the Dreamer within each of us, to be awoken (oxymoron I know, but…) to function fully from Higher Self and ourHigher Place. 

 Much like Eros, the Constant Dreamer, is considered to be a Spirit of Creation. There was a belief once commonly held that bear cubs were born without a physical form, and that their mothers licked them into shape, creating order out of Chaos. The Bear thus became widely seen as a symbol of creation. In Greek mythology it was the sacred animal of Artemis the huntress who, although a virgin, was also the Goddess of childbirth.

 Give me your Wisdom Mama

 The Bear is one of the symbols of renewal such as is the Moon and the World Tree.

 We are gathering together this evening to support one another in our endeavour to become more self-aware.  Now self-knowledge is a solitary path, no one can do it for you and nothing can create it instantly for you.  Our dial a day mentality does not lend itself to nurturing self awareness.

 As Bear is connected with each one of us, each one of us is connected to each other as well.  On the Medicine Wheel North is the place of Community.  Everything is Community.  We are a part of the Whole, whether We are conscious of that or not. Reality does not necessarily require your belief to continue to exist. It can however, be shaped… Reality can be quite the mind bender.

 We do not know where the world is heading to politically, environmentally, socially or even human to human. We are gathered here today to Waken the Bear, The Bear is not only a healer but is guardian of the hidden time, the dream time… we are allowed this evening to take an active part of Bears Constant Dream. We will Breathe Deeply Bear, welcoming Her Wisdom through our Drums, Our Voices and Our Bodies.

 We sing songs of Bear to all of us and sing songs to awaken the Bear Within.. the healer, the mother, the father… the wisdom keeper. The time of Mudjekeewis is the Evening til Midnite, Autumn, our adult years to elder time. This is the time of slowing down, of taking stock of experiences, of going within, like the Grizzly in autumn, but going within spiritually, to gain strength from the knowledge thus gained; the time to prepare for the times of “winter” or later times.  Like Eros, manifest the unmanifested.

 If you are reading this last sentence… Bravo, you have a great attention span. Thank you. I ask that you remember we are on this journey together. How can we truly do our spiritual walk and create a global spiritual community without walking through the fires together  — confident that we have ancestral resources and spirit helpers that shall guide us and show us the way. All traditions, through their deep mystical paths — often hidden beneath contemporary, obscuring clothing–offer us much. Such explorations together can restore vision to eyes and hearts weary with the conflicts of the world. Thus restored, we can bring sustenance to others — and we need this in these times.

Waking The Bear Spring Euqinox Ritual

We are gathering together on March 17, 2012 to celebrate the turning of the Wheel, Spring Equinox. Gather with us at 7pm at the Bonnie Doon Community Hall located at 9240 – 93 street, Edmonton Alberta. The cost is @20.

Why are we gathering you may ask. And I would say, good question. The short answer, is cause we always do. And you may ask…always? To which I would sheepishly reply…well for years now.

Waking the Bear is the most sumptuous spring ritual you will ever find ’round these parts. It contains… drumming… yes, yes it does. It contains…. singing… well maybe not YOU, but you could if you really wanted to. It also contains (finger to lips…shhhhhh) BEARS. Yup that is true. Now don’t go telling any park rangers we snuck their bears into the hall. Nope, don’t do that. Cause well… I may get into trouble.

Oh… and there is a story telling. Why yes there is. I’m on the trail of a Peruvian story called “Why the Foxes tail is Black“. Now those who know me, know that that would just about make me crazy happy to find a story like that to tell. Oh and there will be puppets. I know, I know… what on earth is an adult doing with a puppet? You will never know unless you come. I can’t give away ALL my secrets here.

Now, if you are just as curious as I am excited, we might just get along. If you are even a wee bit more curious read on. I will carry on my discussion of “Waking Up Bears”.

Spring Equinox is March 21. Now some will tell you its March 20, but hell, why split hairs. Oopps sorry, wrong voice. Equinox, as you are well aware, is when the hours of sunlight and darkness are as close to equal as they can be.

But why Bears? Why Waking the Bear? Cause Bear said so, and if you have ever met Bear, when Bear says something, generally, paying attention is a REALLY GOOD IDEA.

For centuries we have venerated the Bear. We see the Being in the Sky, Ursa Major. We see the Being, Bear, as our Brother. We know Bear as one of the first healers. Bear has come to us in our dreams, in our journeys, even in our childhood stories.

The Constant Dreamers. Bear is forever lumbering across the darkest of the darkest skies, the Northern Skies, never entering light… always dwelling between the places. Bear, although a tough teacher, is also a Being of incredible love and kindness. Eros, the Primordial Being of Love, transformed into many shapes. Bear is one of the manifestations of Eros.

Love can be both brutal and gentle, much like Bear. As the year progresses ever closer to December 21, 2012 we have been asked to spiritually prepare ourselves for a most auspicious celestial event. Like Love, Healing can be both strong and gentle. Healing does not have to be outward to others, it can also be inward to ourselves.  Bear usually comes at this time of year to awaken us from our slumber, clean the cobwebs from our psyche and prepare us for the planting time.

Ready yet??

Waking the Bear – March 17, 2012

When we Dreamt the Dark for Winter Solstice we sang, drummed and aspected Eros. We learnt the word “parthenogenesis” which comes from the Greek  parthenos, meaning “virgin”, and genesis, meaning “birth”. Just in case you missed that the first time <insert fun wink>

We discussed the duality of Eros the “ two-sexed, two-faced, glorious Eros”. Eros portrayed as a beautiful golden-winged hermaphroditic deity wrapped in a serpent’s coils. I picture the coils of the serpent to be silver, liquid silver.

Eros, in the beginning myths, was that of “coming together of that which has always been separate.”  The Unconscious and the Conscious… the Primordial Creative Cause – the element that binds and attracts Spirit and Matter together. The binding together of two aspects of Eros – the penetration & blending energy of matter, with its counterpart and complement, Spirit. Esoterically, Eros is the leading force within a seeker that takes her/him away from a level of duality to a level of unity and wholeness. Eros wedded Psyche – Goddess of our Soul.

Eros bestowed upon us a powerful vision; the passionate bond between the Seer and the Seen. Cosmic Eros “creates living seeds” and harmonizes the random elements of Primal Chaos and Primal Earth into a living world. Eros not only drives all organisms to procreation, but also into relationship with each other: mating, bonding, nurturing, and all other forms of desiring, not excluding hunting and preying, for passion hungers like the hunter for its prey.

Eros is the cosmic force which causes the unmanifest (Chaos) to seek self-manifestation: it is divine love, will, desire; the desire to manifest in creative activity, and thus to give life and existence to all beings. This desire, which “arises first in It”, is in the gods and in all nature. After the worlds have been manifested, Eros then becomes, the ever-active force which brings together and combines the elemental atoms.

Funky heh!! I thought so. And then I asked to be placed in the Bears Den and Dream Waking the Bear. How does a Bear Dream from Eros. How do we gather to Manifest Bear from the “ever active force which brings together and combines”… Bear, The First Being; One of  THE ANCESTORS.  A sky nation recognized by Beings on Earth.  Bear led me on a Dream….

Come on into the Den…. You know you wanna…. <insert yet another playful wink>

On March 17 – Waking the Bear – we seek to expose the soil of our souls; the dark rich soil, much like the Dark –  Den –  Bear –  Slumbers. In. Waking the Bear, our chance to connect with our Constant Dreamer. Bear also known as the Dreamer That Never Awkens. Dream on Mama, Dream On

Give me Your Visions Mama

We seek Bear Dreams the World – the Constant Dreamer, as our guide to waking our Dreamer within. Eros awoke us to the Duality the Unconscious and Conscious within ourselves. Now, we must awaken from the slumber of the Dark Night and put our Dreams into Action. Do we have a clear vision? A good question to ask ourselves.

I do not know what position, or role, you will take in the coming time nor do I have to… our work together for Waking the Bear is just about March 17, 2012. How, you will be, on March 18, 2012, is your own story.. your own mystery… a mystery of which I am not involved in.. but for right that night…you are in My Dream, My Mama Bear Dream, you are all a part of Bears dream to Embody (Aspectors), Aliven (Joikers) and awaken Her Dream (Drummers) … We are all a part of the Dreamer That Never Awkens. Constant Dreamer, Dream On Mama Dream On

We are in very troublesome times. However, as the end of 2012 approaches, my dreams are asking me to become solid within myself  (ourselves) and (my) our own intuition BEFORE we reach out to others. 

I Give you My Body Mama

We are all gathered here and we are all healers in our right.  Bear in long old myths refer to Bear as the Original Healer. It is speculated, and I imagine true, our Ancestors – GLOBALLY – watched what Bears ate, so they too could learn which plants are safe. So, how did they know the Bear stomach would be similar… and not the Dear? Just asking…. We know some of our strengths, but certainly not all of them. 

Healers come in all forms, shapes and sizes. All forms of abilities. Some, gasp, even work with the Light. Why yes, yes they do. Shocking to the likes of me… <smiling> One aspect of healing for me is altering the world from within the parameters you have.

Waking the Bear require the Dreamer within each of us, to be awoken (oxymoron I know, but…) to function fully from Higher Self and ourHigher Place. 

Much like Eros, the Constant Dreamer, is considered to be a Spirit of Creation. There was a belief once commonly held that bear cubs were born without a physical form, and that their mothers licked them into shape, creating order out of Chaos. The Bear thus became widely seen as a symbol of creation. In Greek mythology it was the sacred animal of Artemis the huntress who, although a virgin, was also the Goddess of childbirth.

Give me your Wisdom Mama

The Bear is one of the symbols of renewal such as is the Moon and the World Tree.

We are gathering together this evening to support one another in our endeavour to become more self-aware.  Now self-knowledge is a solitary path, no one can do it for you and nothing can create it instantly for you.  Our dial a day mentality does not lend itself to nurturing self awareness.

As Bear is connected with each one of us, each one of us is connected to each other as well.  On the Medicine Wheel North is the place of Community.  Everything is Community.  We are a part of the Whole, whether We are conscious of that or not. Reality does not necessarily require your belief to continue to exist. It can however, be shaped… Reality can be quite the mind bender.

We do not know where the world is heading to politically, environmentally, socially or even human to human. We are gathered here today to Waken the Bear, The Bear is not only a healer but is guardian of the hidden time, the dream time… we are allowed this evening to take an active part of Bears Constant Dream. We will Breathe Deeply Bear, welcoming Her Wisdom through our Drums, Our Voices and Our Bodies.

We sing songs of Bear to all of us and sing songs to awaken the Bear Within.. the healer, the mother, the father… the wisdom keeper. The time of Mudjekeewis is the Evening til Midnite, Autumn, our adult years to elder time. This is the time of slowing down, of taking stock of experiences, of going within, like the Grizzly in autumn, but going within spiritually, to gain strength from the knowledge thus gained; the time to prepare for the times of “winter” or later times.  Like Eros, manifest the unmanifested.

If you are reading this last sentence… Bravo, you have a great attention span. Thank you. I ask that you remember we are on this journey together. How can we truly do our spiritual walk and create a global spiritual community without walking through the fires together  — confident that we have ancestral resources and spirit helpers that shall guide us and show us the way. All traditions, through their deep mystical paths — often hidden beneath contemporary, obscuring clothing–offer us much. Such explorations together can restore vision to eyes and hearts weary with the conflicts of the world. Thus restored, we can bring sustenance to others — and we need this in these times.

Exciting Events

I have been invited to be the keynote speaker for the Women’s Wellness Conference on March 17, 2012. The Keynote is a lovely way to say – Drumming. What a wonderful note to begin a wellness conference. If you are coming, please bring a drum or rattle with you. If anyone has a drum that they could allow us to borrow for the event please let me know or contact
dorsch@strathcona.ab.ca for more information.

Drumming is a prayer. Many creations myths from around the world begin with sound. The Bible refers to it as well “And God Spake”. Drumming is the heartbeat of the Earth, which gently opens our minds, our hearts and our bodies. . It is our own connection to the good feelings and vibrations which surround us.

My drum is one of the most important tools I use for shamanic healing. The vibrations of the drum enters the body, creating a sense of peace and security. The deep resonance of the drum awakens our chakras, encouraging our energy to flow more smoothly. Drums encourage the blockages, and the pain we carry physically, to ease or leave us altogether.Women were the first drummers. We carried the rhythm of the Earth within our very bodies. It is us who sought ways to express this internal connection, outward.

Come, Awaken Your Ancient Self. Pick up the Drum. Feel the Pulse. And for just a bit, let go, I promise you will come back

Winter Solstice Ritual

Quick Information:

We are gathering together on December 22, 2011 to celebrate the turning of the Wheel, Winter Solstice. Gather with us at 7pm at the Bonnie Doon Community Hall located at 9240 – 93 street, Edmonton Alberta. The cost is @20.

I would like us to break bread together after so I ask that you bring a small snack to share afterward.

Feel Free to Dress beautifully

Feel Free to Dress in Black

Feel Free to Feel Free

The Long Information:

Roles of Ritual:

Aspectors, Drummers and Joikers.

Aspecting: This is akin to being a conduit.  Aspecting is when the seeker makes a conscious choice to step aside and make space.  It is a conscious intention to open yourself to allow this spirit to cohabitate with you for awhile. We are a physical extension of spirit and moving with guidance, spiritual movement, whether that be physical, verbal or experiential – this is an interactive dance between the Spirit of the Dark and the body.

Aspectors wear a cloth over their face. This is used to facilitate the entry of the spirit helper, the cloth is a physical symbol of transcendence. As the curtain parts, or the cloth comes down, one world gives way to another. We are not using masks because we are not engendering a specific form or entity.  This year we are aspecting Eros.

Drummers: Drummers hold a very sacred role in any ritual. You are the backbone and the energy. You are the tangible container for the mixture of chaos and order.

Joik: The Saami people of northern Scandinavia, have a unique unaccompanied vocal style called joik.  Joiking is chanting visions.  It is an improvised style of singing that is less about known words than it is about melody and vocal textures. Our ancestors could joik about a hunt, a frozen stream or the birth of a baby, however what makes it unique is there are no fixed rules and the fluid songs are not considered to be about a subject. The joik, and by extension the joiker, are said to actually become the subject. So when our voices are calling out to the Spirit of  Eros our joik returns the very response we seek.  Joiking is the place betwixt and between when the singer sings the song and the song returns to sing the singer. The joik is the summoning of the unconscious or a wordless connection with the deepest archetype of song itself. Songs overtake us, we are singing Creation.

Is there a truth hidden from our awake world?

A truth can you only sense, but never quite grasp?

What does the spirit know? But will not show?

Is the voice of the spirit not heard in the noise?

How do we still this noise?

Maybe the quietest moment is in the transition?

Transcend with music, and bridge the gaps.

Joiking is the state of mind between consciousness and unconsciousness. Created on the borders of both this world and the other world. The messages fetched from this source resulted beguilingly timeless music that sounds oddly unearthly with the sweet tastes of the magic arctic

THE REALLY LONG VERSION

Dreaming the Dark – Our Shamanic Winter Solstice Ritual

Welcome to new comers and welcome back to my returning ritual co-creators!! We meet again at this MOST AUSPICIOUS time. The opportunity to celebrate the last year of the Mayan Calendar sets my heart a flutter. What an exciting time.

Ritual is a time when continuity and change, past and future, are held in uneasy balance on a threshold betwixt and between. the old and the new. Our ritual is a celebration of Winter Solstice. Winter Solstice is when our ancestor shamans held three day vigils at which time enacting a centuries old relationship loving crafted to sing and drum the sun back from the darkness. The Sun (Light) had lain long with his Lover the Darkness (Nyx). Together we gather to sing the song of Creation (Eros). To awaken the Darkness to send some of Herself, Her Chaos, Her Creation, back with her Lover, the Sun. Ever present above and around us  is the Void Pregnant with Potential. Our voices, our drums create the sound of Creation

Sound as Creation

Sound can affect us on all levels – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Beneficial sounds for us are often sounds that we consider “sacred.” These sounds seem to have the ability to charge and harmonize us. There are reasons for this.

Knowledge of sound as a therapeutic and transformative force is very old. The Ancient Mystery Schools of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Tibet, and India had great knowledge of sound as being the Primary creative force in the Universe. Our shaman ancestors knew what the modern physicists now understand, that all is in a state of vibration. “The World is Sound!” my Grandmothers and Grandfathers have proclaimed, and indeed it seems to be so.

If we examine the basic tenants of many of the spiritual paths of the world, we find a commonality in them. They all share the belief that the world was created through sound. Here are but a few examples.

In Genesis, form the Old Testament, one of the first statements is, “And the Lord said ‘Let there be light!”

In St. John, form the New Testament, it is written, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

From the Vedas of the Hindu tradition comes the writing that, “In the beginning was Brahman with whom was the Word. And the Word is Brahman.”

The Ancient Egyptians believed that the god “Thot” created the world by his voice alone.

In the Popul Vuh, form the Mayan tradition, the first real men are given life by the sole power of the word.

The Hopi Indian’s story of Creation tells of the animation of all forms on earth by having Spider Woman sing the Song of Creation over them.

MORE OF THE REALLY LONG VERSION

Eros –Primordial Being

Primordial – generally when we think of that word, most of us follow it with ooze. Well, I beg of you not to think of ooze when I mention Primordial.

The word “parthenogenesis” comes from the Greek  parthenos, meaning “virgin”, and genesis, meaning “birth”.

Hesiod, Aristophanes and the Orphica are the oldest written referenceS to Eros. It is difficult to find even glimpses of the primordial beings because written history came so long after the oral myths of creation began. As with all things, myths change with time. Each generation adding their understanding, experience and history related to each Being.

This is taken from a comedy (play) called Birds written by Aristophanes, Birds (trans. O’Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
“At the beginning there was only Khaos (Air), Nyx (Night), dark Erebos (Darkness), and deep Tartaros (Lower World) Firstly, black-winged Nyx (Night) laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebos (Darkness), and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated [or fertilised] in deep Tartaros with dark Khaos (Air), winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light. That of the Immortals did not exist until Eros had brought together all the ingredients of the world… Thus our origin is very much older than that of the dwellers in Olympos. We are the offspring of Eros; there are a thousand proofs to show it. “

Duality of Eros

Now I want to stop and tell you that Eros was a two faced Being. Orphica, (a long poem) written by Argonautica 6^TH Cen  wrote “ two-sexed, two-faced, glorious Eros”. Eros is portrayed as a beautiful golden-winged hermaphroditic deity wrapped in a serpent’s coils. When we reconsider what Aristophanes said “He mated  in deep Tartaros (the lower world) with dark Khaos (Air), winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race”… Eros was neither male or female, however has changed gender through the years to a He, a God… when in fact a primordial being is neither and all things. 

The poets describe him as an incorporeal being invisible even through the eyes of the gods. Eros is the coming together of that which has always been separate.  Rituals bring us together to dispel the illusion of our separateness. Eros is responsible for combining spirit with element (Eros and Khaos ). The Unconscious and the Conscious… the primordial creative cause, the element that binds and attracts spirit and matter together. Binding together the two aspects of Eros;  the penetration and blending energy of matter with its counterpart and complement, spirit. Esoterically, Eros is the leading force within a seeker that takes him away from a level of duality to a level of unity and wholeness. For my aspectors this is important: Eros is the key to transformation, by placing the aspector on the axial center ~ your spiritus mundi. This level of Being brings about the integration of ego with soul. Hence, Eros is the Being that gives us the possibility of letting go of the past and living in the present moment, embracing spontaneously everything within and without our reach.  Introducing the spiritual element into the nature of psyche itself. The coming together of spirit, and the nature of our Soul (spiritus mundi) ~ Psyche is referred to as the Goddess of the Soul.

This power of Eros’ vision is to bestow a passionate bond between the seer and the seen.

Cosmic Eros “creates living seeds” and harmonizes the random elements of Khaos (Air) bringing forth Ga (Earth) into a living world. Eros not only drives all organisms to procreation , but also into relationship with each other: mating, bonding, nurturing, and all other forms of desiring, not excluding hunting and preying, for passion hungers like the hunter for its prey.

Eros in Jungian Archetypes is Feminine. Symbols associated with Eros become  specific and particular as his own image does, over time. By the time Plato discusses Eros in the “Symposium,” he is denoted by many weapons, such as arrows, spears, and torches. Love handling such weapons. It may make my psyche (the wife of Eros) see them as the powers of passion to wound and to inflame the heart. Images, after all, are attempts to give Form to what is Formless. His power to spellbind the Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World, (Psyche is the Goddess of Soul the Aspectors soul in this ritual perhaps?) is betokened by flowers, perennial reminders of the Earth’s sexual beauty, and by the lyre, for through music one heart can enchant another, wordlessly. The ancients’ awareness of love’s all-pervading manifestations ripened into symbols of world influence, such as the wheel of fire and the sphere (remember in our initial story is Nyx laid the silver egg – connection perhaps?).

This is the highest expression of Eros–a spiritual longing that will be satisfied with nothing less or other than intoxication with the Beloved.

The movement of desire from the God to the devotee, and back again, is a dance in stillness. Lover and Beloved do not move– Desire moves between them. ”Eros is a verb.”  That ecstasy could be terrifying, and set apart from mere pleasure, explains why Eros (Love), even between mortals, was feared by the ancients as well as praised. It is not easy–indeed, sometimes it takes all we have– all we are–to become vulnerable for Love’s sake.

Hesiod calls Eros “the most beautiful of all the immortal gods,” yet he mentions that one of the earliest sites of worship for Eros was at Boeotia, in Greece, in the form of an unhewn stone column. In our circles and rituals we have often discussed seeing Spirit in stone, the Divine in the mundane. Thiis one of the subtlest paradoxes of Eros, and shamanism. Poetically speaking Eros requires that we  evoke the vision of Love from our own inner sense, bestowing it upon an external focus devoid of any special attractiveness; Beauty/Divinity in the Mundane. In so doing, the “eye of the heart” is opened and we practice the loving of self.

Eros is the cosmic force which causes the unmanifest to seek self-manifestation: it is divine love, will, desire; the desire to manifest in creative activity, and thus to give life and existence to all beings. This desire, which “arises first in It” , is in the gods and in all nature. After the worlds have been manifested, Eros then becomes, the ever-active force which brings together and combines the elemental atoms.

Aspecting Eros opens doors for us, giving us the freedom and courage to embrace our inner nature with imagination and intuition, Eros is himself the “mixer of the seeds and sperms” in creation, the primal cause, the bringer of life in the womb of nature. Eros’s gift to the seeker, therefore, is the transmuting energy of pure love.

I’m Late I’m Late

We are going to have a beautiful weekend. I am very excited and can hardly believe that we are only two weeks away from our gathering. It is hard to believe that a year has already passed us by..

Okay here are the Normal things:

Cornmeal
Tobacco
Drum
Rattle (I do have extras)
bandanna
tarot (or some other divination tool) deck
Pendulum – nut on a string can and does work just sayin’…
Fancy Fun Clothes
Chairs

Now… we are going to make effigies of ourselves, that’s all I am sayin about that. I am providing the big white cardboard like paper for each of us and the usual craft trunk… please bring things that you can put on your effigy will spiritually bring you into the paper. We will be doing journey work to imbue the effigy with our energy.

Oh did I tell you we are doing lots of journey work. Just letting you know in case you wondered if I was getting soft on you.

There will be stories, oh yes there will be stories

Does anyone have an extra tent they can bring? We are going to make the tent a home for our effigies. They are spiritually alive and will be cared for during the weekend. It is all a part of shapeshifting…

If there are more things I will post them here. This is what I see us needing so far. I never know if other things are going to be requested. The fun of spirit work!

To Tell You About a Very Important Date – August 19 – 21 is the official Date for Elk Island Wilderness Camp

Shapeshifter’s Embrace

Gasp!! What is that??

I assure you I have not gone to The Popular Culture. I am not talking about vampires and werewolves, our current societies obsession with shapeshifting ~ (hint: transformation). Nope, I assure you we are discussing shamanic shapeshifting. Have you ever heard the story of the Tibetan Shapeshifting Frog?? Well I know SOME of you have heard me tell the Tale.

Shapeshifting is Transformation.

Shamans have shapeshifted two ways: physically and energetically. I encourage everyone to try to physically shapeshift I really do. However… if you are expecting that in a weekend of shamanic work at Elk Island I hate to disappoint you; physical shapeshifting takes much work, much patience and dedication that even I find challenging. And is currently quite rare. However I know a story….

This weekend we are going to explore energetic shapeshifting, a shamanic tool with the ability to lead us deeper into ourselves with the sole intention of getting out of ourselves. Wait, that does make sense. Think about it, we have to enter into the chaos in order to exit into the transformation. But transformation through who and for what purpose?

Some of us are short readers so here is the information.

What: Elk Island Shamanic Wilderness Camp
When: August 19 – 21, 2011
Where: Well Elk Island National Park of Course on Highway 16 East of Edmonton in Alberta no less
Cost: A whopping $120
Registration: Kriket 780-934-8222 or this email.

Or send me a psychic message and if you are not at the gates Friday night by 8, I apparently didn’t hear you. However, everyone who has always meant to come has always found a way in!!

However, there will be a list of what to bring, it would behove you to know what I expect you to have inorder to have a transformational shapeshifting experience… just sayin.

For those not too busy Read on…

We are all energy, and we are all one. This is the basic concept behind shapeshifting. It’s all about shifting energy, being rather than becoming. This Elk Island we will work on the barriers to shapeshifting such as grudges, distrust and denial… and these are not towards others, but to ourselves. We have to enter into the chaos of ourselves, transform ourselves before we can begin to extend the same courtesy to others.

To a certain degree we are all shapeshifting all the time because our thoughts and emotions affect our energy field – the energy we project and the energy others perceive. Sometimes we do this intentionally for a specific purpose and sometimes because something affected us greatly and we lost it. (This could be a hint for some of our work)

So how are we going to go about Shapeshifting? Well I can give you a hint, there is a Peregrine Falcon in there. Oh and some journeys. Some drumming, well actually lots of drumming, some energy work, yup that. Oh and lest I forget some seton sitting. And I cannot disappoint anyone, a blindfolded walk.

There will be clans and ritual and… well lots of other things… you will have to come to find out more.

Call me: 780-934-822
I will know if you don’t… we shamans are a tad psychic.

Workshops for 2011

Heal the Past ~ Heal the Present

Saturday May 7, 2011
Location: Healing Connections: 10548 – 115 street
Time 10:00 – 5 pm
Registration 9:30
Cost $60
To register please email Kriket vixsin@hotmail.com
or by phone 780-934-8222

So… what do curses have to do with you? What do past lives have to do with this one? Working with Shamanism over the past two decades has taught me many wonderful and amazing tools. Along with the tools are techniques to integrate information into the present, which does take time and thought. Obviously, working with a Shaman or shamanic techniques isn’t for everyone. It’s for risk takers and adventurers. It’s for those who are willing to explore non-traditional avenues of personal growth and healing.

When learning how to journey into my past lives I was sersiouly and secretly hoping that perhaps some amazing historical figure would pop up as a key player in my string of past lives. Alas what I have been shown has not been links to the amazing and famous rather my power animals and teachers have chosen to show me past lives with a lesson, a lesson for the here and now.

With any healing technique it is key to understand how to integrate the changes and the healing that you have recieved. There are follow up techniques that are very useful to ensure that your healing adventure has not been for naught. (that sentence is probably gramatically incorrect but I like how it sounds!!)

Heal the Past ~ Heal the Present

Waking the Bear 2011

We gathering on Friday March 4, 2011 for our annual Waking the Bear Spring Celebration. I don’t know exactly how many years we have been meeting to perform this healing ceremony, but I know it started before 2002. This year was, as always, different, fun and spiritually intense.

Here are my thoughts on Waking the Bear:

WAKING THE BEAR – MARCH 4, 2011

This evening we are working with Pisces energy. The Pisces Moon is sensitive and receptive, dreamy and imaginative. This is a time of great empathy and compassion, when psychic abilities are more finely tuned. Ruled by Neptune, the sign of Pisces is limitless, vast and imaginative, and yearns for true union with the infinite, especially if it comes with a great glass of wine.

The Dark Moon introduced herself to me many years ago as Nyx, one of the first Beings, Night. Dark moon has a proud and strong history in our spiritual mythology, spiritually guiding us deeply within ourselves, to release and to Dream our Stories into being. Nyx took me into the Spirit World, deep into the caves of my unconscious, crawling through crevices, the nurturer, introspection Dreaming myself into Being. The Darkness is your Guide Home. Mystery and Magic both await you. Nyx took me deep within her cloaks, she took away the barrier to the Night Sky, allowing entrance into the nothing leading me home. We will be going deep into the caves of the darkness, the home of Nyx, living in the Underwold. She awoke in me a desire to seek the centre waters deep within the Underwold, where the moon has dipped from the sky, taking her leave of the Sky World. It is on this night that Bear will guide you to the sacred waters in the caves deep beneath the blankets of Mother Earth. Follow the Cave Bear, the Dark Bear, the Healing Bears.

We are also meeting on the last New Moon before the Spring Equinox the Balance between Light and Dark, in essence finding the balance between this Life that you are currently leading and the Life you will walk out and greet when you leave here tonite. The Balance between the Darkness, Nyx and Erabus – that which is not known to you, that which holds the very molecules of potential and the Light, that which has been made clear to you, which is readily seen.

The Chthonic Spirits

Chthonic – I could not leave that word alone. It took me forever to remember it and even longer to be able to intelligently use it in a sentence. Chthonic literally means belonging to the earth. In tales the Shamans of Old explained to their people the Chthonic spirits were often spirits of the earth and lower worlds. The oldest shamans told the stories of the prima beings, the original ones. We have lost many of our oldest shamanic stories, but every once and awhile one comes to me floating as if on a spiritual wind.

In the beginning was an the Void. If you haven’t already been there I assure you, you will know it once you arrive. Empty darkness, Still Darkness. I knew it so well, unbeknownst to me, in a short side story. A friend of mine lend me a CD of recordings made from outer space. I cannot recall which planet or where in the series the CD came from. But I listened to it and was MAD, MAD… this is not what it sounded like. It was all sped up and intertwined. It was a KNOWING. I returned it to her and told her my reaction to which… well you all know the rest of the story. Yes it had been modified… I assume to keep the masses listening. Anyway I digress…
The Void is better known of as Chaos. Chaos is the original state of all things. Don’t we all have to deal with chaos when we ask for change, then sometimes if we are lucky, order comes back in…but that is a WHOLE OTHER STORY.
Chaos begat Erebus, ~ Darkness.
Chaos begat Nyx ~ Night.

One journey I was returned to the time before when Erebus and Nyx moved & undulated to synchronistic beats and between them they bore Light – Eros. It was the slowest, fastest, gentlest, intense-est synchronistic beating… and they begat

Eros the spirit of love is born of Darkness and Night.

Born a hermaphrodite, eventually the stories changed and Eros became male. But then The Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung got involved. So, you may ask what does Jung have to say about Eros. Well you may not ask but I will tell you anyway…

Eros, the ‘desire for wholeness,’

Eros reminded me how necessary it was for me to become in-tune; in harmony, in rhythm with myself; Eros reminded me even more of my desire ~ my human spiritual function of interconnection and interaction.

Caves ares the transitional space ~ the place where all the worlds connect… akin to the betwixt and between. In history we can find references to heros or gods going to the caves to find their spiritual gifts or centres. Did you know that Zues grew up in a cave. Oh yes, a cave. You know the places that are the entrances to Hades, The Land of the Dead, The Stillness… oh but did you know that it was also a place for devils and demons. It is true…

The darkest caves, the places of the deepest rituals. Within those deepest caves which held the deepest rituals are Beings you will be introduced to and who are protectors of the darkest realms.

But one must have food for thought:

Australian Aboriginees have Legends of the dreamtime, Different from tribe to tribe. Some tribes believe even today that the mostly friendly and shy so-called „Mimi”-spirits who taught their ancestors the right way of painting.

Mimis are believed to be non-visible spirits, living in caves, having taught the ancestors many important things. They come out of the caves in the night, but noone has ever seen them. But they leave messages like leaves or paintings. Humans have to be careful. Sometimes the Mimis lure them into a cave and lock them up there!)

The art of the Aborigines has always been symbolic with the task to explain the relationship between the human beings and their environment. So it is quite natural that the subjects are mainly nature and the depiction of the dreamtime-myths with the aim to tell how the spirit ancestors created the land and laid down the law.

Quinkan were the names given by the Australian Aboriginees for the dangerous and powerful spirits living in the caves and crevices.

There are many stories told by The Old Shamans late around the fire of dark spirits who were the ancient adventurers; their identities have been lost in time and replaced by emptiness. They are ghosts, neither dead nor alive, but simply existing. They remember the fighting in ancient times and have very strong combat capabilities. They look like you, but do not think–like living dolls. Their connection with the devilish spirit in Strayana lets them know when a traveler is coming. Any living thing that crosses their path they will destroy without mercy. Why? No one knows.

North is the place where the Darkness exists, where the mountains are cliffs of crystals. The Owls guard the entrances to the Places Beneath. To the Caverns and the Caves where the ancients hold their counsel, witnessed by the Stars and the Fire, heard and carried by the Bats who fly ever closer to the Centre of the Earth, the Birth Place of all Wisdom. Deep within the Caves are the catacombs. Closer and Closer we come to the Home of Nyx.

The darkest caves, the places of the deepest rituals.

I have had many journeys over through the years which have led me to caves. For me the caves are places where I have learnt from the deepest parts of myself. In literature, or in psychological terms the word ‘cave’ is sometimes a metaphor for the mind, hidden within is sacred knowledge that yearns to be discovered. Much like a house represents our psyche in dreams, caves represent a passage way into the deepest of our core.

Geologically, caves around the world contain information in various forms about the ancient history of planet Earth as if markers in time. Hidden within caves we find
Sanctuaries created so far into the earth that it then represents…nay becomes manifest; magical places where spirits lives.

Caves are thought to distinguish between the living world and the spiritual world–the entrances to caves are the portals. Caves are centres of spiritual training–religious classrooms with walls as blackboards. Various authors I have read through the years seem to agree that the cave has magic that is as tangible as some of the great cathedrals of Europe. Shamans say caves have a living presence. Caves are the places where the humans and spirits could meet and come to agreements that would benefit both worlds.
In our journeys we are abolishing historical time and regaining mythical time. This allows us to travel to the beginning of ourselves, perhaps the very beginning of our cosmology, our spiritual order.
I am not here to direct you, just point. There are times in our life when we come to a spiritual crossroads and NO ONE, absolutely no one can tell you what to do and no one can tell you what the outcome will be.

Who, if not you, will continue
Who, if not you, will grow
Who, if not you, will seek
Inner Wisdom; Knowledge; Remembering.

In every sunset, is a sunrise
In every beginning, there is an ending
In every reality, an unreality
Life is a passage of doorways, moving from room to room. We realize the most important thing we move is ourself.

We are here at this place to remind ourselves where we have come from. Our life is a journey of mysteries. Each one an answer to the riddle we find ourselves in. From the darkness we sprang, the darkness of the mysteries, the darkness of the void, the darkness of our very mother’s wombs.

I give freely because I am connected to Earth and Spirit. . I give because I am given to. Within the birth of the Sun we all shift places on the Wheel. By acting together in ritual we our witnessing our progression.

Look within, where have you been before? Where are you standing now? Where will you choose to go? I have taken this journey and died from who I was. I was not being reborn. I was entering the womb of the Unknown. I did not know where I was to emerge.

I was standing floating in a blackness filled with light. Equinox is a time of balance. Teetering on the balance between night and day. The doors to the other worlds stand ajar.

We stand together in ritual to create change. The new moon invites us to be home with new ideas. Being different. The caves beckon us to come. Nyx throws aside the barriers of the Night, her New Moon is above us. With Bear as you guide we will travel to the darkest of the dark. The place where all things are possible. The new moon gives us an opportunity to see the otherside, to set our reality and our attention.

Remember Chaos – the void pregnant with potential begat Erubus and Nyx, Together they birthed potential.

Challenges to Change

Curse Unraveling
Intrusions: curses, spells, contracts, vows, intentions

WORDS are powerful forms of expression and powerful energies. When words are combined with intense emotion, the emotion acts as a fuel for the word; the greater the emotion, the greater the fuel.

An intention puts things into motion universally. Life force is also fuel. Throughout history and cultures sacrifices have been done to add extreme power to an intention. We don’t live in a culture such as this and so the thought of it is foreign and primitive. However there are many cultures that still use a form of sacrifice to ensure the power of a ceremony. Chickens in Africa are often used in ceremonial practice and then used to feed the community. Even the church refers to the blood of Christ and the body of Christ in their sacraments, and Jesus is referred as sacrificing himself to save others.

I bring up this topic because I find myself often dealing with these issues during my healing work of Soul Retrieval. As I stated earlier, sometimes a person has tried everything to heal. They have read the books, done the workshops, gone to both allopathic and alternative practitioners, but their condition persists. They have something chronic: pain, misfortune, failure. This is where I find amazing success by looking into other lifetimes of the client. Not only was the curse been found in another lifetime but it was successfully unraveled and health restored to my client.

Shamanism does not view lifetimes as linear – past, present, future – but all happening simultaneously. If there was a spell, curse, oath, promise, declaration, vow or contract that was created in another lifetime that has a huge amount of life force with it, it is very likely that life force is still alive and activated in the client’s energy system. The energy of the “contract” is still in motion and affecting the person in this lifetime. Journeys into these other lifetimes and changing the situation in that lifetime literally changes the outcome that the client is living today. I find this work fascinating and effective.

There are many ways that curses and spells can be activated. Watch a few movies to get a feel for the drama of the past. Declaration, vows, and oaths were common. Great ceremonies and rituals often sealed the deal. Energy was put into motion in a dynamic way with lots of life force and emotion.

Imagine a scene where two men are dueling for the love of their lady. Declarations of love are spoken, Vows are created of fighting to the end, or declaring love for eternity. The duel happens and blood is spilled, someone dies and takes this vow with them into the afterlife. Just because the person died, doesn’t mean the energy did.

The Hatfields and McCoys are a classic example of feuding that is passed on energetically to the offspring. The offspring are then raised in an environment that automatically sees fault and disdain for the other family just because of the name. Now think of countries that have been feuding for centuries. The vows, the curses, the spells that have been cast because of these intense feelings cause enormous amounts of blood shed.

Blood is only one example of huge amounts of life force. Emotion without the blood can be just as binding. Fear can create power over a person or persons that can live on for centuries. The fear of burning in hell has been a controlling device that has proven to be effective, harmful, and invasive. If you want to control people, scare people; it always seems to work.

Fear has built enormous thoughtforms and they affect us all. The fear of survival is a root chakra broadcast (root meaning the basis of all things). If this chakra is out of alignment with its origin of wellness, safety, security, and belonging, the foundation of a person can be altered. With enough individuals expressing this fear, the foundation of a culture can be altered, and all of these broadcasts feed the thought form that lingers over their culture.

Many, if not all people have some sort of curse or spell on them. We as a culture tend to be very sloppy with our words, not aware that they are a powerful energy that lives on. We curse ourselves and curse others with words and emotions. Simple self-imposed curses can bind a person energetically from creating the type of life her or she desires or manifesting their dreams.

Words and intentions live on. However, they can be cleared and you can heal from them.