Change

AUTUMN 2012 -

A golden Autumn day. In the Sun’s warmth, the frost on the oak leaves melts to mist in the crisp air. Change. Life is so full of the unexpected, the things we feel to be “good” seeking balance with what we feel to be “difficult.” The main work of the shaman is that of healer, yes, but healing in a bigger sense, of being the one who dances with the rhythms of life and finds ways to restore the balance.

The shaman is the one people turn to in times of change. So the shaman must als…

SPRING 2013 -

It was a long winter, but now it seems we can finally say “Spring is here!” How wonderful to walk on the bare Earth, feeling that raw, re-awakening power come up through the snow-flattened grass. I always become more Earth-conscious in the Springtime, the joy of the early days of smells and textures in the air, the new shoots penetrating through last year’s leaves, the brush of green on the willow, hazel and beech.

This joy is sometimes dampened by the constant reminders that som…

WINTER 2015 -

The Winter Solstice is one of the great turning points of the year, and celebrates both the deepest dark and the coming of the light. Solstices and Equinoxes are thresholds - invitations to stop for a moment, to consider what has been, where we are, what is to come. When we pause during these changing times it can lessen feelings of being lost, out of step, or racing too fast. It helps to connect us to what is, right now, and to the power of the season.

The Winter Solstice is an …

FEBRUARY 2016 -

This Spring marks the thirtieth anniversary of the very first shamanic workshop I ever taught. Of course I wasn’t alone the doing the teaching. My Spirits were with me all the way. I suppose they were looking at me the way we look at a child who is taking her first steps. And there was one miracle I remember to this day: a woman was spontaneously healed from claustrophobia which had been plaguing her all of her life – cured on her very first journey. Any doubts about shamanism I…

WINTER 2016 -

We are blessed to live in amazingly challenging times. Often we cannot help but feel hopeless in the face of what is happening, be it environmental destruction, political injustice, poverty or greed. But if we allow these things to cripple us, then neither we nor the world has a chance. This cannot be allowed to happen.

We also live in a time of amazing possibilities. For the past half year I have been greatly inspired by what is going on at the Standing Rock Lakota Reservation o…

FEBRUARY 2017 -

Years ago I was given a deep lesson from my Teacher. He said: “Life is change. Shamanism is change with power.” Of course, he was not talking about the power of money or armies. He was talking about spirit power, the power of Love. Reading the headlines, hearing “the news” from many places around the world, it is easy to feel that love and wellbeing is not of great interest to many political leaders. Whether or not this is true, it does not absolve us from our duty to shine and …

FEBRUARY 2018 -

Our first human teacher of shamanism, Michael Harner, left the land of the living to join the Spirits on February 3rd. He left behind him a great legacy. No, not his organization, The Foundation for Shamanic Studies. The legacy he left behind are the thousands of people who have had their lives changed because he showed that the ability to do the shaman’s work is not limited to people living in tropical jungles or on the arctic tundra. The ability to intentionally contact and i…

SPRING 2020 -

Dear friends. Here we are.

A few weeks into these deep changing times. Where are you now? Where do you find yourself? What is this time bringing you?

One of the original meanings of the Greek word “krisis” is a "turning point in a disease, that change which indicates recovery or death". In the 15th century it came to mean a "vitally important or decisive state of things, point at which change must come, for better or worse”. Crisis is the time when there is no choice but change…

LATE SPRING 2020 -

As we move into the next phase of this special time, it can be helpful to consider – after all you have experienced these weeks, where are you now? What has changed? What do you want to leave behind? What do you want to bring with you? What is your deepest wish for what we are about to step into as we cross the coming thresholds?

As many countries begin to open up, it can be tempting to “go back to normality”, even in small ways in our daily lives. When we are tired or worn …

AUTUMN 2020 -

As we go through Harvest days, this is a deep time to reflect on where we are. For many of us, it has not been an easy year, and it may feel like there is still a long way to go. But simply waiting for it to be over will not bring real change. There is no choice now but change. We cannot go back, we have to be where we are. Open our eyes and open hearts to the new beginnings that are waiting.

Even if you don’t know what it is, is there a way you can welcome the new growing out of…