Month: September 2017
Joining From a Distance
The biggest thing we are facing today as a society is feeling isolated. Many spiritual leaders, guru’s and mystics have already uncovered that our Western Contemporary Society has a large wound of separation. In a shamanic cosmology, we are one with everything, and there is a sacredness in all things. If one believes that God/Goddess/Spirit created the world, then by that same definition, doesn’t that mean that God/Goddess/Spirit is in everything that was created? When we feel separated from this great “web of life” as some call it, then things within our inner landscape become out of balance. If the imbalance progresses, illness or a dis-ease of the Spirit can take place. Many traditional Shamans believe that if a spiritual illness (such as soul loss) were to perpetuate and set in, it can (over time) lead to physical ailments. If you’re interested in exploring this more, there are two Shamanic Podcasts that I highly recommend which talk extensively of this perspective. There is Michael Stone with Conversations, and Christina Pratt with Why Shamanism Now.
One of the ways we can counter this illusion of separation is to remember that we are one with all things. This is where daily spiritual practices and coming together in community are especially important. The daily spiritual practice will help reinforce your own personal connection to a higher power, while the community aspect allows you to be on this journey of inner awareness with others who are trying to accomplish the same thing. The law of attraction states that like attracts like, so pay attention to what you are surrounding yourself with.
Oh no… but what if you see great events and can’t participate in them because you can’t make the commute, or you’re too far away/live in a different state?!
This is where the beauty of the internet comes in handy! I can’t speak for all people that hold distance events, but here are links to the basic guide/overview of how we will run things at Eagle Therapies so if you do not have a local community – you can still participate in one!
We use Zoom for people to interact with each other in a virtual space. Please email us at info@eagletherapies.com, or FB message us before just “showing up” virtually. This helps us prepare how we will be running the event. Here is the login information for when you do join us at a distance:
Shamanic Journey Group
There is a bi-weekly Shamanic Journey Group that meets every other week at various locations (check out our Facebook or Meetup for up to date lists). There are some people that wish to practice their journeying skills with others, and this is the perfect way to do so – whether in person or at a distance. The Journey Group has been running steadily since 2014, so there is a solid structure to hold people as they engage in the “Journey Tracks” that are posted as we find explore a topic to journey about together. For a link to an in-depth explanation for the structure and format, click here. For support for journeying at home, click here.
Ancestral Healing Circle
Once monthly around the New Moon is a Ceremony called the Ancestral Healing Circle. This is a Ceremony that welcomes both the new as well as the experienced. It is where we gather and work on the unresolved issues/patterns within ourselves, the ancestors, as well as in the land itself. The Ancestral Healing Circles have been apart of the Shamanism Without Borders community and follows the code of ethics set by the Society of Shamanic Practice. Before involving healing of any kind in our circles, we must first ask permission/consent for those that we are praying for. This is why most of the time (especially for beginner ceremonialists), we focus on ourselves and our connection to the topic at hand for the month. As Sandra Ingerman says, the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, and any inner work that we do has an effect on the greater web of life. A post is coming for a more in-depth explanation for the structure and format of joining at a distance.
If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at info@eagletherapies.com or call/text 571.306.3197. And please also don’t be shy about leaving a message. We are here to help support a growing community of people that want to help each other. We’re all in this together.
Distance Journey Group
THIS POST IS CURRENTLY OUTDATED AS OF SUMMER OF 2021. This is still up as archival history of what we have done in the past.
If you have made it to this page, that means you’re interested in actively practicing Shamanic Journeying with a non-local community. Congratulations on these big steps to feeling connected and a part of something bigger. Keep in mind that whatever you put into it, is what you get out of it, and participation is voluntary.
There are a few ways to join from a distance.
- One is marking yourself as “interested” on the Facebook event, so that when we go live you will get notified and you can watch in real time. This option won’t allow you to participate, but you can view what is happening. After we stop the recording, you can participate on your own at home and look for the blog post which will be posted within a day or two so you can post your journey results.
- The second is to join with a teleconferencing app that can be installed on your computer, smart device or phone called Zoom. This allows you to interact with us, and you can dance, journey, and share your journey with us. PLEASE MESSAGE if you would like to participate live.
- If you are not able to make it live, then you can view the recordings in the archives of our blog. You can post or share your journey results if you choose to.
We are currently restructuring how we organize the previous journey groups, it’s coming soon! But the most easiest way to participate is from watching for our newsletters, Facebook event feed or Meetup events.
If you consider yourself a beginner journeyer, I would recommend taking a look at the Journeying at Home page to help you prepare yourself as well as your space. I have a project that I am working on for a Journeying CD to accompany this “preparation” to allow one easier access to altered states of consciousness. If you would like to provide your own music, a drum, rattle, or tapping on your body can help produce the trance like state we are seeking. If you are unsure about doing that, then you can follow this simple layout with accompanying journey tracks.
Here is a helpful video by Sandra Ingerman about journeying, and here is a link to her book, “Basics of Shamanic Journeying”. If you would like further instruction, there is typically a class about journeying right before the monthly journey group (with no suggested journey topic) for practice. Variation may range based on the month, however you can stay in touch with our events via our newsletter archive, signing up for our monthly newsletter, or looking at our Facebook or Meetup pages. If you wish to deepen your studies, there are several courses offered through Sounds True, the Shift Network and the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.
If you have trouble journeying, or have tried several times to journey, please do not fret. Sometimes it just takes practice. Going into an altered state of consciousness at will is a learned skill. It’s like a muscle. You cannot expect to go right into the gym for the first time to bench press 100 lbs. Some people might be surprised to find out they can, while other people struggle to even lift up the bar. Everyone is different, with different experiences and skill sets. Some may have a problem concentrating because their imagination runs wild, so they have wild vivid journeys but they make no sense. While at the same time, others might struggle to release the thoughts of their day and keep thinking about things they have to do – thus feeling blank for the journey itself. It all varies, but the only way to keep gaining experience is to do it and see what happens.
If there still seems to be trouble and there are certain blockages that are hindering your progress, it is possible that a shamanic healing might be in order. Sometimes with the amount of disconnection our society is in, vital pieces of ourselves might be missing due to soul loss, or trauma from our past. Shamanic healing sessions can be done either in group ceremonies or in one-on-one sessions. The group ceremonies tend to be done by donation, while the private sessions (either private or you can invite other people to witness) are done by sliding scale. More information can be found on the List of Services tab.
Feel free to contact us by email at chenchira@eagletherapies.com or call/text 571.306.3197 if there are any questions or concerns. Don’t be shy! And happy journeying, everyone.
Journey Group Outline for September and October 2017
Wow! Would you look at that! I have everything all set in stone for the next two months and I have everything scheduled! IT’S A MIRACLE!!
Well, not really. But I have a lot of deep gratitude to a lot of people helping me pull this off. So without further ado – let’s see what we’ve got in store at Eagle Therapies for the next two months!
For those that don’t know, there is both a bi-weekly shamanic journey group as well as a monthly shamanic journey group. The one with the “journey group outline” is the bi-weekly occurring event. The monthly meetup has a class right before hand, so if you’re interested in journeying but don’t feel comfortable doing it – well here’s a class for you! We weren’t able to have a monthly journey for September, but that’s alright. Just come in October instead! The monthly journey is also longer and with two journeys instead of one. There is the option to journey for someone else during the second journey. There is a facebook group for the journey group, and I promise I’ll get better about posting in there. The intention behind the facebook journey group is to have people that are joining in from a distance to post the results of their journeys – or to have members post odd synchronicity of what happened when they applied what they learned in their journey group.
So without further ado: Here is the suggested journey topic for the next two months!
Energy Health and the taking care of our Bucket
I did a blog post about this last year, and we are going to revisit this topic again, because it’s a different set of people, as well as a new location. The basic premise is to explore the blog post, but to give an opportunity to the group to be able to break it down into separate journeys. Here is how we shall break this down:
September 7th
Introduction to the state of our energetic health
Facebook and Meetup
A lot of people aren’t really sure what to make of their energetic health. A lot of people that claim to be “empathic” are sometimes just super sensitive to other people’s energy because their energy body is porous. We will cover this topic as well as explore how our energy body is interacting with the world around us, and what impact is has on our emotional, mental, and spiritual status at any given moment in time.
September 21
The container
Facebook and Meetup
This is where we explore what our container is, as well as what status it is in. Not many people will see it as a “bucket”. People have had this show up as a glass container, a wooden one, a porcelain, and also metal. No answer is wrong, but the type of material it is made of is also a representative of how you interact with the world.
October 5th
The contents
Facebook and Meetup
It’s funny how sometimes we can acknowledge something on the surface, but underneath it can be a putrid pond filled with gross stuff. Is an energy body supposed to have sediment down at the bottom that isn’t touched? Perhaps one can have a sluggish reaction to certain things, but then “boiling over” or reactive when it’s close to the top? What does repression mean and what are the repercussions of it on your energy body.
October 19th
The stability
Facebook and Meetup
Sometimes we can feel as though we are teeter tottering on the edge of a precipice. Knowing ourselves as well as “where our bucket is NOW” can provide insight into our emotional/mental stability at any given moment in time. If we are on unstable ground, or if we feel as though we are about to “lose it”, then we can certainly journey to our energetic body to see what type of metaphoric “ground” we are on, and explore/heal that aspect of ourselves.
Again, there is no class and monthly journey in September, but the next Shamanic Journeying Class is on October 28th, followed shortly by the Monthly Journey Group. If you are familiar with journeying, you can skip the class and come right to the monthly journey group for more practice. For the up to date event listings, feel free to check out either our Facebook calendar or our Meetup Calendar. If you are interested reading our newsletter for the month, visit the Newsletter Archives or join the newsletter.
Happy September! So many kids going back to school 🙂 Blessings to those children starting their new school career this year <3