Dec 25, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Return or Filling the Well

How do you fill the well of your well being, especially when you feel tired, cold and exhausted? Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as we explore how to restore your link to life. As adults we struggle in a dynamic between feeling the desire for experience and the need to return to touch the root of our essence, to replenish and restore.

Culturally, the desire for experience wins most of the time. We tend not to take the time to reach the Source unless we are forced to by illness, exhaustion, or breakdown. Even then, we rarely spend enough time there to fill the well and remember why we are here. Winter is the season of return. It is the time to rest and slow down. For most just slowing down is the challenge. We think all we need is to catch up on some sleep or restart our daily meditation practice. But we miss the point. These are not the return. They only hold the space for it. To return and replenish we must touch the Void and go into the source of our deepest dreaming.

**This show originally aired December 16, 2009.**

Tuesday, December 25, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Dec 20, 2018

Esoterica



Gay people should not join Catholic clergy, Pope Francis says

Pope Francis is “concerned” about what he describes as the “serious issue” of homosexuality, saying in an interview published on Saturday that being gay is a “fashion” to which the clergy is susceptible.

“The issue of homosexuality is a very serious issue that must be adequately discerned from the beginning with the candidates,” the pontiff said with regards to would-be priests.

“In our societies it even seems that homosexuality is fashionable and that mentality, in some way, also influences the life of the church,” he says in the book The Strength of a Vocation, released in Italy on Saturday.

“This is something I am concerned about, because perhaps at one time it did not receive much attention,” he says in the book, a transcript of an interview that will be released in 10 languages.

Dec 18, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Importance of Essence

If you say, "I love that show" and "I love my car", what does it mean when you say, "I love my child" or "I love my wife?" The essence of love is weakened by casual or careless usage. Why does it matter to some that others take the Lord's name in vain? Because casual and careless usage weakens the essence of The Creator. Don't think this matters? Well, how do you feel when you pour your soul into a project and it is treated in a casual, ordinary, and careless way?
Join shaman and host, Christina Pratt, as she explores the essence energies of life and why your relationship to them matters. We strengthen or weaken the essence energies through the quality of our attention to them. Essence energies are "essential" because they are the energies that nourish the soul. Shamanism gives us the skills and awareness to call on the essence energies, to tend them and to create a relationship of gratitude and reciprocity with them. Then they are there for the soul to grow strong and flourish.

**This show originally aired December 9, 2009.**

Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Dec 17, 2018

Abuse Takes a Village



João Teixeira de Faria (born June 24, 1942), known also as João de Deus, is a Brazilian medium and "psychic surgeon" who has been accused of being a confidence trickster. He is based in Abadiânia, Brazil, where he runs the Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola, a "spiritual healing center".

João Teixeira de Faria, is world famous as a psychic healer and spirit medium called John of God. With publicity from Oprah and Wayne Dyer among others, his healing center has spawned a tourist industry in Abadiania Brazil. Many depend now on his attraction for travelers seeking a mystical cure. The economy of this hamlet is based on catering to the visitors.

Zahira Lieneke Mous, a Dutch choreographer with family ties to Brazil hopes to help other women come out of their shadow of sexual abuse at the hands of João Teixeira de Faria. She has been speaking out for years and finally the whole world is listening. This sordid story is another case of abuse by those wielding power over vulnerable people.

Dutch choreographer Zahira Lieneke Mous, 34, first revealed the abuse she alleged had happened four years ago on Facebook. Last Friday she described it to TV Globo’s Pedro Bial on his chatshow, which also broadcast interviews with three other women whose identities were hidden.

Mous claimed she had gone to De Faria looking to cure a sexual trauma and was taken into a private room and made to masturbate him. Afterwards, she said she was given a gemstone. She said she returned to the house and was given special privileges. On another occasion, she alleged De Faria raped her. She said she hesitated in coming forward out of fear. “We don’t have to feel ashamed. He needs to feel ashamed,” she said.

On the same show, American “spiritual guide” Amy Biank, who took groups of foreign visitors to see Abidiânia in the early 2000s, claimed she had entered a room where a kneeling woman was being forced to perform oral sex on De Faria. After she reported what she had seen to employees, she received death threats, she said. 

Dec 11, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

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, December 11, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

**This show originally aired February 14, 2012.**

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Dec 4, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Solstice Fire: Transforming Discord and Division

The depth of systemic political, financial, ecological, and social divisiveness and abuse of power is revealed more fully each day. Now what? What will you do differently and how will you make the desire for change in your heart real in your world today? Winter or Summer, a solstice fire ritual is an opportunity to work with our most ancient ancestor, Fire, to release our deep habits of inner discord and out divisiveness to step into the medicine the world is calling out of us. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she shares the guidance of the Teachers for the 2018 Solstice Fire Ritual. The message is Essence and surrendering to the Fire those energies that keep you in internal discord and unable to become a transforming force for the divisiveness in the world around you.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Nov 27, 2018

Esoterica




Psychedelic psilocybin therapy for depression granted Breakthrough Therapy status by FDA


In an extraordinary step forward for the psychedelic drug research community, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just given psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression a Breakthrough Therapy designation. This classification suggests the treatment has demonstrated significant potential in early clinical evidence, allowing the FDA to assist and expedite subsequent development and review processes.

The FDA's Breakthrough Therapy designation was created in 2012 as a way of presenting a faster pathway to approval for drugs that display treatment advantages over current options for serious or life-threatening conditions. While not all Breakthrough Therapy treatments may ultimately prove efficacious and make it to market, the designation is generally a positive thumbs-up from the FDA that it's potentially useful and should be expedited.

The specific designation in this instance is directed at a phase IIb trial currently underway across Europe and North America. The research is investigating the optimal dose range for psilocybin in regards to severe treatment-resistant depression. Prior research has found that one to two doses of the psychedelic agent, administered in controlled settings, can markedly reduce a person's depressive symptoms. The safety of these treatments has also been established through earlier research.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Courageous Heart, Part 4: The Vision of the Seer

Courageous Heart Series—Part 4 of 4: The Vision of the Seer Shamanism as a spiritual practice allows us to gather and cultivate the powers of the heart: love, wisdom, power, and vision. Vision allows us to see through our lies and self-denial to see our True Nature. Our True Nature resonates with our calling and our soul’s longing express the unique energy of this lifetime.

When we slip into fear and begin to doubt the vision we see only what is wrong and what is not working. We loose the resonance of our soul’s purpose and the larger vision that supports it. Shamanic skills allow us to reengage the clarity of the heart and it resonance with the truth. Truth telling brings us back to our True Nature. From our True Nature we can work with spirit to learn to craft the Big Dream from which reality is created. The challenge of the Seer’s heart is not “what is my purpose?” but “which of all of these wondrous visions is the one vision the sings with the greatest resonance in my heart?”

Tuesday, November 27, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

**This show originally aired March 25, 2009.**

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Nov 20, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Courageous Heart, Part 3: The Power of the Teacher

Courageous Heart Series-Part 3 of 4: The Power of the Teacher You have the gathered the love of your path (Healer) and the wisdom to guide you along it (Warrior). But where is the power to make it real? The power comes from the Teacher's ability to see through his/her own stories to the deeper truth to the soul and it's longing.

The shamanic skills of the Strong Heart are used to transform all aspects of self that have become righteous, positional, judgmental or controlling. Walking the path of your soul's purpose demands passionate commitment to the process without attachment to the outcome. Teacher cultivates a robust relationship with the Unknown and the fundamental truth that All is One and there is no separation. Having exposed the lie of separation, the Teacher brings Balance, Wholeness, and Trust to the life expression of the Authentic Self. The strong heart of the Teacher gives us access to our power to step into our own self-mastery and sovereignty.

**This show originally aired March 18, 2009.**

Tuesday, November 20, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Nov 13, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Courageous Heart, Part 2: The Wisdom of the Warrior

Courageous Heart Series-Part 2 of 4: The Wisdom of the Warrior So what does it take to live your life with a courageous heart? To choose to live fully and completely, to disconnect yourself from the seductions of the day, and to surrender to the call of your soul is nothing short of an act of spiritual warriorship. And not one act, but the ongoing actions of a person oriented in life to face his/her fears willingly and then do whatever it takes to walk the path.
The path of the Spiritual Warrior moves in the Emotional Body and cultivates mastery of self through the willingness to look honestly at what lies in the Shadow. Shamanic skills allow us to transform the enemies we find there into an ally. These allies return to us bringing our humor, sensuality, innate gifts, sexuality, and other passionate aspect s of the self we have judged harshly. "What would you do today if you knew you would die tomorrow?" If the answer is "nothing," your courageous heart awaits.

**This show originally aired March 11, 2009.**

Tuesday, November 13, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Nov 11, 2018

James Arthur Ray and His Business of Death

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.




"The fact that he would do this suggests to me he hasn't learned all that much -- the idea of trying to turn what he did into somehow generating money by the redemption book or whatever.... I think this is just rubbing salt right back in the wounds for all of them and the people who are either financially ruined or mentally damaged by that entire event..." ~ Connie Joy, author of Tragedy in Sedona


It appears that James Arthur Ray has a new book coming out, and I say "appears" because I can find no record of it anywhere but on his website. Yet Ray has already kicked promotion of this book into gear, pitching The Business of Redemption on his local FOX, CBS, and ABC affiliates. As a former book publicist, I find this whole thing very odd. Normally, media appearances would not be scheduled until the pub date, when finished books are in stores and available for purchase. This book doesn't even have a pub date, only vague allusions to "next year."

I looked at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and found no listings or pre-order options for this book. That is something that is generally set up well in advance by publishers. But that's the other piece of information that seems to be missing. There is no mention of a publisher. My back-of-the-envelope calculation tells me that this is a self-published book and a poorly coordinated one at that. I am speculating somewhat, but unless I miss my guess, Ray is counting on pre-orders through his website to fund the production of finished books, hence the vague pub date, which is probably contingent on how many orders come in and when.

This leads us to the most disturbing aspect of this venture. Why start promotion of this project in October, the very month that three people died on his watch? Not for the first time, Ray's attachment to this tragedy seems more ghoulish than respectful, let alone repentant. I mean... what did that press release look like?! Did he send it out on October 8th? I would not put it past him.

Nov 6, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Courageous Heart, Part 1: The Love of the Healer

Courageous Heart Series-Part 1 of 4: The Love of the Healer So what does it take to truly and fully live a life of Authenticity and Purpose? It isn't enough to start focusing your intention now and using your mind to make a new life happen. There is a place for the mind and its clarity. However the much more powerful organ of manifestation is the Heart.
This week we begin a four part series exploring the four aspects of the self that must work together for you to discover your soul's true purpose and life it. The heart offers powers to clear out of addictive patterns. This gives us access to shamanic skills to work with Life-Death-Rebirth intentionally to clear the way and create energy for the new. As we manifest the new, fear, resistance and Shadow always arise. We will explore the many ways that looking at fear and shadow from a shamanic, not a psychological perspective, can make the path through that scary place obvious, probably challenging, but ultimately joyful.

**This show originally aired March 4, 2009.**

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Oct 30, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Teens, Shamanism, and Hidden Worlds with Sandra Ingerman

Our children are inherriting vast challenges to their future played out in the environment, the ecomomy, family dysfuction, and heightening social devisiveness. What if we taught our children the basics of shamanic life: that we can co-create our life with spirit and that spirit help can guide us to do what feels impossible. What world would they co-create? This week much loved, shamanic teacher and author, Sandra Ingerman, joins host, Christina Pratt, to share her new young adult, novel, "The Hidden Worlds" co-authored by Katherine Wood. In this story the middle school protagonists deal with their self doubt, insecurity, and puberty while the navigate hidden worlds and finding the help and magic needed to deal with a toxic disaster in the middle of their lives. This story is seamlessly packed with lessons about everyday, practical shamanism in the real world of contemporary teens.

This week's guest:
Sandra Ingerman


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, October 30, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Oct 23, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Children and Shamanism: Teens

Shamanism is misunderstood, occasionally maligned, and still considered to be on the fringe even in alternative circles. Yet contemporary practitioners remain undaunted and the range of resources on shamanic practice continues to grow in books, gatherings, podcasts, and classes. What was a solo path for many only a decade ago, often filled with frustration, doubt, and reinventing the wheel, can now be shared with mentors, peers, and viable community. A new resource for teens has been published by author and shaman, S. Kelley Harrell, called "Teen Spirit Guide to Modern Shamanism: A Beginners Map Charting an Ancient Path". Join us this week as we continue our exploration of shamanism and children. Kelley shares her book and ways to make learning about shamanism less about acquiring techniques in how to do it and more about learning how to incorporate and deal with the changes it brings to everyday life.

**This show originally aired on May 27, 2014**

Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Oct 21, 2018

Each Zodiac Sign’s Secret Ambition

It has long been said that opposites attract, and many astrologers believe that a sign’s “secret ambition” can be uncovered by looking directly across the zodiac wheel. Then there’s the saying, “the grass is always greener on the other side.” Do the zodiac signs imagine their opposite signs leading the life they themselves can only dream of? Let’s find out…

ARIES (March 21 – April 19)

Secret Ambition: to link arms with a significant other and bring about reconciliation and justice on a global scale, while singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” in 2-part harmony

Actual Job: enforcer for The Mob in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, while moonlighting as an insult comic

TAURUS (April 20-May 21)

Secret ambition: to be a sex therapist turned private investigator who operates an embalming parlour in what used to be Amityville House

Actual Job: wardrobe stylist for UPS

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

Secret ambition: to be a freelance animal trainer and bungee jumping coach working aboard a cruise ship travelling to all seven continents during the course of each year

Actual Job: computer programmer working in the basement of a nondescript building in Manhattan, Kansas

Oct 16, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Creating a Crucible of Transformation

Humans have an amazing capacity for change if they choose to access it. Even transformation, which is change we cannot go back from, is accessible when we risk engaging our hearts in the process of changes and allow inspiration to take over our minds. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, this week as she explores the elements required to create a crucible of transformation in our hearts and why our vulnerability as our great super power. Straight up, humans hate change... and they really hate transformation. But shamanism, with its robust relationship with the Trickster, offers us skills to be clever in the face of fear, to risk the Unknown when faced with the certainty of repeating patterns, and to be vulnerable so that we can engage the wisdom of our courageous hearts.

**This show originally aired on November 11, 2014**

Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Oct 12, 2018

Esoterica




8-Year-Old Girl Discovers Iron Age Sword In Swedish Lake : NPR


Earlier this summer, an 8-year-old girl named Saga Vanecek was doing what she often does: wading in Sweden's Lake Vidostern.

"I like to walk around finding rocks and sticks in the water, and then I usually walk around with my hands and knees in the water and in the sand," she explained to Radio Sweden Wednesday.

It was then that she felt something odd beneath her hand and knee. She lifted the object and saw that it had a handle.

She pulled it out of the water and carried it over to her father. "Dad, I found a sword," she said.

. . .

"Indeed an amazing story!" Mikael Nordstrom, head of the cultural heritage department at the Jonkopings County Museum, told NPR in email. "We now believe that the sword is about 1,500 years old."

Oct 9, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Critical Acts of Celebration

The point of our practice whether spiritual or shamanic is the Celebration of Life. What is a shamanic view of life if it is not about the interconnectedness of all life and the celebration of the sacredness and beauty in that energetic reality? Whether it is an ancient hunting practice that celebrates the power and attributes of the bear after the kill or a contemporary Hmong shaman in Minneapolis celebrating the passing of a soul from the realm of the living, celebration is used to communicate with the spirit realm. It is the means by which we communicate completion or reconnection. Celebration is also used to mark, ground, and integrate a significant life transition or initiation. Without celebration of "the journey" it is as if the story never happened and we cannot harvest the gifs gained or the story never ended and we cannot move onto the next great adventure. Celebration is critical in the dialogue between humans and spirit that honors the sacred miracle of all life.

**This show originally aired on August 12, 2009.**

Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Oct 2, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Book of Ceremony with Sandra Ingerman

Ceremony allows us to bring the sacred into ordinary life. Ceremony has been used by cultures around the world for tens of thousands of years to help people navigate change and help communities welcome new cycles of life in, even as they release the old. Ceremony, skillfully designed and performed, creates a bridge between the ordinary everyday of life and the world of the unseen power of the universe. In short, it's a way to get help. World-renowned shamanic teacher and author, Sandra Ingerman, joins host, Christina Pratt, to share her new book, "The Book of Ceremony: Shamanic Wisdom for Invoking the Sacred in Everyday Life." Join us to explore how we can use ceremony in our time to manifest our passions and to grow beyond the limiting beliefs at the heart of many of our shared cultural systems.

This week's guest:
Sandra Ingerman
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, October 2, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 25, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Getting Unstuck Part Four: The Lies We Tell

We all experience stuckness at some point in life and there is an art to getting out of it. You can become the person who accesses the latent power in your mess and effectively redirects it into living your deeper purpose. But not if you persist in lying to yourself. There is an, unconscious lie being propagated in our inner narrative about our capacity for healing and transformation. In part four of the "Getting Unstuck" series, host and shaman, Christina Pratt, draws on 30 years of successful trauma healing and deep-state transformation to exposes the lies that are alive and well and growing in the contemporary healing dialogue. She shares how the crazy logic of Trickster thinking teaches us to hear our own lies as messages from our fragmented self.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 18, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Moving into the Deep Water: Update

We all need to learn to swim in the black water. It is the deep water of life where we are no longer in control. We must surrender ourselves to life on its own terms and learn to swim. The blue water is the shallow water of life, where our actions simply maintain our status quo. So if we are to create change in ourselves, we must actively gain those skills and learn to apply them. What then is required of us if we are to change our world? In the spring of 2018, host and shaman, Christina Pratt, asked this question and begin a new series of online courses designed to be an answer. Where are we in this exploration into the deep water of what it means to be human in this time of constant change, great challenge, and infinite opportunity?

Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Scorpio Lovers

October 23-November 22

Most compatible: Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Capricorn, Pisces

Scorpios are ruled by both fiery Mars and destructive Pluto, and this reflects their two relationship modes. Scorpios love intensely but also fight intensely. Scorpio relationships are certainly never dull.
New Love
When looking for love, Scorpios like to be pursued. They will send clear signals that they are interested, but will rarely make the first move as they want the affirmation of being pursued and wooed. They love the intensity of meeting someone new and like to go all out when it comes to the initial dating process, both giving, and expecting to receive, over the top gestures of affection.
Budding Relationships
Scorpios fall in love fast and hard, but even after they have found someone they have intense feelings for, they will be reluctant to drop the persona they present to the world and share the deep font of emotions that they keep bottled up underneath. When Scorpios do finally let their guard down, it is a big deal for them, and if their partner fails to recognise that, the walls can come up again quickly and harder than before.


Sep 11, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Getting Unstuck Part Four: The Lies We Tell

We all experience stuckness at some point in life and there is an art to getting out of it. You can become the person who accesses the latent power in your mess and effectively redirects it into living your deeper purpose. But not if you persist in lying to yourself. There is an, unconscious lie being propagated in our inner narrative about our capacity for healing and transformation. In part four of the "Getting Unstuck" series, host and shaman, Christina Pratt, draws on 30 years of successful trauma healing and deep-state transformation to exposes the lies that are alive and well and growing in the contemporary healing dialogue. She shares how the crazy logic of Trickster thinking teaches us to hear our own lies as messages from our fragmented self.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 4, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Gift of the Dreamtime with Kelley Harrell

For those of you interested in shamanism you can experience a shaman finding her shaman legs, reshaping the workings of her mind, and awakening her courageous heart in the re-release of Gift of the Dreamtime. For the rest of you this is a story of healing. It is an inspiration for those who have suffered great trauma, like incest, chronic violence, or the soul loss induced by the daily, normal horrors of war, and refuse to be hobbled or accept anything less than the life you came here to live. Join us this week as author and neoshaman, Kelley Harrell shares her experiences and insights with host, Christina Pratt. Kelley has served her local community in North Carolina and an international client base since 2000 through Soul Intent Arts. In her own words, “My path of shamanism is original and claims no culture other than the one of my creation. I do not seek to teach a branded path of shamanism, but to present the map for you to create your own. Through private sessions, classes, and Distance Mystery School, I’m here to create a new tribe of support for children and adults whose lives are blessed with an uncontainable inner knowing. This is The Tribe of the Modern Mystic.”

**This show originally aired July 22, 2012.**

Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Sep 3, 2018

Esoterica



Focus on the Children

The Catholic Church is exposed. A number of wide-ranging, deeply researched reports of molestation, rape, abuse, corruption, and concealment have been released in close enough time to one another that the magnitude of the horror might actually—for the average American, anyway—sink in. It all feels monumental, if also powered in part by coincidence. The recently published Pennsylvania report, in which a grand jury details the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children by more than 300 priests and systematically argues that church officials were complicit, was two years in the making. It didn’t need to be released two weeks before BuzzFeed published Christine Kenneally’s yearslong investigation into the abuse of children—some of whom didn’t survive—by nuns and priests at St. Joseph’s Catholic orphanage. But it was, and the effects of those stories are stacking up. These two reports came out just three months after every Chilean bishop offered to resign over a massive sex abuse scandal, and a year or so after Netflix documentary series The Keepers revisited an unsolved murder and allegations of abuse in a Baltimore Catholic school. That these are all different—but all cover the same institutional atrocity—is the kind of perfect storm that may get us to focus in ways that the abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide has not managed to. Humans find numbers like that hard to absorb.

But we respond well to drama, and there are two competing stories right now about the Catholic Church. Call it the people vs. the palace. Alongside this tide of testimony from long-suffering victims and determined investigators, there’s the theater of ex–papal nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò’s “memo” calling for (among other things) the resignation of Pope Francis. Viganò is a hard-line conservative known for helping to arrange Pope Francis’ notorious meeting with anti-gay-marriage activist Kim Davis—which exacerbated tensions Pope Francis and Viganò. (The pope has been generally rather accepting of homosexuality; his U.S. visit included a private audience with a gay man and his partner.) Viganò timed his memo to catch the pope at a strategic weak point. Already reeling from the church scandals, Pope Francis was also visiting Ireland, which recently legalized abortion, indexing a growing distance from the faith. He was vulnerable. If this political maneuvering feels gilded and distasteful, it should. The more you read of the abuses, and of church officials shrugging it off, the less interesting the petty details of Vatican palace intrigue become. Of course the abuse of children would become yet another occasion for liberals and conservatives to plot against each other.

Aug 28, 2018

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The Runic Book of Days with Kelley Harrel

"Our most challenging task as humans is finding meaning in our self and the world around us," says Kelley Harrell, author of Runic Book of Days. This means, how do we stand, fully conscious in our personal power in our everyday actions of life? In her new book, Harrel offers the runes as a contemporary tool to assist us in answering that question. The runes are an ancient, deeply revelatory oracle that captures the essence of the process of the soul embodied and then delivers the wisdom needed to live it in small, relatable morsels. Join us this week as modern shaman and author, Kelley Harrel, joins host, Christina Pratt, to explain that to work with the runes systematically through the seasons, allows a cycle of initiation to emerge.

This week's guest:
Kelley Harrell


Kelley Harrell is an author and modern shaman in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. A lifelong intuitive and deathwalker, she has worked with a local and international client base since 2000. She holds a Masters in Religious Studies, and is an ordained interfaith minister. Her work is Nature-based, and is focused through the lenses of animism, Seiðr, and Druidry. She works closely with the Elder Futhark Runes and divine Nature Spirits of eastern North Carolina. Her shamanic practice is Soul Intent Arts. Kelley advocates for social justice through sacred activism, and is vigorously involved with the worlds in and around her.

Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Aug 26, 2018

Esoterica



Satanic Temple statue unveiled at the Arkansas State Capitol

Dozens attended a rally held by the Satanic Temple at the Arkansas State Capitol on Thursday.

The rally comes after the Arkansas legislature approved the placement of a Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds.

During the Satanic Temple's Rally for the First Amendment, a more than 8-feet-tall Baphomet statue was unveiled.

. . .

Following the installation of the Ten Commandments monument, the Satanic Temple filed a lawsuit to have its statue placed on the same grounds in the name of religious pluralism and the First Amendment.

During the 2017 legislative session, the Satanic Temple sent a letter to Arkansas legislators asking for lawmakers to sponsor a bill that would allow a Baphomet statue on Capitol grounds, but not one lawmaker responded.

Aug 21, 2018

In Pennsylvania, A Reckoning

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.



The headlines alone make make my gorge rise:


Disney World! Who would knowingly help a pedophile get a job at Disney World?!!! The Catholic Church, that's who.

Like people all across the country, and probably much of the world, I have been processing, over the past week, the horrible revelations to come out of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on priestly abuse throughout the state. At least 300 "predator priests" abused at least 1,000 children (their findings acknowledge that the actual number is probably much higher), over a seventy year period. And the Church establishment, as it has done in so many dioceses around the world, conspired to keep it all covered up. They moved offending priests around to different jobs many of which still gave them access to minors, they hid records under lock and key, and they threw the victims under a bus. Same story, different state. Yet somehow this time feels so much worse.

If the Catholic sexual abuse scandal that came to light in 2002 slowly unspooled through news reports, Pennsylvania's grand jury report landed like an atom bomb, dropping its online horrors all at once. With some redactions, the report was readily available for everyone to read and share: the accusations of sexual deviance, shameless lies and deceitful churchmen.

"What we have now is people freely expressing their outrage on Facebook and Twitter," said Greg Kandra, a Catholic deacon in Brooklyn, New York. "The anger is palpable. This is like 2002 on steroids."

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Wild Fires, Climate Change, and Shamanism with Ana Larramendi

As the wild fires rage throughout the western North America for another season, how do we respond? The destruction is real and truly devastating, and, at the same time, we are the creators of this scenario. Where is our responsibility and how to we exercise it? From a shamanic perspective a human is one of billions of organisms that inhabit and make up the planet we call Earth. To the elementals and nature spirits we are all part of the community of living things. Our most effective actions will be as part of that larger community. Join us this week as practitioner, Ana Larramendi, joins host Christina Pratt to explore how we can use our shamanic skills to assist nature in doing the corrective measures needed to balance what is out of balance. How do we ask the permission from the land spirits to intervene? And what do we do when we are told "no"?

This week's guest:
Ana Larramendi


Ana Larramendi has spent her life weaving together her spirituality with nature skills to create a skill-set of tools for land healing and teaching students to detect and heal earth trauma. Of Spanish and Basque ancestry and born in Spain, Ana is a full-time shamanic teacher and healer, at The Hollow Bone, a private practice in Madison, Wisconsin. She offers a full range of shamanic healing forms, space clearing, and various land healing practices and offers a range of shamanic course work and her Earth Tenders Apprenticeship for more advanced practitioners.

Ana has been studying shamanic traditions since 1989 and is an international teacher of shamanic healing practices. She is a minister, public speaker, Vision Quest leader, wilderness enthusiast, ceremonialist, chef, translator and an initiated mesa carrier in the Inka tradition. Ana has studied extensively with teachers from many traditions including: Alberto Villoldo, the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Sandra Ingerman, Angeles Arrien, Betsy Bergstrom, Tom Cowan, Dr. Larry Peters, Marko Pogaĉnik, indigenous Alto Misayoqs of the Andes, and Weather Shamanism with Nan Moss and the late David Corbin. She also studied for 6 years with Tom Brown Jr. of the Tracker School, learning tracking, survival and wilderness awareness skills.

Ana has been a lecturer for the University of Wisconsin Medical School, as well as teacher and Peruvian guide for Madison Area Technical College. She is a founding member of the Society for Shamanic Practice and was a keynote presenter for their first annual conference in 2005. Ana's work has been published in The Journal of Shamanic Practice.

Tuesday, August 21, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Aug 17, 2018

What Astrology Says is in Store for the Second Half of 2018

For me, 2018 has passed in a whirlwind, and as we approach the end of the year I am feeling the pressure to move forward with my ambitions and goals. While I am a firm believer that we shape our own destinies, knowing how the stars will influence what is happening in the world and in my life helps me prepare and better deal with the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that cross my path.

This may be especially important in the second half of 2018, which promises to be a time of change, regardless of your zodiac sign. Find out what your sign can expect in the coming months to help you maximise your potential as the year draws to a close.


Fire Signs – Aries, Leo and Sagittarius

While you have probably felt like you have had a lot on your plate in the first half of the year, in the latter part of 2018 you may suddenly feel like you have more time on your hands. But don’t let your energy levels and focus drop. Invest this time in hobbies and creative outlets that have taken a back seat so far this year.

But while you are powering through, don’t forget to take time to relax. With Mars in retrograde you might feel drained of energy, so implement self-care routines to help you stay on an even keel.
With Uranus moving into the Taurus constellation, you might see some big, and possibly shocking, changes at the end of 2018. While worrying will be inevitable, these are changes that you need in your life, even if you can’t see it right away. Take this as an opportunity to step back and really understand what is important to you, and how these unexpected changes might be a blessing.


Aug 14, 2018

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The Power of Blessing

Blessings are the way to give life to that which you value, to give it strength and help it to survive and to thrive. Through blessings we can give life and protection to what is new and uncertain. They are a way to give strength to that which doesn't have strength yet, like a new story for a new world, and to give it time to take shape and build resonance. Blessings can be a formal, complex ritual process or a simple act of love, like calling on the spirits of the family totem to protect a child as she leaves for school. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores the power of blessings and how we can use them with intention to create change in these challenging times. Blessings call on energies of the invisible world, like elementals, nature spirits, and angels, and ask for their participation in our lives in specific ways. Whether simple or grand, our blessings are most powerful when they are an expression of a deep relationship with spirit, one that we have already cultivated with our faith, gratitude, and practice.

**This show originally aired August 30, 2016.**

Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Aug 7, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Power of Faith

Faith does not require religion and is often stronger without it. Faith is the power to stand in the Unknown with uncertainty and discomfort and take a new step forward anyway... and then another... and then another. It is the power to do what hasn't been done and what feels impossible. We must cultivate the capacity for faith, barrels of it, or we will not be able to be the change that we seek. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, this week as she explores faith and the need to cultivate faith that does not inspire separation from others via religion, race, or nationality. To rise to the challenges of our time we must know without ever getting proof that we were born to be the medicine for the illness, disease, and unrest of our time. And that it will require faith, again and again, to surrender who we are for who we could become so that we can be that medicine. Faith is power.

**This show originally aired August 23, 2016.**

Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Aug 6, 2018

Teal Swan: Cult or Movement?

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.



People keep calling teal the c-word, cult leader, and dammit, she's addressed this! Way back in 2014, she put this matter to rest, with a blog post addressing, point by point, the cult criteria that she in no way meets. Earlier that year I had written a blog post, myself, comparing her organization to a number of cult criteria checklists, and I came to a different conclusion. I started blogging about teal way back when, because I saw a number of red flags that warned of a cult in formation, starting with the coerced, public "confession" of her ex-boyfriend to "sociopathy." Since that time, she has grown ever more culty and her long-sought mainstream coverage has acknowledged that fact. She did not help herself with her own commentary in the recent podcast series "The Gateway," wherein she told Gizmodo reporter Jennings Brown:

I have the perfect recipe for a cult. Perfect. Recipe.

No, her foray into mainstream press coverage has not gone well and now comes an article from Vice, which puts her cult leader status and her disturbing position on suicide under a microscope. And irony of ironies (note the correct use of the term), the cult expert Vice interviewed for the article is the very one whose checklist teal used to exonerate herself in that blog post, Janja Lalich, PhD. Unlike teal, Lalich appears to have concluded that teal meets the criteria of a cult leader, a dangerous one.

Though Teal has denied cult allegations, her massive social media influence and controversial practices around depression and suicide—sometimes encouraging students to imagine their own deaths in detail—have placed her on the dangerous side of Lalich’s cult radar.

. . .

Lalich sees this kind of dramatic therapy as a way to manipulate vulnerable people. “They can get very unstable, and that’s what she’s counting on,” she said. “Cult leaders will always get their people to what I call ‘reframe their lives.’ They reinterpret their lives so they see everything from before the cult as messed up, and only by staying with the cult leader will they get straightened out.” (To this day, many members of the “Teal Tribe” say they are only alive today because of her teachings.)

Jul 31, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Power of Gratitude

Gratitude is a choice to see beyond the surface of instant gratification. Gratitude is not a luxury for people who get what they want, but a requirement for anyone who wants the help of spirit with the impossible. When we are without gratitude we are without perspective. The visionary capacity of the heart slips into doubt, we fixate on what is not working, and blame others for our problems. When we orient in gratitude, we are forced out of an attitude of entitlement and blame. Only then can we see the affects of our own internalized racism, sexism, and other systems of hatred and fear. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores the power of gratitude and why it is necessary in these challenging times. Gratitude must be made concrete through action and intent. The power engages when you show gratitude at all times, make every gesture of your life a labor of love and retribution for the gifts you receive and will receive.

**This show originally aired August 16, 2016.**

Tuesday, July 31, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Jul 29, 2018

Esoterica



Beautiful photos! Full moon eclipse and Mars

Earth flew between the sun and Mars this week, so, during yesterday’s total lunar eclipse, the moon and Mars were close. Photos from the EarthSky community here.

. . .

Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe, wrote: “Conditions were very good for observing the eclipse and yielded many of the usual Blood Moon photographs. However, when photographing the approaching umbra just before it had completely encroached on the moon, a beautiful vivid blue ozone fringe which lasted for just a few minutes appeared. The attached animation, which consists of 21 still photographs taken between 9:13 and 9:22 p.m. local time using highlight instead of shadow detail exposures, presents a rare and unusual view of this lunar eclipse phenomenon which usually just imparts a pale bluish tinge to the last directly illuminated portion of the moon (as is shown in the conventional picture taken at about the same time).” Read more about the ozone fringe seen during lunar eclipses.

. . .

Helio C. Vital in Saquarema, Brazil, saw the eclipse at moonrise, when the moon was still low in the sky. He wrote: “The moon was very low during totality (9 degrees above the horizon only at U3)! I first spotted the moon some 25 minutes after its rise as I had predicted. Such delay was due to the fact it was thousand of times dimmer than the usual full moon when it crossed the horizon. The moon was many times darker than Mars when I first glanced it, only 5 degrees above the horizon at 17:48 (UTC-3h). It was a therefore a dark eclipse not due to recent major volcanic eruptions, but due to the fact the moon crossed the center of Earth`s shadow where the shadow is very dark. What a nice show the totally eclipsed moon and Mars in opposition (only 7 degrees apart) put on over Saquarema! Nikon CoolPix P900 camera using its Moon Mode.”

Bottom line: Photos of the total lunar eclipse of July 27, 2018 – longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century – from the EarthSky community. During this eclipse, the planet Mars was near the moon and brighter than it had been since 2003.

Jul 24, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

What is Shamanic Healing? Some Case Studies - Part Two

Shamanic healing describes a particular set of healing forms. Many diverse cultures practice these healing forms in ways are culturally specific and still functionally the same. For the practitioner, "shamanic healing" defines not only the function of the healing form, like the retrieval of a soul part, but also the means by which the practitioner accomplishes that function. This is critically important in today's healing landscape because we all share all the same healing issues of ancient people while having invented several new ones. We need shamanic healing now more than ever. Join us this week as host and shaman, Christina Pratt, shares stories about shamanic healing in everyday life while navigating the troubled waters of appropriation, culture exchange, and listening to inner voices.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Jul 19, 2018

Esoterica



Drone Reveals Massive Stonehenge-Like Circular Monument in Ireland

A drone flyby has revealed a prehistoric henge, or circular monument, in a field next to the  5,000-year-old passage tomb at Newgrange in Ireland. The new henge is the fourth one discovered near the Newgrange tomb.

The discovery comes as archaeologists, in a separate discovery, have unearthed a mysterious prehistoric structure – thought to be a ceremonial Neolithic avenue aligned with the rising and setting of the sun at the spring and fall equinoxes.

The high ground around the Newgrange passage tomb, beside the Boyne River about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Dublin, is already celebrated as a Neolithic "graveyard" and ceremonial center.

. . .

The finds reveal the importance of the area to its ancient inhabitants 5,000 years ago — more than 100 years before the Neolithic stone circle at Stonehenge in England was built, and about 400 years before the pyramids at Giza in Egypt, archeologists said.

Jul 17, 2018

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How to Receive Shamanic Healing

What are the ethics for receiving shamanic healing? Much is written about ethics for practitioners, but is it really ethical to drop all the issues of your life in the lap of any healer and ask them to heal you in one session? Is it ethical to get angry about a session when the healing offered doesn’t play into the story you carry about your woundedness? Is it ever ethical to ask for healing, which is always an effort of energy expended, without offering anything in exchange for the healing energy spent on you? Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores the very prickly issue of the ethics for receiving shamanic healing. This week we slash expectations for magical cures and effortless life changes in the hopes of revealing how contemporary people can come to an ancient healing form prepared, informed, and ready to do what is needed to follow up responsibly.

**This show originally aired on May 12, 2015.**

Tuesday, July 17, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Jul 10, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

What is Shamanic Healing?

What is a shamanic healing in the 21st Century? Host and shaman, Christina Pratt, explores this question in three parts. First we will explore the healing that comes from work with a shaman and how that integrates into all the other healing options available to you in the 21st Century. Being a contemporary consumer of health care in the USA is a challenge. In many ways working with a shaman can help you to orchestrate the rest of the options from the clarity and personal truth of your own core needs. Next we will explore the healing that comes from developing your own relationship with helping spirits. In other words, how does learning the basic shamanic skill set help you to heal your self and your life, which then reenergizes your overall well being. Finally we will explore the healing that comes from engaging in life from a shamanic perspective and the transformations that might get you to that place. Much of what ails us culturally can be healed by rediscovering our core values and deep loves, finding others who share them, and recommitting our lives to living from what has heart and meaning. This week we explore “what is shamanic healing”, what could it be for you, and how to weave that into your very contemporary life.

**This show originally aired March 8, 2011.**

Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Jul 5, 2018

Esoterica



Feeding the gods: Hundreds of skulls reveal massive scale of human sacrifice in Aztec capital

Some conquistadors wrote about the tzompantli and its towers, estimating that the rack alone contained 130,000 skulls. But historians and archaeologists knew the conquistadors were prone to exaggerating the horrors of human sacrifice to demonize the Mexica culture. As the centuries passed, scholars began to wonder whether the tzompantli had ever existed.

Archaeologists at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) here can now say with certainty that it did. Beginning in 2015, they discovered and excavated the remains of the skull rack and one of the towers underneath a colonial period house on the street that runs behind Mexico City's cathedral. (The other tower, they suspect, lies under the cathedral's back courtyard.) The scale of the rack and tower suggests they held thousands of skulls, testimony to an industry of human sacrifice unlike any other in the world. Now, archaeologists are beginning to study the skulls in detail, hoping to learn more about Mexica rituals and the postmortem treatment of the bodies of the sacrificed. The researchers also wonder who the victims were, where they lived, and what their lives were like before they ended up marked for a brutal death at the Templo Mayor.

"This is a world of information," says archaeologist Raùl Barrera Rodríguez, director of INAH's Urban Archaeology Program and leader of the team that found the tzompantli. "It's an amazing thing, and just the kind of discovery many of us had hoped for," agrees John Verano, a bioarchaeologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, who studies human sacrifice. He and other researchers hope the skulls will clarify the role of large-scale human sacrifice in Mexica religion and culture—and whether, as scholars suspect, it played a key part in building their empire.

Jul 3, 2018

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

What is Shamanic Healing? Some Case Studies

Shamanic healing describes a particular set of healing forms. Many diverse cultures practice these healing forms in ways are culturally specific and still functionally the same. For the practitioner, "shamanic healing" defines not only the function of the healing form, like the retrieval of a soul part, but also the means by which the practitioner accomplishes that function. This is critically important in today's healing landscape because we all share all the same healing issues of ancient people while having invented several new ones. We need shamanic healing now more than ever. Join us this week as host and shaman, Christina Pratt, shares stories about shamanic healing in everyday life while navigating the troubled waters of appropriation, culture exchange, and listening to inner voices.

Tuesday, July 3, 2018 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.

Jun 30, 2018

Crazy Wisdom, Uncomfortable Questions

Crossposted from Amora Obscura



The Party

In 1975 during a seminary in Snowmass, Colorado, respected Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, founder of Naropa University, and originator of Shambhala Buddhism, hosted a Halloween party. Two attendees, a couple named William Merwin and Dana Naone, mingled for a bit before retiring early for the night. According to witnesses, Trungpa was irritated that the couple had left early, and he ordered his followers to bring them back to the party “at any cost,” but William and Dana refused to return. According to one witness, negotiations between the guru and the couple went on for a few hours. An angry crowd of partygoers gathered outside their door, threatening them and attempting to break into their room. Tensions escalated until a chair was thrown through the glass balcony door in an attempt to force them out.

William and Dana were then escorted down to the party by Trungpa’s guards. Their guru reprimanded them, directed racially-charged remarks toward Dana, and threw a glass of sake in William's face. Then, they were asked to remove their clothes. When they refused, Trungpa ordered the guards to do it for them. They were stripped naked as Dana screamed for help, begging for someone to call the police. No one did. When another attendee tried to intervene, witnesses say that Trungpa punched him in the face. Dana alleged that Trungpa repeatedly hit the man who was stripping her because he was taking too long.

William and Dana were not the first attendees to be stripped that night. A woman named Persis McMillen had been forced out of her costume by the guards earlier in the evening, and was left feeling violated, "sick," and "really trashed out." An attendee named Jack Niland had also been targeted by Trungpa. The guards removed his clothes and threw him into a pool.

Once William and Dana were fully disrobed, the couple held each other, helpless and exposed. William Merwin allegedly implored, “Why us? Why are we the only two people in this room standing here naked in front of you?" So, the other guests removed their clothing, too. At Trungpa's behest, the dancing resumed, as if nothing had happened.

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