Sunday, June 16, 2019
"The Shamanic Drum" Book Sale
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Indie Shaman: The Shamanism Magazine
Indie Shaman is a leading shamanism magazine published in the United Kingdom and distributed internationally for those interested in shamanism, animism and all things shamanic. With pages packed full of informative illustrated articles by established authors in the field of shamanism, this magazine is aimed at people interested in living ethically according to shamanic principles. The 'Indie' in Indie Shaman stands for independent, meaning all inclusive regardless of tradition or area of shamanic interest. Indie also means independent people who thinks for themselves as in their slogan 'For Independent Spirits', a very shamanic trait found in both indigenous and contemporary shamans. Indie Shaman seeks to provide a supportive network for those interested in shamanism or a shamanic way of life, as well as for shamanic practitioners from all cultures. In doing this they endeavor to help people answer questions about life, promote self-discovery and self-development, and encourage respect for the self, the community and the land. To learn more visit Indie Shaman.
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Traveling Shamans Camp 2019
Traveling Shamans Camp 2019 July 26-28 is a free admission 3-day festival/camp in Hotchkiss, Colorado for shamans, shamanic artists, practitioners, students, friends, and the shaman curious. This gathering of shamans features ceremonies, sweat lodges, a medicine wheel workshop, journeying lodge, drum circles, shamanic trance dance, dance of universal peace and more. Enjoy the magic of earth-based ceremony and dancing and drumming with all our relatives. The shamans are gathering beside the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Bring your tipi, tent, or RV and join the camp. Plenty of camping sites at the Fairgrounds, Tipi Haven, and Mountain View Meadows in Hotchkiss, Colorado. The event is sponsored by the Shamanic Arts Center in Hotchkiss and Epic Grand Valley Magazine from the Grand Valley of Colorado. For more details see the official website at https://ShamansCamp.com.
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Sacred Hoop Prayer Song
The circle or sacred hoop is a universal symbol that can be found in many indigenous cultures around the world. Within the cosmology of primal peoples, the circle represents 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 sacred hoop, sometimes known as the medicine wheel, represents the natural cycles of life and the basic way in which the natural world moves and evolves. All creatures walk the circumference of the sacred hoop, experiencing birth, life, and death. This archetypal journey has four stages or rounds, each associated with a cardinal direction. Four rounds signify completion, wholeness or fullness. 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. Listen to "Sacred Hoop," my prayer song to the circle of life. Available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.
Sunday, May 19, 2019
Mother Drums
Mother drums are large drums that can be played by many people at the same time. Also called community or council drums, these powerful drums symbolize the heartbeat of a community drum circle. Some drum circles like to open each gathering with a round of drumming on a mother drum. One way to do this is to ask a community drum keeper to set up the beat, and then the rest of the circle will stand up and join in one at a time. When no more room is left to drum, the first drummer leaves to make room for another, and so on until everyone has drummed.
In drum circle culture, mother drums are usually open to any participant who wishes to join in, however it is a "sign of respect" to ask permission before you sit on a drum. Each drum is different, but there is some basic protocol when you play on a mother drum: Have respect for the drum and the drum keeper. Anything being passed at a community drum should be passed clockwise around the drum, never over, across or counterclockwise. Do not rest anything on top of the drum except for a drumstick or blanket when instructed by the drum keeper. Mother drums are usually covered with a blanket when not in use.
Mother drums foster and sustain a culture of engagement and collaboration. Playing together on a community drum bonds the individual members of the circle. Mother drums are often used to support group shamanic journeys. A group shamanic journey basically involves one person drumming a repetitive rhythm while the others relax and journey within. Transported by the resonant beat of the drum; the shamanic travelers journey to the inner planes of consciousness. If you have never had the opportunity to take such a deep shamanic journey, I invite you to try a "Mother Drum Journey." Available at iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby.
In drum circle culture, mother drums are usually open to any participant who wishes to join in, however it is a "sign of respect" to ask permission before you sit on a drum. Each drum is different, but there is some basic protocol when you play on a mother drum: Have respect for the drum and the drum keeper. Anything being passed at a community drum should be passed clockwise around the drum, never over, across or counterclockwise. Do not rest anything on top of the drum except for a drumstick or blanket when instructed by the drum keeper. Mother drums are usually covered with a blanket when not in use.
Mother drums foster and sustain a culture of engagement and collaboration. Playing together on a community drum bonds the individual members of the circle. Mother drums are often used to support group shamanic journeys. A group shamanic journey basically involves one person drumming a repetitive rhythm while the others relax and journey within. Transported by the resonant beat of the drum; the shamanic travelers journey to the inner planes of consciousness. If you have never had the opportunity to take such a deep shamanic journey, I invite you to try a "Mother Drum Journey." Available at iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby.
Sunday, May 12, 2019
New Arrival of Sacred White Bison Calf
A white bison calf was born last week at the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in Manitoba, Canada, bringing the number of the extremely rare animals in the herd to five. Herd caretaker Tony Tacan says the white buffalo mother has had five calves in total -- one brown and four white -- even though all the fathers were brown. Just how unusual that really is depends on the source of information, but all agree it's a rare and deeply spiritual event for this community and beyond.
"The first calf she produced was brown and the ones after that were all white," says Tacan. "Nobody ever expects this to happen. There's a reason this is happening, and all we can do is share it with our First Nations brothers and sisters so they have a place to come and pray for people who would otherwise feel hopeless."
The Dakota, Lakota and Nakota people see the birth of a white bison calf as a sign that the prophecy of the White Buffalo Calf Woman is now coming true. According to Lakota legend, the first sacred pipe was brought to Earth 19 generations ago by a divine messenger known as White Buffalo Calf Woman (known in the Lakota language as Pte-san Win-yan). The pipe was given to the people who would not forget -- the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota nations. The Buffalo Calf Woman came to the tribes when there was a great famine and instructed them about living in balance with nature. She gifted the people with a sacred bundle containing the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, which still exists to this day and is kept by Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
Over a period of four days, White Buffalo Calf Woman instructed the people in the Seven Sacred Rites: the seven traditional rituals that use the sacred pipe. When the teaching of the sacred rites was complete, she told the people that she must return to the spirit world. She asked them to honor the teachings of the pipe and to keep it in a sacred manner. Before leaving, the woman told them that within her were four ages, and that she would look upon the people in each age, returning at the end of the fourth age to restore harmony and balance to a troubled world. She said she would send a sign that her return was near in the form of an unusual buffalo, which would be born white.
Since then, the vast herds of bison that once migrated across the North American plains have dwindled, hunted into near extinction by nineteenth-century non-indigenous hunters. With their numbers reduced at one time to a mere 500 animals, and the chances of a white calf being born estimated at one in ten million, the fulfillment of the prophecy of White Buffalo Calf Woman seemed improbable. However, a white buffalo calf was born in 1994, and since then at least four to six of these sacred buffalo calves have been born every year. Even more significant was the virgin birth of a white buffalo calf at the Woodland Zoo in Farmington, Pennsylvania in 2006. It would be hard to believe, but Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, has confirmed that a female buffalo gave birth in captivity without artificial insemination or a male buffalo present. Chief Looking Horse believes that these are all signs that the prophecy of the White Buffalo Calf Woman is now coming true.
"The first calf she produced was brown and the ones after that were all white," says Tacan. "Nobody ever expects this to happen. There's a reason this is happening, and all we can do is share it with our First Nations brothers and sisters so they have a place to come and pray for people who would otherwise feel hopeless."
The Dakota, Lakota and Nakota people see the birth of a white bison calf as a sign that the prophecy of the White Buffalo Calf Woman is now coming true. According to Lakota legend, the first sacred pipe was brought to Earth 19 generations ago by a divine messenger known as White Buffalo Calf Woman (known in the Lakota language as Pte-san Win-yan). The pipe was given to the people who would not forget -- the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota nations. The Buffalo Calf Woman came to the tribes when there was a great famine and instructed them about living in balance with nature. She gifted the people with a sacred bundle containing the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, which still exists to this day and is kept by Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
Over a period of four days, White Buffalo Calf Woman instructed the people in the Seven Sacred Rites: the seven traditional rituals that use the sacred pipe. When the teaching of the sacred rites was complete, she told the people that she must return to the spirit world. She asked them to honor the teachings of the pipe and to keep it in a sacred manner. Before leaving, the woman told them that within her were four ages, and that she would look upon the people in each age, returning at the end of the fourth age to restore harmony and balance to a troubled world. She said she would send a sign that her return was near in the form of an unusual buffalo, which would be born white.
Since then, the vast herds of bison that once migrated across the North American plains have dwindled, hunted into near extinction by nineteenth-century non-indigenous hunters. With their numbers reduced at one time to a mere 500 animals, and the chances of a white calf being born estimated at one in ten million, the fulfillment of the prophecy of White Buffalo Calf Woman seemed improbable. However, a white buffalo calf was born in 1994, and since then at least four to six of these sacred buffalo calves have been born every year. Even more significant was the virgin birth of a white buffalo calf at the Woodland Zoo in Farmington, Pennsylvania in 2006. It would be hard to believe, but Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, has confirmed that a female buffalo gave birth in captivity without artificial insemination or a male buffalo present. Chief Looking Horse believes that these are all signs that the prophecy of the White Buffalo Calf Woman is now coming true.
Sunday, May 5, 2019
The End Of Empathy
Americans seem to be losing their ability to empathize. Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people's emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. You try to imagine yourself in their place in order to understand what they are feeling or experiencing. Empathy is the tangible sense of our interconnectedness.
When I was growing up in the '60s, empathy was fashionable. The term was coined in 1908; then, social scientists and psychologists started integrating the concept into the culture after World War II, basically out of fear. The idea was that we were all going to annihilate each other with nuclear weapons -- or learn to see the world through each other's eyes. Civil rights activists also embraced the idea. During the '60s, an evolved person was an empathetic person, choosing understanding over fear.
Then, about a decade ago, a skepticism about empathy started to creep in, particularly among young people. One of the first people to notice was Sara Konrath, an associate professor and researcher at Indiana University. Since the late 1960s, researchers have surveyed young people on their levels of empathy, testing their agreement with statements such as: "It's not really my problem if others suffer misfortune and need help" or "Before criticizing somebody I try to imagine how it would feel to be in their place."
Konrath collected decades of studies and observed a very clear pattern. Starting around 2000, the line chart starts to go down. More students say it's not their problem to help people in trouble, not their job to see the world from someone else's perspective. By 2009, on all the standard measures, Konrath found, young people on average measure 40 percent less empathetic than my own generation!
It's odd to think of empathy, which is an innate human impulse, as fluctuating up and down in this way. But that's exactly what happened. Young people just started questioning what my elementary school teachers had taught me about the "golden rule" or principle of empathy and reciprocity, the basis of all social morality.
Their feeling was: Why should they empathize with someone else, much less someone they considered an enemy? In fact, cutting someone off from empathy was the positive value, a way to make a stand.
The new rule for empathy seems to be: reserve it, not for your "enemies," but for the people you believe are hurt, or you have decided need it the most. Empathy, but just for your own team. And empathizing with the other team? That's practically a taboo. And it turns out that this brand of selective empathy is a powerful force -- a way to keep reinforcing your own point of view and blocking out any others.
We can't return to my generation's era of progressive empathy, but we can't give up on it either. Empathy is the bedrock of intimacy and close connection. Without it, we are unable to navigate our social worlds or sustain meaningful relationships. The end of empathy is the end of civility.
When I was growing up in the '60s, empathy was fashionable. The term was coined in 1908; then, social scientists and psychologists started integrating the concept into the culture after World War II, basically out of fear. The idea was that we were all going to annihilate each other with nuclear weapons -- or learn to see the world through each other's eyes. Civil rights activists also embraced the idea. During the '60s, an evolved person was an empathetic person, choosing understanding over fear.
Then, about a decade ago, a skepticism about empathy started to creep in, particularly among young people. One of the first people to notice was Sara Konrath, an associate professor and researcher at Indiana University. Since the late 1960s, researchers have surveyed young people on their levels of empathy, testing their agreement with statements such as: "It's not really my problem if others suffer misfortune and need help" or "Before criticizing somebody I try to imagine how it would feel to be in their place."
Konrath collected decades of studies and observed a very clear pattern. Starting around 2000, the line chart starts to go down. More students say it's not their problem to help people in trouble, not their job to see the world from someone else's perspective. By 2009, on all the standard measures, Konrath found, young people on average measure 40 percent less empathetic than my own generation!
It's odd to think of empathy, which is an innate human impulse, as fluctuating up and down in this way. But that's exactly what happened. Young people just started questioning what my elementary school teachers had taught me about the "golden rule" or principle of empathy and reciprocity, the basis of all social morality.
Their feeling was: Why should they empathize with someone else, much less someone they considered an enemy? In fact, cutting someone off from empathy was the positive value, a way to make a stand.
The new rule for empathy seems to be: reserve it, not for your "enemies," but for the people you believe are hurt, or you have decided need it the most. Empathy, but just for your own team. And empathizing with the other team? That's practically a taboo. And it turns out that this brand of selective empathy is a powerful force -- a way to keep reinforcing your own point of view and blocking out any others.
We can't return to my generation's era of progressive empathy, but we can't give up on it either. Empathy is the bedrock of intimacy and close connection. Without it, we are unable to navigate our social worlds or sustain meaningful relationships. The end of empathy is the end of civility.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
How Our Thoughts Shape Our Reality
Whether you realize it or not, you are creating your reality all the time. Your reality is the perfect, exact mirror of your thoughts and what you consistently focus upon. Every thought, idea, or image in the mind has form and substance. Everything that we perceive began with a thought. The structure of our universe is thought, mind and consciousness. Consciousness determines the form of our experience. Consciousness is the "theater of perceptual awareness." It is the collective consciousness of humanity that shapes physical reality. We are the universe made conscious to experience itself. We are mind. We live in a universe of mind. From photons to galaxies, life is conscious intelligent energy that can form itself into any pattern or function.
There is only consciousness, information and the perception of information and this facilitates the creation and experience of multiple realities. The world that you believe exists outside of you is basically an illusion -- it is a purely perceptual experience. Your experiences are real, but the outer world is imaginary. Your reality is only information that was imagined into existence and is essentially just imagery that your consciousness perceives. Perception is an illusory product of consciousness. The world around you is nothing more than a very convincing perceptual illusion.
We are creating our reality with our thoughts, beliefs, intentions, and more. When we are oblivious to the power that we all share to create our collective reality, that power slips away from us and our reality becomes a nightmare. We begin to feel like victims of a dark and chaotic creation that we are unable to influence or change. We are inundated with negative world events that create anxiety, fear and hopelessness. The only way to end this dreadful reality is to awaken to the fact that it is imaginary, and recognize our ability to imagine a better story, one that the universe will work with us to manifest.
We cannot "restore" our broken reality without "restorying" our life. It is easy to create in the world that everyone believes to be true, the collective story of humanity. It is easy to reproduce and replicate the reality of the world as we know it; in fact, it is automatic. It requires no thought or awareness. We can only change our collective story by changing the way we think -- by changing our beliefs, expectations and assumptions which keep us stuck in a limited perspective of our personal and social reality. Those aspects of our experience that are most enduring are the effect of habitual expectations and beliefs, or in other words, what we focus our attention on.
It is through our attention that we influence and direct the aspects of our experience and the world around us. What we pay attention to becomes what we know as ourselves and our world, for energy flows where attention goes. As positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points out in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, "We create ourselves by how we invest this energy. Memories, thoughts, and feelings are all shaped by how we use it. And it is an energy under our control; hence, attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience." What we focus our attention on is what our life becomes -- the clearer the intention, the greater the impact.
If consciousness creates reality, then change starts within. It starts with the way you observe the outer world from your inner world. You can change the outer world by changing your inner world. The world is your stage. The stage that collective reality plays out on is just there to create a context within which to play out the story of your personal reality. You can create anything you want in life, and it is not limited to what already exists in the collective reality, but it does provide a host of options to select into your life. However, they are all optional -- they cannot enter into your experience unless you invite them in with your thoughts. In fact, the collective reality can be a distraction that lures you into focusing on "what is" instead of "what can be."
Quantum physics points out that this is a participatory universe in which the power to change reality is literally in our hands at every moment. Modern physics is describing what indigenous shamans have long known. Shamans know that the creative matrix of the universe exists within human consciousness, enabling humans to participate in creation itself. For the shaman, changing reality is not just an ability, but also a duty one must perform so that future generations will inherit a world where they can live in peace, harmony and abundance.
There is only consciousness, information and the perception of information and this facilitates the creation and experience of multiple realities. The world that you believe exists outside of you is basically an illusion -- it is a purely perceptual experience. Your experiences are real, but the outer world is imaginary. Your reality is only information that was imagined into existence and is essentially just imagery that your consciousness perceives. Perception is an illusory product of consciousness. The world around you is nothing more than a very convincing perceptual illusion.
We are creating our reality with our thoughts, beliefs, intentions, and more. When we are oblivious to the power that we all share to create our collective reality, that power slips away from us and our reality becomes a nightmare. We begin to feel like victims of a dark and chaotic creation that we are unable to influence or change. We are inundated with negative world events that create anxiety, fear and hopelessness. The only way to end this dreadful reality is to awaken to the fact that it is imaginary, and recognize our ability to imagine a better story, one that the universe will work with us to manifest.
We cannot "restore" our broken reality without "restorying" our life. It is easy to create in the world that everyone believes to be true, the collective story of humanity. It is easy to reproduce and replicate the reality of the world as we know it; in fact, it is automatic. It requires no thought or awareness. We can only change our collective story by changing the way we think -- by changing our beliefs, expectations and assumptions which keep us stuck in a limited perspective of our personal and social reality. Those aspects of our experience that are most enduring are the effect of habitual expectations and beliefs, or in other words, what we focus our attention on.
It is through our attention that we influence and direct the aspects of our experience and the world around us. What we pay attention to becomes what we know as ourselves and our world, for energy flows where attention goes. As positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points out in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, "We create ourselves by how we invest this energy. Memories, thoughts, and feelings are all shaped by how we use it. And it is an energy under our control; hence, attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience." What we focus our attention on is what our life becomes -- the clearer the intention, the greater the impact.
If consciousness creates reality, then change starts within. It starts with the way you observe the outer world from your inner world. You can change the outer world by changing your inner world. The world is your stage. The stage that collective reality plays out on is just there to create a context within which to play out the story of your personal reality. You can create anything you want in life, and it is not limited to what already exists in the collective reality, but it does provide a host of options to select into your life. However, they are all optional -- they cannot enter into your experience unless you invite them in with your thoughts. In fact, the collective reality can be a distraction that lures you into focusing on "what is" instead of "what can be."
Quantum physics points out that this is a participatory universe in which the power to change reality is literally in our hands at every moment. Modern physics is describing what indigenous shamans have long known. Shamans know that the creative matrix of the universe exists within human consciousness, enabling humans to participate in creation itself. For the shaman, changing reality is not just an ability, but also a duty one must perform so that future generations will inherit a world where they can live in peace, harmony and abundance.
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Oglala President Calls for Federal Disaster Relief
Over the past month, two massive Winter Storms brought flooding and chaos to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Flooding from the first storm alone displaced 1,500 tribal citizens from their homes and damaged nearly 100 structures. Many still remain without access to potable water and many roads are still impassable. Top priorities to care for displaced families and elders are bottled water and storage containers, nonperishable food, diapers, toilet paper, and hygiene products. They also need things as simple as generators, fuel containers, water pumps, shovels, and other tools. Pine Ridge now faces millions of dollars of damage. Recovery will take a long time. Join Oglala Sioux Tribal President Julian Bear Runner in calling for a federal declaration of disaster in South Dakota. Please send an email to President Trump today! To join the call for a federal declaration of disaster in South Dakota please visit the OGLALA OYANKE RELIEF website.
Sunday, April 14, 2019
Mindful Grounding Techniques
Grounding is a technique that gets you rooted in your body and helps keep you in the present moment. It is only in the present moment that you can fully live your life. Grounding techniques are designed to redistribute the energy from your head into your body. Doing so has an almost instant calming effect. Grounding 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 awareness is impaired. Spatial awareness is the ability to understand and interact with the environment around you. When ungrounded, you may feel scattered, off-balance, and find yourself tripping a lot.
Grounding begins with mindful breathing. The most basic way to do mindful breathing is simply to focus on your breath as you inhale and exhale. You can do this while standing, sitting or even lying down. You can keep your eyes open, but you may find it easier to hold your focus if you close your eyes. You do not need to do anything to your breath. Just breathe naturally and focus your attention on where you feel your breath in your body. It may be in your abdomen, chest, throat or nostrils. As you do this, your mind may start to wander. This is perfectly natural. Just notice that your mind has wandered, and then gently redirect your attention back to the breathing. Stay here for five to seven minutes. It helps to set aside a designated time for mindful grounding each day.
Another fast and effective technique is simply to stand like the mythical World Tree (axis mundi), or Tree of Life. 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. Now stretch your arms out from your sides so that you stand as a cross-tree at the center of all things. Close your eyes and imagine that you are the World Tree standing at the very navel of the universe. Your roots tap deeply into the underworld, and your crown touches the heavens.
Get outside and enjoy nature. Try walking, gardening or just sitting under a tree. Touching a tree can help you ground and discharge negative energy from your body. Physically touching or sitting on the earth will have a calming and grounding effect. Take in the beauty of nature with all of your senses. Breathe in the colors, shapes and textures. Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells. Allow the natural world to ground you in the present moment. Nature calms, helps you connect to something larger than yourself, and provides a much-needed break from your busy life. In the modern world we often get so caught up in our busy lives that we forget to honor our inherent connection with the natural world.
Sunday, April 7, 2019
How to Find Your Own Truth
Truth comes to us as an inner knowing not yet defined. We tend to think of truth as something connected to our thoughts and intelligence, something we can define and explain, but truth in this context is a fuller awareness and more of an insight that does not yet have a mental definition. Truth will come from an intuitive reaction that precedes understanding and will have to be trusted as authentic. This is challenging as truth is very personal and your truth will not be everyone's experience. It is important to claim your own truth while allowing others to claim theirs without judgment.
The world's great spiritual traditions teach that it is necessary to still the mind and enter into inner silence so that personal truth can emerge. In silence you can hear your own inner voice and discover the truth within. When there is inner silence, there is time for deep introspection and to allow the true self to speak. Silence is the source of everything; the gateway to inner knowing. Silence creates the resonance of contemplation, insight and direct communication with the source.
The world's great spiritual traditions teach that it is necessary to still the mind and enter into inner silence so that personal truth can emerge. In silence you can hear your own inner voice and discover the truth within. When there is inner silence, there is time for deep introspection and to allow the true self to speak. Silence is the source of everything; the gateway to inner knowing. Silence creates the resonance of contemplation, insight and direct communication with the source.
The best way to still the mind and find inner silence is to develop a spiritual practice. A spiritual practice is the regular performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual development. A spiritual practice is something you do every single day that grounds you in your own truth by connecting you with your essential self. Regular spiritual practice fosters deeper self-awareness, inner peace, compassion, non-attachment, integration and connectedness with others.
Ultimately, spiritual practice leads to self-realization or enlightenment. It is important to remember that each person is different, so what works for one person may not work for another. The key is to choose an activity that makes you feel calm, centered and relaxed. A spiritual activity might be dancing, drumming, chanting, meditating, praying, doing yoga or tai chi. Consistent spiritual practice reveals your inner truth. Your inner truth reflects, like a mirror, the higher, universal truth that exists in every situation. If you rely on the truth of your inner voice to guide you, you can readily adapt and flow with the shifting currents of change. In every situation, you should outwardly go with the flow while inwardly adhering to your inner truth, to your sense of what is correct. Then, with truth as your guide, your actions will be in accord with the times.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
"The Shamanic Drum" Audiobook Release
I am pleased to announce the release of my audiobook "The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming." Shamanic drumming is an ancient approach that uses rhythm to promote healing and self-expression. Based on my studies and personal shamanic experience, I present the first practical guide to applying this ancient healing art to our modern lives. Through a series of simple exercises and lessons, I teach the basic shamanic methods of drumming. The focus is on creating sacred space, journeying, power practice, power animals, drum therapy, drum circles and the therapeutic effects of drumming. Whether you are an accomplished percussionist or a total beginner, this user-friendly audiobook will help you harness the power of drumming. Recent studies demonstrate that drumming is a valuable treatment for stress, chronic pain, cancer, stroke, trauma, addictions, mental illness, emotional disorders and a wide range of physical disabilities. The benefits include relaxation, healing, more energy, greater mental clarity, enhanced creativity and deeper self-awareness.
Conveniently listen to the book on your phone, computer, tablet or in the car. Available on Amazon and iTunes. I invite you to listen to the Introduction on YouTube.
Contents (1994 Revised Edition)
Introduction
Chapter 1 - The Role of the Drum
Chapter 2 - The Fundamentals of Shamanic Drumming
Chapter 3 - Power Practice
Chapter 4 - Drumbeat of the Rainbow Fire
Chapter 5 - Healing the Earth
Afterword
Appendix A - Drums
Appendix B - Journeys
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Insight Timer: Best Free Meditation App
Insight Timer is a free smartphone app and online community with seven million meditators, making it the most active meditation community on the planet. The meditation app made Womens Health and Time magazine's list of best apps. Three thousand meditation teachers publish free guided meditations, music and talks on the app. With 15,000 free guided meditations you can meditate on Insight Timer for as long as you want without ever paying a cent. The app offers a variety of topics to choose from (stress, sleep, self-love, loss, forgiveness, etc.), along with personal customization, meditation Timer, and the ability to track your progress with your meditation practice. Download the Insight Timer app.
To support your shamanic journeys, I have published "Shamanic Journey Drumming with Callback" on Insight Timer. Shamanic drumming awakens your ability to commune with your inner self and retrieve information. You need only journey within to find answers to any question. For a journey to the Lower World, visualize an opening into the earth that you remember from sometime in your life. The entrance could be an animal burrow, hollow tree stump, cave and so on. When the journey begins, you'll go down the hole and a tunnel will appear. The tunnel often appears ribbed and may spiral around. This tunnel-like imagery is related to the central axis that links the three inner planes of consciousness. Enter the tunnel and you will emerge into the Lower World, the realm of power animals, spirit guides and ancestral spirits. When you hear the sound of the callback, begin your return journey. Try to retrace the same route back; otherwise you might have trouble remembering the details of your journey. Step-by-step instructions for making shamanic journeys are explained in my book, "The Shamanic Drum." Try a shamanic journey.
To support your shamanic journeys, I have published "Shamanic Journey Drumming with Callback" on Insight Timer. Shamanic drumming awakens your ability to commune with your inner self and retrieve information. You need only journey within to find answers to any question. For a journey to the Lower World, visualize an opening into the earth that you remember from sometime in your life. The entrance could be an animal burrow, hollow tree stump, cave and so on. When the journey begins, you'll go down the hole and a tunnel will appear. The tunnel often appears ribbed and may spiral around. This tunnel-like imagery is related to the central axis that links the three inner planes of consciousness. Enter the tunnel and you will emerge into the Lower World, the realm of power animals, spirit guides and ancestral spirits. When you hear the sound of the callback, begin your return journey. Try to retrace the same route back; otherwise you might have trouble remembering the details of your journey. Step-by-step instructions for making shamanic journeys are explained in my book, "The Shamanic Drum." Try a shamanic journey.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Vernal Equinox 2019
At the Vernal Equinox, we begin a new cycle on the Medicine Wheel of Life, entering the East -- home of the rising sun, morning, birth, beginnings, and the spring season. Spring arrives when the earth is tilted so that the sun is directly over the equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of spring is on or about March 21. This is the day of the Vernal Equinox. Vernal means spring; Equinox means equal night. Night and day are the same length, each lasting exactly twelve hours on this day. It is at this time when light and darkness are in balance. The forces of feminine and masculine energy, yin and yang, are also in balance at this time, providing a unique opportunity to tune in and find our inner balance, harmony, and alignment. The 2019 Vernal Equinox will occur on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, at 5:58 P.M. EDT.
Throughout human history, people in the northern parts of the world have celebrated the Rites of Spring, marking the end of earth's winter sleep and the start of spring when everything is reborn. Ancient cultures connected spring with the return of life to the earth. The return of spring in ancient times was of more consequence than it is to us today because winter food and fuel storages ended, inclement weather waned, and crops could be planted. Pagan customs such as lighting fires at sunrise for renewed life and protection of the crops still survive in South America as well as in Europe.
In China, the Vernal Equinox has always been celebrated as the time of new beginnings, of action, of planting seeds for future grains, and of tending gardens. Spring is a time of the earth's renewal, a rousing of nature after the cold sleep of winter. The life energy, symbolized by thunder, erupts from the depths in early spring to awaken the dormant seeds to new life. The yearly cycle begins in the spring when thunder quickens the renewal of life. Winter still has its grip on the land, but the days are lengthening and the light is growing stronger by the day. Spring is almost here... I hope we can be inspired by nature's reawakening to renew our own lives.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Understanding Trance Journeys
Shamanic journeying is not an exceptional skill reserved for certain people, but knowing what to do with intuition, how to respond to it, and how to integrate it into day-to-day life is an exceptional skill that can, and should, be learned. It is important to release any expectations you may have about what a journey should be like. Too often people reject what they are legitimately experiencing because it does not fit their expectations of what should be happening. The key is to trust that what is happening is exactly what is meant to occur at that moment in time.
Like the shaman, you will find the spirit world to be a fountain of wisdom and power. It is understood that what takes place in the journey world will follow in ordinary reality. Insights gained there shift thinking and behavior here. Healing which transpires there creates healing here. The most empowering gift shamanic journeying offers each of us is direct revelation that manifests as visions, inner voices or experiences with our own spirit helpers.
To better understand your journeys, I recommend recording your experiences in a journal as soon as you have returned to ordinary reality. Trance experiences, like dreams, tend to fade quickly from conscious awareness. Journaling is a contemplative practice that can help you become more aware of your inner life and feel more connected to your experiences and the world around you. Keeping a journal provides a record of your spiritual growth and allows you to reflect upon and better interpret journeys. In some cases, your journey experiences will be clear and easy to understand. At other times, your journey may be dreamlike and full of symbolism. Interpret such journeys as you would any dream. Look for possible associations related to each symbol or image. Do not overanalyze the journey, for its meaning will become clear at the appropriate time.
Not every journey you undertake will necessarily be coherent, vivid or powerful. Still, no matter how esoteric or random the experience may seem, it augments your shamanic skill and knowledge. Seemingly insignificant events in a journey or vision may manifest in a powerful way in your ordinary state of awareness. Be on the lookout for synchronicities, for they confirm that your shamanic work is producing effects beyond the bounds of probability or coincidence.
The more you practice shamanic journeying, the better you will get at it. Nothing may happen on your first journeys. You may not be able to turn off the mind chatter or go anywhere. When this happens, simply try again at a different time. Eventually you will be able to take a rapid inner journey anywhere or anytime the need arises. The regular practice of journeying into the spirit world changes you. It broadens your viewpoint, helps you to let go of judgment, encourages you to value yourself more and makes living your life more manageable. It gives you equilibrium. Try a shamanic journey.
Like the shaman, you will find the spirit world to be a fountain of wisdom and power. It is understood that what takes place in the journey world will follow in ordinary reality. Insights gained there shift thinking and behavior here. Healing which transpires there creates healing here. The most empowering gift shamanic journeying offers each of us is direct revelation that manifests as visions, inner voices or experiences with our own spirit helpers.
To better understand your journeys, I recommend recording your experiences in a journal as soon as you have returned to ordinary reality. Trance experiences, like dreams, tend to fade quickly from conscious awareness. Journaling is a contemplative practice that can help you become more aware of your inner life and feel more connected to your experiences and the world around you. Keeping a journal provides a record of your spiritual growth and allows you to reflect upon and better interpret journeys. In some cases, your journey experiences will be clear and easy to understand. At other times, your journey may be dreamlike and full of symbolism. Interpret such journeys as you would any dream. Look for possible associations related to each symbol or image. Do not overanalyze the journey, for its meaning will become clear at the appropriate time.
Not every journey you undertake will necessarily be coherent, vivid or powerful. Still, no matter how esoteric or random the experience may seem, it augments your shamanic skill and knowledge. Seemingly insignificant events in a journey or vision may manifest in a powerful way in your ordinary state of awareness. Be on the lookout for synchronicities, for they confirm that your shamanic work is producing effects beyond the bounds of probability or coincidence.
The more you practice shamanic journeying, the better you will get at it. Nothing may happen on your first journeys. You may not be able to turn off the mind chatter or go anywhere. When this happens, simply try again at a different time. Eventually you will be able to take a rapid inner journey anywhere or anytime the need arises. The regular practice of journeying into the spirit world changes you. It broadens your viewpoint, helps you to let go of judgment, encourages you to value yourself more and makes living your life more manageable. It gives you equilibrium. Try a shamanic journey.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
The Therapeutic Effects of Shamanic Flute Music
The Native American flute, a traditional ethnic wind instrument developed by indigenous Native American cultures, is an end-blown flute fashioned either from cane, hardwood, or softwood. 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.
The Native American flute is sometimes used by music therapists. Because of its simple and accessible design, virtually anyone can play the flute. A recent study exploring the therapeutic effects of listening to the Native American flute found that flute music decreases anxiety and increases perceptions of interconnectedness in individuals diagnosed with a trauma related disorder. Flute music facilitates perceptual experiences of integration related to trauma, as well as expanded consciousness. The use of music with issues of trauma, as well as facilitating unity consciousness, appears timely. Music can reach where nothing else can and perhaps when nothing else can. Poets, philosophers and musicians have expressed what most people have experienced, that music has the power to deeply touch the heart and the soul, and the capacity to transform and transcend. To learn more, read "The Effects of Sacred Shamanic Flute Music on Trauma and States of Consciousness."
The Native American flute is sometimes used by music therapists. Because of its simple and accessible design, virtually anyone can play the flute. A recent study exploring the therapeutic effects of listening to the Native American flute found that flute music decreases anxiety and increases perceptions of interconnectedness in individuals diagnosed with a trauma related disorder. Flute music facilitates perceptual experiences of integration related to trauma, as well as expanded consciousness. The use of music with issues of trauma, as well as facilitating unity consciousness, appears timely. Music can reach where nothing else can and perhaps when nothing else can. Poets, philosophers and musicians have expressed what most people have experienced, that music has the power to deeply touch the heart and the soul, and the capacity to transform and transcend. To learn more, read "The Effects of Sacred Shamanic Flute Music on Trauma and States of Consciousness."
Sunday, February 24, 2019
"Twilight Owls" Music Release
Twilight Owls combines trance-inducing drums, flutes and nature sounds in a rousing celebration of shamanic music. Shamanic music is a way to evoke and internalize animal archetypes. An animal archetype represents the spirit and attributes of the entire species of that animal. Shamanism is the endeavor to cultivate ongoing relationships with power animals to gain insight, healing methods, and other vital information that can benefit the community. Owl medicine includes prophecy, wisdom, stealth, silence, intuition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, shapeshifting, and keen vision that can pierce all illusion. Call upon Owl to unmask and see what is truly beneath the surface -- what is hidden or in the shadows. Owl is a messenger of omens who will call out to let all share in its vision.
A shamanic performer uses various instruments to communicate with the spirits. The first instrument you hear on "Twilight Owls" is the Native American Flute, an ancient wind instrument used to announce to the spirits that ceremony is beginning. Its sound represents the voice of the birds, the voice of the wind and the voice of the soul -- those things that are free to move and fly. The next instrument you hear is the drum. Its steady beat is akin to the primal pulse, the heart, throbbing within all that exists. The shaman uses the drum to create a bridge to the spirit world and summon the healing power of spirit. Drum and flute merge with Tawny Owl calls and the sounds of nature weaving the musical fabric of the song. Available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
A Bridge to the Spirit World
In oral/aural cultures, sound is regarded as one of the most effective ways of establishing connections with the spirit realm since it travels through space, permeates visual and physical barriers, and conveys information from the unseen world that underlies our physical reality. Tuvan shamans of Siberia believe that the spirits of nature create their own sound world, and it is possible for humans to communicate with them through the sound of the drum. A ritual performance often begins with heating the drumhead over a fire to bring it up to the desired pitch. Shamans may strike certain parts of the drum to summon particular benevolent helping spirits who give them knowledge and assistance. It is the subtle variations in timbre and ever-changing overtones of the drum that allow the shaman to communicate with the spiritual realm. The shaman uses the drum to create a bridge to the spirit world while simultaneously opening the awareness of all the participants to that bridge.
All elements of drum music such as timbre, rhythm, volume and tempo play an important role in shamanic ritual. By using different parts of the drumstick to play on different parts of the drum, different timbres can be produced for transmitting different meanings. Different rhythms transmit different meanings and enable the shaman to contact different beings in different realms of the cosmos. Volume and tempo arouse feelings in the listener and communicate symbolic meanings directly as aural sense experience.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
The Cosmic Center of the Drum Circle
Indigenous cultures have been practicing community percussion for thousands of years. Although most of us did not grow up in an indigenous rhythmic musical tradition, we can still tap into the healing power of the drum circle. People have gathered in circles since the beginning of humankind for a very good reason. The circle is a container for building community and celebrating life. All are equal in the circle; no one is above or below. In a circle, each person's face can be seen; each person's voice can be heard and valued. Like the hoop of the drum, the circle represents the wheel of life. The plants, the animals, the minerals, and the elemental forces of nature all exist within the circle. All creatures walk the circumference of the wheel of life, experiencing birth, life, and death. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each one returns to the source, the Great Mystery at the center of the circle.
Every drum circle has a center, which represents the cosmic axis of the sacred space. In circle culture, it is customary to set up a centerpiece or altar that is appropriate for the purpose of the circle. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. For example, if it is a grieving circle, a photo of the person who has passed away can be placed on the altar. If it's a circle of celebration, a symbol of the reason for the celebration can be included. It is customary for participants to bring offerings, sacred objects and fresh cut herbs to place on and around the altar. The circle participants will decorate the center with these objects as a way of making it their community space.
Although an altar is not essential, it provides us with a focus to pray, meditate and listen. It is traditional in circles to speak into the center. The idea is that everyone's voice is added to the center, and it is from the center that the wisdom of the circle will begin to emerge. Once someone has spoken into the center, their contribution becomes part of the circle. It becomes part of a collective, evolving story, a pathway to unity and understanding. When a circle meets regularly over an extended period of time, extraordinary things happen. As members learn to trust the process, the circle itself becomes the teacher. Participants both contribute to and benefit from the group's collective wisdom and experience. Individual visions coalesce into one common vision and mission. To learn more, look inside Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide.
Every drum circle has a center, which represents the cosmic axis of the sacred space. In circle culture, it is customary to set up a centerpiece or altar that is appropriate for the purpose of the circle. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. For example, if it is a grieving circle, a photo of the person who has passed away can be placed on the altar. If it's a circle of celebration, a symbol of the reason for the celebration can be included. It is customary for participants to bring offerings, sacred objects and fresh cut herbs to place on and around the altar. The circle participants will decorate the center with these objects as a way of making it their community space.
Although an altar is not essential, it provides us with a focus to pray, meditate and listen. It is traditional in circles to speak into the center. The idea is that everyone's voice is added to the center, and it is from the center that the wisdom of the circle will begin to emerge. Once someone has spoken into the center, their contribution becomes part of the circle. It becomes part of a collective, evolving story, a pathway to unity and understanding. When a circle meets regularly over an extended period of time, extraordinary things happen. As members learn to trust the process, the circle itself becomes the teacher. Participants both contribute to and benefit from the group's collective wisdom and experience. Individual visions coalesce into one common vision and mission. To learn more, look inside Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
The Book of Ceremony
Ceremony is essential for a healthy and balanced personal and communal life. Many persistent personal and social problems can be linked to the lack of ceremony. Ceremonies reduce tension, anxiety and stress, produce deeper self-awareness, and connect us to our community. They connect us with our deepest core values and our highest vision of who we are and why we are here. That's why shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman wrote The Book of Ceremony -- to help us recover the sense of deeper meaning and sacred connection that makes ceremony a powerful tool for transformation and healing. "Ceremonies have always been used to create transformation," writes Ingerman. "Performing ceremonies creates a bridge between the material world we live in and the world of the unseen, the divine, the power of the universe." This practical guidebook is recommended to anyone seeking to engage the powers of the unseen world. Look inside The Book of Ceremony: Shamanic Wisdom for Invoking the Sacred in Everyday Life.
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