+ Who are the spirit allies or guides?

In western culture we are mostly conceptually oriented, language-based beings, so we seek ways to speak of and work with experiences and realities we can’t precisely define. Writer, shaman and dream researcher Robert Moss calls shamans “poets of consciousness” and although this isn't shamanism, that’s still a good lens through which to consider this question. So one way I feel comfortable speaking generically of the spirits who assist is that they are forms of benevolent consciousness who are not embodied as we normally define embodiment. (At least this is true for me; not everyone works only with benevolent spirits.) Their purpose is to help us re-member and align with our own original nature and learn the right use of power. They are not bound by time and space, by history or conditioning, and perceive what is energetically true. They can help bring to our lives the unique and pertinent qualities we need at any given time. These spirits give guidance and transmit healing energies through the power of Love. This is the love that perceives the divine essence within you and its beauty, no matter what might be overshadowing that original essence.

There is enormous diversity of spirit beings and many like to assist humans and some also like to mess around with us for various reasons and most are evolving in certain ways. There are also quite brilliant spirits who have profound insights to share as well but who may not be specifically aligned with our needs. Many of these are not what I personally consider personal tending spirits, even though we(I) might listen to and work with them at times. As the spirit realm can be quite complex and because western culture hasn't many elders carrying the power and teaching the traditions of best ways to navigate this community of spirit beings, I have certain ways of vetting the spirits I mostly relate with to those who are fully compassionate and who are aligned with my well-being, the intentions of my work and the well-being of our world. Checking out the practices and experiences of others with long-standing relationships with the spirit realm whose ethical framework you identify with is quite valuable in determining how you might decide to navigate in this way.

+ What do you mean by the spirit realm?

The term spirit realm is used to refer to the dimension, or focus of awareness, inhabited by discarnate beings---all those beings who are not in physical form as we define it. I use the term “spirit realm” to identify the distinction we make between our known experiences of physicality/duality/causality and the experiences and beliefs we have of God, Creator/Creatrix, gods and goddesses, the Ancestors, animal helpers, the dead, tutelary deities, archetypes, elementals, spirits of nature, pure consciousness, and any other forms of awareness that are not known to be embodied the way we are, and the domains in which these beings and forces are experienced.

+ What might indicate I could benefit from this service?

One aspect of Earth/Spirit tending work is divination, which is a deeply effective and beautiful way to receive inspiration, guidance and support for areas of your life you would like to further enliven, understand and/or evolve, as well as for new terrain you’d like to explore. The other common aspect of an inspirited approach is that of healing. As an Earth/Spirit tender, my stance is to see you in your radiance, glory and true nature and do all I can to reflect and enhance that; in other words, to not even see you as someone who “needs” to be healed. You were born with brilliant powers that enabled you to live as a very young person who did not always receive the empathic response, secure container for development, or loving modeling of how to maintain your own energetic presence in the vast field of life. We also all come into the world carrying patterns of both beauty as well as burdens from our ancestral lineages and in modern culture there is great chaos, vast dishonesty and insane conditioning that feeds our disconnect from the wisdom of Earth and our original nature. In this, the world teaches us to forget our innate abilities through various traumas and diminishments, so it is true that we often experience ourselves as less than whole, as separate in certain ways from our divine nature and an Earth/Spirit tending process can provide movement, awareness and direct healing energies for states you’d like to change in case you’re experiencing any of the following:

inexplicable fatigue; depression; chronic misfortune; chronic illness; apathy; emptiness; lack of motivation; fogginess; addictions and destructive behaviors; obsessions; mood swings; numbness; anxiety; isolation; feeling “I’ve never been the same since....”; feeling stuck; feeling un-grounded or scattered; compulsions; confusion about life purpose; feeling like you don’t belong; feeling overshadowed by something; having destructive beliefs, behaviors or illnesses that run in your family; unwanted patterns that just don’t change despite sincere attempts through other means; unhealthy attachments to people, places, things, ideas; PTSD; prolonged or unending grief that continually debilitates; lost memories; lack of purpose; suicidal urges.........

+ What is a typical session like?

First, there are no typical sessions. This is very dynamic work and I am always surprised. I also work in different ways with consideration for what is truly possible for a client at any given time. I do half-day and full day immersion sessions that are very primal and focused on taking you to what you have forgotten within your original nature in a very intimate, sensual way. These immersion sessions may include making deep connections with nature spirits and dreaming with the Earth; healing contacts with specific plants and/or elements, fire tending, listening to the winds and waters, story-telling, grieving, bodywork, resting, eating, singing, as well as other typical Earth/Spirit tending services. This is a way to fully drop in to actually embodying your transfigured essence and claiming vital parts of yourself.

I also offer timed sessions from one hour for repeat clients to 2-3 hours for those who are either new or who are working on specific threads. These sessions may occur in an office, in your home or someone else's, on my land or yours, in a forest or field...or in a remote session over the phone or other digital method. It all depends on what is needed for you to be open, able and participant and for the work to be supported.

So, having said that, if it’s your first session we’ll usually spend a little time talking about the purpose that brought you to this point, but not always. I will do everything to ensure your comfort and sense of safety as well as help you have understanding of what the session will be addressing, and how. Once you’re fully settled, I will invoke a sanctuary space and call upon my spirits and yours and begin a divination journey in order to receive a diagnosis for what is needed at that time. In most cases I’ll then share that information with you, check in with your level of comfort and then begin whatever assistance the spirits have shared is currently appropriate.

Once initiated, it is the spirits themselves, working through me as a conduit, who provide healing, balance and guidance. This is where the beauty and power of an Earth/Spirit tending approach lies. No matter how thorough, intelligent, experienced or intuitive a person might be, human perception and acquired knowledge is limited. But the spirits have no such limits and can perceive just what is needed for you at that time. They also live in an exalted state so that no matter what your life may seem like to you, they perceive your absolute and eternal beauty, power and goodness and they transmit that knowing to you. They will do this to whatever degree you’re able to receive it and they will also help you expand your ability to receive the truth of your own glorious and competent essential nature. In my experience, no matter what kind of healing service you explore, ultimately it is the inspirited love you receive that begins the changes in you. I work in embodied ways, allowing the healing energies of our elemental nature to assist in relaxing the grip of the over-serious mind which resists change and to invite the "soft animal of the body to love what it truly loves"(thank you, Mary Oliver).

Once this part of the session is complete, there will be some exchange about how you can best integrate whatever you’ve received as well as suggestions for self-care. If you need to walk a bit, have something to eat or drink, stay put a while to rest or be with tender or strong emotions, there will be space and time for that as well--whatever is needed for you to feel grounded, able and complete for that day. If you want to have accurate recall for whatever was conveyed in a session, please bring some form of recording device. I will occasionally email you after a session if I remember something later that I need to share with you, but given that I’m in a slightly altered state during the session, I might leave something out so please have some mode of recall if that precision is important to you.

I also want to state here that this work isn't about fixing anything. Despite that significant and at times incredible interventions may occur, complete resolution for everything in life that disturbs you isn't realistic or even desirable. We live in a vast, constantly evolving cosmos in which very little is knowable in any absolute way and in which we each are not a predominant species. There is always some danger in life, some suffering and much mystery. However, cultivating your spirit power by various means can give you better traction for living this unpredictable flow of life as a sane, generous human being.

+ What is the clients role in a healing session?

You are the primary mover in what can happen. It is your desire to be more real, more fully yourself, to be free from old conditioning and wounds; your desire to heal, create and satisfy your heart’s needs; your desire to bring your gifts into the world and live from a place of balance that creates the foundation upon which all the work will build. If you seek a session then you are not dead, and so you have some power, despite how you might feel. So we will begin with honoring and working with the power already present that you bring to your life. Consequently it will be up to you to set your clear intentions and it lies within you to determine what truly feels appropriate as far as goals, timing and what you desire to receive. If you find yourself in too depleted a state to touch in with your power or ability to work with it, then with your own spirit helpers and mine, we will do what we can to help you access what's needed from within you with the intention that I don't impose my own biasses and possible agendas on your way and means.

Ultimately, your own receptivity, and most importantly, your sincere openness to change are the key elements in how well you come into balance with yourself and life through this process. Many people will receive guidance from the assisting spirits, but they don't apply it, or only apply the parts that were appealing or comforting, familiar or easy, and so don't work with it in a deeply committed way. When this happens the power can eventually diminish and perhaps even become lost. These spirits are not there to "fix" you while you remain passive; they will help to shift the matrix of your energies in the direction of wholeness and balance and they are there to guide you and help you learn about how to work with your innate power in the ways that are most effective. Although they will sometimes bring through immediate healing energies that will seem miraculous, these effects can only remain lively if we do the needed work to support the changes, as well as understand what led to issues of power loss.

In our culture, many things are sought for the comfort and escape they provide from our difficult lives. We can tend to look upon everything ---even and sometimes especially spirutual practices, psychological modalities, energetic rituals--- as commodities to consume for stimulating, distracting highs, or "peak" experiences, and the hope of a quick fix, going from one to another and another. But the growth of awareness, congruence with our spirit path, emotional maturity and balance within all our relationships is a continual process of conscious application of what we've learned and tending to the results. If we are truly alive and evolving, we will continually be pushed out of our comfort zone. How we live our lives and how we approach what limits us is something we alone are accountable for. We have to be willing to be uncomfortable, to be messy, to fail and yet persist, to stay with the unknown and unknowable for great periods of time, and to leave familiar aspects of ourselves behind in order to align more fully with our spiritual nature and purpose. Becoming aware and accountable to your experience is the only path to your true power that I know....

Having said all that, it is also true that nothing is static or isolated and you are not at all alone in this. The presence of the helping spirits will open doors you could never believe were possible. Through the assistance of these spirits the darkest, most difficult and resistant difficulties can be lightened and released in ways that defy rationalization. With these same energies, even the most hidden and silent dreams in your heart can be accessed and enlivened so you have the resources to live from your beautiful, true nature with a sense of delight, purpose, passion, agency and belonging. All of this happens with compassion and respect for your abilities, internal and external resources and timing.

+ What can I expect after a session?

One of the first things usually reported is a sense of being deeply witnessed and loved in ways that are not customary. This is sometimes accompanied by deep emotion as old pain and limiting beliefs are softened for release or simply removed. Another is a growing sense of gratitude for the presence of the attending spirits, even if the person didn’t believe in them at all beforehand, or was wary or doubtful. Many people experience the tangible energies of this love and presence in ways which often moves them to tears of wonder and joy. On the other hand, sometimes disturbing material arises that is unexpected and disorienting so the time following a session might be marked by some puzzlement and the discomfort of the new and unknown. Sometimes long repressed grief will arise in order to be witnessed and move so the body/spirit/mind can achieve a healthier equilibrium. At times, a chronic, troubling physical symptom will simply disapper or diminish. Along with these responses many other states can be present depending on what was done. You might feel energized and elated and very strong. You often will notice new sensations, perspectives and attitudes about what drew you to the session to begin with. You might be vulnerable, quiet and feel a need for deep rest and solitude. Despite feeling the deep love, you might also feel some confusion or even a sense of temporary destabilization as the newer energies take time to integrate. All sorts of emotions and sensations can arise due to the great safety, openness and love experienced through the spirits as your heart softens and relaxes. Whatever comes up is fine, and will have the space it needs to evolve.

As you integrate the healing energies and continue this path, you will often find yourself feeling more alive and capable in whatever circumstance you inhabit. Most people feel their sense of personal value--their self love--rise and report noticing new and better opportunities coming their way. Many discover that the obstacles and dilemmas they wanted to address begin to shift with more ease. People often find they feel more fully in their body, with greater awareness of their senses and their relationship of belonging on this earth. Most people report feeling less tense and critical with themselves and others and more trusting in life’s flow. With continued application of awareness and congruent behavior, most will notice they’re becoming more the person they always wanted to be but could never quite become on their own. Some changes will be gradual or subtle and lead to other needed changes but other results occur which can only be termed miraculous.

+ Can I get what I need in one session?

This is a question that always makes me smile. We so often want the most important aspects of our lives to be just that simple. One trick and everything falls into place. We think nothing of expecting to go continually to the gym or yoga or pilates studio or martial arts class or health food store for supplements, etc. or to acupuncturists, chiropractors and other healthcare people quite regularly to work with our bodies. If our interests are emotional/psychological we will go weekly or monthly and sometimes for years to a therapist to work out our childhood wounds or present challenges. But when it comes to working with the energetic, spiritual level of our lives ---which is what actually informs our physical, emotional and mental states and leads to difficulties in those domains--- we want it to happen quickly and completely and not have to be addressed again.

Well... depending on what you hope to address in your life, there are certain simpler things that can be satisfactorily encountered in one or a few sessions, especially if you have a personal, well-developed self-healing practice. If you have a suffering spirit attached to you, then you can be de-coupled in one session. However, that will not fully address the vulnerabiliies which led to the possibility of possession or the ramifications of your behaviors and beliefs due to the possession. It will not address what traumas and self-sabotaging patterns the quality and duration of the possession created, nor will it address how you encounter the energetic changes accompanying the inner shift after a decoupling, as these can be quite dramatic at times. These are things that take time, awareness and sometimes outside help. If you have soul-loss, and just about everyone in our culture has quite a bit of soul-loss, then most of your efforts in life to live your full potential will be somewhat diminished. And soul-loss can lead to other energetic depletions, etc. So there may be a process of shedding over time that is needed, and new resources enlisted, in order for the work to be most effective. How we each go about this is unique.

Becoming the humans we are meant and able to be within a culture that is fundamentally insane from losing connection to ancestral lands and traditions coupled with consequences from the perpetuation of toxic ancestral or current patterns which manifest in racism, genocide, wars, greed and materialism, earth ravages, fundamental dishonesties, objectifications and abuses of all sorts, and more, is a long-term process. There is much we can do ourselves and in connected loving community with applied, inspirited awareness, but sometimes we simply need outside help and the interdependent energies of working with another. So... sometimes a profound transformation will occur in a single session. We’re working with Spirit and not human ability, so there is opportunity for growth and change beyond normal expectations. But as our lives as a whole are a process of unfolding, the deeper levels of well-being, awareness, great creativity and alignment with one's true nature will tend to involve a process of greater commitment from you in some way: either within yourself with your Helping Spirits or with whomever you turn to for spiritual guidance; or with a practitioner of some sort, or both. Your interests and issues, your experiences once you begin an Earth/Spirit tending process, and the nature of your time and resources will all determine how you approach this form of unfolding awareness and well-being.

+ Can someone come with me to a session? Do you work long-distance?

As this work is done in the spirit realm which is not dependent on time or space, most work can be done either in person or remotely. If desired, some can be done a friend or family member present if you are truly comfortable with that. If I have a prior intuition that what will be addressed requires very private space, I will inform you ahead of time or simply ask anyone else in attendance to step out of the space temporarily.

+ What do you charge for a session?

As for payments, there is a payment page on my website underneath “Contact” where you can make a payment. I can also do Zelle through the bank. As for fees…. All first sessions are $200. After that the fee structure changes depending on what we do. For healing sessions it’s usually $150 the first hour, $90 the second, prorated in 20 minute segments. For mentoring/guidance it’s $150 the first hour, $90 the second, prorated in 20 minute segments. With longer term mentorings, a discussion of fees is needed.

For people I work with frequently in healing sessions however, I tend to drop the set fee structure and ask them to pay what they feel is right and workable while trusting that they also recognize that the fee structure I've set is an indication of understanding and care on my part, as well as an overture of fairness for the needs of others. So I always ask people to consider everything I’ve said and check with themselves to see where they fall and if they need to work anything out with me to just ask, because I’m usually willing to work something out with anyone who I feel is sincere about the work. For first sessions I ask you to set aside two hours as I've found that to be what's often needed if you've never had this kind of work before. For this and for land/space clearing work, please Contact Me

Doing this work is a calling from my spirit and from the Spirits. I truly don’t believe I could do anything else and still live with a sense of purpose and aliveness. As such, I try to be as available as I can within certain respectful parameters to whomever feels a need for this service. Modern humanity has created very limited methods of useful energy exchanges and so we tend to have set fee structures to acknowledge that we live in a world that requires money for basic needs. There are a lot of different, valid cultural beliefs as well as some confusion about doing "spiritual" work for a fee and I address this somewhat in the question about the word shaman and its use and misuse. Contact Me with questions about this if you have them.

All times and fees apply to both in-person and remote sessions. Some introductory group gatherings are donation-based and group circle talks are always freely offered when requested and/or needed. Thank you.

+ What is a journey?

The following is based on common understanding in western culture about this and does not necessarily represent my personal views or practice. A journey is when someone goes into an intentional focus of awareness in order to receive guidance or some other kind of energy from the spirit realm. The most commonly known way of doing this is to use a sonic driver to go into this kind of state such as listening to some form of repetitive sound like a drum beat or rattling, or by chanting, singing or dancing. The rhythm commonly used, especially for beginning journeyers is one which occurs within a 4-5 beats per second range. This pattern of sound is most likely to produce a theta brainwave state which is conducive to journeying, although most practitioners develop their own sensitivities to what rhythms works best over time. I have a variety of ways I do my own work.

A journey can be experienced in different forms. One is when the journeyer travels to and within the spirit realm for contact. This is the process usually used until one becomes quite adept and sometimes even then is the one preferred. The other is when the spirits are called to the journeyer and merge with them directly in ordinary space to deliver their energies through an embodied state. Sometimes both occur. Most everyone can learn to journey in some way if the desire is there; the ability to enter heightened states of awareness seems to be part of our evolutionary hertiage and some form of regular altered state--whether it is meditative, energetic or kinesthetic--is often needed to maintain health in our spiritual, mental and emotional lives and thus support our physical health as well. Our culture doesn't validate this notion but that does not make it false! And a journey is like any other thing we want to do well in life; it requires discipline and practice. It requires coming into right relationship with the spirits, Earth and with your own power. Read further to know a bit more about common brain wave states.

A normal, alert brainwave state is called a beta state. Beta waves range between 13-40 HZ. This is associated with peak concentration, alertness and visual acuity. The next step down from beta is alpha with a range of 7-12 HZ. This is a state of great relaxation where one can begin to access the creativity that usually lies just below everyday consciousness. What has been named a shamanic state of consciousness (SSC) tends to arise during the theta state. Theta waves range between 4-7 HZ. This state is considered the twilight state right before the delta range of sleep and is conducive to the more extraordinary realms of learning, memory and creativity. This *theta *state is the one in which many inventors, artists, mathematicians, composers, etc. report they spontaneously come upon their most creative works. Theta awakens intuition and other extrasensory perceptions that allow the explorer to make connection with forms of consciousness that are normally either ignored or are difficult to perceive from more usual states of awareness. Healers all over the world were inducing the theta state thousands of years before the science of brainwave patterns was known. For more information on the journey a good article to read can be found at "[http://www.sandraingerman.com/sandrasarticles/abstractonshamanism.html\]4"

+ The word Shaman and its use and mis-use

I am not a shaman nor do I practice traditional shamanism, even though it's believed I do and at times there are similarities. However, because of confusion about practices working with spirits and the wide spread use of the term shaman I'm including my perspective here, for what it's worth.

This is a contentious topic in some circles and I tread here with some hesitation. I am often revising this writing and don't always believe all of what is written here because this is learned information and I am not always a rigorous researcher in this way so I advise you to do your own work if you're really interested. But I am asked about this and so I like to approach it with respect for all of us and our many different perspectives, backgrounds and understandings and practices as well as respect for both the benefits and failings of language and the varied cultures from which this all arises.

There have always been medicine people in every culture we know of. The names given to these people befitted the culture and conveyed among their people what was needed. In present time, all over the world we still have medicine people who are now often called by the singular term shaman, especially by those outside the specific culture. As far as we--or I-- know, the word “shaman” was originally popularized by an early Russian researcher who was studying the medicine people in Siberia who went into sonic-driven trance states, connected with non-corporeal beings for assistance with healing and guidance for their people, and who opened themselves as conduits for the healing energies of the spirit realm to come through. Or it may have been a history based creation of anthropoligist Michael Harner's..... This is a bit simplistic, confusing as well as possibly debatable, but possibly workable in this context. Anyway, this should give you at least a feel for the tenuousness of this term.

Based on an Evenki(Tungusic dialect of Siberia)word whose root meant either “to know” or "to see" or “to leap, jump, dance,” (there is difference of opinion about this) and, applied to the practices documented, from this beginning traced to the 1600’s, other European invaders and anthropologists as well as other Russian travelers spread the use of the word shaman outside of its own ethnic area to other areas where the dialect words for similar practices had been eradicated during the persecutions of religious Europe when the spread of Christianity decimated so many indigenous European spiritual practices. And so over the centuries, riding the trail of deepening colonization, that term became applied to any tribal based medicine person who worked in a similar fashion. The word as a term describing that practice really does not belong to anyone except maybe those Siberian medicine people and they don’t often get quoted about their sense of exclusivity; there are some Siberian shamans who are happy to have their culture—it’s languages and practices better known, used by others in other cultures and part of the conversation out in the world—as long as it’s done with knowledge and respect and others who don't feel that way. And that is one of the issues; what do we consider respect in this area, who determines it and how do we navigate when there is a lack of it? It's confusing when even the traditional people are not always unified about it.

In many tribal cultures, someone who displays a sensitivity for certain kinds of what we now consider extra-sensory perceptions, nature spirit connections, trans-rational knowings, particular markings, omens, occurrences at birth or in childhood, spontaneous healing abilities, and/or who comes from a lineage of medicine people, but mostly someone who is very obviously “called” by the spirits in some noticeable way to work with them, is usually then called by and supported by the community to undertake what is often a very arduous and lengthy process to “stalk” their medicine, or healing ways. These medicine people, who we now in modern usage often refer to as shamans, usually go through many difficult initiations that can involve near-death experiences, isolation, illnesses, physical deprivations, depression, accidents, cycles of ego-death, and sometimes separation from the heart of the culture while they’re learning. It’s different in every culture and none of what I say is to be taken in absolute terms, but this tends to be somewhat of a pattern. It is the community that essentially recognizes and names the medicine person as being just that, and this ultimately depends entirely on the person’s effectiveness---can they help in locating (hunting/growing) food? water? plant medicines? can they affect cooperation and harmony among their people? do they bring balance between the human community and the beings of the earth/spirit realm? do the Ancestor spirits assist them? do the nature spirits work with them in helping the community? do they put the well-being of the community before their ego and comforts? These are some of what tribal people look for in their mediators between form and spirit that the rest of the world, and even now some tribal cultures, call shamans.

We don’t have these recognized patterns in contemporary culture. We don’t have communities like this nor do we have ways of acknowledging or supporting those who are still being called by the spirit realm to do this work. We lack loving familiarity with wise and stable Elders mentoring us from childhood and exemplifying what is needed. It is much harder to perceive this call in modern culture and when perceived or experienced, there is little support or understanding from community or an open and sane path to explore for learning. We don’t usually even acknowledge that such a thing as Spirit (or spirits) exist, much less interacts with us in a conscious way. However....people are still people...and the spirit realm still calls those who are willing and able to work this way to be cooperative partners. But there is little available for this way of being that is wise and nurturing for those who are actually called and who have a sincere response. And as is obvious now in our culture, there can be much hype, glamour, and drama around the entire idea of being a “shaman” for some.

It is increasingly easy these days to go to a few workshops or attend a short-term training and come out feeling this is your path and then advertise as a practitioner. But as within the tribal communities, the true acknowledgment that this is a genuine path tends to come from many life experiences over a more extended amount of time that strongly indicate the influence and call of the spirit world and the subsequent initiations, as well as results that demonstrate effectiveness over time. And it is poignant as well as disturbing at times to observe people's true neediness, longing and naivete about this path for it is not at all glamorous and certainly not easy. Traditional cultures are often amazed, offended or find it bizarrely funny when some Westerner claims they "want" to be a shaman, for they know what this path can actually be like.

What can prepare someone to work deeply in this way are not the life experiences most people willingly seek, as often the spirits work with those who have been scoured and opened by pain, rather than becoming closed; those who have come up against their limitations; with those who have innate sensitivities to the subtle realms and spirit presences which can often make adapting to and functioning well in everyday community more difficult; and with those who have submitted their own will in learning countless challenging life lessons which shatter, reorganize and soften their self-image and personal need for life to be maintained in certain, self-managed ways.

You will also recognize the spirits tending to work with those who have surrendered their egoic fixations and their withholding from Life; with those who will learn what true power is and not be afraid to use it fully with humility; they work with those who will step into their sovereignty backed by Spirit and not be swayed by external conditions or influences; and they work with those who widely open their hearts in compassionate service while being discerning and accountable for all their actions. In this way the spirits can work through a person with purpose and power. So... it could seem those in modern culture who have been called to do this work have just as much presence to be named either a shaman by their community(depending on lineage and training), but there is some reluctance for many to call themselves so. However, in our culture where there is such overwhelming diversity of life expressions, there has to be some way to designate what your line of service is based on the language and agreed upon terms your culture uses for definition. So... what do we do?

First of all, I believe we could stop calling all medicine people of diverse cultures by the term shaman and reserve that for those of a Siberian or Mongolian lineage, or at the very least begin applying it only to those who practice similarly and with similar trajectories and consequences and lineage sourced training. We can also learn what medicine people are called in whatever culture we are interacting with or learning from and consequently, through honoring the language and ways of traditions who are so often overrun by the insanity of western culture we can bring acknowledgement and honor to all the sacrifices made to keep a tradition active and alive in the face of threat. Secondly, those who have experienced this call and work in this way now often use the term “shamanic practitioner,” a term using a description rather than a title, to identify the practice of having loving, deeply tended relationships with the unseen energies of the spirit realm and the Earth, that they were called by the spirit realm and almost seem to have no choice in the matter, and who use trance states and/or varied means of expansive consciousness to access guidance and healing energies from these relationships on behalf of people, animals, the dying, the dead, and all beings/elements of the Earth and cosmos, seen and unseen. I don't resonate with this term as I prefer to keep my own knowing of what I do closer to heart.

As an alternative, we can deeply feel into what our work is, where/who ancestrally our practices have come from, and use the terms once used in the prevalent lineage of our present practice, if available. Some of us have so many different ancestral lineage currents running through us that inform our practice it can be difficult to know what to use. Still, some of us don't self-refer as shamans--occasionally leaving that to our communities if they so choose--out of respect for traditional cultures who so often have their lineage-based ways co-opted by contemporary people who don’t apply the essential principles of humility, rigor, unity consciousness and sacrifice that are distinguishing traits of those who have worked in this way for time uncounted.

I prefer to courteously deflect the use of the word shaman when called that by others and then attempt to educate. I understand that people are often trying to either show me respect or else describe what they’ve learned are the hallmarks of this practice and way of life and yet it has become so ubiquitous, laden with confusing thought-forms and unfortunately has sent the Ancestors of those of us from wiped-out European and British spiritual traditions even further into the mists, or else created disruptive commotions in the psyche/soma of the living, so that I choose not to accept it as a title. It simply doesn't belong to me. Many of us remember and acknowledge with great gratitude, respect and humility how untold millions have died, been brutalized, oppressed, enslaved and/or rendered invisible while holding with great courage and fortitude to the beauty ways of their spirit traditions on behalf of the entire web of life.

Some people do accept the designation of shaman for the reason that it is a term that now generically conveys, based on the historical and linguistic evolution of this term, just what it is they offer and do. And many who do this---not all, but many--do not consider it to be a form of elitism or special prideful status, or belonging exclusively to one culture but simply now a time-honored name to designate a beautiful and needed area of service. I don’t argue this with those whose work is deep, good and true, and which leads people to begin a return to the sanity of the Earth and relationship with the wisdom of other than humans and with the dead and other discarnates. Nor am I willing to denigrate the people or the work I know to be good in this way, based on a theoretical stance that the work can’t possibly be healing or good if it’s coupled with an unawareness of the reported harm the use of this term can do.

First of all, cultures since recorded history have borrowed and used what has worked and the terms associated with that when it comes to better ways of survival. This is true on all levels of human need and expression, from spiritual practices to food systems to habitation to education to hunting to travel to warfare, and the language that defines them, for good or for ill, etc. Secondly, we do not learn, change or deepen our consciousness in linear, completed ways. There is much imperfection, surge, collapse and reorientation, and considerable room for growth and change. We are in a time of great transition in relation to this way of being and my hope is that we can mature not only into authentic practice and relationship with the Earth and spirits, but reflectively into a language that is both descriptively accurate, referentially potent, and that doesn't in any way contribute to homogenizing or diluting the presence and power of the traditions and languages of present and past indigenous cultures, including those of Euro/British settler lineages.

At this point in my practice I refer to myself as an Earth/Spirit tender or Earth/Spirit-based practitioner and will very occasionally use the defining term "shamanic" when describing something if it dispels confusion. Whatever name we use, it is accurate to reflect that modern people doing any work of this nature are in a state of infancy with it now, until we re-develop over the generations, a stable, respectful and strong relationship with our Ancestors, with the land where we actually are and with seen and unseen beings of the world that are anchored in everyday practices.

In many tribal cultures, those who the community eventually regarded as their medicine people were often generously supported for as long as they served in this capacity. Often they were conferred resources, status and privilege beyond that of the rest of the community as the people regarded their essential well-being to be sourced in the medicine person’s relationship with the spirit realm. In other cultures, the medicine person might do other work as part of the community and offer their gift as purely a service due to a belief that things of the Spirit should not be tied to commerce. However, even in these cultures, the medicine person was still often gifted with what was needed for them to continue to work on behalf of the community. Balance, need, gratitude, how energy works as a give and take, and the circle of reciprocity have always been key acknowledgements within human life, albeit also complicated and subject to many differing beliefs, experiences, dogmas and transitions. The main point in my own stance however, is that this work is not done from a desire for power, personal influence, status or privileged resources, but from a desire to serve Spirit and the Web of Life.

Although my work is partially based on my belief that many of our cultural systems need to be deeply dismantled and utterly transformed in order for us to live in alignment with the Earth and all life, I am still tied into this system willy-nilly even as I try to extract from its sticky threads. I continue to learn and change constantly. And although there is certainly negative practice within the rising shamanism movement that calls for our discernment, dialogue, and truth-telling, I also strongly feel that the current state of the world needs those of us in Western culture who are sincerely committed to working in spirit allied ways, to do so with everything we've got, no-holds-barred, full-time, and to be willing and grateful to receive adequate, life-sustaining support from our communities when possible in order to continue to do so.

I have many colleagues across the country who designate as shamanic practitioners or something similar, who are deeply dedicated this way; responsible, humble, joyful and incredibly effective in their relationships with their spirits and community, as well as extremely giving with their time and efforts in regard to compensation.

I have quite a mixed somewhat recent biological background: Mongolian, Finnish Sami, Irish, British, Hungarian Roma and Sicilian Mafioso. None of the old terms for a medicine person who works the way I do have had resonance for me yet and so, as stated above, I presently self-refer as an Earth/Spirit tender, a phrase I made up because that is where so much of my learning has come from—directly from the earth and spirits—and it is what I do: I tend relations with the Earth realm and with the Spirit realm, and in-between. If someone wants to know more what that means, I figure they can ask. It might not give as much immediate information as using the term shaman, which also carries a heavy load of misinformation, but it feels like a truer and more respectful fit for who I am and to honor who has resourced what I do; and who I am and all my resources is what I bring to my practice.

As we hopefully grow a more sane culture may we have some understanding for and give actual support to, and designated as needed by, the cultures who have been marginalized and whose people have suffered for long generations, as well as some understanding for the trauma-based cluelessness of those in greater positions of power and privilege in contemporary culture while also dissolving these systems and concurrently experiment with finding how language can be an actual ally in bringing this kind of perspective and work into greater understanding and acceptance, with deeper peace, tolerance, clarity and non-biased communication and creative actions; cultivating ever greater discernment as we learn, evolve and blend the old ways with the new, for our precious Earth needs us to be fully resourced in true and effective ways......now more than ever...