Tagged with Shamanism

I am not an accredited expert on ayahuasca. I'm simply a gal who has participated in lots of ayahuasca ceremonies.  As I find myself on the receiving end of inquiries from curious newbies, I have compiled some helpful hints for your first aya ceremony.  You. Are. Welcome. (more)

Shamanism is characterized by an intentional change in consciousness to interact with spirits. Troubles of a spirit nature can have serious repercussions in a person's life. It is the task of the shaman to heal such persons. (more)

Shamanism is the oldest psychospiritual tradition known to humankind. In this dimension everything that happens, whether embraced and accepted by us or completely rejected, has a healing and evolutionary purpose. (more)

I watched the incense smoke wander around the room like weightless leaves in the breeze. Then Fernando asked me to close my eyes. I had no idea that my "self" was about to shatter into a million pieces like broken glass. (more)

Many analysts paint a bleak picture of our future: we don't have enough energy or capital to sustain our civilization. But if we shift perspective, we might see this as an internal, fear-based collective projection rather than the truth. (more)

While Tolkien might be surprised to find his fantasy works compared with the enthnography of Amazonian Indians drinking psychoactive brews, his depictions of characters singing over plant medicine in the forest reminds us how the Amazonian shaman will icarar the marirí of the plants into manifestation in the world. (more)

Plato says that at one time Atlantis was a wondrous civilization, but it angered the gods through its arrogance, pride, and cruelty. The planet, which itself is a god, responded to this by striking Atlantis down. Our civilization today looks very much like the next Atlantis. But my point is, it doesn't have to be that way. We have choices.  (more)

On the one hand, we have Material abundance, which encourages individualism, and on the other we have Spiritual abundance, which encourages community and sharing. How can we achieve both? (more)

If you want to know what a dream shaman of the West would be like, consider Carl Jung, as he is now revealed in his Red Book, compiled from the journals he kept during the years of his "confrontation with the unconscious," when the "spirit of the depths" dragged him, night after night, through the terrifying stages of Underworld initiation. (more)

Why do we tend to guru-ize the shaman? How do we reconcile our fantasies of what the shaman should be with what is often a very different reality? In this conversation, Stephan Beyer, Stanley Krippner, and Hillary S. Webb discuss the Western world's intellectual and spiritual fascination with shamanic practices. (more)

This is the crucial moment for our species, and we have to give it everything we've got. Ayahuasca is moving out in the world and making new covenants. Maybe it wants to make contact with these strange new minds and to co-evolve with us. I'm afraid it's going to get it, whether it wants it or not. (more)

The Secoya elders, plant masters from the Upper Napo Region of the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest, will be present at Guaria de Osa Ecolodge, gathering in Council and offering teachings this Winter (Dec 2012 - Jan 2013) to facilitate boundless healing, personal transformation and renewal. (more)

Underlying the intricate geometric patterns of great complexity displayed in the art of the Shipibo people is a concept of an all pervading magical reality which can challenge the Western linguistic heritage and rational mind.   (more)

If we want to understand what will happen in 2012 and our role in this cosmic mechanism, we must understand the four movements that govern the most essential of all human aspects, namely our consciousness and perceptions. (more)

Julia Julieta Casimiro de Pineda, one of the founders of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, lives in Huautla de Jiménez, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. All of Huautla feels like an ongoing ceremony. Daily life seems to be ordained by a predetermination, as if every single action had a higher purpose. (more)

The practice of dream incubation is well documented throughout the ancient world. Over the centuries, as the Church rose to power and supplanted pagan social structures, spiritual leaders began pulling away from the idea that dreams can contain wisdom, leading to a loss of this important ability that is still practiced in indigenous societies. (more)

Perhaps you do not believe in evil spirits. Why should you? I've been a shamanic healer and teacher for many years, but even I didn't really believe in their existence. Well, this all changed quite abruptly when I was forced to believe and to find the tools I needed to fight back. (more)

Now is the time for us to become visionary shamans, to become more thoughtful and heart-centered in our treatment of the earth and her resources. We must make conscious evolutionary changes. We can do it because we have imaginal cells that are ready and waiting to transform our being, to create a paradigm shift of seeing and being in the world. (more)

At the beginning of the ceremony, I had asked the ayahuasca to fill me with the medicine teachings. Later on as I lay suffused with radiant love, as I felt an infinite and perfect compassion for all beings, the ayahuasca said to me "This is the highest of all the medicine teachings." (more)

In my opinion, world conditions are not the point of the 2012 message. The message is more profound. It is about the fundamental principle of reality, as revealed by the psychedelic experiences of the shamans. (more)