Soul Slavery

We live in a time of accelerated change and transformation. 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 maximum darkness and ignorance; a time when the dark forces of the unconscious are at their strongest. Others refer to this unfolding event as the Turning of the Age or a Great Shift in consciousness that was foretold long, long ago.

Earth changes are intensifying now. Great shifts in energy are taking place at this time. The veil between the spiritual and physical worlds is growing thinner and it is starting to get very dangerous. There is a major battle going on in the spirit world between the light and the dark, and it is spilling over into the material world. It is not hard to see that, even though we live on a planet that surrounds us with beauty, there is a lot of darkness manifesting within humanity. The dark is making a bid for power. The light is countering every move made by the dark; the light will ultimately prevail.

In this epic battle between the light and the dark, human beings are being used as commodities by the dark. The dark feeds on human energy, or life force, just like a parasite feeds on its host. The darkness needs the light of our souls, for it has no inner light to sustain it. This is why human souls have been held in slavery or servitude on Earth for centuries. Millions of people are now under the power of darkness. The dark uses mind control to enslave its victims. They are manipulated into believing they cannot be free, but human beings have free will. Freedom of choice is our human birthright and gift from the Creator.

When the Creator created the world, he gave humans the option to choose between good and evil. At any moment, each of us is confronted with choices between good and evil forces. The dark forces were created so humans could realize their inner powers and develop the soul. The darkness consistently tries to make people choose between the good and bad and tries to tempt them to choose the bad. Its goal is to force us to behave in opposition to our true soul, to be bad. When we choose good over evil, we grow spiritually and bring more light into the world.

Many earthbound souls are also enslaved against their will by the dark. An earthbound soul is one who chooses not to "cross over" to the other side when their physical existence ends. When we die, there is usually a graceful transition into the afterlife. But when someone suffers a traumatic death such as murder, accident, war or suicide, they may not have an awareness of where and who they are. Other souls are held back by grieving relatives who cannot let them go. The purpose of funeral rites is to open the mourners to grief to unleash this powerful emotional energy and channel it in such a way that it will convey the newly deceased soul to the afterlife. If not channeled properly, grief is useless to the dead and dangerous to the living. Unfortunately, many of the psychopomp myths and rituals that once helped people prepare for this final rite of passage have become lost or forgotten.

We need to pray for these souls and make that a new intention in our rituals and invocations. We need to pray for the liberation of all who are under the power of darkness. Pray for the best possible outcome for all souls, living and dead. The Creator is helping all enslaved souls to choose for themselves. In the struggle between good and evil, we are all being called upon to choose which side we are on -- the light or the dark. This is not judgment day. It has nothing to do with religion or ideology. This is about human existence, free will, and each of us claiming our sovereignty. Sovereignty is the supreme power to self govern -- to be the exclusive controller of one's own body and life. If we claim our sovereignty, we can shape a truly New World. To learn more look inside The Great Shift.

The Suppressed History of Woman Shamanism

Max Dashu founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970 to research women's history internationally and understand how systems of domination established and perpetuate themselves. Her goal is to restore women to cultural memory, to restore awareness of the full range of female experience and contributions, power and oppressions, all that has been omitted and edited out from textbooks and mass media. Throughout history the majority of writings and teachings known worldwide on shamanism have been from the masculine perspective.

From Buryat Mongolia to Gabon Africa, it was well known that the first shaman was a woman. According to a Chukchee (people inhabiting the northeasternmost part of Siberia) proverb, "Woman is by nature a shaman." Yet the female dimension of this realm of spiritual experience has often been slighted. Mircea Eliade (author of the authoritative "Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy") believed that women shamans represented a degeneration of an originally masculine profession, yet was hard put to explain why so many male shamans customarily dressed in women's clothing and assumed other female-gendered behaviors.

In fact, women have been at the forefront of this field worldwide, and in some cultures, they predominate. This was true in ancient China and Japan, as it still is in modern Korea and Okinawa, as well as among many South African peoples and northern Californians such as the Karok and Yurok. There are countless other examples, including the machi of the Mapuche in southern Chile and the babaylan and catalonan of the Philippines. Read more.

Mongolia's Ten Sacred Mountains

Mongolia is unique in that it has ten sacred mountains protected by Presidential Decree. Paying homage to sacred mountains has been integral to shamanic practice in Mongolia, and the country has some of the oldest, official, continuously protected sites in the world, dating back to the 13th century. Mongolia's commitment to the veneration and protection of sacred natural sites is both a spiritual and practical custom that weaves together religious traditions, cultural practices and political legitimacy. The rituals and practices involved with revering these sacred places -- and the environmental stewardship that results -- intersects with longstanding political tradition and leadership of the state. No other country in the world can claim this history. Mongolia's political respect for and deference to the sacred landscape connects the sacred with the profane, equating spiritual well-being with the health of the people and the interests of the nation. In turn, these policies have become central to ecological conservation today. While other countries search for ways to incorporate environmentalism into their national conversation and impress upon their citizens the need for ecological awareness and conservation, Mongolia's approach to conservation as both a spiritual and practical matter is compelling. As Mongolian shaman Buyanbadrakh says, "The traditional ways of worshiping and protecting sacred places are the best way to care for nature." Read more.

Is Shamanism the World's Oldest Profession?

A new study published in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences suggests shamans acted as the first professional class in human society. Manvir Singh, a graduate student in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University argues in a new paper that shamanism develops as specialists compete to provide magical services to their community. Those services could range from healing disease to exorcising evil spirits to telling fortunes, or even changing the weather. According to Singh, "The theory is that there are important things we really want to have control over -- calling rain, summoning animals, healing illness. All around the world, people believe that these important, uncertain outcomes are influenced by invisible forces -- gods, witches, their ancestors, fairies, and more. But a shaman says, 'I can control that. I can talk to fairies. I can see signs of witches. I can be possessed by a god or speak to them.'" The key to the community's trust that a shaman has those abilities, Singh said, comes from the belief that the shaman is transformed into something more than human, and able to interact with supernatural forces. This helps explain how shamans became the first professional class in human societies. Read more.

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