Franco Santoro's Blog: Astroshamanism, page 31

Easter astroshamanic healing workshops and Pahai retreats, 14-15; 16-19; 20-23 April 2019, Merizzo (Massa, Italy)

This astroshamanic healing retreats consist of three workshops:

14-15; 16-19; 20-23 April 2019, Merizzo (Massa), Easter astroshamanic healing workshops and retreats, with Franco Santoro

Basic Workshop (14-15 April 2019), Holy Week Retreat (16-19 April 2019) and Easter Retreat (20-23 April 2019).  The Basic Workshop and the Easter Retreat can abe attended independently.

We will use astroshamanic tools for healing and soul retrieval aimed at acknowledging and restoring the full spectrum of our holistic nature, which we identify strategically in all its possible parts through the astroshamanic cosmology and Pahai Interdimensional.

Basic Workshop (14-15 April 2019)

This workshop is designed to promote a gentle intimacy with your senses as gateways into your inner world and multidimensional nature.. It is a basic introduction to Astroshamanic Soul Retrieval & Healing Touch and to the Pahai Interdimensional method. Through shamanic trance, energy work, soul retrieval and physical contact, we receive visions and insights, redeploying energy and passion in accordance with one’s life purpose and the web of life. The workshop is also a celebration of Palm Sunday and the start of the Holy Week.

The workshop starts at around 10:30 am on Saturday and ends at around
6 pm on Sunday. It is possible to arrive earlier or stay extra nights
and continue with the Holy Week Retreat. It is possible to arrive earlier.

Holy Week Retreat (16-19 April 2019)

During this five-day course participants will experience advanced applications of Astroshamanic Soul Retrieval and Healing Touch. Drawing from the holistic wisdom of astroshamanic practices, we will experience ways to realign with the sacredness of our nature, releasing wounds inherited by our ancestors and supporting the emergence of a planetary healing consciousness. We will learn various healing modalities in alignment with the astrological archetypes, developing trust both in giving and receiving. We will also experience the multidimensional features of relationships, employing techniques aimed at releasing grievances and intense feelings accumulated in our life, promoting forgiveness, transformation and unconditional love. The workshop is designed for people who intend to employ this work both for themselves and in their practice with others. The Basic Workshop is a prerequisite for attendance.

This workshop is also a first level basic certificate course in Astroshamanic Touch. The workshop ends at around 6 pm on 19 April and can be followed by the Easter Retreat (20-23 April 2019).

Easter Retreat (20-23 April 2019).

A special three-day retreat at the peak of the Holy Week and Easter,
with astroshamanic healing sessions, celebrations and ritual. Click here.

For booking and information please click here or write to info@astroshamanism.org

How to get to Il Casale:

By car: take A15 (Autostrada della Cisa) Parma/La Spezia, exit at
Pontremoli if you come from the North, or Aulla if from the South.
Continue to Villafranca in Lunigiana, then to Merizzo (5,20 km). Once in
Merizzo, use as reference the Church of the Archangel Michael. 50
metres after the church turn left at the little parking square then take
the only path to the left. After one km you will receive our parking.

By train: you can arrive to Villafranca/Bagnone railway station with the
line Milan-Livorno or La Spezia-Parma. Let us know your time of arrival
and we will pick you up.

By plane: the closest airport is Pisa’s Galileo Galilei. Also the airports of Florence and Genoa are close.

Blessed Way of Passion, Astroshamanic Touch, 2009

ASTROSHAMANIC TOUCH

It is an obvious fact that physical matter is transforming itself at all times although our ordinary mind tends to fix whichever it sees or perceives, fixing it with an associated idea regarding what it sees. As a result there is a clining to specific physical forms, there is a fixation which is not part of the natural process but is part of the cultural system or the disease system. Or there is a person that I love or hate and of course I tend to fix that person in a physical form so that I can identify that person for different reasons. Whether is an enemy or a lover I need to identify that person. But that person is not a physical person, it is a cultural idea, a mental or emotional idea that I define through the identification to a physical body.

As a result of the belief system that promotes this concept there is a tendency to disregard almost completely the ongoing process of transformation that happens at a physical level. The tendency is to see physical life as fixed and this highly jeopardizes our ability to perceive what is actually happening in the third dimensional reality. This ability is corrupted by our belief system that fixes physical reality. We may continue to see something although it is not there at all and at the same time as a result of promoting that belief system we will not be able to see things that will radically question the belief system itself. What happens in moments of extened perception in shamanic practice is that all these belief systems begin to collaps more or less radically and that is when we get to perceive another definition of the world, of forms and physical life and we begin to realise that the physical body is not the only reality.

ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF SEEING

There are many selves and there is a lot of void. Actually the body which is fully in the world is a very minimum center and all the rest is void. There are a lot of gaps and the void does not support the belief system based on fixation. And when I perceive the void I cover it with the pretend of fullness. I take the body, this little fullness, and allow it to cover all the void and that creates the form that we see with our eyes which is not the real form. Nevertheless it is the accepted and acknowledged form in this reality and unless I acknowledge this form I can not function in everyday reality. A child has the capacity to see things in a very different way from the way we perceive them without the strain to see things as other people see them. The problem is that human beings as they grow older – actually after five or four years of age – they loose any connection with the alternative way of seeing things and so in training children to see things in another way they believe that that is the only way.

Working with shamanism or any other kind of practice or even in situations where one spontaneaously connects with an alternative way of seeing a totally different reality emerges and this reality is not available in this third dimensional realm or in what we see with our eyes. There is no point in training our eyes. It is available in the realm of imagination. All of whatever we do not want to see here becomes available at an emotional, mental or imaginative level. A major arena for all these things to come up is during our dreams but also in many other moments in our waking life all of this alternative business comes up. It comes through emotions, feeling or thoughts which can not be translated into something physical and yet they are there. I can not see certain things because my eyes are conditioned by my belief system but I can feel them. Just like a blind man, he can not see but he can feel things around him. Likewise we also can not see certain things but we can feel them. The problem is that the things we see are acknowledged by this third-dimensional reality and there develops the very unfortunate misunderstanding of relating what I see with what I feel which is very limited. What I see is a very limited amount of realtiy and yet it is the only reality which I consider real. As a result ordinarily all that I feel or think has only this arena to find its bearing and it follows that many misunderstandings occur. For example if I am in a room and there is a friend of mine with me and I am very upset I will relate my being upset with this particular person or with the setting where I am. And when this occurs more then once I will take measures concerning that particular person or that particular place. And that is the merrigoround of human differences that simply derive from problems or issues that happen at another level and yet this reality is thought as the only reality.

CREATING LINKS

When doing shamanic work, the purpose is the other way around. I start from the ordinary reality, from the way I feel in this moment, the issues I have with myself, with people or places but then instead of operating on those places and people I look for the matrix of those places and people. I go into a multidimensional reality which covers more than I see and find the parallel setting of whatever is happening in the ordinary world of my experience. There I will be confronted with a different scenario perhabs and there I will get some information but this information is not intellectual. I may also get intellectual information but I need to be aware that my brain functions are very limited as part of the corruption that is engraved in my whole being. So it can happen that I do not understand what is going on but I can feel it and I can energetically connect with what is happening at another level of perception. So I may go into another supposed reality and do not understand anything about what is happening but I may get a feeling, an energy of what is there which than, connected with my ordinary world, will create a link, will support a healing process.

The aim is not that of understanding what is happening, that´s a secondary intent given the circumstances of shamanic work and understanding as I perceive it but is that of creating links with different realities. And this link will gradually allow an experiential understanding of what is going on. The first aim in any shamanic enterprise as I see it is that of creating bridges between seperated realities and the bridge itself will already create a healing. For healing in this case is related with the letting go of seperation. And as I connect 2 realities, between each other seperation is amended at that level and information begins to circulate. And although in my mind I may not understand or may create a provisional understanding of what is happening at an energetic level I feel better, something is changing simply because I am not in my little world which has a certain date of expiry and in which I need to survive and fight. I sense the presence of something more that connects with me and than as a result of that an understanding will also develop.

With Astroshamanic Touch we really work on the third dimensional realtiy, the physical body, we do not work with the multidimensional or the spritiual. The work is done on the body itself and yet the touch that is given to the body is a touch that links the body with a wider scenario and allows the body to become a device that is used for healing purposes. Instead of respresenting our limitations, blocks and our confinement, it becomes a socket through which I can plug into a multidimensional network and land. The importance of the touch in this sense is not very much what the touch does in terms of e.g. energy healing. It is simply the touch as a link with what you perceive. For during touching we are all journeying, we are all in a shamanic modality so in the moment when there is a touch that involves that, which involves a wider scenario the physical body is aligned with that and begins to respond to it and releases its confinement to our ordinary predicament and paradigms, to our ordinary perception.

SHAPE SHIFTING – a misunderstood term

Now something about the controversial term shape-shifting. The body is at all times shape-shifting but due to the fixation we still continue to regard it as our body as it was ten or five years ago or when we are born. But the body changes constantly, in every moment and radically every day.

In shape shifting what happens is that I enter into a very illegal area because it disregards totally private property. It is about recirculation through matter where I can move into other bodies, wear other bodies as if they were pieces of cloth, in which I am not confined into this body. It identifies a part of me which has full mobility and which can move whereever and penetrate whatever and become that for a certain amount of time. Some people can do this on a third-dimensional level but I would like to emphasis the multidimensional level. It works very powerfully even if you apparently continue to be in the same body. And yet even if you contine to be in the same body you can become an eagle or you can become a wolf or a hero or a godess and allow your body to vibrate with the quality of a different physical system. What you see is still your body but at another level of perception there is truly a physical change that affects also the whole funtioning of the physical body and everything that happens afterwards.

We need to be aware that the belief of many cultures still promotes shape shifting in this way and we do not need to look very far. Some cultures still have dances and practices in which somebody shape shifts into an animal or a god, in which they dance that. For example in many indigenous traditions there are priests or shamans or people that engage regularly in shape shifting into a totem spirit which may be for example the snake. So the whole tribe gathers during a special event and somebody with a mask or some implements that support shape shifting shapeshifts into a snake or a wolf. Of course everyone who is not initiated into what they are doing will realise that this is simply an acting scene where somebody is playing the wolf or the snake and yet for the people who are congruent with what is happening the person is really the snake or the wolf. It is not a symbolic representation of it, he is the wolf and not John or Bill. Then when the ceremony is over he will return to being Johan or Bill. In those moments, those people who connect with that particular kind of vision will see the wolf.

ACTING – SHAPE SHIFTING IN WESTERN CULTURE

And yet also in our mundane world disrespectfull of all this traditional cultures shape shifting constantly occures and it is one of the main sources of attention for western human beings: Actors, actors that play parts. There is a whole industry that evolves around that and there is a whole lot of attention given to them. We see ordinary people with an identity playing certains roles. And these roles may become even more important then their own identies especially when it is a famous actor or with a television series that lasts for many years. And those people become archetypes, become myths, become the wolf.

Shape shifting simply involves taking on another role and being totally coherent with that and of course while you are playing this role you are aware that you are still John or Mary for example but you are not saying that. It is like a famous actor who in the middle of a movie would stop and say “Ok, listen people, just for the sake of being honest I am really John Travolta”. That would be ridiculous. The actor is totally involved in the part and then after the show is over he will return to is own identy. On one plane I am still aware that I am me but yet totally in the part and I am the part.

SHAPE SHIFTING AND THE SACRED CIRCLE

In astroshamanism the way in which shape shifting can be done is by using the circle. We connect with a partner, absorb his vibrations and then go on a hunt in search for a medicine or a sacred tool for our partner which we will find in one of the twelve sectors of the sacred circle. And then we shape shift into the medicine, embody it and absorb the energy of the spritit force – the god or godess, the spirit animal. And then we give it to our partner via touching who will then integrate this energy according to his or her capacity. There is one advantage in doing astroshamanic touch in this way. Each person has the capacity to connect with energies on his own and yet there are certain energies which are more difficult given the circumstance of our physical body and history to connect with but somebody else can do it for you.

THE BACKGROUND OF ASTROSHAMANIC TOUCH

Now some things regarding the background of astroshamanic touch and how it was generated. It is a very acient tradition and this working with astroshamanic touch in the way I use it came from the realization that there are constant encounters that happen among people that are aimed at this, that are aimed at healing, at exchanging multidimensional energies and information. Most of human encounters especially those which are quite radical, which involve a lot of emotion and energy like encounters between partners, lovers, relatives or even enemies, whatever creates strong emotions, they are basically initiatory processes. But since the awareness of these rites of passage has been lost I would interpret what is happening according to my consensus understanding and give it a label. But definetely most of them are major healing events that all have to do with a larger configuration that involves ancestors and things that are happening much farther away then my little self.

What happens is that these people have exchanges which at times may involve using energy and emotions but yet the understanding of that exchange is missed. The result is that often a lot of healing takes place but then usually through a misunderstanding all this healing is taken back. I will give an example for this. On of the ways in which situations similar to astroshamanic touch with that energy happen for the majority of ordinary human beings is through sex. Through sexual activity people even if they do not ascribe to all this stuff they enter into quite an intense level of energy in which there is inevitably a multidimensional awareness. The awareness and the energy that happen during sexual activity is very different from the one that happens in everyday activity. There is much more there and also the desire and all the elements are quite strong and overwhelming in these moments because these are situations in which there is something happening at a multidimensional level and you may also notice the way in which we look at a person or a partner sexually is very different from the way in which we look at him in an ordinary way.

There is something more like a person who is totally insignificant from an ordinary perception sexually may transform himself comletely. So during sexul activity there is already a shape shifting in which I see the partner in a way which is not usually like him or her because it is a much more expanded level of awareness. And also when sex is related with opening the heart and love there is a major opening and healing situation in which a lot of things are happening in which the two people are able to absorb and exchange a lot but unfortunately due to the misunderstanding related to what is happening. And than what happens in this situation can also operate in the opposite way. Just imagine two people who are in a loving relationship, who love each other so beautifully and they have moments of divine extasy together and of course there is a lot of beautiful interaction and a lot of healing happening but then at a certain point in time there is a major misunderstanding between the two of them and they argue and they can not stand each other and they seperate in quite a hard way hating each other and having a lot of resentments. In that moment all the healing that occured is acutally felt in a totally different way and all this is seen as something very bad and not beautifull anymore simply because that person is now something bad to me or I believe he is. We are doing Astroshamainc Touch for ages but to create wounds and scars by misunderstandings. As a result all this major energy field is surrounded by a wound, by guilt and by grievances. What was given is taken back. Most of the healing work often involves healing those situations, healing the situation in which I opened up to someone and through that opening I actually received a medicine from Spirit but since I identify that medicine with that particular person the moment in which that person withdraws from me then I also loose connection with the Spirit and that is the bitter reality. Since I pay so much attention to the physical person who is carring that energy the moment in which the physical person is not available to me anymore I disengage from the Spirit as well. And bearing in mind that it is inevitable that we loose physical forms not necessarily through arguments, divorce or seperation but through death. Even people who love each other and stay together for fifty years, at a certain stage one of them will die and in the limited understanding it is also that the Spirit will die and I will loose the connection.

HEALING WOUNDS – AIMS OF ASTROSHAMANIC TOUCH

Astroshamanic touch comes from the awarness that there is something happening through human interaction of any kind. Above I refered to sex but that is just one example of many. The aim is that of seeing what is happening beyond that and acknowledging it and also creating situations in which the people involved both acknowledge that. It works in that way: I give this energy to another person in an unconditional way, I give it to him or her as a gift which is not connected to the way this person is going to related with me or what will happen in the future. When two or more people are able to do this that creates such a healing and that will reverse all the course of corruption that was created since elderly times.

Astroshamanic touch works from these premises of creating connections based on integrity when two people are aware that they are doing this as a practice of healing which does not have any implications regarding their physical identity and that what is given there is given unconditionally. It is not depending upon the way you treat me or what you will do in the future or what you did in the past. When people also start to behave in this way there can occur a lot of healing in the reationship. It is like the gateway into unconditional love but one has to be aware of the fact that the major source for grievances and pain is due to situations of major love that ended up the other way around. This is exactly what is going to be healed.

With Astroshamanic Touch I can also retrieve such situations and mend wounds or scars that I have in my energy system. And someone can also represent the previous partner and in this way represent the spirit energy related with him or her and amend and return it to the person involved.

WORKING WITH THE ESSENCE

The advantage of shape shifting in this case is the fact that anyone can represent whoever. So if for example a major scar in my life is related with a relative or a partner who has died and is not there anymore I am really hopeless. There is no way of reconciling things at a third-dimensional level. But at a multidimensional level I can work with the essence of the partner or person which is really the thing that matters and do whatever is needed for the physical body when it dies is just a bunch of worms and dust. This can also be done by another person that can represent that physically so that I have a physical person to deal with which makes things more understandable.

It can also be effective if I work only at an emotional or multidimensional level. We do not need a physical interaction to create healing. I can simply go into a journey or connect with the multidimensional part that represents that. But since bodies are available and we use them the option of having someone representing that can provide further support especially at a level that is physical, that is more understandable for the majority of people. It is important that there is a coherence and understanding about all that is happening.

Manifesting Honourable Intentions: Planetary Healing from Inside Out

Astroshamanic Introductory Workshops

Manifesting Honourable Intentions: Planetary Healing from Inside Out.

Cluny Hill College, Ball Room, 30 January 2005

The intent astroshamanically indicates the distilled expression of my purpose in life, or in a specific situation in space or time, as it is understandable within the separate reality of the ego. The definition of the intent creates a field of energy that allows me to take total responsibility and to attract the forces that are needed. The intent serves the purpose of creating a focus. What counts is the focus, rather than its characteristics. The intent can be long term and requiring ages to manifest, and it can also be short term, with the potential of finding manifestation in a few minutes. The Intent determines a focal point that allows me to concentrate all the available energy. An intention is honourable when it supports, and aligns with, a vaster reality. The assumption here is that my Intent does not exist except as a part of the whole. An intention is honourable when I take complete responsibility for it and also invite the participation of a wider configuration. Taking responsibility entails responding to and interacting with a vaster reality. When I do take responsibility I automatically sustain a global reality since such a reality is based upon being responsible. This means that from the shamanic perspective even if I make the conscious choice to be separate, with an Intent that seems to be just my own, having apparently nothing to do with global consciousness or altruistic aims, as long as I take responsibility for this attitude, I still align with the larger context.

The shamanic perspective implies the awareness that choice is possible at all times. Here it does not matter what I choose as long as I am aware that there is a choice. The multidimensional realm, just like our consensus reality, is based on transactions. Once all parties are aware of the implications of the contract and choose to comply with them the transactions is honoured. Problems arise when I am not aware of the aim and the conditions of the contract, that is when I do not know what I have asked for and what I have agreed to give in exchange. This causes confusion, misunderstanding and loss of credibility at a multidimensional level, which also reflects in the ordinary reality. This situation may also be acceptable, as long as I know what I am doing, that is when it is part of my choice. I can decide to have a contradictory or confused intent. It is my choice to have it and this is perfectly legitimate.

What is not acceptable in a global context is being unconscious about my choices. I am providing a very short introduction here about aids and obstacles in manifesting honourable intentions. A major obstacle in pursuing such intentions is the fact that the belief system that appears to dominate the consensus reality is based on contradictory and unconscious shifts between unity and separation. This belief system is also founded on avoiding responsibility and being a victim. This means that whenever I do take responsibility, on one hand I achieve clarity and honour as regards my intent, on the other I will clash with a belief system that denies the existence of such a responsibility. As a result the part of me that identifies with the consensus reality may suffer or disconnect with such a reality, bringing about a state of crisis at that level. In the process of clarifying my Intent I need to be aware of two parts operating in me. They both have intentions; yet one avoids responsibility, while the other takes it. These two parts interact constantly. The only way out is to find an agreement between them. This is the art of manifesting honourable intentions.

You can start exploring this right now.

Close our eyes. Connect with whatever in your life is meaningful and has provided joy, satisfaction, something that you really like and that satisfies you at a higher level. It can also be something that happened in the past. It can be an aspiration of the future or a current aspect of your life. It can be something abstract, an idea, a feeling. Take one minute to fully acknowledge it. As you keep your eyes closed, empower the imagination to create your intent at this level. Carry on for five minutes. Then I invite you to open your eyes and look around, noticing what happens as you extend your intent in the outer reality. Consciously create a bridge between your imagination and the outer reality. As you continue to indulge with the intent, consider how to apply it in your everyday reality. In this process you are not dealing with any limitation. The limits are simply defined by how far you can stretch your imagination. Whatever you can imagine is acceptable here. What I invite you to do is to see how this intent could express itself in your environment. I am referring to the physical place where you are right now, which can be your room or a place outside. Consider how you could express a short term manifestation of your intent in a few moments. It could be anything you decide to do for this purpose. It may be as simple as changing your postures, or taking a few deep breaths. Take your time to identify the appropriate course of action. First prepare yourself. Then, when you are ready, do what is necessary. What counts is that you do something tangible, whose manifestation is indisputably proved. Take two or three minutes to express yourself. When you have completed, fully acknowledge what you did. Also be aware of how you feel and whatever comes to your mind no matter what it is. Look around you as you continue to be aware. Then find a way to define with a few words something about your intent. These words need to be meaningful for you. Acknowledge them and get ready to move in the second stage. This is indeed the stage that allows you to honour your Intent. Here there is also the risk of discrediting it.

In the second stage you find yourself at a crossroad between two opposite belief systems. In the first stage both belief systems still coexist. Manifesting an intention is tolerable for both systems, in the ordinary reality as well as in the multi-dimensional realm. As long as what I intend to manifest is legal nobody in the ordinary reality will raise any objection. The fact of having an intention has nothing to do with the belief system that I refer to. I can have an intention based on the belief on separation. I can also have an intent founded on the belief on unity. In the second stage the coexistence of both belief systems is not possible anymore. This is the point where they take different roads, the crossing point.

The second stage is crucial for it represents the underlying mechanics of manifestation. A way of uncovering the elements of this mechanics is to notice whatever right in this moment is causing tension, fear, concern, grievance, and anything you do not like. There is a very close connection between your primary intent and the grievance. They are part of the same form. Whenever you activate the intent, also the disturbance is activated. This can be perceived as happening simultaneously. For example, just as I make the statement “I intend to express myself through art”, I hear “No, you cannot do it!” This simultaneous presence can also take some time to reach my awareness. Please take some time to consider what in your life represents the major source of trouble, what causes stress, fear, and even terror. Identify an issue that it keeps causing grievance no matter how you face it. Simply acknowledge what it is, without judging. Be aware of what it is. Close your eyes as you do this so that you can give space to your imagination. Open yourself to the area of grievance. Consider what keeps messing up your intent. You have this luminous Intent of yours, and there comes that specific issue which disrupt everything. Please take time to be aware of the underlying intent of the grievance. When does the grievance develop? What do you want before the disturbance develops? What are you looking for? Consider the space you are in before the grievance starts. What is your intent then? Acknowledge it no matter what it is. It does not matter what it is, since all you need to do here is to acknowledge it. Be aware of this Intent. Then, once you have acknowledged it fully, open your eyes and look around you. Allow what you have imagined to expand outward. Proceed as you did before. Shortly you are invited to express this secondary intent. Imagine what you could do, and when you are ready, do it! It can be anything, as long as it fully allows expression of your intent before grievances develop. Once you have acknowledged your secondary intent, find some words to define it as you did before. See how you feel about the words you employ.

An intention is honourable when it integrates the primary and the secondary intent. It is like the locomotive of a train and the carriage. They are both part of the same train, yet their perspective is different. They are running on the same track, yet they are two distinct parts of the train that could also be separated. I invite you now to integrate both your intents through a shamanic practice. This practice involves the connection with a part that clearly defines my adherence to the belief system of unity. I call this part the Spirit Guide, or Core Multidimensional Self. Upon connecting with the Spirit Guide I align myself with my core multidimensional identity. Here I need to be aware that there are two belief systems at work: separation and unity. According to the belief system based on separation I am alone and my results do not have any effect on others, just as their results do not have any effect on me. This leads to relate with others in terms of competition and comparison. She is intelligent and I am not. He has more than me. Here I need to get everything on my own, and what others get does not benefit me, on the contrary it deprives me of something for there is not enough for everybody. The belief on unity implies simply acknowledging what my role is in the global context. Here what others do has to do with the same reality I belong. There is no competition for we are all operating for the same global intent, and my only concern is to find out what my function is in this context. As I play my role, others will do the same, and we will all contribute to the same intent, receiving common benefits. There are two different belief systems. They exist simultaneously in this consensus reality. Yet, once I face the second stage, I need to make a choice. In the ordinary reality intents are acceptable as long as they do not threaten the consensus environment. There are certain intents which are highly promoted since they support the preservation of consensus reality. The characteristic of such intents is that they possess basic incongruities or routine crashes aimed at preventing the expansion into other dimensions. In the second stage I face these mishaps. What emerges in the second stage is an intent which may be incompatible with the ordinary reality or related belief system. As a result I may face major disturbances, coming to terms with my multi-dimensional role as opposed to the conditioned roles I have inherited from the conventional reality. The disturbance identifies an area where I am disturbed either because I am doing something that does not fit with my true role or because I am not total in something that corresponds to my role. Purposefully using a shamanic practice allows me to support the awareness of my multidimensional role. I can uncover this awareness through constantly clashing with the disturbance until I eventually learn its lesson, or by deliberately inviting such awareness in my life through a shamanic practice. In this practice you are invited to ask about your intent in this life as you perceive it. It is essential that you ask for this, since the higher multi-dimensional level of consciousness cannot intervene unless you make a direct invitation. What you need to identify here is a tangible expression of your intent and not an abstract idea. This is something that involves a specific activity or action: for example, dancing, singing, teaching, climbing, etc. It also needs to be something that you like and enjoy. As you connect with your intent there are various possibilities. If you resonate with the experience of the Spirit Guide, one option is to specifically ask for his/her/its support in clarifying your Intent. Here it is extremely important that you bear in mind that the Spirit Guides cannot do anything for you unless you explicitly and honestly invite to. This is because they belong to a multidimensional environment and they cannot interfere with the separate reality you have chosen to inhabit. They are honouring your power of choice even if you are perhaps not aware that you have made a choice, for in this case your lack awareness is also the result of a choice. It is like choosing to watch a television programme. As you watch a movie on channel one, there is also a programme on channel two and channel three. Yet, it is your choice to watch the movie on channel one, and channel two cannot interfere with your choice unless you deliberately decide to change channel. In case for some reasons you do not feel connected with the traditional idea of the Spirit Guide, you can align with a more tangible and experiential definition of the same concept. This involves connect with whatever in your life has proved to be good and of which you have had a pragmatic experience. It can be something happened in the past, which you feel positive about or a pleasant aspiration of your future. Inevitably this positive experience has to do with something you have experienced. Even if you do not seem to remember it as taking place in your past, and you see it rather as a desire for the future, the fact that you can envisage it proves that you have already had an experience. You cannot conceive what you have not had an experience about. As you focus on this intent, you are invited to be honest and consider only what is truly good for you no matter what others think of it or what the general ideas regarding good are.

After the practice, be aware of what you have received. If you are not totally convinced that you can manage to achieve that, simply pretend that you can. Be like an actor. Imagine a situation where you are acknowledged in the best role you play in the vast reality. You are playing your part and all are playing theirs. This fully supports both your higher and lower Intent. Stay in the belief system that you are part of a vaster reality. Later you will explore the opposite belief system. Now stay with unity.

This awareness implies that there is something that you need to do in order to comply with your function and play your part. At the same time there is also something that does not concern you, which you need to release for it is not your business. This involves doing something and abstaining from doing something else. For the moment only stay with your part. Shortly you are going to give a tangible expression regarding your role. After having worked shamanically, now you can ritually express what happened in your journey with your body. As you play your part, you trust that others are doing the same. You are going to perform something that expresses your role. Do it! Once you have concluded, sense a feeling of accomplishment and acknowledge your work. Acknowledging that you have played your part is essential. It requires trust for you may enter into the conflict between two belief systems. According to unity, I have done my part and I am not concerned whether others are playing theirs for I trust that this is the case. The fact that we are all united in unquestionable. According to the belief in separation I may doubt that others have played their part. I may also feel that what others do has nothing to do with me or be confused regarding what I have done. I invite us to become aware about what happens at this stage in your thoughts and emotions. Pay particular attention to whatever creates disturbance in relation to your Intent. Open up to something that you would do right now out of fear, doubt, mistrust. Be aware of what that could be. In the context of shamanic transactions the disturbance is very important. I invite to stay with it. Shortly you can express what it, but not in a human context, though in a ritual one. You release the disturbance in the multidimensional realm in a way that does not affect other human beings. For example, if I feel full of anger towards my colleagues, instead of screaming at them, I withdraw in my room and celebrate a ritual where, after having activated the sacred space and connected with my Intent, I express my anger. This can happen silently or through movement, dance and even screaming or beating a pillow. In this case I operate in a ritual context, offering the disturbance to Spirit. The difference here is that I arm working in another reality. This is the sacrifice. I give it away to Spirit not to human beings. Now I invite you to practice this type of release. Here you direct towards the centre and it does not affect others. Go totally in the expression of your energy and direct it towards the centre. Consider what you express from the perspective of a wider context. This is the most important part of the work. Remember that what you do is related to a collective process. This is your contribution to the collective. As I drum, continue your expression being aware that you are doing it for the benefit of the collective. I abstain from expressing it horizontally and direct it vertically to spirit. You are aware of the fact that you are doing it for the collective.

What we have done so far involves two different frequencies: one is the horizontal and refers to my acknowledged and visible role in the ordinary reality, what I share with other human beings, which involves being or doing something that everybody can see or will see. The other is associated with the vertical reality, which is not necessarily acknowledged. Here what I do does not relate with the human beings around me. My actions do not affect the human environment in a visible way. I could go mad and nobody would notice it. What I do is not the concern of human beings for it addresses another reality. There are two different levels of reality and in shamanic transactions I need to be aware of which is which. Confusing levels manifests undesired results.

In order not to affect other people when I am dealing with the vertical it is important that my external behaviour does not unveil what I am truly doing. For example, I could sit in the sanctuary in a silent meditation and inwardly express anger and fury. Nobody will notice it. On the contrary upon looking at me someone could even think: “how peaceful is he!” Another possibility is to express anger and fury informing the human environment that this has nothing to do with them or me. In this case I could invent a plausible reason, for example, I could say that I am an amateur actor and all this is part of a rehearsal for a dramatic theatre piece. If people resonate with the theme I could also explain the whole story about intent and release. Yet I suggest in the beginning not to involve other people, unless I practice in the context of an acknowledged public ritual. I need to make very clear that my expression is not aimed at other people. It is not meant in any case to draw attention. It needs to be clear that what I express does not have implications on others. If my expression seeps in the horizontal the vertical release will be affected. Release practices are part of human biological and multidimensional existence. We do them all the time, yet since there is not awareness of the multidimensional field or vertical, the release is limited to the horizontal level. The temptation to express the release horizontally is very strong for this is what is acknowledged as the consensus reality. If I am in a room with John and I feel very angry, it is easy to assume that my anger is related with him for he is the only person I see and he is also the only one that can acknowledge my anger. Therefore the temptation to express it with him is very strong. This needs to be avoided. I am in a condition to avoid it once I have realized that every time that I express my anger with John this does not work. I do not need to repress myself in the beginning. I simply learn by experience. Nobody can tell me what is good or bad to express horizontally. There are not universal rules here. I will learn it by experience for experience is the teacher. At times I may find someone or something on the horizontal level that operates as a channel for the vertical axis. In such cases releasing through that someone or something is ideal, for the subject involved will direct the energy vertically. In the horizontal level there are specific people, places, tools, plants, minerals and animals that play this function. They exist in this ordinary reality and can be perceived by human beings, yet they serve as gateways between dimensions. Yet, unless I bump into such gateways, if I release horizontally the release material will continue to circulate horizontally, and since at this level there is a circular motion it will eventually return to me. Generally, if I realize that every time that I release horizontally, this causes troubles in my life or in the environment, unless my conscious intent is to cause troubles, it is better to abstain from it.

There is also another powerful way of releasing. It has to do with sticking to my job. For example, if my role at level one is to work in the garden. The evidence that it is my role is given by the fact that whenever I work with plants horizontally I receive good feedbacks. When I do something which is not my role, again unless my role is that of creating troubles, there are troubles. This is the case when I notice that when I work in the garden the plants are well, I feel well and the people around me are well. One way of releasing here would be to express my anger when I work with plants yet in a way that is conveyed through the performance of my job and without causing damage to the plants and environment. I can direct the release in two ways: vertically to spirit and in this case the energy will be transformed multidimensionally. I can transform it myself by expressing my role, yet using the energy of release. This will allow me to contribute to the transformation process. If I am in a condition to transform the energy on my own I can express it horizontally in my interaction with people, otherwise I use a ritual vertical context where I can release it. There are many techniques for that. What counts here is to understand the difference between vertical and horizontal.

Q: there are obstacles in my life, how can I discriminate between obstacles that are lessons and others that show me that I do not have to do something?

Here is the difference an obstacle I need to go thru in order to master something or that means that I need to let go of something. This is indeed what causes troubles most of the time. Whenever there is a situation where I am stuck, I need to return to the first stage. When I encounter an obstacle, I can step back an connect with the Intent of the first stage for there is a relationship between the two and I need to find out the link. If there is an obstacle I need to return to the point where there is no obstacle, the area which is good, otherwise if I keep focusing on the obstacle it will become my Intent. There is an area that is a disaster. I need to find out where things work well and do my part of the work well. As I stay in the first I will uncover the link to the obstacle. If something continues to be an obstacle I need to devote more time to the area where there is no obstacle. In this way I will prepare myself to face what I really want that is beyond the obstacle. I lay aside the obstacle and focus on what I really want, moving away from the obstacle. In this way I may discover that to reach what I want there is another route that does not pass thru the obstacle. It si a very easy road and I did not know about it. Therefore I will reach what is beyond the obstacle without moving thur the obstacle and simply taking another route. This is the lesson to learn. An obstacle has to do with an idea of what I should be that is not what I am. I may have the idea that to be a true human being I have to do something. Every time that there is a general statement this may be a sign that I am dealing with the belief in separation, with something that I have been told. Here I face the fear of not complying with the collective, yet this is the separated collective. There are two collectives here and this causes confusion. One is based on separation and another on unity. This confuses for I may serve the well being of the collective, yet being motivated by fear and separation. As a result I will manifest separated intentions even if I work for the collective. Here I need to be honest and look at my life part from what I have been told. What works for me apart from what others say. It is my experience that gives me the evidence, laying outside the advertising and the books that tells me how things should be. My contribution could be something so unique that nobody has ever talked about it. I am the only one that can do that job. Often my talent is the one that I am least likely to accept just because it appears weird. The lesson is that I have to go to such a level of pain that to survive I am forced to go into what is truly mine.

Q. more about honouring the lower side.

In traditional societies, if they ever existed, any personal issue becomes a collective issue.

If I feel passion toward somebody who is married.Yet I cannot express it in order not to dishonour her and him, or I do it and this causes issues and breeches of agreements. Then the right course of action is to express it vertical. If I would live in a society were my issues is seen as collective, the collective will be involved in the vertical. This means that my release will be done with the support of the tribe. I would not deal with my personal stuff. I will simply be dealing with that of the whole tribe. I will not be isolated. On the contrary my release will be highly valued and will bring to the benefit of all. The couple can be together because I am at the level were I experience the frustration and they are not. It is acknowledging that one part of the body benefits due to the sacrifice of another, and as a result there is no resentment at all, for all acknowledge each other and see themselves as part of the same body. Another way here would be to arrange a ritual were horizontally the passion is expressed by the parties involved with the consent of all.

Another way is to have a low Intent being supported by the higher. The condition here is that I do not fix it on a specific thing or person. Whenever I support the realisation of a personal intent in a collective environment, it becomes also mine. If you want to build a house, and this is for you, I can support that Intent with honour and this means that when you have built the house, it is also a result of mine. This does not mean that I am supposed to offer money or manpower. The support here is very subtle, yet it is the only supports the truly counts at the level of honour. This implies not feeling any envy or competition for I accept to perceive that Intent as mine. The most important element here is to connect the personal with the collective. This is the first step, that precedes the connection with spirit. I fist need to realize that any personal activity is related with the collective. This implies not personalizing my desires and good things as well as the pain and misfortune. My light as well as the darkness is part of the collective. Once I learn to connect the personal with the collective, then I can connect with spirit in an authentic way. It is hard to connect with spirit if I step out of the collective and remain at the personal level. Spirit has to do with unity. If I am unable to sense physical, emotional and mental unity with the environment I cannot unite with spirit. I can only have some glimpses of spirit. I will reach the peak of personal awareness of spirit and the be abruptly confronted with what I have separated from in the collective. When this happens I may perceive it as a punishment. I may curse spirit or the collective, indeed cursing myself and keeping my separation alive.

The final practice involves receiving, which is the most difficult. Moving from the first to the second stage happens at all times, although I often go into the second unconsciously. What I may totally disregard is a third development where my intent may manifest in a way which is not part of my predictable development. Whenever I connect with spirit, like in the second stage when I release vertically, I create a contract. This implies a connection with a field of energy that is not part of my consensus reality. This means that the way I will receive does not respond to the dynamics of the consensus reality. Here I need to take some time for another dynamic to develop, which involves having trust and therefore honouring the dynamic itself, and not taking a course of action that denies the mechanic.

We go into the first and second stage again briefly. We just acknowledge what happened before and then open up to a third development. The third stage allows you to define your intent. It has the power of unifying the two polarities and integrating their intent. This will bring a new awareness of the intent. Go thru the two stages and then open to the third. Go into the first and consider what is good for you and what works well. Breathe and remember tat you are doing this as part of the whole, what you do has effects on the reality at large, you are playing your part in a larger context and contribute to it as others are doing the same and contribute to you as you do to them. Go into the second stage, meeting the area of tension that contains the energy confronting you with the power of choice, here you can decide where to direct the energy, vertically or horizontally. You can release vertically or transform horizontally. Complete the second and allow both parts to have full expressions and acknowledgment. Allow the awareness to move into your body and own it as you breathe in and out, Be aware of your power of choice. Gradually come to the full awareness of your body for you are invited to act. Find a partner.

Connect with a tangible result that you wish to manifest in life, something that anybody can recognize once it is accomplished, something that you are available to use for the benefit of all, a honourable intent, serving as well as others. Connect with your partner and silently express your intent.

Surrender the I. to the wholeness, proclaiming the entitlement of manifesting honourable I. Be available to welcome their manifestations both for you and your partner. Take a deep breath to signify your confirmation.

In the workshop on Manifesting Honourable Intentions what I have stressed is that there are two kinds of interactions: the horizontal and vertical. The release can be expressed horizontally if I know what my Intent and role is. If I express horizontally this has to happen according to the pattern of my expression. In this case I will do my job as I always do. At times, I may perceive myself as being very miserable and angry, therefore unable to do my job, whereas on the contrary I am in the best possible state to do my work and transform the energy.

Protected: FTA, Intent, 2007

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13 October

“Don’t just count your years, make your years count.”

Ernest James Myers, born at Keswick on 13 October 1844, poet, Classicist and author, Sun in Libra, Moon in Scorpio.

The Way of Shamanic Composting, 2005

The Way of Shamanic Composting

A Brief Introduction to the Scorpio Mysteries, with Franco Santoro

Sunday, 20 November 2005, from 2 to 5.30 pm

Cluny Hill College, Sycamore Room

This is a synopsis with excerpts from the first part of a talk given by Franco during the workshop The Way of Shamanic Composting, the third event of a series called A Brief Introduction to the Scorpio Mysteries held at Cluny Hill College, in the Sycamore Room on 20 November 2005.

“Let’s recapitulate what has happened in the past hours since last night, when the sunlight totally disappeared from sight. Let’s acknowledge out itinerary through the dark hours, whatever we did and wherever we went in our emotions and dreams…”

There were 8 participants at the beginning, then, after tuning in, a ninth participant arrived.

“This event is indeed about the transition between Sector 8 and Sector 9, Scorpio and Sagittarius, since it is taking place at the borderline between these two signs. This transition can be compared to the moment in which after a deep dark night I begin to spot on the horizon some timid glimpses of light. It is still dark, yet in this obscurity distant sparks herald a future development of light. It is like having spent long time in a tunnel and then beginning to perceive the emergence of a small dot of light, possibly indicating the exit from the tunnel. In the bardo state this is the time when I approach the end of the journey. It is a critical point for at that stage I will begin to shift from one reality to another. This is a process that happens with extreme regularity, like when we fall asleep and then wake up, or when we experience a deep crisis followed later by its resolution. The latter case is more congruent with this time of transition for, unlike dreams, it is held in the ordinary awareness. When I am moving into a time of deep crisis, happiness and the good things of life appear unreachable. All is dark, and there’s no way to get out of it. The same process also happens when I am in the light, with darkness then becoming something unconceivable. During the time of transition it is essential to keep the awareness of what is happening. In this way the passage into the other state is the result of the lessons I have learned in the previous, and not the consequence of my oblivion.

Sagittarius indicate the emergence of a hidden spark of light, which heralds the approaching of an inversion in the cycle. Dark is still dense. As a matter of fact, Sagittarius is the darkest time of the year, the climax of obscurity. Yet, since this implies a crescendo, much of the awareness is focused on the target that lies ahead, into the light. The lesson of Sagittarius is to preserve the arcane teachings of the darkness once the emergence into light has taken place.

When I lie in the underground chamber of obscurity, I gain a tremendous awareness. I am capable of selecting my priorities in life, since life might be rather short. In those moments I make promises. “If only I could live a little longer, then I would do this and this..” Yet, once I am granted that longer life, I risk to forget and I can again be taken over by unconsciousness. This awareness on a larger scale relate with the memories of what happened before we were born. It is rather difficult to retrieve such memories for they are alien to the consensus reality where I belong. Major clues about those memories are nevertheless present in moment of deep crisis and darkness I experience in my current life. The function of Sagittarius is to bring awareness in those areas. With Sagittarius there is a birth. The child, who was hidden in the womb, emerges and becomes visible. Sagittarius has to do with exposing the unseen and hidden. Hence, it is also related with defecation and all release functions. St. Augustine’s statement “We are born between feces and urine”, though offensive to ordinary romantic parenthood, can hardly be challenged.

During this workshop I will experientially illustrate the three stages of the Basic Ritual of the Sacred Cone, with particular emphasis to the second stage, or stage of release and composting. The process starts with a seed representing the intent of the farmer to grow a specific plant. The seed is much different from the final plant. Yet the farmer is confident for he knows that there is a connection.

The intent relates with whatever I wish. I work shamanically with the intent when I take full responsibility for it, which implies consciously starting a process. The farmer may fantasize about having apple trees in his orchard, yet his fantasies become an Intent once he takes the decision to manifest these trees by planting the apple seed. This is the first stage.

The second phase is fertilisation through a process called composting. This involves degrading organic substances through exposure to aerobic agents in order to provide fertilising energy for the plant. Traditional composting operations involve piling various layers of waste in a container, dampening them, allowing air to circulate between the layers and providing nitrogen in the form of manure to generate heat. This process accelerates decomposition and transforms this matter into a nutrient fertiliser called compost, which after about a lunar cycle is applied to plants.

Shamanic composting has a multi-dimensional perspective which includes the emotional, mental and spiritual realms. Here composting implies decomposing emotions and thoughts until they become a fertiliser for the Intent. Unlike the organic compost, which is visible and can be perceived by our physical senses, the emotional compost is mainly unseen. The farmer that intends to grow an apple tree will employ an apple seed. This seed is physical and visible, hence also the compost will be visible. If my intent is to express my artistic talent as an actor, this does not refer to a physical seed and also the compost will not be physical. However, just as I can feel my Intent of becoming an actor, I will also feel the compost. Here the second stage involves allowing all the feelings I experience to be directed towards the Intent. This means that no matter what I feel, I will continue to pursue my Intent of becoming an actor. For example, if as part of my Intent I have decided to attend theatre classes, I will do it, even if I feel depressed, angry, sad, tired or whatever. The third stage is about integration of the forces involved. My role is about contributing seed and compost, and allowing them to come together. The third stage is the result of the interaction between seed and compost.

Is it possible to work with more than one Intent?

You can work with as many as you want, as long as you are aware of them. An Intent that I invite to use in this context is one you have become aware in moment of crisis. When I experience moments of deep crisis, this is an indication that there is a strong Intent at work. Yet it may also be that I am so focused on the crisis that I miss this Intent. If this is the case the crisis will be rather painful for I will identify with the compost instead of using it. Nevertheless the compost will inevitably be directed towards my Intent. My personality or HAC identity may be totally out of touch with this Intent, yet through the crisis I may tap into it. Here we honour the Intent which emerges in moment of darkness, the one that faces the test of death. Often intents are the result of imitation or advertising, of what the HAC consider to be the intent. A deep crisis or composting time confronts me with my multi-dimensional Intent.

In the first stage you do not have a seed for it does not exist in HAC. The seed is available in another configuration, in your inner world, in another reality, in the realm of your imagination. This means that you are the one who has to manifest here in 3D. The first step of this process is focusing on the Intent and totally involving your senses. It entails allowing your physical body to have an experience of that Intent, simply using your imagination. The stage of Intent is also an investment in confidence and trust. The farmer trusts that from the seed a plant will develop. This trust is based on experience, for this transformation from the seed to a plant has happened many times, yet the first time the farmer plants a seed more trust is needed. At that stage, since he has never planted a seed he can only rely on what he has been taught by his teacher during the farmer training. Similarly the shaman will rely on a teacher, who here I call the Guide. This Guide can also be described as my future self, the one abiding in the future. If I look back at when I was 18, I acknowledge that I have realised many intents. What I have accomplished now is the result of the efforts I invested in the past. Hence, I look back in gratitude to my past self. At the same time, in this moment, there is a future self who is looking at me with gratitude regarding my current intents. This self has already realised what I aim at now.

The first stage then involves connecting with what I perceive as my Intent and also connecting with a force with a larger perspective that can bless and align my Intent. I will use a specific drumming rhythm aimed at supporting this process. In the end I will invite you to identify your Intent with a part of your body so that the seed can be grounded.

Is it possible to change the Intent?

Technically it is possible to change it up until I reach the moment of fertilisation at the end of the composting process. Hence the test regarding my Intent is during the composting process. If my intent is not genuine it will not survive the composting process. Thus, it is in the moment of decomposition that I can verify if my Intent is genuine. Here I use the classic quote of AFS Bogus: “only the Intent that in the face of death does not sneak away, is a veracious one”. On one side there is what I want according to my limited HAC perception, while on the other there is what I aim at in my soul’s journey. The two can at times be miles apart.

The process of shamanic composting implies embracing both the Intent and the Function, my limited HAC identity and the Guide. In this way I will draw the multi-dimensional aerobic agents. Also the connection with the Guide allows me to understand and accept the composting process. If I look back at my life I realise that certain past experiences, which appeared horrible and undesirable when they occurred, have been major gifts. Also certain aspects of my life, as it is now, would have appeared horrible to me many years ago. The intents I have now are quite different from those of the past. Connecting with the Guide creates a gap between layers and allow the aerobic agents to flow and, together with the emotional water, will generate decomposition.

The connection with the Guide allows me to preserve awareness in the composting process. This process can be so intense that I may lose sight of my original Intent. This does not necessarily mean that my intent is not genuine. It means that it has to be aligned with the Function, with the multi-dimensional. If it fails to do so, then shamanic composting will not succeed at least at a conscious level. When I move into shamanic composting I become the compost, or I can’t see much difference between the compost and me, as I can see it if I am a farmer. This implies that also my intents will be composted. Hence I will experience them as part of the waste material. This is the moment in which to connect with the Function…”

The above topic will be touched in these forthcoming workshops: Manifesting Honourable Intentions and Foundation Training in Astroshamanism Week Two (see calendar below).

.

Findhorn Foundation Training in Astroshamanism, 2004

FOUNDATION TRAINING IN ASTROSHAMANISM 2004

1. On Saturn

Findhorn, 28 February 2004

The function of Saturn is to create a container for the content to be available. Its function is to shield something that has value. Saturn provides a first element of identification that can allow further information to be drawn. I invite you to treasure whatever you are aware of right now and also what has happened during your journey. I invite you to identify it with clarity so that you can acknowledge it whenever you require it. This means that tomorrow you can refer to it again. A way of supporting your shamanic experience is that of indulging with whatever has been achieved, so that it can serve as a container. The container is necessary for containing the information. I have constant connections with the Guide and the multi-dimensional plane, The only problem is that I do not manage effectively to contain them. I do not have a good vessel. Water needs a vessel to be contained, and Saturn serves this purpose. It is like a bottle. Taken by itself, with nothing inside, it does not serve much, unless I decide to employ it as decoration. When I use the bottle to contain the water, what counts is the water inside. The bottle also counts, yet simply in order to contain the water.

What is experienced with Saturn serves the purpose of identifying a structure that allows precious information related to the Intent to be drawn. Saturn experiences are to be honoured and treasured as such, and also identified with clarity so that they can be used as a container once the content becomes available. A most important way of supporting astroshamanic work is that of acknowledging whatever is accomplished no matter how I perceive or judge it. In the first stages of the work I am not in a condition to judge anything. I am just preparing myself. I am not receiving the object of my search. I am simply getting the bags ready to contain it once I receive it. Here I need to be aware that the bags are bags, which means that my aim is to make sure that they are robust enough to contain the content. Yet if I get too involved with the bags, I will miss the content once it is available for collection. I have constant opportunities to grasp the content, which are regularly wastes due to my incapacity to provide a vessel.

3. On the Intent

Findhorn, 29 February 2004

When I decide to go on a spiritual or shamanic search or simply choose to attend this workshop, I do it because I have an Intent. I want to get or find something out of it. This something is inevitably related to the fact that I have already had an experience of that something, otherwise I would be unable to look for it. I can only look for something that I know. Even if I do not know what I am looking for, the fact that I am looking for it anyway implies that somewhere I have an understanding and experience of it. It is only a matter of retrieving that experience. The object of my search is not new at all, otherwise I would not be capable of even conceiving the idea of looking for it. Basically, what I am looking for is part of my experience and, although this statement could be controversial, it is something I am experiencing all the time, at least daily. The fact that I am not aware of it is simply because my attention is distracted. The object of my search escapes my awareness because the focus of my attention is elsewhere. This is important because when I become aware of it I then can relax. It is not that I have to make tremendous efforts to get I want. It is already here. I just need to become aware of it. It is not far away, it is right here in this moment. In this context what I can do as a good start is to acknowledge the moments in my life when I have had the experience of what I am looking for. If I do this I will realize that there are an infinity of such moments, even if perhaps in this moment I do not appear to experience them. One of the characteristics of the ordinary mind is that is focused on a very fragmented part of reality. All the rest is cut off and does no exist. Therefore if I find myself focused only on that fragmented part I exclude many other things. When I go on a shamanic journey what I express is my availability to open up to what is beyond the ordinary awareness. I am confronted with a great choice, which determines a major shift. Simply making this choice has major effects. Indeed, this is the greatest choice I can make. What follows after this choice? Keeping the integrity of the choice. I have made the choice of connecting with my Guide. Then, I simply need to keep the integrity of this choice. I do not need to choose all the time. I simply need to be aware that I have made that choice, and avoid forgetting about it. The fact of forgetting could happen due to my limited awareness. With such limited awareness I tend to forget not only events happened ages ago, but also facts occurred a few seconds ago. After having started a shamanic journey to connect with the Guide, I may forget that the purpose of the journey is indeed to connect with the Guide and I may get distracted by conflicting thoughts. The shamanic journey is based on the art of remembering. My Intent is to connect with the Guide. During the journey I need to be determined to implement my Intent. This means that whatever is going to follow after I have made the choice is in relation with that choice, no matter whether it seems to make sense or not. If I decide that what happens is not related with the Guide, once I have made the choice to meet that, I deny my statement of connecting with the Guide. I then open to another Intent, which is not the previous one. There are many ways to remember. Each one of us has to find the one which is the most effective. One way is to empower the breath to remind me about my choice. In this way, whenever I breathe, I am reminded about my Intent. This prevents me from having the fear of losing track of my Intent. If I decide that the breath communicates my Intent, I will respect the integrity of such a statement by continuing to stay with it. Humanly it is not possible to keep the awareness of the Intent for long time. The advantage of a shamanic journey is that it provides a structure set in time and space: for example a journey of 15 minutes. During that time I keep the focus of my Intent. Then, when I have concluded, I can release the focus and allow myself distractions. Yet in those 15 minutes whatever happens is related to my Intent and I give it total attention. Here the purpose is not that of interpreting. How can I interpret?! My ordinary mind does not have a clue about the meaning of the experience. All I can do is simply gather information. The purpose at the beginning is that of gathering the basic language, the code that the Guide employs to connect with me, the alphabet. Once I receive the first words it is already very powerful. When I was a child and I would look to the letters of the alphabet they were so exciting. I did not have a clue what they meant, yet simply by looking at them I could get a lot. The first time I managed to write a letter, which was letter a, this gave me a lot of power. For some days I only wrote an a. At the beginning I would write very awkward a, then I began to write them better. Before I managed to put a together with another letter it took a lot of time. When I created a connection between a and c, I discovered the secret of creating links. Up to that time all letters were separated, then came that moment when I began to unite couple of them. And then also three and four. Then I created the first complete word, like cane, which means dog. I realised that when I would put letters together their pronunciation would change. I would not spell c, a, n and e. I would put them altogether and have another pronunciation. Before receiving complex messages about the meaning of the universe, first I need to have the humility to get the alphabet and learn the words. Then I will be able to speak fluently. Yet, how can I know that I am tapping in the real language or alphabet. There are so many languages! It is a specific feeling that allows me to identify the right language. A state of well-being were all my fears as a human being crumble. It is an experience of unconditional peace and joy, a sense of great safety. It is a sense of great unconditional acceptance. It means that I do not have to do anything in order to deserve it, and that everything is a matter of choice. In the multidimensional realm there are many beings who are not necessarily loving unconditionally. It does not mean that they are bad. It is just that my perception is distorted and accommodated according to my limited frequency of adjustment. In the end all and everything is connected with unity, yet first I need to find a connection that offers this sense of unity in its best format. I need to find the easier way to unity. I need to find an area that is not too far from my ordinary perception. Once I have created a connection with this area of power then I can move on into other areas. I create a base close to my usual environment, a buffer zone between the ordinary and non ordinary reality. One of the characteristic of the guide is that it respects this reality, it takes it into account no matter how limited it is. This allows the ordinary identity to have trust towards the Guide and develop the relationship. The ordinary identity is based on the denial of the Guide. It takes time to heal this denial and the guide serves this purpose. There are many techniques to connect with the Guide. What we use now is a very widespread technique based on a structure. First I find a point of departure that exists in this reality. It is a way of acknowledging this reality. It is also a way of giving my identity an element of identification that is understandable. The point of departure in this technique exists in this reality: anything that exists in this planet and also a part of my body. This point is also the point of return once I have concluded the journey. It is a kind of guarantee so that the part of me who is afraid of being abandoned is relieved since I contemplate to return. This is also a promise, a strategy that allows the ordinary mind to support me. Then there is another element: the Intention. What is my Intention? It is essential that I know it for once I am in a journey something could happen and I may forget everything. I may encounter a thick layer of amnesia and forget all. I need to use something that allows me to remember. For example, the breath. The Intent here is to connect with the Guide, a part within me that provides support. Once I enter the point of departure I need to find a way to acknowledge my choice to connect with the Guide. The Guide can be approached thru a variety of languages. What counts is not whether that language is understandable for the Guide. It is rather if it is understandable for me. The Guide approaches me all the time, as it is a part of me. Yet, since the part I identify myself with tends not to acknowledge the Guide, I need to employ a language that make this acknowledgment clear. I need to do something that allows me to understand that I am inviting the Guide. The fact of calling the Guide does not have any effect on the Guide, for the Guide is there all the time. It does, however have a tremendous effect on my awareness since by calling the Guide I become aware of the Guide. This is like using a switch. If I switch on the light, the light goes on. I need only to perform a specific course of action in order to switch on the light. It is very simple and does not require much effort. Yet there is a major difference between switching on the light and not switching it on the light. The first action will manifest light, the second will not. A second element in the process is the availability to perceive the light once it has been switched on. This is essential for if, once I have turned on the light, I close my eyes then I will not be able to see the light. It means here that I need to be available to meet the Guide once I have called it. If I have not experienced light for long time, let us say ages, well it is very likely that my experience of light falls short. I will probably have an intellectual or imaginary understanding of light. Perhaps I may have read books about light or met people who have seen the light, without having had an experience of it myself. Also all these books and people may provide different descriptions of light, and may be there are some which are prevalent in my environment. Once I do approach the Guide I need to be aware that my intellectual understanding of the Guide may not necessarily coincide with the effective nature of the Guide. I need to be open to what happens without comparing with other definitions. As a result of opening I may need some time to find out what is really happening. The connection with the Guide is the confrontation with something very huge. Once I begin to be aware of the Guide I may be able only to notice a few details. I may notice a small detail which is very significant or another which is not. I need to get some time to elaborate the information. 15 minutes of journey allow a basic integration of various details. What is recommended in a journey is to employ a mixture of an active and passive attitude. The element o choice depends on the quality of my experience. For example, if I am using a passive attitude, like calling the Guide and opening to receive it, I may sense a warm feeling in my heart, a great sense of peace and joy, or also visualize the shape of the Guide. If this happens and it is good for me, then it is important to continue with this passive attitude. Yet if I am passive or receptive and nothing seems to happen. I get totally bored and I am not happy about it, then I can choose another option and become active, which means to do something. In that moment I can remind myself about the Intent, which is that of connecting with the Guide and all that it represents: power, love, joy, etc. This means that I am allowed to be creative and produce what I want to receive. My limited perception sees things as split. It is like I am not entitled to go for what I want unless I receive it spontaneously. If I am happy with this, it is certainly ok. Yet if I am not, I can change something. What counts is for me to get an experience, not the way I manage to have an experience. I am entitled to do whatever to get experiences. It does not matter how I get the experience. There is not ethic code here. If nothing happens in a journey and I do not perceive the Guide, neither do I have a feeling of unconditional love, I can pretend to connect with the Guide and experience what is missing. I can play it. I can invent everything. If, as a result of this, I manage to have an experience, then I have reached the goal. I can let go and be receptive. It is like rowing. There are moments in which all the movement depends on my rowing. In other moments the wind is in favour and I do not need to row. Here it does not matter the way I move, what counts is that I move. It can be spontaneous movement created by the wind or energy produced by human beings or an engine. It is all energy. What matters is to move. There is no private property here. If I invent something it is not important that it is me who is inventing it. Whether it is me or someone else who invent, it is still an invention and what counts is what I do with that invention. Therefore if the mind says: you are inventing everything. The only point here is whether what I am inventing is good for me or not. An important thing by the end of the journey is to find an element of identification of the Guide. Now there is an abuse regarding the understanding of the word vision. Shamanic visions do not necessarily refer to the organ of sight. I need to be attentive to the kind of perception that is stronger during a journey. If I acknowledge and accept what is stronger the work is easier. As a result of embracing the stronger aspect the weaker will later come into full awareness. It can be a physical experience. When this is the case it is more powerful for it gives a clear sign to the body that something is happening. The invitation is to involve the body as much as possible. If I keep my senses open what is more relevant will come to my attention. It can be the smell, the hearing, etc. I need to perceive what is stronger. The journey ends with a call back, which is a faster beating at the conclusion of the journey. When you hear the callback you need to complete the process and return to the starting point. The moment of completion is important for it allows you to identify what happened. You can find your own way to greet the Guide or honour the place you were in and then return to the point of departure. This is a way also of reviewing what has happened. If I return I will revisit what has happened from the start. This is a way of retrieving the experience. After the end of the journey it is essential to write down the experience. If I do not seem to remember anything or there is nothing I can put into words the invitation is to write or draw something anyway even if you do not know what it is. What counts here is simply transferring information from the shamanic world into this reality. When I write I translate shamanic information into another language. It is not possible to express it perfectly, yet the translation will provide a bridge between two realities. It is important to write down right after the journey until the experience is fresh. Also this allows the shamanic experience to be born and live in this reality. I invite you to be aware that this journey is not the ultimate journey.

Q: Is the Guide the same in every circumstance?

The Guide is an educational device. I use it in order to describe something that is far beyond its description. What is essential is to be aware of the feelings towards the Guide, rather than its form. There are many Guides and yet it is only one. In astroshamanism there is a strategic primary Guide and other Guides that serve different purposes. There are three Guides in the classical structure, one for each world, and 12 Guides, one for each Sector. The Guide I refer to is the one of the Middle world, which is the world closer to my ordinary identity. If you have already established a connection with the Guide and you are happy about it, go with it. At the same time I invite you not to be conditioned, especially if you not have been given indications about your guide first hand. If a channeler told you about your Guide and you get another Guide during a journey perhaps you can open to your own experience and see how you feel about it. At times the Guide may come to you in a different form. The form the Guide takes relate to my perception in a given moment. I may connect with an animal, a human form, etc. If I decide to be coherent only with one form, then it is my choice. It is always the test of love that determines the presence of the Guide. If something happens and I am not sure what it is, I have the right to ask. This also relates to applying both active and receptive attitudes. In my relationship with the multidimensional it is essential that I express myself. If I do not understand I need to do something otherwise my understanding will be taken for granted. I am entitled to use any means of communication in order to achieve the goal.

Q: How precise do you need to be in expressing your Intent?

The first stage is to express the Intent of connecting with the Guide, with all it represents. Once I acknowledge the Guide and develop trust, then I can be more specific in my questions. The purpose of the first journeys is to establish a contact with the Guide. If my questions prevail over the Intent of connecting with the Guide, I risk to connect with other energies which are not the Guide.

4: Q: Is the Guide a part of us or not?

From the shamanic perspective the Guide is a part of me for there is no separation. From the perspective of separation the Guide is different. The Guide can also be describe as my multi-dimensional self. The problem is that there are currently many traditions and they all refer to the Guide in different ways…. The Guide is a part of me of which I have lost memory. Paradoxically tt could also be a part of me who has forgotten about me. In this case I need to do something to draw its attention. It is important in shamanic work not to make assumptions for these will prevent me to accept my direct experience. May be I am not that miserable human being I feel to be. May be is the Guide who has forgotten about me, leaving me on a remote boulder in this infinite universe. Perhaps this is such a fragmented and remote reality that the Guide does not even know that it exists. I do not know how things are. What counts is that I do something. It is essential to be open to what comes to you even if for the ordinary mind does not make any sense. This does not mean that what I receive applies to everybody. It is simply the way I receive it.

6. If your whole shamanic journey appears as crap and yet you manage to have a connection with the Guide just for a few seconds, then you can acknowledge those seconds and expand them. It is like in a map of Europe: if the area that interests you is Findhorn, you can hardly see it on the map. Yet you may have a feeling of where it is and then expand it like in those current computer maps. I am not concerned with all the other towns and countries, I just focus on the Findhorn area, and as I expand it I realize that it is quite huge. I can expand it to such a level that I decide to come and live in Findhorn. It is like going into a library and looking for a book. One way is to read all the books of the library until I find the one I want. Another way is to look for the title of the book, perhaps by browsing the catalog in alphabetical order, and disregard all the other books. This is the power of discrimination. There are so many things in this world. And the other dimensions are just the same. There is a lot of advertising and events. I need to know what I want and get it.

7. The Basic Ritual: It has to do with going into the maximum possibility of shamanic movement which involve going through the three worlds. A characteristic of shamanism is the activity of mapping other dimensions. In the shamanic cosmology there are three worlds…… The Middle World contains many out of the ordinary elements which are not commonly acknowledged by our culture. It is the environment where I exist with my body, yet it is also an environment of which I am not fully aware. As a human being I only perceive a fragment of the Middle World. I only tend to relate only with a limited part of this world. Merely at a human level there are many individuals with whom I cannot communicate because their language is different from mine. Not to mention my communication with animals, plants and minerals. The dissociation here is such they I do not have any clue about what they truly are, to the extent that I deem that no communication is necessary with them. There are many types of plants, animals and minerals. I see them with my physical eyes and they exist in the ordinary reality, yet I tend to totally disregard them and not consider worth of communication, also because I do not really manage to communicate with them. Although I do not relate directly with many things I see, at least I can see them. If I am not interested about plant, and I enter into a room were there are two or three vases with plants, I may not even be aware that they are there. As I enter the room I will probably acknowledge the people who are there, by saying something, yet I will not extend this formal recognition to the plants. However is somebody points out the plant to me, I will be able to see it because the plant is something that is part of our human reality. There are also things in the room

Restoring the Fragmented Heart, 20-21 October 2018, Merizzo (Italy)

20-21 October 2018, Merizzo (Massa), Restoring the Fragmented Heart, with Franco Santoro

This is a unique workshop in which you will explore relationships from a spiritual, holistic and shamanic, as well as pragmatic perspective with the aim of healing connections with partners, relatives, friends and significant people in your life.

Relationships are gateways into other dimensions, whatever and whoever we have separated ourselves from. They can be very challenging at times, for they shed light upon all our denials and fears, forcing us to come to terms with who we truly are.

Through tracking and releasing blocks to our capacity to love and identifying the underlying issues that hamper relationships, we can promote healing, fulfilment and peace.

We will employ astrology as a map to identify and explore experientially the dynamics of our relationships. We will use astroshamanic tools for healing and soul retrieval aimed at acknowledging and restoring the full spectrum of our true holistic nature.

The workshop is designed for all types of relationships, encompassing couples in intimate or platonic connections, partnerships in work, service or spirituality and rapport with friends and relatives. Participants of all genders and sexual orientations are welcome.

The weekend workshops start at around 10:30 on Saturday and end on Sunday at around 6 pm. It is possible to arrive earlier.  It is possible to stay extra days.

 

How to get to Il Casale:

By car: take A15 (Autostrada della Cisa) Parma/La Spezia, exit at Pontremoli if you come from the North, or Aulla if from the South. Continue to Villafranca in Lunigiana, then to Merizzo (5,20 km). Once in Merizzo, use as reference the Church of the Archangel Michael. 50 metres after the church turn left at the little parking square then take the only path to the left. After one km you will receive our parking.

By train: you can arrive to Villafranca/Bagnone railway station with the line Milan-Livorno or La Spezia-Parma. Let us know your time of arrival and we will pick you up.

By plane: the closest airport is Pisa’s Galileo Galilei. Also the airports of Florence and Genoa are close.

Weird questions

When you physically meet someone, you meet him or her and he or she meets you. This appears evident. But are you really sure? Are you really sure you’re both meeting?


 


Is it only you who meets with the other or both? Do you really meet that person or is it someone who looks like him or her, who belongs to a parallel universe, who is a projection of a part of you, a spirit, a dream, a vision, or hallucination?


 


When you communicate with someone via instant messaging or social networks, you communicate with someone and they communicate with you. This is evident too. But are you really sure? Are you sure there is truly mutual communication, that the person in question is really that person or someone else, etc.?


 


When you think of someone, do you know if he or she is thinking of you?


 


When you dream of someone, do you know if he or she is dreaming of you?


 


These are just questions, with no answers.

All this so as not to take things for granted and also to introduce a quote by Jorge Luis Borges.




 


“Who is dreaming of whom?


I know I am dreaming of you


but I don’t know whether you are dreaming me. […]


But don’t you see that the important thing is to discover whether there is only one dreamer or two?”