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.

TO GROUND OR NOT TO GROUND THAT IS THE QUESTION?!

Grounding is a buzzword found in books, articles, workshops and ceremonies. So what exactly is this grounding? At best, grounding is explained as contact with Mother Earth, being present in the now, in touch with nature, firmly planted on the ground, and in tune with our bodies. The word means just what it says—to be connected with the ground, to establish a strong and powerful energy connection with the earth, make sure your electrical and magnetic energies are well balanced and mixed within you.

Grounding your thoughts, feelings, and spiritual experiences–any of the nonphysical aspects of being human–allows those aspects to become charged with the power to manifest in your life. If you have lots of wonderful spiritual experiences without being grounded, it can be difficult to integrate your experiences into your day to day life. Getting a terrific message from Spirit, and having no way to make it real for you in your daily life can be a frustrating experience. Coupled with the fact that we are conditioned to think in Duality, i.e. Spirit lives up There, You live down Here. It takes time to integrate our spiritual life with our physical life, just as much as it takes time to learn the Language of Spirit.

Grounding can also help people who spend a lot of time in their intellect. If you have lots of ideas and insight, but difficulty manifesting them, grounding will help. Grounding is simply a process of getting our attention out of our heads and into our bodies. Most of us spend the day “thinking ahead” or “planning”, arranging our time, our jobs, you get the idea. Many of us run our body on autopilot, only giving it a thought if it hurts, or if it is tired…

Spirit is better reached, heard and understood if we are not intellectualizing, but rather Experiencing. Most Spiritual connections and communications do not come through words, or at least not words we can understand. Rather the language of Spirit is buzzing, or skakey, or cold, or hot… sensations, physical sensations. How can we know if Spirit is speaking to us if we are unfamiliar with the Language?

So, do we do that in circle? We rarely do a grounding meditation so do we ground?
Good Question GrassHopper….

Smudge
Drums
Rattles
Sacred Voices
Dancing
Spirit Calling
Whistling

All serve to bring your further from your intellect and deeper into Body – Deeper into Spirit. Grounding looks different in different traditions.

Bringing Up Your Spirit Song

Another shamanic term – what exactly does it mean to bring up your Spirit Song? It’s like a room full of very important people, introducing themselves to one another. It gets loud and each VIP is vying for space and time. Picture a room full of Spirits many of whom have never met before, are all invited to come into the room and speak. Keep in mind many of our VIP’s do not speak the same language, do not come from the same place or even have the same voice. So bringing up our Spirit song can and does sound sometimes like a jazz aficionado on crack! That’s all part of the process of listening to and hearing Spirit, your personal Spirit. Bringing up the Spirit Song is not about generating group energy or focusing our collective energy… never has been and never will be. Rhythm comes when our Spirits know each other and are comfortable with each other to work together… that takes time. Sacred music and sacred connections are precious and can be very delicate.

So… with all of us in the same room together, each vying for an opportunity to be heard how can we help to understand each other’s language? The different levels of Spiritual Language Sharing, we come together through circles or other gatherings and learn how to play cooperatively and become a spiritual team. I can’t believe I said that – That Just Sounds Corny!!!

So what are we doing here spiritually? Grounding?

Connection with the Divine, Spirit, the Oneness… how much grander it all is when we touch our life purpose, Dance in the Stars all the while we Listen to our inner wisdom and to Spirit a source of our inspiration.

Shielding

My view of shielding is similar to a Cloak. In sacred space we combine with Spirit and together we raise our vibrational energy. As we raise our vibrations we are more susceptible to sensing each other’s energies… when we are energy sensitive, empathic if you will, we often drain negative energies from others without knowing it or at least not understanding not to internalize it. When our energy is raised often the Intuitive Healer is activated and we take on another’s energy or another’s journey… we can bear witness to each other’s journey.

There are different methods of Shielding.

Begin with closing your eyes, Breathe Deeply
See your Crown Chakra opening
Visualize White and Golden Light flowing from the Sky
Through your Crown Chakra
Down your body and into every part of your being
From Microcosm to Macrocosm,
Flowing Like Blood Through you
See a pool of Light spreading at your feet
Visualize the Earth opening up beneath you
The White Golden Light passes through you
Taking with it the cares the Rest Deep Within You
Taking with it all that you need to Let Go
Visualize the Earth closing beneath your feet
Draw yourself back to your Heart
Breath Deep

Not everyone resonates with White Light meditations.

Udajet is one of the Cobra Goddesses of Upper Egypt. She came to me over a decade ago. She has become one of my closest Spirits, my teacher, my Protector, My Mentor, My Ancestor and Elder, Wise Counsel

Udajet coils around my body and nothing at all gets through unless it goes through her first. However I have to ask her to coil around me, I can’t take her for granted. She travels through my body and takes with her every morsel of what I no longer need.

I am positive many of us have our own protection and Shields. I encourage you to either engage them now or remember to do so next time you are in a spiritual gathering, or even when going out to the grocery store. Who knows how it will affect you if you don’t try.

Shamanic Drumming Circle – 2010 – 2011

The Drumming Circle is still going strong led by Erin and Patti. They hold them on the first and third Fridays of the month at the Unitarian Church located at 10804 – 119 street in Edmonton. The circle starts at 7 and is generally over by 9.

The cost is still a bank breaking $5.
You need to bring with you a blanket to lay on, a cover for your eyes and a journal to record your experiences and thoughts in. I would bring slippers because it is a cement floor under that carpet and by golly my toes got cold.

You can find the page under Shaman’s Journey Drumming Circle on Facebook.

Each circle has a different theme and is always well put together.

I have found over the years that sometimes the mind gets in the way and then we start thinking that we’re this or we’re that or that we’re separated. The circles are a way for you to take your time to feel your heart and locate an open avenue to Spirit. We ask that you engage your imagination, that much maligned muscle. If you take the time to just sit down, close your eyes and open your imagination & well imagine what you will experience.  Circle allows you the opportunity to sit with yourself and get beyond the monkey chatter and beyond the fishbowl with a bunch of fish.  Each circle invites you to hear your true voice, the soothing, gentle, non-judgmental one and touch with world around you.

The circle is opened with smudge, prayers to the Directions and a rousing drum and rattle session designed to bring your spirit into the room, engage the spirits around you, raise your energy and prepare you for your own sacred journey.

The circle tends to center around Native American Cultural Drums and rattles but is primarily focusing on the spiritual rather than the musical aspects.  We are facilitating a shamanic journey type process rather than a musical event. Shamanic drumming is generally simple and repetitive, often considered as a form of prayer or method of trance induction, rather than as music or entertainment. During a shamanic trance or shamanic journey, the drummer uses the steady beat of the drum as a “lifeline” to find the way back to the world of ordinary consciousness.

Basically Speaking

Language can really complicate simple matters. A few years ago I had a wonderful opportunity to spend time with three long time students of Jungian ideology, and analysis. We went to meet a JA specializing in Alchemy. Sounds interesting, it was… what was even more interesting to me was the fact that we spent a good deal of the two hours we had together trying to come up with a common language to understand each others experiences and thoughts. No simple task, but a very interesting one.

Language – when I first started to study shamanism there were few books published regarding the practices of shamans. I looked high and low for how to books, they did not exist. The books that I did find are considerably different than the books I read today.

The basic language speaks of the three worlds, Upper, Lower and Middle.

The Lower World is where you meet your Power Animal. Your Power Animal, not to be confused with a Totem animal, in some cultures is a direct connection between your spirits and your physical and mental well-being. If you are sick, or if you have lost some of your power the shaman would journey (meaning enter an altered state to seek information and knowledge) to the Lower World to retrieve your lost Power Animal.

The Middle World is interestingly this world only removed from time and space. I remember first trying to grasp that concept and intellectually understood that, but not so much in a practical day to day language or experience. We simply do not say… oh yeah saw Jane yesterday, but I was removed from time and space. Trying to explain was difficult, I eventually gave up and started asking Spirit to send me more journeys that had to do with the Middle World. Nothing beats experiential teaching. The Middle World is the place to encounter plant spirits, discarnate spirits, helping animal spirits. The analogy I use is it is this world without the saran wrap over our eyes, we are able to peel it away and get into the content of our world, from a multi dimension perspective.

Then the Upper World… I have not even gone into our Judeo Christian conditioning which teaches that the Upper is Heaven and the Lower is Hell. So, I won’t go into that right now either… the Upper World is where you find your teachers. The Lower World had rules of engagement… avoid snakes with mean – bite you in the ass teeth, no argument here. Avoid fish with large fangs… like a piranha… I think not really bad advice in either reality. The Upper World is a different place without specific rules set out. I have found it to be more peaceful, reflective, a stepping stone outside of our own atmosphere and orbit.

The concept of the World Tree, or axis mundi is a global image. The roots are the Lower World, the trunk the Middle World and the branches the Upper World. The shaman finds simple ways to enter the Upper & Lower worlds. Natural openings. All pretty straight forward so far. So, a hollowed tree trunk was a great way to enter the Lower World. Climb the World Tree to gain entrance to the Upper World through reaching for the stars. The drum is called the horse because it carried the shaman to the reaches of the other worlds. The drum was necessary to aid the shaman.

Michael Harner wrote “The Way of the Shaman” in 1980. Non Ordinary Reality was a new term to the Western culture in 1980 as was the “shamanic state of consciousness”, or SCC. OSC then was Ordinary State of Consciousness. Complicated eh! He introduced me to the concept of the “prelogical” mind. The Western mind, yours and mine, is simply put unsophisticated from a shamanic point of view. Unsophisticated… when was the last time your mind was called that. But unsophisticated we are… the Spirit World is broken down into simple enough terms for us to grasp the concept of a living breathing world beyond our three d reality. With the Jivaro Indians, for instance, no one had to explain which reality the shaman was talking about, everyone already knew what kind of experiences occur in SSC. They have a shamanic background and language, we don’t.

The ecstatic state is different from visualization because a visualization that comes naturally could be caused by various factors: daydreaming, wishful thinking, spiritual contact, psychic vision, to name a few. What each person experiences in those states is quite dependent on the experiencor. Quite often tho’ the experiencor can stop the vision or change the vision if they are uncomfortable or startled, any number of factors really.

In journeys however it is different. The hallmark difference between an ecstatic trance state and a visualization is interaction. In an ecstatic trance state you are involved in the action, however you cannot magically, at will change, you can will it but whether or not it happens is not up to you. It is as real there as it is here. The qualifier for that is you can ask for help in the Spirit World and it CAN come more directly and quickly than if you ask for help in the 3D circus we are currently conscious in. In the journey however you also have wayyyyyyyyyy more tools at your disposal than you have in this current 3D. Like shapeshifting, flight, spirit helpers… What we need to remember is that the spirit world operates INDEPENDENT of us, not because of us. We are interacting with something that is already present, we did not create it. Hence we therefore are merely participants, such as everything else we encounter.

So as we do our spiritual work lets pretend we have sophisticated shamanic minds. Lets enjoy our, as Carl Jung would call it, active imagination, put aside our critical self and enjoy the sophisticated journeys and experiences prepared for us by Spirit.

Thanks for listening….

Kriket
780-934-8222

Asking for Thoughts

Kriket’s Drumming Circle meets every first and third Friday of the month.  We meet at 10155 – 89 street in Edmonton.  Doors open at 18:30 and circle begins at 19:00. The cost is $5. We based our teachings on the principles of shamanism.  Kriket is hanging up her drumming stick as of June 4 2010.  So if you have always wanted to come and never have this will be your last season to join us.  Kriket at 780-934-8222.

I am still seeking ideas for the 2010 Edmonton drumming season. I ask that your ideas be a bit more specific than to just say shamanism.  Something like ‘spirit of water’ or ‘alchemy and shamanism’ or ‘nature spirits in the middle world’.  So far we have suggestions for hungarian shamanism; divination; psychopomp work to name a few. Keep them coming

I look forward to your ideas.  If you also have comments regarding the way circle is currently operating I would be happy to hear those to.

So far we have the following circles planned…

WHAT A CELEBERATION ON SEPT 18 - We met and holy moly WHAT A DRUMMING CIRCLE!! What an amazing turn out!! Thank you to everyone who came and brought their ideas and discussions. Further to our discussions here is a listing of some what we have planned so far this year.

Oct 2  – POWER RETRIEVAL - Often times I have treated patients for what appears to be power loss.  We will discuss power, power loss and how to get it back.  We will be working with partners as well as our own journey work.  – CHANGED

As some of you may be aware a powerful earthquake (7.9) has struck near the city of Padang on Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Wednesday, September 29.  There are conflicting #’s with respect to death.  The death toll is likely to rise as many buildings in the city of 900,000 people had collapsed.

 We are dedicating our circle to psyhcopomp and energetic clearing.

 For those with experience in dowsing, please bring your tools.

For those with experience in Reiki and other healing modalities, please come prepared.

For those who have been with me for other psychopomp work, come prepared to work.

 For those who feel this circle would be too deep or painful for you, I honor your decision not to come.

 We will do a return of Power another time.  We still have some circles that are not yet planned.

  16 Oct  Topic –Raven – We are coming close to Samhain (Halloween) and we are often reminded of that big black bird this time of year.  So through story, exercises and drumming we will connect to the Spirit of Raven.  Doors open at 18:30, circle starts at 19:00.  It is located at 10155 – 89 street, Edmonton.  Cost is $5.

6 Nov   Topic of discussion are the differences and similarities between shamanism and witchcraft.  I am planning on having a special guest, and if I do… well fun will certainly ensue. Through discussion, story and exercises we will uncover some truths and some not so truths.  Doors open at 18:30, circle starts at 19:00.  It is located at 10155 – 89 street.  Cost is $5.

Wow was this ever Fun!! Thank you Jane for an interesting thought provoking evening.  We discussed

Singing and Music ~ View of the Dead ~ Role in the COmmunity ~ Animal Spirits ~ and View of the Human Soul

 20 Nov –We have a special Movie Night – we will not be holding a regular circle.  Instead we are going to be viewing the movie Shadow Side.  It addressed what the shadow is, how to work with it and how to befriend your shadow. Doors open at 18:30, circle starts at 19:00.  It is located at 10155 – 89 street.  Cost is $5.

This was great.  Debbie Ford was the force behind this movie.  The feedback has been very positive and enlightening.  After we relaxed to the soothing sounds of Monty’s Crystal Bowls.  Thanks Monty!!

 4 Dec – Scandinavian Shamanism – specifically the practice of Seidhr and Joiking.  Through story, techniques and demonstration we will introduce you to a very ancient shamanic practice.  Doors open at 18:30, circle starts at 19:00.  It is located at 10155 – 89 street.  Cost is $5.

Okay this is one of the those circles that was more organic than planned.  We discussed the Goddess Nyx – Goddess of the Night.  She is one the archetype/foundation goddesses.  She is so old that there are very few references to her in written stories.  I drew my inspiration from Greek Mythology.  We joiked and did journey work to meet some of the children of Nyx – like death, moros, the three fates, Eros, Erobos, Thantos.  It was a deep night dedicated to the crowning of our darkest night – Winter Solstice.

18 Dec – Kriket’s Drumming Circle is cancelled for Christmas.

15 Jan – CANCELLED - Due to the inevitable Murphy’s Law I am unable to be present for my first circle of 2010.  We will revisit this theme later in the season.   Our first circle to welcome in 2010. We will be discussing prophecy, divination and divination tools.  Through Demonstrations, Journeys and hands on work we will take an interesting tour through our senses. Doors open at 18:30, circle starts at 19:00.  It is located at 10155 – 89 street.  Cost is $5.

 5 Feb – Our Circle will be dedicated to Drum Healing and Drum Energy work.  We will work in groups, partners and individually to experience the awesome healing power of the drum.  Bring your strong drumming arms! Doors open at 18:30, circle starts at 19:00.  It is located at 10155 – 89 street.  Cost is $5.

19 Feb – Our circle will be dedicated to Dragons. We are moving East on the Medicine Wheel.  East, in relationship with the element Air, if often associated with the Winged Ones.  Today we are focusing our attention on the Winged Dragons.  We will look through Eastern mythology and the sacred place Dragons hold in ancient cultures.   Doors open at 18:30, circle starts at 19:00.  It is located at 10155 – 89 street.  Cost is $5.

5 Mar  – There will be a special guest leader, Erin. More later on what she intends to bring to the circle for teaching. Doors open at 18:30, circle starts at 19:00.  It is located at 10155 – 89 street.  Cost is $5.

We have some great ideas; Buffalo work with our altar made of four large buffalo skins and skulls; Fox and wolf; A second discussion regarding witchcraft and shamanism.  Stay tuned 2010 will be a fantastic season.  

Thanks…

Kriket

Workshop – Practical Shamanism

Due to the success of this workshop I would love to run it again.  I have not picked a new date, but stay tuned!! We ended the workshop just after 5 and I was even nice enough to give my wonderful participants one 15 minute break.  We did not have enough time to discuss, altars, specific journey work or singing.  Thank you to everyone who came.  If you know someone who would be interested in this workshop, please pass along the message that I will be holding it again.

Practical Shamanism workhsop.

 The workshop Practical Shamanism is about ways to utilize your tools in a everyday life.  We will be discussing:

•  How to clear a house
• How to set energetic boundaries
• The use of stones and crystals
• How to make different smudges for different occassions
• Alternative forms of diagnosis
• Moon water, why and what for
• Rattles, why and what for
• Drums, why and what for

This is an informative class.  There will be very little experiential work.  We cover a diverse range of topics.  Please bring with you pen, paper and as many questions as you would like.

The cost is $60.

 Please let me know if you would like to join us.  Send me an email or call me at 780-934-8222.