Dandelion Seed
It’s honestly been a pretty rough week. A lot has been happening in my personal life. Most, good! But others send me for an emotional tail spin.
I made a big post about dancing for the mental illness in my family line a week or so ago. As if my Mother heard me, her health and living situation rapidly declined. Please don’t ask about specifics, because you don’t need to know. I share because this is a connecting post for anyone who has watched a parent decline, unsure when their last days might be.
It’s been impacting me in many different ways. It’s challenging for me to be present for my mother when I had such a dysfunctional upbringing. Many times I catch myself either shutting down or getting very emotional whenever I’m around her. These trainings I’m undertaking are so mind blowingly helpful for me to be present as an adult instead of a wounded child.
As I was processing this transition, I openly cried many times during a 5Rhythms dance with Ann Kite. I practiced letting go, and acknowledging the grief that’s in my heart from seeing my mom this way. I danced my broken heartedness as I danced the knowing that I’m not the only person going through this situation. This grief stretched my heart and deepened my capacity for love as I picked up the pieces of myself along the way.
A strange thought occurred to me during the dance. There’s this part in 5Rhythms called “lyrical”. I’ve been trying to feel what lyrical is like in my body and I just didn’t get it. How could one be light and airy but at the same time be grounded? I danced, and breathed, connecting with my feet. And that’s when the image of a dandelion seed came to mind. I danced until I became the dandelion seed, floating through the air on a big puff ball. And I asked the dandelion seed how it was grounded.
It was startling, because I just felt all my attention go to my hips. It took me a while to understand it (mostly because dandelion seeds don’t speak in English), but the seed just felt so confident in itself. It knew who it was. It was a fucking dandelion. And it knew it’s purpose, which was to grow into a dandelion. And in that purpose, it was connected to the web of life.
I was trying to find meaning and purpose in the fluff. Not the seed. The seed is the groundedness even though it’s not touching the ground. The seed knows who it is, and it knows what it came here to do. It’s that simple. How many times have I doubted who I am? How many times have I second guessed myself and have been ungrounded while flying through the air panicking?
This was when I asked what i was made of. What is the true nature of my own seed? As the music transitioned to stillness, I recognized that one of the reasons why I have been so deeply upset by seeing my mother this way, is because deep down I have a fear that I am crazy. That one day I will lose all my bearings on reality and just detach. Part of my grounding in lyrical and stillness was all about viscerally understanding and FEELING in my body that I am not my mother. I am not her mental illness. That even if I was born of her, that doesn’t make me responsible for what she does in life, or even how it might potentially end. I need to focus on being a dandelion, and not worry so much about the dandelion that sprouted the seed. I do what I can for her, and am able to do – but no more guilt trips. No more taking on responsibility that’s not mine. Time to focus on my seed and what I came here to do, not distract myself with the fluff and forget who I am.
Part of the floating in the air while being grounded, is being so connected to my purpose that I trust the winds to bring me wherever I’m needed. That’s the true essence of letting go and surrendering.
A deep gratitude goes out to my dance family, my shamanic family, and my farm family. The talks and the space for ugly crying has been invaluable. And a thank you to you whose reading this. May you have a beautiful week.
Bloom where you are planted.
Photo credit: Martin Konz
SJG: Integrating Passion
The suggested journey topic for this recorded session is “integrating passion”. Many people attempt to live lives of passion, but passion has so often been dissected away from what we do. Passion is like the blood in our veins – it what makes our heart pump! We simply shouldn’t be “aiming” to live a life of passion, we should be DOING it! Passion should be a part of our every motivation and action, just as effortless as it takes our heart to pump blood through our veins. The real question is, where is passion NOT flowing in our lives and what can we do about it?
Please post your comment if you wish to share what you received in journey space. If you would like to join this discussion on Facebook, join our Journey Group on Facebook.
Some helpful references:
- What is Shamanic Journeying
- You watched the video below, and now you want to journey at home. What’s a suggested protocol on how to do that?
- Why is Energy Body Hygiene important when journeying
- Crafting a good journey question
- Deepening our Relationship with our Helping Spirits
- Journey Group Archives
Since this came up in discussion, here is a great link to find out more about a new ancestral course that Christina Pratt will be teaching in combination with Shift Network. There is also this Ancestral journey topic from around this time last year. Looking forward to hearing from you!
SJG: Finding the Hunger for life
Our suggested journey topic for the this recorded meeting is all about finding that aspect of ourselves that is hungry for life. Many people are drifting through life on autopilot, doing the next thing, participating in the rat race and living by our “to-do list”. Where is that part of ourselves that is HUNGRY for life and not just focused on surviving? Once we really bring this hungry part of ourselves online, passion naturally arises and we will feel this want transform into a NEED as we truly devote our energy to living our medicine instead of getting in our own way. Trust me, the world needs our medicine, so let’s find that hungry part of ourselves who NEED to express our gifts out in the world!
Please post your comment if you wish to share what you received in journey space. If you would like to join this discussion on Facebook, join our Journey Group on Facebook.
Some helpful references:
- What is Shamanic Journeying
- You watched the video below, and now you want to journey at home. What’s a suggested protocol on how to do that?
- Why is Energy Body Hygiene important when journeying
- Crafting a good journey question
- Deepening our Relationship with our Helping Spirits
- Journey Group Archives
SJG: Healing Self Sabotage
Our suggested journey topic for this meeting is “healing self sabotage”. Many of us have times of our life when we don’t realize how much we are in our own way. This meeting, we discussed compassion, curiosity, and if you’re brave enough – we will connect in with marginalized aspects of ourselves that feel like it’s their job to tear us down. We must realize that this was born out of survival and we learned how to do this to ourselves.
Please post your comment if you wish to share what you received in journey space. If you would like to join this discussion on Facebook, join our Journey Group on Facebook.
Some helpful references:
- What is Shamanic Journeying
- You watched the video below, and now you want to journey at home. What’s a suggested protocol on how to do that?
- Why is Energy Body Hygiene important when journeying
- Crafting a good journey question
- Deepening our Relationship with our Helping Spirits
- Journey Group Archives
SWB: Healing the Isolation
This is an affiliation with the Shamanism Without Borders program as run by the Society for Shamanic Practice. This is a recorded ceremony of a Shamanism Without Borders call that we have completed in the past. If you’re interested in viewing the archives, click below.
There is a feeling of isolation that is becoming more apparent during these fast paced times. People we thought we knew well turn out to be surprising us – and sometimes not in the good way. Inspired by the most recent shootings in Dayton, OH, this Virtual Ceremony will focus on how we isolate ourselves without meaning too.
As Sandra Ingerman says, the microcosm reflects the macrocosm. That which is within us is reflected out in our environment, and vice versa. Many can often either feel numbed out or overwhelmed by the events of today’s time. How do we move forward with integrity while keeping our hearts open without collapsing in on itself due to compassion fatigue? This is a very real question that we must ask ourselves as we move forward as a culture. As we process the grief of the human beings lost in these mass shootings, may we ask the deeper question of, “Who in me feels isolated”? The people behind the guns are still people, and often the feeling of isolation contributes to them performing these violent acts. As we come together in community, may we see this aspect of ourselves rise in this situation so we may do what is necessary to heal these cultural wounds by exploring them on an individual level through this hour long virtual ceremony.
This ceremony can be taken as many times as you feel as necessary. It’s recorded for a reason 🙂
Here is the audio so you may listen “on the go” by downloading the google drive app onto your mobile device
Here is the video so you may watch and participate ❤
Don’t forget to either wash your hands, take a spiritual bath, or spiritual shower to help seal in this work physically. As you wash, imagine your emotional body being cleansed of this grief, and allowing it to flow back to source.
If you feel like more grief needs to move, feel free to use this at home grief ritual. This is where you will find a recorded mp3 with wolf howls spliced in.
Click these links for further information about the Last Mask Community, Langston Kahn, and Christina Pratt. Very excited about Langstons new book coming out!
Many blessings to you! And thank you for doing the work! Or at least being interested in it 🙂
SWB: Lungs of the Earth
This is an affiliation with the Shamanism Without Borders program as run by the Society for Shamanic Practice. This is a recorded ceremony of a Shamanism Without Borders call that we have completed in the past. If you’re interested in viewing the archives, click below.
This is an online ceremonial event dedicated towards the Amazon rainforest. A lot of atrocities have been happening in South America, and it is bringing to light the awareness of how much we need to be protecting and advocating for our environment.
Join us for an hour of prayer as we lead us through a drum guided healing ceremony to help us connect with the rainforest within ourselves. Captivated by some of the stories of the chaos, deforestation, dam breaks, and taking of indigenous lands – there was a strong need for action. When Journeying to the Spirits of the Land to ask for what they needed in support, the mighty Amazon Rainforest stepped forward and asked for the humans to remember how to breathe.
It has been estimated that the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest has slowed in recent years, but 20% of the rainforest has been cleared within the past 30 years. Thats 770,000km, which is larger then the state of Texas. Within the rainforest live the people who still caretake and live in partnership with the land. There are beautiful medicines that have yet to be uncovered. Which means that there are beautiful medicines we have not uncovered within ourselves as individuals.
In a shamanic cosmology, there is a common belief that stretches across a vast majority of First Nations people’s. The belief that we are all one. If we do harm to another person or being, we harm ourselves. The rainforest is helping us to reconnect to the parts of ourselves we have destroyed. We will release grief, and make room in our lungs for us to breathe deeply again.
Here is the audio so you may listen “on the go” by downloading the google drive app onto your mobile device
Here is the video so you may watch and flow along with us.
SWB: Plastics Pollution Call
This is an affiliation with the Shamanism Without Borders program as run by the Society for Shamanic Practice. This is a recorded ceremony of a Shamanism Without Borders call that we have completed in the past. If you’re interested in viewing the archives, click below.
It can be terrifying to live in today’s time with the amount of awareness we have about how much we (as humans) are trashing the planet. Sometimes we can feel hopeless about the amount that one person can do, and it can feel insignificant compared to the work that needs to be done. Take heart, and put your energy and contribution to things that can create change. It’s one step at a time, and creating/participating in Ceremony around these topics that are heart-wrenching is a way to be able to use your power and motivate yourself into action. Let’s come together, and be the answer to the prayer for bringing things back into balance. It takes a lot of courage to move forward in an empowered way without tipping the balance into extremist activism.
The first place we can start is by tending to the land and sea where there is a very high concentration of plastics already there, and also the future spot where there is going to be the site of the worlds largest plastic plant.
Join Eagle Therapies via Conference Call as we lead our second recorded virtual Ceremony for Shamanism Without Borders. Even if you don’t know how to journey or know shamanic healing, sometimes just being apart of the container and being open to the experience, shining our authentic/true selves is enough.
SWB: South Dakota Oil Spill
This is an affiliation with the Shamanism Without Borders program as run by the Society for Shamanic Practice. This is a recorded ceremony of a Shamanism Without Borders call that we have completed in the past. If you’re interested in viewing the archives, click below.
This Ceremony was done around the year anniversary of when the Standing Rock protesters got sprayed with ice cold, freezing water. The Dakota Access Pipeline leaked thousands of gallons of oil, and this call was to help support the surrounding land with healing.
You can also expand the link, and download the mp3 of the ritual so you can share it if needed. Thank you for participating ❤
SJG: Underneath the Ice Flow
Our suggested journey topic for this meeting was “underneath the ice flow”. We will be exploring the ways that we trap and isolate ourselves with the beliefs that keep us trapped in the first place. What we must remember, is that these were done out of fear to try and keep us safe. The illusion that ice provides us with is allowing us to see through the ice, but freezing our power within the walls of our own confines. How do we melt the ice without causing an avalanche? And how do we do so while reclaiming our power at the same time?
Please post your comment if you wish to share what you received in journey space. If you would like to join this discussion on Facebook, join our Journey Group on Facebook.
Some helpful references:
- What is Shamanic Journeying
- You watched the video below, and now you want to journey at home. What’s a suggested protocol on how to do that?
- Why is Energy Body Hygiene important when journeying
- Crafting a good journey question
- Deepening our Relationship with our Helping Spirits
- Journey Group Archives
SJG: Trees as plant allies
This suggested journey group topic was about working with trees as plant ally’s! What messages do the tall ones have for us on this day? Stand tall? Be grounded? Most of the time they help by helping us remember parts of ourselves we have forgotten.
Please post your comment if you wish to share what you received in journey space. If you would like to join this discussion on Facebook, join our Journey Group on Facebook.
Some helpful references:
- What is Shamanic Journeying
- You watched the video below, and now you want to journey at home. What’s a suggested protocol on how to do that?
- Why is Energy Body Hygiene important when journeying
- Crafting a good journey question
- Deepening our Relationship with our Helping Spirits
- Journey Group Archives
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