Did you know the Washington, DC metro area is home to one of the largest pagan/spiritual communities in the country? It is where I began my shamanic work nine years ago and where I received most of my shamanic training. So I am excited whenever I have the opportunity to return to DC and offer shamanic sessions and workshops of my own.
This year I will be at the Sante Wellness Center in Silver Spring, MD, October 18-24. I will be offering several workshops and free presentations on both shamanism and writing/publishing, as well as individual consultation and shamanic healing sessions by appointment. See full schedule here.
Coming to the Nation’s capital, I can’t help but tune in to what I perceive as the state of our country today. I see many, many people reaching to develop personal spiritual paths, to make meaning of their lives, and to live with integrity. I see them developing an awareness of their own intuitive and healing powers – and wondering how to make sense of these new experiences.
I think all healing paths – the energy of love combined with compassionate intelligence – lead to the same place. They are all paths to the Great Mystery, each tailored to our own mode of perception and being. Shamanism itself has multiple paths and cultural identities, but with its 40,000-year history, I believe its core principles and practices form a well-suited foundation for any healing path. I find shamanism to be a useful structure for living in connection with the universe and the divine, for maintaining clarity and focus in my life, and for helping others.
I try to present shamanism not as a system of practices or techniques, but as a way of deepening our connection with the spirits of all things and living with inspired purpose. For me, shamanism isn’t about “spells and magic,” although the results can be magical, and it isn’t about “curses and supernatural power,” although it can be powerful. And it isn’t even about “messages and signs,” although it often gives us wisdom in these forms. It isn’t about giving us, as practitioners, healing power, even when healing happens, and it isn’t about immortality, even as we “walk in the land of the dead and return.”
For me, shamanism is about finding our way in a world that is larger than it appears, knowing where we go when we die, and opening ourselves to the adventure life is meant to be. That’s how I try to teach, and that’s how I try to help people heal.
I invite you to join me in DC, in Missoula, in my home via skype, email, or phone, or wherever our paths may cross. I wish you well on your own spiritual path, wherever it may take you.