Eagle Therapies Basics
South West Blessings
In a previous post, I described my overarching year or two of personal healing as I’ve been taking more and more breaks from the breakneck speed I was moving through the world. 
To summarize it, I’ve gotten involved in a charity project where we will be going to both the Navajo and Hopi reservations to install durable solar kits for about 50 families, homesteads, and businesses. Because of that, I am offering up a special!
A majority of my time will be spent near Canyon De Chelley, Chaco Canyon, and other sacred sites. We will be staying with elders, and many people who have opened up their land for us to humbly camp during the really cold and snowy South West January and February. I would love to offer some blessings, journeys, or mini shamanic healings for $50 a session!
How it works
I know what you’re thinking, how is that going to work? The reservations barely have cell service, and it’s almost impossible to have internet out there (unless you have a mobile hotspot, which is also pretty spotty). Talk about being off the grid!!
Well it’s simple! If you’ve got a particular issue, challenge, or something that’s really been bugging you, all you do is send an email to chenchira@eagletherapies.com with your question and a picture of you. I will then journey on your behalf while I’m on the reservations, and then record said journey. Next time I happen to be by an internet source or within cell service, I will send you the recording as well as a detailed email (I would expect a 1-2 week turn around). The $50 also covers a phone conversation to go over the results of the journey or healing. If you feel called to offer more then that, then feel free to donate more to the cause. All of the proceeds from this will go directly to supporting me while I help the Hopi and the Navajo.
In addition to offering journeys and healings, I can also simply offer a South West blessing towards you or a friend/family member of your choice (with their consent) for a suggested fee of $30. I would just need a picture of the person receiving the blessing. This can be done in the same way, where I will record the blessing in either a song form or just explain what the blessing is and send you the recording with a detailed email about what was received.
Interested? Sign up for one through email (chenchira@eagletherapies.com) or Facebook messenger. Payment can be accepted through PayPal (eagletherapiesevents@gmail.com) or Venmo (@Stephanie-Seger-1).
Looking forward to working with you!
Soul Compass Path 2019
It’s that time again! For those that are not aware, Eagle Therapies will be starting up the Soul Compass Path in June of 2019. We had a great first year of the Soul Compass Path with 9 graduates.
Below is the information for what the Soul Compass Path is, and why someone would want to take it. For more information, you can click these links:
- Soul Compass Path Landing Page
- Dates for 2019
- Course Outline
- Already know you want to do it? Application Form
We live in a time that is challenging. How do we become the people who can create a sustainable change and transformation in this world? Join Eagle Therapies starting in the Summer of 2019 on a 9 day program stretched across 9 months.
New to Shamanism?
Don’t worry! This program will teach you all the basics you need to get you started.
Seasoned Shamanic Practitioner?
This 9 month program will meet you where you are. The purpose of this program is to help give you structure, solidarity, and a community to measure your discernment with. How many times have we stumbled in the dark, questioning if the message we received from a guide was accurate? This program is meant to challenge our perspective and deepen our relationship with our guides in a group setting by experiencing healing ceremonies and journeys together.
About the Program
This program was specifically crafted and co-created with Spirit to help bring people the basic foundational Shamanic Skills necessary to engage with the world around them in a good way. It doesn’t matter if you are new to this path or have been down the road of several spiritual traditions for decades. Using ancient Shamanic techniques and honoring the ancestors of the worlds traditions, we will engage with Spirit in an age old fashion that has been specifically crafted for this time. The cosmology and teachings in this program are based off of the Cycle Teachings and the Last Mask Community, an authentic and contemporary cosmology which honors the way our ancestors have done it without taking their rituals, ceremonies and culturally appropriating them.
Stephanie Seger has graduated from Mary Tyrtle Rookers 2 year Shamanic Training program and is a current student of Christina Pratt, Shaman, Author, creator of the Why Shamanism Now podcast and Director for the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing. Through Stephanie’s vast life experiences and training, she strives to bring her best to giving her all to this program.
The Soul Compass Path is 6 hours once monthly stretching over 9 months. There is an optional halfway “check in” that meets over Zoom about 2-3 weeks between classes to help support any questions that come up while sifting through the material. Recordings of important class material as well as the Q&A will be provided.
This program delivers a practical set of tools, techniques, and a way to engage with the more intimate aspects of yourself. If you are new to any type of spiritual exploration, this will hand you the basics. For the more seasoned practitioner, it will provide the framework to deepen your connection with your inner guidance and allow yourself to hear the song of your soul ever more clearly. This program is dedicated to helping one get out of their own way and step into their power with authenticity, integrity and sovereignty. Learn how to find your own life’s purpose and be able to live it in the world.
Payment is based on sliding scale, negotiated between your own heart and Spirit. Eagle Therapies is just the vessel to deliver this program of self transformation. What is the sacrifice you are willing to make? Suggested sliding scale pricing is $75-$200 per class. Payment due at time of class. Orientation and first class considered “one class”.
What might be a comfortable set of finances for one person might be a large sacrifice to another. Is $100 a night on the town, buying movie tickets and a couple of drinks? If so, then $100 is not a sacrifice, it is a simple commodity. This is an opportunity to put meaning to the monetary exchange and intentionalize it, not blankly pay with a consumerist mind. The sacrifice should not produce guilt, it should feel right in your heart, and pocketbook to offer.
The Spirit world understands the language of sacrifice, and it is up to you to decide what is the right price to pay within your own heart. Use your intuition and measure it with your own truth. It is possible that one month you can pay towards the higher end of the fee, while others it is the lower end. It is also possible that money is no issue at all and $200 per class does not cover the value of what is within the course material itself for you.
*reworded, but basic concept of language attributed to Christina Pratt
We, as a culture, have large wounds around the exchange of money. If you would like more guidance in this arena, a lovely book you can download for free is “Sacred Economics” by Charles Eisenstein. Once you read the book and you feel compelled to gift back, then you can choose to pay for it. The Non-Local Shamanic Community that Stephanie participates in is currently doing a community wide transformation around Love and Money, and obviously it has a large impact on what she is offering to the world. If you want to change something in the world, start with yourself first. Change comes from within.
If you feel very drawn to this course but do not think you can commit to the full 9 month program, then you can choose to be present for as many classes you feel comfortable taking. Payment is due before the start of each class, or you can choose to pay in one lump sum. If finances are a challenge, there is always delving deeper into the material learned and then hopping on to the program next year (yes, we are planning for this to be a repeating yearly program). Once you take the class, the materials and resources from that class will be shared with you, and you can still choose to communicate with your fellow classmates.
Is this program right for you? Read more about it on the Soul Compass Path landing page to check out dates, the syllabus, and other tidbits you might find interesting.
Already feel that this resonates within your bones to take this course? Fill out our application form!
A good resource if you are anxious to get started is through the free, listener supported podcast, Why Shamanism Now. There are over 400 archived hours, and a teaser to what is available both within this course and beyond. A great place to start is the Basics of Living Well series and the specific podcasts below:
If you would like an in-depth resource, there is an online course by the Last Mask Center called Energy Body Mastery. We cover similar things in the Soul Compass Path, but for a more in depth exploration, we highly recommend the course.
Other material to get you started that is on this website:
You also have access to the archived recordings of the Bi-Weekly Shamanic Journey Groups.
The song of your soul is calling you.
Now.
The world is waiting for your gifts.
Soul Retrieval Clinics
Many people have felt that something has been missing in their life, constantly searching and yet feeling like they’ve just scratched the surface. For those that are unfamiliar with soul loss, feel free to read this article. There is an epidemic of soul loss in our society, and Eagle Therapies feels called to step up to do our part in helping bridge this gap.
The first Soul Retrieval Clinic was on Sunday, March 3rd, 2019. It was so successful that we have repeated it many times at least once per year. If there is enough demand, we would be happy to host it once a quarter.
Why?
- Community wounds take community healing. A lot of the people I am running into have been doing a lot of personal development work on their own. When you have really deep wounds that were caused by family, loved ones, or society, it can be hard to heal on your own. There is a certain “bigness” that makes it feel super big or almost impossible to slog through as an individual. Having others that have gone through similar experiences can help “lighten the load” and help us feel less lonely on our healing journey.
- Offering healings as a group is a more affordable way that people can receive the benefits of a soul retrieval, and best of all, find other people who are on the same journey of healing themselves. People who otherwise would not be able to afford an individual session could be able to afford a group session at this low cost sliding scale.
- There will be a 2 week and 2 month check in on Zoom after the healing ceremony. Those who cannot be present live are encouraged to share their updates with email so we can keep in touch with each other.
- This is not just for individuals that are new to Shamanism, but others that are stepping more into their path and deepening their relationships with their helping spirits. The community container we put together often has a deepening experience where you can connect easier to your emotional, spiritual, and energetic bodies.
Logistics:
Event will take place in Richmond, VA. If the in-person participation is greater than 3 people, then we will have to consider an alternative location besides the Eagle Therapies office in Richmond.
- Sliding scale between $30-$100 per participant. Cash, card, PayPal (eagletherapiesevents@gmail.com) or Venmo (@ChenchiraSeger) accepted. If you would like to pay by credit card, send an inquiry to chenchira@eagletherapies.com to negotiate a solid price, and then an invoice can be generated through QuickBooks.
- NEW: Due to a recent hacking of an Eagle Therapies event, all registrants will not be given the zoom link without filling out this survey and processing a payment or setting up a payment plan.
Structure of event:
- Plan to arrive around 1pm. We will begin introductions and opening exercises to get to know each other.
- Around 1:30, I will explain the process of going into sacred space together, then we will create it together. We will enter ceremonial space, and that’s where the magic happens!
- Typically there is a pattern or theme of why people have gathered together. Feel free to join me while I do a diagnostic journey to see what that pattern is, and how to proceed conducting a Shamanic Healing for the whole group. If you are new to this, then I would encourage you to meditate and reflect on what has been stirred up for you since the start of the ceremony.
- We will pass around the talking stick and share what felt/experienced during the diagnostic. It’s okay if we want to pass and not share.
- From here, it’s a group commitment to participate in our own healing. We will generate the energy through singing, dancing, drumming, or enjoy doing some conscious movement. When the timing is right, I will blow a soul part into each participant once I get the cue from Spirit. I will explain what the soul part is, what it’s gift is, and where in the body it landed. Since there will be a group of people there, I will be recording each individual retrieval so that each person has record of their retrieval during the Ecstatic experience. I will not share your experience with anyone else. You can opt out of this if you choose and if you don’t want your soul retrieval experience recorded.
- After the healing, we will rattle the space clean to seal up the work. There will be a moment of silence for integration, then we will close up circle.
- For those that choose to share, they can share their experience at the end.
Follow up
- Each individual will receive a copy of their soul retrieval recording.
- All participants will be able to participate in a 2 week check in using Zoom, to share their experience of how the healing affected them and their patterns. This is where we discuss common experiences of people integrating soul parts.
- There will be a 2 month check in using zoom, going over common experiences and “what to expect” after a soul retrieval integration.
- Those who aren’t able to make it to the 2 week or 2 month check in will receive the recordings via email.
- We will have a group email thread (since a lot of people don’t have a Facebook or are transitioning off FB) if people feel called to share their experiences with integrating that particular pattern.
Considerations for the future?
- It is part of the dream to consider creating similar events for Veterans, as well as survivors of domestic abuse. If enough inquiries were there, we could create a centered event around those (or similar) topics
Helpful links for those who are visiting for the first time:
Introducing the Soul Compass Path
We live in a time that is challenging. How do we become the people who can create a sustainable change and transformation in this world? Join Eagle Therapies starting in the fall of 2018 on a 9 day program stretched across 9 months.
This program was specifically crafted and co-created with Spirit to help bring people the basic foundational Shamanic Skills necessary to engage with the world around them in a good way. It doesn’t matter if you are new to this path or have been down the road of several spiritual traditions for decades. Using ancient Shamanic techniques and honoring the ancestors of the worlds traditions, we will engage with Spirit in an age old fashion that has been specifically crafted for this time. This cosmology and teachings are based off of the Cycle Teachings and the Last Mask Community, an authentic and contemporary cosmology which honors the way our ancestors have done it without taking their rituals, ceremonies and culturally appropriating them.
Stephanie Seger has graduated from Mary Tyrtle Rookers 2 year Shamanic Training program and is a current student of Christina Pratt, Shaman, Author, creator of the Why Shamanism Now podcast and Director for the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing. Through Stephanie’s vast life experiences and training, she strives to bring her best to giving her all to this program.
The Soul Compass Path is 6 hours once monthly stretching over 9 months. This program delivers a practical set of tools, techniques, and a way to engage with the more intimate aspects of yourself. If you are new to any type of spiritual exploration, this will hand you the basics. For the more seasoned practitioner, it will provide the framework to deepen your connection with your guidance and allow yourself to hear the song of your soul ever more clearly. This program is dedicated to helping one get out of their own way and step into their power with authenticity, integrity and sovereignty. Learn how to find your own life’s purpose and be able to live it in the world.
Payment is based on sliding scale, negotiated between your own heart and Spirit. Eagle Therapies is just the vessel to deliver this program of self transformation. What is the sacrifice you are willing to make? Suggested sliding scale pricing is $75-$200 per class. Payment due at time of class. Orientation and first class considered “one class”.
What might be a comfortable set of finances for one person might be a large sacrifice to another. Is $100 a night on the town, buying movie tickets and a couple of drinks while dancing? If so, then $100 is not a sacrifice, it is a simple commodity. This is an opportunity to put meaning to the monetary exchange and intentionalize it, not blankly pay with a consumerist mind.
The Spirit world understands the language of sacrifice, and it is up to you to decide what is the right price to pay within your own heart. Use your intuition and measure it with your own truth. It is possible that one month you can pay towards the higher end of the fee, while others it is the lower end. It is also possible that money is no issue at all and $200 per class does not cover the value of what is within the course material itself for you.
*reworded, but basic concept of language attributed to Christina Pratt
For those that prepay for the first class as a deposit before July 31st will receive a personalized Shamanic Healing as a gift. Can be redeemed at a distance. Your own healing starts when the commitment to your own personal healing is made.
We, as a culture, have large wounds around the exchange of money. If you would like more guidance in this arena, a lovely book you can download for free is “Sacred Economics” by Charles Eisenstein. Once you read the book and you feel compelled to gift back, then you can choose to pay for it. The Non-Local Shamanic Community that Stephanie participates in is currently doing a community wide transformation around Love and Money, and obviously it has a large impact on what she is offering to the world. If you want to change something in the world, start with yourself first. Change comes from within.
If you feel very drawn to this course but do not think you can commit to the full 9 month program, then you can choose to save up for at least the first two meetings. It is fine to pay month by month. If finances are a challenge, there is always delving deeper into the material learned and then hopping on to the program next year (yes, we are planning for this to be a repeating yearly program). Once you take the class, the materials and resources from that class will be shared with you, and you can still choose to communicate with your fellow classmates.
Is this program right for you? Read more about it on the Soul Compass Path landing page to check out dates, the syllabus, and other tidbits you might find interesting.
Already feel that this resonates within your bones to take this course? Fill out our application form!
A good resource if you are anxious to get started is through the free, listener supported podcast, Why Shamanism Now. There are over 400 archived hours, and a teaser to what is available both within this course and beyond. A great place to start is the Basics of Living Well series and the specific podcasts below:
You also have access to the archived recordings of the Ancestral Healing Circles and Bi-Weekly Shamanic Journey Groups through the forums.
The song of your soul is calling you.
Now.
The world is waiting for your gifts.
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.
Singing to your food
I know it might sound ridiculous and you’re afraid people might laugh at you or judge you if they catch you doing it. However, being kind to your food actually helps you in the long run.
Sensitive people can tell the difference when someone makes them food, and they really put their love and care into that food. When we get food prepared for us (especially from a fast food restaurant), it’s disconnecting in a way. Sure, it might taste good, but somehow it doesn’t fill us up like Grandmas Apple Pie did.
We can be magical just like our Grandparents and make amazing food with depth and meaning if we just focus our attention on our food in a conscious way. Most people live to eat. We should be making the switch to eat to live. If we slowly stop overconsuming food because the food that we cook or eat has our intention cooked into it, we can become “full” even easier. Thus learning to stop overeating can become easier.
Many people that are Reiki practitioners bless their food with Reiki. Hey, if that floats your boat then cool! I actually pray by singing. I connect my intention with my voice and singing always puts me in a good mood. I intentionally connect with the food that I’m about to cook and will often sing to it. What does that mean energetically? I am blessing my own food and eating my prayers. I’m not as disconnected from my food and I feel a sense of connection to something bigger out there in the big web of life.
Even if you’re a horrible cook and can’t cook for yourself, try just humming something to your microwave dish. Make the intention to connect to your food and give gratitude for the many hands it took to get it to your table. If you’re also looking to deepen your Shamanic Practice, set a little food aside for the land spirits and ancestors in gratitude for the food that is about to nourish your body.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
Life Compass Group
What is the Life Compass Group? No, it’s not associated with a Health Insurance Company.
I have found that the Internal Guidance System by Zen Debrucke, or what is also known in some circles as a “Truth Chord” is of vital importance of learning how to navigate your life in a graceful and easy flow. The Truth Chord is a skill that we can learn how to hone, and it becomes of utmost importance when we begin (or deepen) our shamanic journeying practice.
This group is something that arose out of a need for people to come together in a community to support each other as we begin to deepen our own practice. It is important for us to be within our own bodies as we live our life, because our body is what holds the wisdom of why we are here. Most don’t even know how to be in their body because their body is generally associated with pain.
When we focus too much on what is in the past because something is triggering us, or worrying about the future because we are worried what might happen – little do we realize we are not in our body. Our attention drifts to those past experiences, or the future possibilities and we get lost in that emotion/chaos of it all. When our focus drifts, that is when we are not here in the Now. This is an embodiment group where we will be able to clear the stuck or stagnant energies in our bodies so we can connect with it (typically with movement or singing), and then using that immediate clear channel of a body in order to gain insight on which direction we should be going in life.
This Meetup will only be an hour long, and schedule will go as follows:
7:00 – Gathering, setting up community altar, getting to know each other
7:10 – Weaving Circle, introducing ourselves and why we’re here
7:15 – Chakra clearing and balancing. Involves either movement or singing. Neither is required, but both encouraged.
7:45 – Going over different techniques for using the IGS, and having exercises to practice on our own or in a group
7:55 – Clean up! Saying goodbye
Bring your journal! This will be a fun and interactive group. If there is enough interest, it is possible this could be bi-weekly like the Journey Group.
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.
Newsletters Archives
It has been asked for a directory list of past newsletters. So here it is! Keep up to date on what’s going on in the area, and see what has happened in the past.
Before I got tired of copying and pasting…. Click below for specific issues. Otherwise you will find what you need up above!
- End of Dec, 01 of 2018 – Winter Hibernation and Arising Gracefully
- 11 of 2017 – Shedding the Leaves, Falling Into Autumn
- 10 of 2017 – Pumpkin Spice Flavored Email
- 09 of 2017 – Labor Day Weekend Edition
- 08 of 2017 – You must be “eclipsin’ ” me right now
- July 2017 – Global Shamanism Summit
- 07 of 2017 – Month of Freedom – Freedom to be you!
- 06 of 2017 – Heat of Summer
- 05 of 2017 – May Flowers
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- 02 of 2017 – When does Spring get here?
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- 12 of 2016 – Happy Holidays from Eagle Therapies!
- 11 of 2016 – Gratitude for the Things We Have – November Newsletter
- 10 of 2016 – Pumpkin Spice and Sound Healing
- 08 of 2016 – Seasons of Change, Grace in Transition
- 07 of 2016 – Community, Transformation, and Drums
- 06 of 2016 – Oh jeez… Here comes Summer
- 04 of 2016 – Month of Fire, and heading into the heat of Summer
- 02 of 2016 – Winter Greetings
- 12 of 2015 – Happy Holidays from Eagle Therapies
- 11 of 2015 – Eagle Therapies November Newsletter – Gratitude!
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Journey Track Outline
This post is an at home journeying guide, which will either guide you into your own journeying practice, or deepen the practice you currently have. If you are interested in joining the Shamanic Journey Group at a distance, click here. If you stumbled upon this page because you would like a little extra help framing your journey practice, then feel free to peruse at your own pace. This is a helpful guide that pieces all of the journey topics from the past two years, and compiles them from basics to more advanced.
Beginners
If you are still relatively new to Shamanic Journeying, then I would highly suggest that the first journey that you take is either one that establishes a place of power where you always start off, or to meet a Spirit Guide/Helping Spirit. Whenever learning a new skill (such as journeying), it’s very much like working out a muscle to make it stronger. Some people are innately going to have no problem lifting heavy weights, while some might have to work at it a couple of times in order to produce some results. Remember to not judge the experience of others, and remember that we all have different strengths when it comes to interpreting messages from the other side. Some might be able to hear things better, others might be able to see things, while yet some others tend to just “feel” or “know” that they’re going down through a tree or sitting next to a river. The point about journeying is to be as into the experience as possible. See if you can get as much detail as you can. If you see a waterfall, what does it sound like? What does it taste like? Where are your feet? What type of ground are you stepping on? Do you hear any other things in your environment?
Preparation for:
- It is helpful to turn off all electronic devices and either let other people know that you’re doing it so they don’t disturb you, or choose a time when no one else will be home
- Call up protection, or set the intention for safety. There are many people who put up sacred space or set up crystal grids so then that way their bodies are protected.
- This is a small advisement that some people still don’t know what it’s like to be “fully embodied” and tend not to be fully present. Traditionally in an indigenous culture, they would take their body with them when they journeyed (trance dance states, singing, chanting, etc.), but many individuals in this society have to peel off so many layers just to have an authentic spiritual experience that experimenting in different techniques (such as laying down, sitting, rattling, etc.) would be good to find out what works best for you. This is an experience based skill that is based off of what is best for you. What works for some people might not work for others. The main thing, is to try and stay fully embodied while you travel to the realm of spirit, otherwise if you leave open a space – then that could leave room for another entity to come in. Light some incense, dim the lights, and shake a rattle 🙂
- Try to sing, dance, or do something that will get you into the right brain state. The left brain state is about words, communication, and invoking. Leave space for repetition, and conscious trancing. All of these things (especially singing, chanting, and dancing) will help get you into an altered state of consciousness, which typically will mean a deeper journey.
- There are some people who lay down when journeying, but I don’t typically recommend this when first starting out. This reminds us of sleeping, and even though there is a such thing as lucid dreaming – that is a different avenue and is very different then shamanic journeying. Get a comfortable chair or if you want to try dancing your journey, put on an eye curtain (piece of fabric that goes on over the eyes so you can’t see ahead, but only where your feet are), and put a hula hoop on the ground so you stay in the confines of the hoop (this is a purely practical thing, so you don’t bump your shins into the coffee table – nothing takes you out of a journey faster then pain).
- Don’t forget to grab a journal! It’s always good to have scraps of paper lying around if you don’t have a journal. It’s always fun and interesting to read them later after you have digested the message a little bit. Remember that when coming back from the journey state, short phrases or simple words that will bullet point your journey are best. If you write in full sentences, it put you into the left brain state, and that will take you away from being in the right brain state (which makes journeys harder to remember).
Journeying is a question driven activity. If you do not have a focused intention while going into the realm of spirit, most often our guides will just take us on a wild imaginative ride that might not make sense. Remember to have an intention and to really feel what your question is – other wise your answer will be as non-productive as your question was. It helps to not ask a yes or no answer, because it will not be as open ended and you could potentially trick yourself into hearing something you want to hear.
Great beginning journeying questions:
- I would like to meet my entrance to the spiritual world, as well as find my place of power
- It always helps to have the same visualization that will bring you over to the realm of Spirit. It will help even more if this starting point is a real place in nature that brings you comfort. Start by finding a small hole or opening, and then imagine yourself going through. You should feel a going up or down sensation, and then you will be transported to your place of power. Explore your place of power, and be as into it as possible. This is where we will be doing a lot of work (if you will be following some of the journey tracks listed below). It tends to be a place we’ve either visited before, or a place that we’ve always dreamed of being (like a beach, lake house, mountain cottage, etc.)
- I would like to meet my non-egoic connection to spirit at this time
- There are many different types of spirits that we can encounter in the journeying state. It is my belief that we are all born into this world with at least 1 to 2 non-egoic helping spirits. These are the helping spirits that we do not need to feed, we don’t have to hide their identity, and they often change form as we learn and grow as individuals. Non-egoic helping spirits are directly connected to Source/Universe/All that is and only care about our own personal development and teach us to be better humans. I have run across many different individuals that practice different forms of Shamanism, and some might call this aspect a “higher self” version of a spirit guide. But this is a very big difference then working with an egoic spirit. A spirit that has an ego is very much like us humans here on the physical reality. They have their own personalities, their own likes/dislikes, and they definitely have their own opinions. These helping spirits tend to be specialists, and can offer very unique advice that non-egoics sometimes cannot give a clear opinion on (because they only care about character development and see everything as a lesson). There is a benefit to working with both of these types of generic spirits (for example, I primarily work with about 80% egoic spirits, but have 2 constant non-egoic helping spirits that I use to vet everybody else), but the benefit of working with a non-egoic helping spirit is that they cannot be fooled because they are directly connected to source. An egoic spirit can be tricked or lied to, possibly bribed to work against you (hence why some traditional cultures do not share their helping spirits identities). The trick is, that working with non-egoics is more about asking the right questions because they are not as opinionated as an egoic helping spirit. Which is why I have the journey tracks listed below, so that it can be easier to ask non-egoics some of these questions. The reason why “at this time” is added on at the end, because we want to be present about what will be beneficial to us right now. I have had a person get a past guide or a future guide that they are not meant to work with, or have had past debts with, so it made journeying challenging for that particular person. These are just suggestions I offer.
After repeating those journey questions to yourself at least three times, I would then listen to a good drumming track with anywhere between 180-220 beats per minute. Here are some good ones that are out there right now:
Of course there’s shameless self promotion for the journey track that I created. It’s on the sound cloud. But in case you can’t access that or have trouble downloading it:
- 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
If you would like more information, follow Sandra Ingerman for up to date Shamanic Journeying Basics courses. She is the person who I learned from, and her online training’s work quite well! Sounds True also has a lovely website dedicated to all things Shamanic Journeying. I will also hold a once monthly Shamanic Journeying Basics class with a journey session afterwards so you can try out what you just learned. Sign up for the Newsletter for up to date events.
Intermediate
Alright, so you’ve got the basics down. You have a place of power and you have a guide that’s willing to work with you. What’s next?
The first step is learning about energetic hygiene. What is energetic health? This is where I introduce the concept of the “energy bucket”, and I refer to this quite often. This is meant to be a daily practice, as well as something that is to be maintained whenever life starts to go awry. It can change from moment to moment based off of what is happening to you in the moment. When we get exposed to different triggers, and enter into a reactive state – our bucket can sometimes become a little unstable. There are many things which can change, but remembering to take care of yourself as well as your energy level is crucial/critical to having a good foundation for shamanic journeying. When we have these introspection’s about ourselves, then we can be of better use for those that we help/serve/love.
The energy bucket meditations are guided visualizations that can help, and I also have a link to a journey track that you can listen to at home as well.
These are optional, but are good starters to anyone that is beginning to step onto a more shamanic path. I also digress slightly when I say this – but the purpose of me putting all of this information into one space is not to promote more shamans out there. Shamanic Journeying is a helpful tool that is very valuable. It can be added to any practice, and is not a religion. It’s a way of looking at life, and it is completely okay to have one helping spirit that constantly helps us rather then more “facebook friends” that we don’t really know that well. On that note…
- Change and Transformation – Why do we care about these things?
- Some good journey questions that come out of this article are:
- What is the greatest challenge that is preventing me from transforming?
- What aspect of myself is standing in my own way when allowing a change to happen?
- What is a habit that I can begin to transform so that I can have a healthier relationship with myself?
- Some good journey questions that come out of this article are:
- Creating a Container for Transformation – What if we are a little over our heads with the difference between change and transformation. How do we start?
- Some good journey questions that come out of this article are:
- What does my personal/inter-personal container for transformation look like now?
- What does my personal/inter-personal container look like for __(name a particular event you are having difficulty with)____?
- What is this particular container supposed to look like?
- What is missing from this container so that this transformation can be a powerful one?
- Show me the steps to take so that my container for transformation aligns with my path and is healthier for me
- Show me an example of a transformation that tried to take place but it backfired instead
- Some good journey questions that come out of this article are:
Previously Recorded Shamanic Journey Discussions
A helpful suggested journey topic can sometimes help us if we are stuck trying to look for something but don’t know how to articulate it. For about 2-3 years we started recording journey groups and it was a great way for people to participate on their own! In the summer of 2021, we decided to stop recording journey groups because there was an increase in people attending who didn’t want to be recorded. Click here to access the journey group archive.
This is a lot of information, and hopefully this all helps and fits together! If you have any questions, concerns, or are just lost – please feel free to text/call 571.306.3197 (just leave a message, please) or email chenchira@eagletherapies.com
Fly high, everyone!