Prayer
September 2018 Ancestral Healing Circle
DEEP gratitude for all that joined us yesterday during our Ancestral Healing Circle! We even had people join us from Texas and Nevada from a distance! The topic we covered was managing resistance and seeing if we could find somewhere in our Ancestral Line that we could focus our attention in regards to managing that resistance we feel daily in our lives at this time.
Here is the recording of the Ancestral Healing Circle if you wish to join us in our circle. We offered some deep shares, nice reflections for each other, and many blessings for those that continue to do this personal transformation work.
If you wish to participate in the ritual within the ceremony, it requires some paper and a candle. Hopefully you will be able to burn a small little portion within your home so we don’t set off your fire alarm 😉
All Ancestral Healing Circles are run off of donation. You can choose to donate with PayPal if you feel called to share that reciprocity. These Ancestral Healing Circles are gifts that Eagle Therapies offer to the world, and donations are a way to gift back.
Many blessings to you and yours! And may we be more empowered to break these chains that bind us!
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.
Standing Rock
There has been a great deal of turbulence in the air, and many people have been affected in some way by the issues that are being brought to light. It’s not the fact that more “bad stuff” is happening in the world, it’s just the fact that we are able to see more it than ever. It means that we have to stick together as we peel the rest of this facade off and we get down to really being who we came here to be.
For as many opinions as there are out there, there is a plethora of causes to stand for. With fear running rampant in our main culture, there’s rising amounts of racism, sexism, acts against people of other religions, acts against transgendered or LGBTQ communities/individuals, and more issues of violence and discrimination than we can count. I urge people to pause, breathe, and get out of a reactive state before proceeding forward. We can’t do good in the world if we don’t take care of ourselves first. I know there are many heated emotions flying around, and people are quicker to get reactive because there is so much going on that’s triggering people to be defensive and protect what they “know”. I don’t blame them. But if you’re going to stand up for something, really evaluate your values and morals and see which movements align with them.
The first step after self-care, is to think about things that really make a change in this world. No, putting posts all over social media about how upset you are doesn’t change anything. It might trigger other’s anger and outrage, but engaging constantly in what makes you upset makes more of us upset, and is a trend that has been perpetuated by the masses. Instead, focus on the little things to help make a change or a difference. Here’s a great article from CNN on just this, if you are ready and in a state of mind to take more action that makes a bigger difference in the great scheme of things.
Part of self-care is recognizing what is within our ability to change, and what is beyond the scope of our ability to do. I have two jobs and a kid, so obviously I’m not going to go gung-ho and do everything listed there – it’s meant to be a roadmap for some of what you can do. That goes for joining every protest that’s out there. Be selective, and it’s generally recommended to pick a cause that is close to your heart. It helps because our energy is not scattered, and more focused so that it can effect a greater change.
Now that that’s out of the way – let’s talk about Standing Rock. Why do people care about Standing Rock? What is it? Obviously it’s something that is dear to my heart, but why should we care about it?
I’m sure many people have heard of it at this point. It has finally hit mainstream media to some degree, but mostly it’s through social media that this movement has thrived. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a pipeline being built by Energy Transfer that will be used for transporting crude oil over 1,172 miles and through 4 states. Click here to read the fact sheets on Energy Transfer. Sunoco Logistics (whose parent partner is Energy Transfer) will take over transporting the crude oil once the pipeline is complete. The reason for the pipeline? They claim it moves oil faster over longer distances, and it will help boost the economy in certain areas. Prior to the construction of the proposed pipeline, they have been transporting crude oil via trucks and rail. They claim they take the utmost care and security during transportation, however Sunoco has the highest spill rate of all of the companies that transport crude oil. Their public statement says they will do their best to “minimize spills”. They have also not been documenting all of the spills that take place, stating that they didn’t want to “over-report” their spills. The biggest recent spill happened October 20th, 2016 when a Sunoco pipeline burst, leaking 55,000 gallons of oil about 100 miles North of Harrisburg, PA. Because the oil was leaked from that area, it soaked into the water supply and has reached down as far as the Susquehanna river (it first spilled into Loyal Sock Creek which then flows into the left branch of the Susquehanna) about 15 miles south of where the oil spill occurred.
- Read about other fatalities of other oil spills
- Read about oil spills in other areas and their environmental impact
We now begin to understand the severity of the situation on a physical aspect alone, of the environmental impact of transporting crude oil via pipelines. Another layer to add to this, is the fact that the construction process did not even consult with the owners of the property this pipeline will be going through. Many farmers and people that own private property have been pressured into selling their property so this pipeline could be created. Some of the land that this pipeline runs through was promised to the successors of the Great Sioux Nation in the treaties of Fort Laramie in 1851 and 1868. The government itself has broken the property stated by seizing 56,000 acres for the Lake Oahe project (dam and reservoir) by the US Army Corps of Engineers without prior consent from the Sioux tribe. Technically speaking, the property that the Energy Transfer, DAPL is cutting through military property – and they continued construction on the pipeline even without consent from the US Government. When approached with this legally, the CEO of Energy Transfers released a public statement that equated to drilling first, asking forgiveness later. Even with the Army Corps of Engineers, and President Obama getting involved and sending official letters and documentation, Energy Transfers still decided to proceed with the construction of the pipeline, have dug the trenches and have brought equipment for drilling underneath Lake Oahe on both sides.
As if that isn’t enough, we are also able to witness the layers of inappropriate action in regards to the handling of the protesters. They arrested people at the camp and threw them into dog kennels for “protesting” when they were practicing their freedom of speech and religion through praying. They fired rubber bullets and sprayed pepper spray on a crowd of protesters as they tried to protect sacred burial grounds. The basis for their non-violent protests have been a message of peace. When people come to Standing Rock, there are multiple classes a day that try to educate people about their way, and about how their fight is based on prayer. When beginning any protest, their elders lead them through a ceremony with prayer, and make it a point to include everyone there, including any law enforcement officials present. I was there myself during the protest in Washington DC, and I was there as they gave the blessing that “Everyone was to stay safe and continue to be so.” I was in the back of the protest line that was close to half a mile long, and I didn’t hear any arguing, or fighting. Just the chants for freedom, equality, peace, and the sweet smell of tobacco and sage being burned as we marched to the White House.

If you have questions about what exactly this fight is for, the Indigenous Youth Council put out this wonderful video which highlights the fact that this isn’t just about Native Americans fighting for their land. It’s not just about this one pipeline. It’s about the human race fighting for survival against tyranny and corruption. The blessing of this movement is the fact that a Global Community has been formed around Standing Rock, because they see the value in protecting what is Sacred. There are tales of people not understanding what this movement is – so they go to Standing Rock to see what this change is about – and instead it changes them. This is not just about fighting for what it right, it’s a wave of a mental, emotional and spiritual awakening that’s being led by prayer and ceremony. Its changing lives, the way people look at things, and how they interpret what they see.
It’s obvious the acts of disrespect have been seeded by the creation of the pipeline, which was started and continued without consent from the indigenous people, OR the hundreds of private landowners that the Energy Transfers Partners have cleared out/bought out. We need to be more mindful about what we are manifesting in this world. A good majority of this Western Society is founded on profit, and emphasizes sacrificing many things in light of convenience.
A good majority of the humans running things are doing so with power, greed, and without thought for the communities or environment. What would happen hypothetically if the pipeline was created, and everything went through and a major oil spill happened just like what was witnessed on October 20th? Lake Oahe feeds into the Missouri river. Obviously there’s going to be the immediate area that would be affected, but who’s to say what will happen when the other contaminants leak into the surrounding water supply? What happens if all of those chemicals associated with crude oil get into the water supply that feeds into the bread belt of the United States? We already have a large number of people that are allergic to wheat or developing gluten intolerances with the amount of preservatives in our food, and other factors. If the food that we grow is being fed by water that is contaminated, what do you think that is going to do to the food that is grown? It’s a chain effect.
The Standing Rock movement isn’t just about the DAPL. It also is a call to action for all people to wake up and see what is going on around them. What is the environment we live in now like? What pollution is around us that we are contributing to, for the sake of ease and convenience? All of these are big questions, and we turn inward to find the answers. If we are not in a stable place as we ask these questions of ourselves, then how can we be in a position to think about the greater world/community that is stitched together because of this simple thing we all need.
Water.
This movement isn’t JUST about the Oahe Lake and the surrounding water of North Dakota. It’s about all of the water that the Oahe Lake feeds into. It’s about ALL rivers and ALL life. Water is Sacred. #WaterIsLife
If you want more up to date information on Standing Rock, visit the Sacred Stone Camp Facebook page. Find out facts about the Dakota Access Pipeline and the protesting.
Feel moved by what was said here? Feel inspired to help now that you have a broader understanding of what is going on? Then congratulations, you just took the first step by reading this article and educating yourself more on the situation. This blog post is not meant to be all inclusive, but provides only a small sampling of the information available to you about why people are making such a big fuss about the situation. I encourage people to do their own research and to double check all of the facts provided here. There will be many sides and perspectives, and the side of the story you get will often be filtered through the eyes of the person seeing it. I know that my view point of the world is very different then others, hence why I encourage you to find your own truth.
If you’re so called to help with this particular protest, then here are some things that you can do to support this movement:
The Sacred Stone Camp is the compilation of different camps at Standing Rock. They are on the front lines where they are directly bordering where construction is taking place. They are keeping an eye on the pipeline construction with drones, and are keeping themselves informed on the progress. Many people here are praying, surviving, and doing their job to protect the land. These protectors are being called to stay at Standing Rock, and have either left their jobs or have taken time off work in order to come support the cause. A lot of people that have gone there are living off of donations.
- Here are Frequently asked questions and how to Support the Camps at Standing Rock.
- They are winterizing their camp so the Land Protectors can stay warm during the oncoming Winter. They have an Amazon Wishlist for supplies.
- There are many people who have gotten hurt at the protests, and that have acquired injuries. Click here if you would like to donate to medical funds.
- If the Standing Rock movement is something that moves you, but you would like to support the Non-Profit organization that is helping them legally in this matter, then find out more and donate to Earthjustice.
Don’t have money or supplies to donate? There are other ways that you can help. In order to “starve” the Black Snake (oil pipeline), there are efforts to defund the project.
- Letters to Officials to stop DAPL – email list to stay in contact with the movement
- List of Banks to write to – Banks are much more susceptible to pulling their funding from projects. Especially if large numbers of people write to them asking them to change their minds.
Victories:
- Largest Bank in Norway pulls its assets
- DNB bank threatens to pull their assets
- Latest update as of November 14th – still a chance! Our hope is growing! Obama administration and Army Corps of Engineers have stomped down their foot because of protesting
- (Not immediately connected, but by proxy connected because of the awareness the movement has brought about) Interior Cancels Oil Leases On Sacred Tribal Lands In Montana
- As of November 16th – NADL in Financial Jeapordy (Letters to Banks have been working)
Shadow side of this movement
Obviously with the majority of people following along in the Standing Rock movement and its footsteps, we also have those that have become so moved/touched by this movement that they jump in without really knowing what it’s all about. These extremists do not understand the true meaning of standing with Standing Rock, but that shouldn’t be the whole example that can appear to discount what this movement stands for. With every act of balance, there is always a side of the argument/movement which is done with good intention, but their actions come out as warped and twisted. Read about the Killing of Buffalo “in the name” of Standing Rock. It would be unwise to pull up all the wonderful facts about Standing Rock without understanding the other aspects of what some might be reading about. We must embrace all sides of an argument and understand that they exist and are still apart of us – even if it is misguided.