Our ‘Personal Practice’ article content focuses on supporting you to create and maintain a daily shamanic practice. You might also be interested in our ‘Personal Practice’ audios.
A traditional role of shamans is to preside at or contribute to (bring the Spirits to) rituals that mark important transition in the lives of members of their communities. In shamanic cultures, the rites for honoring the death of a loved one have been practiced for...
This ceremony was enacted for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Alamosa, Colorado and the article appeared on the blog, "Postcards from Shamans", January 2019. The word “ceremony” in its original Latin form is “awe”. Repeated behaviors related to...
I remember some years ago Michael Harner joking that what he loved about shamanism is that nobody knows what it is. Michael was not just quipping for the sake of quipping, although he did that too. No, he was drawing our attention to an important feature of...
Autumn brings us an opportunity to work with the shamanic power of grief. Grief holds the energy of the Great Mystery and can guide us through the portals of the visible and invisible worlds. Shamanic practitioners around the world know that grief is powerful medicine...
I have the wonderful luxury of having my house on the edge of the woods. This living situation offers me the closest access to the raw, untouched natural world I have ever had. Since moving in over five years ago, I have routinely expressed my profound gratitude for...
It began on a warm, sunny spring day, many years ago when I was conducting research on the effects of Reiki at a large University. The two young doctors had come to me with a unique problem they were encountering in the ICU. As new life sprang up around us in a riot...
Those spirits that are in animal form that teach us, guide us, empower us, and help us heal are called animal spirit guides or spirit animals. One of the great advantages of working with animal spirit guides is that they can appear physically and symbolically in many...
The summer solstice is the height of the south on the medicine wheel as I work with it. The long days, the heat and intense light and warmth - everything is reveling in the life force coursing through the world, bringing all creatures into their fullness. Everything...
In the wisdom traditions of the Andes and Amazon, nothing is done by chance—especially not ceremonies or rituals. Shamans and their communities have always known that the Earth, the sun, and the moon move in divine rhythm. They understood long before science caught up...
“This is for you,” Martha said as she handed me a red, black, white and yellow bracelet. “It was made for those who danced at last year’s Lakota Sundance Festival, you might like to wear it”. We had met at a recent international gathering of shamanic practitioners...
Nothing can throw our shamanic energies out of balance like harboring resentment. When we hold grudges, we tie ourselves to someone else's destiny and get dragged off our own path. Forgiveness is essential for any shamanic practitioner as it keeps your energy clean...
Reprinted rom the Spring 2009 Journal of Shamanic Practice Many Western people deeply desire to learn from indigenous shamans; likewise, indigenous shamans desire to teach North Americans and Europeans. Fredy "Puma" Quispe Singona, a Peruvian paqo,1told me that he is...
Many people in my life don’t have optimism for 2025. Instead, they see a darkness looming and feel dread. I feel like this often too. The social media provocateurs on “both sides” are dedicated not to describing reality or helping you understand the world, but only...
Winter Solstice/Yule (December 18-January 6) This is the season of religious and cultural celebrations worldwide, including Christmas, New Year, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa. It’s the darkest day of the year, around December 21, yet with that darkness comes the promise of...
For the last several weeks, my days have carried the soundtrack of chainsaws and trucks. The woods behind my house have been undergoing a constant cutting down. The pause of the grating buzz of the chainsaws has stopped only brieflyto give way to crashing thuds as...
We live in a world of increasing disorder, proliferating injury to humankind, accelerating loss of Earth's life forms, and spreading destruction of Mother Earth herself. And yet, I find hope and comfort in ancient wisdom and practices. Shamanic people the world over...
You have a giant question writhing around inside you. For each of us it may be a different question, but we all have one. You’ve been wrestling with it, trying to articulate it your whole life, trying to find an answer. The image comes up for me of the Tarzan TV show...
Several months ago I read about an intriguing idea that I initially dismissed, yet one that continued to dwell in my consciousness. The idea was to write a poem in ten minutes or less without regard to any familiar structures usually associated with poetry. Instead,...
Originally published in the Journal of Contemporary Shamanism, in the Spring 2014, Volume 7, Issue 1 From time immemorial human beings sought the great outdoors for solitude, observation, listening, and learning the ways of nature to enhance their own survival...
The appropriation–-adoption, misuse, fraud, stealing, cheating, annexation–-of Native American cultures and other Indigenous traditions by Westerners in their search for meaningful spirituality has become a topic of increasing controversy and sensitivity in our...
Introduction by SSP Board Member Joan Levergood: The Society for Shamanic Practice is pleased to share Jill Raiguel's lovely article about working with Light Columns. We thank her for sharing the history of the Light Columns and her insights with us. Our Shamanism...
Clients sometimes come to a shamanic healing session with a vague sense that a piece of pain they are experiencing is ancestral. They may have a general awareness that a parent or grandparent struggles with a similar issue. In the diagnostic journey, I ask my helping...
Follow me on a winding journey: 1. Authenticity: People like to argue over what is authentic and what is not. In shamanism, in all religion, in art, in science. In my world of Western-urban-neo-shamanic practice, it’s always “how the indigenous masters do it or did...
The creative process is evident in so many different activities and expressions, yet you can discern a common thread amongst all of these despite their unique characteristics. The examples below of a painter and a shaman provide the contrast and similarities between...
My introduction to the practice of utiseta was purely accidental. I didn’t know I was doing it. As a child in rural Wisconsin, I had the freedom to roam the woodlands and prairies that were my home. Many times I would walk into a place, quietly gathering twigs,...
In the northern hemisphere, as we step into winter, the north on the medicine wheel, we have stepped into the embrace of the Dark Feminine. What is this power, and how can we work with it? I hope this article helps you grasp what is happening in our world right now...
Introductory note by Jaime Meyer, SSP Board President: I’ve been fascinated with how much vitriol is expelled into the world trying to define what shamanism is. When this discussion gets heated, as it often does, I believe we have stopped talking about shamanism, and...
In the melting snow at the very beginning of spring, my eye caught a bright reflection on the ground: chunks of broken glass along a wall. When I looked up, I saw that the outer window of the classroom above my garage had been shattered. The window was double-paned,...
When I first began my shamanic practice, I noticed early on that I had an affinity for ancestral healing. The client’s ancestors would appear in the session and share the story of the original wound in the family. Many of these suffering ancestors brought their pain...
The sustaining tradition of the indigenous heart is being remembered. Our survival as a species may depend upon it. Step forward you, the wild, natural mystic... Buddhism, Reiki, Christianity, Drumming Circles, Islamism, Yoga, Herbalism, Trance Dance, Mindfulness,...
This poem by Rainier Maria Rilke is one of my favorites: I believe in all that has never yet been spoken. I want to free what waits within me so that what no one has dared to wish for may for once spring clear without my contriving. If this is arrogant, God, forgive...
This article was originally published by SSP in the Journal for Shamanic Practice in 2014 I heard fluttering and flopping sounds on the sun porch of my friend’s lake cottage. “It’s the hummingbird,” she said as she gently picked it up from the floor and cradled...
Everyone is doing ‘shrooms. The term “psychedelic wild west” has entered daily lingo. Various cities and states are legalizing them. Medical science sees promise in them and the pharmaceutical industry sees neon dollar signs. The blogosphere sparkles with promises of...
A Note from Jaime Meyer, SSP Board President: Every spiritual path requires some kind of disciplined, regular practice. The practice may be enjoyable and beautiful, and that is why we do it. It may be difficult to summon the discipline to do it, and that is why we do...
I was first trained in Soul Retrieval back in 1993 through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and then later through The Four Winds. These organizations formed the foundation of the style of soul retrieval work I do, however, cross culturally, there are many ways of...
The mystical aroma of incense is part of my daily life. I find it especially vital in winter when fragrant plants are slumbering deep in the the frozen earth. My morning ritual includes brewing coffee, tending the fire and praying with sacred smoke. It helps me...
This month of December we are republishing an article that Itzhak Beery, who presented at our conference this past fall, wrote for us in 2012 about the discernment of spirits, particularly what many call “evil spirits.” As Itzhak says, evil energies feed on darkness...
My shamanic training is rooted in Peruvian curanderismo, specifically in the use of the spiritual altar called a mesa. A mesa is the shaman’s gateway into the soul realm. In Spanish, mesa literally means “table,” which is fitting because it is the place where the...
As we watch Russian armies create havoc in Ukraine, our hearts and minds are drawn to the widespread suffering of the Ukrainians and their land, the latest chapter in a long history of repeated invasions and destruction. SSP board member Ana Larramendi's article on...
By Stephanie Rutt with a postscript by Tom Cowan. Then one day I knew if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. God is everywhere. —Alice Walker from The Color Purple Some thirty years ago, my husband took me deep into the Maine woods to introduce me to wilderness...
This year, February 3rd marked the celestial midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and for the Celts, this is "Brigid time." It is called Imbolc (pronounced IM-olk), one of the cross-quarter days on the Celtic Medicine wheel. Brigid is arguably...
Malidoma was a West African writer, diviner, and teacher. Born in a Dagara community in Dano, Burkina Faso, as a child he was taken from his home, “literally kidnapped,” he said, by Jesuit priests in a nearby colonial town. He was placed in a Catholic boarding school,...
The strongest component of the winter season is light. Throughout the year, there is the dance of light and dark, and at the winter solstice, this dance is at its most intense and pronounced, with the longest period of darkness and the shortest period of light. Our...
Many cultures have identified energy centers that both affect the body and mediate between the physical and spiritual worlds. The Irish were no exception. In old Irish manuscripts, three “Cauldrons of Poesy” are described. Although originally focused on the...
As contemporary Shamanic practitioners, we may find ourselves exploring and investigating a variety of contemporary and traditional spiritual and healing practices. After a period of time and practice, we might choose to focus our energy on just one or two that feel...
(Jose Stevens is the author of How To Pray The Shaman’s Way: Ancient Techniques For Extraordinary Results, Hierophant Publishing, 2021.) Aside from eating, sleeping, and the basic activities of survival there is perhaps no more universal human activity than the act of...
Our colleague Hank Wesselman died peacefully near his home in Hawaii on February 15 of this year after a short illness, with his beloved wife, Jill Kuykendall, at his side. Together they led shamanic training workshops and divided their time between northern...
As shamanic practitioners, our work is ever-evolving. Relationships with spirit allies grow and change as we develop and nurture our personal medicine. Perhaps a few spirit allies from our initial years in shamanism have come and gone, or perhaps the ones who have...