What is a power object?
Plenty of people have heard me talk about power objects and why they are so significant. The basic definition of a power object that was explained to me, is any object that we use with intention for a specific purpose. In a way, a toothbrush or glasses can be looked at as a type of daily power object that we use and they are very important to us because we have a specific amount of personal energy invested in those objects. Hence why sometimes it’s easier for us to “track” where we’ve lost our glasses as opposed to other objects, because they carry more significance for us.
A shamanic power object is an object created through intention and prayer. It can be as simple as a few choice words written onto a piece of paper before you burn it for a one time use. It can manifest as concretely as a drum or rattle, to work with throughout the course of a lifetime – potentially passed down to the next generation. It can be something that already exists, like a gemstone, crystal, or scarf. The point that gets made with a shamanic power object is the amount of energy that is invested by both yourself and Spirit. Often times, a spirit of something will be blown into a power object. This is how the object feels “alive”, because it literally takes on a life of its own. When the spirit of the power object has served its purpose and moved on, typically the power object will break or crack in some way – thus releasing the spirit. The spirit within the power object generally needs to be honored in some fashion, especially if it is a sacred power object.
Common examples of Shamanic Power Objects:
- Eye curtain to help assist with journeying. Every time you would put on this eye curtain, it helps you get to and maintain a specific altered state of consciousness. Typically these are handmade and can easily be made by folding a bandanna in half and then cutting them so it has that fringe on the bottom.
- A Mask of your helping spirit – to help with embodying that specific helping spirit.
- Staff or Walking Stick – This will help one connect more with the “world tree” to make travel easier between realms of Non-Ordinary reality.
- Shamanic Regalia – All of the above can be categorized as part of a Shamanic Practitioners regalia. This helps them embody their own helping spirits or the energies they want to work with on a more intimate level. This helps us ground into the middle world, because that’s where our physical bodies are. Other aspects of Shamanic Regalia include scarves, rings, jewelry, etc. They can either be hand crafted or inherited already assembled. More information below.
- Drum or Rattle – These are power objects that are typically their own being. They sometimes only want to come out for sacred events or ceremonies. Please don’t touch another persons drum or rattle unless they invite you to. This is another reason why sometimes people keep their drums back and away from the circle unless they are holding it. Some drums people have made by themselves, and are sacred. Typical unspoken language includes covering a drum or rattle to denote its sacredness, so that others don’t touch that particular power object. There are some that are more friendly then others.
Working with pre-made power objects
You can get the call from Spirit to craft your own power objects, such as necklaces, bracelets, eye curtains, and potentially drums or rattles. There is such an empowerment to making something and co-creating it with Spirit. But what happens if you have an heirloom that has been gifted to you? A carving of an animal that you didn’t make?
Sometimes power objects already have power and they need to find their next home. These things are often very mysterious to people that don’t know much about the background or history of power objects. When a particularly sensitive person picks up an object, they can feel into the energy an object and feel the emotions or energy of what is within the object. That’s why it is important that if a particular power object doesn’t want that energy in them anymore, it is released in a good way. Even if you can’t feel the power within it. Don’t just assume what you need to do for this power object. This is an active state of “listening” that takes our other senses to pick up what exactly needs to be done.
Did you ask your helping spirit for a way to connect with them a lot easier then journeying? Then get a gift of a owl trinket to put on your keys from a friend that “thought of you” and got it? This is very common. And it’s also recommended to cleanse the object before you really begin working more intimately with it.
If journeying is a skill you possess, then feel free to journey to the spirit of what is already there (if you pick something up) and ask for it to show you how to release it (if that is what is called for), or how to begin working with it. Make sure to keep checking your truth cord to see if this is something that resonates with you, or perhaps if this Power Object is meant to go to someone else.
Sometimes power objects can be much more simpler then that. A simple stone picked up from the beach, woods, or desert might be a great power object to help you connect in with a particular Spirit of the Land. While there in a power spot, feel the draw of that particular rock that wants to help assist you in connecting with the land. If you get a “No”, please do not take and respect the answers you get from nature. If you do get a “Yes”, then give gratitude and sprinkle some tobacco, cornmeal, or gift an offering of a song. Giving gratitude is important, because that helps keep the flow of Ayni alive.
Working with rocks, gemstones or crystals can be a wonderful way to create a power object. Something to be mindful of, is that most rocks, and crystals already have a living spirit within them, so you have to ask permission from the item if they would like to embody the energy. Most of the time you will get a yes, but it’s always polite to ask.
Sometimes we need help releasing toxic thoughts, or a reminder of something that aligns with our true path. A gemstone or crystal is the perfect being to ask if they will help embody an energy so we can connect with it easier and draw it closer to us. For example, if we are going through a particularly tough time, we can ask a stone to embody the energy of Forgiveness so that we can have compassion for ourselves and be mindful of this whenever we pick up the rock. Another power object that I interact with daily is a crystal that represents true love for me. Sometimes it has been prescribed to clients of mine to have a stone that represents Sovereignty as a reminder that they are whole and complete beings, and to hold that energy daily to remind themselves that they have the ability to stand within their own power and not be afraid.
This is why it is helpful to have an altar practice. This doesn’t have to be long, but power objects make it easier to be able to place them in a spot that we have already declared as sacred space. Because if we make room for the sacred in our lives, the sacred will happily meet us there. It is our responsibility to tend the sacred within ourselves, and also be responsible for our connections to the greater web of life. Living a Shamanic life is about living in right relationship with the world around you. It’s not about how many connections or relationships you have, but the depth of them.
If you’ve got a busy life that is very full, it holds a lot of meaning that you spend about 5-10 minutes praying in the same spot daily. This is how we stay connected, empowered, and apart of the greater universe. Power objects make it a lot easier, but with this, it is a responsibility to take care of them.
Funny story, I’ve got a badger power animal, and he helps me with specific tasks in Non-Ordinary Reality. I’ve been told in a journey about 2-3 years ago that I needed to find a power object for him. Lo-and behold – My housemate got him at a store, and I did a simple “awakening” Ceremony just by playing around with him, chewing on his figurine paws, and other things. The power object also found me. It was simple, easy, and didn’t take a lot of time to imbue this figurine with power. But I put a lot of feeling into it. Now that this figurine is a power object, it sometimes ends up disappearing and I don’t know where it goes. When I hear a scream or shout from either my son or my housemate, I know that the badger has been found. It has a mind of its own, and sometimes the losing and finding of the power object is something that is able to help me find a deeper meaning or message without traveling into Non-Ordinary Reality because the energy of badger is within that power object.
If you’re really intrigued by this topic and you would like more support, there is this wonderful guide by Evelyn Rysdyk called, “A Spirit Walkers Guide to Shamanic Tools: How to Make and Use Drums, Masks, Rattles, and Other Sacred Implements “. You can purchase the book here.
Have fun with this. It’s a lot easier then you think 🙂
May 16th – SJG
This topic is about self pity, as well as pitying others. What happens energetically when pity happens? Sandra Ingerman says that when you pity another person, you are robbing a person of their power. It marginalizes and only acknowledges the wounded aspect of a person instead of seeing them in their whole-ness.
If you would like to comment or post your results, feel free to post your results down below. If you would like to see other recorded journey topics, feel free to visit the archives.
May 2nd – SJG
What are the hidden components to some of our choices and decisions? Through this suggested journey topic we explore this and a varying other few subtle aspects that could be influencing our behavior.
If you would like to comment on this post, please feel free to share your insights/things here on this post! If you would like to see the archive of Shamanic Journeys, click here.
May 2018 AHC
Hey everyone! My website is kind of wonky at the moment and it won’t let me upload videos directly to the forums. Here is the recording for this months Ancestral Healing Circle:
If you would like to post your results, questions or comments, please redirect them over to the topic in the forums.
This Ancestral Healing Ceremony was specifically about inheriting the patterns of shame and guilt from our Ancestral lines. This shame or guilt motivates us to be a certain way, fitting into a box instead of allowing ourselves to be authentic in the world. We dive a little deeper into what Ancestral Healing means as well as how to tap into that first layer around it.
Developing Resilience – A Shamanic Parenting Story
I became a young Mother quite suddenly, but the more challenging aspect of it was coupling a spiritually fulfilled life while being a single parent. At the time of writing this article, my son has grown to the ripe age of 9 years old, and I am continually blessed for his existence here on this planet. I will share with you my heart, my growth and evolution as a parent. I invite you to join with me as I share my background and the struggles of raising an aware child in a society that does not cherish the sacred. I do not come from an indigenous background, but like so many other contemporary Shamanic Practitioners, I come from a broken lineage in an emotionally distant family of origin. Trying to piece together a spiritually fulfilling life while raising a little one can be challenging on its own, but here are some of the lessons and wisdoms that I have distilled from this experience so far, and I’m sure that I will be continuously growing this wisdom base.
With all great stories, we will start with the beginning. The conception of my son was surrounded by confusion, blame, trauma, and chaos. It took me years to understand the emotional baggage I carried with me. Many of my early years of raising him were scary and through the eyes of a child, because I had the emotional maturity of a child. It turned out to be a very magical experience because he is such a blessing to me. Not at the time, of course, but we always have a better view of things in hindsight. It was a challenge raising him since he was emotionally and spiritually sensitive. He was fussier than other babies, sensitive to people having a bad mood, and seemed “tuned in” naturally to the world around him. The blessing behind this meant it was easy to have age-appropriate discussions with him about energy hygiene, maintenance, and the natural world. I saw him for the true light of what he is and I have done the best I could in raising him.
In essence, I taught him things that I was teaching myself, except I would ask my guides to help the teachings be age-appropriate. I was always surprised at the ease and grace of which he answered to some of these meditations and suggestions that I reeled with for a week or two before I “got” them. He helped me develop that sense of ease and wonder, and “growing up” was less scary for me. Years later, as I reflect on that, it seems to be that with true self-healing as an adult, you have to “deprogram” yourself from what society, culture, and your family give you as core beliefs. My son constantly reminds me about deepening my roots and going back to the childlike sense of wonder—the “original” program we get handed by Spirit. In my life, he has been my greatest teacher.
I taught him how to journey at a very early age, and I remember him having to think on who his first helping spirit was. He said he felt them during the first journey, but couldn’t see them quite yet. Knowing that it was possible I could project something on him, I tried to distract myself with other things while he tried to journey again to find out who was playing with him. It made me so proud that by the time he curled into bed that night before story time. He stated plain and simple that his helping spirit was a bear. One of my main helping spirits is a bear, and hence he became my “Little Bear.”
In the early years, it was easy to keep him on the same spiritual path as me. He was joyful, loving, filled with inspiration and hope. Before the age of 6, he loved to journey and dance with me, doing the same activities as I did, and liked taking walks in the woods or talking to trees. But then he started going to school. I prepped him for it, because I noticed his eagerness in telling almost anyone that would listen about the amazing adventures he and his helping spirits would go on. Discernment was a good age-appropriate lesson about how sometimes other adults might not think the same way Mommy does, and he should be careful about whom he shares those thoughts/opinions with. He understood this on one level, but experiencing it in a public school system is a different story. Running home from the bus, he came home crying because another kid made fun of him about talking to his helping spirits under his breath. He immediately started disconnecting from the spiritual, pulling away and resisting me instead of joining along. It wasn’t until years later that I started connecting the dots.
When he stopped responding positively to a lot of the things we used to do together, it became a chore. I started leading journey groups, and instead of it being “fun” for him like it used to be, he would commonly get bored, and occasionally would get disruptive. The meditations we did together were no longer fulfilling; instead it became a thing that “my Mom does” and he would start rolling his eyes whenever I suggested it. The helpful tips that he used to look up at me to give, soon became disregarded. Talking back and becoming rude were growing steadily more frequent. The reflection this made within myself became a pile of frustration, angst, and self-blame. I wasn’t doing enough to make my kid more connected. It was “my fault” for not focusing hard enough on him, even though I thought I was doing all of the right things to feed, clothe and house him.
As I finally came into my own with my Shamanic Path, I found that it was an echo within myself that my son was reflecting back to me. He is the closest emotional connection to any human that I have, and that hasn’t changed for 10 years (I connected with him very deeply while he was in my womb). As I dove deeper into a contemporary Shamanic cosmology, I found that a lot of the threads I was bringing up were pulling up this constellation of factors that were also reflected in society. Because I was working on them within myself, my son (who is extremely open and emotionally sensitive) reflected the counterparts to the very pieces I was working on. I realized that when I was raising him previously, that he was modeling for me the very illnesses that I was trying to combat within myself. Some main ones being greed, entitlement, addiction to technology, and doing things to “prove” himself to his friends. It wasn’t until I engaged at this depth of understanding that I was able to re-prioritize a way to make him feel like his needs were being met in a way that we could explore this context together. I was exploring the depths of my own Shamanic world while leaving him out of it—which I found that for me was the wrong approach to come from. He is a part of my world, and thus is a crucial part for me to understanding myself.
As soon as I began to cultivate a deeper sense of compassion within myself for the grander vision of the situation I was in, he was of the age where he could make informed decisions about this on his own (this started around age 7). To remedy his pain and insecurities about being teased for having helping spirits in the first place, I found and networked with other parents who openly discuss these spiritual things with their children. I found family-friendly festivals where he could participate in group ritual. If things got to be really challenging and I wasn’t able to find something in the area, I invited him to participate with me during group rituals and ceremonies online via webcasting. As soon as he was able to see that there were other kids that were doing this with him, and he wasn’t the only one with a weird Mom, he slowly started coming back to opening up. Just as finding community strengthened me, finding community also strengthened his connection to Spirit.
When I stopped trying to force his healing because I thought something was “wrong with me” and my parenting skills, I opened up to the fact that there was something bigger going on. I started examining what about the situation was I taking personally, and kept asking my helping spirits questions about how I could improve my relationship with him. This way it didn’t infringe upon me “forcing” things to happen, and instead switched it to “allowing” things to happen. When I organically used the Shamanic principles I was learning from my teachers and applying them in my own life, I deconstructed and then reconstructed a way that allowed my son into the picture easily and effortlessly. I found that what I was doing before was just slapping together different aspects of living a Shamanic life and expected that it was enough. It wasn’t until I leaned into the teachings and allowed all aspects of my life to become Shamanic, did I realize that had a dramatic impact on my relationship with my son. I give great gratitude to the Cycle teachings and Christina Pratt for really driving that home. My own healing catalyzed as soon as I took root in a true Shamanic community that came together to live the same principles. It was the shift in realization that living a Shamanic way of life couldn’t just be condensed to my healing practice, but also opened up to every relationship that I had, seeing the interconnectedness of it all. The best service I did for my son was to step into a true transformational process and see how I brought my true lifes purpose into all avenues of my life, not just certain “chosen” parts.
I originally was trying to prevent him from seeing me in my deep healing, even though he was feeling it without naming it. It wasn’t until later when I noticed that when I was upset, he was acting it out. Christina teaches that young children ground to the parents because they don’t have their own sense of grounding. They depend on us to tell them what’s right and wrong, what is dangerous and what is not. Which means that we have to model for them how to live in a sustainable way. If we want to teach our kids a better way of being, we can’t take their reflections personally. We need to develop the skills that allow us to model a deeper change we want to see in the world. What I was doing before was only allowing a Shamanic life into parts of my life instead of letting it affect my whole life. I was marginalizing myself subconsciously, and in that my son modeled for me the marginalization within our relationship.
Reflecting out into the wider scope of entering a public school, if he marginalizes aspects of himself, does that really set him up for success in being able to handle criticism? I don’t outwardly view this as something as “bad,” because I find that putting challenges in front of him makes him a stronger kid. What we should be teaching kids is resilience. Children are naturally resilient to begin with, but when they start inheriting our inability to process emotions, to be taught to “hide” things because other people might not accept them fully, then we have to ask if this is sustainable. Are we truly raising children who can dream of a better dream than us adults have? Or are we raising another generation that a different version of the same thing, inheriting the generational backwash of unresolved energies?
What I have found that works for my child is a rich engagement in the activities I am doing. Going to Spirit and asking directly how I can involve him in the things I am doing now. Admittedly in the beginning of my Shamanic path, I was using my Shamanic trainings as a way to “get away” from having to be a parent, and just an opportunity to be me. As I came to a deeper understanding of myself in the world, I realized that my son is an expression of me. One with his own brain and heart. He has the ability to make his own choices, but I can’t force them. What I can do as a parent is model them as best as I can for him and to allow him to choose his own path.
Our job as parents is not to protect our children for life. It’s to give them the tools that they can help understand their context within the greater aspect of the Universe. Why not involve your kids with your transformative processing? Why not share, be open and more vulnerable with them? If you have helping spirits, try asking them how to make the conversation age appropriate so they can understand what is happening. Most of them do, but they have to have permission from adults to feel into those experiences and be able to name them so they can share and know it’s okay. The more we teach them to be independent and go to Source themselves when they are ready, the more we are empowering them to lead a rich life.
To teach our children to have depth, we have to have depth ourselves. To understand the proper way to raise a child also means to understand the cultural illnesses at hand that influence these greater aspects of our society and how we can better engage with our children to make them more resilient to them. When we build the foundation of mental wellness in our society, we begin to build structures that innately repel mental illness by their very existence. What we need to do, in my opinion, is ground these actions in ourselves as adults first, and then model them for our children. We need a more engaging way to bring Spirit into our daily lives.
Change the dream of one generation, and we can change the world.
On Children
Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
As living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
And He bends you with His might
That His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
So He loves also the bow that is stable.
Living a Life Lead by Spirit
This post isn’t coming from a place of trying to justify what it is that I’m trying to do. It’s a simple act of transparency to let people know where I am at. It has been encouraged of me to do because there needs to be more transparency about the process of personal development in the world. I am accepting this challenge. Not saying there’s already great work out there – but adding my own flavor to the mixture of how one can find a path to truly becoming “awake” as a fully functioning spiritual adult.
Throughout the recent years, I’ve received a lot of great compliments about how I’ve really changed foundationally as a person. People can actually feel that I’ve changed a lot, and I admit I’ve been constantly burning up like a phoenix in many aspects of my life. Even though many people have said those things about me to my face – they’re only seeing the result of blood, sweat and tears instead of the process. In the past, I have chosen not to share the dramatics about my processing because it is sacred to me. I choose to share my experiences with those that I love and trust, those that I know have gone through something similar to me. Even though the above meme made me laugh until I cried when I first saw it – it’s true. Western Contemporary culture has this big glamour over being “spiritually awake”, but what our culture is prone to is spiritual bypass. Using new age techniques to clear the upset in the moment and not finding the deep motivations behind having those triggers in the first place. I have to admit, I’m proud of the tribe that I have surrounded myself with. When I first started going through my own spiritual awakenings, I felt alone. Strong, sturdy relationships were falling apart around me, home life being shaken up, experiencing being homeless, working my heiney off with 3 different jobs 70-80 working hours a week and have ended up hospitalized because of it (not directly, but the stress of it, in my opinion, was a contributing factor). Amidst all of this chaos, what I found is that when I took the time to focus on myself, new relationships were popping up around me. I just had to slow down in order to appreciate it. The new relationships were people who have been through the same thing and have cultivated similar wisdom from these life experiences. It’s similar to that feeling as a child where you tell yourself the story, “If I don’t have this – I will DIE!”. Well it’s true. In the journey of the awakened spiritual adult, a part of us does have to die in order to give birth to a new truth within us. To stay within that realm of allowing the fear of death to motivate us, keeps us trapped in a state where we cannot move forward.
What I have noticed personally as I have become more aware, is that there’s a spectrum of people learning from experiences. One side is represented by those that go from experience to experience without cultivating the wisdom learned in that experience. They blow past that experience and move right into the next big high that makes them feel something. The other end of the spectrum are those that take the time to slow down, detach from the drama, and begin to see the reflection of the world around them within themselves and their own personal experience. As I stated above, I fill my Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook feed up with people that are actively going through this work. I make sure that what I take in inspires me, and to also know that there are other people out there making this journey with me. We don’t have to feel disconnected as we go through this work, and this is part of the medicine that I bring, and that I have distilled from my past. Yes, I’ve made horrible decisions in my life. But I didn’t realize that the biggest “mistakes” turned into my biggest blessings. So here is where I actively start sharing my journey, and I am excited you are reading this.
Stories have a lot of power, and the stories we tell ourselves can either rob you of power, or fill you with power. One of the reasons why I didn’t share a lot in my past is because I would have shared from my old perspective of being the victim. I wasn’t ready for the raw versions to come out quite yet. I have been actively pulling back those stories that make me feel smaller, that legitimized my specific role as a lesbian, single, white-looking woman. Each one of those “labels” put me in a certain role and it’s hard to break those roles and have people see me as who I really am. The stories I was telling before fed into those labels and reinforced some of those very labels that I’m trying to break. Even being a cis-female and owning it has been a journey – to break gender roles and to have people just see “me” instead of those labels. But now I’m polishing up my story telling abilities and being brave about where my path is leading me.
Once the art of story telling is explained, I get to explain the difference of “power of” and “power over”. Charles Eisenstein is a brilliant writer and visionary who speaks to the difference between the Old Story and the New Story. The old story of “power over” is in essence the story of being motivated by fear. In essence, it is manipulating, shaming, or guilting people into doing something because you’re anchoring yourself on external motivations. Most of us (generationally speaking) have grown up with this, having this way of life handed to us at birth. We don’t honestly know any other way. A “new story” that is emerging is one of “power of”. We, as a culture, are beginning to recognize and heal the stories that keep us separated, alienated, and manipulated. We are finding that our true purpose is not outside of us, but inside of us. There is beautiful movie called Moana. It’s a Disney movie about a young girl finding her life purpose, and the evolution of how she claims her power/birthright for herself, and then her people. This is the perfect teaching story, because when she feels as though she “fails”, she realizes that she wasn’t supposed to be looking outside of herself for the hero – that the ancestors and the Universe gave her the opportunity to be the hero. This is a true story of empowerment, and if you haven’t watched the movie, I politely encourage you too.
In my life, I feel like Moana right now. That I’m in the middle of the ocean finding my life’s purpose. I’m in that moment where I’m realizing that my purpose lives within me and I have the ability to bring that out into the world. It’s obviously not an easy path. When I was guided to quit my full time Veterinary job back in November, it was scary. Western Contemporary Culture, my parents, and many others gave me the warnings of not having a “real job”, and of course my inner critic was screaming that I was going to fail. By societal standards – yes I am failing. But to me and my community, I’m not. I’m finding that the stress of living a path of authenticity is tempering the steel of my blade. Stress can be turned into anxiety or excitement. There is no in-between.
You either choose love or fear.
The Old Story is based off of fear. And I’m trying my hardest to choose love. Yes, I trip every now and then. Every action I take is stirring up even more chances for that voice of fear to be prominent. To say, “get a real job”, “you’re not doing it right”, “you’re an idiot”, “you’re a failure”. But you know what? Each voice that tells me those things – I am choosing it to be the hammer strike that hits the hot metal. The hot metal is my soul, and I constantly am giving my life, spirit, and soul up to God/Spirit/the Universe right now. I am choosing to heat myself up through the dance of life and am letting these life experiences shape me into the person I truly came here to be.
I have tried searching for spiritual communities that would be accepting of me. I apprenticed under a Seminole Elder, and worked with Native American Grandmothers for close to a year. I chose to step away because I found that to not be “my path”. That time was not wasted. I deeply love and treasure the gifts, medicine, and wisdom that was bestowed upon me by that time. I am honored and humbled I had that opportunity. What I learned was to respect my elders, and to honor/acknowledge where “traditional” spiritual paths have come from. But what I bring forward into the world is not traditional by any means. What I found was that the acceptance had to come from within myself first before I sought it outside of myself.
Which is what led me to the Last Mask Community. I found Christina Pratt through my first physical reality Shamanic Teacher, Mary Tyrtle Rooker. I started listening to the Why Shamanism Now podcasts, and felt this immediate gut punch. There was this sense of what I was looking for, but didn’t know how to express it. I heard about the Cycle teachings associated with Christina through many of the podcasts, and tried to go for 3 years, but something always ended up coming up. Finally, on the third year I got in and finally went to Masks of Illusion and the Authentic Self last year. It wasn’t until the second retreat when the dots of my experiences began connecting themselves when I sat still enough to listen.
I grew up as a sensitive child in a physically abusive, neglected household. I learned how to suppress my gifts of emotional and spiritual sensitivity until it exploded out of me sideways when I was in High School. I find it to be a funny coincidence that right around the same time frame that I was in the mental institutions receiving grandiose visions of being apart of something bigger then myself, was around the same time period that the Last Mask Community came to know itself and began to form itself as a community. I knew I was looking for something, but I didn’t know it was community. We aren’t meant to do this work alone.
We are supposed to be finding others like us with similar stories, and banding together to change the stories we tell ourselves collectively as a people. To hold each other accountable for our actions and progression as people. Yes, there was that in the 2 year Shamanic Training I took with Tyrtle, however it wasn’t sustainable and all of the graduates of the program lost touch with each other. We check in every now and then, but it’s not the deep sense of intimacy that I get with opening up to a community of people that are moving through the same waters set up within a contemporary cosmology specifically crafted for this time.
Within the context of community, I learned that I contributed to the juicy energy of the community just by being me. I couldn’t have poor boundaries and depend on them to build me up. My own personal development is what matters. That’s why I found that for myself, I had to distance myself from a “real job” because I was measuring my own self worth by how much I was being paid. It wasn’t until I decided to charge sliding scale, stepping into my work full time as a local community leader/shamanic practitioner and getting paid what people could afford, that people reflected my worth to me. Not because I used their dollars as way to measure myself, but to find that what they had in their hearts was enough of a gift. Instead of looking to my clients as affirmation that I was a “good practitioner”, I instead learned to find that value within myself, and have my clients reflect a mirror to what I found I was already discovering. It wasn’t until those in my circles that kept choosing to come back to events really showed up and let me see them, that I was able to see how the groups I led helped them. To see their transformations as they grew and changed as people.
We can’t do all this deep transformational work on our own. We need witnesses to see the person that we once were and to help us become the people who were truly meant to walk this Earth. That is why I choose to step up into the public eye and share my experiences with those that choose to read. It’s scary for myself personally, but what I have to offer is a non-traditional, yet authentic set of experiences that is based off of a cosmology meant for this culture at this time. We need context in order to explore our spiritual awakenings in a way that is embracing of our true selves instead of riddled with judgement/spiritual bypass.
In order to live a life led by Spirit, it requires that you are able to clear yourself of all of the “stories” you tell yourself that keep you from living your lifes true purpose. Once we peel off the layers, living authentically is filled with ease, joy, and love. One thing about my experience right now, is that I am living very humbly. I don’t have “extra money” at this time, but my basic needs are being met. My enrichment at this time is coming from other sources rather then just monetary. People are gifting me food, offering up their houses for me to use as community spaces, paying for gas money, boots, power objects, and altar items. My son has not gone hungry, and we have always had a roof over our heads. Spiritual awakenings can be scary, but what we really need is a safe context of which to ground ourselves into as we “come online”.
Which is another motivating factor for me crafting this US Tour. I genuinely believe that we have the ability to come together and find others like us that want to either explore the beginnings of the work, or to deepen our practices together. Too long have we all fed into the lie of separation. It is now time for us to step into the story of well being, and finding or making communities that support that. Even if you’re not along the route, feel free to visit our Facebook, YouTube, or Forums to join us from a distance. We will even be live streaming certain events, so stay tuned for more adventures.
I plant this virtual blessing here, that as I continue to learn and grow about myself and my experiences, that you continue to learn and grow about yourself and your experiences. May we all take that step today that leads us closer to our authenticity and ignite that passion in our belly – the true calling of why we were born on this Earth.
2018 US Tour Itinerary
This page is specifically for planning purposes in being able to navigate logistics. This particular post will be updated FIRST, so stay tuned to this page to track navigation if you’re interested in following the adventures of the Eagle.
- Lost? Read the 2018 US Tour Landing Page
- View recorded US Tour Ceremonies or excerpts
- Want to help contribute to this US Tour? Offer up event spaces, ceremonial spaces, places to sleep along this route, local elders (with their consent), or contribute monetary wise. Every dollar donated will go directly to the success of the Big Vision of the US Tour.
- Power Objects for US Tour
- Explanation for US Tour and Discussion
- Coast to Coast – Water Blessing Ceremonies
Keep in mind that the main intent of the majority of these Ceremonies is not to draw attention, but to draw the right people that are either willing to do the work, or that are open to learning the next steps in furthering their connection with Spirit.
If you are a local business that is open to hosting events, please reach out and I will be happy to promote/advertise for your business or local Shamanic events.
The track is as follows:
June 16th – Serpent Mound, Ohio
-Recorded message and song here
-Link to Facebook, Meetup and Eventbrite.
June 17th – Rileys Bay, WI
-Private Ceremony in AM, not recorded
June 17th – Minneapolis, MN
-Private Ceremony in PM, not recorded
June 18th-19th – Black Hills, SD
-Multiple Private Ceremonies, not recorded
-Did Ceremony at Crazy Horse, went to Mount Rushmore and found the Founding Fathers crying. Coincidentally, that same day the US pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council
June 19th-20th – Yellowstone, WY
-Public Ceremonies, but not recorded
–Public Ceremony at Devils Tower, WY
June 21st – A National Forest in Montana
-Public Ceremonies, not recorded
June 22nd-29th – Portland, OR
-June 27th – Non-Local Shamanic Journey Group on Facebook and Meetup
June 24th – Mount Rainier, WA
-Public Ceremony on Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
-Recorded Ceremonies and videos found here
June 30th – Mount St Helens, WA
-Public Ceremony on Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
-Recorded Ceremony found here.
July 1st – Coast to Coast: Water Blessing Ceremony – Puget Sound, WA
-Public Ceremony on Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
-Recorded Ceremony found here.
July 7th – Redwood National Forest, CA
-Public Ceremony on Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite. Not recorded.
July 8th – Mount Shasta, CA
-Public Ceremony on Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
-Had a car accident en-route, was unable to make it to Mount Shasta.
July 9th-10th: Stockton or Sacremento, CA
-Awakening the Seed Ceremony – recorded Ceremony here
July 11th-14th: Salt Lake City, UT
-Shamanic Journey Group on July 11th – Recorded suggested journey topic here
-Ancestral Healing Circle on July 14th – Facebook and Meetup links.
July 15th – Arches National Park, UT
-Public Ceremony. Links to Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
July 16th – Grand Staircase, UT
-Public Ceremony. Links to Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
-Evening Ceremony at Lake Powell
July 17th – Grand Canyon, AZ
-Public Ceremony on North Rim. Links to Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
July 19th – Bell Rock in Sedona, AZ
-Public Ceremony. Links to Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
July 21st – Chaco Canyon, NM
-Public Ceremony. Links to Facebook, Meetup, and Eventbrite
Sante Fe, NM
-Public Ceremonies and events to be announced
-Lodging covered
July 25th-Austin, TX
-July 26th – Awakening the Seed Ceremony on Facebook and Meetup
-July 28th – Dance of the Bones: Ancestral Workshop on Facebook and Meetup
-July 28th – Ancestral Healing Circle on Facebook and Meetup
Greer Ferry Lake, AR
-Private Ceremony, message for details
-Tent camping
St. Louis, MO
-Private Ceremony at Cahokia Mounds, message for details
-Lodging covered
Heading home. Flexible with this part of route home.
At this point, this is the basic skeleton outline of the trip. US Tour subject to change based off of interaction with community members, Land Spirits, or what the moment calls for. If you happen to be along this route, feel free to email so we can begin being in communication with each other. I am still in the planning stages, so please…
Thank you all for your support! Let’s co-create and make this US Tour something our Descendants keep talking about!
Eagle Therapies 2018 US Tour
Other related posts:
- Explanation of US Tour and Discussion
- US Tour Itinerary
- Power Objects for US Tour
- Coast to Coast – Water Blessing Ceremony Series
- I am not a Shaman
Many contemporary people long to connect to a larger energy than themselves. We actively look for answers in community, society, and our western contemporary culture. However, the answers we are seeking in order to heal the story of separation are not going to be found in our culture. The story of interbeing will be coming from the margins.
So… Who is Eagle Therapies?
Eagle Therapies is a small business started by Stephanie Seger (me) in 2014. It was an authentic approach to me establishing myself on my Shamanic path. I have studied with Mary Tyrtle Rooker, Christina Pratt, and have taken courses with/read books by Michael Harner, Evelyn Rysdyk, Sandra Ingerman, and Betsy Bergstrom. Since the first Shamanic Journey group back in early spring of 2014, Eagle Therapies has hosted a number of different events in the Northern Virginia, DC, and Maryland area. This is the main local nest, and it has grown to a robust 8-12 events a month, centered around getting people connected with their mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies in a healthy way. Most of the time it’s through fun activities like dancing, drumming, or singing (there’s at least a little each event).
What is happening? Why take this on the road?
As I come to a deeper understanding of myself as well as deepening my connection to my Spirit Guides/Helping Spirits, challenges have been posed to me. I was clearly guided by Spirit to quit my job back in November and thus began my earnest dedication to Eagle Therapies.
Some big lessons for me at this time include trust (trust in myself, trust in the Universe, trust in my guides), humility, asking for help, and faith. Honestly? I tend to be pretty hard headed, so what’s going to push me out of my comfort zone the most? Get in front of a bunch of strangers across the US with community that I have not been tending carefully over the past 4 years… No. It’s not terrifying at all.
One of the things about being a Shamanic Practitioner, is that you have to live in good relationship with the world around you. Through a Shamanic lens, you understand that everything has a Spirit, and we are all connected and interconnected to the Spirit in all things. At first I thought this was going to be a small road trip, but I was wrong. Initially, I journeyed to the Land Spirits requesting permission to travel safely across them. They brought me to the spirit of Great Grandmother Turtle of Turtle Island. She had a mission for me if I chose to accept it (cue Mission Impossible theme).
The main reason why I was given this seed of doing a road trip last year was to offer Ceremonies similar to those I hold in the DC area across the United States. Grandmother Turtle has assured me that the time is right for me to perform what she calls “Awakening” Ceremonies. This is a “Guided by Spirit” road trip, and I’m going to be as transparent as possible with this trip, making my life on the road public for all who are willing to view. I will be bringing my son with me, for he is an extension of my heart and soul. And of course because we get into the most ridiculous shenanigans together. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and sign up for the special road trip newsletter (it will be sent out once weekly and good for those who stay away from social media).
What is an Awakening Ceremony?
To be honest, I don’t know at this point. That’s just the word that came into my head as I kept trying to describe my experiences. I plan on updating this post as time goes on so that people can stay up to date as I know and understand. What I do know at this point is that my main purpose is to connect with as many people as possible.
One of my gifts is the ability to involve people in fun, engaging activities in order to embody complex concepts with ease. The innately intelligent Land Spirits are consistent in their informing me of their earnest desire for humans to connect with them more. To pause in appreciation for the clouds while walking from your car to your work place is an example of the simplicity desired. To connect with the spiritual and natural world is uncomplicated; gratitude doesn’t need to be a complex expression.
You want an opportunity to attend a relaxed, fun drum or song circle? Oh, what’s that? You feel a stirring in your heart and you laughed like you hadn’t ever before? Good! That’s our goal. Transitioning to living a healthier lifestyle with more awareness of the world around you isn’t difficult…it’s joyful. Please join us!
There will be events along the way that will be just drum and song circles, but I will also offer Ancestral Healing Circles, Heart Centered Sound Circles, Life Compass Groups, and Awakening Ceremonies. The Awakening Ceremonies are still a little fuzzy to me, but I will be doing them daily in different areas where I will be staying or traveling through. We will be visiting multiple sacred sites across the US (Serpent Mound, Cahokia Mounds, Black Hills, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, etc). There is an Itinerary Post, and it will be constantly updated so everyone can stay on the same page. Links to events on Facebook and Meetup will be created. What I do know about the Awakening Ceremonies is that they will be planned closer to the date of performance. Some of the Ceremonies will be strong and structured, while others will leave room for the Sacred to intervene.
If you wish to be a coordinator for an event and you happen to be along the route, then feel free to message and we can most likely work something out! If you are a Shamanic Practitioner along the route, then I will be happy to advertise for your local events while I’m in town. I am flexible, and if it’s meant to happen, things will happen easily and fluidly.
The main point of this road trip is to help awaken ourselves to our true potential. We should be in right relationship with the world around us, and that starts first with where we live. It can be done through the small acts of awareness or through the deep Ceremonies of connection with the Land Spirits. Join in community, bring a friend who knows nothing about Shamanism to a song and drum circle to help open their eyes with how graceful and fun filled it can be. Inside of us is the reason why we were born into this world at this time. It is time we stepped up to be the answer to the prayers our Ancestors have been praying for. If anything, I know that I personally want to leave this world better then the way I found it so that my son and his generation have something substantial to inherit.
I will be carrying local Goose Feathers dropped naturally during molting season with me throughout the whole road trip. They will be potent power objects by the end of the trip, choosing to carry the energy of this road trip as they will be on each travel altar we set up and break down to honor the spirits of the land, ancestors, and sacred beings all around. They will be available for those that choose to donate to the road trip and want to have a piece of the road trip with them or the community.
This road trip is an immense amount of trust. This is an act of Co-Creation and I wouldn’t be able to do it without your support. If the Vision of this road trip calls to you, then please consider donating. We have chosen to go with crowd funding with reward tiers because I am willing to work for donations. Every dollar you donate will go directly to the support of this Vision, and you will get personally thanked by me. If you cannot donate at this time, then spread the word about this road trip. Contact people who might be along the route and let them know these events are coming to town.
If you read it this far, then I give deep gratitude to you as a human. You chose to donate your time and read this, and I honor your heart. May our hearts connect and share that spark of connection – if only for a brief moment. Brightest blessings, and fly high.
I am not a Shaman
The remark has been made many times and I wanted to put the big banner somewhere that I am not a self proclaimed Shaman. There’s a difference between being a Shamanic Practitioner and a Shaman. This is currently a hot bed of a debate, and I don’t want to argue with people. That’s not my interest. But I do wish to clarify where I stand with this situation, and also define myself as a practitioner.
There’s this wonderful organization called the Society of Shamanic Practice that is a collection of Shamanic Practitioners. They organize different events, and have a directory of events, teachers, and practitioners organized by State. If you sign up to be a member, you might want to listen to the audio recording they released back in January of 2018 which has Lena Stevens moderating a discussion between Sandra Ingerman, Jose Stephens, and Ben Boomer. This was a very enlightening conversation between three very experienced individuals that are leaders in their field. Sandra Ingerman is world renowned for her leadership in teaching Shamanism for over thirty years. She got her start with Michael Harner and the Foundation of Shamanic Studies, and has since been on her own path of spreading her teachings that she has received through her Guides. Jose Stephens is one of the founders of the Power Path School of Shamanism and is a board member of the Society for Shamanic Practice. He has completed a ten-year apprenticeship with a Huichol Maracame in Mexico and has studied with the Shipibos of the Amazon and the Paqos of the Andes for the last thirty years. Ben Boomer was raised participating in both traditional Diné ceremony with his mother’s family and traveling to California for Christmas with his father’s side of the family. These experiences created a deep recognition of the validity and importance of the ancient ways of knowing from a spectrum of cultures. His life has created natural fusions between the modern western society and indigenous civilization.
The summary that I took away from that interview really helped clarify a lot of things for me. In order to be a Shaman, you must have a community that you belong to. A weekend workshop or a 1-2 year training program does not count. The community recognizes you as the Shaman and the Shaman recognizes the community. To use the word “Shaman” because it’s something cool and fashionable does dishonor to the role of a Shaman. In this contemporary society, there is currently a glamour around the word Shaman. It also breeds ignorance because there can be a superficial context of which to understand what exactly the role of a Shaman is. Traditionally it would take years of apprenticeship, study, and dedication in order to follow that path. And even further still, the role of being a Shaman is gifted by the Spirits. The Spirits choose who the Shaman is, and a community recognizes and feels the vibration of that choice.
Let’s put this into perspective. In a traditional Shamanic culture, everyone would be able to communicate and talk with the Spirits. It was a daily act of cultivation to be able to interact with the sacred. The Diné have the expression to “Walk in Beauty”, because the Sacred is in everything and should be honored. That is the meaning of respect, and cultivating that respect with the world around you. It’s knowing that the world around you is connected in a great web of life, and seeing the hands of Spirit/God/The Universe reflected in all things.
However, in our culture, those who can talk to Spirits and communicate with them regularly are marginalized. We have lost that point of connection where everyone in community can do those tasks, and it’s only a percentage of the population who are sensitive enough to explore and hone their gifts. There is an emergence of psychics, mediums, and other varieties that are becoming more common. Nothing is wrong with them, and they do have gifts. This should be more commonplace, to recognize the people that have true gifts. We should celebrate this instead of shame them. This would be considered “normal” and a functioning part of a Shamanic culture, because divination is still practiced in active Shamanic Cultures today. This is one of the reasons why I teach Shamanic Journeying (and have been for years now), because it’s a way to begin having these experiences of interacting with a trusted Helping Spirit. We as humans need help from the world around us to begin to see things from a different perspective. To project what we feel is “right” or “wrong” is actually imposing our will on our outside world, and is not taking into account that everything has its own Spirit.
Have you ever walked into someones house and felt nice and calm? Just started relaxing as soon as you walk in the door? And then what happens when you walk into an office building and you feel your shoulders start tensing up because of all of the stress that’s in the environment? Buildings have spirits too, and so does the land that the buildings are on. No one needs to be a Shaman to tap into that.
To be a Shamanic Practitioner means to be able to use Shamanic skills in your everyday life to interact in a healthy and respectful way with the world around you. It’s about constantly improving our language with Spirit and understand the messages we are being given. To Journey to the Spirit of the Land and give respect to the stream in your backyard by tossing some tobacco or cornmeal outside is a great way to begin cultivating the relationship with the world around us. You can honor the Ancestors by setting aside a little tiny plate of food at each meal to give gratitude for the food you are about to eat. These are things that (in my opinion) should be normalized to help us feel more connected to the great web of life. So many of my clients suffer because they feel the strain of loneliness, feeding into the story of separation – that they are separated from God/The Universe/Spirit. In an indigenous culture, everyone would be expected to maintain this relationship with the divine by honoring the Sacred in all things.
So in short: No, I am not a Shaman. I am a shamanic practitioner and shamanic healer. I have not studied or trained with an Indigenous culture for 20+ years. Yes, I’ve had a near death experience and have learned the shamanic healing forms like soul retrieval, curse unraveling, and compassionate depossession. Yes, I’ve talked to Spirits since I was a kid and have been immersed in other books about Shamanism, following a Shamanic Path without realizing it since 2006. But I didn’t really find my path until I found Mary Tyrtle Rooker and picked up Sandra Ingermans journeying book back in 2013. I find myself a beginner on this path of Shamanism. Constantly going back to the basics and spreading the truth of what I have experienced and the wisdom that I have cultivated into the world. If someone calls me a Shaman, I won’t correct them because if they happen to be at one of the events I’m leading, then they are part of the community that’s there. The community has the right to call me a Shaman, but I myself will not call myself a Shaman. I’m just here to do my part in community and to spread ease, joy, love, and laughter into the world.
Journeying at Home
This is a specific break down of protocol, songs, and links that will help one prepare for journeying at home. It doesn’t take too terribly long, but it’s a practice. If this is absolutely your first time, please read this post. This is a companion guide to make it nice and short and sweet for those that want to journey on a tight schedule and still follow protocol.
If you are tapping in to a Shamanic Journey Group, it is recommended (but not required) to prepare your space before hand by either smudging with incense, sage, singing bowl, or bells. Then tap into the energy of the group by watching the videos in our journey group archives. Actually try to engage or participate by writing down your questions as you think of them, and then after you journey, share them in the posts on the Facebook Group, or on the blog post itself.
Once you are done watching the suggested journey topic, set the container by listening/singing along to this song:
The Container Song
Tune and Original Lyrics by Kellianna
Re-Written by Stephanie Seger
Facing East, I send my prayers away, away
East sky enlighten me, I pray, I pray
Air, communication, help me speak my truth
Harpy Eagle I welcome you
And give thanks for visions of peace, of peace
Facing South, I send my prayers away, away
South Sky for purity, I pray, I pray
Fire, flame of passion, help with transformation
Golden Eagle I welcome you
And give thanks for healing in peace, in peace
Facing West, I send my prayers away, away
West Sky move with me, I pray, I pray
Water, deep emotion, restore to great flow
Now bald eagle I welcome you
And give thanks for balance in peace, in peace
Facing North, I send my prayers away, away
North Sky stability, I pray, I pray
Earth, cool and dark, cradle me in your arms
Oh white eagle, I welcome you
And give thanks for teachings in peace, in peace
Mother Earth, I send you my prayers
Father Sky, I send you my prayers
Oh Great Mystery, I feel your breath in my mouth
Oh Great Mystery I welcome you
And give thanks for you in me, in peace, in peace, in peace
Then once circle is set, sing, drum or dance for a little bit. Typically in the circle we would sing one song that repeats its lyrics. Sing and dance your own song, or you can choose any number of songs from the youtube channel (it is helpful to choose before you sing the container song so there is a flow). This is also a chance for you to call in your helping spirits to be with you, and potentially merge with them through song and dance.
Then place headphones in to begin listening to any of these Shamanic Drumming tracks:
- 12 minute track – Has whistling in the beginning to call in protection and the ancestors by Sandra Ingerman
- 30 minute track – Single track drumming by Michael Harner
- 30 minute track – Single and double drumming tracks by Michael Harner
- 30 minute track – Beautiful Taiko drumming with Nagado drums, Odaiko, and rattles by Sandra Ingerman featuring Taiko Sol
Once you receive your answer, take a few moments to write down your journey notes. It’s better to use short phrases or single words to describe things. If you write in sentences, the visions and experiences tend to slip easier from your frame of mind.
After that is done, you are set to close up circle! We give great gratitude to the Ancestors, land spirits that we stand on, and then we sing this following song:
Now you are all set! And can go about your daily business 🙂
Eagle Therapies 