Shamanic Healing
Nature-based healing to cultivate inner harmony at the level of body, mind, and spirit.
“Shamanic healing is a journey. It involves stepping out of our habitual roles, our conventional scripts, and improvising a dancing path.”
Gabrielle Roth
Shamanism is the earliest spiritual practice known to humankind, dating back tens of thousands of years in every culture around the globe. Each culture has slightly different practices, and there is a common stream that runs through them all, which is the basic (Core) Shamanic practices, such as the Shamanic Journey, power retrieval, soul retrieval, drum healings, and the integration of energy. Shamanism is a trusted path, a time-honored tradition with practices that have been in use for centuries, which makes it reliable in a way that some newer paths may not be. Shamanism is, in its essence, a vehicle for connection to our innate and authentic power.
The word “shaman” is a Mongolian word meaning “one who knows” or “one who sees.” The shaman is an intermediary between the world of the seen (ordinary reality) and the world of the unseen (non-ordinary reality). In indigenous cultures, the shaman is the healer of the tribe, the one who brings healing medicine and insight to the tribe's members. Shamanic practitioners believe that the origin of all illnesses is spiritual in nature and therefore work to facilitate healing on this level.
Shamanism is a path of initiation. Initiation simply means that we move past old forms into more power, and we keep doing so on our path of growth as spiritual beings. In indigenous cultures, shamans are usually initiated through their lineage. In the modern world, while this may be less consciously understood, it may also be the case in that a mother may have clairvoyant abilities and pass them along to her daughter...we may pass our Shamanic abilities down through our lineage.
Another way that we may get initiated onto the path is through trauma. Trauma creates a doorway, a soul loss that creates an opening into the other worlds. Through our hypervigilance when we are attempting to survive terrible situations, we become open to non-ordinary reality, and also to our Shamanic powers. These powers would ideally somehow be discovered, and we would hope to find an apt teacher or guide to assist us in understanding and learning to harness this power so that it does not turn into a pathology that keeps us ill and stuck.
In our modern Western world, mental illness is seen as a pathology to be medicated, and those with such conditions are often ignored or poorly treated by those in their communities, and sometimes even banished altogether. In indigenous cultures, these conditions are viewed much differently. For example, it is believed that someone who, in the West would be diagnosed with schizophrenia is seen in indigenous cultures as being a shaman. This condition is marked by auditory and sometimes visual hallucinations...things that the shaman experiences regularly. For the shaman, this is the way of things - that the veil between ordinary reality and non-ordinary reality is very thin, and so the shaman can communicate with the spirit world. From a Shamanic perspective, all mental illness is seen as gifts that are yet to be discovered and understood, and Shamanism provides a way to do just that.
Shamanism is wisdom that is held in the Earth. The belief is that everything in nature has a spirit - the earth, rocks, trees, animals, plants, and elements and that everything is connected by the web of life. Through the Shamanic Journey, we can directly connect with this interconnectedness and with Universal knowledge that is available in and around all things in nature.
Shamanism is primarily a path of personal responsibility and stewardship of the Earth. We are a part of nature and nature is a part of us, and what we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves, and vice versa. There is no separation. Our bodies are made up of the same elements that make up all of nature and physical reality as we know it. As such, it is our job to live responsibly and ethically, and in balance with all things, doing no harm. Two vital components of Shamanic practice are to cultivate respect and reverence...for oneself and for all of life. This is an ongoing path.
There are healing practices that are fundamental aspects of Shamanic healing. These practices are described in the section at the bottom of this page.
“To heal is to cleanse the soul of what no longer serves, making space for the light to enter.”
Unknown
The following are many of the elements that are fundamental aspects of shamanic healing work. This work is intuitive in nature and is tailored to you and your unique needs and intentions at the moment. While we are always focused on achieving your goals in our work together, there is never a set plan, per se…we follow the stream of your nervous system and energy and flow with what is called for at the moment.
Power Retrieval - When we are involved in abusive, manipulative, or controlling relationship dynamics with others, a state of power loss occurs. When this happens, you may have a sense of feeling anxious, helpless, hopeless, disempowered, or without choice. Through the practice of power retrieval, we travel to the time of power loss and give you an opportunity to take your power back from the situation or person. The retrieved power may take the form of an animal or an object. This retrieval results in renewed vigor, energy, motivation, and confidence.
Soul Retrieval - When we experience a traumatic event, we go into a state of shock. In Shamanic healing, this kind of trauma creates what is known as soul loss, where the soul part or part of one’s essence essentially gets trapped at the moment of greatest distress. In order for us to live in the most empowered way possible, we need to have access to all of our soul parts so that none of them are caught “in time” looping in past moments of pain and trauma. Through the practice of soul retrieval, we travel back in time to the moment of trauma, bring healing to the soul part, and bring it back to you in real time, resulting in renewed feelings of balance, focus, energy, and personal power.
Shamanic Parts Work & Inner Child Healing - One of the primary goals of shamanic healing is the integration of parts of ourselves that may have conflicted with one another, or “lost in time” due to previous trauma or injury through past relationships. Through parts work and parts integration, we can work with these “inner child” aspects, helping them to resolve past issues, heal old wounds, and come to a new awareness of better ways of moving through the world. A crucial part of this work is reparenting these parts that may not have felt loved, validated, seen, or accepted in their childhood or adult lives. This work offers a potent way to step forward to give ourselves the love and care we may have never received, and still long for.
Shamanic Journey - The Shamanic Journey is an interactive meditation that connects one to one's own inner wisdom. It is a tool used for healing, obtaining information, and working through issues. It puts one in direct contact with their inner resources, in the form of power animals and spirit guides, helping one to realize that all of the answers they seek lie within themselves, which is extremely empowering. I offer sessions and classes to help clients to connect with this powerful practice.
Drum Healing and Sound Healing - Drum healing and sound healing are other methods of bringing back much-needed power to the client, as well as removing any interfering energies. The healer engages in a series of drumming and rattling that help to do this work, helping the client to return to a state of balance, energetic fullness, and calm. Sound may be produced through the drum, rattle, tingsha bells, crystal singing bowls, Koshi chimes, and voice.
Connection To Guides and Archetypal Energies- During your session, I may assist you in aligning with your spirit guides, angels, or with certain ascended masters and helpful ancestors. The support and guidance of these beings serve to help you feel more resourced both during our work and in between sessions.
Rewriting of Soul Contracts - Intimate relationships are complex and often complicated as well. On a soul level, we choose our intimates before coming to the Earth plane so that we may assist one another in fulfilling our soul’s plan during this lifetime. Some of these soul contracts may be carried over from past lives. Sometimes we come to a point where the past or current life contracts we have written with others are no longer helpful or supportive to any involved. Thankfully, we can rewrite these soul contracts in a way that will allow us to move forward in healthy and aligned ways that are for the highest good of all involved.
Dream Interpretation and Rewriting - Dreams are powerful messages from our spirit allies and from our deeper selves. At times, we may have deeply disturbing dreams or nightmares, recurring dreams, or dreams that we cannot seem to interpret, even though they seem important somehow. Through the Journey and our connection to our guides, we can interpret our dream symbols and even go “back into” dreams through the Journey to work with the important material within them to bring much-needed change to our waking life.
Soul Parts Exchange and Cord-Cutting - Relationships are complicated, and frequently we find ourselves in enmeshment and codependent dynamics with those we love. When we are enmeshed, there is a lack of healthy boundaries between us and the other. This can manifest as over-caretaking, people-pleasing, losing ourselves to what the other likes, taking on the emotions of others, hiding aspects of ourselves to “match” the other, and trying to ‘fix ‘or save other people. This is an extremely frustrating way to live, and when we are functioning in this way, we may feel frustrated, drained, and emotionally exhausted. At times, we may even find ourselves in abusive relationships that are difficult to leave.
In soul parts exchange and cord-cutting, we are able to call our own life energy back to ourselves that we may have given too much of, give the other person their life energy back to them, and cut the energetic cords that bind us together. This process is simple yet powerful and results in us feeling like we are more in charge of our lives.Curse Clearing and Ancestral Healing - A curse is created by a negative thought form being sent our way, and there is a range of degrees to curses. A curse can be anything from someone thinking about you negatively to an expertly crafted curse maker, such as someone who practices voodoo. These curses have real power, as any energy that is aimed at you actually does land on an energy level, whether you feel it or not. Thankfully, we can clear the energy of the curses so that any harm that was meant for you is cleared and will no longer be able to affect you.
Frequently, we find intergenerational curses that were crafted long ago and are currently affecting members of a family. Any work that we do currently to heal ourselves, whether through curse clearing or other healing work, benefits the healing and spiritual evolution of all members of a family lineage, living or deceased.
The work I do with Shamanism is in deep respect to the lineages from which these practices are derived. I believe that our modern Western world is sick and in desperate need of the deep nature-based wisdom that shamanic practices offer. I hope to be able to connect others with this wisdom and that, in doing so, a measure of balance and harmony is restored to our world.
The land I live and work on is the WNC Region of North Carolina, part of the systemically stolen lands of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
May we honor, acknowledge, and remember the people whose lands have been forcefully stolen from them through ethnic cleansing practices that have walked, still walk, and will continue to walk this land, stewarding her ancient beauty and wisdom. I see this acknowledgment as a tiny part of a more significant collective work to build equitable relationships and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.