Life Blessings

SPRING 2015 -

The days are getting longer and I feel very excited about the courses and retreats we are offering this year. When I first learned to practice shamanism it was presented to me as a set of techniques that could help me and others. I could see this was a powerful and good way, but gradually I began to sense it was not the whole story. There was more to shamanism than techniques.

It has taken a long time, but shamanism is now the heart and soul of my life. It informs everything I do…

MIDSUMMER 2015 -

Many people I meet wonder about the meaning or mission of their life, what they can do to make a difference, or to feel their life has value. In the Western world, people and media are often preoccupied with the question "who am I?", as if knowing this will solve all their mysteries and the problems of the world. But from many years of doing shamanic work, I feel there is a more essential and rewarding question: "how do I want to live?"

My Teacher once said to me, “Now that yo…

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 …

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 …

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…