My Shaman

I am pretty busy. I would like to spend more time writing posts for this site, but that does not seem to be happening. So, if you are a Shamanic Practitioner, and would like to submit an article, I would be honored to post it here. I initially envisioned this as a place to allow normal everyday people to meet and learn about Shamanic Healing. Please email me or comment to let me know if you are interested. Either way…as a practitioner, or if you are interested receiving spiritual healing.
In love and honor,
Mark

“Everything will be perfect if I can just get those shoes for the weekend.”  “As long as I don’t run into Joe at the party, it will be fun.”  “I will just die if they see my dirty house.”

Expectations

“I bought them dinner last week, so they will get mine this week.”
“I worked all that overtime, my boss has to give me a raise.”

Lions and Tigers and Bears….Oh my…

We all do it.  I know that I can sit here at my desk and tell myself that if I can just get this one stack of paperwork done, I will have a great weekend.  Then when I don’t get it done, I suffer all weekend long.  What I have done is just setup an expectation and given myself permission to have a bad weekend.  It is just another way I sabotage myself.  For me I find that I set up an energetic attachment to outcome.  And generally, a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I can change my way of looking at it, but even if I make it a positive instead of a negative expectation, I still have an expectation.  Now, I am not saying all expectations are bad.  We would not have a society that we can live in.  We are expected to not break the law, and we expect people to honor their promises. etc. etc…

Expectations are like contracts.  When I create an expectation, then I am invested in the outcome.  That is the attachment.  My investment could just be my feelings…This is Dangerous.  How many hits to my feelings can I take.  Every one of these affect my Luminous Energy Field (LEF) (also known as an Aura).  Not only that, but for each of these expectations, I create an attachment.  Now, I am expending energy towards my expected outcome.  That energetic attachment is connected to the person or thing of expectation.  I call that a cord.  It is like a rope going from my LEF to that thing/person.  We only have so much energy, and when we have many attachments (or cords), then we can become drained.  Each one of these cords draws from our energy reserves.  So, what do we do now that we find ourselves drained.  We have two choices.

One, we stop having expectations.  This is not easy.  We still need to live in this earth plane of existence.  Expectations are a way of life…at least some are.  We do tend to repeat those things that work for us.  Expectations can become a habit.  Expectations can become a necessary shortcut in our way of living.  But we can get carried away, and place expectations on everything and everyone around us.  This can get us in trouble.  We are really trying to control our world, and we tend to find that we are hurt more and more often when the world rebels and does it its own way.  When we find that we are hurt, we can take a look and see that we generally expected things to happen for us that we set in motion due to self centeredness.  Generally we were afraid of losing something, be it money or maybe something that just would stroke our ego.  We need to evaluate our expectations and determine the real reason we have them.  Is it unreasonable?  How does this really affect me?  Ask yourself:  what effect it may have tomorrow, or the next day, or the next week, or even next year?  What does it really matter in the long run.  Is it worth the pain that you have associated with not having your expectation met?  Is that pain level real or just imagined.  Only when you compare that to your level of acceptance can you really decide to pursue that expectation or just accept the results.  Our serenity is directly related to our level of acceptance.  And inversely related to our level of expectations.  Our energy is consumed through expectations either real or imagined.  So, where do we want to spend our energy?  Try acceptance!  You will be surprised how much more energy you will have!  Acceptance is the key to decreasing expectations.  I have learned a common prayer that helps with this:

God,
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.

The key we are talking about is right there in the first line.  I need to practice acceptance to achieve some serenity in my life.  My serenity level is directly related to my energy.  If my energy level is low, I am not serene.  I am fighting to get more…it is a basic survival instinct.  But when my energy is higher, then I can relax, and feel more serene.

The second way I can reduce my expectations is to cut the cords to those attachments.  Sure, this is really just another way to learn to accept the situation.  It is a way to detach from a person, place or thing with Love, Compassion, and Honor.  I was trained to cut these cords and it has helped me in my spiritual path.  Contact me or any other Shaman to discuss how you can learn to cut those cords that are tying you in knots!

In Peace and Love,
Mark

Our Greatest Fear

 it is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

 Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

 It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson

Buy the Book
This inspiring quote by Marianne Williamson is from her book, A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, Harper Collins, 1992. From Chapter 7, Section 3 (Pg. 190-191).

I was told recently that I can and should show respect by being humble enough to be honest with my feelings.  But my ego is in the way.  My ego tells me that I am right and I can’t possibly let those little defects of character peek through.  I want to be humble, but then my ego says I am…but am I?  Not really…Not if I say I am.  True humility should lead me to believe that I am not humble enough.

I have been working on this Humble thing for the last five years or so.  Five years ago, I was admitted to a drug rehab unit in Pueblo, Colorado to detox from opiates.  At that point, I had to learn that I was not all that… I admitted that I was out of control, and that I could not control everything anymore…actually, I never really did.  That was my first inkling of a feeling that maybe there was a better way.  That way was to succeed via humility.  Not being humiliated, but by being humble.  So what does humble mean?  Well, the definition I like most is to not be prideful or arrogant.  Also, a good friend told me that to be humble means that I am teachable.  And in a book once, I read that it makes me equal to, not above, but also not below.  I surely was not equal 6 years ago.  I figured that if people did not do it my way, then they were wrong.  Well, I am still working on my humility.  I think I am much further along that I used to be, but my ego still rears its ugly character every now and then.   A saying I learned in Alcoholics anonymous states that we seek progress, not perfection.  I hope that I have been making progress.   If I ever start to think I have it all perfect, then watch out!

About a year ago, I was looking for my true calling.  I felt that I needed something different in my life.  I have Jesus Christ, but I wanted to do more with my life.  My good friend Chuck has been walking the Red Road for a while now, and I have seen much that I admire in him.  So I decided to start my spiritual healing path by attending Ginger, Dale, and Jean’s WALKING IN BEAUTY “THE PATH OF THE SHAMAN” workshops.  My training has been an exercise in humility-I have to learn to smash my ego out-of-the-way.  Sure, I learned much about healing; but overall, I have learned that in order to be of most use to spirit, I have to be open.  In order to be open, I need to be clear of my hurts, hang-ups, and beliefs in order to be that clear channel that can be used to help people.  For me, that boils down back to the thing I have been working on for some time now:  Humility.  It seems that the more I work thru my life, the more I need to be aware that I am not all that.

So, why do I need to Show Respect With Humility?  My wife told me about a couple who she admired because her husband was humble enough to share his true feelings, and that was how he showed her respect.  I have been thinking about this a lot the last week or so.  How do I show respect now?  Am I humble?  Hmmm…probably not.  Why is it we expect the ones we love to understand us, yet give our attention to the ones who we barely know.  Man, that is so backward.  I have been told that learning about myself, and working on myself to clear my defects of character is kind of like peeling an onion.  Once I remove the outer layers, there are more under that.  I feel that this year has been one of the hardest I have gone through in that respect.  But then, just when I think I am becoming more clear and have gotten rid of that layer of yuck, then I begin to see more to work on.  I do respect my wife.  But I need to bring myself back down off that pedestal that I installed myself on.  I need to be more humble, share more of myself, and not be afraid of what she might think.  I want to show her the respect she so desperately needs and deserves.  I sure can’t do that when I am being judgmental.  Being humble is totally the opposite of judgmental.  If I decide that she (or anyone else for that mater) will think less or more of me when I share how I am really, truly, feeling, then I am judging.  And that takes away respect in both directions.  Please Lord, let me be HUMBLE.

Your humble servant,
Mark

A friend asked if I would like to host some Archangels the other day.   Of course I read his email and started to think that it was some sort of scam.  But the more I considered it the more I became interested and intrigued… Could it be true?  And if so, why me?  Was I worthy?  With trepidation, I accepted his offer. On the designated day I cleaned the house, bought a white flower, and set up a candle per the instructions.  At 10:30 pm I went outside and invited them in.  There was the sound of the wind, but the house was pretty much the same.  However, there was more energy,  and a stronger sense of peace.  Chatting some with them, I figured that I should learn more about them.  So I looked them up on the internet:  Metatron, Gabriel, Ariel, Michael,  and Raphael.   Wow.  Now I’m even more humbled to know they are visiting me.  What can I offer that would even phase them…Nothing.  So, I am unworthy.  But that is okay, since they are here.  I stayed in a state of awe for the next couple of days.  They were invited to go to work and meetings with me, and things seemed to just go better having them around.  Maybe it was just the idea?  Hmmm, so on the full moon, while they were still visiting, I Opened Space: summoning the Four Directions, the Earth, and the Sky.  Then I had a Fire Ceremony in their honor.  It was a beautiful ceremony, and I made offerings to the Angels, our Earth and my Community, asking for peace and love to abound.  Then I settled down for an upper world journey.  I went straight to the 5th level, and searched for the Archangels.  I found them circling the creator, and I flew with them for a while there.  They told me to continue worshiping our creator and that I was on the proper path.  Not to rush anything, but to just enjoy and continue to offer myself as a vessel to be used in healing and dreaming this world into being.  I went to bed energized!  I was on the right path…these Angels were sent to show me that!  It was empowering and humbling at the same time.  I truly feel that we can’t be close to our creator and be full of Ego at the same time, and this feeling was a total validation of that.

I have since sent the Arch Angels on to others so that they can experience their healing and direction.  The feedback I have received from these folks has been encouraging.  I still am noticing little changes that have been happening, that I can’t help but feel that are due to their visit.

We are all connected!

With Munay,
Mark

Here is a link to a similar experience:

I went to Sam’s Club the other day to get a new member card.  While waiting in line I felt that all of a suddenly could see/feel/sense the auras of all the people coming and going to the store.  I had a sense of a great web of connections going to/from each person…it was incredible.  I was shocked and I had to hold on to the little stand holding the rope for the line I was standing in.  And I immediately brought up my shield to protect myself.  Then as I stood in line the sensation slowly faded away, and I got my new card and went out of the store.  Once outside, I cut chords and went on my way…

I have been thinking a lot about this experience since it happened this week.  I spoke with another Shaman about it and was reassured that this sort of experience is normal for an older Shaman.  It was new to me though!

So today, I visited another Shaman, an acupuncturist. I have been having a lot of pain in my right hand around my ring and little finger and up into my elbow.  I saw a doctor day before yesterday and was told the it is an ulnar nerve injury in my elbow.  After searching on the internet, I read that acupuncture was effective, so I scheduled a visit with Cindy, the acupuncturist.

While she was treating me with her little needles, I could really feel the energy flow this time.  This was the first visit with her since before I started my Shaman training; so I was telling her how things were changing for me, and I related my Sams Club experience.  She then asked if I knew that I had a disincarnate spirit attached to me.  I told her that I didn’t know it.  She asked if I wanted to let her help it to cross over.  I related that while I was honored to have someone attached, I would rather it leave.  So she did a quick ceremony asking Arch Angel Michael to help this disincarnate over the rainbow bridge…I felt her leave my body!  I was almost in tears…it was a very beautiful thing!

So Cindy related her experience with these disincarnates, how they are attracted to our light as a Shaman.  The incident at Sam’s was probably where this spirit saw my light…when I was seeing all the energy I was also acting as bright light for the disincarnate beings to see and be attracted to.

I have been aware that I am noticed by people a lot more recently…it has been suggested that my energy is bright, and that is why people are seeing me more now.  This has been going on for about a month now, ever since I finished the work of the north.

So I now understand why I was given a shield during the work of the south.  I will be sure to ask my creator to strengthen my shield more often and to remember to intend for it to be strong when I am in a crowd…I am also going to learn how to ask my guides, helpers, and angels to help these disincarnates to cross over with love and honor.

Namaste

Mark

Take good care of yourself.  Remember that we are all doing the best that we can, seeking to be “Spirit Guided” in every way.  With this said, it is not always so easy in the “Land of Humans”.  The times we are in are challenging and intense, we believe with many good things to unfold for all going forward.  But the shifting and realigning of everything from the Cosmos, to this Earth, to our individual lives, can create much that we have to navigate through.

Love and Light
Namaste – Ginger