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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Heart-Centered Work in Challenging Times

In these times that require sustained action to create change simultaneously in multiple arenas: political, spiritual, social, economic, and cultural, how do we sustain ourselves. How to we sustain ourselves as we engage day after day in our own inner work and the outer work needed in the world? How do we stay in our hearts for the endless clearings, extractions, the unraveling of thoughtforms, and depossessions and out of the very human frustration and rage at those feel entitled to everything at the expense of everyone else and the earth? Join us this week as host and shaman, Christina Pratt, returns to Betsy Bergstrom’s practice of Heart Centered Shamanic Depossession to explore how do we protect ourselves in these challenging times?

Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

What is a Working Relationship with Spirit?

Working with spirit is at the heart of what defines shamanism as shamanism. What does "working with spirit" mean? What are shamans talking about when they speak of "spirit"? Isn't it all just in their heads? Join us this week as shaman and host, Christina Pratt, explores what a working relationship meant in more ancient shamanic times and how it has transformed today. How do we create a working relationship with spirit? Once we do, how do we nurture and cultivate that relationship over time? And when do we know we have gone off the rails and are just making things up?

Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Encounters with Power: Part Two

What is right relationship with power? Once we make a successful bid for power how do we use it? And, perhaps more important, how do we maintain and sustain that relationship with power without turning to control, dominance, or manipulation? “The line between the shaman and the sorcerer exists,” explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt, “but it remains elusive in the contemporary mind that requires black and white definitions and refuses the elegance of paradox and complimentary dualism.” Join us this week as we continue to explore what power means in the realm of the shaman. How can these ancient ways help us to resist the abundant abuses of power we experience around us each day?

Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Esoterica

Trove of statues of war goddess Sekhmet found in Luxor

A team of German archaeologists have discovered 66 statues of the lion-headed goddess of war, Sekhmet, in an excavation of a temple near the Egyptian city of Luxor.

The discovery was made during the excavation of the funerary temple of Amenhotep III, located on the western bank of the Nile where Thebes, the ancient capital of the Pharaohs, was located.

The head of the Egyptian antiquities sector, Mahmud Afifi, said the discovery happened as part of a project to restore the temple of Memnon, which commenced in 1998.

The two large statues, representing Pharaoh Amenhotep III, are the only remaining pieces of the temple, which collapsed in an earthquake in the 8th century BC.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Encounters with Power with José Luis Stevens

What is power? How do we make a bid for power? And, perhaps more important, how do we recover when our bid for power goes sideways and we are left wondering what just happened and how do I get home from this remote jungle location? Join us this week as José Luis Stevens joins host, Christina Pratt, to share stories from his new book “Encounters with Power: Adventures and Misadventures on the Shamanic Path of Healing.” José is the president and cofounder with his wife Lena Stevens of Power Path Seminars, dedicated to bringing the indigenous wisdom from shamans around the globe into business and everyday life.

This week's guest:
José Luis Stevens

José Stevens PhD is an international lecturer, corporate team builder and organizational coach, consultant and trainer. José is a psychologist, licensed clinical social worker and author of numerous articles and more than twenty books, including “Praying with Power” and “The Secrets of Shamanism”. His new book is “Encounters with Power: Adventures and Misadventures on the Shamanic Path of Healing”.

José is a co-editor for A Journal of Contemporary Shamanism and a board member of the Society for Shamanic Practitioners. He is the founder, with his wife Lena, of the Power Path School of Shamanism and The Center for Shamanic Education and Exchange, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating youth in indigenous cultures. He has completed a ten-year apprenticeship with a Huichol Maracame in Mexico and has studied with the Shipibos of the Amazon and the Paqos of the Andes for the last thirty years.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Is Pope Francis Too Soft on Pedophile Priests?

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Over the weekend, I read that Pope Francis is backtracking on pedophile priests, trimming their sentences and showing them "mercy." I was saddened. I am not Catholic. I have never particularly "liked" a pope, but there is much about this one that I admire. I like that he takes his vows of poverty seriously. I like his compassion for the poor and disenfranchised. I like that, although he has not significantly changed Church policy on LGBT issues, he has urged compassion and lack of judgment. I have not cared for his stance on women in the priesthood and I have not been impressed with the pace or tenor of his approach to the sex abuse crisis. So when I saw these words, my heart sank.

Pope Francis has quietly reduced sanctions against a handful of pedophile priests, applying his vision of a merciful church even to its worst offenders in ways that survivors of abuse and the pope’s own advisers question.

Worse, his leniency has already backfired, according to the article.

One case has come back to haunt him: An Italian priest who received the pope’s clemency was later convicted by an Italian criminal court for his sex crimes against children as young as 12. The Rev. Mauro Inzoli is now facing a second church trial after new evidence emerged against him, The Associated Press has learned.

But the more I read, and I read several articles, the less substantive this story seemed to be. The new charges against Rev. Inzoli appeared to come from new information, not from re-offense. In fact, there is no evidence that these changes have put any children at risk.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Living your Soul's Purpose

How do we walk the line between the Old Story Rules and the New System we are creating? Once you have found the path to your soul's purpose, how do you stay the course? Our lives are often a great web of responsibilities, expectations, addictions, and distractions that create conflict in our hearts and rob the clarity in our minds. In that tension between who you have been and who you are becoming one hesitates to act and loses confidence that there was ever true guidance at all. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she answers listeners' questions about the day-to-day effort and art of living your soul's purpose. The secret is remembering that we have only one true responsibility, which is to live our soul's purpose. And no matter the situation that arises on that journey, we have the most power to create change on ourselves in the moment.

*This show originally aired February 12, 2013.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Esoterica

'Ring Of Fire' Eclipse Set To Blaze In Southern Skies

If you're in the southern hemisphere and you happen to look up Sunday morning — or, for everyone else, if you happen to have Internet access — you may have the chance to see an annular solar eclipse. Unlike a total solar eclipse, this one will leave just a sliver of sunlight shining at the rim of the moon's shadow as passes between Earth and the sun.

The effect is a bit like an inept hide-and-seeker standing behind a bush he's just a little too big for — or, to adopt a simile closer to Johnny Cash's heart, like a burning "ring of fire." Though the moon may slide in front of the sun, the moon will be a little too far from Earth — and thus, from our vantage point, too small — to conceal the sun entirely.

The event will be visible above "parts of the Southern Hemisphere, including Chile, Argentina and Angola," NASA says.

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Life and Death: Authenticity in Shamanism

Those who engage in life and live it to its fullest, die many, many small deaths. When we live fully, learning, healing, and expressing who we truly are then the person we have been is regularly outmoded by our growth. Death is necessary if we are to move authentically in the world. Nowhere is this more important than in our shamanic practice and our choice of shamans to help us. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores our misconceptions of what makes shamanism "real." Authenticity in shamanism requires the sacrifice of contemporary sense of entitlement. Authenticity requires sacrifice of the old mind and ideas of individuality and separation for the greater awareness of the interconnectivity of all things. Authenticity requires sacrifice of the old heart and feelings of selfish, need-based love for selfless surrender to the calling to serve the people and the planet and the times we live in.

*This show originally aired March 11, 2014.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Visions and Illusions: Authenticity in Shamanism

Are your visions just illusions? Are your dreams really just fantasies? How do we know that our connection with spirit is authentic? Regardless of type of altered state, whether waking or dreaming, light or deep, induced by rhythm or sacred plants, ultimately it will have to be made intelligible through the mind. And the contemporary mind is filled to over-flowing with many things, mostly all entirely not shamanic. The contemporary, Western-trained mind is not prepared for authentic shamanic experience. Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores what makes shamanism of any kind "authentic" and how we cultivate the connection with the invisible world necessary for the accurate interpretation of the information found there. Authenticity in shamanism is more than a set of skills with an academic pedigree or a bloodline or being one of the chosen messengers of Aya. Authenticity in shamanism requires sacrifice of self.

*This show originally aired March 4, 2014.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Esoterica

Triple treat: Eclipse, comet, full moon all coming Friday night

As required during any lunar eclipse, the moon will be full Friday night. And this month it's nicknamed the "snow" moon.

According to the Farmers' Almanac, full moon names date back to Native Americans in the northern and eastern U.S. Each full moon has its own name.

"The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon," the almanac reports. "Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred."

. . .

A few hours after the eclipse, Comet 45P, which has been visible after sunset for the past two months through binoculars and telescopes, makes its closest approach to Earth, when it will be "only" 7.4 million miles away, NASA said.