Shamanism offers several tiers for engagement for anyone committed to the process of their own recovery. Shamanism is first the working relationship with spirit. At its root, shamanism offers the skills for you to create your own relationship with your helping spirits. This opens a world of healing opportunities, both individual and social, in ordinary and non-ordinary reality that support the ebb and flow that is the nature of a recovery process. Shamanism is the shaman. The shaman as healer of...
Jun 28, 2011•1 hr
In a culture that can barely sort out the distinction between wants, needs, desires, addictions and obsessions, the power of Joy remains strong, but largely untouched. Joy touches us when we are accountable to our true selves, even our darkest most challenging selves. Joy touches us at the core of our well-being. “Not that we need to be well to experience joy. Serious illness, a sudden turn of fate that exposes us, or the clean cut of truth can bring us to joy,” explains host and shaman, Christi...
Jun 21, 2011•1 hr
“The spirits want you to be a human being, in right relationship with all persons, both human and other-then-human,” explains our guest, Stephan Beyer, professor, peacemaker, and author of Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon. “Whether ayahuasca lends solidity to imagination, or opens the door to the spirit realms, or transports the user to distant dimensions, it is still the quality of our meeting that matters, what we are willing to learn, whether we are will...
Jun 15, 2011•1 hr
The shamanic altered state of consciousness and being a “hollow bone” are not necessarily the same thing. All over the Internet contemporary practitioners are claiming that the altered state they enter to work with Spirit is, by definition, being a “hollow bone.” Becoming the Hollow Bone is an ancient practice in Zen Buddhism, shamanism, and many native peoples of North America. It takes years of dedicated and disciplined practice to create this inner state of consciousness and freedom. In contr...
Jun 07, 2011•1 hr
Today being “the wounded healer” has become the excuse for poor discernment in contemporary practitioners around boundaries, responsibility, and personal healing. In western thought the concept of the wounded healer began with Karl Jung who used the phrase to refer psychologically to the capacity “to be at home in the darkness of suffering and there to find germs of light and recovery with which, as though by enchantment, to bring forth Asclepius, the sun-like healer” and to assist healing. Howe...
May 31, 2011•1 hr
“It is your commitment to be in your highest level of integrity, to teach what you are and not what you want to be.” So begins Paula Denham’s covenant with the Spirits to teach. “This means that you teach authenticity by being authentic. While you may speak of your aspirations, you are true to where you are in your approach to them.” Paula Denham, founder and director of the Sacramento Shamanic Center joins host and shaman, Christina Pratt, to share her experience with local and intimate apprent...
May 24, 2011•1 hr
Spiritual Warriorship is more than a metaphor that your therapist drags out every time you are challenged to take the actions necessary to change. Our attitudes and behaviors of self-denial and self-aggrandizement are challenging to change precisely because they have become habits of thought, feeling and memory. It is the internal realm of these habits within each of us that is the perpetual battleground of the spirit warrior and the insidious, enemy-within. Our everyday actions in the outer wor...
May 17, 2011•1 hr
“With great power comes great responsibility.” What will come of contemporary shamanism if we only focus on learning new skills to access greater and greater power? The helping spirits are trying to teach us to be better humans, but are we listening? Traditionally, the practice of shamanism requires significant and constant personal sacrifice, not so much to gain power, but to be come the person who can weld that power with responsibility. The responsible use of power is no small task when each ...
May 10, 2011•1 hr
What does it really mean to heal our ancestral lines? To truly heal what lies unresolved in the ancestral lines, we must go to the source of the problem. We must go to the first person by journeying back who knows how far in time, explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt, to that first person who made that one bad decision that changed his or her life and then all of the lives of all of the descendants who followed. These decisions become the unresolved energies of the ancestors. If left unreso...
May 03, 2011•1 hr
“There is great power in our True Nature and great healing in letting go of all that no longer resonates with it. When we allow our True Nature to flow through our lives, through our words and actions, we come into a natural alignment with our essential selves,” explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt. “Living in that alignment we can focus out into the The Great Oneness and focus inward to energize our deepest core purpose.” The Earth and the Way of Nature— the flowing harmony of ecosystems a...
Apr 26, 2011•1 hr
“We are passionate about using shamanic skills and practices to become fully human, about approaching and manifesting those potentials that human beings represent,” say Nan Moss and David Corbin of The Shaman’s Circle. “We are interested in using our knowledge, our minds, our emotions, and our bodies, to help support the well-being and evolution of this world and all its residents.” Join Nan, David, and host Christina Pratt as we explore Weather Dancing, Cloud Dancing, and the intimate relations...
Apr 19, 2011•1 hr
“The spirits are teachers, not therapists. They are here to teach us to be better humans,” explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt. The helping spirits are here to help us sort out how to live well in our time. Even Death and the Trickster along with plants, animals, and the elements are part of this cast of compassionate characters who are tirelessly committed to teaching us to be better humans. The spirits do not come to assist us for self-help or enlightenment; they come to assist us in doi...
Apr 12, 2011•1 hr
“The Trickster cannot be trusted,” writes author Lewis Hyde, “It is a contact that puts us slightly at risk; we open ourselves to disruption whenever we call on him.” But it is that opening that allows miracles, the impossible, surprise and the reversal of fortunes. Work with the Teacher supports us in our mastery along the steady path of our lives. However it is the Trickster who reveals the short cuts that allow us to get there—to the full, loving expression of our soul’s true purpose—while we...
Apr 05, 2011•1 hr
We can use shamanic healing skills to address the suffering of humanity. Whether caused through human action, like war or drug use, or natural events, like earthquakes or tsunamis, shamanic healing practices can effectively address the complex energetic relationships that lead to much of the suffering that persists in spite of technology and modern medicine. “As we address the healing needed outside of ourselves, we are shown the need for healing within,” explains host and shaman, Christina Prat...
Mar 29, 2011•1 hr
How does someone become a shamanic healer in the 21st Century? What is the first step? What do you do if shamanic healing has been dead in your ancestry for 2000 years, but you still feel the call today? This week host and shaman, Christina Pratt, dedicates the show to listeners from all over the globe who email asking how to begin. First there is the Call from spirit. It can be as dramatic as a seven-year illness or as simple as a dream. The call functions to awaken the knowing of ones true sel...
Mar 22, 2011•1 hr
“As I rekindle the indigenous spirit within myself I connect to my sacred roots listening to the voices of the ancestors while honoring my connection to the web of life,” explains shamanic teacher Martha Lucier. “As global citizens we are all one tribe indigenous to the earth. Let us find ourselves together in one circle of deep peace dancing barefoot upon Earth Mother.” Martha joins host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as we explore the relationship between peace and healing and the way in which M...
Mar 15, 2011•1 hr
What is a shamanic healing in the 21st Century? Host and shaman, Christina Pratt, explores this question in three parts. First we will explore the healing that comes from work with a shaman and how that integrates into all the other healing options available to you in the 21st Century. Being a contemporary consumer of health care in the USA is a challenge. In many ways working with a shaman can help you to orchestrate the rest of the options from the clarity and personal truth of your own core n...
Mar 08, 2011•1 hr
“Recognition Rites is a ceremonial rite of passage which honors and celebrates Elderhood,” explains our guest, author and shaman, Tom Pinkson, PhD. Join host Christina Pratt as she explores The Recognition Rites Program through which Tom “helps people to create rituals in alignment with their deepest core values, their sense of mission and purpose their highest vision of who they are and why they are here, and how to best use their gift of longevity in their quest for fulfillment in creating and...
Feb 22, 2011•1 hr
“Making Ceremony is a way of reminding ourselves that in fact all that we do is sacred,” explains Annie Spencer, founder of Hartwell Centre for Shamanic & Ceremonial Ways in the UK. And our guest this week. Join host and shaman Christina Pratt as we explore with Annie the art and power of creating Ceremony in our contemporary lives. Annie is a frequent presenter at the UK Society of Shamanic Practitioners Conference and an elder and guide in the practice of ceremonial shamanism the worldwide...
Feb 15, 2011•1 hr
The right use of power requires that you are willing to do whatever it takes. The person of mature spirituality understands that this will mean drawing on discernment, flexibility, and adaptability. One must discern when to act with insight on the past and far-sighted perspective on the future or when to act with trust in invisible allies and intuition in the face of the Unknown. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores what it means to take right action in a world that has normali...
Feb 08, 2011•1 hr
Facing our fear is the first hurdle to get over when we take action to create the life we are dreaming of and it is often the next hurdle and the next… Cultivating a right relationship with fear is critical if we want to live for what we believe has meaning and purpose each day. Growing a courageous heart is required so that Fear can become our ally. Host and shaman, Christina Pratt, explains that, “Fear is meant to warn us of danger, not make us afraid of it. And your mind will perceive every c...
Feb 01, 2011•1 hr
“Manifesting Reality is a somewhat bigger prospect than The Secret and all the versions of The Art of Getting What You Want would have you think,” explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt as we continue to explore dreams and visions. The underlying belief of many ancient shamanic cultures is that reality, as we know it is the result of the Dream of the Kosmos, or the Dreamtime as it is called in some cultures. From this Great Kosmic Dream comes the thread of life that connects all things and al...
Jan 25, 2011•1 hr
“As we move along our path of continuous evolution,” explain Sarah Finlay and Peter Clark of Shaman’s Flame, “we often go through cycles of heightened or diminished connection to our self-esteem and the sense of our divine power. These cycles might ultimately lead to a spiraling upward of increased consciousness or to feelings of stagnation and diminished potential. Gateways of the Dragon, offered by Peter and Sarah this May at ...the Residential Shamanic Conference in BC, provides useful tools ...
Jan 18, 2011•1 hr
Spirits produce dreams, but not necessarily all dreams. This is important because it means that there are potentially multiple spirits producing dreams, not just a single human soul. Spirits producing dreams can be: personal souls; helping spirits; or non-helping spirits, such as the dead stuck in the land of the living, upset elementals, or angry spirits of the place. And it’s these non-helping spirits that we need to be concerned with. Dreams, no matter their source, are messages. They are gat...
Jan 11, 2011•1 hr
This week we explore your nighttime dreams and how shamans interpret them. “There are many valid and useful systems of thought through which to interpret our dreams,” explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt. “It is helpful to understand that there are different types of dreams and to select the appropriate system to use to interpret them. Carl Jung believed that dreams are important gateways to unknown parts of ones self. Jungian dream interpretation is based on the belief that dreams are a di...
Jan 04, 2011•1 hr
At the core of well-being is the cultivation of right relationship with your self. Shaman and host, Christina Pratt explains that, from a shamanic perspective, right relationship with your self involves your physical and mental health as well as your engagement with others, with your environment, and with the spirit world. And all of this is put into context by one thing—your unique genius or soul’s purpose. Well-being in all of these areas can be cultivated when we feel vitality and energy. And...
Dec 28, 2010•1 hr
“The ethics of shamanic practice were brought by the First Shaman who was of Divine origins and not entirely human. The First Shaman brought knowledge and the skills across that broken bridge between the Creator to the humans in each shamanic lineage,” explains shaman and host, Christina Pratt. “The First Shaman brings the teachings necessary for survival in all aspects of daily life, both ordinary and non-ordinary. The First shaman brought the teachings for how to live in good relationship with...
Dec 21, 2010•1 hr
“The shaman works by asking for help,” explains Jonathan Horwitz, co-founder of the Scandinavian Centre for Shamanic Studies with Annette Høst. “We never get anywhere alone. We’re always being helped, although often we do not recognize… The shamanic path is excellent for learning to re-connect with being alive, re-discover the spiritual power we are all born with, and to re-learn what it means to be a part of the whole.” Join us this week as host Christina Pratt explores our “shamanic inheritanc...
Dec 14, 2010•1 hr
The shaman’s heart is an awakened heart. The path the shaman walks to free the heart offers a metaphor for each of us to find the courage to heal our broken heartedness and step into spiritual adulthood. “Contemporary life can break your heart on any day,” explains shaman and host, Christina Pratt. “And from that wreckage most of us learn to stand in our own way, habitually, practically, and fearfully rationalizing why we remain disengage from our heart and the hearts of others.” What the shaman...
Dec 07, 2010•1 hr
Can shamanism help with mental illness? What about my depression? Am I cheating myself out of healing by taking my pharmaceuticals? Can you heal my father’s dementia? Does shamanic healing work long distance? How do I “pay the rent” with powerful psychoactive plants and stay in good relationship with the spirit world? Why does gratitude matter? Tune in this week for answers to these and many other listener questions. Shaman and host, Christina Pratt, explains, “Many of the questions we receive a...
Nov 30, 2010•1 hr
