Dec 29, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Why Do We Need Shamanism Now?

We need shamanism now for the same reason we needed it in the beginning. The "first shaman" came in many forms to many different peoples around the world, but they all came for the same reason: to teach us to be better humans. The humans couldn't figure out how to live here in a good way with the environment and they couldn't figure out how to live together without killing each other. Sounds pretty much like humans today. "This is why shamanism matters today," says host and shaman, Christina Pratt, "because it answers the question how? It gives us ways to transform." With all of the great people doing really good work today we have to remember that nothing will change until we all become different people. Join us this week as we explore how we can change ourselves to become the change needed in the world now.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Dec 22, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Unmasking the False Self

We are spirit incarnate. The first decision that we make in life, when we are very smart and still part of the Oneness, is to take a body. This body exists in an illusion of space and time, but a convincing illusion that we call life. We experience space and time and fear and love and we make up stories. Some of these stories become masks that we wear; the good mother, the best husband, the start-up billionaire, the disinterested in your world 'cuz I already know everything ayahuasca raver, the person you believe you should be, or the person you are afraid that you are. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores how to engage more deeply in our shamanic practice to shed these masks that we hide behind, step up to the calling of our true self, and respond as the medicine needed for the ills of our time.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Dec 15, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Peacemaking as a Spiritual Path with Stephan Beyer

"We all suffer. We are all sacred. We are all bound together. We are all fallible. We are all capable of redemption." And we are all capable of making peace. In his excellent new book, Talking Stick: Peacemaking as a Spiritual Path, author, educator, and peacemaker, Stephan Beyer gives us the guidance and practices necessary to use our shamanic skills to embody peace. Join us this week as Stephan and host, Christina Pratt, explore how our own hierarchical and transactional thinking propagates non-peace in our relationships day by day. Stephan explains that to become peacemakers, "We must learn to have a listening heart; we must learn to have an undefended heart; we must disarm ourselves. And then we can begin to disarm others."

This week's guest:
Stephan Beyer


Stephan Beyer Steve Beyer is a well known author and speaker about shamanism, spirituality, and healing. For more than forty years, has been fascinated by the sorts of anomalous human experiences that have been ignored, marginalized, and pathologized by mainstream psychology - meditation, hallucinations, lucid dreams, shamanic visions, out-of-body experiences, delusions, visualization, false awakenings, apparitions. Stephan holds doctorates in both religious studies and psychology, was a lawyer and a litigator as well as a wilderness guide, peacemaker, community builder.

Steve has doctoral degrees in both religious studies and psychology, and has taught as an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, the University of California - Berkeley, and Graduate Theological Union. Expert in both jungle survival and plant hallucinogens, he has studied the use of sacred and medicinal plants with traditional North America herbalists, in ceremonies of the Native American Church, in Peruvian mesa rituals, and with mestizo shamans in the Upper Amazon, where he received coronaciĆ³n by banco ayahuasquero don Roberto Acho Jurama. The Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions at the Smithsonian Institution has praised his "unparalleled knowledge of sacred plants."

Stephan is the author of Talking Stick: Peacemaking as a Spiritual Path, Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon, and numerous books on Buddhism, Tibetan language and religion.

Tuesday, December 15 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Dec 10, 2015

The Taybor Revisited

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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A couple of years ago, I was brought up short by the realization that Space 1999 might just be more than a shallow, if entertaining, 1970s science fiction vehicle. An episode from the second season called "The Taybor" forced me to give the series a rethink. Specifically, elements of the subtext and imagery, in that episode, point directly to the Tibetan concept of the rainbow body.

I watched "The Taybor" again, recently, and realized that I still hadn't given the episode, or possibly the entire series, enough credit. I'd glossed over a number of details, allusions so direct it's hard to imagine they are not conscious and deliberate.

This analysis of the series addresses the possibility that it's not meant to be taken at all literally – that it only really makes sense if you assume some sort of divine intervention and higher purpose to Moon Base Alpha's unlikely journey across the space.

The idea that the Moon could be thrown from its orbit to drift at speeds allowing it to cross interstellar space in time periods of weeks or months is difficult and often impossible for many viewers to accept. The mass of the Moon is so large and its orbit around Earth so apparently firm and the force of a series of atomic explosions so more likely to obliterate the Moon than to blast it out of orbit, that the imaginations of many of even the most ardent science fiction aficionados were challenged beyond their limit to stretch, despite the fact that the planet Pluto is credibly posited by scientists to have been a satellite of planet Neptune that broke away from Neptune and settled into an irregular orbit around the Sun. And then there is the difficulty that some people have of assimilating the prospect of such an event being caused by human error. Most people prefer to think of future, technological man as incapable of contributing to a disaster of such magnitude.

Dec 8, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Solstice Fire, Fierce Love

In this time of profound ignorance justified as American politics, escalating racial violence, homicidal cyber bullying, and ever-present aggression against women, it is easy to forget that ritual matters. It is easy to forget, in the face of humanity's collective madness, that love matters and that ritual can bring our love to bear on the world. "Humans carry the triple fires of passion, truth, and clarity," explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt. "They are all required in equal parts to muster the fierce love necessary to be the medicine for the people and for our time." We go to the fire in ritual to renew our own fires, to release the things we carry that block our flames, and to let go of the things we do that put our fires out. Join us this week as we explore the approach and embrace of our winter solstice fire in ritual.

Tuesday, December 8 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Dec 1, 2015

Today's Forecast: Dizzy

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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... with increasing chance of lower back pain, headache, and occasional piercing tones.

I rarely do these energy forecast type things, but the last few days have been so strange, I thought it merited mentioning. I've been having bouts of vertigo and some other symptoms, which tends to happen before things like earthquakes and other disasters, but sometimes connected to nothing I can pinpoint. It's been sort of constant, so that I only realize how dizzy I am when I'm walking across the room and realize I can only walk on the diagonal. It's a very strange feeling. Over the past few days, though, I've spoken to numerous people who are having these symptoms, particularly the dizziness and sense of dissociation.

I have no idea what this may be connected to. In terms of earthquakes and the like, the predictive capability is nil. I only see the connection when something happens and the symptoms suddenly abate. So, as a tool, it's pretty worthless. I am fairly certain it's in some way connected to magnetic fluctuations on the planet and the natural disasters are also symptoms, not really the cause.

I'm not going to pretend I really know what's going on. I just wanted to put it out there, because I know, for a fact, that I'm not the only one who's experiencing this right now.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Lost Art of Sleep with Dr. Rubin Naiman

Sleep is profoundly peaceful. In this time of escalating racial violence, cyber bullying, and aggression against women, we have no frame of reference for the serene, peaceful, and ineffable nature of sleep. Half of the adults in America struggle with sleeplessness and the related health risks while children stay up all night online, unlearning their natural ability to surrender into sleep. As a whole, our culture has lost the art of sleep and with it, our access to our deep dreaming and yin restoration. Our guest, Dr. Rubin Naiman, explains "our challenge is to appreciate the physiological mechanisms of sleep without sacrificing its essential transcendent qualities. ... we must learn to be comfortable with its mystery." Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, and her guest this week as they explore finding, befriending, and entering again into deep intimacy with sleep and dreaming.

This week's guest:
Rubin Naiman, Ph.D.


Psychologist, Rubin Naiman, is a sleep and dream specialist, who has worked for most of 20 years to offer sleep and dream health services and products. He has written numerous books, created audio CD's, and given hundreds of public and professional presentations on a wide range of topics related to sleep and dreams, spirituality, stress, psychological aspects of illness, consciousness, creativity, and shadow work.

Dr. Naiman has maintained a private psychology practice for more than twenty-five years and has worked as a consultant to businesses and organizations. He completed his undergraduate studies at Rutgers University and the University of Arizona where he received a B.A. in Anthropology with honors and high distinction. He completed his M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling also at the University of Arizona, and earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Alliant University (formerly U.S.I.U. and C.S.P.P.) in San Diego.


Tuesday, December 1 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Nov 24, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

What is Appropriation in Shamanism with Mary Mueller Shutan

Appropriation is theft; it is to take something without the owner's permission. Cultural appropriation almost always involves members of the dominant culture taking from cultures of minority groups. This includes taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts and the unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, stories, cuisine, traditional medicine, rituals, and ceremonies. Spiritual appropriation involves assuming the right to work with helping sprits, deities, and religious symbols from another culture. This week host, Christina Pratt, and her guest, healer and author, Mary Mueller Shutan, explore appropriation in contemporary shamanism, why it is harmful, and unnecessary. Through education and awareness of history, respect, and the willingness to take to steps to create right relationship, contemporary practitioners can create depth and authenticity in their practices.

This week's guest:
Mary Mueller Shutan

Mary Mueller Shutan is a Spiritual Healer who focuses on helping others work with their spiritual awakenings, spiritual callings, and psychic abilities. She is a painter and the author of The Spiritual Awakening Guide: Kundalini, Psychic Abilities, and The Conditioned Layers of Reality from Findhorn Press. Her focus in all of her work is on the understanding that the spiritual is part of our daily lives, that we are meant to have emotions as well as physical bodies, and that we can have deep compassion and love for even the darkest aspects of ourselves.

Since she was a child Mary has been highly sensitive and creative, with the ability to see, sense, and interact with the spiritual realms. Over a ten year period she focused a tremendous amount energy into finding out how to work with her sensitivities and abilities. This led her through four years of Chinese Medicine school and certifications in Upledger-style and Biodynamic CranioSacral therapy, Asian Body Therapy, Massage Therapy, Zero Balancing, Reiki and Energy Work, Rootwork, and Meditation. Mary also has intensive education in different forms of bodywork, energy work, folk magic, occult practices, and shamanic/spiritual healing.

Mary is particularly known for her distance healing work. Her focus is on Dark or Middle World work- trauma and emotional release, spiritual clearing and protection, spirit release, past life and ancestral healing. She also teaches individuals who are called to this type of work to become safe, effective, and powerful practitioners.

Mary runs a personal blog (www.maryshutan.com/blog) that covers a variety of thought-provoking spiritual subjects and offers email based programs and individual consultations worldwide to people experiencing Kundalini, Spiritual Awakenings, Psychic Abilities, Shamanic callings, and other spiritual experiences to learn how to understand and navigate their experiences and abilities.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Nov 17, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Releasing Fear, Letting Evil Go

Everyday fear-based thinking is fertile soil for the seeds of evil to germinate and take root. Chronic fear and anxiety nourish the roots of the current cultural collusion and disrupt our natural ability to heal, transform, and simply ask for help. Yet the constancy of the earth below and the radiant energies above never fails us. They are ever-present, supplying the Greater Source energy any human can use to release fear and purge the evil grows like weeks contaminating what should be the beautiful garden of imagination and vision of the mind. Earth rituals and blessings, from the every simple to the wonderfully complex draw Beauty into the foundation of any life. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores shamanic ways to revision the concepts of good and evil and to move us body and soul into the next paradigm of the right use of power, creativity, and connection.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Nov 15, 2015

Fullmetal Plagiarist – UPDATED

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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Comment Overflow: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8


Update: Spiritually Bypassing Citations (see below)
Update: How Many Cheneys on the Cooks Source Scale is This? (see below)
Update: Addicted to Plagiarism (see below)
Update: Plagiarizing Hay House (see below)
Update: Even Her Uterus is a Plagiarist (see below)


In this recent post on Teal Bosworth Scott Swan, I wrote about what I'm calling her "originality gap." I cited a number of examples of recycled material – numerous blog posts which rely on word for word lifts from her own previous articles. As stated, this is called self-plagiarism. I also touched on her propensity for relaying ideas, words, and images that strongly resemble work from other sources. I have noted a number of these parallels in the noncasts.

For instance, in the noncast entitled "The Bottomless Rabbit Hole," I referenced a rather striking similarity between her painting called Alchemy and art from the series Fullmetal Alchemist. Imagine my surprise at seeing that image, once again, heading her recent blog post.


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Nov 10, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Shame and the Healing Heart

We feel natural shame when we fall short of our own inner standards, especially when others get hurt. It is a natural response of the heart to draw us inward to the source of that pain, to renew our own inner integrity, and to assess what we must do differently to rise to that inner integrity in the future. But when we have internalized standards from friends, family, culture, and religions that do not resonate with our heart's inner integrity and truth, we can feel a kind of toxic shame that debilitates or paralyzes us. Join us this week as host and shaman, Christina Pratt, explores the "pool of true reflection" and other shamanic practices that assist us in discerning the difference between natural shame and toxic shame and how to use either to restore the inner integrity of your own heart.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Nov 3, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Grief and the Healing Heart

Grief itself offers us great compassion. It comes and goes, tailoring itself to each heart that is experiencing loss and bereavement. It takes its time, never forcing us to do it all now, for if it did we would surely not survive. Grief has profound importance in the health of the heart. It shows us where we have made a heart connection, even when we didn't mean to. It shows us where we gave too much and where we regret not really showing up. To grieve fully is to grieve enough for the heart to cleanse, renew, and return to the serious business of intimacy with life. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, this week as she explores grief as a part of the fall season, as a process that touches each of our lives, and as a ritual to cleanse and restore the greater capacity of the heart to love, connect, and make meaning in our lives.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Nov 2, 2015

The "Mormon Satanist" Speaks – UPDATED

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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UPDATE: How did Doc not know?! See below for details.

For years we've been hearing about "Doc," the alleged, ritual abuser of Teal Bosworth Scott Swan. Her recollections of him infuse her work as a "spiritual catalyst" with no small element of horror. He has hovered over her public life like a specter, more myth than man. His deeds were monstrous, as recounted in numerous blog posts and interviews. In this post, she explains her violent history with her former mentor/captor – and that veterinarians have easy access to peyote, for some reason.

For the thirteen years that followed, I was systematically and progressively separated from my family, I was tortured physically and sexually in rituals, forced to participate in sacrifices, raped, forced to eat and drink out of dog bowls, forced to undergo 3 abortions (all fathered by my principal abuser himself who was in his sixties at the time).  He performed them himself with veterinary equipment, which is why I had such a hard time conceiving my son.  I was photographed for sadomasochistic pornography, sold for money to men for sex out of outdoor gas station bathrooms and motel rooms, kept in basements, kept in a plank covered hole in the ground in my abuser’s back yard, exposed to electro-shock programming, forced to undergo isolation torture, left overnight tied up in lava caves in southern Idaho.  I was forced to participate in bestiality and necrophilia, drugged by my abuser with Ketamine, Dormator, Xylazine, opiates, peyote and speed (all of which he had unlimited access to due to being a vet).  I was chased through the Idaho and Utah wilderness by my abuser who loved to “play” tracking games in which he would hunt me, and if I won, I got a reward, if I lost, I was either raped, or he would “count coup” by making cut marks on my rib cage.  I was used as a lure to other children that ended up being hurt or on occasion killed by the cult group.  And the list could go on.  But this experience is still something that seriously affects my life today. On one hand it is obvious that I would not be doing the job I am doing today around the world if it wasn’t for this experience.  On the other hand, a life that is spent in a constant state of recovery from the past is a difficult life.

He also killed her dog and threatened to kill her family members, as means of controlling her, and to keep her all to himself. He took some rather surprising risks, such as hogtying her with cables in a public parking lot, in full view of passers by. We're meant to believe that people didn't even notice an 11 year-old girl being bound and tied by a middle-aged man.

According to teal, Doc was both a "Blood Covenant" Mormon and a Satanist. He managed this paradoxical existence by having Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities). He was also, by her estimation, a "sadistic psychopath."  

Oct 27, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Abandonment, Presence, and the Spiral Path: Part Two

Abandonment by a caretaker breaks the heart of the child who is ignored, dismissed, or truly left behind. The desire to assuage this once-broken heart leads many adults into escapism, distraction, and unhealthy relationships. This desire can be refocused to lead us to the first step onto the spiral path. At its heart the spiral path brings us to understanding presence and our own inner embrace. This week, host and shaman, Christina Pratt, continues this exploration of how we can use shamanic skills to cultivate presence in body, mind, heart and soul. When we succeed in cultivating presence where there was only fear, we emerge from the spiral path able to intimately connect and joyfully engage with friends, family, lovers and our self.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Oct 20, 2015

Spiritual Catalyst or...

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.



The magazine is out. What magazine, you ask? Why only the long-awaited publication from Ethics and the Modern Guru, about Teal Bosworth Scott Swan and containing an interview with her alleged Mormon Satanist abuser. It is available now in soft-cover on Amazon with a kindle edition to be released soon. It can also be purchased directly from CreateSpace here.

Addendum: The Kindle edition is now available. Details can be found here.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Abandonment, Presence, and the Spiral Path

Fear of abandonment is often at the root of the poor quality decisions made by otherwise mentally healthy people. The cycle of abandonment, betrayal, and heartbreak is often learned in childhood and repeated in adulthood. For the adult with helping spirits and shamanic skills, abandonment is actually the first step on the spiral path that brings us to understanding presence in the way that only a heart, once-broken, can embrace. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores how to use shamanic skills to engage the spiral path, gain the allies that lie at wait in your discomfort, and discover the pleasure of pure presence at the heart of it all.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Oct 19, 2015

Pottermore Has Fallen

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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For those who have not yet discovered the genius, creativity, and hours of fun to be had on the Pottermore site, you're too late. It's over. In place of a rich, atmospheric virtual adventure, is a slick but dull marketing vehicle, that has been compared by many to Buzzfeed. I would agree, except that I find Buzzfeed more entertaining.

Before this ghastly change, Pottermore was an experience to immerse yourself in. You got to be a student at Hogwarts, sorted into a house, given an account at Gringotts, and able to shop on Diagon Alley for school books and supplies. Users combed through "moments," multi-layered images with hidden potion ingredients, Bertie Botts beans, chocolate frog cards, and loose galleons to plump up their bank accounts. You had to work for things, including Rowling's new writings, access to which was hidden in the moments and sometimes required casting spells and working out puzzles to find. Like a student in a challenging school for wizards, you needed to use your wits and pool your talents. The new site is better suited to the dilettante who's never even read the books.

Pottermore did telegraph the coming changes, but not how drastic they would be. They did not make it clear that accounts would be flushed entirely with all the supplies collected, articles bookmarked, and potions made over years. They simply took everyone's hard work and devotion and threw it away. Their flippant answer to where it's all gone: "website heaven."

There were little indicators over time that the powers that be were losing interest in keeping up the site. The number of moments grew smaller as the books in question grew longer. They did away with comments. But, the first major sign of trouble came when they announced that the upcoming house cup would be the last and that Pottermore would be changing. I followed the unfolding discussion on their Facebook page.


Oct 14, 2015

When Bad People Teach Great Yoga

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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As discussed here, Bikram Choudhury has a long, documented history of being an awful person. He's sexist, lookist, bigoted, and almost unimaginably arrogant. He's also been accused of multiple sexual assaults and his accusers may finally get their day in court. Six women have come forward with claims of sexual assault, harassment, and rape.

Dana McClellan and Sarah Baughn have gone public with their experiences. Both were young and deeply enamored of Choudhury's yoga, swore by its effectiveness, and enrolled in teacher training. But, their fondness for their teacher evaporated when he started molesting them.

Baughn said she always discouraged Choudhury's advances, and reminded him that he had a wife and she had a boyfriend. But Baughn claims Choudhury would not stop his sexual pursuit, and would insist she brush his hair and massage him. “I was shocked, and I was sick,” she said of his unwanted advances. Baughn says Choudhury more than once touched her in a sexual way and even climbed on her, she said.

. . .

"You know, he told me that I was going to be like Mother Teresa, and I was going to influence the world if I only followed him,” McClellan said. But she claims the yoga guru raped her during a teacher training program in San Diego in 2010. McClellan claims Choudhury flattered and touched her and schemed to get her alone.

In her legal complaint, McClellan alleges Choudhury pulled down her pants and forced himself on top of her. She said she begged him to stop and tried to fight him off.

. . .

Baughn and McClelland said Choudhury ruined their lives, smothered their self-confidence and trust and left them with deep emotional scars.

. . .

And they said, poisoned their love and devotion to an ancient art of healing.

Oct 13, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Clearing Cords with Mary M Shutan

Learning to cut and clear the energetic cords that are commonly created in relationships is a fundamental skill for living well. For the most part working with cords is a skill people can learn with relative ease, even without psychic skills. But what happens when cords don't clear so easily? Some cords remain, some regrow, and some never really clear, leaving the issues unresolved even after extensive work. This week host and shaman, Christina Pratt, and her guest, healer Mary Mueller Shutan, as they discuss Shutan's new book The Complete Cord Course: Working with Cords through Energy Work and Shamanic Healing. Join us as we explore the relationships through which we generate cords, basic skills for clearing them, and practices we can all do to create and maintain energetic health.

This week's guest:
Mary Mueller Shutan


Mary Mueller Shutan is a Spiritual Healer who focuses on helping others work with their spiritual awakenings, spiritual callings, and psychic abilities. She is a painter and the author of The Spiritual Awakening Guide: Kundalini, Psychic Abilities, and The Conditioned Layers of Reality from Findhorn Press. Her focus in all of her work is on the understanding that the spiritual is part of our daily lives, that we are meant to have emotions as well as physical bodies, and that we can have deep compassion and love for even the darkest aspects of ourselves.

Since she was a child Mary has been highly sensitive and creative, with the ability to see, sense, and interact with the spiritual realms. Over a ten year period she focused a tremendous amount energy into finding out how to work with her sensitivities and abilities. This led her through four years of Chinese Medicine school and certifications in Upledger-style and Biodynamic CranioSacral therapy, Asian Body Therapy, Massage Therapy, Zero Balancing, Reiki and Energy Work, Rootwork, and Meditation. Mary also has intensive education in different forms of bodywork, energy work, folk magic, occult practices, and shamanic/spiritual healing.

Mary is particularly known for her distance healing work. Her focus is on Dark or Middle World work- trauma and emotional release, spiritual clearing and protection, spirit release, past life and ancestral healing. She also teaches individuals who are called to this type of work to become safe, effective, and powerful practitioners.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

Log on to Listen
Why Shamanism Now? on Co-Creator Network
Questions? Comments? Call: 1-512-772-1938

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.

Oct 11, 2015

"Hindu Witch" Fired by Air Force Clinic

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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An Air Force clinic at Fort Meade in Maryland is under scrutiny for the suspicious firing of a dental technician. Deborah Schoenfeld was a Hindu woman working among evangelical Christians, and they apparently made her life hell.

Schoenfeld's claims would seem outrageous and absurd if they were not corroborated by sources for the Air Force Times. And, if this kind of thing were not so frighteningly common in 21st Century America.

These are some of the accusations and treatment Schoenfeld was subjected to.

  • In her time at Epes Dental Clinic she was actually and specifically accused of “witchcraft” and “bringing demons into the office.” She has been officially advised that she is not allowed to know who her accusers are.
  • She has been openly disparaged for not having the same religious views as her superiors (Evangelical Christian) and being “uninterested in taking part” in Christian rituals or the rampant and rapacious, workplace-based, Evangelical Christian proselytizing which is outrageously and comprehensively supported by her former command.
  • She has been admonished that practicing yoga is “Satanic” and will “cost (her) her soul”.
  • She was advised by her chain of command to pray against the recent Supreme Court ruling against same sex marriage, as it is “an abomination to their religion”.

Oct 7, 2015

Warren Jeffs Controls Bodies and Souls

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.




Warren Jeffs has been getting a lot attention lately, and I don't think it's the kind he likes. A recent CNN special focused on two of his adult children, both of whom claim he molested them when they were very young. This weekend Showtime will premiere Prophet's Prey, a documentary about the FLDS leader. Jeffs continues to maintain strict control of his empire from behind prison walls.

The revelations from Becky and Roy Jeffs are harrowing, but not terribly surprising. It's been clear to outside observers, for some time, that Jeffs is an out-of-control sexual predator. All I could think watching this show was that Roy, in particular, needs serious intervention. All other implications aside, these are sex abuse survivors and their wounds are evident.

There is little more that can be done to corral Warren Jeffs. Barring the kind of divine intervention Jeffs is counting on, he will be spending the rest of his days behind bars for his molestation of underage "celestial wives." But, imprisonment has not loosened his grip on the FLDS. He's effectively put them all in prison, making them suffer as he is suffering, on a beans and water diet, and holding them accountable for his incarceration. Like so many cult leaders, Jeffs seems to see his membership as extensions of his own ego.


Oct 6, 2015

Pagan Candidate Causes Libertarian Shake-Up

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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I was hoping The Wild Hunt would weigh in on the strange candidacy of Augustus Sol Invictus, and they have obliged. The news yesterday was awash in stories of the strange paganish practices of this Libertarian opponent of Sen. Marco Rubio, that actually caused both the chair and vice chair of the Florida chapter to resign in protest.

Much of the upset seems to be over stories of Invictus's sacrifice, some say dismemberment, of a goat. Invictus disputes the dismemberment charge, but not the sacrifice. As The Wild Hunt points out, animal sacrifice is an ancient religious sacrament still practiced in many religious contexts. I would add that Christianity is a religion based on a human sacrifice, that of Christ, otherwise known as the Lamb of God.

I'm not a fan of animal sacrifice, but criticism of the practice by practitioners of religions built on such foundations smacks of hypocrisy.

A similarly ironic statement came from Republican strategist and adviser from the Trump campaign Roger Stone.

“The guy is a nut, speaks in tongues or whatever. Weird stuff,” Stone said. “They need someone to run against him to make sure he doesn’t win and make us all look crazy.”

One assumes Stone won't be courting the Pentecostal vote. Apparently a whole lot of evangelical Christians are crazy.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Cults and Shamanic Practice

A cult is a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. The practice of this devotion can be beneficial or harmful. What makes the difference between a cult that benefits its followers and one that betrays and causes harm? Is there a different between a shamanic community and a cult? Join us this week as host and shaman, Christina Pratt, explores what are the fundamental differences between cults that facilitate well being and those that are ultimately dangerous to the mental and spiritual health of their devotees. Most importantly, what do we learn from the damage harmful cults do about what humans truly need for the well-being of their heart and mind and how can we use shamanic healing and practices to repair the soul once that damage is done?

Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 30, 2015

CNN: Warren Jeffs Molested His Children

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.



DVR Alert: Tonight on "This is Life," Lisa Ling interviews two of Warren Jeffs's children. Both claim that he molested them when they were children. Charges of sexual abuse are not new for Jeffs, who is currently incarcerated in Texas for taking child brides and molesting them as well. Testifying in that trial were his niece, nephew, and a third woman, all of whom claim to have been molested by the man who inherited the leadership his church community.

It's quite clear that Warren Jeffs is a serial predator, whose sexual compulsions made a large cult that spans several states and parts of Canada into his hunting ground. I won't say I'm looking forward to watching Ling's coverage this evening, but I think it's must viewing for anyone who has been watching this horrible tragedy unfold for lo these many years.

Sep 29, 2015

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Claiming Your Power… and then what happens

The shamanic healing form, soul retrieval, can result in the direct and immediate return of our personal power and our sense of purpose in life. This sudden and literal change in personal power requires a sudden change in our boundaries throughout the relationships we have cultivated in life. This change is rarely welcome and often met with resistance, derision, or out right anger from the people in our lives, both personal and professional. And often the greatest resistance to this change comes from within, fueled by our fear that we will be abandoned or excommunicated by those we thought loved or respected us. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores the tender territory of relations we find ourselves in after reclaiming our personal power through direct repair of the soul. This territory requires new life skills, a new attitude, and deep devotion to the spirit of your own heart.

Tuesday, September 29 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 27, 2015

Blood Moon, Super Moon

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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Tonight we will be getting quite a light show, as a rare astronomical event unfolds.

This coming Sunday night (September 27), observers around the world are set to be in for a treat as two celestial events combine. In a rare occurrence, the Moon will reach its closest point to Earth (known as a supermoon) at the same time as it undergoes an eclipse, the first such alignment since 1982 – and the last until 2033.

During the event, when the Sun will be directly behind us in respect to the Moon, the lunar surface will appear a deep red color. Lunar eclipses are fairly common, with 16 occurring this century already, but only five supermoon eclipses have taken place since 1900.

It will be best seen at every longitude from the U.S. to Europe, encompassing Central and South America, the U.K. and Africa. Observers in western Asia and Alaska will have a lesser view. Check out this map at timeanddate.com to see the best locations.

Sep 26, 2015

An Open Letter To Gabriel Morris Regarding Teal Swan – UPDATE: Gabriel's Non-Response

Appearing at The Truth About Cameron and Celestial Reflections.

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UPDATE: Gabriel's Non-Response (See Below)


Recently Gabriel "Kundalini" Morris wrote a blog post taking me to task on my public statements about Teal Swan. He also challenged an upcoming release of an interview with Teal's alleged abuser. What follows is my response to his blog post.


Dear Gabriel,

Thank-you for initiating a public dialog regarding our diverging views on Teal Swan. I'd like to address a number of the points you raised in your blog post. I’m not going to address your speculation about what actually transpired between Teal and her alleged abuser and where she stayed and when, because speculation is all that it is. You’ve created a logical house of cards based entirely on Teal’s statements without even seeing what the man she’s accused of all these things has to say. You are welcome to read the interview with Teal's alleged abuser and draw your own conclusions. A number of the other questions you raise, however, I can speak to. I feel much of what you wrote misrepresented and misstated me. For that and other reasons, I feel the need to respond to your blog and let a clear public record stand. I will be addressing your points in no particular order.


You write:

"There wouldn't be much of a controversy surrounding Teal Swan if it wasn't for Cameron Clark. Cameron is, to the best of my knowledge, the only person who has actually met Teal and spent significant time with her, who is now publicly speaking critically of her. There are other critics certainly, but not people who have spent significant time with her and are now speaking publicly and forcefully about her."

Well, that’s awfully specific. So, only a person who has spent significant time with Teal and who is also speaking out “forcefully” is to be taken seriously as a critic? You seem to have narrowed the scope in order to deliberately exclude a slew of critics and disenfranchised followers. Many people other than myself have enjoyed condemnation by Teal and even death threats from her followers for critiquing and questioning her public record and behavior. You’re not even considering Fallon, her former live-in boyfriend, whom she publicly humiliated by proclaiming a psychopath and who has since written publicly about his experiences in her “cult.” There was controversy long before I spoke out, and no doubt, it would continue if I went silent tomorrow.

What about her followers? The vast majority of them haven’t spent significant time with her either. Does that make their fondness for her equally meaningless? Gabriel, you've spent spent far less time with her than I have. What does that say about your observations?

Sep 22, 2015

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Am I Really Talking to My Guides?

Many questions arise as humans open their awareness to the possibility of a world larger than the here and now. "How do I know I'm not making this up?" is usually the first question. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she draws on decades of experience and the wisdom of many colleagues to address listener questions about intuition, working with spirit guides, and how we make sure that we aren't just making this up. The deeper truth of working with spirit is that at times we do make things up, we can lie to ourselves, and then at times we are open and brilliant in our communication with the invisible world. The difference between delusion and inspiration is your willingness to learn new skills, to devote yourself to practice and discipline, and to sacrifice the self you have out grown for the person you could become.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 15, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

What Does it Mean to Live in Your Body?

The strength of the earth element is seen in our relationships with our selves, our intimate partners, and our community. It speaks to what it means to truly live in our bodies and not in our heads. Where the earth element is weak and uncultivated within, we are uncertain and ungrounded, creating false structures to stabilize our lives. The more we lie to ourselves about our lack of true foundation, the larger and more complex the false life we are crafting becomes for the person we are not. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, this week for the final episode of our five part series about engaging with the seasonal spirits. The seasons draw the unique richness from each stage of the cycle of a year on earth. The earth element speaks to the quality of our center and stability of our relationships. This week we complete the cycle of how to work with the seasons openly and skillfully to bring a simple elegance, rich blessings, and a refinement of presence to the core of our lives.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 8, 2015

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Community and the Trickster

"God lives in the heart while trickster dwells in the mind," is a teaching of the Kalahari Bushmen. When trickster is in the head it oversees the heart and leaves us feeling mixed up and frustrated. The remedy is to lift the heart through the heat of the dance so that it holds the mind, allowing the thoughts and feelings to work together in a good, clear way. This week we explore how the Bushmen investment in community life creates the context to truly lift the heart and bring the mind into alignment with right action. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she continues to explore the Way of the Bushman, clearly rendered in Bradford and Hillary Keeney new book,, and how we can use these teachings today. We can learn to step away from our alienation and disconnection when we know we need the community to be "fully cooked" the community knows it needs each individual in the dance to bring in the energy needed for healing.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 1, 2015

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Way of the Bushman with Bradford and Hillary Keeney

The teachings of the Kalahari Bushmen or San are the oldest spiritual, shamanic, and healing practices in our world. The San do not believe that "words" can change the world. They give little importance to written words or fixed oral tradition, but emphasize the way n/om (the vital force or spiritual power or shaking medicine) touches us. Bradford Keeney's fieldwork with the Kalahari Bushmen (San) in Namibia and Botswana started over two decades ago. Today he is recognized as a Bushman healer or n/om-kxao and is able to participate in and have access to the world's oldest living religion and healing tradition. Bradford and his wife Hillary join host, Christina Pratt, this week to share their new book Way of the Bushman as Told by the Tribal Elders: Spiritual Teachings and Practices of the Kalahari Ju'/hoansi. Join us to explore the power and inspiration in the ancient wisdom of a people who have never declared war on other people nor harmed the planet.

This week's guests:
Bradford and Hillary Keeney


Bradford Keeney, Ph.D., is an internationally renowned spiritual teacher, shaman, traditional healer, creative therapist, and improvisational performer. Recognized as an ecstatic spiritual teacher and healer by numerous cultures, Keeney became a n/om-kxao (healer) with the Kalahari Bushmen. He is the subject of the book, American Shaman: An Odyssey of Global Healing Traditions written by psychologists Jeffrey Kottler and Jon Carlson, which won a Best Spiritual Book of 2005 award from Spirituality & Health magazine. Keeney is the author of over 40 books including Bushman Shaman and Shaking Medicine.

Hillary Keeney, Ph.D., is a distinguished scholar, author, teacher of creative transformation and improvisational movement, and the co-founder and president of The Keeney Institute For Healing. She is the author of numerous books, the most recent co-written with Bradford is the critically acclaimed, Seiki Jutsu: The Practice of Non-Subtle Energy Medicine. Her scholarship has made contributions to the study of interdisciplinary pedagogy, social cybernetics, creative therapeutic practice and training, ethnographic study of healing traditions, qualitative research of communication, and dance.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Aug 30, 2015

Graham Hancock on Dreams and Awakening

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.




Graham Hancock's agile and inquisitive mind is on full display here, demonstrating, once again, why his many books have inspired so much interest and controversy. This interview covers a lot of territory, focusing almost entirely on his more recent work and interests.

Hancock has spoken many times of the importance of states of consciousness other than the "alert, problem solving state." Here he talks about how hard it is for "dreamers" in western civilization. I can strongly relate to his stories of criticism by teachers for being a dreamer. My introduction to this academic assault on the imagination started in the first grade, when I was struck daily with a ruler for "daydreaming." Hancock refers to dreams of horn and dreams of ivory. This metaphor traces to book 19, lines 560-69, of the Odyssey, in which Penelope questions her dream of Odysseus's return.

Stranger, dreams verily are baffling and unclear of meaning, and in no wise do they find fulfillment in all things for men. For two are the gates of shadowy dreams, and one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those dreams that pass through the gate of sawn ivory deceive men, bringing words that find no fulfillment. But those that come forth through the gate of polished horn bring true issues to pass, when any mortal sees them. But in my case it was not from thence, methinks, that my strange dream came.

The image is powerful. It suggests that all dreams are of the same substance, but that the false, illusory dream is cut off from its original state. The horn is a solid expression of a vortex. As I wrote here, the horn of plenty, cornucopia in Greek, is a symbol of manifestation into the material world. It seems to me that dreams of horn are soulful dreams, connected to our spiritual origin.

Aug 25, 2015

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Schizophrenia and Shamanism with Dick Russell

There are many ways to look at the symptoms that the dominant, contemporary culture diagnoses as mental illness. Illnesses of the spirit or the soul can be more clearly seen through the lens of a culture that values both. When we look at schizophrenia through the lens of a shamanic culture we can see something entirely different than a sever mental illness. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, and her guest, award-winning author and environmental journalist Dick Russell as they discuss his new book, My Mysterious Son: A Life-Changing Passage Between Schizophrenia and Shamanism. In this book Dick shares his journey with is son, Frank, beyond the Western medical model that diagnosed Frank as schizophrenic and into the realms of shamanism. Dick shares their experience together forging a healing relationship with the renowned West African shaman, Malidoma Patrice SomƩ.

This week's guest:
Dick Russell


Dick Russell is an award-winning author and environmental journalist whose new book, My Mysterious Son: A Life-Changing Passage Between Schizophrenia and Shamanism, is a memoir of his journey with is son, Frank, beyond the Western medical model, which diagnosed Frank as schizophrenic. Dick shares their experience together and their forging a healing relationship with the renowned West African shaman, Malidoma Patrice SomƩ.

Russell is the author of twelve books, including several New York Times best-sellers and the "Eye of the Whale," named a Best Book of 2001 by three major newspapers. He has written dozens of articles about other environmental issues, for publications ranging from The Nation to Parenting, and served for eighteen years as a Contributing Editor for OnEarth (formerly Amicus Journal), the award-winning quarterly publication of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has also been a recipient of the National Coalition for Marine Conservation's Golden Swordfish Award (1984), and is an active member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and PEN USA.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Aug 18, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Shamanism and the Mess of Love

Humans are messy. And love is one of the messiest bits of human life. So what do we really mean when we strive to rise to shamanic principles for living, like loving all life or mediating our power through the heart? What does love mean from the fundamental perspective of Oneness, not separation? How do we need to understand love to become truly new people crafting a new world story? Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores the ways shamanic practice can change our understanding of love from one of pop song, emotional drama or the intellectual labeling of distinct kinds into the current of life itself. True shamanic practice requires a level of intimacy in action that contemporary people find offensive to their sense of individuality and ego. Yet climbing over that offense and stepping into the fear it is hiding is necessary if we are ever to allow our soul to truly love.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Aug 11, 2015

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How to Manifest Your Calling: Myth Busting

Rebuilding a new life from the rubble of your old one is at once an exciting and a scary prospect. Whether you tore your life apart on purpose or your life self-destructed for you, you are still faced with the same challenge: How to create a new life of greater alignment, abundance, physical health, and soul-nourishing meaning? Nothing will send you down the rabbit hole of popular culture's myths about living the life you want than googling "how do I live my soul's purpose?" Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she looks at the most common myths about what it takes to create a life that is aligned with your soul's calling and shares the wisdom gained in two and a half decades assisting people in using their shamanic skills to be clever and courageous in creating a life of meaning a purpose that is better then they imagined.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Aug 5, 2015

"Witchcraft" Blamed for Grisly Murder

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.




This is how it starts, people. A grisly crime in some sleepy, provincial community, a proximal association with an astronomical event, police officers with notions, credulous reporting by so-called journalists, and it all adds up somehow to an occult ritual.

Numerous news outlets are breathlessly reporting a "Wiccan Ritual Killing" in Pensacola, FL. That Wiccans don't ritually sacrifice people and that nothing about this crime appears in any way ritualistic, notwithstanding.

This NBC article was floating down my Facebook timeline this morning.

A triple homicide in Florida is suspected to be a "Wiccan ritual killing" related to the "blue" moon, police said Tuesday.

The three victims, all from the same family, were found after a welfare check on Friday, July 31, said Escambia County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Andrew Hobbes.

"It appears that this might be connected to some type of Wiccan ritual killing and possibly tied to the blue moon," Hobbes told NBC News.

. . .

When asked how the evidence suggests these are ritualistic or Wiccan killings Sgt. Hobbes said, "The injuries to the victims, the positions of the bodies and also the person of interest right now is also a practitioner." 

Aug 4, 2015

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The Spiritual Awakening Guide with Mary Shutan

There are many different types of spiritual awakenings, from kundalini rising to shamanic initiations and everything in between. This often misunderstood range of human experience is explored beautifully and thoroughly by spiritual healer and author, Mary Mueller Shutan, in her new book The Spiritual Awakening Guide: Kundalini, Psychic Abilities, and The Conditioned Layers of Reality from Findhorn Press. This guide is unique in helping the reader to understand what experience they are in the middle of and how to shape the experience into a meaningful transformation. Drawing from her extensive training in multiple healing forms, Mary joins host, Christina Pratt, to share the different layers of going to sleep, the many ways we wake up, and how to free your awakening process to become the direct revelatory path it is meant to be.

This week's guest:
Mary Shutan

Mary Mueller Shutan is a Spiritual Healer who focuses on helping others work with their spiritual awakenings, spiritual callings, and psychic abilities. She is a painter and the author of The Spiritual Awakening Guide: Kundalini, Psychic Abilities, and The Conditioned Layers of Reality from Findhorn Press. Her focus in all of her work is on the understanding that the spiritual is part of our daily lives, that we are meant to have emotions as well as physical bodies, and that we can have deep compassion and love for even the darkest aspects of ourselves.

Since she was a child Mary has been highly sensitive and creative, with the ability to see, sense, and interact with the spiritual realms. Over a ten year period she focused a tremendous amount energy into finding out how to work with her sensitivities and abilities. This led her through four years of Chinese Medicine school and certifications in Upledger-style and Biodynamic CranioSacral therapy, Asian Body Therapy, Massage Therapy, Zero Balancing, Reiki and Energy Work, Rootwork, and Meditation. Mary also has intensive education in different forms of bodywork, energy work, folk magic, occult practices, and shamanic/spiritual healing.

Mary is particularly known for her distance healing work. Her focus is on Dark or Middle World work- trauma and emotional release, spiritual clearing and protection, spirit release, past life and ancestral healing. She also teaches individuals who are called to this type of work to become safe, effective, and powerful practitioners.

Mary runs a personal blog (www.maryshutan.com/blog) that covers a variety of thought-provoking spiritual subjects and offers email based programs and individual consultations worldwide to people experiencing Kundalini, Spiritual Awakenings, Psychic Abilities, Shamanic callings, and other spiritual experiences to learn how to understand and navigate their experiences and abilities.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Jul 28, 2015

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Rising Up When Life Falls Apart

How do you rise up when you have lost more than you thought you had to lose? How do you avoid the contemporary pitfalls of falling into a deeper pit of depression, grasping for anything to make it look better than it is, or recreating a shiny new version of the same life you had before? We have to find an ignored inner self who stands between the Lost One who doesn't know how to go forward and the Blissed One who just wants to stay in the flow. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores how to go forward and cultivate a truly new life from the rubble of our old one. By co-creating with spirit through our shamanic skills we can use the dynamics of physical life to ground our visions in reality and the patterns of our emotional life to expose false beliefs. Then the mind can balance the discipline and imagination necessary to rise up anew.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Jul 21, 2015

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Contemporary Gender Issues and Shamanism

Gender is a charged issue in the contemporary world and will continue to be as long as we think we understand gender when we don't and believe that others "should" be like us when they are in reality unique. For many bringing shamanic skills to bear on the issue only confuses things. It is important to remember that from an understanding of reality based on Oneness like the understanding shamanism offers, gender is a non-issue. Gender variance is expected and accepted in ancient shamanic cultures without pause. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores how we can use shamanic skills to work with the four wisdoms to understand and align our own gender expression with our deepest truth and find the deep damage that is always at the root of our intolerance.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Jul 14, 2015

The LHC and Another Mystery Particle

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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Here's where I pretend to understand quantum physics well enough to relate some very important news. The Large Hadron Collider, which enabled the detection of the elusive Higgs boson, or "God particle," has also revealed the pentaquark. It is effectively a new state of matter.

In 1964, two physicists - Murray Gell Mann and George Zweig - independently proposed the existence of the subatomic particles known as quarks.

They theorised that key properties of the particles known as baryons and mesons were best explained if they were in turn made up of other constituent particles. Zweig coined the term "aces" for the three new hypothesised building blocks, but it was Gell-Mann's name "quark" that stuck.

This model also allowed for other quark states, such as the pentaquark. This purely theoretical particle was composed of four quarks and an antiquark (the anti-matter equivalent of an ordinary quark).

I was just the other evening listening to an older interview with William Henry, in which he touched once again on the LHC. Henry has noted the similarity between the LHC and the 8 spoked wheel of Mayan prophesy.

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Change and Transformation — Using Shamanic Skills

Shamanic teacher and author, Christina is a skilled shamanic healer who weaves her authentic shamanic experience, extensive training, and experience with shamans from Ecuador, Nepal, Tibet, and Africa into her contemporary practice. She has been in practice for 20 years, specializing in soul retrieval healings, soul part integration, and ancestral healing. She is the director of the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing in Portland, Oregon.

Monday, July 13th, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Jul 7, 2015

Cameron Clark On Not Being a Victim

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.



This is a really great, in depth interview with Cameron Clark. Her months long experiment in living and working in Teal Bosworth Scott Swan's "intentional community" has been previously discussed in a lengthy interview posted here and in the Cameline video posted here. This discussion brings much needed clarification of some of the finer points of her experience and perspective.

Cameron endured a great deal in a relatively short period of time, including not so subtle pressure to kill herself. Despite all this, she says that she has never considered herself to be a victim. She feels she made choices and learned valuable lessons. So, I thought it was awfully funny that the Ask Teal episode posted the following weekend dealt directly with victimhood. That whole idea of not seeing yourself as a victim? She's against it.

For a true believer in the "law of attraction" to stand against the idea of personal responsibility requires some rather profound convolutions of thought.

The unhealthy Ego is concerned with power. Not the good kind of power (like empowerment), the kind of power that needs something to be less powerful in order to feel powerful by comparison. And the ego can gain this power by being the good guy. People who are trapped in victimhood mentality are after the kind of power that belongs to someone being righteous or good. But the ego that is concerned with being righteous or good needs someone to be the bad guy to exist. Similarly, an ego can gain power by being the victor. People who are trapped in victor mentality are after the kind of power that belongs to someone superior and strong. This kind of person cannot ever admit to vulnerability. This kind of ego may be unwilling to admit to any negative emotions at all. Or it may not have a real problem with expressing anger or negative emotional states that it perceives as strong, while refusing to admit to negative emotional states that it perceives as weak. This ego crumbles at the thoughts of admitting to fear and especially hurt. Admitting that their feelings got hurt is like a death sentence. This ego thinks that by denying vulnerability, especially any notion of victimhood, it is a victor. It was won.

See? Feeling like a victim is bad, except when it's good.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Psychopomp-to Conduct the Souls of the Dead with David Kowalewski

Not all who die leave the realm of the living easily and these souls need help. From the beginning of people the shaman has served this role, the "psychopomp," and transported the souls of the dead home, assuring their safe and complete journey through the death process. Each traditional culture defines the psychopomp's work in its own way, influenced by that culture's beliefs about the soul, death, and the process of dying. However shamanic people hold the universal belief that the souls of the dead need to move on to the Land of the Dead or they become a source of stress, physical illness, and mental distress for the living. As our world continues to amplify the conditions that cause a soul to need help crossing-violent death, unlived lives, despair, addiction, and spiritual ignorance-those who are able to escort the soul are needed even more. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt and her guest, David Kowalewski, Ph.D., psychopomp, university professor, shamanic healer, speaker and author.

This week's guest:
David Kowalewski


Dr. David Kowalewski is a Professor Emeritus, teacher, author and shamanic healer. He has been trained by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and indigenous shamans from many traditions, including Native-American, Celtic, Tibetan, West African, Huichol, Incan, and Mayan.

He has written articles and books on his shamanic work. His work has been featured in Journal of Contemporary Shamanism, Journal of Shamanic Practice, Sacred Hoop, Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Review of Religious Research, Journal for Spiritual and Consciousness Studies, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, Journal of Church and State, and elsewhere

He also speaks publicly on shamanic healing, Deep Ecology, Plant-Spirit Medicine, Developing Your Paranormal, Mystical Wildlife Tracking, and Discovering Your Destiny, based on his university courses, conference papers, and publications in ecology, religion, psychology, and education.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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