SHAMANIC CREATIVE ARTS

KATHY HARMON-LUBER AND HER WORK

I’m a shamanic practitioner, Reiki master, light worker, certified sound therapy & sound healing practitioner, award-winning fine art photographer/artist, and classically trained musician. Over the past couple of decades I have been anchoring and integrating these practices together on my own transformational healing journey, and into a powerful fusion of shamanic sound & energy healing in service to community and Pachamama. I’ve studied with Puma Freddy Quispe Singona, Roel Crabbe, Jane Burns, Sandra Ingerman, and several sound and energy healing masters.

Living in a mile-high mountain forest, I am in ceremony daily. You’ll often find me in nature singing with the trees, birds, animals, and the land, and also channeling their songs. At the same time, my spirit animals and guides frequent my night dreams, which are transformational for my personal evolution, as well as for the collective.

Everything I do is sacred creativity ~ there is a flow from my dream state and shamanic journeys, into waking life. It’s not so much that I have a foot in both worlds, as I feel there exists no boundary between them. Everything flows one into the other. From this energy of curiosity, wonder, and awe, spirit speaks, inspiration is channeled, synchronicities happen, magical moments occur, and I embody the glimmer of sacred creativity ~ the jewel that is within us all, waiting to be invited to play.

For decades, I have been called to honor dreams and journeys by not only writing them in my journals but by creating collages, paintings, poems, or songs. Certain images speak insistently until I do indeed honor them with creative play. I’m sharing two such artworks.

A recent collage and painting convey extraordinary, transformational journeys and nightdreams. Last August, as I walked through the portal of my Two Towering Cedars in our mountain forest backyard, punctuated by Raven song, I entered a shamanic journey. My Spirit Wolf appeared as I heard the trees whisper: “Catcher of Songs ~ Weaver of Light.” I thought the towering old friends were sharing their names with me. I asked for explanation. The message from Wolf, startling in her voice’s clarity: “I sing to the crescent moon. You sing to the birds and trees. Sing with me to the Moon. Sing us home.”  I realized the name is meant for me. Although a lightworker and lifelong singer who does indeed sing to the birds and trees, I didn’t fully understand the importance of the name until later (and in fact it is still unfolding layers of meaning).

The next day, sitting on our deck in late afternoon, Wolf’s image against the moon came to mind, revealed in a garden-whispered image of me singing against my moon-shaped frame drum’s resonant skin.

The next day, wandering the backyard between hurricane gusts of wind and rain, I found 6 feathers (all different birds: Raven, Swallow, Bluebird, Steller’s Jay, Woodpecker, and possibly a Warbler). Finding feathers has always been a strong confirmation of my path or decision.

That night I dreamt of numerous magically “alive” Hawk feathers fluttering through an invisible portal, into a light, bright, white apartment living room in which I’m standing. Magical feathers dancing in the breezeless room to a silent melody. Big confirmation of my path, gifted by another of my spirit animals, Hawk.

A month later, I had a spectacular dream about playing and teaching my Native American flutes—and of a gorgeous Blue Wolf standing on a picnic table, which turned into a boulder. Wolf is regal—some of her fur is vibrant blue almost like a ponytail with yellow stars in it. It’s a magical Wolf, and it’s looking straight at me with a smile. I’m not afraid, in fact I want to go sit with it. She wants to engage. The other Wolf seems interested in what will occur (musically).

Weeks later, I dreamt of a very large, fluffy White Wolf pregnant with pups (creativity, songs perhaps). I realized I must honor these dreams by not only “catching songs,” but creating “Blue Wolf,” a collage with many of these elements, including a card I purchased from Micki Wilde featuring Wolf, which I augmented to reflect my dream.

In the painting, “Wolf Sings Between the Worlds,” Wolf is singing Swallows, lovely birds which, in waking life, nest in our attic and also frequent my dreams. This painting technique suggests an ineffable “between the worlds” feeling. What’s more, the plants and animals within the images underscore that everything is one with Nature; Wolf is composed of ferns, feathers, and stars. Upon hearing several of my Wolf dreams, Siberian Shaman Ahamkara shared with me that I’m a “pioneer” in the new energy of these times, the 1,300-year Wolf Time cycle (begun in 2012, similar to the Mayan calendar and Hopi prophecies). Guiding people through these challenging times with my shamanic sound healing and Reiki energy practice.

I also honor the dreams daily by showing up as “Catcher of Songs ~ Weaver of Light,” singing my intuitive, ensouled songs which connect us to Mystery, Gaia, the sacredness of all life, and to each other on a soul level… Transforming our disconnected relationship with sound and voice, and re-enchanting the world through song.

When I show up as “Catcher of Songs ~ Weaver of Light,” and bask in the flow of Mystery, I become a hollow bone, waiting at the threshold of the numinous, surrendering to possibility, listening deeply, tapping into the mystical inner voice, following curiosity, becoming an instrument of Spirit, allowing my voice to fly, then sharing the inspired offerings.

There are three important elements in my process of birthing this sacred art into the world:

First, the process of gathering the various collage pieces (ephemera, images from magazines, handmade Lokta papers, paint colors, stickers, and such) is a very intuitively led process which can take some time, even weeks. Synchronicities and happy accidents often occur during this stage, and I take care to be open to the flow and not rush the process.

Once I have all the collage components together (or before I begin a painting), next I create sacred space by lighting a candle or palo santo, drumming or rattling, grounding to Mother Earth and filling every cell with white light, calling in my spirit animals and guides ~ especially those I am honoring with this art ~ going into a meditative state with breathwork, and going back into the journey or dream to engage with the images and listen to what speaks.

The next step is to embed intentions and blessings on the cedar board. In charcoal stick I write my intention, words that resonate (especially words of love, light, peace, and healing), Runes, Reiki symbols, spirals, and so on. I cover the surface with these potent symbols and words. They will of course be covered over by layers of paint or collaged images, but their power infuses the piece. From there, I pick up the thread and play with the dream/journey images, pulling to the artwork the elements that speak to my heart and soul.

When the creation is complete, I perform a gratitude ceremony, gratitude for the dream/journey wisdom images, to Source, my spirit animals and guides, the Ancestors, Pachamama, the Imaginal Realm. In this way, we come full circle in the honoring process.

The most important thing to remember is that we are creative beings in a Universe that is infinitely creating, and connection with our creative birthright is only a breath away. Everything we go through in life can be channeled into creative expression. Not only our journeys and dreams, but our shadow, traumas, and difficult emotions.

In every moment we have a choice: to tap into the flow of creativity with our hearts open… or decline the gift. I say why not choose to embody the shimmering treasure, integrate, and anchor creativity into your daily practice.

BIO

Kathy is a certified Sound Therapy & Sound Healing practitioner, Reiki Master, Light Worker, Shamanic Practitioner, lifelong nature girl, and wellness guide whose passion is helping people navigate the challenging terrain of the healing journey—and thrive. Her best-selling book, “Suffering to Thriving: Your Toolkit for Navigating Your Healing Journey—How to Live a More Healthy, Peaceful, Joyful Life,” is full of wisdom gleaned from decades healing from debilitating health crises. She has appeared in Yoga Magazine, Best Holistic Life Magazine, Authority Magazine, MindBodyGreen.com, Elephant Journal, Kindred Spirit UK Magazine, Woman’s World Magazine, and numerous top-rated podcasts.

“My work is a fusion of ancient wisdom from cultures around the world, and modern medically accepted sound and energy healing practices that inspire inner healing and well-being, as well as foster reconnection with Nature and Source. As a shamanic sound healing practitioner, I create conditions for you to heal, because we all have the power to heal ourselves.

At this highly challenging time on Earth, this transformational work can help you return inward, deeply listen to your heart’s wisdom, become receptive to intuition and inspiration, and find your personal path to healing.”

Her website is www.sufferingtothriving.com and her brand new art website is www.DancingBetweenWorlds.art

STARR SHOEMAKER

I am currently a student of the One-Year Shamanic Studies program with The Power Path. Prior to this, I was awakened to Shamanism by teachers who I still work with, to learn herbalism through the lens of shamanism to help me learn more about the plants, trees, and water on the land I am caring for. In great times of challenge and transition, these teachings became monumental to my healing path. Some of my daily practice involves working with sacred Tobacco (Mapacho) and creating a daily medicine wheel practice with the 4 directions. I also spend time nourishing and recharging myself in nature each day and connecting with the plant kingdom around me.

My first piece, “A Painted Prayer- Gratitude for Tobacco” was inspired by my experience at a retreat I participated in, in Northern NM. The retreat was during a full moon, and some of the evenings were spent out under the star filled sky. That weekend we learned about the Spirit of tobacco as an ally, and much more. This experience would lead me to learn of, apply for, and be accepted into the Shamanic Studies program.

The second piece, ” Dragon Spirit Soaring” is part of an ongoing series that has been evolved during my participation in this Shamanic Studies Program. As I initially went to work with the plain pieces of plywood, I set my intentions to allow what I have been learning to come through. I let my eyes go into soft focus to see what would emerge. I found teachings being reawakened within me, evoking themselves into the very design and images of each piece. Effortlessly, I began to see shapes and figures and followed them with my pencil. To my surprise, by the end of the day, I had 4 or 5 pieces outlined. Although I led this series, it is yet another collaboration between my partner Thomas and me. I ushered in the concept and drawing, and Thomas then carved what I draw and assisted me with the carving and printing processes. We both are filling the creative roles we each love the most. The soft and natural colors you see in the pieces result from ink dyes we made last summer from barks, plants, seeds, and flowers from our land, which we’ve been living on and stewarding for almost a decade. We were able to create inks, herbal oils, tinctures, and teas and focus inward on these gifts. The spirits of these beings will live through our art and botanicals and into the lives of others they are shared with, and with our hearts we can sense the many plant spirits on the land and a feeling of gratitude, peace, and beauty that will always remain woven into the land.

BIO

I am Starr Shoemaker, an ever learning Artist and Herbalist living Southwestern Pennsylvania. I am honored to be steward of the lands I inhabit in the deeply beautiful, rich, and powerful hills of Appalachia. On this land I am fortunate to have an art studio and a space where I create my plant remedies and sundries. The spaces were designed and built by my husband and I throughout the past 8 years. Website: www.talkingleavesart.com

WINTER ROSS

Winter Ross works in the medium of Imagination. She is convinced that the creative mind has the power to heal both individuals and the world.

Ross’s intaglio prints, books, studio art quilts, and paintings reference psychological and religious archetypes, altered states, and earth-based philosophies. Her style is inspired by the visionary Symbolists and Surrealists. For years, Winter volunteered as a street medic within the environmental movement and as an eco-feminist, her images often include the human figure in relation to landscape and nature.

Although a serious study of shamanism didn’t begin until 2004, her work has always reflected an interest in animism and the source of consciousness. Winter has studied Soul Retrieval with Sandra Ingerman, Tibetan Bon Chöd (Feeding Your Demons) with Lama Tsultrim Allione, is a member of the Native American Church in Colorado, and a dancer and pipe holder in the Lakota Sundance (Star Fire Council, New Mexico).

 Winter wrote, and illustrated (she holds a degree in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design) a chapbook of visionary prose, ”4 Warnings: Shamanic Journeys”.  The stories were inspired by some of Winter’s first drum journeys with Naomi Lake, who’d studied with Michael Harner. Winter also went on to study core shamanism with Harner’s Foundation of Shamanic Studies. The book was chosen as a text for Journey classes at the Awareness Institute in Sydney, Australia, and may be found on Amazon.

A series of acrylic paintings, “Prayers From the Earth” were completed during artist residencies some twenty years apart in Oregon and Colorado. They were created in response to various visionary journeys, some spontaneous occurrences, some with plant medicines.

In the Cave of Shadows piece:

The title of this large art quilt is from Plato’s description of the way humans experience reality. We see the shadows of ourselves, cast by the flickering fire, on the walls of the cave we never leave. And think that’s all there is. Here, humanity reaches toward something it’s forgotten: the ancient Goddess. Horned, hoofed, half reptile, half transparent, She is in the act of Throwing the Bones to determine our fate. Actual bones are sewn to the black satin quilt. The hands, haloed in shimmering red, are reminiscent of those stenciled in caves thousands of years ago.

I was called to throw the bones as a divination practice eight years ago. I’ve always loved the shapes of bones. I had an artist residency where I’d intended to paint them as a still life, but the cat of the house either scattered or ate my set-ups! Instead, I began reading divination books I found on the studio bookshelf. Osteomancy is practiced in many cultures. My style is derived from the New Orleans tradition, blending African Hoodoo, European charm-casting, and whatever else speaks to my intuition.

BIO

Winter Ross is an eco-feminist artist, writer, environmental activist, mental health advocate and shamanic practitioner.
She studied painting at Hartford Art School and received a BFA in Communications Design and Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design. Winter was an MFA candidate in printmaking when her fabric art, a medium embraced by many second-wave artists, began to receive recognition.
A long career as a graphic designer included Rocky Mountain PBS. She has also held numerous artist-in-residence, teaching and museum positions and received grants for independent curatorial projects which highlight environmental issues or explore visionary and spiritual themes. Winter lives in Taos, New Mexico and Crestone, Colorado. Same bioregion. Both magical.
Winter continues to write and many of her articles can be found at https://wintersweb.journoportfolio.com/
You can see more of her artwork at https://www.ceremonialvisions.com/

DAMINI CELEBRE

My Shamanic training started with Eliot Cowan in 1995 with his Plant Spirit medicine training. Then, I continued my training with the Foundation of Shamanic Studies and took all the programs offered, including the 2-week retreat and 3-year program.
I studied with Sandra Ingerman, am part of the Global Shamanic Teachers alliance and has been teaching and practicing Shamanism for over 30 years. Recently I have been called to explore and apprentice in the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition.

My daily practice is steeped deeply in interactions with the Web of Life through meditations, journeying, and outdoor interactions. An everyday interaction with the Web of Life. is essential to my day-to-day living. Shamanism is integral to my day-to-day, shared offerings, Healing work, workshops, and retreats.

I love to be outside: to lay under trees, next to a pond, or lay with closed eyes and listen to the invisible energy of wind, insects, and bird songs. To listen to how Nature interacts with us.

Over the past eight years, I have been creating a work called Conversations with Land, where the Spirits of the Land and I co-create work that helps folks drop a bit more into the knowing that everything IS alive and has spirit.

These four paintings, Pond, Grove, Willow, and Field, and a soundscape were created at the George Lorimer Preserve, an Open Land Conservancy in Chester County, PA., are one of my most recent co-creations.

My intention is to create visual artwork that engages our co-creative relationship with Nature and inspires a sense of connection, oneness and healing for all.

My process of creating these paintings begins by holding an intention to join into a co-creative union with Land, making offerings of prayer and tobacco.
Once I’m called to a particular area, I sit on the ground, sing, pray, and get hallowed, so that I can listen with my heart and soul to the Spirit of the Place. Once I am centered, I spread out my paints and paper and enter a dialogue.

Each piece starts with a dialogue— a call and response while sitting outside, beginning with a simple acknowledgment to the Land: Hello, thanks for allowing me to be here and to connect with you—how would you like your energy expressed?

Once the conversation has started, I draw and paint the energy experience and then continue the painting in the studio, continuing this dialogue as I complete the work.

As a Shamanic Artist and practitioner, my works share how Land allows us to experience its true Nature (in that moment and throughout my life experience filter). As shamanic practitioner we know that Land has an entirely different understanding of Self that doesn’t fit the human label of Tree, Water, Bird, and Weed. It is my prayer that this co-creative visual dialogue and help folks remember that everything is alive and has spirit, bringing us closer to oneness.

HOLLY SCHMITT

I was trained and certified in the Four Winds Andean tradition, and also have decades of involvement in Lakota ceremony. My background and training as an anthropologist and psychotherapist inform and enrich my shamanic life path. My daily practice is perceptual…looking at reality through the understanding that everything is connected. This perception inspires the quality of my action; as in how I speak with others, lead and participate in ceremony, and offer individual healing sessions. As I move through each day I relish relating to the natural world and greater cosmos.

“Woman at Night”
Wood block print; ink on paper. This print was done to encourage my bravery to walk as my authentic self through the shadows and dark. The print was done in a print making class at East Central College in Union, Missouri.

ROSELYN SNEAD:

I have done Shamanic Practioner Training, attended a Vision Quest last year, setting intentions ceremony in January, two drum making events and rattle making. I have also attended different drumming groups learning wisdom of the Medicine wheel, animal guides and totems. As an artist I have delivered an animal totem painting and medicine wheel making workshops.

My artwork has been inspired by nature, Shamanic drumming, journeying, animal guides and totems, and personal experience. l’ve been strongly influenced by Native American animal totems in my artwork. I’ve also done a soul retrieval and an energetic death with a Shamanic practitioner. Recently l attended a Pow Wow in the UK where l joined in with some of the community dances and sold some of my artwork. My practice is to honor mother earth, learn about the teachings of the medicine wheel and offer my gratitude on a daily basis.

I work in water color and acrylic paint mostly and lightly sketch images onto mixed media paper. My process has been a healing journey through personal grief loss and some of the images are symbolic representations i.e. the fox is important in my artwork. One of my very special paintings is called Mother love representing myself cradling a fox symbolizing my son.

Took SSP Classes in the early 2000’s. Spent time in Ecuador apprenticing w/ indigenous shamanic healer. Had a focus group which met weekly for 1 year (scientist, RN and me) on a Shamanic Science project with Sandra Ingerman on changing pH of water using group shamanic prayer. Following that, I was a full-time healer for 2 years, including a monthly free event called “Sonic Uplift,” using 3′ hanging drum, open to the public. I now focus my healing efforts primarily on painting.

Pathways to Peace – depicts two people who, despite past difficulties, have chosen to work together to amplify feminine healing energy, connecting with earth and sky, to help catalyze pathways to peace.

My process is I wake up at dawn – listen for a message – in this case, the title came first – figure out how to depict message – paint it.

Grandmother Moon and Her Companions

This is a painting honoring Grandmother Moon. In many traditions Grandmother Moon was placed by the Great Spirits to watch over the children of the Earth. She helps you with your dreams and visions. Grandmother Moon is the leader of feminine life. Her teachings involve the intuitive and introspective realms of life. She has a strong connection with the cycles of life.

The process I went through when creating this painting is: I place my intention to paint on a particular theme or purpose. In the case of this painting, it was to honor the grandmothers. I then select colors at random and paint a background of an undefined and ambiguous space, letting the colors appear as various shapes, lines, etc. I then focus my intention on my purpose and notice what begins to appear in the background on the canvas. I just let the images appear and develop them. As the images begin to appear, I interact with them, letting them speak to me and inform me of their meanings connecting with them outside of time and space in the realms of the imagination and non-ordinary reality.

Mother Earth and the Web of Life

In a shamanic journey, I placed my intention to journey to Green Man to honor him, sit and merge with him and to seek his guidance and teachings. I specifically asked him to show me how to see with the heart acknowledging that that is how he sees. We rose up above the earth. As I looked back at where I had come from, I see what looked like lines everywhere, like all connected. As I continued to focus, I saw that they were like fibers of light, or cords of light. Green Man said,” those are the trees. Their root system forms a unending connection that holds that earth together. They also support each other. When a tree in one area is in need, the trees in another area send energy to that tree to assist it. They are an interconnected family. Every species is that way–humans included. At the next layer, all species are connected. There are layers upon layers upon layers. These layers form an energetic web which makes the earth.” I am told “look quickly.” It was like a film was removed and I saw and experienced some kind of awareness of the earth’s formation as he described it. I was unable to describe it in words. I noticed that the trees burning in the Amazon and in Australia were felt by all the trees. Their response was to send energy to restore the regions. I became aware that it worked the same for us. With that, it all disappeared and we journeyed back down into the room. I wondered (1) how this experience had and would change me and (2) how it answered my question on how to see with the heart. I heard the words “some things cannot be understood with the mind, only by the heart.”

I wanted to honor this journey with a painting. So I painted a background of blues and greens. Not being able to paint exactly what I saw, I place my intention on creating a painting that will somehow capture the idea that we are all connected. This painting is what emerged.

I have studied shamanic arts, spirit guides and chakra dance.
I connect and sometimes work with shamanism experts and I did a short shamanic journey which was amazing and intense. My daily practice is made of various exercises such as meditation, chanting, dancing and visualization always to be inspired and connected with Mother Nature. I am inspired in particular by Native American culture which I respect immensely.

My work is a Mandala painting using artists pens and watercolours.
I could not separate these three works. They are quite different from each other but they are somehow connected by concept. They symbolize my journey through the guide of the hawk, mother nature holding my hand and the shamanic experience I had where I met my higher self. It is a continuous line in my life.

Hummingbird Dream

I started my training with an Israeli teacher Ayala Guy who introduced our class to ways of perceiving energies and the basic skills of shamanic journeying. I was so excited to learn about Shamanic practices from all over the world and discovered The Foundation of Shamanic Studies in California. Learning about Core Shamanic practices, which are shared across the globe, seemed a good fit for me and I continued my studies with many of their teachers. I also participated in rituals and trainings with indigenous healers/teachers from Peru and New Mexico who taught in the US. Additionally, I studied with some exceptional American teachers in the Mid-Atlantic area and Seattle who teach core shamanic practices and have incorporated them along with the spiritual traditions of their ancestral heritage.

My daily practice is to start and end my day with gratitude to my ancestors and spiritual guides who protect and help me each day. Part of my meditation in the morning is to send restorative energy to those most in need and to the threatened species and their habitats in my local area.

For this painting, the image of the Hummingbird came to me in a dream. When I woke from this dream my third eye was buzzing with energy. This was a gift from Hummingbird to open this energy center and connect with the heart. I normally journey with an intention and observe the way a message is portrayed visually or through other perceptions but there have been a few times when the images have come through dreamtime with such clarity and energy that they distinguish themselves as important and coming from a loving source. I am compelled to paint them so that I can better understand their meaning. It’s the process of further investigation through journeying that brings about the clarity that is needed. This piece was first painted loosely with watercolor on gesso and then final layers were done in oil pastel to create the feeling that I experienced in the dream. Dimensions: 30″ x 30″

The process of creating this piece started with photographing a friend who held the kind of energy held by the woman in the dream. I researched images of hummingbirds and created sketches to configure this multidimensional experience into two dimensions but without losing the energetic feel. While I paint, I am mindful of the music I play in the background and the intention of the Hummingbird so I can encode this painting in the strokes of the pastel. I have reworked this painting many times to get the energetic feeling of the dream. Translating an energetic experience into a visual is a super interesting challenge that I enjoy. It demands that I access what I am experiencing at a level I would not have to do otherwise.

Mia Bosna – Shamanic Practitioner and Illustrator of the Journey to Rewilding Oracle Deck. Mia combines her talents as a Visionary Artist and Shamanic Practitioner to create visual healing stories that come from spiritual guidance, Dreamtime and the natural world. Her current work focuses on the gifts of threatened species and offers positive ways to share our spiritual traditions (Meditation, Prayer, Shamanic Journey) to envision restoration for them and their habitats. Mia works out of her home studio in Lancaster and offers workshops to explore her Oracle Deck and fundamental skills in Shamanic Journeying.

She will have a limited edition of her latest project:  Journey to Rewilding Oracle Cards that will be available to order at the end of May 2024. She creates Shamanic Portraits, Chakra Totem Portraits, and other commissioned artwork. Information about this type of work can be found on her website: MiaBosna.com 
Prints of the Hummingbird are available in various sizes by request through her email: Bosnart@me.com

Returning Home

Wise Woman in the Tree of Life

In “Returning Home”, I see our souls as flaming blooms. We have lived our lives and as we ascend to the Great Mother we begin to leave our physical body behind: we start to lose our physical structure, the colors fade and we become translucent energy.

In “Wise Woman in the Tree of Life” I honor the Cailleach. In Celtic tradition she is the Crone (as am I, as this was painted on the occasion of my 70th birthday). She is the wise elder matriarch of the clan. She travels equally in Upper, Middle and Lower World supported by the World Tree.  Are the flaming blooms descending blessings for the future or are they ascending souls returning home, or both?

Rhonda Jackisch is a retired professional violinist and music teacher and soon-to-be retired mental health counselor.  Woven into my entire life has been a quest for spiritual knowing and understanding. I discovered that the best avenue for me to express that journey is through the medium of painting. The desire to express leads me to images rather than words: some images come from meditative visions and some come to me through shamanic journeys. Discovering other worlds has opened and deepened how I experience my journey through life, and I am grateful. You can email Rhonda at artj79@hotmail.com

Trees are magical beings. They provide canopy and protection for so much of the planet’s inhabitants, homes for countless more, and breathable air for the mammals. They eat sunlight and digest it into matter, turning the intangible into material.

Beyond that, each species of tree has its own special magic and wisdom imbued in its own structure. Cedar is not only aromatic, fungal and insect resistant, it is also used for healing. Maple reminds us of sweetness which lies just beneath a rough exterior. Cherry brings the energy of renewal and rebirth, with its blossoms that signify the start of spring.

Too often our culture views trees as objects to be used for our whim, without considering they are beings with personality and purpose on both zoological and spiritual levels. It is only recently that science has discovered what indigenous cultures all over the globe have always known, that trees communicate with each other, warn each other about invasive species and disease, share nutrients, and protect their young.

My work honors the energy of the trees the wood has come from, and I work with locally-sourced wood as much as possible. Specific species of wood are selected for specific projects, and each individual piece is worked with in a fashion that honors its energy. It is a pleasure to give these parts of trees – this sunlight which has magically been converted into matter – the respect they deserve and help them find a destiny as spiritual objects to be worked with in a sacred way by others.

Most projects begin with a request or a need to fill. If the request is coming from someone else, I have a conversation with them about their intended use for the project, including if they have any specific size or color or species preferences / requirements.

Sometimes Spirit will inspire me with the image of the completed project right away, and other times I need to wait for that to form to be shown to me.

Once I have the visual idea of what the piece is to look like, I go on the hunt for the appropriate slabs of wood to bring the project from idea into physical form. When selecting wood – whether pieces I have in my shop, or visiting a local sawmill – I am constantly tuning in and asking if these specific slabs match the project. I do this by asking the wood itself, and wait for a clear yes. If it’s not a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.

Once the individual boards have made themselves known for this specific project, I continue to sort out which direction they which to be oriented – which side wants to be up, which direction the grain wants to flow in. This all will affect the overall energy of the finished piece.

The process of the actual construction of the project tends to be firmly rooted in the physical plane, without too much spiritual input, including the sawing, planing, sanding, joining the different wood boards, and applying the coats of protective finish.

If the project includes any images or text burned into it, the process of pyrography infuses the energy of what is being burned into the wood. When burning a wolf’s head, for instance, I can readily feel the presence of Wolf energy around me and coming through me and being imbued into the project.

Once the project is assembled and ready to be put in use, I do a shamanic journey to meet the spirit of the completed piece. Naturally, as shamanic journeys go, it can take many forms. Sometimes I am connected with the mother spirit for the species of tree used in the project. Sometimes I am connected with the spirit of the specific trees these boards came from. Sometimes these journeys are heavily visual, sometimes they are heavily claircognizant in nature.

In the end, I am always brought to the spirit of the completed project itself, who offers guidance and insight on the energy it offers the human who will be working with it. It offers a message on the specific energy it brings, and how to best work with its medicine. This message gets written up and is presented to its recipient along with the finished wood project.

Dave Eyerman is a licensed acupuncturist, shamanic coach, energy healer, and teacher with a practice based in Belchertown, MA. When working with clients, he interweaves coaching and bodywork in his sessions to provide full-person healing, tending to mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. He helps people deepen their level of self-awareness and how to relate to the world so they may live as free and as soulful a life as they can.
In addition to one-on-one client work, he also brings a spiritual approach to woodcraft, giving felled trees new life as spiritual tools and power objects. Working closely with the spirit of the wood, he crafts a wide array of medicine including (but not limited to) altars, incense holders, and pyrography honoring Power Animals and sacred geometry.
For more information, visit https://www.naturalelementwoodcraft.com

Sometime in 2020 during a shamanic journey, my helping spirits gave me an assignment to carve four rings out of wax and cast them in silver. Each ring represented a part of my path to becoming a shamanic practitioner. These were the rings I was told to make. A ring of moss agate to represent the forest and my lifelong connection to nature. A second ring that would represent the Land of North America and the indigenous people of the land where I had been born. A third ring would honor domestic felines and the many cats who had walked alongside me, supporting and guiding me on my spiritual path. The final ring would represent the Creator’s energy in all things and the Creator within myself.

I am a creator. A maker of things. From a young age I made things. I used pieces of the forest and nature around me to build and furnish houses for my troll dolls. I learned to knit. At some point I was enrolled in a painting class at the local YMCA and learned about perspective and color. Mixing colors and making them talk to each other became my thing, and it still is. Since drawing realistically never came easy, I didn’t consider myself an artist. Yet I painted regularly. I mixed colors, painted, and started believing I was an artist.

I studied graphic design at Michigan State University where I had excellent basic art training and  learned to draw. When I graduated, computers were costly but were becoming common in businesses, and entry-level jobs in graphic design were drying up. I shifted to earn a living and worked in the insurance industry.

During my time working in business, I painted and painted. I learned that when I painted, the more abstract the work, the more likely it would be that I would go to a place of pure creation. An out-of-body place, merging with the creative rhythm of the act of painting, combining colors, shapes, and feeling into what was needed next. What would make it perfect? It was during this time that I was most prolific as an artist, drawing and painting almost daily.

As a shamanic practitioner I now realize that I was painting myself into an altered state. The act of painting itself, with the rhythm of the brush and the constant shifting of my vision to see the work differently, was an altered state of pure creation. Perhaps that is why the skill of shamanic journeying would come quickly to me years later, and the skill of allowing the mind to follow the suggestions of the creation process melds so well with shamanic work.

After thirteen years I saved money from my corporate job and opened a cooperative gallery with other artists. The gallery combined fine art, modern Arts and Crafts-inspired objects, and antiques. Then a friend suggested that I return to volunteering at a cat shelter where we had both volunteered. I did, and eventually got sucked in, working as a veterinarian assistant in their clinic for eighteen years.

When I worked at the shelter, the universe set me on my path to becoming a shamanic practitioner. I began fostering kittens at my home. One unfortunate result that happened very quickly when I started fostering was that my art studio became unusable and overrun with kittens. While I would occasionally sketch or draw something, I had stopped painting. I packed up my tools and supplies. I could not set up my studio to work and lacked the will to do it after working long, exhausting days at the shelter. It seemed that all of my creative energy was taken up with saving lives and helping cats. I worried that I would never live my creative life again.

I have learned not to worry because the universe and your helping spirits will send you the exact solution you need. I left the shelter and began working as a full-time shamanic practitioner. I went to an art show to see some friends and met a jewelry designer who taught jewelry-making. My helping spirits told me to learn how to make jewelry soon after and that this would be the path for me to return to doing regular creative work and eventually painting again.

I connected deeply to the transformative process of carving jewelry in wax and casting it in silver. This appealed to my designer side, to my getting into the creative zone side, and I began working. The repetitive scraping and carving appealed to me, too. The elemental process with the fire was thrilling. I was not, however, very successful at casting my work. Often I had to carve and cast pieces multiple times before getting a complete cast.

Then in that journey circle sometime in 2020, my helping spirits told me I needed to make the four rings. They also told me how to get my castings to work better. I needed to call in the Goddess Brigid with whom I had worked many times in my Celtic work. Brigid is the goddess of the forge and smithcraft, and my helping spirits suggested that when I cast metal, I should call upon her to bless the casting.

The creative process is a magical one in my opinion. I visited a local rock shop to get a piece of moss agate for one of the rings. While there I thought about the other rings and looked at stones to inspire my designs for the other three. I asked to look at the turquoise, considering its representation of North America and the beautiful stones in Indigenous Southwestern jewelry. Being very careful to select only stones from North America, I found a gorgeous turquoise blue stone which Inspired my design of the four directions ring with turquoise at its center.

I saw a gorgeous tiger-eye stone that reminded me of my beautiful cats at home. I picked out one of these stones and designed and carved a ring shaped like a domestic feline eye which would honor all that my journey with my feline companions had given me and how their feline magic showed me the spirit that was in all beings.

The beautiful moss agate stone reminded me of the forests that I love and of looking up through the leaves of the trees as a young child and enjoying the patterns of color and the changing light. I designed a ring that honored my relationship with the forest and nature, and I honored my Celtic ancestry with the spirals I have drawn since childhood carved upon its sides.

The final ring was in some ways the most difficult but the most simple. When I thought of connecting with the Creator, I felt a golden energy filling my body. I made the Creator ring with gold, representing this connection. It also represents where we came from, our piece of the Creator that chose to come here and dance with the Earth and take physical form. That perfect gold center also represents to me how we are both created and creators. When I look into the gold of this ring, I see myself reflected back.

When creating something or connecting to a piece of art, we align with the Creator. The magic of making and creating something allows us to connect more deeply with our own spirit and the spirit in all things.

My helping spirits had told me that one last thing about making jewelry. They suggested I call upon the Goddess Brigid, goddess of metalcraft and the forge when casting jewelry. So, I began calling upon her to bless my castings. My metal casts have been nearly perfect ever since. It did not take long for even the best students in my jewelry class to begin invoking Brigid when casting their more complicated pieces.

There are many ways to interact with our creative life more intentionally by using our shamanic practices as a window into more profound creative inspiration. You can ask your helping spirits for a spark of inspiration or an assignment like I did. You can journey into a landscape and ask it how it wants to be painted. You could ask to meet a helping spirit who is a master and merge with them while you create. Journey to the spirit of the stone or clay to ask how it would like to be sculpted. Cultivate your perfect altered creative states. Drum and/or journey before you begin. Play music that helps. If you are a musician, play music to help you get there.  There are many ways like this to inspire and enhance your creative projects.

Joan Levergood is a Shamanic Practitioner located in Chicago, Illinois. Joan is on the Board of Directors of the Society for Shamanic Practice as well as a longtime member of the Shamanism Without Borders Leadership Team. Being of service to her community as a shaman goes back to the very beginning of her shamanic training while she was working as a veterinary assistant at an animal shelter. Today Joan works with clients on a variety of life’s challenges. She specializes in unraveling and removing the unhelpful patterns of life, psychopomp or working with the dead, working with companion animals, soul retrieval, shamanic support of medical treatment and finding creative shamanic solutions to life’s sticky situations. www.helpingspirits.net