believing women

Not listening to women’s experience - from health to the economy - is an abuse that harms all of society. The Guardian published an article that asked: [W]hat will it take to take women’s lives seriously? 

A woman inspired by the Chilean feminist group called Las Tesis protest
in front of the NYC’s criminal court during Harvey Weinstein’s trial.
Photograph: John Lamparski/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media

If we took women’s lives seriously, if men who abused the women in their lives faced any kind of real consequences, would the people we are now preparing to bury be alive today? It is impossible to contain the suffering that stems from discounting and disbelieving women. 

If we refused to accept the daily suffering of women and girls at the hands of men who claim to love them, we would have a federal policy removing guns from abusers, and we would ensure that it worked in practice. We would have a lot fewer gun deaths - period. 

The truth underlying the public health crisis of women’s believability is even worse than it looks. 
Social researchers have long demonstrated that it’s not just that we hold women to much higher standards than we do men before we believe them. It’s more perverse than that - we prefer not finding women credible. As a culture, we hate to believe women, and we penalize them for forcing us to do so. 

A world in which we treat women as de facto credible is not a world in which men are doing women a favor. It’s a world in which everyone benefits from women’s increased power and knowledge and talent, one in which we recognize that addressing women’s suffering makes it more possible for people of every gender to thrive.

A Chilean protest song about rape culture and victim shaming has become an anthem for feminists around the world.

Un Violador en Tu Camino [A Rapist in Your Path] was first performed in late November as Chile’s nationwide uprising against social inequality moved into its second month.

The song and its accompanying dance moves have spread across Latin America and the world.

wemyn defined

I invoke 2020 as the year to live in avid and overt support of wemyn of the world. With the intent of feminine energy standing free and clear - on our own and not defined as other than man or male.

Tamara Adams art

Not hu/man - humyn. Not fe/male - femine. Not wo/men - wemyn. Yes!

On January 19 these two powerhouse shamyn released this video of their shared vision for us today.

Sandra Ingerman and Renee Baribeau team up to share strong ceremonial work and shamanic practices with our communities. The topic of the show for The Shamans Cave is worthiness. 

We all want to do more to contribute to our communities and to the health of the planet but we must feel worthy to be a strong and engaged builder of a new fabric of reality. Many of us don’t trust our intuition or our creative skills as we were taught at a young age that we are not worthy.

It is time to unburden ourselves of such a limiting belief. It does not contribute to a sense of well being or make us feel like we have anything to give. 

Renee and Sandra will speak on this issue, and then Renee will lead us in a powerful practice to replace our feelings of unworthiness with self-worth, light, and love. We are excited about this show as we cannot move forward with our spiritual practices in a powerful way until we feel good about ourselves.

Happy trails journeying into our Self!

sound healing | sonic immersion

Definition and Process

A sound healing session is a therapeutic method that uses vibratory resonance to attune and align body and mind by balancing the flow of energy through its energy centers - the chakras, nadis, and meridians.

A sonic immersion is the experience of being cocooned in a sequenced series of sounds that creates a sonic atmosphere - suspending and cushioning recipients as it weaves waves of acoustic and vibratory sensations.

sound healing for cancer support community

Techniques and Therapies

Combining both can achieve a deep relaxation by energizing the physical body while clearing the emotional body. A process that produces a renewed sense of rejuvenation - where vitality, clarity, grace, and joy can be attained.

Sound health work covers the distinct areas of:
- for release or relaxation and quiet or mindfulness
- for medical use and restorative care

Technologies and Application

Developments in health and technology have produced research and new tools to monitor and analyze a variety of methods sound can be used to maintain and restore health and well being.

Tools and equipment are designed and applied individually and collaboratively to create and achieve subtle fields of vibration and resonance than can be orchestrated and manipulated to attain sought after outcomes and benefits.

Intention and Outcome

Sound Healing is the intentional use of sound to create an environment which becomes a catalyst for healing in the physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual aspects of our being. It is a restorative process to bring back balance and wholeness.

To achieve certain outcomes it is necessary to be clear about the motivation and intent we possess in the process. The more we are able to co-join our actions with clarity and purpose of intention, the better our chance to manifest productive and beneficial outcomes.

At times even surprisingly miraculous. We can only work at and pray for the best outcome as we remove ourselves from the equation.

building community

It's a new year and a new decade - what better time to reflect and assess - right?

How do I show up - fully and authentically? Have I lived well? Have I loved generously? Have I made a difference?

This year marks a decade since I stepped out of a community that was my life's work and being for 15 years.

It was not my conscious choice of intended outcome at the time to leave. For many years I have missed things we did there and all my relations.

Even when I realized it was for the best I still miss it a lot.

When I stepped into another life I never thought to recapture or recreate it. I did not believe I wanted to - too messy, too consuming, too risky.

Instead I refocused and redirected myself into a solo existence staking out my independence. I enjoyed yet another opportunity at reinventing myself. Happy to learn more, do more, be more.

I busied myself finding a new place to live. Furthering my education - with a masters degree in adult education and training, with continuing education credits in research and writing, with a new career in the then new and developing field of social media and online interaction. Settling into a new life.

Before I knew it ten years had come and gone - another decade of change and discovery.

In all that time I lived and traveled a whole lot more. Met new folks and made fine friends. Exposed myself in more and different ways. Gained experiences and a few mind blowing adventures.

Finally these past three years I grew back into feeling comfortable and confident again in myself. Enough to fully commit to my holistic practice much more than I had been skating around through most of my life.

After many more conversations and collaborations with like minded and heart warming cohorts I am living in a community of my own creation. Harvesting sustenance from seeds I planted with my own sweat, blood and tears.

Inch by inch. Step by step. Bite by bite. It's been a well invested and deepening life I appreciate fully.

Happily putting myself out more in 2020 and beyond!

light box therapy for improved moods

Mental health professionals have used light-box therapy for decades to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which leads to a low mood in winter but eases its depressing grip when the days get longer. 

HANNAH WHITAKER

New research indicates that the same therapy may be effective for other types of depression, including treatment-resistant depression and even bipolar depression. (Indeed, one recent study found that among patients hospitalized for depression, those in rooms facing southeast, which received the most light, were discharged an average of 30 days earlier than those in rooms facing northwest.) 

Researchers believe that the therapy, which involves sitting near a light box during morning hours, resets a disordered circadian rhythm, resulting in an improved mood.

the promise of winter

Venus is now the archetypal energy that reigns in our belief system for the next 12 years. Evening Star Venus, who is the Great Goddess of Love, the Body and Wisdom, will be our guide. 

On December 21, the Sun enters Capricorn on the Winter Solstice. The Moon is in Scorpio, helping us release the past and the darkness so the Light of the World can be reborn. A Winter Solstice Ritual can be as simple as lighting a candle to bring back the Light.

There's a Capricorn Solar Eclipse late on Christmas night, at 5* Capricorn, visible in the Middle East. This solar eclipse is conjunct Jupiter and trine Uranus. This will make for a joyous, interesting Christmas Day.

It's a great time to set your intentions for the New Year as you begin the 12 Days of Christmas. Cathy Pagano - Wisdom of Astrology

an illustrated ending to 2019

It's not all bad news. As 2019 draws to a close and we look forward to a new year and the start of a brand new decade, here are some great highlights to inspire us. Happy Holidays to all!

Mauro Gatti, Rokas Laurinavičius and Julija Nėjė at The Happy Broadcast. View more here.

A Navajo Thanksgiving Prayer

In the non-ordinary world of the shaman time is elastic, symbols carry power, shapes shift.

Navajo ceremonies are conducted, at least primarily, for the purpose of healing disease; and while designated medicine ceremonies, they are, in fact, ritualistic prayers.

Like many ancient people, Navajo Indians understand the mysterious healing power of graphic design and use it in an elaborate healing ritual. 

honoring the medicine

The artist, the medicine man, uses naturally colored grains of sand, and pour them by hand to create "places where the gods come and go" in the Navajo language. The graphic design is used as a visual communication device.

According to anthropologist Trudy Griffin-Pierce in her study of Navajo sand painting, the power of Navajo sand painting is in the merging of time and space into a place where the present and the mythic past coexist, Griffin-Pierce writes. The Navajo consider sand paintings to be:

“sacred, living entities” with the power to“compress time and space.” It is through the power of sand painting and the associated rituals that an individual can be transported to a place where the present and the mythic world are one, a place where supernatural assistance and healing can be found (Griffin-Pierce 1992, 98-99).

This is the final section of a lengthy shamanic prayer about when the spiritual being and the physical human are united. We offer this up for a hopeful Thanksgiving.

To my feet I have returned

To my limbs I have returned

To my body I have returned

To my mind I have returned

To the dust of my feet I have returned

To my saliva I have returned

To my hair I have returned

My feet are restored to me

My limbs are restored to me

My body is restored to me

My mind is restored to me

The dust of my feet is restored to me

My saliva is restored to me

My hair is restored to me

The world before me is restored in beauty

The world behind me is restored in beauty

The world below me is restored in beauty

The world above me is restored in beauty

All things around me are restored in beauty

My voice is restored in beauty

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty

sympathy, compassion, empathy

East West Women highly recommend this powerful tandem of wise women and their healing light.

Join us in growing this community.

In today’s world we do not know how to respond to global catastrophes as well as issues that come up with our friends and loved ones.

We often confuse pitying others with compassion. But in reality when we pity people, nature beings, or places we disempower them.

Hosts Sandra Ingerman & Renee Baribeau

Renee and Sandra both share powerful guidance on how we can feed the light and strength of those challenged to lift them up and stimulate their power to heal from their situation.

Together they address how we can become too empathetic taking on the pain of others. This does not help anyone especially ourselves.

Sandra will lead us in a journey to see those we love and care about in their divine light and strength.

Join us in this engaging and inspiring show! Follow us at Shamanstv.com.

Kundalini Summit - Nov 5 to 8

The Awaken Your Kundalini Summit is a 4-day event taking place from November 5 to 8 - online
and on the phone - a profound and experiential gathering for thousands of people who would like
to truly master our energy.

Kundalini is a divine frequency that’s powerful beyond measure, infinitely creative, and intimately
connected to our soul. 

In this life-enhancing summit, you’ll discover a large pool of wisdom and a wide range of powerful
techniques and practices to activate your Kundalini. . . .to clear collective fear and other “denser”
energies - transforming them into higher frequencies of love.

Some of today’s leading Kundalini experts will share practical yogic exercises to help you release
stuck patterns from your mind-body, elevate your frequency, and radiate this divine energy in
everything you do.

Tapping into this primal energy will help you be more present, more grounded, and more connected
to yourself and your dreams. . . .and manifesting will be much easier when you’re aligned with this
creative life force.