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Healing

DON'T GO BACK TO SLEEP

springstep

SPRING 2013 -

It was a long winter, but now it seems we can finally say “Spring is here!” How wonderful to walk on the bare Earth, feeling that raw, re-awakening power come up through the snow-flattened grass. I always become more Earth-conscious in the Springtime, the joy of the early days of smells and textures in the air, the new shoots penetrating through last year’s leaves, the brush of green on the willow, hazel and beech.

This joy is sometimes dampened by the constant reminders that som…

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THE EDGE OF DARKNESS

edgeofdarkness

MIDWINTER 2014 -

Years ago on a workshop in Finland, a friend asked me, “What do you do when you get tired?” “I drink a cup of coffee,” I answered. He smiled. “That’s one possibility,” he said. So I asked him, “What do you do?” He smiled again. “I take a nap.” For me it was a very deep teaching that I often reflect on, especially at this time of year.

In these days before the Winter Solstice, we are at the edge of darkness. And what do we do when it’s dark? We turn on the lights. Well, that’s …

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STANDING ROCK

icewatersm

WINTER 2016 -

We are blessed to live in amazingly challenging times. Often we cannot help but feel hopeless in the face of what is happening, be it environmental destruction, political injustice, poverty or greed. But if we allow these things to cripple us, then neither we nor the world has a chance. This cannot be allowed to happen.

We also live in a time of amazing possibilities. For the past half year I have been greatly inspired by what is going on at the Standing Rock Lakota Reservation o…

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BRINGING SOUL BACK TO LIFE

intothegreen

SUMMER 2018 -

For me, the practice of shamanism is about bringing power over the bridge from the Spirit world to the physical world. This power belongs to no one. It is the essence of the Universe. How can I call it “mine”? Possessive pronouns – my, mine, yours, ours, theirs - are real troublemakers and therefore great teachers, if we pay attention. When I first started with shamanic practice, it was with the simple desire of wanting to feel more at home on Earth. I had no wish to become a hea…

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THE GIFT OF TIME

midwinter18

WINTER SOLSTICE 2018 -

Often in everyday life we find ourselves under pressure or caught up in a rush, trying to reach a destination, achieve a result, or find an answer. Both time and space are entities many people feel they do not have enough of - but Time is an elastic magical creature and we can work shamanically with it. Consciously deciding to make more space and take more time are strong intentions and essential tools of a spiritual practice. We can slow down and come into ourselves, we…

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SHAMANISM IN TIMES OF CRISIS

dawn

SPRING 2020 -

Dear friends. Here we are.

A few weeks into these deep changing times. Where are you now? Where do you find yourself? What is this time bringing you?

One of the original meanings of the Greek word “krisis” is a "turning point in a disease, that change which indicates recovery or death". In the 15th century it came to mean a "vitally important or decisive state of things, point at which change must come, for better or worse”. Crisis is the time when there is no choice but change…

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NAKED BEFORE CHANGE

nakedtrees

FEBRUARY 2021 -

Sometimes we stand naked before change
All of our leaves gone, our defenses down
with what we have left, pared away 
to our most essential being in this moment
our past our present our future boiling 
inside us, becoming who we are born to be

Sometimes we stand together, within reach of one another
Finding support in the swaying branches of our kin
The wind sweeps us clean, bending not breaking
The rain anoints, releasing our thirst
The sun warms the roots to awaken power
The e…

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