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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In the last two articles we’ve looked at creating and participating in ceremony in our personal practice and in our community. We’ve seen how that weaves together to both anchor our intentions and radiate them into the collective energy field. We can also create these ceremonies in partnership with the spirits of the land. It is also a community ceremony but this focuses on co-creating with the nature spirits and devas. The first thing to do in planning this kind of ceremony is to get permission from the land, the genius loci, which can be thought of as the Spirit of the land and all the spirits and beings who live there. We can receive this with our intuitive knowing senses, or we can use divining methods like shamanic journey, or using our pendulum or muscle testing to get yes or no answers. If we get a no, we must respect that. Perhaps the timing is not right or maybe nature has something else in mind. Once we get permission, we also need to think about the purpose. Ceremonies for gratitude and love for the earth and nature spirits are usually always welcomed. Balancing or tending ceremonies may be called for in an area that has been stressed by human causes as in logging, mining, industrial agriculture, or even forest fires. For areas that have been polluted by toxins or that feel heavy from invasive energies we may want to focus on clearing and tending ceremonies. Things to keep in mind when we co-create in nature are choosing materials that are easily compostable and that also will not introduce invasive species in wild areas. If we want to bring rose petals and herbs from our garden to use in the ceremony, remove any seeds and seed pods that could introduce non native species to the area. Also we will want to cook those on a shallow baking tray at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. This will kill any insect eggs or fungus that may be beneficial in our garden space, but could upset an ecosystem balance in wild areas. When possible, creating with materials that we find already in the area is ideal, and becomes part of the ceremony itself. Again find a way to receive permission from them and to thank them because that is also part of the ceremony. Stones and shells who want to take part in mandalas or cairns may be in your path or seem to catch your eye with a glow or sparkle. Sometimes we can feel the willingness of every being in an area to participate. Living only an hour away from the coast now, I often feel called to create ceremonies there to honor and bless the ocean and all the beings in that region. Sometimes it’s small and personal where I stand in the tide and offer prayers of gratitude and love with a bit of sacred tobacco or flower petals. Sometimes a group of us are called together to drum and sing and offer tending for the renewed health and vitality of the ocean and the beaches. Occasionally my ceremonialist friends Gayle and Roger and I get a call to create a mandala at certain beaches. These are so much fun and usually done with materials found right there. It is a good exercise in being open to the feelings and energies of the nature beings in the area to tune into what they want. Much of the focus is on Mama Ocean, but each stone, shell, kelp frond and feather have their own energy, and there are a myriad of fae and elemental beings in the area to consider and include. Afterwards, we love that the tide rises over it and takes the energy and prayers and distributes them to exactly where they need to go. Most of us have probably come across cairns in our travels hiking. These are stones that are stacked one upon another to create a small tower or mound. I remember first seeing these on a family vacation hiking a mountain in Vermont. My brother and I were very young and we delighted in adding stones to them and creating new ones. I’m sure I asked my parents about them but my memory from so long ago is hazy, they might have told us that some were trail markers. Maybe some are, but much of the time they feel like sacred play to me. The stone and nature beings call to us to interact and create with them, and whether done with a light childlike joy or a purposeful intention, the result is creation of partnership and alignment. An important thing to keep in mind is that many of our interactions with nature can be done ceremonially with our intentions. Collecting wild herbs, firewood, stones or shells can be done ceremonially with respect and gratitude and reciprocated by a gift of a song or strand of our hair. Even when we are out hiking and we need to go off trail to share our urine, we ask the earth to receive our water as a blessing. Where there is reverence, there is ceremony. Whatever the intention of our ceremony was, afterwards we may get a feeling of peace that settles over us and the area. But sometimes we may also get a larger sign that our ceremony or blessing was accepted, like an eagle flying overhead or a butterfly landing in the area. If we don’t receive any feelings or signs, that is okay too. We do these ceremonies as much for ourselves as for the nature spirits. And who knows what wonderful things nature does with the energy that we create together? Mandala on Oregon coast for Mama Ocean and all the coastal nature beings
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In my last article I talked about co-creating ceremonial grids and altars as containers for intentions and prayers. After being inspired by a despacho ceremony from a Peruvian paqo and elder Wilbert Salas Atasi, my spirit team came to me and nudged me to make these ceremonial offerings regularly as part of my personal practice. Bringing these ceremonies into my personal practice has been life changing. And I feel the energy in turns anchoring what it needs to anchor and also rippling out to where it needs to flow. But like the despacho ceremony Wilbert created, when we come together in a group with focused intention, its effect is felt far and wide. It makes an impact on the collective energy of the world. I felt the energy of our ceremony that day wrap around the earth like a beautiful ribbon. In some ceremonies we may be called to attend and be an active participant. That is when we may be speaking intentions and prayers, sharing in singing songs of power, holding objects and energy. My dear friends Gayle Mair and Roger Wheelock are ceremonialists, and I have been fortunate to be part of many of their ceremonies. I recorded an interview with them about what they do which you can find on Spotify here. As well as despacho, they have been creating crystal grid ceremonies for community. Their ceremonies always invite participation. Before attending they ask that we bring a personal intention that we can align with the overarching intention and theme of the ceremony. Then they provide the time and space for us to speak and share what we are bringing. In the crystal grid ceremonies we each take turns choosing crystals and items which we place on the altar space where we feel called. Roger then listens to the stone beings and spirit helpers and moves key anchoring crystals around accordingly to focus and attune the energy patterns we create as they build and blend. I feel the energies flowing like an energetic tapestry we have woven together, wrapping around each of us as participants, and also flowing into the collective energy of the community and the environment. The active co-creation that Gayle and Roger facilitate in groups is purposeful and powerful. But we don’t even have to take involved roles in the ceremony for our participation to be meaningful. Many times our presence is enough. We bring with us our unique energy and soul’s purpose, as well as all of our energetic and Spirit connections. Chingiz Kam, a shaman from the republic of Tuva in Siberia came to Corvallis recently to perform ceremony and songs from his tradition. It was held at the museum and open to anyone, and at least fifty people attended, a big turnout for a weeknight in a small college city. My ancestors nudged me to go as soon as my friend told me about the event. My ancestors told me then that the shaman would sing a song for them. It would seal all the tending I had done for them over the past year and enliven the lineage moving forward. Sitting there in the crowd, as a passive observer, I could feel that the room was full of ancestors that each one of us had brought with us. And I realized that was our part of the ceremony. His songs and drumming, his Spirit allies and ancestors wove a tapestry of alignment, healing and blessing into the strands of all of our lineages. All of us were called by our ancestors and Spirit guides to have our presence there to be part of the ceremony. I sometimes see each one of us as crystals on a collective grid, sacred objects on the altar of our planet, Mother Earth. Where each place we are called to live, work or visit creates an energetic thread in the ceremony of everything. Our intentions always flowing, creating, interweaving with all the other beings to co-create our lives, our timelines in the multiverse. What if every breath, every thought became a strand of fiber in those energetic threads. Would we know what kind of world ceremony we are creating as we go about living our lives? Crystal grid for Resilience created by Gayle and Roger and their community in Asheville, NC
One intention I’ve set for this year is to find ways to bring more elements of ceremony into my daily life. This helps me to be in the state of reverence and harmony within myself and everything around me. For me ceremony is a way to bridge the mundane and the reverent, the physical and the etheric. It reminds me that everything is Spirit and everything is sacred. Recently I had the good fortune of being in a global ceremony led by a Peruvian elder and teacher Wilbert Salas Atasi, who has been a teacher to a couple of my close friends. One of Wilbert’s gifts is to create powerful despacho ceremonies. This ceremony was for the new year 2024 and created an energetic container for our prayers and intentions to be in what he calls ayni, the state of being in right relationship with Spirit. Thanks to the spirits of technology we are able to gather together at the same time no matter where we are in the world and see and hear one another. I was fully enmeshed in it, participating and sharing my energy with the ceremony and with all the other people who were online with me, as well as all the people who would watch the recording of it later. All of us focused our prayers and intentions on each element as he added to the despacho. The despacho works like a container for these elements and prayers and when complete it is folded up in paper, loosely tied, then given to a ceremonial fire for release. At the end of the ceremony he shared the power and blessings by tapping the wrapped bundle on our outstretched hands, and from thousands of miles away I clearly felt the powerful flow of it move in and around me. After the ceremony my Spirit team came in with a clear strong message for me. They said that I could make a similar ceremony every week to help anchor my intentions and call in blessings and create ayni with all around me in my life. Then it was like they took my toolbox and dumped it out on the floor in front of me. I got really excited. What came out of my toolbox was my innate creativity, intuitive vision, empathy and all the shamanic and Reiki skills I have learned over the years. And the sacred objects all around me, my crystals, crystal skulls, oracles, art, herbs, feathers, flower essences, were the medium to work in with these tools. I started clearing a space on my altar right away. I then became aware of some beings standing at the threshold of my consciousness. They had the feel of fae and Sidhe. They were standing by, getting ready to take part in and help create the container for the Gaian Congress, a gathering of human, nature and Spirit beings that I would be attending in a few days. This was a formal nudge for acknowledgment now so they could begin readying their part. I let them lead as we co-created a ceremonial space for our intentions. It unfolded as part crystal grid and part oracle reading, and reflected our prayers for powerful ayni, for right relationship between all of us and all of our realms. This ceremonial creation worked its magic for ten days then it let me know it was done a few days after the Gaian Congress ended. The next ceremonial grid was already forming in my vision for prayers and intentions for a successful surgery and recovery for my dear friend’s upcoming procedure. This new way of thinking about personal ceremony brings together many elements that have been scattered throughout my life into a focused relationship. What I am calling a grid can be thought of in different terms, an altar, a mesa, a mandala, a sigil or design. It doesn’t have to have the appearance of a grid, it can take the shape of anything. And I don’t think there is any rigid format or recipe about what items we decide to put into it. What is important are the intentions that are seeded into it, what it means to us, and how we feel the energy flowing as we create it. The other key piece which sparks the energy is feeling the co-creative relationship with our Spirit partners as we harmonize and let the weaving of our partnership create magic. Elements included selenite roses, kyanite, mica, crystal skulls, herbs and flowers and cards from the Sidhe deck by David Spangler & Jeremy Berg
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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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Links-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. https://www.rainmother.com/ 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. Roger has a practice in Asheville, NC 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/ |
Want to keep in touch? Every month I send an email with my latest article. I also have updates about workshop offerings and community events. I never sell or share your information and I will never abuse the privilege of being allowed into your mailbox.
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