Michele's musings. . .

Becoming a shaman

I am not a shaman, I cannot be certified to be a shaman…I can’t take classes and graduate to become a shaman. There I’ve said it!

 

I get daily Google Alerts about shamanism and I am amazed. I am a shamanic practitioner–that means I practice shamanism as my spiritual path (all my life, but I woke up to the truth of it in 1994). It does not make me a shaman!

 

As a small child I connected with Nature and the world around me. Nature informs me, heals me, sustains me. Many discuss shamanism in their communities now because there is a hungering for connection; people need to 'frame it'. In your own spiritual awakening you may be called to walk this path…but beware of trying to make sense of something that changes like the tides and whose power has been with us for thousands of years. Don’t limit the power of the Universe. In my own experience...

 

It’s a sacred call. It is a call to build relationship in the world behind your eyes. There is no gaining control over “the Spirits”. This is the old paradigm of good versus evil. Communities around the world are working to create a balance in the web of light through love. A good shaman [shamanic practitioner] works in sacred partnership with her Helping Allies- the benevolent ancestors and descendents, the spirits of the land, the sacred elements, the power animals and teachers. These Helping Spirits are caretakers in the invisible worlds that want to support the earth and her inhabitants at this time.

 

It's an alliance that brings healing, problem solving and builds community. The community you serve by your good works may say “she is a shaman.” But one never decrees this personally, that is the height of arrogance.

 

Shamans from around the world say we are dreaming the wrong dream. We are all suffering from nature deficit disorder, especially our children. If the message shared is one of fear, then you are working with the wrong spiritual teacher, find a new teacher who is dreams of unity, practices forgiveness. Find a healed healer.

 

Again these words don’t quite capture the essence of it all. I would suggest you journey over to Sandra Ingerman's site, and listen to her talk on weaving the web of light. Learn to shamanic journey for yourself. Start to build relationship in the world behind your eyes.

 

Sandra Ingerman on Weaving the Web of Light

http://www.workingwithoneness.org/VideoAudio.html

 

Sandra Ingerman

http://www.sandraingerman.com

 

Visit Medicine for the Earth

http://www.medicinefortheearth.com

 

I’ll write and share more in the coming weeks, to be informed when I post please subscribe.

(http://sharedjourneys.spaces.live.com/)

Simple to more complex, this new age stuff is.

  

I left early, read on to learn why. Here are some images of how we started the Design Sketch workshop with Tim White. Simple to more complex. Overall my ability to draw perspectives has shifted. More confidence. See image of the two sofa’s. Bottom sofa is today’s sketch, the image is more grounded. These sketches are drawn in little vignettes, and each takes no more than 5– 15 minutes. (click on thumbnail and a larger version will open up in your browser).

Last year is top picture, bottom is today’s drawing. I captured the furniture grouping better. Went bolder on color and perspective. Didn’t do as well on the shading of the light scallops.

What I learned today:

I want to sketch new images, not the same ones as last year. Boring.
I want to go outside an sketch real buildings [I make a commitment to do this on my own].
I like scribbling my pictures. I like having more confidence in drawing.

I want to hang out with people who like doing this, and aren’t just there for their fricking CEU credits. The energy in the room was soo flat. When designers get together as a group they are either boasting about the scope of their projects or complaining [look at me]. I even heard designer’s complaining about taking the NCIDQ exam and having to ‘know’ how to build things– is quite a scary concept for me to listen too.

My neighbor next to me is a designer in her late 30’s. She arrives flustered. Didn’t get her supplies together in time, found that Staples didn’t have what she needed. Not knowing where things are in her house. Complained about her kid taking the colored pencils. Not using art supplies since college 16 years ago. How sad, sounds like me 14 years ago. No surprise her sketches reflect all of this.

Down the hall they’re having a new age seminar, seems like everyone is selling their wares outside the room. Psychic portraits, crystals, angelic messenger cards.

I see a lot of cheap tacky stuff piled on tables..feels more snake oil than spiritual medicine. Oh my. Watched two women sit down for a reading….“Let me tell you your fortune for $25..lets go sit in my sacred space.” Which is a table piled high with two seats crammed at the end- in the hotel hall off the ballroom where every Tom, Dick and Michele walks by from our sketch class staring at you!!

My two worlds colliding. I’m melting. I’m melting. Happy 11/11. This interior designer, woo-woo veteran is out of here.

Palette of Grays, a day of play

Today is a day of gathering supplies and courage. Saturday morning I head off to architect Tim White’s workshop Enhancing Design Quality with Concept Sketches. I decided to go again because last year I learned so much and had fun. I learned I can sketch [which is something I didn’t think I could do]. Busted through that inner critic and surrendered.

Back in the day I took a nude drawing class in college that marked me [didn’t figure this out until my 40’s]. Every cold winter morning for six weeks I stood at my easel looking up at this goose pimply naked woman trying to draw what I saw. Front, back, up, down she posed and no one could tell my sketches represented the human body. ***Arrgh*** That semester I lost a piece of myself in the process and took on the belief that free hand sketching was too daunting task.

Then I saw Danny’s work…decided I want to learn how to draw like Danny Gregory’s journal sketches and well Tim’s class showed up. Here’s a sketch from last year of a southwest church in marker and pencil. Work small, work loose. Let go. Create vignettes.

Tomorrow I get to grab 10 CEU credits for my interiors license. I get to loosen up. I get to play. I have my supplies from last years class:

• Colored pencils
• Pack of unlined 5 x 8 index cards
• Pilot V5 rolling ball pen
• Drafting tape, pencil sharpener, 2B sketch pencil
• Art markers in a palette of grays. Do I want to bring Warm, Cool or French grey?

Today I made a palette of grays. Who knew grey had so many shades….as I color the smells and the sounds of the marker hitting the paper reminds me of design school in the ‘70’s. Back then I had every marker Pearl’s Art Supply sold; I carried those markers around in an avocado green hinged box from house to house for 20 years. I still have the box but not the markers. Avocado green is back in, considered retro. I must be retro. **smile**

I know what is in store, so I can relax into the session, take the skills deeper. Oh la la! I’ll post the sketches next week. I so need this day of play. Just the thing to do when Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio swiping at my rising sign.

Competition- no blue, no black now draw color back into your life

"When there is nothing else to compare there is no competition." – A billboard on 1–95

When there is no competition it allows me to be me. You to be you. I took a pottery class and found myself immersed in the process of just playing while creating with the clay.  As I worked I began to hear the women around me comparing their pieces to mine. "Oh I could never do that." and "I'm not an artist."

In comparing our experiences the energy in the room and around us contracted. Collectively they shut down rather than becoming open and supportive to each other. Lets bond over what I can't do, rather than what I am doing. You showed up for this class, you are becoming an artist. Different levels of experience to learn from, like water from a well. It was an eye opener for me…I decided that day I am not going there with anyone anymore.

I am blessed. I was raised with a creative mother and grandmother who supported my art, even in its infancy.  Paint, clay, pencils it was all play for me and still is. The joy of creating, allowing the juices to flow breaks me out of stagnation and renews my spirit. We all have the ability to create something unique that gives us joy and feeds our passion. What is it???  Reflect back on your life. What did your want to be as a child?

When I hear women discount their creative process I ask a hard question,

“Who in my past gave me the image/belief that I am not creative?”

Journal about it.  I ask just one thing- begin to write in your journal with colored pens and pencils- eliminate blue and black ink.  NO BLUE. NO BLACK. Trust me on this on…Rather than words...draw what you are feeling...Draw color back into your life. GO BOLD...write on unlined paper and see what starts to move you as you put pen to paper.  Color the images.  Draw stick figures.  Doodle. Act like a child in your journal.  Allow that creative expression to return to you again.  What messages come to you as you draw?

I have found that if I am in a competitive place. . . a better than or less than space when I am with you, then I am not fully present in the moment. In essence I am coming from my wound and my heart is not open. My personal power and strength is diminished. How often do I compare myself to someone else?

Ponder on this…

Finding a spiritual teacher-it's a shadow dance

Here is some good information that has served me well these past 12 years. When I first started teaching shamanism in a local store, I met several women who had given their power over to an abusive spiritual teacher. Oh the horror stories I heard. Now after a 30 minute lecture they wanted to apprentice with me right away- these women didn't even 'know' me, which was very weird. I see a lot of soul loss presenting this way.

In my own journey I have studied with several ‘known’ teachers whose work I love and whose shadows started taking center stage. One friend shared, "the greater the teacher, the greater the shadow." Witnessing and observing this within and without is a great teaching and learning for me. For over a decade I have been sharing these guidelines to friends and students- they help me keep it clean. LOL

Signs that you may have taken a wrong turn from the book Embodying Spirit by Jacquelyn Small:

Continue reading "Finding a spiritual teacher-it's a shadow dance" »