SHAMANIC STUDIES

Shamanizing the Planet

2008-06-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

I read recently about how shamanic principals and methods are becoming more popular in our culture. What does that mean really?

On one level I think as a whole our culture is finally stepping up to see the wisdom of indigeneous peoples' healing methods as viable pathways to creating health and wellness on all levels. Yet how can we begin to engage this new reality without imposing ourselves or reducing these powerful methods into the next big trend ?

As a person with European roots approaching the native traditions of the Americas, I am humbled and recognize that the translation of these healing methods will always be a "translation". I also acknowledge that this in no way diminishes the experience and in my reality this is the beauty of where we are evolving spiritually. Respect seems to me the path towards understanding, if I respect your way of connecting to Spirit than I can begin to understand the rich variety of expression on the planet.

There are many so-called "Plastic Shamans" ripping off as it were Native traditions and wholesaling them to earnest seekers who I believe are re- membering on a deep level, who and what they truly are...... human beings. It is my hope that this push towards shamanic work in the collective unconscious is a sign of the shift towards wholeness in us all, and that those seeking to wholesale the experience will continue to evolve towards love and kindness.

I wish you good journeys....

Janine

contact me at janine@sedonashamanicschool.com

Creating Sacred Space

2008-05-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

Shaman's create sacred space with powerful tools. If you have taken the Level 1 or Level 2 class at the Sedona Shamanic School you know the value of feathers, rattles, and drums. Tools for me are outward expression of the sacred space inside of ourselves and the sacred space we create as we journey for ourselves and others. Shamanic tools are as unique and varied as the practitioners, many are connected to the natural world (stones, feathers etc...) while others are lovingly handcrafted. I'll put in a shameless plug for Ivanka's tools found on the Sedona Shamanic School's website, having seen her loving each wand and feather into a unique creation I would recommend her tools for any shamanic practitioner.

Some might contend tools as unnecessary.... on one level I would agree, we are the "Living Tool" but it is a unique human quality to fashion and utilize tools ( along with some higher order mammals such as apes and dolphins) shouldn't it be celebrated? Tools are a way to conceptualize and create an internal experience or make real what is unseen. As shamanic practitioners this is a realm we hopefully are actively cultivating in soul recovery.

What are your tools?

How do you use them in your work?

Let me know...

I wish you good journeys

Janine

contact me at janine@sedonashamanicschool.com

The Picture tells the story...

2008-05-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

What do you see, when you are "Out There" in other worlds? The ability to "see" in the other worlds comes rapidly for some and slowly for others, which I would like to explore a bit today.

For some its all about the small spot in the brain known as the pineal gland (a physical generator of spiritual energy) which can be energetically bound and inhibit the third eye in assisting the traveler with vision in other realms. Consider taking some time to meditate and consciously remove these blockages. Try and visualize tiny bands being removed from the pea size gland you may be surprised at the results.

For those of you who tend towards being more empathic (emotion based) or kinesthetic (touch or movement based) you may experience journey's in other realms through those pathways initially. I want to remind all of you feelers and movers that your experiences and ability to intuit for soul pieces is no less valuable though these pathways. Yet developing all your senses in other worlds will not only serve yourself but also you client's. I would suggest doing some journeying of your own and really try to notice if you can include more visual cues to anchor the energy you are feeling or touching. I'll give you an example.....

Say for example you travel to the lower world, that place of pristine natural beauty where plant and animal life abound.... you connect with your power animal and ask to be taken to a place that you can retrieve a soul piece around the issue of depression. For the empaths you may not see any pictures but "feel" uncomfortable and closed in, for the kinesthetic you may actually feel this in you physical body as a tightness or a change in body temperature. At this moment ask your guide and power animal to enhance the scene and give you more detail. Patience with yourself at this point is vital, frustration with not seeing generally perpetuates more of the same. If you can take note of the colors, shapes, and symbols in your field, doing this and practising will surely develop a more visual experience in your journeying. I will go further and suggest that in your waking life to also begin to cue yourself into visuals such as the color of your friend's shirt, or the pattern of your tile in the bathroom, etc... which will naturally flow into your psychic field.

As an artist and a therapist I have always trusted that the picture tells the story, and it is yet another way to explore your shamanic skills in service to the planet, others, and yourself.

I wish you good journeys with love and kindness....

Janine

Experiment……in Soul Recovery

2008-05-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Remember when you took your Level one and two class, the excitement in meeting your power animal and the energy in the room when people were journeying?
Yet lately you may feel disconnected or like you need a refresher, I’d like to suggest an experiment to all students of the Sedona Shamanic School; today make a commitment to find your handbook and journey for yourself for three consecutive days for at least 15 minutes.
Building your personal power in the three worlds by journeying consistently will enable you to improve your vision and restore your soul pieces. I also hope it will inspire you to realize that the work of soul retrieval is so very vital right now. Today our planet is in need of awareness and freedom from the fears that limit our dreams.
When I first took my Level 1 class in Sedona I had to wait 3 months to take the Level 2. Thinking I would be REALLY prepared I began to journey every morning when I would get on the treadmill at the gym. I can only imagine what my early morning gym mates thought as I was blowing and waving my arms but it worked for me. I gained confidence in my skills and slowly began to trust my vision. I also felt that it was a good practice to work on myself first. Self healing is the true path to power vs. the belief that we must be caretakers and fixers for others.
I hope to be contributing on a regular basis to the newsletter and look forward to hearing from students and those curious about Soul Recovery and the work at the Sedona Shamanic School. I will welcome any discoveries or challenges you would like to share about your Experiment. I can be reached at janine@sedonashamanicschool.com.
I wish you good journeys and loving-kindness Janine�

Shamanic Power Animals

2008-05-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

Shamanic Power Animals are protective and helping spirits, like we think of Angels but more available to help us in the spirit realms. They never leave us except to bring another guide to help us. They also evolve spiritually as they are Soul. They have this opportunity to move forward spiritually by acting as spirit helpers to human beings. A true Shamanic Animal guide does not have it’s own agenda and it is here to work on your behalf with the ideal of “service-to-others”. This is the animal spirit’s way to self-development, so it does it joyfully and in full awareness. It knows it can set itself free by helping a higher spirit gain knowledge. All life is Soul! All are teachers.

A Shamanic power animal, also known as a totem animal will become your main shamanic guide and helper spirit. A Shamanic Power Animal is ‘brought back” from the “Lower World” (underlying spirit world ). This world we also refer to as the ”Pristine World” as no humans live there. This world is dreamlike but has “light” substance. The Spirit souls of specific living Animals and Trees are met here. They appear the same as their natural Specie body they inhabit in 3-D life but are as intelligent and have more inner wisdom then we do in the beginning. They can and do appear as any animal currently living on Earth. But once it appears as a Wolf, Bear or whatever it must never change shape. In this Shamanic System we only accept Power Animals with a living Earthly counterpart. The Shamanic Power Animal will at all times exhibit respect, a stable form always in the way you first envisioned it, and it agrees to work only on your personal behalf.

We at the Sedona Shamanic School do not accept all Spirit animals as helper spirits as other Shamanic Practices do. We teach specific rules and questions to which a power animal must comply. We are adamant and advocate the continued use of discernment and testing during all journeys. We come to learn that just because a being is in spirit form that does not mean that the spirit is for your highest good. This Shamanic Path is about learning and using discernment at all times. Always testing the situation, the animal, and the soul piece that are joined together in the moment karmic situation. Remember you are here to interview an assistant, the best you can find, how do you you think it should behave?

On this Shamanic Journey Path you will never accept the following animals: house pets such as domestic Cats & Dogs, Snakes or any Fish. Unicorns, Centaurs, Dragons and other Extinct/Mythical creatures are also not accepted under any conditions. The mammal soul must be also accessible in the physical form in the here and now on Earth.

The water mammals: Dolphins, Whales, Turtles and Seals are acceptable as power animals/totems. No other fish or inhabitant of the water or sea are allowed by the Shamanic Path we teach. You want as a guide the highest and the best, that is how you can really learn what is real.

How does a Soul Piece leave?

2008-05-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

A Soul (consciousness) piece can leave under a variety of circumstances. The trauma necessary to create a Soul fracture or loss can be caused by a variety of causes; loss of kin, rape, a broken heart, verbal & mental abuse, car accident, surgery, beatings, torture, war, alien abduction, military life, and chip implant. There are also nightmare torture sequences induced by outside means such as dream state mind-control technology which is within the capability of our government. These are a few of the many ways in which a soul can be fractured. As Soul fracturing events have occurred in every one of our lifetimes, we are left today (in this life) with only a small bit of our total true spirituality (soul) and mental power potential. Most of our true spiritual power we have left behind in our past.

One must remember that as we have lived countless lifetimes and in each life patterns emerged based on the words, thoughts and deeds we performed in the past and that are actively creating the now and programming the future. We are continually reaping what we have sown. These collective patterns that have emerged from our actions and reactions now comprise our current life and dictates our physical, mental and spiritual limitations. In other words, our destiny. While Destiny may be set, our Freewill is not and proper application of this wisdom can enable us to preempt the future by correcting the past. This can be learned by anyone willing to put the small effort required daily.

The Karmic Implication states that for every action there is a reaction. Here we find that the Karmic Implication has three clear connections to our current life. 1) Fate Karma, that which is manifested in the now as our current life in all its nuances, family ties, caste, color, religion, nationality and mental leanings. 2) New Seed Karma; New seeds being continually planted for future harvest and lastly 3) Stored Karma; those reactions held for a future life. So from this perspective it seems as though we have, through our past words, thoughts and deeds, brought about our current destiny. So what can we do about it now to change our current situation as it is now apparent that we are reaping exactly what we deserve. How do we become more deserving?

Perhaps it is here that Shamanic Soul Recovery has its greatest power. That unique Soul power that one acquires during the journey and recovery process that redeems one’s current self through resolution with the past in the now. Soul Recovery brings about the re-establishment of the self as a whole being focused here and now in this lifetime. Fractured throughout time and place, the soul longs and cries out from the myriad traps in which it finds itself scattered through creation. In all beings this crying out is a source of behavioral issues, nightmares, depression, delusion, unhappiness, guilt, sorrow, loss of self esteem, and other inner and outer torments. Luckily we can learn to bring ourselves back and recover our soul parts in the here and now. We can become more deserving by loving, forgiving, detaching from the past, lots of soul recovery, meditation and returning to others all the power which we have taken from them in any lifetime. Do you want to move forward and be free from the past? What are you doing about it?

www.sedonashamanicschool.com

How does Soul Recovery work?

2008-05-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

This work enables an individual to actively work on behavior and compulsive issues on one’s self. The practitioner uses an animal helper spirit and can then journey to view the source of a current dilemma, pain or issue (Soul Loss). When one returns to the original event and addresses and resolves the issue cause in that pertinent past life situation, then one can bring back the lost soul piece back to the current self. With the missing piece returned, that negative energy which had taken the place of the soul piece can leave and ones life begins to correct itself in that area of behavior.

Whenever we experience a traumatic event, part of our consciousness separates from us in order to survive some aspect of the instantaneous experience. This sudden sharp loss recycles itself in time as a focused memory sapping energy each time a similar event occurs. It is a fact that you cannot heal what is not present or denied. One can learn to live with the particular memory to a certain degree but at some point, for the mind to be completely healed, Soul Recovery must be done to separate the Soul fragment(s) from the past experience or memory and to bring that fragment into the present moment with its potential healing.

What is Shamanic Soul Recovery

2008-05-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

Shamanic Soul Recovery teaches you to explore non-ordinary reality in order to assist yourself in areas of Soul (consciousness) loss and fracturing. The Shamanic training process and purpose being defined as; Traveling with your animal helper spirit (Shamanic Power Animal) to retrieve lost fragments of yourself (soul) from any reality, timeline or lifetime including those from lives on other planets.

What is Soul loss/fracture?
The Soul can be considered total consciousness, the all of us that makes up the sum total of our authentic self/being. How fully we are able to experience this authentic self and to “see” in the inner realms depends on how much of ourselves we have recovered from past traumatic events and their memories (cycling pieces of consciousness/Soul bound to a past event). The restoration of the Soul Piece leads to more joy and presence in all realities. This feeling is due to the individual being consciously reconnected with a ‘lost’ part of the Authentic Self. Do you ever feel like this?
www.sedonashamanicschool.com