Sky Yeager
Shamanic Practitioner - Usui Reiki Master - MariEL Reiki Medicine
You can now listen to a podcast recording of my latest article below And find more episodes on Spotify |
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You can now listen to a podcast recording of my latest article below And find more episodes on Spotify |
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We have all had some experience with the Fae realms. These are the realms just beside the realm of our everyday collectively agreed upon perceptions. We think of them as separate but they are interconnected. And Fae is a broad term that encompasses faeries and nature spirits, as well as elementals. There is a lot of overlap when we try to classify what we don’t fully understand. For some of us, these experiences happened in a big way, or even have been a regular occurrence. But we may not feel comfortable sharing that with many people in our lives, maybe because we don’t want to explain our intuitive connections, or maybe our family and friends are not interested in the mystical. Or maybe we just want to hold that experience private and close to our hearts because it was so beautiful. But when we come together with people who have similar interest and familiarity with the Fae and other realms, it sparks a way to share and connect. I was in a small Fae-friendly circle the other night and someone asked if any of us had seen or had interactions with fae. Only two of us raised our hands. I was surprised. But as people heard others share stories about their experiences, it sparked their memories. Soon everyone in the group realized that they had seen or interacted with a Fae at some point in their lives. Some folks talked about seeing a sparkle of light out of the corner of their eye that would move around their garden, another saw the spirit of a tree for a few moments. Some had experiences when they were very young and had forgotten about it. Many of our first encounters happen in our childhood. We are so open and naturally connected with the larger spectrum of realms up until we are about seven years old. Then our soul becomes used to and more focused on its physical incarnation. The doorways to other realms fade. Social programming starts to override our intuitive senses. One of my earliest experiences came when I was about five years old when I saw a little man with a flute appearing and disappearing in a huge monstera plant in my grandmother’s living room. I told my grandma about it, but since I was supposed to be napping, she thought I was dreaming. But I never forgot how he looked and seemed so at home in the plant there. Many people I talk to and share circle with say that they want to meet faeries or other mystical beings. I tell them that they can, that we have been wired to do it as part of being human. Connecting to these realms requires us to drop any expectations that we have about what that will look like. And we need these connections now more than ever as they will truly help to restore balance and harmony to the realms of our world. There are many ways they communicate with us, it is not complicated. The first step is letting the Fae know we want that to happen on a conscious level. We can ask them to be loud and clear. Then we need to start paying attention. Sometimes it can be a technicolor Disney type vision in our minds eye. And sometimes it can be subtle like a leaf that is waving to us every time we look at it. Or seeing a movement in our peripheral vision that just sparks our intuitive senses. They may also use our dreams to interact with us, as in Dreamtime all realms are connected. We can return to our original highly intuitive nature no matter what our age or belief. Finding some time every day to be still and hone our intuitive sensing skills is important, as is spending some time outside. And as we hold the space for these connections to happen, we may start to remember experiences we have already had with the Fae. They are waiting for us to connect with them again, with patience, hope and sparkles just over there, out of the corner of our eye. This ancient ash has a face in the bark that she is showing here, and we can see a few other elemental and fae folk within her as well
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When the nights are longer than the days, I feel like we are in dreaming season. Nature wants us to dream more. Most of us do not change our schedules much when we go into the season of long nights, our jobs and schools and businesses keep the same hours. We even try to change time to suit us by moving our clocks forward and backwards. Most of us in modern society never even think about it. But our bodies register it. Our consciousness recognizes it. The advent of electricity ushered in the industrial period we have been in for the last 120 years. It meant that the lights could always be on and people could always be on. This was not an ideal situation for a species who had for thousands of years lived close to the land and were a part of the cycles of the land and sky. When we were sustained by the land, people followed the flow of the wheel of the year. It provided markers for planting and harvesting, for following migrations, for hunting game. They were also times for celebrating and honoring those that sustained us; the life giving sun and nurturing Earth, the ancestors, the elements and elementals, and the plants and animals. It was a time of communicating directly with them. We perceived their physical and Spirit aspects as one, entwined together without separation. The Spirit of the fire was the fire, the Spirit of barley was the barley, and so on. I have been following the cycles around the wheel of the year for almost 30 years now. This wheel has eight major spokes consisting of the four sun-marking days of the two solstices and two equinoxes, and the four cross-quarter days in between the sun-marking days around the first day of November, February, May and August. Humans have been very aware of these cycles for millennia and marking space for them all over the world. Thousands of temples, stone circles, earthworks and buildings have been found to align with the astronomical points of solstices and equinoxes, some of which are more than 10,000 years old. Moving stone blocks that weigh a ton or more to frame the point where the sun rises and sets for one or two days of the year shows just how important it was to humans. I know when these will happen because I can look at the astrological information on the calendar, but I also observe the land and sky. I have been in the place I live now for just over one year. I have a good view of the eastern horizon from my bedroom window. I have been able to track the sunrise as it moves north and south along the horizon through the year. From my view right now the sun is rising behind some giant oaks a couple blocks away. When it’s past the oaks in six more weeks, I will see it at the farthest southern point at the winter solstice. The sun sends rays through the branches later and later each morning. as if saying no need to get out of bed yet! We don’t get information only from the land and the sun. The stars, the wind, how the light looks, how the air feels and smells all inform us through our senses and our energy systems. I feel like my cells respond and change to resonate and reflect the subtle changes of the light, just like the plants and animals around me. Now the shorter days make me feel sleepy early. I feel like I need more sleep, more dreaming. In my own seasonal wheel of the year, I call this the time of Deep Dreaming. It starts around Samhain on November 1st and goes through the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. This is the time for me to do focused work in the dreamtime, and to really keep up on my dream journal. We can reflect on how we feel, perceive and interact with the seasons and with what the eight spokes of the wheel mean to us. We can create our own calendar within the wheel for where we live and how our lives and lifestyles interact with elements and the land around us. I do this because it helps me reflect on how my sustenance, intuitive systems, my state of mind, and physical and emotional bodies, down to my individual cells are are part of the cycle of everything. How I am Nature, not just a tenant or observer. We can track our impressions from the overall quarter year season, but also for the monthly moon cycles, and even for the week, by how we feel as well as what we observe around us. It also helps us notice changes over time. I have not heard the geese moving north yet. Is it later than last year because of the longer warmer autumn? Maybe that will be something I note this year that I can track and compare with future wheels of the year. And we don’t have to reinvent the wheel - pun intended! A wonderful contemporary Druid writer and artist that I read and respect has created a template that we can use to get us started. You can find full size downloadable images of Dana Driscoll's Seasonal Sun Wheel in her online blog here. She has graciously shared them through Creative Commons open license. An image of my favorite is below. Seasonal Sun Wheel by Dana Driscoll – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
What is it about trees that captivate us? We are drawn to them, inspired by them, feel an innate kinship with them that is hardly ever explained to us by our typical western institutions and schools. Yet we feel their energy, their sentience and their spirit. I was hiking with a friend near Alsea falls the other day. There are Douglas fir and western red cedar there that are huge, ancient, some at least 400 years old. The love and wisdom emanating from them was so powerful. We would end up just standing still on the trail for quite awhile in awe and communion with them. As we did that we could feel their energy reaching out to us, and see that sometimes they created faces that would form in the bark to speak to us on a level we could relate to as humans. I could see little paths coming from the main trail leading a short way to several giant firs where people have been called to go to them to stand next to them, greet them, and most likely hug them. Trees really like that, especially if we ask them if we may first. Not long before I went on this hike, a friend sent me a video about a trend on TikTok, which I am not subscribed to so didn’t know about, where people film themselves talking to trees. They ask the tree to touch their shoulder and the trees do just that. The experience recorded is emotional and sometimes transcendent. And people are moved to say thank you to the tree. So many young people today have grown up immersed in technology and a digital world. I have felt like maybe that replaces playing outdoors and they miss out on being in the energy of Nature, and getting to know the trees, the wind, the wild beings that are our neighbors. But now seeing people blending digital technology and Nature, and interacting with trees and recognizing them as sentient beings, well it gives me great hope. I remember many specific trees in my life as friends and landmarks for feelings and memories. All the trees in my childhood yard and in the neighborhood had distinct personalities. Some, like the maple we climbed in our front yard, were easy to play with and welcoming. But the maple tree in our back yard always felt prickly, and even though we tried to interact with it by hanging a tire swing from a low branch, it felt uninterested in us so we didn’t spend much time there. The huge weeping willow next door felt like a sacred place to me and I always felt her Goddess-mother energy surround me as I entered her space. These relationships and feelings were a foundation for my life and how I felt and saw the world. My dad was a botanist and naturalist, and I know he loved trees, and probably knew them deeply as friends. But did he ever tell me that they are wise elders? Maybe. I’m pretty sure he didn’t tell me that some would speak to me, give me advice, hug me and love me. I would find that out on my own. Did I ever tell my daughter? I’m sure I did, but to what extent? When she was young we would often visit a very old cottonwood by our house that we called Grandfather. Did he become a landmark tree friend in her memories? She’s grown now, but we still share a love of trees and I think I will share the video with her. Then we can talk about tree friends and kin we have known, and she probably has some of her own tree stories to share. Alsea Falls trail - photo by Gayle Mair
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MissionTo help you tend to soul issues that may manifest in physical, emotional, mental or spiritual aspects of your life, and to give you tools to empower your path to harmony and well-being. Categories
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Linkswww.rainmother.com/-There are so many kindred spirits doing the work out there. I include these links to help our community connect with one another.
FAIRY CONGRESS - Offers a summer weekend gathering in person with workshops, circles and of course faeries and nature beings! They also offer a winter virtual weekend with amazing guest speakers like Orion Foxwood, David Spangler and R.J. Stewart. I highly recommend joining the online network to participate in monthly workshops, circles, and book clubs. https://fairycongress.com/ SACRED HOOP Magazine Guide to Shamanism Compilation- http://www.sacredhoop.org/Pages/FreeGuide.html Owner Valeria Pearson lovingly created SOLE TO SOUL YOGA studio with a community focus. There are classes for all levels and events that lift the spirit. I am grateful to be able to hold circles and events in her studio. https://www.soletosoulyogaoregon.com/ My friend and herbalist mentor, LAWRENCE BIRCH is a Certified Clinical Herbalist, plant whisperer and shamanic practitioner. If you need custom tincture blends or are interested in a wildcrafting apprenticeship, he is the teacher extraordinaire: http://givingtreefarm.com/ ROGER WHEELOCK and GAYLE RUTH are shamanic practitioners and teachers in the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition in Asheville NC. I am grateful to be able to take part in ceremony with them, and to support their love for the Peruvian people through the World Ayni Association. Gayle has a beautiful practice of helping others through the art of despacho ceremony which you can find out more and book here http://www.rainmother.com/and Roger has a shamanic practice https://www.communityshaman.com/ NEW WORLD KIRTAN = Kitzie's podcasts include interviews with artists and kirtan music. I love attending her weekly Satsang group and the New World Kirtan Band concerts - newworldkirtan.com/ NOTE!
None of the writing on this website was generated by AI and are all my original thoughts except what what I have included as references from others.
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