Feeling Home

MIDWINTER 2013 -

In some parts of the world the new year comes in Springtime, others mark it in the Autumn. Here in Scandinavia the New Year arrives in Mid-Winter. No matter how it’s done, the idea is the same: ending what has been, pausing to gather together what we have learned, moving on and starting anew. It is a wonderful idea, but why wait and only do it once a year? Why not once a month, once a week, or once a day?

In October I went to the Deer Park Buddhist Monastery in southern Califo…

MAY 2014 -

Walking down by the pond it is so still except for the song of a warbler. Sitting by the water, I thought over the past weeks. It has been busy with four courses in four countries working with some of the faces of power – balance, gratitude, responsibility, joy, and the spirits of nature.

Many people think of power as the power over us, but as we know it is also a surging energy that gives life-force. Power has so many faces and different ways of interacting with our lives: the powe…

AUTUMN 2014 -

Today, someone asked me how I feel about Åsbacka, the place where I live. I could feel the answer in my heart before the word came. And when the word came, I said “Home.” As soon as I said it, I knew that I had found a new understanding of “home”.

For me Åsbacka is not only a place to live. Åsbacka is a being – a being with whom I have a relationship. Åsbacka has needs and I have needs. We take care of each other and nourish each other in many ways. We share this space and we liv…

SPRING 2016 -

As we move towards the edge of Summer, I look back on the Springtime and its many bounties. Being in residence at Schumacher College for six weeks with Zara was a very special experience that brought so much together for me from my 30 years of teaching. We taught several courses but our presence there was also much more than that. I was able to call on all the gifts I have learned and received from my shamanic path, and share it with others. It showed me how shamanism can be at th…

LATE SUMMER 2016 -

“Shamans are the servants of the community and the servants of the spirits.” My spirit teachers told me this long ago. At first it worried me, in fact it concerned me a lot. Where was I in this equation? Service was one thing, but wasn’t being a servant something else? Where was my “free will”? It bothered me for a long time, and, despite my teachings, I did my best to maintain what I thought was my individual freedom. But by resisting, for fear of losing my identity, I put …

AUTUMN 2019 -

When teaching, we often hear ourselves say: “The Circle is my Home.” We have come to feel the truth of this more and more. The feeling of sitting together, around a center, sharing intention, touches the heart and soul. In the Circle we see people begin to heal and become more themselves. We see them open to the Spirits and to new possibilities. In a Circle, we don’t all have to be the same. We don’t have to be anyone else but ourselves. We learn from each other’s experiences and…

EARLY SPRING 2020 -

In shamanic practice, ceremony is used in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes we hold big healing ceremonies or ceremonies to honour a special place or time of year.  They are also used for big life events that mark important communal thresholds – births, coming of age, separations, marriages, deaths. But they can also be with us in small, intimate, regular rituals. We can make a ceremony out of everyday actions such as making food, drinking a glass of water, opening a door, l…

SUMMER SOLSTICE 2020 -

Be right here. Just be right here.
Here – where you are
Stand like the Sun, stand still at the Solstice,
Stand still in your life and see where you are.
Don’t run away. Take time 
to discover where you are
instead of looking back to where you were 
or looking forward to where you might go.
Stand still – right here, right now – 
deepening into this moment, and listen: 

Listen to what your hands are telling you
Listen to what your feet are telling you 
Listen …