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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Have I Been Cursed?

Where there are blessings there can also be curses. The ability to send a blessing or a curse has been with humankind in almost every culture since the beginning. And cursing continues in almost every culture as a casual, uneducated act and as a skilled art form. Curses can be intentional or unintentional. They can be self inflicted or sent by another, usually as an ill-advised response to anger, resentment, jealousy, envy, or greed. Curses, like blessings, have a strong intention, an energy that fuels it, and a direction or intended target. The person who creates the curse is not always the one who wants the curse created and nonetheless, both will be harmed by it. Curses can harm the person they are sent to, but not necessarily. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores the many sources of curses in the contemporary world and the cures. Perhaps most important as we consider curses is to understand that they are balanced in the great reckoning of things by our blessings. We can be free of the ill effects of curses if we live impeccably, have courage of heart that allows us to move through our fears, and practice the spiritual arts that allow us to stay in the vibrant lifeforce of the Oneness of all things.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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That's the Way the Jeffersonian Wall Crumbles

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

In 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy spoke eloquently about his commitment to keeping church and state separate. In 2011, presidential candidate Rick Santorum announced that Kennedy's pronouncement made him "want to throw up." Yes, our political discourse has degraded to the point where presidential frontrunners talk like melodramatic teenagers... And then there's the whole trashing of the First Amendment thing.

In remarks last year at the College of Saint Mary Magdalen in Warner, N.H., Santorum had told the crowd of J.F.K.’s famous 1960 address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, “Earlier in my political career, I had the opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up. You should read the speech.”

. . .

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum said. “The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.”

He went on to note that the First Amendment “says the free exercise of religion — that means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square.”

To Santorum's way of thinking, Kennedy "threw his faith under the bus in that speech."

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A New Dreaming Society with Robert Moss

"Active Dreaming is a way of being fully of this world while maintaining constant contact with another world, the world-behind-the-world, where the deeper logic and purpose of our lives are to be found," explains our guest Robert Moss. Join Mr. Moss and host, Christina Pratt, as they explore a vision of what the coming dreaming society could be like. Active Dreaming is for individuals and communities. For individuals active dreaming is a way to live consciously, to move beyond scripts into the fullness of our story, and to step up to the challenge to create something new in the world. For communities active dreaming offers a new mode for leadership that fosters truth and a model for intentional community that extends to include the Earth and the next seven generations. Robert is our next guest for the Society of Shamanic Practitioners sponsored interview series. In this series we explore how contemporary shamans are meeting the challenge of their world where the relations of things are profoundly out of balance. It is the ancient role of the shaman in all cultures to tend the balance of things. How are these shamans meeting this extraordinary need today?

This week's guest:
Robert Moss

Robert is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanic techniques for empowerment and healing. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. As an adult his life pivoted around a sequence of dreams dreamt in a foreign language, archaic Mohawk. With help from native speakers to interpret these dreams Moss came to believe that they had put him in touch with an ancient healer - a woman of power - and that these dreams were calling him to a different life

Beginning as a professor of ancient history at the Australian National University, Moss now leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming and a lively online dream school. He is a bestselling novelist, shamanic counselor, and the author of eight books on dreaming and shamanism, including Conscious Dreaming, Dreamgates, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Three "Only" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming and Active Dreaming: Journeying Beyond Self-Limitation to a Life of Wild Freedom.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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William Henry Wades Through the Deep Woo

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Recently on his radio show Revelations, William Henry discussed some of the challenges of sorting truth from fantasy in the alternative media marketplace with Randy Maugans. The resulting episode, "Hypesters, Lies and Mind Control" could just as easily have been called "William Henry and guest gently take the piss out of David Wilcock." I've been observing this trend in Henry's work for a while. He has been increasingly critical of his colleagues in the broader new age arena. It started with a kind of confusion and has gradually grown into dismay as his questions about the integrity of people in his milieu have grown. I notice it, in part, because I experienced similar disillusionment with teachers and colleagues in the psychic and healing arena I inhabit. There are people in my field with whom I respectfully disagree, which is fine. But I was also startlingly disabused, many years ago, of the notion that my fellow travelers were universally well-intended. I learned to my horror that some of them were self-serving and mercenary. I'm not going to say that Henry has reached the same conclusion but he's been noticeably shocked at the misuse and misrepresentation of his own work and has begun to publicly question the motives of some of his colleagues. In a recently posted interview, Henry talked about someone who had grossly distorted his work regarding the Capital Building. I'm wondering now if he meant Wilcock. He never expressly says it. But if you read between the lines... I don't know. Maybe.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should state that I have simply never been comfortable with David Wilcock. I learned about him some years ago in the context of his claim that he just might be the reincarnation of Edgar Cayce -- something from which he has more recently tried to distance himself. I listened to a lecture of his on YouTube. Much of it was interesting, if not original. It seemed to be based on solid, esoteric research. But when he started showing pictures of Cayce and his circle of friends and comparing those to pictures of himself and his circle of friends, I winced. It's not just the absurdity of using physical resemblance as a marker of reincarnation. It was something else -- the palpable sense that David Wilcock did not believe David Wilcock. In short, my bullshit detector went off. Now that's a purely intuitive response on my part and I'm not claiming to know Wilcock's heart. I don't know him at all. But I've learned the hard way that when the little hairs on the back of my stand up, I ignore that instinctual response at my peril. I would always implore others to listen to their own intuition and never trust my gut response over their own. So if you love Wilcock's work and think he's awesome, I would never try to disabuse you of that on my say-so. And I would never say that his work has no value. Some of it is quite interesting.

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How to Live a Legendary Life

What does it take to live a legendary life? A human is born to live a legendary life because we are all born of the Big Dream. In the creation stories of shamanic peoples the Great Timeless, Spaceless Mystery Void dreamt, for reasons no one knows or understands. But from that Big Dream came fire and ice, yin and yang. As they continued to dream, the world as we know it was manifest and those legendary dreamers took the form of Earth and Sky. When we are able to release our parents and the small story of our personal childhood with all of its beauty and suffering we can then take the Earth as our True Mother and the Sky as our True Father. In that initiatory act of surrender and release we step into our true family and we orient ourselves for a legendary life. "We are born into this world with a blueprint for a legendary life," explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt, "But that doesn't mean living it will be automatic. To engage the blueprint for your legendary life you must consort with beings of legend, sacrifice your mediocre expectations of safe comfort, and reach within for the passion that lights up the heart memory of why you are here." Join us this week as we explore the acts and attitude necessary to live a life of legend.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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James Ray: No Longer Indigent?

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

As discussed, James Arthur Ray petitioned the court for indigent status in December. Prosecutor Sheila Polk moved swiftly to force the self-proclaimed "millionaire" to prove -- and testify under oath -- that he is destitute. A hearing on the matter was postponed. And now, suddenly, James Ray has announced that he no longer requires relief from court costs. Makes you wonder if he's hiding something... like say, some money. (???) More here:

In December, Ray petitioned Judge Warren Darrow for indigent status, claiming he was more than $11 million in debt, with very few assets on the plus side of the ledger. Nearly half of that claimed debt, however, was for civil settlements paid by his insurers. The financial statement he filed in December, which he also withdrew this week, stated he owed his attorneys $5.6 million.

During an early January hearing, Ray's local attorney, Tom Kelly, said that Ray only wanted the public defender's office to pay for the cost of transcripts that are required for the appeal. Those transcripts, from a four-month criminal trial, will cost around $40,000, and the current motion indicates that other arrangements have been made for payment. Most of the transcripts are already on file with the court of appeals, but an appeal brief has not yet been submitted.

Revising Prehistory

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

A stunning discovery has turned archaeological preconceptions on their heads. The cave paintings at Chauvet are no longer the oldest known art. Paintings found in the Nerja Caves in Andalusia are at least 10,000 years older. More incredible, they were painted not be early humans but by Neanderthals. Graham Hancock's recent work puts some of this into perspective. In Supernatural he explains newer theories that the artwork done by early man is a demonstration of ancient shamanic practices far more profound than the scenes of the hunt long assumed by archaeologists. And in his first foray into fiction, Entangled, he envisions a Neanderthal man far more advanced than is currently believed. Much of this is discussed in this recently posted lecture. That said, this article in the Huffington Post is a great example of the condescending arrogance that we've been subjected to by mainstream archaeologists for years.

What is the oldest painting of, you ask? The pictures appear to be seals; the drawings are not half bad for a caveman!

Yeah. Stupid cavemen.

Uphill Struggle for Bishops at Abuse Summit

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Last night the four-day "Towards Healing And Renewal" summit at Rome's St. Ignatius kicked off with a lengthy liturgy of penance.

Held tonight at Rome’s Church of St. Igantius, the liturgy was presided over by Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who serves as Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops. His participation was seen as significant, because it implicitly acknowledged that the church’s shortcomings are not limited to priests who committed abuse, but also include bishops who failed to act.

. . .


In his reflections during the liturgy, Ouellet called the crisis “a source of great shame and enormous scandal,” saying that sexual abuse is not only a “crime” but also an “authentic experience of death for the innocent victims.”

The first step towards healing, Ouellet said, is to “listen carefully” to victims and “to believe their painful stories.”

. . .

Ouellet said that in many instances, abusers in the clergy should have been identified and removed much earlier, but instead were left in place.

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Sandra Ingerman and Awakening Now

2012 is here. What do we need to focus on? "Many of us have been moving forward to wake up, but we are still in a collective trance," explains Sandra Ingerman. "The earth is evolving and we are evolving. There are and will continue to be earth changes we need to surrender to... We need to learn how to acknowledge grief and experience it. And at the same time we must allow our spirit to create change that takes us into a more meaningful life." This week host, Christina Pratt and author, therapist, and internationally recognized teacher, Sandra Ingerman, discuss the places people and practitioners must deepen their work if we are going to be able to hold the space of universal love and detachment from outcome in these challenging times head. If we are to become tools for the Divine and true agents of change it is essential that we become fully conscious of our thought forms, learn that what we give energy to we give life to, and surrender our ego-driven plan so that we are able to see the bigger picture with the eyes of spirit. Join us this week as Sandra Ingerman shares the aspects of human development she feels are most essential in this auspicious time we all share.

This week's guest:
Sandra Ingerman

Sandra Ingerman, MA, is a world-renowned teacher of shamanism. She is recognized for bridging ancient cross-cultural healing methods into our modern culture addressing the needs of our times.
A licensed therapist, she is the author of Soul Retrieval, Welcome Home, A Fall to Grace, Medicine for the Earth: How To Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins, Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner's Guide, and How to Heal Toxic Thoughts: Simple Tools for Personal Transformation. Sandra is also the author of "The Beginner's Guide to Shamanic Journeying", "The Soul Retrieval Journey", and "Miracles for the Earth" lecture programs produced by Sounds True.Sandra presented her work at the United Nations in July of 2006.

Visit www.sandraingerman.com to read articles written by Sandra as well as read her monthly column The Transmutation News.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Popular Fallacies of Religion and Atheism

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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On a recent episode of Real Time, Bill Maher made one of his more boneheaded comments about the nature of religion -- something about religion not being open to new ideas. I have already addressed the fallacious nature of Maher's approach to religion, but this comment caught me by surprise. How, I thought, could someone who knows Rev. John Shelby Spong, and who had him as a guest on Politically Incorrect numerous times, make such a sweeping generalization about all religion. Perhaps it's because I was raised Episcopalian and was taught by priests who were as scholarly, open-minded, and analytical as Rev. Spong, but I cannot reconcile those men and women with Maher's reductionism. In the same episode, Maher said:

If you believe in a talking snake, I'm sorry, I've got to say, that's silly.

Whenever I hear Maher talk about religion, I can only conclude that he is incapable of grasping metaphor and assumes, therefore, that all religious people are equally incapable. Rev. Spong, however, is capable of grasping both metaphor and new ideas. In this recent post on CNN he puts the Bible under scrutiny and exposes a number of misconceptions held by dogmatists on both sides of the religious/atheist divide. To put it simply, the Bible cannot fairly be read as a literal, historical document. Rather it represents an evolution in the Judeo-Christian conception of God and humanity.