Cafe

Around the Web, Around the World

"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

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.

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.

Cafe

Around the Web, Around the World

"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

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.

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".

 from wikipedia

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. 

Cafe

Around the Web, Around the World

"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.**

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.

Cafe

Around the Web, Around the World

"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

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.

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.

Cafe

Around the Web, Around the World

"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.**

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.

Cafe

Around the Web, Around the World

"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

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.

Cafe

Around the Web, Around the World

"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

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.

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.