Meet Mexico's Curandero Healers

Paloma Cervantes

A curandero (from the Spanish curar: to heal) is a traditional Native healer or shaman found in the United States and Latin America. However, Mexico, in particular, has a rich and fascinating history of curandero healers, who administer remedies for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual illnesses based on their evaluation. The role of a curandero or curandera can also incorporate the roles of psychiatrist along with that of doctor and healer. The history of Mexico's curanderos dates right back to the pre-Hispanic period, making it one of the country's most authentic and long-standing practices, with a firm root in indigenous culture. Here's everything you need to know about the curanderos of Mexico.

Using Virtual Reality to Explore Consciousness

Virtual Reality is a computer technology that uses headsets, sometimes in combination with physical spaces or multi-projected environments, to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user's physical presence in a virtual or imaginary environment. Virtual Reality is pursuing new frontiers in the exploration of consciousness. Similar to the psychedelic experience, Virtual Reality is opening new paths towards mystical experiences like those that have inspired foundational insights for religious and cultural traditions. Through this powerful technology, we are closer than ever to being able to enter altered states of consciousness by being immersed in the shamanic realm where time travel is possible, where we can participant directly in the evolution of creation, and where we can prepare ourselves for the next great adventure after this life. Researchers are using Virtual Reality to prepare people for death, to induce lucid dreaming, and to treat what our society calls "mental illness." Read more.

The Medicine Wheel of Life

Bighorn Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel, sometimes known as the Sacred Hoop, has been used by generations of various Native American tribes to represent all knowledge of the universe. Within the cosmology of primal peoples, the Medicine Wheel represents the circle of life. All aspects of life, energy, and the ever-moving universe spiral in circles. The plants, the animals, the minerals, and the elemental forces of nature all exist within the circle.

The Medicine Wheel provides a means of entering sacred space--that place where you can find yourself over and over again. The Medicine Wheel of Life is a mandala, a symbolic blueprint or map of reality. It represents a multidimensional, interwoven web of relationships that are in constant communion with each other. The sacred wheel exists simultaneously in a horizontal and vertical axis, as well as in the unfolding continuum of time--past, present, and future.

The Medicine Wheel of Life serves as a portal to consciously enter the cyclic, time-space unfolding of Tao or Great Mystery through a practice of reverent, harmonious relationship. It is based on the belief that the universe is alive, sentient, and constantly communicating its wisdom to who ever makes an effort to listen.

To move around the wheel and develop a relationship with each direction is to step onto a path of learning and fulfillment. Each direction has qualities and attributes that help us spiral toward completion on the wheel of life. All creatures walk the circumference of the Medicine Wheel, experiencing birth, life, and death. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each of us returns to the source, the Great Mystery at the center or heart of the circle.

The Medicine Wheel of Life is symbolized by a circle that is bisected first with a line of light from East to West. From the East the sun arises and the guardian Eagle takes flight. Though the qualities attributed to each of the four cardinal directions tend to vary from culture to culture, the energy of the East is typically associated with the vernal equinox, Eagle, Hummingbird, morning, birth, beginnings, the rising sun, illumination, inspiration, ascending consciousness, and the element of Air.

From the South rises the vital energy of renewal, regeneration, and growth. From the South we learn to plant seeds of good cause. We learn that our thoughts and actions create our reality. South is related to the summer solstice, Serpent, Coyote, midday, youth, trust, growth, and the element of Fire.

From the West flows the energy of transformation. In the West we assimilate our life experiences. Experience is the only baggage we carry with us from this Earth walk. From the West we exit the realm of physical experience and join into vast levels of experience in the spirit worlds of light, or we choose to return and walk again the sacred wheel of life. West is connected to the autumnal equinox, Bear, twilight, introspection, emotions, flow, the moon, death, endings, transformation, and the element of Water.

From the North flows the energy that completes the quartering of the circle. From the North we receive wisdom and clarity of mind. North is linked to the winter solstice, Buffalo, night, wisdom, clarity, patience, renewal, blessings, abundance, and the element of Earth.

Quartering the circle defines all that is the Great Mystery. We are here on earth to experience and realize the mystery. The vision of that mystery is ever present within each of us. When we still the incessant chatter of the mind, we begin to realize the Sacred Vision. We begin to recognize certain qualities from the four directions that help us evolve on the wheel of life.

Father Sky and Mother Earth together generate the powers of creation. The four directions are the power and life-giving forces of the created. When we begin in the East and turn clockwise, acknowledging the four directions, we align ourselves with the powers that shape our reality. We are also creating a circle--a boundary that separates the sacred from the ordinary and profane. Such a ritual creates a sacred space that can be slipped in and out of at will. By creating a circle, we are also structuring an energy pattern that will contain, focus, and amplify the power generated by ritual. A circle will shape the elemental forces into a powerful current that will spiral upward and downward, uniting heaven and earth. Thus, we synchronize our environment and ourselves to the circle of all that exists.

Lightworkers Beware of Energetic Bookmarks

Spirit Portal

Lightworkers are here to assist with raising the light frequency of our planet and the consciousness of humanity. The challenge we face is that light manifests itself, as well as darkness. Consequently, there are two spiritual forces that we deal with on planet Earth everyday--Light (positive) and Dark (negative). Light energy is unlimited and comes from the Source. It's highly vibrational, expansive, and full of love. Dark energy is dense, negative, and goes against the flow of the universe. It's about manipulation, power, conquest, and fear.

It isn't hard to see that even though we live on a planet that surrounds us with beauty, that there is a lot of darkness manifesting within humanity. A big shift in energy is now taking place around the world. The veil between the spiritual and physical worlds is growing thinner. Things are really going down now. The dark is pushing its plan. There is a major battle going on in the spirit world and it is spilling into the material world. The darkness is materializing into the physical realm from the spirit realm. You can see it manifesting in the world around you.

I am a shamanic practitioner. I invite helping spirits into my home each day. I open a portal to the spirit world each morning through prayer, chant and drumming, and then I close that portal. It is important always to close sacred space after you have completed your spiritual work. I express my gratitude to the helping spirits for being with me and send them off, releasing their energies to the six directions. I thank the spirits for their blessings and presence, and then send them off to wherever they need to be.

I recently had an uninvited spirit pop loudly into my house before I had opened sacred space. I sense spirits coming and going--souls, spirit animals, and such, but this was different. I was in my office and my wife Elisia was in the kitchen preparing breakfast when we both heard a loud popping sound. I thought that Elisia had dropped a bowl on the floor, but she said that she had not dropped anything. She said that the sound emanated from above the floor about chest high in our tiny little kitchen.

The first thing I did was reach for a spray bottle of holy water. It's the quickest way to get rid of uninvited spirits. It was later revealed to me that this intruder had used a bookmark to get into my house. Dark entities have left "energetic bookmarks" on the homes of all lightworkers around the world. The dark ones leave these bookmarks to remind them to stop at these homes. The bookmarks themselves do not pose any threat. It's important to pray to your helping spirits and ask them to remove these bookmarks and to remove any future bookmarks left behind by the darkness. I have had to clear my home of energetic bookmarks several times in the past few months.

To keep the darkness out, you have to smudge with sage, cedar, and sweetgrass and bless your home with holy water. Holy water is the only thing that cannot be manipulated by the darkness. Spray holy water around the perimeter of your home and yard. You have to establish boundaries to keep the darkness out. To learn more read my post "The Great Shift and How to Navigate It."

The Shaman's Horse

Lakota Painted Drum, ca. 1860s

My drum can connect me to the earth or carry me like a flying horse. Sometimes I send my spirits out, but other times I must go myself, alone or with the spirits.
--Tania Kobezhikova, Khakass shaman

The shaman's horse, namely the single-headed frame drum, originated in Siberia, together with shamanism itself thousands of years ago. Shamanic drumming is considered one of the oldest methods for healing and accessing inner wisdom. Practiced cross-culturally, this technique is strikingly similar the world over. Shamanic drumming uses a single, repetitive rhythm played at a tempo of three to four beats per second. Although sounding quite simple and redundant, the unique connection between the drum and the shaman gives this drumming great power, richness, and depth.

According to Tuvan musicologist Valentina Suzukei, "shamanic drumming is not monotonous at all. Constant changes in timbre and volume keep them interesting. The healing quality lies in this variation, which tracks and directs the patient's energies. If you don't listen for timbre, but only for pitch and rhythm the music is boring, monotonous. But the player's every smallest change of mood is reflected in timbre."

Through the many frequencies and overtones of the drum, the shaman communes with the normally unseen energies of the spirit world. By changing and listening to the tones, pitches, and harmonics of the drum, the shaman is able to send messages to--and receive them from--both the spirit world and the patient.

The shamanic drum is a time-tested vehicle for healing and self-expression. A shaman may use the drum to address any number of health issues including trauma, addiction, depression, and chronic pain. Additionally, the shamanic techniques of extraction, soul retrieval, and journeying, can all be performed with the drum. According to Mariko Namba Walter and Eva Jane Neumann Fridman, authors of Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture, "The drum is used in a variety of ways in shamanist rituals; it may serve as (1) a rhythm instrument, (2) a divination table, (3) a "speaker" for communicating with the spirits, (4) a spirit-catcher, (5) a spirit boat, (6) a purifying device, (7) the shaman's mount."

Owl Medicine

Great Horned Owl

Owl medicine includes prophecy, wisdom, stealth, silence, intuition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, shapeshifting, and keen vision that can pierce all illusion. Owls and hawks possess the keenest eyesight of all raptors, giving them broad vision. Call upon Owl to unmask and see what is truly beneath the surface -- what is hidden or in the shadows. Night Eagle, as Owl is called, is the bird of magic and darkness, of prophecy and wisdom. Owl is a messenger of omens who will call out to let all share in its vision.

I have felt a close kinship with owls for most of my life. Over the years, I have had many encounters with these stealthy raptors. Great Horned Owl is one of my guardian spirits and helps me see the true reality, beyond illusion and deceit. I am able to grasp the inner truth of the matter at hand. Inner truth reflects, like a mirror, the higher, universal truth that exists in every situation. With the power of truth as my guide, I can readily adapt and flow with the shifting currents of change. 

Many people have a fear of owls and owl medicine. Contemplate what it means if you're not comfortable with an animal. If you dislike or are afraid of an animal, it's especially important to connect with it and learn its wisdom. The message it holds for you will be particularly meaningful. Power animals help us connect to the parts of ourselves that we've lost or denied, so it may be mirroring a trait or quality that is ready to come back to help you be in your wholeness. Click here to view my music video "Twilight Owls" from my album Shaman's Drums.

10 Effective Ways to Ground Yourself

Grounding is a technique that helps keep someone in the present moment. It is only in the present moment that we can fully live our lives. Grounding techniques can reduce anxiety, quiet the mind, and connect you to your inner voice. These simple techniques can ground you in your own truth and help you get to know your inner self. Grounding is also essential for basic health and survival. Grounding enhances your ability to function effectively on a day-to-day basis. When poorly grounded, your spatial understanding is impaired. You may stumble around physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Here are 10 effective ways to ground yourself:

1. Start With Your Breath. Breathe deeply through your diaphragm and gently exhale any tension you might feel, clearing the energy channels of your body. Breathe in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Let your abdomen rise and fall as you breathe. This deep breathing signals the body to relax and helps calm your mind and spirit.

2. Meditate. Meditation is probably the most popular grounding technique. Sit or lie comfortably, and then close your eyes. Simply focus your attention on your breath without controlling its pace or intensity. Feel yourself relaxing with each breath. Release all of your worldly concerns, doubts, and fears, allowing them to drift off on the air of the wind, on the breath of life. If your mind wanders, return your focus back to your breath. Maintain this meditation practice for two to three minutes to start, and then try it for longer periods.

3. Play a Drum. Drumming is perhaps the oldest form of active meditation known to humanity. One of the paradoxes of rhythmic stimulation is that it has not only the power to move your awareness out of the confines of the conceptual mind into realms beyond time and space but also the capacity to ground you firmly in the present moment. It allows you to maintain a portion of ordinary awareness while experiencing non-ordinary awareness. This permits full recall later of the visionary experience.    

4. Touch the Earth. Just take off your shoes and socks and get outside. Physically touching or sitting on the Earth has a calming and grounding effect. Nature calms, helps you connect to something larger than yourself, and provides a much-needed break from your busy life.

5. Focus on Your Root Chakra. Close your eyes and focus your attention on the chakra at the base of the spine. The vibratory center located at the base of the spine grounds spiritual forces in the body to the Earth and the physical realm of reality. Visualize this energy center as a red disc of light, about the size of a silver dollar, at the base of your spine.

6. Stand Like a Tree. Stand with your feet parallel, about six inches apart, and your toes aimed straight ahead. Your knees should be slightly bent, removing any strain on your lower back. Rest your hands at your side or place them over your navel. Close your eyes and imagine that you are a tree. Visualize your head as the crown, your body as the trunk, and your feet as the roots. Imagine roots growing out the bottom of your feet, extending deep into the ground beneath you.

7. Walk Mindfully. Mindful walking can be practiced anywhere or anytime. Simply take a walk and be mindful of every sensation you feel. Breathe naturally and fully, deeply filling your lungs with each inhalation, but being careful not to strain in any way. When your attention drifts away from the sensations of walking and breathing, take notice of those thoughts or emotions without judgment and gently direct your awareness back to the present moment, back to the walking.

8. Carry a Grounding Stone. A grounding stone is any small stone that helps make you more reality-oriented and pulls you into the current moment. Black obsidian is a good grounding stone to carry or wear in your aura each day. Black tourmaline is one of the most effective stones, as it works for both spiritual grounding and protection. These crystals are easy to obtain as tumblestones, and easy to put one or more of the grounding stones in your pocket every day.

9. Use Your Voice. Repeat a mantra, chant, or positive affirmation. Hearing your own voice actively gets you out of your own head. Repeating a soothing affirmation powerfully grounds you in reality, by reminding you what's most important to you.

10. Take a Shower. This is one of my favorite grounding methods. Heat increases blood flow, slows your heart rate, and calms you down gently. I personally find this technique to be very effective. The heat and water pressure from a cleansing, hot shower always grounds me, bringing me back to the here-and-now.

The Transformative Power of Chanting

Given our contemporary hectic lifestyles, chanting is the most conducive path of spiritual practice for the times we live in. Chanting has no limitations of time and space and can be done anytime or anywhere. Chanting as a spiritual practice helps to foster maximum spiritual growth and overall well-being. It is a simple and effortless way to still the chatter of the mind. It is one of the quickest and most powerful ways to open the heart and connect with a power greater than ourselves.

Chants move us to a level of awareness beyond form, a place where we discover our own divinity. Different chants have specific purposes for invoking or paying homage to helping spirits and deities. They create a vibratory resonance that allows these spirits to be called forth. As the chant invokes the intended spirits, the chanter comes into resonance with these spirit helpers as well.

Many chants are mantras--single words or phrases repeated over and over. Mantras, when spoken or chanted, direct the healing power of Prana (life force energy). The syllables of each spoken word reverberate specific qualities of energy. As Ute-Tiwa shaman Joseph Rael explains in his book, Being and Vibration, "the consonants propel or give form, while the vowels carry the essential meaning or fundamental truth embedded in each syllable."

According to Rael, the vowels reveal the power of the word while the consonants conduct the power of that energy into a healing current, giving it physical, mental, emotional and spiritual impulse. The vowel sounds connect us to the spirit world; the consonants connect us to the relative, to placement in physical world. Vowels are spirit and consonants are direction.

When chanting, you should hold the vowel sounds as long as you can. Consonants can be passed over very quickly while chanting. Breathe in through the nose and voice the sound as you exhale through the mouth. The in-breath is Sky energy; the out-breath is Earth energy. Sky and Earth are united.

The Way of the Sacred Clown

Clown Kachina

Sacred clowns are found in ancient cultures throughout the world and represent a reversal of the normal order. The most famous of these are the Koyemsi (or Mudheads), the dancing clowns of the Zuni Indians. In the Zuni tradition, the clown frequently disrupts and lampoons some of the most sacred and fundamental rituals. The Cherokee had sacred clowns known as Boogers who performed "Booger dances" around a community fire. But perhaps the most unique type of sacred clown is the Lakota equivalent of Heyoka, a contrarian, jester, and satirist, who speaks, moves and reacts in an opposite fashion to the people around them.

The sacred clown uses satire, folly, and misadventure to portray lessons on inappropriate behavior. The clown satirizes tribal life by acting out and exaggerating improper behavior. The sacred clown's obscene and sacrilegious actions infuse the most important religious ceremonies. Unbound by societal constraints, they help to define the accepted boundaries, rules, and societal guidelines for ethical and moral behavior. Their function can help defuse community tensions by providing their own comical interpretation of the tribe's popular culture, by reinforcing taboos, and by passing on traditions.

Principally, the clown functions both as a mirror and a teacher, using extreme behaviors to mirror others, and forcing them to examine their own doubts, fears, and beliefs. The main function of a sacred clown is to awaken people to innovative and better ways of doing things. The mischievous clown behaves in ways that are contrary to conventional norms in order to violate peoples' expectations. In such paradoxical states, people can assimilate new information quickly, without filtering. Sacred clown's lesson is to stop acting out of habit. We must be willing to plow old habits into the soil in order to cultivate new patterns that enhance our natural growth. Innovative change will revitalize our life and precipitate renewed growth and creativity.

Sometimes we unwittingly cut off the voice of our inner truth, or sense of what is correct; relying instead on old, soul-killing patterns of judgment, control, and distrust. Inner truth reflects, like a mirror, the higher, universal truth that exists in every situation. Yet even when our point of view is at its most positional, narrow and self-righteous, higher truth, often in the guise of the contrarian clown, is there to open the way back to balance and wholeness.

The Native American Flute

Next to the drum, the most important Native American instrument is the flute. The instrument evolved from traditional uses in courtship, treatment of the sick, ceremony, signaling, legends, and as work songs. During the late 1960s, the United States saw a roots revival of the flute, with a new wave of flutists and artisans. Today, Native American style flutes are being played and recognized by many different peoples and cultures around the world.

According to Ute-Tiwa shaman Joseph Rael, "The flute is an instrument connecting the two worlds, the non-physical with the physical. The breath of the flutist is the breath of God coming through a hollow reed; the sound is that of the invisible lover courting the visible lover, the metaphor of the lover and the beloved."

The flute opens a path of communication between the spiritual and earthly realms. The flute is related to the soul, which extends far beyond the physical body, connecting us to the symphony of the universe. Something transcendent happens when you begin to play a flute. You journey deep inside yourself and bring out the cosmic music of your soul. Nothing matters--audience, place, time--you just get lost in the music. You become the music--notes, rhythm, and melody.

The flute is akin to the breath, which is spirit. Its sound is like the wind, which is dispersive, changeable and unpredictable, yet it has the capacity to permeate anything. The flute is also akin to the birds and flight. Its chirp, warble, and bird-like notes make your heart soar. The flute is like the air; you cannot hold it or contain it, and yet you can never separate yourself from it. "Everything needs the air and so the flute represents the voice of the soul and the voice of the wind, and the voice of the birds--those things that are free, free to --move. So taken all together this trio, the flute, drum and rattle, represents the whole voice of Creation."

How to Save Earth from Ecological Disaster

In his book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Daniel Pinchbeck developed the hypothesis that we are undergoing a transition to a new realization of consciousness, which will be embodied by a new fundamental paradigm that takes into account what Carl Jung called "the reality of the psyche," which is to recognize that its contents have a living reality, along with new social, political, and economic systems that mesh with this realization. Pinchbeck sees the rapid evolution of technology as an expression of this unfolding of consciousness. The acceleration of planetary crises can either incite a planetary awakening and a shift into a regenerative planetary culture based on sustainable principles, or a destruction of human civilization in its current form, and perhaps extinction for our species.

In his new book, How Soon Is Now: From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation, Pinchbeck outlines a vision for a mass social movement that will address the ecological mega-crisis that is threatening the future of life on earth. Drawing on extensive research, Pinchbeck presents a compelling argument for the need for change on a global basis. The central thesis is that humanity has unconsciously self-willed ecological catastrophe to bring about a transcendence of our current condition. Covering everything from energy and agriculture, to culture, politics, media and ideology, How Soon Is Now? is ultimately about the nature of the human soul and the future of our current world.

Before the End

Hexagram 64

In order to gain some insight into the chaotic events of our world, I consulted the I Ching. The I Ching is an ancient Chinese text and divination system which counsels appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. Each moment has a pattern to it and everything that happens in that moment is interconnected. Based on the synchronicity of the universe and the laws of probability, the I Ching responds to an inquiry in the form of a hexagram. By evaluating the hexagram that describes your current pattern of relationship, you can divine the outcome and act accordingly.

When I consulted the I Ching regarding the state of our world today, I received Hexagram 64: Incompletion (a.k.a. "Before the End" and "Before Completion"). This hexagram represents the time before the climax of a cycle. The present situation is one in which order is arising out of chaos. Everything is changing and seeking equilibrium. The conditions are nothing short of a rebirth. The I Ching counsels that this is not the time to force the completion of a long-standing objective or to rush headlong into a new project, for you are entering uncharted waters. The matter at hand is unlike any that you have experienced.

This hexagram symbolizes fire over water, illustrating how the two principles cannot act in accord. The ascending fire diverges from the descending water, forming a state of dissonance. Dissonance is nature's way of breaking down the patterns of an old cycle in preparation for a new cycle. Divergent polar forces pull apart obsolete patterns, allowing new patterns to form. This represents the turbulent state of affairs around the world. We must learn to deal with this dissonant energy. We cannot make sense of it because it is entirely destructive.

Instead, we must hold steady within ourselves and observe its chaotic behavior from a place of power. Our inner calm and stability will help contain its devastating energy and it will be unable to do as much damage as it would otherwise. Make a conscious choice not to be swept along by unfavorable circumstances or permit your steadfastness to be shaken. See things as they are, in process of change, without fixation on imbalance; see the potential and call it forth.

Chaos brings about disorder but then that disorder leads to order. Perhaps that is why everything always seems to work itself out, whether we choose to fret about it or not. Like most organisms observed in nature, human beings are self-organizing systems. We are constantly trying to make sense out of chaos. We tend to classify what we see in terms of the past and this inclination can lead to a rude awakening.

Learn to Live With Your Heart, Not Your Mind

In a rapidly changing world, we won't be able to figure things out mentally, so it's best to go back to our heart and be there whenever possible. If we are able to get in touch with our hearts, we will be able to connect with the guidance of our own intuitive knowing. Intuition reveals appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. Take the time to quiet the mind, whether in meditation or prayer, and ask to be taken into your heart's sacred space. While you are there, practice seeing the world from that point of view. The energy that comes in from the Source is directed through our hearts. When we are in sync with the heart, we are in sync with the Cosmos. As we learn to live from the heart we are able to move with the ebb and flow of change with grace and ease.

In this disorganized situation, the I Ching counsels non-attachment. We are being asked to flow the way nature wants us to flow -- without expectations and without the need to classify or think of completion. We must be empty of questions, for questions confine answers. This is a time for introspection. Clarity of mind must precede effort. We must pause and tune into our inner voice to gain a balanced and ordered perspective. Only then can we attain the clarity needed to meet the challenge facing us. Once we gain the correct perspective, we must suspend all disbelief and trust in our ability to meet the challenge presented to us. With steadiness, deliberation and effort, we can clear away the confusion and restore order to the situation. Thus, the cycle of hexagrams ends with a new beginning.

Huichol Prayer Arrows

Huichol Indians in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico make prayer arrows to send intent of prayer to heal others. People who live near the Huichol call them "Virarica, the healing people." They are a culture based on being at "One" with the natural environment. The prayer arrow is a tool to send healing thoughts and intent for the purpose of goodness. The prayer can be used to heal anyone or anything without boundaries. The intent can be any type of healing from a cut finger to a broken heart. It can never be used for harm.

The feathers atop the prayer arrow represent the winged ones who are the messengers between man and Creator. The woven "God's Eye" in the middle represents the Nierika, which is a gateway to the spiritual realm, a realm of clarity, vision and understanding. Using the Nierika as a focal point during meditation, one's consciousness passes through a gateway to the realm of spirit, helping the seeker to find clarity regarding their life path, a solution to a specific problem or guidance in an endeavor.

To infuse the prayer arrow with healing intent, the Huichol hold the arrow close to their heart. This is what the Huichol call the "kapuri," or life force. We are all connected to this life force. After sending healing prayers into the arrow, it is stuck into the earth. Our Earth Mother then transmits the healing energy to wherever it was intended.

Creating Altars to Celebrate Beltane

Flower Offering by Jenis Kelamin

Beltane is the English name for the very ancient and very pagan Gaelic May Day festival. Beltane is one of the 'cross-quarter days', the four central holidays that make up the cycle of the seasons. There are also the 'quarter days', which are the beginnings of the seasons -- the equinoxes and the solstices. Most commonly it is held on May 1st, or about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. This mid-spring holiday is about birth and rebirth, when plants are coming out of the ground, and young animals are being born. It is the celebration of renewed life after the long winter, as well as a celebration of sexuality, abundance and community. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active. So, an altar built on the earth's surface seems creatively perfect for this celebration, using the earth's own elements and offerings for its form and structure, to fertilize and enliven all manner of things for the coming season. Read more.

Are We Undergoing the Kali Yuga?

The Kali Yuga

We live in a time of accelerated change and transformation. It isn't hard to recognize that even though we live on a planet that surrounds us with beauty, that there is a lot of darkness happening within humanity. Greed, poverty, violence, and injustice are predominant characteristics of our civilization. Many are asking the same question these days; "What is happening around us?" A growing number of voices in the international shamanic community are telling us that Mother Earth and her inhabitants are undergoing a fundamental, evolutionary change--a change that many of us will experience first-hand in this lifetime. Some call it the Kali Yuga, the age of darkness and ignorance that was foretold long, long ago.

Hindus believe that the civilization process evolves through four ages and degenerates spiritually during the Kali Yuga, which is referred to as the Dark Age because in it people are as far away as possible from God. Hinduism often symbolically represents morality (dharma) as an Indian bull. In Satya Yuga, the first stage of development, the bull has four legs, but in each age morality is reduced by one quarter. By the age of Kali, morality is reduced to only a quarter of that of the Golden Age, so that the bull of Dharma has only one leg. Even in the worst of times, the possibility to be well above it is always there for an individual human being. This is a time filled with unparalleled opportunities for spiritual growth and meaningful action. Read more.

Journey into Mongolian Shamanism

Mongolian Shaman

Mongolian shamanism, more broadly called the Mongolian folk religion, or occasionally Tengerism, refers to the animistic and shamanic system of belief that has been practiced in Mongolia and its surrounding areas (including Buryatia and Inner Mongolia) at least since the age of recorded history. For thousands of years, Mongolia has been a nexus of Eurasian shamanisms that competed, mixed, and meshed across our planet's largest continent. In the post-communist era shamanism is undergoing a dramatic revival in Mongolia. Harshly suppressed during Mongolia's long Soviet rule, shamanism is suddenly widely sought to fill the spiritual void of a newly democratic society. From storefronts in Ulan Bator, the nation's capital, to homes in rural Mongolia, shamanism has become a growth industry. The key to its viability seems to be the flexibility inherent in shamanism, where knowledge gained through ritual engagement with spirits in the landscape, rather than a strict cosmological doctrine, is seen as the core of shamanism. Mongolian shamanism evokes a rich and barely-tapped store of astrological, environmental, and geographic cultural knowledge. Read more.

Drumbeat of the Rainbow Fire

The drum has been the guiding force in my life for many years. My journey into rhythm began under the tutelage of Mongolian shaman Jade Wah'oo Grigori. Jade's ancient knowledge of drumming and healing rhythms was most influential in putting together my first book, The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming. I had a deep respect for the power of the ceremonial rhythms and drum ways of Jade's tradition, but I had to follow my own path of rhythm.

Though Jade was my mentor, the drum became my teacher and creative addiction. I developed an insatiable thirst for its rhythms. I became a rhythm seeker, learning new rhythms from other drummers, from nature, and from dreams and visions. I explored the rhythms of many of the world’s shamanic and spiritual traditions. It was only natural, at least from my perspective, that rhythm, as a path, would lead me to the rhythmic roots of all cultures.   

As I learned the drum ways of various world cultures, I found the same rhythmic qualities underlying all of them. Like the colors of the rainbow, each culture has its own hue or identity, yet each is a part of the whole. Although the focus or intent differs from culture to culture, rhythmic drumming invariably has the same power and effects in all traditions. The resonant qualities and attributes of these rhythmic phenomena are universal and come into play whenever we drum.          

The sound waves produced by the drum impart their energy to the resonating systems of the body, mind, and spirit, making them vibrate in sympathy. When we drum, our living flesh, brainwaves, and spiritual energy centers begin to vibrate in response. This sympathetic resonance leaves reverberating effects up to 72 hours after a drum session. These powerful effects can best be described in terms of their influence on the subtle energy centers known as chakras. Read more.

10 Reasons to Add Drumming into Your Spiritual Practice

Drumming is perhaps the oldest form of active meditation known to humanity. It is a simple and effortless way to still the chatter of the mind, thereby inducing altered states of consciousness. It is one of the quickest and most powerful ways I know to open the heart and connect with a power greater than ourselves. Here are 10 good reasons why you should incorporate drumming into your spiritual practice:

1. To induce natural altered states of consciousness. Researchers have found that if a drum beat frequency of around 180 beats per minute is sustained for at least fifteen minutes, it will induce significant altered states in most people, even on their first attempt. This ease of induction contrasts significantly with the long periods of isolation and practice required by most meditative disciplines before inducing significant effects. Rhythmic stimulation is a simple and effective technique for affecting states of mind.   

2. To produce deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity. Recent studies have demonstrated that the physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres, integrating conscious and unconscious awareness. The ability to access unconscious information through symbols and imagery facilitates psychological integration and a reintegration of self.

3. To experience being in resonance with the natural rhythms of life. Rhythm and resonance order the natural world. Dissonance and disharmony arise only when we limit our capacity to resonate totally and completely with the rhythms of life. The origin of the word rhythm is Greek meaning "to flow." We can learn to flow with the rhythms of life by simply learning to feel the beat, pulse, or groove while drumming. When drummers feel this rhythmic flow, especially at a slower, steady beat, they can shift into a state of deep relaxation and expanded awareness. It is a way of bringing the essential self into accord with the flow of a dynamic, interrelated universe, helping us feel connected rather than isolated and estranged.

4. To access a higher power. Drumming directly supports the introduction of spiritual factors found significant in the healing process. Drumming and Shamanic activities produce a sense of connectedness and community, integrating body, mind and spirit. According to research published in the American Journal of Public Health, "Shamanic activities bring people efficiently and directly into immediate encounters with spiritual forces, focusing the client on the whole body and integrating healing at physical and spiritual levels. This process allows them to connect with the power of the universe, to externalize their own knowledge, and to internalize their answers; it also enhances their sense of empowerment and responsibility. These experiences are healing, bringing the restorative powers of nature to clinical settings."

5. To release negative feelings, blockages, and emotional trauma. Drumming can help people express and address emotional issues. Unexpressed feelings and emotions can form energy blockages. The physical stimulation of drumming removes blockages and produces emotional release. Sound vibrations resonate through every cell in the body, stimulating the release of negative cellular memories.

6. To reduce tension, anxiety, and stress. Drumming induces deep relaxation, lowers blood pressure, and reduces stress. Stress, according to current medical research, contributes to nearly all disease and is a primary cause of such life-threatening illnesses as heart attacks, strokes, and immune system breakdowns. A groundbreaking 2005 study demonstrated that group drumming not only reduces stress, but reverses genetic switches that turn on the stress response believed responsible in the development of common diseases.

7. To create sacred space. The drum is also a versatile instrument for creating sacred space. You can use it to summon the spirits into a ritual or ceremony. According to Wallace Black Elk, the renowned Lakota shaman, "When you pray with that drum, when the spirits hear that drum, it echoes. They hear this drum, and they hear your voice loud and clear." Conversely, a forceful beat of the drum can be used to drive away malevolent spirits or intrusive energies that cause confusion, disease, and disharmony. Used in this way, the drum facilitates the creation of a purified sacred space.

8. To reconnect with your inner or spirit self. Drumming heightens the ability of perception and enables you to see into the deeper realms of the self. The moment you bond with your spirit is the moment your heart opens. The first time you glimpse your spirit self, you gasp and cry. You know who you are. That is the moment you begin to heal.

9. To gain insight into an issue that you want to know more about. You can take concerns into a drum meditation in order to access personal revelation. Drumming stills the incessant chatter of the mind, allowing you to view life and life's problems from a detached, spiritual perspective, not easily achieved in a state of ordinary consciousness.

10. To clarify life purpose. When we are unaware of our soul's true purpose or simply not aligned in our actions, we often experience a malaise of the spirit. We can engage the blueprint of our soul path through the vehicle of drumming. Drumming is a time-tested medium for individual self-realization. We can go within to access wisdom and energies that can help awaken our soul calling and restore us to wholeness. Drumming reconnects us with our deepest core values and our highest vision of who we are and why we are here. It heightens our sense of mission and purpose, empowering our personal evolution.

I Am Drumming

I am drumming,
I am drumming,
I am drumming for my Love's ever nearing union.
They say get a life.
What is all this drumming?
I swear to that Love,
the day that I stop drumming,
is the day that I will stop living. 
– Rumi

Zuni Shalako Drum

Shalako Kachina

I purchased this beautiful Zuni log drum depicting the Shalako ceremony from the artist in December of 1991. Elisia and I were traveling through New Mexico on a cross-country tour, promoting my newly released book, The Shamanic Drum. By chance we happened upon the annual Shalako festival, which is a series of dances and ceremonies conducted by the Zuni people near the winter solstice in which they celebrate the return of the sun and pray for rain, growth, and fertility. Shalako is named for its masked dancers who embody kachinas or ancestral spirits. Kachinas mediate between humanity and the gods of rain and prosperity in a sacred ritual performance that ensures the transformation of winter's death into spring's rebirth. Standing ten-feet tall and resembling birds, the colorful Shalako kachinas dance rhythmically, clacking their long beaks together. They come to the human realm to collect the people's prayers and take them back to the spirit realm.