Chamanisma pour Nouvelle Terre ~ Switzerland 2012

Read more!

Ha'Shem appeared .....

Every week, a portion of the five books of Moses, known as the Torah, is read in the synagogue. The reading that I wanted to share some of my insights, and questions regarding is the portion known as פרשׁת וִיַרְא, Parashat Vayire. The part of the portion that I discuss in this piece, consists essentially of  Genesis, Chapter 18 & 19.

It is, to put it mildly, a heck of a text. It has 3 angels visiting Abraham, to tell him and Sara, both approaching their 100th year of life, that she was going to have a baby. It contains the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, with Lot's wife turning into a pillar of salt. Then we have Abraham's lying about Sara being his sister, and finally the binding of Isaac.

As much as I would have liked to have completed the whole chapter, at this stage, I am sharing just up to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorroh and Lot's ending up in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.

Whenever I approach these texts more closely, I keep in mind the environment in which this story takes place, which, I have to admit, was probably something a lot different from that which we are accustomed to today. Ignoring the lack of “modern technology”for the moment, let us note some of the strangenesses that were spoken of from those days. Let that strangeness allow us to open our minds to the non-rational, or perhaps the supra-rational.

Using shaman methodology to investigate this story, I look at what part of it could be a journey, and what part of it could fit into my understanding of what I will refer to, as the “3D” or“consensual” reality in which we live. I do that because I take the journey to be one that will take me to a non-material realm. And the non-material realm is where the spiritual begins. For it is the realm of the ideal, of the vow, of the Brit.

“HaShem appeared to him”

וירא אליו יהוה

Approaching it from the English rendering, in which the Parasha begins with the nameless aspect of G!d, HaShem,  the one we refer to as the Name, because It has no name, being beyond the realm of naming.  Part of creation’s emergence was the need for Adam to name everything. HaShemthen is beyond this realm being the source of creation, the “One” that exists before creation. Now, this could alert us to the fact that this portion is starting in the presence of the Divine, “For HaShem appeared to him”, thus he must be in sacred space. We could say that he was visited by the Divine.

In the Hebrew, the first word is not HaShem, but is ויראVayirah. It is also the name of the chapter, and can be rendered as “It (HaShem) will be seen,” a form of looking that is the looking into the future, “You will see”, and hence “appeared”, because of the biblical future tense being rendered as the past.

I find this straddling, this con-fusion of the past and the future fascinating. It generally occurs in reference to the Divine though. It is as if She acts in the future, that is, exists as the future, as pregnant with possibilities. The “past”  is what has been actualised, been made manifest. But HaShem remains the only possible, potential, action.

In the Hebrew, HaShem is not the second word either – it is the third. Thus it intimates that first there needs to be the act of seeing, which requires also looking. In order for it to appear, he must have been looking for it, and then found, i.e. seeing, it. And this requires astillness, an ability to hear, to receive.

more....

Read more!

Vision Quest - Western Cape

Please join me (Lyn Spirit Eagle) and Julian Gordon (Serpent Guards Path) on this exciting event at The Blue Hippo, Western Cape from
26th Oct - 30th Oct 2012.

email: [email protected] or [email protected] to register and for banking details.

cost: R2,500 (sliding scale if needs be)

Some info:

PREPARATIONS:

For Vision Questers:
• Prepare prayer bundles. Information on what you need and how to go about this will be provided. You will begin as soon as possible.
• Begin journal of prayers.

For Wounded Healers:
• Collect materials for prayer bundles also materials for making your talisman. Information will be provided.
• Choose a journal for the workshop

TO BRING:

Your journal and pens.
Prayer bundles prepared by vision questers
Wounded Healer people bring their materials for prayer bundles and talisman.
Water bottles.
Sleeping bag and pillow.
Torch, matches, candles.
Swim suit.
Biodegradable toiletries.
Long socks, layered clothing
Suitable shoes for rough walking
Drums, rattles, flutes, guitars…
Food for all your meals. (Vision questers will only need food for the time at camp). There is a good communal kitchen at The Blue Hippo. It has cooking and fridge facilities. We can talk more about this later.
We will sleep in the tipis and tents.

Friday
We have invited Tracy Armbruster to take us on a foraging walk on Friday morning. Tracy is wild about weeds and it will be very edifying to know our wild plant friends better. We will let you know times for this.
Otherwise….
Arrive by 1pm
3-5 pm Vision Questers and allies go find where questers would like to sit in their circle and come back. Wounded Healer people go with them because they will be the ones taking them water on Sunday and we need to know where they will be for two nights.
Pipe Ceremony for all of us
6pm- supper
Nekyia talk about descent and our rite of passage as Heroes on your journey. The Heroes journey entry, descent and return, thus broadening your cartography of Psyche and Cosmos. It is igniting the shaman within, waking up your potentiality in an earth-honoring and heart opening way.
Circular Fire dancing and drumming. To call in our Spirit helpers, to show them the sincerity of our intention and to let our bodies know.
9pm -Archetypal journey for empowerment and insight.
Bed.

Saturday
Breakfast
Questers leave early after small breakfast (oats and raisins for example)
Wounded Healer workshop begins: Morning Fire circle.
Medicine wheel work: aids in finding directions for the weekend’s work.
Lunch
Prayer Bundles. Preparing and check-in assessment.
Supper
Altruistic journey
Bed

Sunday
Breakfast
Morning Fire Circle
Exercise in connecting with the energies of Mom Earth (tree guardians, energy vortexes, wind and elements etc)
Lunch
Take prayer bundles and go off to place them. This is a journey too.
Go and take questers water. This is part of the chop wood carry water of service, a mission. Noting Nature spirits and the magic of the ordinary.
Supper
Chill circle and individual sessions.
Bed

Monday
Breakfast
Fire Circle
Questers begin to return in the morning and need to be back by midday.
Wounded Healers in camp making a talisman.
Lunch
Communal sharing of what has been found.
Individual sessions and dyads.
Closing ceremony.
Supper
Free time. Drumming, dance.
Bed.

Tuesday
Breakfast and departures.

Read more!

The Winter Works- Shamanic Journeys into the Cavern of the Heart.

 The Winter Works- Shamanic Journeys into the Cavern of the Heart.

Muizenberg - Cape Town 2012

We will spend Saturday afternoons learning how to navigate your inner spaces on your own juice. The protocols and disciplines so that you don’t get lost or come back with weird stuff . Winter is the time of the Inner caverns

• April : Autumn – Learning Journey work. The Entering, Descent, and re-entering in 3D. Calling your guides, how to communicate and what to do with them.
• May : Creating a coherent wave of Sacred Spaces. Healing and Creativity manifest best from altered states (The Journey).
• June : Descending into the Dark Mother. Cave of Introspection. The West, place of Ritual Death and Dismemberment (no need to be scared )
• July : The Inner Serpent –be in touch with your self empowerment and creativity. Masculine structure and Feminine spaces.
• August : The Shaman Within – Stepping out of poverty and lack of havingness ( values, making connections and relationships ) – Placing your intentions (throwing your dream body) and tapping into your creativity, bringing forth our authentic webs. Future visions.

Emerge into the richness of spring and light with new and revived paths.

Comprises of 12 lessons - 3 till 5pm
Part of the lesson time may be experiential and the other half journeying.
Bring munchies, cushions and blanket to journey on. Bring your journals too.
You need not attend every session but the more you do, the more your spaces can “set” and the more proficient you become. There is a LOT to this work.
Donations of R100 per session or what you can offer.
RSVP important please.
Vanessa Henderson: [email protected]
or Lyn : [email protected]

We will also have BREATHWORK once a month. Please inquire further about this if you are keen.

Many thanks and much love.
Lyn Spirit Eagle.

Dates:
31st March - plus breathwork
14th April - plus breathwork
28th April
12th May - plus breathwork
19th May
2nd June -plus breathwork
16th June
30th June - plus breathwork
14th July
4th August- plus breathwork
18th August - plus breathwork (maybe :))

Read more!

Map to the Festival of Shamans. 24th, 25th,& 26th Feb 2012

About 100kms =1.30 hours to get there.

Head out on N2 

turn left into R406 to Greyton

Once in Greyton drive through the village 

till Riviersonderend Rd, turn right.

Drive 4 kms along the dust road.

The Blue Hippo sign is on your left.

See you there :)

Read more!

Where the Festival of Shamans will be :)

Picture the people, flags, journeys, ceremonies, joy, soulness, drumming, friendship old and new, workshops :) This is where we will be.

...a Festival of Shamans

near Cape Town SA

24th, 25th 26th Feb 2012

more info on http://shaman.spazaspace.com/

Read more!

Day of Mourning

"Although primarily meant to commemorate the destruction of the Temples, it is also considered appropriate to commemorate other Jewish tragedies that occurred on this day, most notably the
expulsion of the Jews from Spain
 in 1492.
^[2] Accordingly, the day has been called the "saddest day in Jewish history". The day focuses on commemoration of five events: the destruction of the two ancient Temples in Jerusalem, the sin of ten of the twelve scouts sent by Moses, who spoke disparagingly about the Promised Land, the razing of Jerusalem following the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, and the failure of Bar Kokhba's revolt against the Roman Empire."


I knew that Tisha B'av was approaching, this day of deep mourning. I was not sure how I was going to interact with it, as has been my walk with my spiritual path for a long time now. The requirement is firstly to fast. The second is to attend a gathering where the Book of Lamentations is read. The day is spent as if in mourning. 

Entrance to Holy of Holies

As the day approached, it began to weigh heavily upon me. Another depressing day, another dismal celebration. No wonder I suffer from melancholy. Then the Friday before, I took Soda Pop to the vet, and discovered that he was in such bad shape that I had to put him down... Can one officially mourn a dog? Is that acceptable? Or would that be making a mockery?


During the weekend I went in some deep, dark places in my soul. All the losses in my life came bubbling to the surface, all the things I had not achieved, all the things I could have achieved and didn't, all the people who I had loved and were no longer with me swirled around me the whole weekend.

Herod's Magnificent Temple 

So, on Tuesday I fasted, but could not face going to the synagogue to be with a bunch of morose people mourning the destruction of the temple 3000 or so years ago. In fact, I began to think about celebrating our lives, and our joy at still being alive, at having a maintained a continuous line of faith even though our temple had been destroyed centuries before. In fact, I could even make a case for celebrating the destruction of the temple (I hear the word "heresy" echoing in the background). It is what released us from the tyranny of the temple and the cult of animal sacrifice. From it emerged a system that was far more resilient and stood us by the long trail of oppression and sacrifice that we had to walk all these years. It spurred us onto to a greatness and a resilience that has become well-known and envied by many.


That is what I celebrated. Happy to be alive. Happy to be able to still practise my faith. Proud of all the famous and amazing men and women who were my ancestors and helped lead us to this present place of wealth and abundance and awareness.

Love to all,
Julian.
Read more!