Shamanism: The Art of Perception
Heather Ash Amara

The roots of all cultures can be traced back to earth-centered spirituality. Before the formalized religions of the world, people lived by the seasons and cycles of the sun, moon and earth, knowing the balance of the earth and the sun, the physical and the spiritual. The physical, earthly plane and the spiritual, etheric plane where both seen as equal expressions of Life. Shamans knew how to travel between these two worlds to gather information and bring healing to their communities. continue reading »

See Through the Eyes of the Shaman, Align Yourself with Joy
Heather Ash Amara

A breakthrough in our understanding of self comes when we learn to perceive as shamans do: not only with my mind, but from an energetic standpoint. Through working directly with the life force, and with the four basic energies of air, fire, water, and earth, we reclaim the keys to healing and opening ourselves to deep connection with all life. continue reading »

The Energy of Agreements
Heather Ash Amara

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." --Marcel Proust

Imagine you have new eyes. From this new point of perception you see human beings not as skin and hair and form, but as energy. Physically, we have two hands. But in an energetic sense we each have thousands of hands, each grasping at different agreements and beliefs. Each agreement is an energetic handshake. The hand at the other end may be attached to another human's energetic hand, or even to an imaginary force. continue reading »

How to Work with Power Places to Heal Yourself and the Planet
Raven Smith
Related Link: Power Journeys

When we first start out on the path to awakening our true self, most if not all of our energy is tied up in false beliefs that limit our perception of the world and who we really are. To break free from the trap of our beliefs takes awareness, knowledge and energy, all things that we initially don't have. What most of us fail to realize is that we are standing on an almost infinite source of energy and knowledge that is always available and willing to help us: the earth.

Ancient shamanic-based societies, such as the Toltec of Mexico and the Incas of Peru, knew this very well. Living close to the land enabled them to learn and draw energy from the earth to expand their perception and remove the beliefs that kept them trapped in the limited perspectives of mind. continue reading »

Yoga and Shamanism
Raven Smith

Shamans have a deep interest in the nature of perception, and an expanded understanding of what constitutes reality. The tradition of yoga also has this expanded understanding.

The word yoga translates as Union. One of the foundational teachings of Yoga are the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali. In it the first sutra on which all else is based reads: Yoga [is the] narodha [of] vritti chitta.

The translation from the above Sanskrit I like the best goes as follows: Union is the removal of the definitions that limit reality.

By contemplating this phrase we can extrapolate an entire spiritual methodology. continue reading »