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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Sacred Song: Art and Shamanism with Lauri Shainsky

Sacred sounds resonate with the original blueprint for life and for your life. Sacred song can be a direct path by which the shaman restores your resonance with your original self in your body in the moment, regardless of the stories your mind spins or the fears you believe in. Shamanic sound healing can be offered to others or practiced with the intention of self-healing, but either way you do not need to know how to sing. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, in this second episode of the new WSN series, Art and Shamanism, when our guest is shamanic sound healer and teacher, Lauri Shainsky, PhD. Lauri currently has a thriving practice in shamanic sound healing at Hidden Lake Retreat, outside of Portland Oregon. There she works with individuals and groups to rediscover sacred sound and how we can sing with the song the universe is singing of all life.

This week's guest:
Lauri Shainsky

Lauri currently has a thriving practice in shamanic sound healing at Hidden Lake Retreat, outside of Portland Oregon, which she co-owns and runs with her partner. Lauri has been practicing shamanism since 1998, and shamanic sound healing since 2005. Her primary teachers Jan Engels-Smith, Michael and Sandra Harner, Tom Kenyon, Tom Cowan and Betsy Bergstrom.

Before studying shamanism and sound healing, she was a faculty member in the Center for Science Education and the Graduate School of Education at Portland State University. She founded and was Executive Director of Wolftree, a nonprofit dedicated to science education in the outdoors for young people and she wrote grants and served as a consultant for environmental education non-profit organizations.

She teaches shamanic sound healing for Lightsong School of Shamanic Studies and is on the council for the School, serving as mentor, Associate Teacher and Healer. She is a ceremonial singer and sweat lodge water pourer. She is deeply committed to the Earth and the Earth's animals. Her mission is to serve others and earth through transformative experience with Spirit and Nature.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Pope Francis Won't Judge Gay People

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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"Judge not, that ye be not judged." ~ Matthew 7:1

Pope Francis has once again shocked the world with a message of tolerance.

Pope Francis opened the door on Sunday to greater acceptance of gay priests inside the ranks of Roman Catholicism as he returned to the Vatican from his maiden trip overseas.

Fielding questions from reporters during the first news conference of his young papacy, the pontiff broached the delicate question of how he would respond to learning that a cleric in his ranks was gay, though not sexually active. For decades, the Vatican has regarded homosexuality as a "disorder," and Pope Francis' predecessor Pope Benedict XVI formally barred men with what the Vatican deemed "deep-seated" homosexuality from entering the priesthood.

"Who am I to judge a gay person of goodwill who seeks the Lord?" the pontiff said, speaking in Italian. "You can't marginalize these people."

Am I the only one who finds it a little alarming that when the leader of the Catholic Church says he won't judge people, it's front page news? Or aren't popes supposed to at least give a little lip service to that whole judge not thing.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Sacred Art: Art and Shamanism

"Making sacred images co-creates reality and feeds into the soul and web of life..." explains visual artist, author, and shamanic practitioner, Faith Nolton. "Making paintings with sacred intention one has a foot in both everyday reality [the act of painting or drawing] and the spirit worlds [trance state]. Keeping a balance between the two is where the point of creation lies." This is what makes sacred art sacred. The act of creating sacred art is an ancient and honored shamanic practice. Join us this week as Faith, shares her forthcoming book "Gardens of the Soul: Making Sacred and Shamanic Art" and the whys and hows of making sacred art whether you can draw or not. Pictures and symbols speak to our consciousness beyond the busy mind allowing sacred art to function as healings, blessings, or connection to the spirit world. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, in this first episode of the new WSN series, Art and Shamanism.

This week's guest:
Faith Nolton

Faith Nolton was born in London, and trained in Fine Art and Sculpture at Liverpool College of Art and in art teaching at Liverpool John Moores University. Since then she has made a lifelong exploration of spiritual creativity, perception, healing, sacred and tribal art and shamanism. Personally Faith found a path with the Medicine Wheel traditions, with Leo Rutherford of Eagle's Wing in the UK, and in shamanism with Jonathan Horwitz of the Scandinavian Centre of Shamanic Studies, in Sweden.

Faith lives in West Wales, painting her soul travels and sharing shamanic/creative ways of living with individuals and small groups. She has been a shamanic healer, soul counselor and 'gardener', mother, illustrator, art teacher, editor and writer. She was illustrator for Link Up magazine and author/illustrator of 'Easy-to-Use Shamanism'. She founded and for many years was editor of Sacred Hoop Magazine.

Faith has now come full circle to return to her painting and gives creative/spiritual guidance sessions and workshops using imagery and sacred art. Every so often she has a 'giveaway' of her work via her website, letting the paintings find the homes they wish to go to rather than taking the gallery sales path.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.

Announcing: The James Arthur Ray Sweat Lodge Trial

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

As you know, James Arthur Ray was released from prison last Friday. In honor of this inauspicious occasion, I'm unveiling The James Arthur Ray Sweat Lodge Trial page. I've been slowly organizing all the material from the Sweat Lodge Trial into a more easily navigable index, with a table of contents and a glossary of terms.

I started this project a little while after James Arthur Ray went to jail. It proved more challenging than I'd expected. It's not the busy work of it. I find that it forces me to relive the trial which, as it turns out, was even more emotionally grueling than I'd remembered. But think of it as a work in progress as I keep chipping away at it.

I welcome feedback and suggestions.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Soul Retrieval Training with Sandra Ingerman

"There is a lot to understand about the results of bridging the powerful and ancient method of Soul Retrieval into a modern day psychologically sophisticated culture," says author, therapist, and internationally recognized teacher, Sandra Ingerman. "In Western cultures we are not always supported to live a life filled with meaning. We often cannot connect the dots to how our lifestyle has created emotional and physical illnesses we are dealing with today." This is why the quality of training people receive to perform soul retrieval healings is critically important. This week Sandra Ingerman joins host, Christina Pratt, to discuss what to look for in soul retrieval trainings and why. Sandra 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 we meeting this extraordinary need today?

This week's guest:
Sandra Ingerman

Sandra Ingerman, MA, is a licensed therapist and the author of numerous books including How to Heal Toxic Thoughts, Soul Retrieval, and Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins. She is also the author of several lecture programs produced by Sounds True. Sandra lives in New Mexico and can be found online at www.sandraingerman.com.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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He's Baaaaack!

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Later today James Arthur Ray, possessor of The Secret, motivational speaker,  and criminally negligent homicider, will ooze out of his prison cell and resume his career as a professional mover and shaker... or maybe he'll just sleep on someone's couch.

All,

I am hesitant to send this e-mail; however I just got off of the the phone with James and time is becoming critical. As I am sure most of you know, James is due to be released on July 12th and as a condition of his parole, must stay in Arizona for 110 days following his release. I have been consistently reaching out to James’ friends in an effort to find him some type of lodging for his short stay in Arizona. Unfortunately, any lodging must be approved by his parole officer prior to his release, and he has been told that renting an apartment, or staying in a hotel will most likely NOT be acceptable to the state of Arizona. That being said… we are desperately looking for some type of spare room in someone’s home, or an empty home that he could use for his short time on parole.

As I am sure all of you assume… this unfortunate situation has left James financially destitute, so we would not be able to pay much for either type of above lodging. The additional caveat would be that if it was an empty home, we would need to also find bare minimums on furniture (bed, couch, etc) that he would have access to.

The alternative to us NOT being able to find him lodging, would be that he would have to stay in a “group home” (or halfway house) with other recently released prisoners. Although we all hope that newly released prisoners come into society with the intentions of leading a reformed life, the reality is that these halfway homes tend to be full of drugs, theft, and violence. James is simply hoping for a place to have solitude, and a location that he can begin to re-acclimate to life as we all know.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Nature, Madness and Shamanism

How do we live a sane life in an insane world? First we need to question Old World definitions of “reality” and “sanity” without throwing away all we have learned about being human with the ideas that no longer serve us and lead us astray. Then we need to look around and see that the only life going crazy here is the humans. Nature continues in spite of us to create places of magnificence, places of inspiring beauty, and places of great stillness and silence. The medicine for our contemporary madness is right here, all around us offering the stillness for our jangled nerves, beauty to inspire our hearts, and magnificence to remind us why we are here. This week host and shaman, Christina Pratt, continues her exploration of the early mental health pitfalls to awakening from the collective dream and the role Nature plays in returning us to our sanity, our heart’s deepest truth, and our own true nature.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Verdict: Yoga is Not a Religion

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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In a fairly unsurprising decision, Judge John Meyer has found that children in Encinitas, CA schools are not being religiously indoctrinated by a yoga program.

The ruling denied a request by a family in a San Diego suburb to ban the local school district from including yoga in physical education, arguing that it violated the First Amendment and separation of church and state.

"Yoga as it has developed in the last 20 years is rooted in American culture, not Indian culture," San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer said. "It is a distinctly American cultural phenomenon. A reasonable student would not objectively perceive that Encinitas school district yoga advances or promotes religion."

As discussed here, the parents who brought the case to stop yoga in their school district had their own very clear religious bias and were enthusiastic supporters of Christian programs in schools. This was not a case about not wanting religion in schools. This was a case about what religion should be taught in schools. If this was in any way unclear, their attorney Dean Broyles made it quite explicit in his post-trial comments.

"There is a consistent anti-Christian bias in these cases, and a pro-Eastern or strange religion bias."

I'm sorry. Who's biased?! A "strange religion" bias? Wow.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Shamanism is Not an Excuse to be Crazy

Being shamanic is not a pass card from the responsibility of living a grounded and sane life. Shamanic skills are actually a means by which we can live a sane life in an insane world. Part of our confusion comes from the standard practice of teaching anthropology students that shamans are delusional and quite possibly schizophrenic. After the 1950’s as research and researchers matured and shamans were actually given standard psychological testing, it was shown that while shamans do have more colorful “magical thinking” they are actually mentally healthier and more intelligent than the norm in their communities. This week host and shaman, Christina Pratt, explores the early mental health pitfalls to awakening from the collective dream: too many coincidences, too many ideas stripped from context, to many voices and no physical discipline. Join us this week as we discover why the belief that mental illness is a shamanic initiation waiting to happen is just an urban legend.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Richard Dawkins Meets Max Headroom

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

I first watched this video last week and still haven't quite recovered. So Graham Hancock's comment today cracked me up.

Has Richard Dawkins, arch materialist and formerly professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University, entered the DMT realms? When I asked Dawkins if he would take psychedelics to challenge his view of reality his answer was interesting: http://goo.gl/rqaU0. Now he's participated in this utterly bizarre video. Skip to 4.45 and watch everything: http://goo.gl/NHnSH

And, yes, Dawkins did indeed hint that he might just pierce the veil.

I still think this is one of the worst things I've ever seen. The incongruity of the Hawaiian shirt and the bleak, grey podium against black background... How can a shirt that loud be so dull? And then there's sing-songy tone of this utterly humorless man attempting to be entertaining and edgy.  And then... and then... Dear God.

I just think he was better when he was trying to brainwash Derek Zoolander to kill the Malaysian prime minister.