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ABOUT SOME OF THE 
HEALING PRACTICES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SHAMANISM AND SHAMANS

What is shamanism?

Shamanism is a body of wisdom and knowledge about the workings of heaven and earth. It is also used to describe indigenous groups in which roles such as healer, religious leader, counselor, and councilor are combined. The fundamental principles of shamanism are that everything is Sacred, made of light and all healing is done by Spirit.

 

Who is a shaman?

Shaman is an ancient term for a healer and a person of medicine, a person who conveys beauty and health. It is a medicine person who heals the sick, communicate with spirits, escorts the souls of the dead to the otherworld, and controls events. The word shaman derives from Evenki (Tungusic language of Siberia) word šamān (ˈSHämən,ˈSHāmən), a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of spirits. The noun is formed from the verb ša- ‘to know’; thus, a shaman is literally “one who knows.”

Shamans heal by creating conditions for health.

 

Shamanism emerged over 50,000 years ago when humanity took a leap forward in knowledge, making shamanism earliest form of science concerned with the treatment and prevention of diseases. Today, shamans integrate ancient wisdom with modern science, providing a much better description of how the universe works.

 

Shamanism expands our consciousness and allows us to become medicine people of service to all. Shamans had direct experience of the energetic nature of reality. They understood that the material world is an expression of an energetic realm that we interact with, at all times. They learned how to dream their world into being within this energetic realm, so they could participate in the creation and stewardship of reality.

 

Shamanic traditions are lineage-based, connected to a lineage of medicine people from the past and the future. This means that we can connect to the source in the past and connect and receive the medicine from the shamans of the future who reach back across time to assist us. Shamans understand that when they die, they continue to support the lineage of medicine people that are learning. They continue teaching in a non-physical way. This requires an agreement called the shaman‘s agreement.            The agreement says that when we call the Spirit answers, on all four levels of perception, and when the spirit calls, we answer. This means living in ayni, the right relationship with all around us, but it also means saying yes to the call.  Shamans live in a constant state of yes!

 

Principles of a Shaman

In all ways, the Shaman is led by Spirit, not ego and their only concern is to strengthen the communication between “Self and Source.” The Earthkeeper medicine practices are based on the idea that we must realign ourselves with nature and come back into balance, ayni. Ayni is one of the five principles of the shaman. The other four are Munay

the unconditional love, Yachay, the wisdom, intuition, seeing, to learn, know, and remember, Llan’kay is the way of action, to work, and Kawsay, life, the energy that permeates through all creation, teaching us that we are all related.

 

Resources

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“As one learns and grows, each principle transforms into a higher form. Munay becomes impersonal love that embraces all things. Yachay becomes the superior consciousness one arrives at through the proper cultivation of love and work. Llankay is not just work and routine ritual but becomes right livelihood. A way of living that is ecologically sound, promotes the welfare of others and encourages service performed in the spirit of loving kindness is central to the higher form of llankay.”

Andean Codex, Dr. J. E. Williams

SMUDGING CEREMONY

Smudging ceremony is a gift from our plant family and indigenous nations around the world who have kept this ceremony alive. As we build our relationship with the plant people, we may learn that some of them are willing to support us in their dry or resin form by being burned and offering the smoke for our cleansing away what we do not need any more in our lives, to create Sacred and safe space, and to honor the Sacred.

 

Different plant people may come forward to be used in this Sacred ceremony. Please consider where the herbs or resins are coming from and as best you can, if purchasing, buy sustainably grown and harvested products, sold in fair trade, or if possible, grow your own or collect them sustainably from nature.

 

Some of the most common plants used for smudging are sage, tobacco, cedar, sweetgrass, lavender, osha, Palo santo, rosemary etc. As we build relationships with the plant family, we discover qualities and wisdom offered through the smoke. Some plants may offer cleansing, some return us to balance, some bring us kindness and remind us of living life with a good heart, good mind, and good actions, and some offer us a bridge between us and Spirit. Many of the smudging plants have other medicinal properties they may offer us.

 

The Smudging ceremony is not just an opportunity for cleansing, it is a Sacred ceremony that honors the Seven Sacred Directions, and is used as a thanksgiving, to create Sacred space and to clear ourselves and our space. As we enter the ceremony, we focus and set the intention that we keep throughout the ceremony.

We start by offering our gratitude for the plant people’s giveaway, so that we can be in ceremony. We prepare an herb or raisin and light them, making sure that they are smoking but not burning with the open fire. The smoke brings us to a place of peace and presence. A feather, or a bundle of feathers can be used to fan the smoke to ourselves, others and the space around us. We start by offering the smoke to the Seven Directions, then we smudge ourselves, starting with our head and face, then our arms, body, front and back, our legs and our feet. We also smudge all the ceremonial tools and the ceremonial space to create the Sacred space.

 

If smudging others, we ask kindly for permission. We start at their front. We can offer the person to bring the smoke to their head and face themselves or we can do it for them. We can ask them to spread their arms and smudge the top and under the arms, down person’s heart, body, legs and feet. If they can, they can lift feet up to be smudged. We can ask the person to turn around and smudge their back, again starting at their head, down the arms, heart and body and then their legs, and feet. When done smudging others, we can place our hand on their heart and say: ”Aho, All My Relations or Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ (Mytakuye Oyasin), welcome!”

At the end of the ceremony, either keep the herbs ready, if more people join and they will need to be smudged or offer the herbs to the Sacred Fire or Mother Earth.

 

When smudging a building, we can smudge every room, every corner and as much of the space as possible with a set intention that we keep for the duration of the ceremony.

 

Smudging Resources

SMUDGING BLESSING

Teaching from Grandmother Wind Daughter
 
I offer this smudge to honor the Guardians and Keepers of Seven Sacred Directions, Creation, Father Sun, Grandmother Moon, Star Nations above, Earth Mother, Pachamama below, the Guardians and Keepers East, South, West, North, and what is inside, my heart!
 
I smudge our heads, to have thoughts of only beauty.
I smudge our eyes, forehead, so to see and think only beauty.
I smudge our ears, to hear only beauty.
I smudge our mouths, and throats to speak only beauty.
I smudge our hearts, to open our hearts and choose only love.
I smudge our shoulders to lift the weight and release all that we do not need anymore.
I smudge our hands, to touch only beauty.
I smudge our solar plexi to see ourselves in beauty.
I smudge our bellies to only act in beauty and be of service.
I smudge our legs to walk in beauty.
I smudge our whole bodies in gratitude for health and beauty.
I smudge our tools in gratitude for their assistance.
I offer smudge to others to share beauty.
 
Beauty in front of us, beauty behind us, beauty to the left of us, beauty to the right of us, beauty below us, beauty above us, beauty inside of us, and beauty all around us.
Aho, Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ

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GIVING THANKS

The word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what we receive. With gratitude, we acknowledge the goodness in our lives, inside and outside of us. Being grateful helps us connect to something larger than ourselves. It helps us come into positive emotions, appreciate life, deal with hardship in a graceful manner, and build loving relationships with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us.

 

We give thanks to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations — Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora) Peoples for their teaching on Giving Thanks. The Thanksgiving Address (the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen) is their central prayer and invocation. It reflects their relationship of giving thanks for life and the world around them. The Haudenosaunee open and close every social and religious meeting with the Thanksgiving Address https://danceforallpeople.com/haudenosaunee-thanksgiving-address/

 

It is also said as a daily sunrise prayer and is an ancient message of peace and appreciation of Mother Earth and her inhabitants. The children learn that people everywhere are embraced as family. Our diversity, like all wonders of Nature, is truly a gift for which we are thankful.

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When one recites the Thanksgiving Address the Natural World is thanked, and in thanking each life-sustaining force, one becomes spiritually tied to each of the forces of the Natural and Spiritual World. The Thanksgiving Address teaches mutual respect, conservation, love, generosity, and the responsibility to understand that what is done to one part of the Web of Life, we do to ourselves.

 

Giving Thanks Resources

GIVING THANKS

Joanne Shenandoah, Album Covenant

"Giving Thanks" Chief Jake Swamp-Tekaronianekon Mohawk Nation

In respect to our home the Earth, we say thank you to the Earth for everything that she gives to us, nourishing us every day. We give thanks to all the water in the world and everything within that water. We give thanks to all the grass that lives on the land. We give thanks to all the berries, the fruits, the medicines. We give thanks to the animals that keep the forest clean. We give thanks to all trees for their different uses that they gift to us; for shelters, for fires that we make in the wintertime keeping us warm. We give thanks to the birds who sing their beautiful songs. We give thanks to the four winds. We give thanks to the Grandfathers, the ones that bring the rain. We give thanks to our oldest brother, the Sun, who shines his light through the day. We give thanks to our oldest Grandmother the Moon, for she is the one that has been charged with a duty to make sure that life has a continuance. She is the one that watches over of the movements of the water and also the water within us. We give thanks to the Stars her helpers. And we give the special Thanksgiving to four Sacred Beings that watch over the human family. Sometimes we notice them when we are traveling in dangerous places, they are the ones to come to our minds and say:”Go around.

Don’t go any further!” So, that’s what they are there for to protect us, steer us away from danger. So, that’s what we do. We start right from the Earth and climb the leader right to that special place beyond Heavens where there is the special Spirit that lives there, the Spirit that made it possible for us to be here and everything that we have mentioned. So, with the collectiveness of our minds and hearts we send a special Thanksgiving and greeting to the Great Spirit of us all!

SETTING INTENTIONS

Earth Peoples believe that all of creation is made from light manifested through the power of intention. The power of intention is a crucial part of our journey into ayni, the right relationship with ourselves and everything around us because of the belief that intention influences events. Everything that happens in the universe begins with the creative power of intention.
 

 

We dream our world into being, we co-create with Spirit, we create our reality, and we do it by setting the intention.

The sages of India observed thousands of years ago that our destiny is ultimately shaped by our deepest intentions and desires. The classic Vedic text known as the Upanishads declares, “You are what your deepest desire is. As your desire is, so is your intention. As your intention is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.”
https://presence.app/blogs/mind-body-health/5-steps-to-setting-powerful-intentions  

An intention is a directed impulse of consciousness that contains the seed form of that which we aim to create. Like real seeds, intentions cannot grow if we hold on to them. Only when we release our intentions into the fertile depths of our consciousness can they grow and flourish. It is a good practice to enter stillness before setting an intention, whether after smudging, creating Sacred space, a short meditation, breathing practice, etc. It is also a good practice to set the intention before we do anything, start the day, enter a meeting, or a healing session, go on a date, class or starting a ceremony …
We set intentions together, if we are collaborating, and we set individual intentions!

When you set your intentions, consider the following steps:

  • Stepping into stillness

  • Releasing our intentions

  • Remain centered and in a state of awareness

  • Detach from the outcome

  • Surrender to Spirit to work out the details

  • Perceive how it feels to live your life with intention.

CREATING SACRED SPACE

Everything on Mother Earth is Sacred and Sacred space can be found in many places, a church, a temple, in nature, with the invisible world, outside of us and inside of us.

 

To come in communion with everything, with the Sacred we can purposefully create Sacred space in our homes, at our work, to enter ceremony, to be. By purposefully creating Sacred space, we center ourselves, enter the space of ceremony, and honor and invite forces that animate all life to be with us and co- create together.

 

Creating Sacred space is an invocation, a call to the ones that we call upon to come and cocreate with us. In that way, we enter a Sacred contract with those forces; when we call, they answer, and then when they call, we answer! We call with our love and our trust, and Spirit responds, the universe reflects love and trust, and we come into ayni, the right relationship with everything.

 

It does not matter whom we call upon, it may vary from culture to culture, from person to person, but the energies and intentions remain the same.

 

By creating Sacred space, we discover that we are not alone, that we are supported and guided

on all levels, physical, mental, emotional, Soul level, and spiritual and energetic levels.

 

From the traditions of the First Nations, we have learned to call on the Guardians and Keepers of the Seven Sacred directions. These are great archetypes, that share their wisdom with us and help us remember that we are not working alone. They remind us that we are all connected and that we share stewardship over all the Creation.

 

This allows us to respect all things. When we adopt this point of view, there is no need to judge ourselves or be hard on ourselves during our own healing process and helps us not to judge others but rather develop compassion, empathy, and kindness. Being in Sacred Space helps us honor the important role of everything in the universe. It allows us to realize that we are all connected and from the same family. That is why a common saying among indigenous people is, “We are all related” which is often stated at the end of a prayer or the end of a teaching.

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Why do we create Sacred space?

To be aligned with the organizing principles of the universe.

To create an environment, a container that is safe and sacred for healing and transformations to happen.

TO COCREATE - WE ARE NOT ALONE!!!

 

When do we create Sacred space?

Daily in our homes and on the land

While we do ceremony or a healing session

Anything that we do!!!

 

How do we create Sacred space?

By invoking the Guardians and Keepers of the Directions and Expanding our Wiracocha.

Creating Sacred Space Resources

Creating Sacred Space

SHAMANIC JOURNEYING

Shamanic Journeying is a practice of traveling through time and space, it is an art of the shaman. Through journeying we can discover much about ourselves and about the world around us. We can journey to explore, or we can journey to heal the past and retrieve our highest destiny.
 
Journeying into the world around us gives us an opportunity to build relationships with all life on Mother Earth, the stone people, plant people, animal and human families. We can visit places of wisdom in nature and meet the tutelary Spirits of those places and learn from them. We can journey to the Sun and to the Moon, and to the stars, and discover wisdom of these celestial forces.
 
We can journey into the past and the future. We can journey into our unconscious, into unconscious of others, our collective unconscious, and unconscious of our ancestors. By journeying into the unconscious, we can discover much about the past, bring it out of the shadows and heal it.
 
We can journey into the future and recover the highest destiny for ourselves, our world and Creation. By retrieving the highest destiny, we become informed by its energy, which helps us in following our path and healing unhealthy patterns that prevent us from reaching it.
 
Journeying quiets our mind, helps us focus and engage in self-discovery and finding explanations for our current states.

 AND MUCH MORE … 
As you can see, there are no limits to shamanic journeying, the only limit is our imagination!

Resources for Shamanic Journeying

Journey to Meet Quetzalcoatl
Guardian and Keeper of the Middle Worls, this world we live in!

SACRED PIPE CEREMONIES

Sacred Pipe is one of the most Sacred rites of the First Nations peoples. Sacred Pipe is used for personal and community ceremonies as a bridge between people and Spirit. ​The Sacred Pipe Ceremony is always done with the utmost respect. The Pipe is an altar taken by the Pipe Carriers wherever they go. The bowl represents the Earth Mother and honors the feminine. The stem honors the masculine. When the bowl and stem are joined together, that union is Sacred.
 During the Pipe Ceremony, traditions are honored and respected, and individual and group prayers are made as the smoke carries the prayers to the Creation.

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Sacred Pipe Ceremonies may be done for different purposes.

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Community Pipe Ceremony offers opportunities for participants to lift gratitude and prayers up to Spirit! The Pipe Carrier starts the ceremony by asking everyone to share the prayer requests for their loved ones, communities, Pachamama, themselves, to be included in the ceremony. They will also explain how to honor and smoke the Sacred Pipe. The Pipe is loaded by offering the mix of Sacred herbs to the Seven Sacred Directions. When lit, the Pipe is shared with everyone in the circle and the herbs take our love and prayers to Spirit! Imagine a large community, each person blowing smoke from the Pipe, and every blow is an opportunity for a prayer! The Pipe Circle creates the space for hundreds of prayers to be raised and offered in gratitude, invocation, and hope! 

Healing Pipe Ceremony is used to offer the healing to the members of the community. It is often done by several Pipe Carriers at the same time. The smoke is blown onto the person from their head down to clear the energy field.

Transition Pipe Ceremony is offered to accompany person’s Spirit to the Upper World.

Grandmothers’ Pipe Ceremony can be offered for any ceremony but especially for ceremonies involving healing of the feminine, such as Kisma Karpay, the Rite of the Womb.

There are many other Sacres Pipe Ceremonies bringing peace and ayni to the communities!

Sacred Pipe Recources:

SACRED STONE PEOPLES LODGES

Stone Peoples Lodge is a Sacred ceremony used by the indigenous peoples and the earth-centered peoples of today, as a purification rite for the body, mind, heart, and spirit. The Lodge is built in a ceremonial and respectful way, from the saplings, and is covered for the ceremony by blankets or tarps. The rocks are heated in a Fire ceremony and brought into the Lodge to generate heat.

The Lodge is built with an altar and the fire pit in the front, to create a Sacred pathway through which the rocks are brought into the Lodge. This Sacred pathway represents the connection between Mother Earth and the Creation. The Lodge is the womb of the Earth Mother build in a shape of the turtle, representing the Turtle Island. The pathway leading to the altar is the neck of the Turtle and the Altar is the head. We go into the Womb of the Earth Mother and bring the rocks as seeds of Creation to be cleansed, healed, and reborn again.

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This Sacred ceremony is focused on the honoring of the forces that guide and support us, on prayers, and on respect to the traditions of the Lodge. ​ This is profound physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual experience, that is transformational and life altering for all.

Sacred Stone People Lodge Ceremony

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Sacred Stone Peoples Lodge Ceremony or a Sweat Lodge Ceremony starts days, or even months in advance. The Spirits call to us, inviting us to the ceremony. The Keeper of the Lodge prepares the ground, cleans the Fire Pit, the altar, and the stone pit, gathers the wood, the covering materials, and prepares the stones to be heated on the day of the ceremony. If the Lodge is to be built, the Water Pourer collects the saplings (young wood) for the Lodge frame, in a respectful and loving ceremonial way, inviting them to collaborate in this Sacred ceremony.
Often, people choose to fast or cleanse in other ways to prepare physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically for the ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, it is a good practice to eat little to nothing but drink a lot of water and electrolytes to stay hydrated.
THIS IS A WHOLE DAY EVENT, so prepare accordingly.

The day starts with a building of the Lodge. Before the building starts, we enter ceremony to be ready to listen to the Tall Standing People and be gentle as we sing them into bending to create the Sacred hoops of the Lodge. We offer Tobacco and Corn Meal to Earth Mother every time we pierce a hole in her soil to place a sapling in. 

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After the Lodge is in place, the Sacred Fire is prepared and the stones are placed into the Fire in a beautiful ceremony that honors the Grandfather Fire, the stones, and all the participants, seen and unseen. A Fire Keeper comes forward to maintain the Fire while Grandfather Stones are "cooking".

We then share the Community Pipe and then put our prayers in the Prayer ties. 

At this time, people change into the sweat clothes, drink more water and tend to their needs. When the time is right, we start the cleansing ceremony with Grandfather Fire and then enter the Sacred Stone Peoples Lodge.

The ceremony has four rounds. We start in the East, by inviting Wabun, Great Golden eagle to work us in the first round. In the second round, we invite Shawnodese, Coyote, to the South, to help us visit the places of our emotions. In the West, we invite Grandmother and Grandfather Bear, Mudjekeewis, to guide our prayers for the leaders in the world. And, in the last round, we turn to the North, and invite Waboose, Great White Buffalo, to help with healing of Mother Earth and all our relations.

This is not a contest of strength or endurance. You are free to leave if you need to.

After the ceremonies, participants change into dry clothes, we make a Spirit plate offering, come into prayer before we start to eat and then enjoy the meal and festivities.

Prayer Ties

Before entering the Lodge, participants create the Prayer Ties, bundles made of cloth filled with tobacco or corn meal with tobacco. These medicine herbs are the Sacred medicine. Tobacco absorbs the prayers, and corn meal brings the feminine energy to balance them. Our prayers are blown into the herbs and the bundle is tied with a string. 

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There are often multiple ties made in a series of  7 to represent the Seven Sacred Directions on one string holding our prayers. They can be offered to Great Spirit in Gratitude and for Blessings by burning them in Grandfather Fire, burying them into Mother Earth, placing them into the Waters, or hanging them for the winds and the element of the Air for transmutation.

There are often multiple ties made in a series of  7 to represent the Seven Sacred Directions on one string holding our prayers. They can be offered to Great Spirit in Gratitude and for Blessings by burning them in Grandfather Fire, burying them into Mother Earth, placing them into the Waters, or hanging them for the winds and the element of the Air for transmutation.

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Support

The Sacred Stone Peoples Lodge ceremonies are community events. People of all ages are welcome. All the participants are supported by the Water Pourer, the leader of the ceremonies, the Fire keeper, Door keeper, by the organizers, and other members of the community. Every step of the ceremonies is explained and guided, and conversations are held on the steps of the ceremonies, and on safety and support as we build the Lodge and go though the events of the day. These events are community oriented and ensure that all the participants are safe, loved, heard, and supported at all times!
All the participants are also supported by the invisible forces that have invited us to the ceremonies, and that we invite during Smudging ceremony, and creating of the Sacred space, the Creator, Earth Mother, Guardians and Keepers of the Directions, their personal guides, and guardians, and by the medicine people, Grandmothers and Grandfathers, keepers of this medicine.

What to bring on a day of the Lodge?

Towel or two are useful in a Lodge to sit on and to wipe off sweat. Sisters usually wear a long (cotton is great) dress to be comfortable and brothers sweat in the shorts. This is a Sacred ceremony, focused on gratitude, prayer, and honoring, therefore we sweat in our clothes, to avoid distractions. Traditionally, women use dresses that cover their shoulders and legs, and men wear either shorts or sarongs that cover their private parts.
You are welcome to bring any of your ceremonial objects to either put outside on the altar or to bring into the Lodge with you.
We will provide some red cloth and tobacco to make prayer ties that can be brought into the Lodge and then burned in the Sacred Fire after the ceremony. If you would like to help, please bring some of your own red cloth and tobacco. 

Please bring at least one blanket, so that we have enough to cover the Lodge. Dark and thick blankets work best. They can have designs or not. It is beautiful to have blankets with animal Spirits cover the Lodge, but this is not a requirement. We honor 7 Sacred directions. Sky, Sun, Grandmother Moon, Star Nations above, Earth Mother and her Turtle and Frog Clans below. The Eagle, Condor, and other winged family of the air in the East. Coyote, Great Serpent, Wolf, Rabbit, in the South, Bear, Whale, elk, family in the West, and Buffalo, Dolphin, otter, racoon, cougar in the North.
If you can offer a donation, please bring cash, and create a single Tobacco tie to gift it to the Water Pourer, the Leader of the ceremony on the day of the event.
If you can, please bring a dish to pass because we will share a meal after the Ceremonies. Please be mindful that we have a vegetarian, a vegan, a "gluten free" family and we might not be able to store much of the food in the fridge.
If you have a portable cooler that would be really appreciated!!!
Thank you all. In gratitude and love to all our relatives.
Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ

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Sacred Stone Peoples Lodge Recources:

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