festival of light & life

As we celebrate All Hallows Eve and the veils between worlds thin - folks around the world, according to varying practices, beliefs and cultures - prepare altars for our ancestors. This is important work that has been passed on through generations. 

Now more than ever, we can all use that supportive energy - as we recall and honor our ancestors who have paved the way and supported our survival. I celebrate an accumulation of 38 years - from when I first started my shamanic practice and apprenticeship all those years ago. 

clay diya lamps - © Uma Shankar sharma

It is also the festival of Diwali (Deepavali) - when myriad little clay lamps (diyas) light the way to remove darkness from the face of the earth. The dharma of fire illuminates wherever it falls - giving light and warmth. 

eternal & infinite

For those of you who follow us, Sandra Ingerman is a beloved teacher and healer we post about regularly. 

Recently she mentioned having the most amazing vision about finding our life force. She makes the distinction that life force is different than spirit or soul. You can read her new book for a deeper explanation.

image credit, Eky Rima Nurya Ganda

The other night my consciousness was simply blown away by seeing a image of the life force of all of life that was connected to a life force of infinity. I wish i could explain it better. Maybe one day I will try and draw a picture.

This life force of the Earth connected to the life force of Infinity - where life never ends. An affirmation that there will always be life on this Earth.

While we try to integrate all these for obvious reasons the image of life force gives us strength and hope in this age of much dismemberment and shadow work.

A beautiful blue flowing flame that can never be extinguished - an image we can each hold close to our hearts to inspire and guide us.

ecstatic oneness within

Starting another Shift Network course with Sandra Ingerman - Shamanic Journeys Into Nature - continues to deepen my own learning and teaching experience. 

Winter Morning in Yellowstone National Park (U.S.), Tom Murphy

Disconnected from our own true nature, we learn how to turn off external distraction and disturbance, turning inward and centering our being to get back in tune with our natural flow and the cycles of nature and the earth. 

Shift Network announcement

Our first week we learned how much the land nurtures and protects us.

• our connection to the web of life and our true place in nature
• changes to make and be in greater harmony with nature
• a ceremony to bond with the land where we live on
• a shamanic journey to learn what it means to be a nature being
• Honorable Closure, a ritual to dissolve unhealthy energetic ties

I offer you this healing music and video to leave you with the sense of expansiveness this work brings. 

Native American ancestral chants

what our dreams portend

Since attending the Dark Night of the Soul course given by Sandra Ingerman recently, I noticed the gap between my asking for something and it manifesting has shortened and compressed, yielding almost immediate results. 

It has resulted in some changes in fine tuning my healing practice and disciplines. For example, I grew up a believer in the power of prayer. The powerful act still moves me deeply, yet I now prefer to light a candle and wordlessly offer it up on the altar with whatever intentions I hold. 

Dreamwork Summit 2020, The Shift Network

The simplest offering of love and light is enough to yield immediate and miraculous outcomes. Best yet, when I am confused or at a loss, I allow grace to move through me and ease any stress or fear. The act of absolute surrender frees and liberates me completely. 

transmutation with Sandra Ingerman

intention + harmony + love + concentration + focus + union + imagination = transmutation

Sandra Ingerman offers this formula to recall our light and let it shine forth. 

In Shamanism we are taught that everything is connected. Everything that is alive has a spirit and is connected in a web of life. 

Begin to get in touch with your true nature which is light by putting on some relaxing soothing music and allow yourself to get into a quiet place. 

• Take some deep breaths bringing you to a centered place where you will be able to experience a state of harmony and love. 
• Allow yourself to go inside holding the intention that you want to experience the light that shines within your being.
• This will bring you into a state of union with your creator or the power of the universe. 
• Keep your focus and concentrate on your intention. 
• Allow your imagination to help you feel and see your internal light. 
• Give yourself permission to let your light shine fully through you. 

This light is always there and cannot be used up.  The capacity to share your light and be filled by it yourself is endless. Your light cannot be destroyed or taken from you. You do not have to worry about becoming depleted, as the source of this light is infinitely abundant.

Should you wish to continue this practice and share it Sandra has also been generous enough to share this incredible transfiguration ceremony.

May you be filled with light and love and radiate it in your daily life. Blessings always!

shamanic chakras

Today's healing post comes to us from the Four Winds Society.

2016 AUG 16 THE BRIDGE TO ETERNITY

Posted in Shamanism by Dr. Alberto Villoldo 

While practitioners of yoga recognize seven chakras, my mentor, Don Antonio, taught me that we have nine. Seven of them are within the physical body, and two are outside the body. 

He called the eighth chakra the Wiracocha, which is the name of the Creator or Great Spirit (the word means sacred source). 

The eighth chakra corresponds to the Christian concept of the soul, which is personal and finite. Its source is the ninth chakra, Spirit, which is impersonal and infinite. 

We call this center a chakra for lack of a better name. In reality it is the dwelling place of Spirit – the spirit of every thing in the Universe. 

The ninth chakra is the Self that has never been born and will never die. This Self is prior to time, and it never enters the river through which time flows. 

It is prior to space and existed before the Universe manifested. This is the Self that never left the Garden of Eden. 

When this center is awakened, there is a deep, rumbling laugh that echoes over the mountains and thunders across the sky.