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Greetings!
 Happy
summer, friends and colleagues! Since I am offering a new program of
monthly shamanic coaching circles, I want to offer a few thoughts
about the shamanic vision of life, our first monthly topic.
The
shamanic vision covers all the topics, since we'll be using shamanic
practices each time we meet. There are some distinct differences
between shamanic coaching and other forms, and those differences have
to do with the shamanic lens, or way of viewing the journey of life.
Here are a few points to consider about the shamanic vision:
Everything is alive. That means everything: every stone, every cloud,
every object, every cell. If you really believed this were true, how
would it affect your life?
Everything has meaning. Everything.
Everything is part of the whole. Because of this, everything is
connected to every other thing.
Spirit is one name for the life force that animates everything. In
shamanic practices, we communicate with the spirits. Do you
communicate with spirits? How?
The imagination is an active vehicle that can help transport us
outside the limits of time, space and what our mind calls logic to
experience the magic of non-ordinary reality. How do you exercise your
active imagination?
What we see is what we get. What appears to be magic is really a shift
in perception. When we are locked into our culture's lens, everything
looks the same and we get caught in continuous loops that are based on
illusion. The shaman can shift lenses and see and even become what
others might see as only remotely possible. How is what you see
related to what you are getting out of life?
The shamanic practitioner is not using personal power to heal; she is
calling in spiritual help from other dimensions that are invisible but
real. The recipient of the healing does not need to believe in that
spiritual help, even though intention is very powerful. What do you
believe about invisible dimensions of existence?
Shamanic practitioners are concerned with the cause of things, rather
than their symptoms. At the cause is only energy, and it is in
shifting that energy that the effects or the symptoms in the material
world may change also.
You can learn how to see through different lenses and to view your
challenges in new ways that can allow for new possibilities to be
born. You do not need to embrace the shamanic path in order to learn
from it.
To
end this little discussion of the shamanic vision, I remember my
primary teacher, Alberto Villoldo, telling a story about his Peruvian
mentor. It had been very dry in the Andes, and so the old shaman said,
"I will pray rain."
"No,
in English, we say 'I will pray for rain," Alberto corrected him with
a smile.
"No,"
the mentor corrected his student. "I will pray rain." And he went away
to pray, and it rained.
Alberto
understood that the shaman was not praying to something outside him.
Instead he was able to see himself as one with the rain. He was able
to become the rain. And so he could bring in the rain. That kind of
oneness with all creation is the most important feature of the
shamanic vision.
A
few years ago I wrote a poem about a day when I experienced that
oneness. It is a poem not about summer monsoon, but it is a poem about
oneness and rain.
Yours in Spirit,
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Praying Rain
by
Pamela Hale
The wind howls around the house, saying it will rain
but I venture out anyway,
My red parka and black dog two punctuation marks
moving through brown, winter desert landscape.
My boots crunch against grains of sand in the wash,
grinding them finer. They are unremarkable, indistinguishable.
I grew up wishing I could be remarkable, distinguishable
but now I am just a grain, having finally surrendered.
I am one of the black trees painted on the sky
appearing to be dead, useful only as a perch, or firewood.
I bend like the blonde grass, its clumps obeying the wind,
all blowing in the same direction.
I am the grey clouds that swirl and throw pregnant cotton bundles over
the tops of blackened peaks,
gathering force, coming closer.
They have been graced with precious drops they long to give to parched
land.
Rain, I pray. I pray rain.
I call the dog, who is frantically digging for ground squirrels.
They are bedded down like birds and deer, knowing it is coming.
The mountains already see rain and the wind hears it.
We turn toward home.
I hear a flame inside. No, I feel Her, see Him, know it is Sophia, the
Mother
who walks the valley with me, who has somehow moved into my center.
I used to see Her far away, a God in the sky, Jesus walking through my
mind, a lover beckoning, a Buddha beneath the tree, a guide whispering
advice, a new teacher or a new dress. Always outside me.
Now She is the grass, the tree, the grain, my breath. The rain.
The sky cracks open and I call the dog and hurry my pace.
Perfume sprays the sand, opening its pores.
Grasses collapse and rest on the breast of the earth.
Trees drink deep, remembering May when they will sprout forth
shocking sprigs of green, juicy as new apples.
Stones turn to shiny dabs of paint: umber, ochre, charcoal, aqua.
I smell tree, grass, creosote, my own sweat, the dog's wet coat.
I laugh and cry out thanks and wrap my parka closer, the same red
parka I wore
when I wanted to be Prettiest, Smartest, Most Important.
Maybe just for this moment, I long instead to be sky, grass, rain, the
Mother, the Grandfather.
They are in me and have whispered it is true:
we are all one.
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Last chance to contribute to the Sand Spirits workbook!
I
have finished drafting a new workbook that will help you work with the
Sand Spirit cards and will help therapists, facilitators, teachers,
business people, artists and...you name the category of person who
might benefit. Submit your stories, testimonials, comments or
questions so that I can include them as my draft makes its way into a
real workbook. If you don't have a set of Sand Spirits yet,
click here to buy one
for yourself or a friend.
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Women's daylong retreat on
Saturday, September 24!
Seven Lessons in Flying Past Your Fears
At our last retreat we experienced a taste of the seven lessons. Now
it’s time to explore this topic in depth. We all have fears, even if
they are in a subtle form like self-sabotage or procrastination. Fear
wears clever disguises. So whether you have been to another retreat or
are new to our quarterly offering, choose September as the beginning
of your life beyond fear.
It
will be a fun day, even though we will be dealing with “shadow”
material. The metaphor of my own terror during my flight training
takes the subject off you and allows you to see seven fears that have
plagued us all. Whether you want to improve your leadership style or
deal with your relationships or deepen your spiritual life, this
process WORKS! The “flight lessons” to match each fear are also allied
to the energy of a chakra. So not only will you have fun learning to
pilot your way past whatever stops you, you will be energetically
balanced by the end of the day. The shamanic journey and the symbol
you create will allow you to integrate this work into your life and to
proceed knowing the power of your own courage.
If
you are a reader from out of town and are interested in this seminar,
contact me. It can be one or two days, or it can even be begun in two
hours. Find out how you can sponsor this event.
»
Download Flyer
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Announcing a new program!
Monthly
Shamanic Coaching Circles held
weeknight circles are open to both men and women. Each month
we’ll cover one topic, and approach that topic through the
structure of the circle and practices from the Peruvian
shamanic tradition.
»
Download Flyer
Next Coaching
Circle
Thursday, July 21, 2005
6:30 - 9:00 p.m. |
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