Life Blessings

SEPTEMBER 2022 -

Walking through this time of year, there is much coming to fruition: berries, nuts, fruits, pumpkins, beans and corn. This is the end of a cycle that has been working deeply all year – and also a beginning, new seeds forming already now for the future.

In our lives too, certain aspects are ripening. Maybe a process or project we have been sowing, hoeing, watering and weeding, is now growing into maturity. It can be an important moment to mark.

How do we recognize it? How do w…

APRIL 2022

Life makes itself known, in its vibrant and insistent regeneration. Springtime in Scandinavia is a rich time - tight tiny buds on trees unfurling, early flowers reaching for the Sun and green growth overtaking dry remnants of Winter.

Whatever tragedies play out on the human stage, Nature insists on Life. Here it is again, right in front of us. We can open to the Power of new Life, of Regeneration, of Budding and Blossoming. Even in sadness, grief and anger, Beauty is here. Even in …

FEBRUARY 2022

“You are not alone”. Many times have we said these words on courses and in circles. The Spirits are with us all the time, if we remember to reach out and open. But how do we remember? It is up to us to connect, but it is not always easy when time is tight or we feel weak, tired or stressed. Often it is hardest to ask for help when we most need it.

A good place to begin is where you are right now – right where you live. You can choose to relate to your home, your local area or wor…

LATE SPRING 2021 -

Where we live, in southern Sweden and Denmark, this time of year is bursting with the bounty of nature. All around, Life is wild and vital, bringing the verdant Green back into being. Trees are unfolding their leaves, opening to the Sun. Flowers and plants stretch up, with the joy of growing into fullness and receiving blessings from Rain. 

There is an old Swedish saying: if you can keep going until the Nettles come, you will survive. In older days, when a long hard Winter m…

AUTUMN 2012 -

A golden Autumn day. In the Sun’s warmth, the frost on the oak leaves melts to mist in the crisp air. Change. Life is so full of the unexpected, the things we feel to be “good” seeking balance with what we feel to be “difficult.” The main work of the shaman is that of healer, yes, but healing in a bigger sense, of being the one who dances with the rhythms of life and finds ways to restore the balance.

The shaman is the one people turn to in times of change. So the shaman must als…

FEBRUARY 2013 -

Many of us recognize the importance of finding and following our own path. My own life experience has been that sometimes I find my path to be be hard and stony, sometimes smooth, sometimes inspiring, sometimes boring, and sometimes it just didn’t seem to be there at all - even though it always is.

In January, I volunteered to be Firekeeper for our International Shamanic Community (ISC). The Firekeeper takes on the responsibility of tending the spirit fire of the community for …

AUTUMN 2013 -

Today I woke up thinking about Time. I always start thinking about Time in the Autumn as the days grow shorter. Time - there is never enough for everything. But is that true? Busying this morning I heard myself thinking: “I’ve got to catch my breath.” Catch my breath! Sitting down, I felt my breath – breathing in – breathing out.

There is time for everything, I thought, starting with time to stop. How easy it is to blame other things, like “no time.” But there are no “other thin…

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…

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…