Tag: shamanic healing

Two healing options!

by 8hummingbirdway

If you have been reading my posts, you know that I have taken an unexpected turn in the past year … into channeling healing and information through Lei Lei.

This has been a huge departure for me. As I learned to channel, I experienced almost a full year without shamanic work. The inquiries simply stopped. I was not sure where I was headed. Was this beloved chapter over?

Meanwhile, I was in unchartered waters.

Channeling is not a straightforward thing. It took a while to become adept at bringing forth the messages and healing intact. I learned first to raise my frequency to even make contact with the higher realms.

It is not easy to detatch from the words coming out of my mouth. My brain did not always agree with every aspect of the messages, and I learned that the information did not always arrive as intended.

I channeled for friends and family and they put up with my learning curve.

Then I devised a few other techniques …envisioning a “clean slate,” …employing the “hollow bone” of the ancient shaman, …and then asking my mind to step aside and not interfere with the message – even to turn away and detatch if any feelings of attachment arose.

A little more practice followed, and I now feel I am able to bring forth the message as intended!

I am channeling daily. Healings for a number of people on a weekly basis make up the bulk of my work. The offernings that I bring forth for each individual are a constant delight for me! I experience a steady flow of amazement at the content.

AND …

I am delighted to report that in the past couple of weeks I have begun working shamanically again!

The requests started up again. I performed an extraction/clearing and a soul retrieval for a beloved family friend, and then an extraction/clearing for a Dutch woman living in Milawi who discovered me on this website!

I did not know where I was heading with this channeling mission for a while.

But who am I to argue with the message of needing to fulfil my soul’s mission?

It has landed well with me.

I am deeply grateful to be engaged with both modes of healing – shamanic and channeled.

It is my passion to help and heal.

Private sessions are offered in person and remotely by phone or video conference. Contact Annie to book a session, host a workshop, for sliding scale rates or to discuss barter arrangements or “paying it forward”

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Ancestor Work, part 1

by 8hummingbirdway

I completed my ancestor work last week.

I started it 7 years ago.

This is some of the most significant shamanic work I have done.

I followed the guidance of Daniel Foor, offered in his book Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. (This work can be approached by visualizing or by journeying.)

My first task was to journey and ask for an image of these 4 lineages:

-My paternal grandfather and the men before him.

-My paternal grandmother and the women before her.

-My maternal grandmother and the women before her.

-My maternal grandfather and the men before him.

In this initial journey I perceived a sense of each group – their level of well-being, their burdens. I rated them with a number from 1-10 that indicated their wellness.

I asked for guidance from my spirit teacher on where to start …and I began with my paternal grandfather’s lineage.

Now my mission was to journey back along the lineage until I perceived a person that was well and loving and willing to work with me – and who had a positive and vibrant relationship with their ancestors back to it’s beginning. I found “Michael of Wales” who taught me about the blessings and burdens of the lineage, about who they were. For example, sacred geometry and astrology were threads in their lives, they are aligned closely with the element of Water and they love to dance. Already I felt “home” because I also love the ocean, to swim and dance.

Michael lived in a hut near a pond and I got to know him, swam in his pond, sat by his campfire for several talks. He and “The Choir” – the name I was given for the men who came before him – assisted me in bringing the ancestral blessings of the lineage forward to the present, to myself, to my cousins and his other living descendants unknown to me. The process occurred through many guided meditations that are provided in the book. The individuals and generations between Michael’s life and my life had lost the ancestral connection. There ware varied levels of balance and wellbeing in the lives I encountered. The healing, for individuals and sometimes groups, occurred in various ways – in connection with the earth, by sitting in council, always completed with a group dance in the nearby water. The circle of wellness and the circle of ancestors in the water grew as the months of my work went on. It took 14 months.

There are times when the work is daily, times when it’s sporadic, and times when it can take a break, although I always sustain my connection to the lineage with a song, visit to my altar, or another reminder during that time of focus.

I proceeded to continue the work, as guided, with the lineage of my German maternal grandmother and the women before her.

This time, after researching the names of those in the lineage, I travelled a long long way back in time to find an ancestral guide who was well and loving, willing to help, and had a positive and vibrant relationship with her ancestors. I connected with a small woman named Paupo who lived in a cave in what felt was near or in current-day India! Surprise! I spent some memorable time there. Early on I found myself by the fire outside the cave, feeding the fire and learning of their sun worship and meeting the dragon that was their protector (and is now my ally as well). The “Ancient Ones” before Paupo were even smaller women in white robes and seemed Japanese to me. They were distant from me in a large circle and I didn’t interact with them. They were present in support of the healing work. Paupo and her people were sun worshippers and at first I was guided to sit in the sun daily in an exercise of connection with the sun and healing for myself and for the lineage. I later journeyed often to the sun and learned a song of love and connection with Fire.

I worked with Paupo intensively for 9 months, but it felt like a very long time. As time went by, we often sat by the nearby river in a healing/teaching circle where family members and close others from my present life were brought for healing. Later the the process I visited the cave and the larger family. When the work of bringing the blessing of the ancestors forward to the present and the healing of the lineage began, I learned that these gentle people were conquered by a Germanic tribe, enslaved, and eventually intermarried – which accounts for my German grandma. The trauma of this time was overwhelming. The healing took many sessions over centuries.

It was deeply impactful to know about this time of my ancestors being enslaved, and I was protected in the journeys. Dragon was always present, and the wounded ancestors were contained inside a sacred stone wall for my protection and for the protection of the ancestors. As the healing took place, the healed ones took their place with the well ancestors before them.

I feel a deep alliance with Paupo as I walk forward, I do not think of her often these days, but when I do, there is a special closeness between us. I feel her beautiful and kind presence. She is a sister.

Now I deeply understood the value of the work I had undertaken, and I had 2 lineages more to work with.

The next lineage was more challenging.

I will continue in another post.

Private sessions are offered in person and remotely by phone or video conference. Contact Annie to book a session, host a workshop, for sliding scale rates or to discuss barter arrangements.

Tribal Ways on Planet Earth

by 8hummingbirdway

I have long perceived tribalism as a sacred way of living.

Until very recently, my perception and understanding of tribal ways has largely been informed by my limited knowledge of Native American tribes. There is something about this way of life that tugs strongly on my soul.

In my early 20s I first came to feel that I was born in the wrong time; I still yearn for greater simplicity, even though it comes along with a harder life, and sometimes a shorter one. The richness to me of connection to nature and to each other, and of simplicity seems incalculable in comparison to our current path of what I would call Disconnection.

My deepest connection, even in childhood, has been to the Land and to Trees and to Water and to Music and to Loved Ones and to other simple aspects of life that I now understand connect me to “Spirit.”

My knowledge early in life was largely of this land, North America, and it’s history. When I looked back in time, I looked to homesteading and growing one’s own food, having access to nature, including plants and animals. A life like this is also more connected to the cycles of nature.

In my late 20s and 30s I researched and learned about Native American history, practices, and beliefs. What I learned aligned with my understanding of what is important and valueable in this life. And so when I looked to the past, I now had a broader view, which included the four directions, the four elements, ways of planting according to natural cycles, animal and plant spirits, and other sacred tribal ways.

My knowledge of Native American tribal ways also includes stories such as “Dances with Wolves,” The Education of Little Tree, and Return of the Bird Tribes. All of these stories bring me to tears. These tears are not unrelated to the tears I held back when I visited the Bulango Refugee Camp in Democratic Republic of Congo, where the refugees have been very recently ousted from their ancestral (tribal) lands, and are now reorienting themselves in a strange place with no connection to their longheld and sacred ways.

Another experience that informed my understanding of my own yearnings for deep connection was participating in and leading full moon gatherings for over 30 years, something I will share about another time. This practice brought to me a deeper awareness of natural cycles, and simple practices that align with gratitude, wisdom, compassion, and more.

The final aspect that connects me to tribal ways is my shamanic work, which includes journey circles and shamanic healing. I could write a great deal about this. For now, I will simply say that it is sacred work that originates with a tribal understanding of the soul. And I must include the fact that Ancestors, the Four Elements, as well as Animal Spirits and Plant Spirits, Great Spirit or Creator, and our Natural World and Cycles play significant roles in tribal ways of life and perception, in my work, and in my life.

My visit to Africa has me returning to the deepest inquiries of my soul with new information, a broader perspective, and some questions.

I have a great deal more to say regarding these matters.

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Libraries and a Special Person

by 8hummingbirdway

The Africa Posts

Yesterday we visited 3 Literate Earth Project (LEP) libraries. I very much enjoyed engaging with the children who were 6 – 8. Some of the teachers were also a delight.

My son founded this nonprofit organization when he was in college. He funded it almost completely by himself for several years as libraries were built. Today the organization is on solid financial ground, there are 17 libraries, and he is not longer the CEO. My son is the founder and sits on the advisory board.

People of all ages seem impacted by our whiteness. They may have seen a few Caucasians, but to talk to us and connect with us seems really…somehow moving. As it is with us to truly connect with Africans. I guess we are all realizing and experiencing our “sameness” and connection.

Most people are open and warm. When I sustain a smile even as we pass on the street, they have to, want to, give in and smile too. Not always, but predominantly. It’s lovely.

I also met a man named Kuol Kuol from South Sudan today. He was abducted from his home as a child to fill the ranks of child soldiers. I wanted to know at what age, but he changed the subject.

Being a child soldier is a subject of great shame. It’s surprising that he even disclosed it.

Kuol comes from a tribe where the men take the same name as their grandfather, the great-great-grandfather, and so on, skipping a generation in between. Kuol’s great-grandfather, his father and his first son also share a double (repeated) name. (I can’t recall the name.) There is strength in this, he told me.

Kuol identifies as a Christian, “but,” he says, he receives “pictures” and messages from his ancestors. This feels so aligned with my work as a shamanic practitioner.

Kuol is passionate about teaching at a refugee camp in Northern Uganda. He is engaged with a large LEP library there, and he joined us on this day to learn more about how he could best help the refugee children at the library. He also has ideas about improving fishing and farming undertakings for the war refugees. He hopes to implement them, and my son hopes to play a role in this.

I am blown away by this young man, in his early 20s. He’s been through so much, and applies himself to the needs of others in a way that is remarkably selfless. He seems to be an outstanding human. He appears to be kindness personified; I saw him engage with children at the libraries today, and with the toddler at dinner at the LEP director’s home. They all, We all, love him.

Somehow the work Kuol does for others must heal his wounds. That’s my sense.

Remarkably, he has also met and been impacted by the Dalai Llama. And really, this makes complete sense to me. Two gentle spirits. Both displaced from their homes, both helping others.

As we parted ways, I told him about my work in the way of the ancient tribal healer, and let him know that if people cannot pay, there is no charge for the help. I know that he knows many who are deeply wounded. It would be a blessing if I had the opportunity to help.

Interested in learning more about or donating to the Literate Earth Project? https://www.theliterateearthproject.org

Private sessions are offered in person and remotely by phone or video conference. Contact Annie to book a session, host a workshop, for sliding scale rates or to discuss barter arrangements.

Dirty Little Secrets

by 8hummingbirdway

I have been feeling paralyzed about sharing my family experience – which neccessarily includes my family members. Perhaps I am describing the individuals or what happened too thoroughly, or perhaps I should say “I know someone whose sister …,” or perhaps it is my presentation of being outside the trauma and looking in from a removed position.

Talking about my sister who is closest in age and was institutionalized, diagnosed, and has lived a life of challenge since then is telling an injury of my soul. Is it also compromising her privacy – even though nobody knows my maiden name or her first name or how to find her? She might not like it if I told her story publicly. I did not call and ask. My faraway sister in fact told me not to write about her and my response was that I get to tell about my life and she’s in it.

I have come to understand that keeping family secrets is a culturally approved choice.

Perhaps I am causing discomfort within others that are not even in the story by disrupting the status quo.

I feel strongly that keeping everything quiet is not a positive thing for people who have been traumatized, which includes most of us. Ok – that’s your opinion a voice within me says. Is it fair that you decide this for others?

The work I do involves healing of patterns and dynamics for those who have experienced trauma. I don’t think it would surprise very many people to know that most trauma is perpetrated by those closest to us: Mother, Father, Sibling, Husband, Wife and even Child. We are so afraid of the Stranger in this world, but the real harm, the deepest harm and betrayal generally comes from those we engage with regularly.

I am not making any statements about the intention of the injuring person. My focus here is on the person who is harmed.

Intentional trauma can be betrayal or untruth or physical harm. That pretty much covers it – but the range and variation of these themes are vast. Betrayal includes sexual use of a child by any mature (or maturing) individual. Untruth includes the pretense of kindness when one manipulates another. Physical harm can be “accidental,” perpetual, occasional, and of different degrees and types – to the point of regularly executed torture or sleep deprivation. These things go on in families. Between people who “love” each other.

Keeping the dirty little secrets of family is what we are expected to do. But it causes shame within. “This happened to me and I can’t ever talk about it because it’s shameful.” It’s a very small step from that place to carrying shame about oneself. People try to bury it, but it lingers. It steals your well-being, your self-love, your self-respect, your ability to speak up. It steals your ability to stand in your true self and apply your god-given wisdom and knowledge to your own life.

Keeping secrets also makes us comfortable with deception. It’s a very short step from not telling to lying. In fact, it’s not a step at all. Not telling about something that is pivotal to your wellbeing is lying. And we quickly learn not to tell. If we are not explicitly threatened with harm or the harm of someone else we love, the response of others teaches us quickly to keep it to ourselves. Most people truly do not want to hear about what happened to you. You are avoided or directly chastised as a liar or ridiculed and treated as less. That’s how the large majority of people respond. Because they are afraid of association with someone who has had these experiences.

Keeping secrets of this sort – secrets of harm done to you as a child or as a lover – are practices in our culture that have been established over time. These practices protect the perpetrator of those who hurt others weaker than them, even though those harmed would be justified in hoping/expecting to have the protection of the person who instead, is harming them.

Am I harming the people I love by telling the stories I am sharing?

I have more thinking to do.

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Shamanic Healing of Schizophrenia?

by 8hummingbirdway

My sister, my beloved sweet sister who was born 2+1/2 years after me, was diagnosed as schizophrenic in her early teens – after some experimentation with psychedelic drugs. We had moved the summer before she entered 9th grade, and she fell in with the “wrong” crowd. I remember her acting a bit strange the following year, just before I took off for college. But I missed most of the trauma around all this.

Things I remember being told:

  • She asked our younger brother to cut her belly open and put a lamp inside her to help someone or something.
  • She was brought to the “best” institution in a nearby city when she became unmanageable. (There were 3 younger children in the family.)
  • I know she was medicated and raped while whe was at this place.

I’m not sure how long she was institutionalized. I believe it was months, not years.

I remember her having a job at a supermarket a few years later. She had returned home for a while, but then our parents had kicked her out. After a while she tried to kill herself by jumping off a 2nd story porch. She broke her leg.

At some point she became unwilling to take medication.

She spoke of having flashbacks when I spoke with her. I was scared of her and her condition. I missed my sister. I didn’t know what to say to this person. It was like my sister had vanished. My loss of her is one of the deepest losses I have experienced in this lifetime.

She was the one who saved birds and other small critters when we were young. She never hurt a soul.

Later she had a child who I ended up adopting. Story here.

After that my sister lived under bridges; I was told she sold her blood for food. She witnessed a person pushing her friend off a subway platform into the path of an ongoing train. She experienced a lot that I never want to experience. My father managed to stay in touch with her because she called him for financial assistance from time to time. He managed to get her a PO Box, then later, an apartment – with the help of social services.

She stayed away from family for a long long time, but Dad would send a letter to her PO Box and travel from the East Coast to the Phoenix, AZ – where she lived. He told her where and when to meet him, promising a meal, a swim in the hotel pool, a stay overnight if she wanted. He would plan a meeting at a certain place and time. Sometimes she showed up and sometimes she didn’t. This went on for years and years. Eventually she let him know where she lived and he was able to go there annually and pick her up for meals and some time together.

Eventually my youngest sister moved to Colorado. She visited our challenged sister sometimes. Eventually my challenged sister told my compassionate youngest sister that she’d like to be closer to family. This was after our parents had died. My youngest sister arranged for housing and brought her to live nearby. She is present in her life at least weekly.

I have seen my “mentally ill” sister several times since then – at her apartment, at our sister’s home, back East at my brother’s home and at my home. She has seen her daughter/my daughter maybe 4 years ago on her most recent trip East. She met her 2 grandsons once or twice when they were small (they were busy being teenagers and missed our last gathering).

At some point I learned that schizophrenia usually becomes evident in adulthood, not in the teen years.

During my shamanic training I learned that schizophrenia can be a result of being stuck in non-ordinary reality (like on a journey) after the use of LSD – and not knowing how to get back to ordinary reality. That made sense to me. It may have been an LSD experience that never ended.

I mentioned this to my sister, but she isn’t interested in exploring alternatives to the medication she has come to rely on. (The meds have improved over the years.) She has come to live a connected and reliable existence and she is sticking with it.

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About F, my friend

by 8hummingbirdway

A loved one asked me in early August if I could journey for someone else, a longtime friend, who plans to end his life. I said yes, but that he would have to ask me himself, or be ok with it – that he should reach out to me. A couple of weeks later he did. I will call him F (for friend). I have been on a journey with F for about 2 months.

On our first call we spoke for an hour and a half about his life. He is currently driving around the country in his car on a “farewell/gratitude” tour, visiting those who have been important in his life. He plans to end his life in April 2024. He told me during that conversation that as a young child he asked his mother “Why did you bring me here?” He has never felt that this physical reality was his home. He has not aligned with others that feel like his people. He calls himself “relational” – meaning that he cares more for people and authenticity than for things or peripheral occurrences or what might be driving forces for others. He also has seen his mother and his aunt suffer from dementia in recent years, and he does not want to experience it. He does not have children to tether him or to look out for him in his aging years. He has no strong love for any particular place here on Earth to feed his spirit and to hold him.

As we spoke, we were very open and forthright and a friendship developed. I feel strongly aligned with F and I recognize him as a warrior, which is something I have found in myself and in others. Warriorship to me means that one has strong values and stands in their truth, stands FOR the truth as they see it, walking a path of authenticity that nobody can sway or influence. F is a loving, wise, openhearted man. My opinion is that this physical reality in which we live NEEDS warriors like him in the current time of confusion, division, corruption and deception. I expressed this to F, but he feels he has done his time and is ready to leave it behind.

I shared with him about the work I do and told him I thought soul retrieval might be helpful. He was open to the possibility.

On our second long call, F told me that he is thinking about “exiting” in December 2023 rather than April 2024 to avoid bringing darkness to the birthday month of a sibling. We spoke about patterns in his life and I found him to be unusually self-aware. Surprisingly to me, F does not believe in a soul, or that one’s core being sustains after death. This felt like a substantial obstacle to my being able to assist him. However, we set a time for a soul retrieval process.

I asked for chalnneled guidance from Sri Pune and was told that my working with F would be an opportunity to create a shift for him.

On a 3rd call we talked about his family of origin; he is close with some of his siblings and had a positive relationship with his mother. His relationship with his father was not close or supportive. He did have 3 significant men in his life that were positive role models.

I did a soul retrieval for F in late September and returned 2 soul parts to him very early one morning. A 2 year old holding onto a kitchen chair and a 4 year old sitting under a tree. He reported that he woke with a great deal of energy.

F’s journey took him to Long Island, and I felt moved to invite him, this close friend of a beloved one, to join me in a visit to my daughter’s home in CT in mid-October. He also felt that it would be positive to meet. The next part of the soul retrieval process was to teach him to journey, and doing it in person is always a delight. F was surprisingly open to it; he enjoyed the experience. We had dinners and campfires at night with my family. We became friends in the physical realm and our time together felt “soulful.”

Now he is on the road continuing his gratitude/farewell journey. Heading south toward warmth.

He keeps reminding me that he has not changed his mind.

I have to say that I understand F. I remember reading long ago that when the time came to leave this world, in some Native American tribes, the elders would simply walk over the hill to make the journey on. I am a few years older than F, but I am tethered by my beloved children, husband, grandchildren, stepchildren, my work helping others, and by my love of this earth, the woods, the ocean. I can, however, imagine a time when I will be ready to go.

F has no descendants to tether him, nor is he tethered to the land. He moved a great deal in his life, especially at an early age, and now he is on a long journey in his car, without an anchor. He has an estranged wife that he cares for, but she does not provide a reason to stay.

This warrior is a vibrant strong man of wisdom and love.

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with F.

I am somehow encouraged by the fact that F + I have developed a strong connection and genuine affection.

I am encouraged by my gut sense that it’s not his time yet.

I am hoping for him to make a new choice.

However, in all honesty, I am not attached to the outcome.

I know in my heart and soul that F WILL continue on after death. And I will check on him if he chooses that path to make sure he arrives in a place of wellbeing, love and light.

In the meantime, I am committed to doing the best that I can for F. I am pulling for him. I don’t have a sense that it’s his time. I feel we need him.

We will continue the soul retrieval process when he has a long stop later this month and in early November. There are integration journeys ahead (to align with his returned soul parts), releases to make, important questions to answer, and more.

I hope this work will be pivotal.

I hope that beloved others that F connects with on this gratitude/farewell journey of his will reach out with love and show him they ARE his people, that there are pockets of love in this world, and cause him to want to stay here in the physical realm with their support.

I envision him finding solace and purpose.

Of course this is not mine to decide.

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I am to write from the content of my soul

by 8hummingbirdway

I have been asking Sri Pune for content – both to support my friend who is channeling their frequencies, and to have easy posts to offer.

In response, I have been guided to write from the content of my soul.

This seems a tall order, but completely appropriate.

I feel vulnerable, and yet what do I truly have to offer but myself?

I have learned these shamanic ways, and now I must use them in a manner that assists others, provides healing to others and that expresses me, my love, my version of healing.

And so this is how I will proceed. I will look for inspiration from within myself, from my life and thoughts and yearnings.

If you want more from Sri Pune, a channeling website is coming from Norlen, the channeler, and there will be a link on this website. In the meantime, if you want to personally ask for information, guidance and/or healing from Sri Pune, let me know and I will connect you individually with Norlen, who is not currently charging for her channeling work.

All Love,

Annie

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Michael Harner (1929-2018), father of today’s shamanic renaissance

by 8hummingbirdway

We have Michael Harner to thank for the availability of shamanic knowledge and practice in our part of the world today. An American student of archaeology, he did his doctoral dissertation research in eastern Ecuador among the Jívaro people in the late 1950s. He learned a great deal about their ways from tribal healers and elders. In the early 1960s he learned from the Conibo of the Peruvian Amazon where he became a student of shamanic healing. He was then approved as a healer by both of these tribes. He later traveled to learn more about tribal healing in remote locations all over the world.

The word shaman comes from the language of a Siberian tribe.

Based on Harner’s studies, tribal healers universally practiced soul retrieval, extraction (clearing), and psychopomp (assisting the dead).

Harner created the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in 1979. He developed core shamanism, a system designed for Westerners to apply shamanism and shamanic healing successfully to their daily lives.

Click this link and scroll down for a definition of core shamanism and a brief talk from Michael Harner

https://www.shamanism.org/workshops/index.php

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Learn more about Soul Retrieval

by 8hummingbirdway

Soul Retrieval is the most desired shamanic process. If you have read the information I have on my Soul Retrieval page and still want to find out more about soul retrieval, I suggest you read Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self by Sandra Ingerman. Sandra is one of the best teachers of shamanic topics of our time. She has developed the soul retrieval process as I know it, and this book is a delight to read. If you prefer to listen to her read it, the audible book is called The Soul Retrieval Journey, Seeing in the Dark. Sandra Ingerman has also written on many other shamanic topics – such as Earth-healing, journeying, ceremony, visioning, and personal healing of various sorts.

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