Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Planning an Advanced Shamanic Healing workshop

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Anne and I are planning an Advanced Shamanic Healing workshop to begin this fall. It will be five sessions – three 2-day weekends, a 5-day retreat, and a 3-day weekend. We’re planning on meeting every two months – full details at our class announcement webpage.

(Note added later: The workshop is launched! We’ve had a very successful first weekend, and planning for the rest of the workshop is on-track. We’re scheduling a repeat for the 2010-2011 season! Contact us for details, or check the workshop website www.bodyspiritawareness.com.)

hello world…

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

This is the beginning. This is where I greet you, world. So, “Hello”! Now we can begin:

First I’ll give thanks, and express my gratitude to all of you, the people who are in my life. My wife Anne, my son Krishna and his wife Stephanie, my siblings Dan, Jim, and Jenny, and my dad Stu and his wife Carla. Also, my ex Sarah and her extended family. My clients and students, my colleagues and co-workers, friends and neighbors. Also thanks and appreciation to the various shamanic circles I’m a member of…

Then I go on and give thanks and appreciation to:

  • The earth itself, our mother, for the loan of our bodies, for all the metals, oils, and minerals we borrow from her. For the loving embrace of her gravity. Thank you earth for the gift of my life.
  • The waters; the springs, streams, rivers, and lakes; the oceans; the ice; the groundwater. The good sweet and beautiful water.
  • All those who live in the water – from the algae to the fish; the many amazing invertebrates and the great whales.
  • The plants on and in the land – for their food, fiber, medicine, and flowers; the fungi that hold the soil together.
  • The animals – four footed, six and many footed, the no and one footed.
  • The trees and wood, fruits and nuts.
  • The birds with their song and flight.
  • The air itself, and the movement of the air – the breezes and winds. The good sweet air, and breath.
  • The weather – the clear sunny days, the storms, the wind, the calm. The beautiful weather.
  • The thunders. Remember what the thunder said? Thank you thunder.
  • Lightning – thank you lightning for the gift of my life.
  • Electricity – and how we use it for information.
  • Entropy, the loss of information, and thermodynamics and combustion, and fire. Thank you fire!
  • The sun, the great fire, bringing life to the earth, and warmth, beauty, and weather.
  • The moon, giving us the tides, the months, and eclipses!
  • The planets and the solar system.
  • The stars, the beautiful stars, and the Milky Way, our home galaxy!
  • All the galaxies scattered along the cosmic web throughout the vastness of space.
  • Space itself, and the “shape of space” – our familiar three dimensions and time. There doesn’t seem to be any reason it turned out that way, but it did.
  • The sacred directions that define space, usually the familiar four cardinal directions, and above and below.
  • The spirits of the directions. Each direction has a quality or spirit that is unique.
  • All the spirits of what we call the “middle world” – including:
  • The fair folk, the faeries, the little people – the people of the Sidhe, and those that I know who live there.
  • All the other hidden worlds – there are many – including my private hidden world.
  • The deities, the gods and goddesses, who live partly in the hidden worlds and partly in ours.
  • The dragons; the dragons of the air, of the water, of the earth, of fire.
  • The abstract spirits whose only manifestation may be a symbol, a color, an odor, a subtle sound. Some of them have a special place in my heart, and in other parts of my body.
  • The spirits of the natural world – the elements, the elementals, the forces of nature, the powers.
  • The great wild spirits that roam forever free.
  • The spirits of thing, of place, of kind; the spirit of this place, this house, this yard, this neighborhood and city, this region.
  • The spirits that are the great mountain that presides over this place, and the ridges, hills, valleys, and plains, and the waters.
  • The spirits of the weather and the natural processes.
  • The many people and spirits of the lower world, and of the upper world, including many good friends and acquaintances.
  • My ancestors and blood line. It should maybe be called a fan instead of a line, since it double every generation back!
  • My forebears, ancestors of my culture and thought, including the poets and philosophers, scientists and mystics, shamans and scoundrels, saints and teachers, the illumined beings and enlightened ones.
  • Anyone I’ve forgotten! Especially these.
  • Lastly, my appreciation to the creator and creation, God immanent and transcendent, Brahman and Prakrati, this magical two-way seeing where creation and creator are one!
  • And lastly after the last, to you dear reader, who takes in these words and gives them life…

Appreciation and thanks, gratitude. The words before all else. Now we may begin.