July 2010 Newsletter |
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This is my favorite time of the year. The garden is bursting with color, although everything is a bit late this year because of the unusually wet spring. We are inadvertently sharing our strawberries with two adorable baby raccoons—brazen bandits who have no qualms about feasting in broad daylight while I'm planting elsewhere in the garden. Sometimes I make the mistake of getting sucked into the constant flow of bad news. I have to remind myself that maybe I need to unplug for awhile and enjoy the simple and great miracles that I am immersed in. I just had a lovely visit with two of my grandchildren, ages 3½ years and 5 months, which is always a good starting point for embracing the joy. When you find yourself being drawn to the gloom, I recommend something similar. Find an aspect of your daily life, some constant, that will bring you back to the light of optimism and hope. It can be as simple as a beautiful sunset, a walk in nature, or perhaps there is a festival or concert happening near you that can draw you out and get you dancing.  Oregon Country FairA big part of the reason for my joy is that next weekend is the Oregon Country Fair, our yearly gathering of the tribes festival that doubles as our family reunion. This year, besides my usual Altared Space gig, I'm speaking twice: Saturday Aftenoon at Rabbit Hole on The Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, and on Sunday with Steve Bhaerman (Swami Beyondananda) on Spontaneous Evolution and Alchemical Healing. Mz Imani and the Rhythm Shamans will be joining us providing percussion background, and will be making theier amazing music at the Spirit Tower Friday and Saturday afternoon. There are only a couple of spaces left in my annual Alchemical Healing Intensive retreat, July 23-31. We will spend nine days immersing ourselves in learning the healing form from my book, Alchemical Healing, A Guide to Spiritual, Physical, and Transformational Medicine. Participants receive the major initiations from the book and learn many healing techniques, including some new ones that were developed after the form was published. You can read more about this course and register online here. We will be having a free healing clinic at my home/center here in Eugene, Oregon during the intensive on Thursday, July 29 and Friday, July 30. If you are able to come and would like to receive a healing, please send us an email letting us know what issue you would like to work on and when you would be available. I will be doing a few demonstrations earlier in the week if that timing works better for you. Although we would like to work mostly on physical problems of all kinds, we will take some spiritual and emotional issues as well.  Temple of Horus EdfuThe next free Cancer Phone Bridge healing ceremony will happen Saturday, July 31 at 10am Pacific time. This is a global web/teleconference that I'm hoping is timed to let folks join that can't usually be with us because of the time differences. Please join us if you are dealing with cancer or would like to support those who are. There are podcasts from previous web/teleconferences on our site. For more information see our Cancer Bridge page, or you can register online here. The pilgrimage to Egypt with Joan Borysenko and me in November still has spaces, although it is filling pretty quickly. Please let us know soon if you are interested. We also have a couple more tours coming up soon after, one with Danielle Hoffmann and Dr. Friedemann Schaub in February, and a writing and mystery tour with Normandi Ellis and me in March. Please see our Egypt travel page. We now have it set up so you can register on line. I hope that each new day brings you many reasons to smile.
In Joy,
P.S. Please join me this year at the New England Women's Herbal Conference in New Hampshire, August 20 - 22, The International Alchemy Conference, October 1-4 at Long Beach California, and at the last Earthdance (September 17 - 19) to be held at Black Oak Ranch in Laytonville, California. |
Alchemy ExplainedNicki Scully
Alchemy is the process by which each of us moves from our primal state of unconsciousness, through the various alchemical stages represented by our most elemental experiences, to the realization of full awakening, or enlightenment. It is the interactive dance through which we are constantly weaving spirit and matter into the multidimensional tapestry of life. Alchemy is a process that spirals from cycle to cycle, ever upward and forward, repeating itself as required to transform and change us through the experiences of our body, soul, psyche, and spirit. In alchemical terminology it is called the Opus, or Great Work. The higher state of consciousness and self-understanding that results includes recognition of our connection to the spirit world and awareness of the interconnectedness of all beings. The goal of the Great Work is called, among other things, the philosophers' stone, the universal medicine, alchemical gold, and the elixir of life. It is the interpenetration of spirit and matter—the spiritualization of our material selves, and the materialization of our spiritual essence. Alchemy has much in common with shamanism. A shaman is a multidimensional traveler who journeys into various realms of spirit to bring back power and healing for the benefit of his or her community. A shaman's development requires a breakdown of ego, and toward this end there are rites of passage that often lead to the edge of or beyond the physical, mental, and emotional tolerance of most people. I've never heard of a shaman who has not undergone ordeals that tested his mettle and stretched the envelope of his abilities. All shamans go through a process of decomposition and re-membering in order to find their personal power and abilities, and all have allies from the spirit world with whom they consult and often merge. These allies include plants, animals, minerals, elementals, and often the spirits of places. Even the realms beyond death are open to certain shamans. As in alchemy, a shaman's body and psyche become his laboratory, and through his initiatory experiences he develops the power, the humility, and the relationships he needs to function as intercessor for others. He is also a medicine maker, often creating his cures as a result of divine inspiration.
 Alchemical Healing Intensive 10-day Retreat and ClinicJuly 23 ~ 31This year I am excited to offer a ten day Alchemical Healing Intensive retreat seminar, covering all three levels and more. We have decided to consolidate the process in order to make it more accessible and with less travel required. This retreat is open to all levels of students and practitioners, and we will study the entire form. Advanced students are encouraged to come to this retreat, as it will be both a refresher, and an opportunity to learn and practice new techniques and receive new empowerments that are not given in the basic intensive or the books. This intensive class is a prerequisite for the Alchemical Healing Practitioner Certification. Students who have taken Alchemical Healing in the past, or have completed an Alchemical Healing Intensive, will be given discounts if they come to the entire retreat, or they can come into the workshop halfway through providing space is available. Various Alchemical Healing teachers (to be announced) will contribute their specialties, and there will be a free clinic open to the public for demonstrations and student practice. The cost of this retreat, including most meals and basic accommodations, tipi or tent space, is $1488. (register online) Prerequisite for the class is to have read Alchemical Healing and to have at least worked with Power Animal Meditations. There will be a limited number of partial scholarships available and please contact our office if you have taken this intensive before. Register Online
New Free Online Oracle Reading on The Anubis Oracle Website: Sacred RelationshipThe Anubis Oracle (by me and Linda Star Wolf) has become one of my most valued tools. I love to do readings, and I love the connection it gives me with the pantheon of Egypt. It's time for a new spread, and Sacred Relationships keeps coming up as being most relevant at this time. The cards you pull in this spread speak to your emerging self on your path, your relationships with others, and your relationship with the Akashic Records,—the larger cosmic picture and the divinities that inform it. It also speaks to your relationship with whatever question, goal, or situation you bring to this oracle at this time. Please go to TheAnubisOracle.com and learn about a sacred relationship in your life. Phone Bridge for Healing CancerSaturday, July 31, 10am PacificThis healing ceremony is for people with cancer and people who have loved ones who are dealing with cancer, or who simply want to support the effort to rid our planet of this disease. The next bridge is Saturday, July 31, 10:00am PDT, 1:00pm EDT. For more information, see our cancer bridge page. |
www.shamanicjourneys.com
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Dear Friends,
