S. Kelley Harrell's Blog: Intentional Insights - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism, page 54
June 7, 2017
What It Is Wednesday — Dauntlessly Dealt (genX) Reality
Should. (And if not, please contact me and let me know!)
Spoiler: There's a lot of ranting, ahead.
I've hesitated to write this blog for a couple of weeks, now, yet it keeps tapping me on the shoulder. The truth is, I never put a lot of stock in the generational definitions and demographics. I've tended to look at life's lot more in terms of geography, ethnicity, gender, economics, and education level. Until now. Until middle age.
I won't lie; the death of Chris Cornell is what sealed this introspection. For a long time I, like so many fell for the media portrayal of overdoses, suicides, and celebrity meltdowns, figuring they were isolated cases of individual mental illness, malaise, addiction. Then I started noticing that most of them were my age or younger.
It's not a coincidence.
I am GenX, the 13th generation since America gained its independence. I can't say that I never thought about it, because my thoughts have been dominated by generational shadow since sixth grade, when my school was on lockdown while a shooter was on campus, since I witnessed one friend's OD and another's account of parental sexual assault in ninth grade, since a classmate committed suicide in twelfth grade.
We weren't the first ones to experience these things, though we were the first collective generation to call them what they were out loud and ask for help with them. The thing is, nobody listened . Instead, we got a war on drugs, media content labels, "Just Say No," and "MADD."
The apathy generation, huh?
Yes, I was a latch-key kid.
This isn't all about drugs and mental illness, and their impact on GenX. It's about what we collectively had access to, compared to American generations before us, and what actual choices we had, therein. Which is to say that in my middle age, I see now, we had a lot of choices, in the bigger scheme. We just weren't allowed, systematically, to act on them, or were very demographically limited by which ones we could act on.
Baby Boomers were predated by the GIs, though raised by the Silentist, or Traditionalist, Generation. That's a relatively short sentence to pack in all the change that occurred in the United States, during those years. We went from being predominantly farmers and 'work til you die,' to WWII, refrigerators, and rock-and-roll. Nothing in that shift collectively addressed the toll it would take on all of us, on any level.
Such a short experiment this country is, with such short memory.
It had to land somewhere, so it landed on GenX, for starters. Like I said, we had choices. They were: 1) get a higher education on government loan for a job that would get us a salary to pay back the aforementioned loan over twenty years and supply little else in the way of earnings or mobility, 2) go into the military to get a "free" education, and 3) work in unskilled labor. Keep in mind the economy was in decent shape through most of our formative years, compared to how it is, now. The free higher education options former generations got could have still been available, though they weren't. Why? Because there was no profit in them for universities. The government and banks have earned a great deal off of our loans, though.
In that light, our futures were mortgaged much the way the housing market crashed 10 years ago--with intent to fail. They knew we couldn't pay it back. They knew there wouldn't be jobs commensurate to degree or tuition spent.
We have less systemic support than our parents.
We have less to show for our work than our parents did at our ages.
We are in worse health at our ages than our parents were, and in many cases, are now. We were GMOed without consent. We are hydrogenated, HFCSed, ADHDed, and are expected to live shorter life spans than our parents, with more chronic disease.
Some of us did better than our parents financially, yet when considering inflation and the fact that there's NOTHING at the end of this race, it's a loss, at minimum a wash. There's not going to be retirement, social security--none of that--assuming we even live that long. It's hard to plan a retirement when you're using everything to live on.
We've been at war since we graduated high school.
We're depressed out of our minds and are already crowding the healthcare system as much as Boomers, to show for it.
If we've learned nothing, know that depression looks a lot like apathy. Every day I read about how Millennials are disillusioned, and Boomers are bulging our governmental systems. GenX is the new Jan Brady, only mentioned when we make other generations uncomfortable, or remind them that we're here.
I say this all, because it weighs heavily on my thoughts, as I watch the current world stage. At this point, all Boomers have to do is all they ever had to do regarding the system: show up. It will be there. The Millennials are the entitled, 'handed everything' generation. GenX is the working stiff, keeping it all afloat.
Where, good, can it possibly go? Millennials are being left with even less to work with than we had, and who do you think is going to shoulder that gap? Boomers will be long gone. On the current trajectory, our kids are never leaving home; it's not even a feasible goal, anymore.
At the end of it all, what concerns me most is that none of this is about generationalism. Rather, it's that this culture screws its children and hangs them out to dry, then calls them ungrateful and refuses them their experience and elderhood.
Curiously, the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (formerly the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse), which spans 1978 to 2013, shows both Boomers and Millennials have a higher use of substances than GenX.
GenX, though, has the highest suicide rate of any tracked generational group, as of 2016. We are also the smallest of the 6 living generations in the United States.
I never understood why attending Woodstock indicated a generation had changed the world. I also never once got a trophy for participation, or gifts disguised as party favors at someone else's birthday party. And if you think those kinds of formative factors aren't significant in the way we think, behave, and vote in adulthood, wake up to how much we're not taking care of each other.
If You Want to Be Real on your blog, visit the inaugural page and follow the instructions there to share your reality with the world!
The post What It Is Wednesday — Dauntlessly Dealt (genX) Reality appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
June 3, 2017
Happy Birthday to The Weekly Rune!
Meaning in family.
Othala is the half-month stave through 14 June. Laguz is the intuitive stave, and Dagaz indicates Nature's message to us. Read right to left is Othala, Laguz, then Dagaz.
Today is The Weekly Rune's birthday! Five years ago, I began writing this series in Intentional Insights. I had no idea it would gain such a readership! Thanks so much for your comments of support over the years, and for your passion for the runes. Particularly, I'd like to think the patrons and matrons who have supported this series through Patreon for the last three years. Most of you have been with it since day one, and I'm so grateful for your fondness for this series, and for keeping the runes alive and relevant. I so enjoy writing The Weekly Rune, and I'm happy that it's equally well-received.
I usually only post a summary of runecast on the blog, while the full runecast is available in full and earlier, by subscription on Patreon. To celebrate its five years across the blogosphere, everyone can read this week's cast in full on this blog, and a day early! This full runecast provides more details on how the current runes impact human life force over the next week, and how to best manage the curves and twists therein. With a subscription, you also receive it on Sunday instead of Monday! You can subscribe to the full cast for as little as $1 a week, or if you want more engagement with me, such as regular Soul Readings and personal runecasts, you can choose one of the higher subscription levels.
The half-month rune is set by the runic calendar, and governs for a tad over two weeks. The intuitive stave (meaning, I draw it blind) indicates the life force most available to us, which brings the focus of the half-month rune into sharper focus for the present week. It suggests how we can handle these energies. The planetary stave (also a blind draw) indicates the state and needs of the planet.
As I noted last week, we've approached the spoke of the wheel (of the year) that diverges from the traditional Elder Futhark ordering. The commonly accepted order is Ingwaz -> Dagaz - > Othala. However, with the runic calendar, the order becomes Ingwaz -> Othala -> Dagaz. There are several good arguments in general, for re-ordering the Futhark. Specifically regarding the runic calendar that I follow, the determination to follow this widely accepted alt-order was based on ancient observations of solar cycles that posited Summer Solstice as the end and beginning of a "year."Othala continues the closing of the year, we have an opportunity to deal with one of its most challenging aspects: family. Of course Othala is about more than family; all things related are included. Traditionally accepted as meaning "inheritable property," it points to that which is handed down, metaphorically and literally. For many, it's a death harbinger, as it encourages us to have our affairs in order. For others, it urges us to clarify Útgarðr from Innangarðr, or what's wild and unknown from what's safe and established. And of course who knows that better than the Ancestors. They are the ones who established that safe boundary for our tribe, and are to whom we appeal regarding matters of boundaries and legacy.
However we take it, legacy is the emphasis. Now is the time that we reflect on what we're doing here, and the impact it's leaving. This reflection starts with healing the Ancestors, if this hasn't been done. It may be a fairly smooth process, or it may be more complicated to bring healing through the family lines--let's talk about it. Having done so, actively engage the Ancestors who show up. Confirm with them that we are showing up, and learn what reciprocity is necessary for the family's purpose to be carried out at this time. Has it changed? Does it matter? Get direction on how to walk in such a way that honors who came before, the ass-kicking work we're doing now, and what we leave for those who walk after us. It's a big order. It's supposed to be.
Keep in mind that Othala comes at this time to wrap up any remaining ties of the year. It occurs just before Summer Solstice, which is a holy day of swift initiation. Do the familial work to have the ancestral lines in as good of shape as possible, in preparation for Solstice.
Laguz encourages us to let it flow, in terms of coping with our last days with Othala, this year. Instincts are on. We're connected. We're open, allowing. Keep ears open and eyes peeled for any and all assistance. It's there, and for this time, we can trust it is what it says it is.
Luckily, Dagaz enters as Nature's voice to us, which I can't help but also see as a harbinger of what's to come in a week, when Dagaz becomes the half-month stave. Meaning "day," I think of it as the "Heart Accounting" foil to Jera's "Hearth Accounting." Dagaz challenges us to be clear in what brings meaning to our lives, specifically through the course of a day. If it does, do it more. If it doesn't, face the difficult choices around whether it's worth keeping. That's the short and skinny of it, and Nature is nothing if not economical. The memo in preparation for Summer Solstice is to cull what isn't needed, and learn to bolster what is.
Go strongly into this week. Clarify where family and ancestral lines are factors in the present, and where they should be. It's highly likely that Dagaz's "meaning" still points back to family, and that in doing so, we find resources we didn't know we had.
Thank you so much for being with me these five years of The Weekly Rune. Thank you for what you ring to the planet.
#beyourcommunity
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Learn more about the Reclaiming the Runes Intensive and preview course.
Originally published on Soul Intent Arts.
The post Happy Birthday to The Weekly Rune! appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
May 29, 2017
The Weekly Rune
Legacy, and faith in self.
Othala is the half-month stave through 14 June. Ansuz reversed is the intuitive stave, and Kenaz indicates Nature's message to us. Read right to left is Othala, Ansuz reversed, then Kenaz.
The half-month rune is set by the runic calendar, and governs for a tad over two weeks. The intuitive stave (meaning, I draw it blind) indicates the life force most available to us, which brings the focus of the half-month rune into sharper focus for the present week. It suggests how we can handle these energies. The planetary stave (also a blind draw) indicates the state and needs of the planet.
Below is a summary of The Weekly Rune. If you'd like to receive the full runecast, subscribe for as little as $1 a week. The full runecast provides more details on how the current runes impact human life force over the next week, and how to best manage the curves and twists therein. With a subscription, you also receive it on Sunday instead of Monday!
This week marks the spoke of the wheel (of the year) that diverges from the traditional Elder Futhark ordering. The commonly accepted order is Ingwaz -> Dagaz - > Othala. However, with the runic calendar, the order becomes Ingwaz -> Othala -> Dagaz. There are several good arguments in general, for re-ordering the Futhark. Specifically regarding the runic calendar that I follow, the determination to follow this widely accepted alt-order was based on ancient observations of solar cycles that posited Summer Solstice as the end and beginning of a "year." Again, arguments vary.Closing the initiation of Ingwaz went more quietly than it arrived. However, whatever needs were revealed during its progression, we know how to meet them now, or we feel confident in how we're going forward to learn.
Othala points to our clan awareness. It comes after the very arduous toil of discovering our separate connectivity to Source (the first aett), our ability to create ourselves as we truly want to be--warts and all (the second aett), and the realization that we are the only ones who can shape or defend the self we've created (the third aett). But why? Why have we done it all? Why put up with all the crap and challenge?
Well, at least in part, we do it because some spark within us compels us to do so for our own growth. Maybe more than that, though, we do it to create a legacy for those who come after us doing the same. Ideally, if not before the point of reaching Othala through the year, by the time we get there, we realize the value of our elders, our ancestors. These are the folks who went before us, and for better or worse, taught us how to be ourselves. In my shamanic work, I find the more we actively engage our ancestors and heal with and through our elders, the better we are at being ourselves. The better the guidance we leave for those who come after us.
In the context of the runic calendar, Othala is our last point to get it all on the plate, to see who we are, what we've done, where we're going, and what we've got to give in a very clear, honest sense. It's a checkpoint of knowing our role, purpose, if you will, and seeing where it fits into collective need. Ideally the Ingwaz initiation brought us to the point of clarifying and knowing our own needs better, so that we're adult enough to fill them and be of use to the tribe.
If it isn't clear where that overlap can happen, that's the focus of the next couple of weeks. Devote healing to the ancestors. After, those who remain as accessible allies, call on them. Call on the one that can specifically help with xyz need. Name it with specificity, ask for help, and open space for that ancestor to come in. Listen. Allow. Offer what's genuinely doable
Ansuz reversed implies we need to be really sure our truth matches what's coming out of our mouths. Upright, or brightstave, Ansuz is about speaking our truth. It points to that itty bitty split second in synaptic wiring that decides what we call something. If we consider this more deeply, it takes into consideration our conscious development from birth and everything that includes, which then arrives at how we shape our thoughts. Given that, it's not so itty bitty or split second.
Yet, it all happens that quickly. Arriving at the determination to call things what we do--to name them--often occurs so automatically that we don't even think about it. And that's the focus of Ansuz reversed. It's time to think about it. It's time to be mindful about that process and rewire any parts of it that aren't in support of how we think, what we say, or what we want out of life at this time. What we say matters, yet it's what we think before it comes out of our mouths that shapes what comes out of our mouths.
This week, slow down. Situate in that synaptic gap, and learn what's there. If it needs clearing out, go for it. If it needs educating, find the resources to do so. If getting deeply into mindspace feels elusive, find those resources, too. It can be done. Maybe not the fast-and-meditate-for-three-hours-a-day kind of mindfulness, though the minute here and there kind. It's all valid, as long as it brings the desired results.
Kenaz as the voice of Nature tells us to chase the spark on inspiration, this week. Imagine the darkest, blackest cave, and the only visible thing is a teensy flicker of light. In that kind of darkness, the smallest light sources dazzle. Such is the motivation driving sticktuitiveness, at this time. It will be a microthought glancing off the edge of periphery. It will be the thing that seems least feasible. It will be that which has been dismissed, prior.
It will be.
Kenaz is about having the faith to feed that flicker.
This week there's a great deal of emphasis on understanding our place in legacy as the (or a) point person who can heal self, heal the ancestral line, and carry that wisdom and skillset forward for those who follow. Often when we think of this level of work, we think it's for someone far wiser than ourselves to do on our behalf. That is precisely the teaching of the Ingwaz initiation: there is no one wiser than ourselves to do exactly this work. Maybe we need to learn skills in how to do it from someone else, though what to do is on us. We don't have to have every answer or how to address every detail. We are only required to have faith that with the intentional progression of this work, we will know.
It's not easy, but you're doing it. Thank you.
#beyourcommunity
Subscribe to the full runecast.
Learn more about the Reclaiming the Runes Intensive and preview course.
Originally published on Soul Intent Arts.
The post The Weekly Rune appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
May 22, 2017
The Weekly Rune
Full on to Plan B, with careful resource management.
Ingwaz is the half-month stave through 29 May. Tiwaz reversed is the intuitive stave, and Fehu reversed indicates Nature's message to us. Read right to left is Ingwaz, Tiwaz reversed, then Fehu reversed.
The half-month rune is set by the runic calendar, and governs for a tad over two weeks. The intuitive stave (meaning, I draw it blind) indicates the life force most available to us, which brings the focus of the half-month rune into sharper focus for the present week. It suggests how we can handle these energies. The planetary stave (also a blind draw) indicates the state and needs of the planet.
Below is a summary of The Weekly Rune. If you'd like to receive the full runecast, subscribe for as little as $1 a week. The full runecast provides more details on how the current runes impact human life force over the next week, and how to best manage the curves and twists therein. With a subscription, you also receive it on Sunday instead of Monday!
Full-on into closing the initiation of Ingwaz, yes? Indeed, last week shed light on any unfinished business in the realm of life dynamics that don't support newly birthed consciousness. In other words, all the hard work done through the Tiwaz trials at the close of winter are requiring that new, refined needs be met. This demand likely means that current life dynamics must change, and that's pretty uncomfortable.Tiwaz reversed gives interesting commentary on this closure. Traditionally, it hints that we're holding back some component of seeing things how they really are, letting go, and going with the new flow. Ditch Plan A. It will not work. Plan B will work. Tiwaz reversed is the flashing light that indicates we have clearance to move forward in the new way. Take time this week to heal anything remaining from the upheaval of the last quarter. My recent post, Triggers in the Shamanic Narrative, may help with that. Beyond that healing, explore what skills are needed to stay grounded in meeting new needs, and align self with the resources to gain them.
Of course, Fehu reversed isn't going to make that easy. Upright, it means the resources we need are available to us. Reversed, it doesn't necessarily mean they're not available. Rather, it can mean they are, though we're not recognizing them or making the best use of them that we could.
This week there are legitimately challenging hindrances to our closure, though they are very much under our control. Instead of thinking it's all in the head or a state that will eventually pass, bore into the core of the hold up, and bless it. Give it the best possible support. Thank it for its teachings, and then raise it to the wind.
As ever, thank you for being you. Thank you for what you bring to the planet. We need exactly that, and no less.
#beyourcommunity
Subscribe to the full runecast.
Learn more about the Reclaiming the Runes Intensive and preview course.
Originally published on Soul Intent Arts.
The post The Weekly Rune appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
May 18, 2017
Life Betwixt – Triggers in the Shamanic Narrative
Yes, I did blog about the shamanic narrative of Tigger's bounce before. This topic is a bit different from that one =)
To that end, I wasn't sure if this post was more of a Life Betwixt flavor, or What It Is Wednesday. Really, it's kind of both: What It Is Betwixt?
Last week in What It Is Wednesday I talked about teasing out divinity in the middle of a shit storm, which led me to mention the word "trigger." Recall my baptism by fire in the Internetz world came in the form of co-leading a national non-profit for adult survivors of childhood sexual assault, called The Saferoom Project. That was almost 20 years ago. While I'm not involved with the group anymore, I learned lifelong lessons there that have deeply informed my soul work.
What's a Trigger?
In the survivor community, triggers are events that occur as a response to distress in the present that generate a dissociative regression back to a similar originating trauma from the past. Triggers may come in the form of an event, an interpersonal dynamic, an illness, a word, or the repetition of a traumatic event. They are a component of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and are very important to recognize as such, as part of healing trauma. When we know our triggers, we can seek ways to manage, if not overcome them.
In the shamanic narrative--which is to say, the healing story--anytime we're talking about PTSD, we're talking about soul loss. As the soul is made up of infinite and evolving aspects that come and go, this travel is one way our consciousness expands. It's a way that we heal, learn, grow, and engage with All Things. When soul parts leave as the result of trauma, a dynamic is set up in which the soul part can't or won't return to the earthly consciousness. When this distancing occurs, vital aspects of the earthly consciousness become compromised--skills, memories, beliefs, wellness--and stay that way until soul retrieval occurs.
Sussing out triggers is part of the mindfulness work that comes with soul retrieval. Indeed, merely returning the soul part(s) is vital to healing. However, soul retrieval doesn't necessarily relieve emotional, physical, or psychological symptoms. These require awareness of what triggers unpleasant states and skills for how to cope with, if not change them.
Likewise, merely returning a soul part doesn't guarantee it will stay. Doing the messy work of mindfulness and life assessment along with soul retrieval, though, does.
How Shamans Work with Triggers
There are many ways to work with triggers, and all of them have in common connecting with the originating feelings and giving them release. Some folks take a very aggressive stance with that, though I've never found it necessary (or helpful).
As an empath, I connect with aspects of self and body very easily, and I easily access my imagination. As an animist and shaman, I recognize that triggers are their own life force, and that I can communicate with them. For me, that process is something along the following: When triggered, a sort of portal opens, which connects me directly with the first time I felt those feelings. This expanse of space allows me to understand some original nature of the feeling, while still remaining connected to how the feeling manifests in the current trigger/event. I can stand in the connection between them and bring in my skills as a shaman to work with the entire expanse at once.With that first acquaintance healing must begin. Emphasizing only the present disturbance serves merely to patch over the current feelings, leaving the originating feelings to still be dealt with the next time the trigger happens. Whereas, addressing the source feeling gives the opportunity to release the trigger, for good. Along this progression is the approach to working with triggers that I describe, below.
Employing wellbeing skills in the time of crisis is a practice in mindfulness of the most challenging variety. In the middle of the flood isn't the time to begin building a boat. For this reason, learn supportive mindfulness skills when life is calm. Practice them with every day challenges, so that when the big ones come, the skills are reflexes. Not sure what mindfulness skills effectively address triggers? Let's talk.
The Setup
What I suggest below for working with triggers in a shamanic way is what works for me. Ultimately, we must all do what works for each of us. Consider this discussion a model from which to base an approach that will work for you. The key components of that approach are identifying the trigger, feeling it all the way back to its first manifestation, giving it expression in the present, and through doing so alleviating it.
The first step is remembering to use crisis skills. It sounds silly to suggest that we remember to use what we know. However, the force of dissociation is arresting. Its ability to regress us to an emotional state less capable than our present one leaves us stunned, and we forget what we know. When we remember that we have other, more mature options to respond, we can act on them. Thus, part of developing a mindful approach to dealing with triggers is setting the intention to remember our options.
Isolate the feeling, or feelings. Feelings may not come with a name or context. In fact, when dealing with repressed feelings, they often don't have a clear-cut context, and they don't have to. Feeling them is enough. As uncomfortable as they may be to feel, within lies release.
Come into as clear an understanding of the feeling as possible. If possible, note a sense of age that it was felt, atmosphere, any memories or relationships connected to it. Whether those details present, sit with the feeling. Give it the space to be, now.
Next, feel the feeling(s) fully, with the intention of feeling them all the way back to their source. If holding that intention leads deeper into the body, a specific system or organ, a memory, an event, an inexplicable time or place, go there. Let the feeling guide to point of origin.Greet whatever's there as if it's a four-year-old child. Because most of the time, it is, or is at least at the developmental level of a young child. One reason feelings become stuck is because trauma happens before we've developmentally learned the skills to cope with it. In some cases, it happens even before we've learned to speak or walk. For those pre-verbal places, those feelings won't be expressed until something in the present reminds us that they're there.
For traumas that happened recently and are within our conscious memory, it's still appropriate to let them be and express themselves as the raw and regressed states that they are. Again, this may convey very child-like, in guttural sounds, curious gestures, or through needs like sitting in complete darkness, feeling safe wrapped up in a blanket. Allow the creature comforts that cause no harm.
Animistically speaking, just drop the intellectualism and let imagination go with it. Let the body be in control. Step out of the way of how the feeling and body need to express themselves.
Tell the source feeling what most soothes. Ultimately, we all want to be heard, and that's often enough to release stuck feelings. It may take more than one sitting of letting feelings express themselves, though allowing them to do so as they need is key. What's important is allowing expression until the sting minimizes. This indicator more than any other says the work is being done.
Also helpful is providing comfort. The sorts of things I say to my feelings are, "I'm here for you. I couldn't be here for you the first time. I couldn't give you what you wanted, and neither could the other people in my life. I can, now." "You're safe with me." "You're not alone." "I'm older now, I have the skills to help you." "You can tell me what's going on. I will listen."
Breathing It Through
As this interplay of awareness evolves, bring the breath into the steps above. Inhale more deeply than the normal breath, allowing the belly and ribs to fully fill (front and back), all the while focusing intention on the feeling's source. For a suspended second, hold self in that original space, then forcefully exhale the breath away, sweeping the feeling along with it. Intention and awareness make the connection between the past and the present possible. The breath is the connection.
Breathe thoroughly, keeping awareness on the originating feeling, sensing its connection to the present trigger, as many times as it takes to feel release, however slight. Repeating this intentional breathing process brings the focus more to the present, with the awareness that the past feelings have dissipated. When the pull of those feelings is lessened or released, empowerment to deal with dynamics in the present can be realized. Being present won't make everything perfect or suddenly all better, though it will give a sense of greater control over the self in coping with the present.
Walking the Walk
I learned a long time ago I can't cry and focus healing breath at the same time. This doesn't mean there isn't a place for tears. Crying has its own beneficial qualities, though not when they are instead of employing skills that can more deeply address distress. There is a point along the path of dealing with triggers that it's appropriate to ask self if remaining focused on emotional processing is movement. The times that it isn't, the times that it stands in the way of being present to a new way of being, come back to intentional breathwork. This kind of breath clears all in its path. In this way, the breath embodies the feeling, past and present. It brings it from amorphous, liminal space and into the body, readily felt and actualized. Exhaling it out with intention allows it to be carried from the cells, psyche, and soul.
It may take time. It may take repeated sessions of sitting with feelings that seem to dissipate then rear again. This back and forth pattern isn't failure or an indication that healing isn't working. Such is the paintball-splatter path of grief. It has no specific direction, navigation, or frequency. Just be available when triggers arise, to let the feelings release.
Even when there's no obvious trigger in a present trauma, make a point to feel back through to the first time the feeling manifest, and begin the healing there.
Honestly, when I phrase the intention that way, I always find a time that I had those feelings before and they went unaddressed. There hasn't been an instance that I was distressed in the present that, upon inspection, I didn't find a previous experience of that terror. While not a trigger, reaching back to those first feelings to be certain they are given a voice instills that new triggers aren't created.
This approach to coping with what life brings is a vital part of the role of shaman. Accepting this role doesn't mean that life stops dealing hard blows. It doesn't mean life won't be stressful, even traumatic. It doesn't make one immune to the impact of life. Rather, it serves as a call to use all the skills available to stay as well as possible, despite the impact of life. It gives a focal point for the suffering.
Remember that feelings are alive, embodied timeless beings. We can engage them to relieve them. When we trace their source to our present triggers, we gain the opportunity to heal the past and develop better skills for managing trauma in the present.
As always, everything you do to show up better in your own life leave us all better, period.
#beyourcommunity
Thank you.
The post Life Betwixt – Triggers in the Shamanic Narrative appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
May 15, 2017
The Weekly Rune
Taking our time.
Ingwaz is the half-month stave through 14 May. Perthro is the intuitive stave, and Isa indicates Nature's message to us. Read right to left is Ingwaz, Perthro, then Isa.
The half-month rune is set by the runic calendar, and governs for a tad over two weeks. The intuitive stave (meaning, I draw it blind) indicates the life force most available to us, which brings the focus of the half-month rune into sharper focus for the present week. It suggests how we can handle these energies. The planetary stave (also a blind draw) indicates the state and needs of the planet.
Below is a summary of The Weekly Rune. If you'd like to receive the full runecast, subscribe for as little as $1 a week. The full runecast provides more details on how the current runes impact human life force over the next week, and how to best manage the curves and twists therein. With a subscription, you also receive it on Sunday instead of Monday!
This is another long one for those of you receiving the full runecast. The Initiation of Ingwaz completes over the next two weeks, and there's a lot to take from its teaching.Over the last couple of weeks, Laguz set a pace of radical change, which saw us thoroughly through the Taurus New Moon and the Scorpio Full Moon. This intensity was amplified in the back-to-back repetition of Sowilo and reversed progression of Uruz to Fehu, in this timeframe.
For the record, now's the time for me to reinforce there are no good runes or bad runes. Runesters often cringe when certain runes come up in a cast, and sigh relief when others present. The runecasts of the last two weeks were all favorable, supportive allies showing progressive motion. Cool beans, yes? Show of hands for those knocked on their asses during those casts? Note to runeikins: it's not about the individual staves. Rather, it's the story they tell together, based on the intention of the cast and their assigned positions (for the purpose of The Weekly Rune). That story's relevance and focus is softened or intensified by the interaction of the staves. Some people are afraid of the runes because of their bluntness. Others sink into favorable/unfavorable polarities. The last two weeks' casts are proof that neither of those approaches cuts to the quick of what is available to us through the story of the runes.
That said, this week things slow. Ingwaz, meaning "people of Ing," represents a completed initiation. Who we are is best glimpsed right now. Anything not feeling quite on, get a plan laid out for how to wholly, compassionately re-rail, and make it happen. Adore every bit of what's revealed--even the difficult, challenging bits--because we worked our asses off to get here. There's no big ritualistic finish, no searing brand to stamp the job complete. It's complete, for now. Let it be. Hold it and self delicately, and tell it every wonderful thing adored about it--directly in the mirror. Allow this moment, because the progression continues onto another initiation, shortly. Now is the time to bring closure to this one. Take the time to close it.
Perthro as the way to best manage the half-month stave is wide open. It offers no specific direction, no hint of outcome, only that there will be both, and that what emphasis we can have over them, we should. Ultimately Perthro is about having feelings around what we want, what we perceive we don't have. Those feelings are actionable, as is/was the sacred seed thoughtform. There's no guarantee of where it will go, though by holding some sustained intention through those feelings, we've made our best effort. Focus those feelings. Make a plan. Sing to it daily, then set it aside and go on with life. Build into that song the freedom for the plan to shape itself, with personal intention at its heart. Such is the careful way we shape wyrd, riding the fine balance between control and chaos: I am. I want. I allow the want to be filled.
How fitting that Isa is Nature's message to us. It reminds us of the sacred seed that is always becoming in all things, that this gory, glorious process is playing out over and over in everything around us all the time.
Slow down, and let us remember that fact. Nothing can be rushed or forced, right now.
Let us have compassion for us all.
As ever, thank you for being you. Thank you for what you bring to the planet. We need exactly that, and no less.
#beyourcommunity
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Originally published on Soul Intent Arts.
The post The Weekly Rune appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
May 10, 2017
What It Is Wednesday — Dauntlessly Dealt (divinity) Reality
I haven't written on this hop in ages, and I hesitated to, today. I'd already sent out my newsletter this morning and I didn't want you to hate me. Also, I've not written for Wednesdays because life's just been too damned real to write about it. You know what they say--time and perspective, neither comes quickly.
The last two days have been a weird study of my life, seeing it as largely characterized by times of healing or creating. I never realized that duality before.
I can honestly say that I have never been elated to heal anything. Relieved, confident, humbled, though not once ever happy or joyful to undertake that rot. Maybe some people are; not me.
I'm talking about healing the deep down, ugly, fearful, primal, pre-verbal personal truths that set in before we were aware that we're aware. The stuff of our childhood nightmares and shapes unconsciously our adult everything--that.
Truly, gods help us all.
For those of you who may not know, I had out-patient surgery last week, which in and of itself, went well. Complications after have been anything but. My personal hell isn't an understatement.
I am doing okay with the triggers, though only because I'm at another survival point of, "What choice do I have?" If I do anything other than realize those far-reaching truths of my childhood, when all of my physical issues began, I am not surviving.
Seriously--fuck thriving. I don't even know what that is, right now.
Plus, my kids are watching. I've always said I want to be real with them, so that they understand how to cope when life knocks them over. I've explained what's happening on a level they can manage, and they're still catastrophising. I know they see what's beyond their level, no matter what comes out of my mouth.
All I can do is let the dregs howl when they need to, which is exactly what they do. They have no words. They are a deeply embedded child me who comes in moans and fits of tears, and I just let them. I breathe them completely through, from the second they started in my child brain, to the pain that slices through my adult body. I tell them I'm here, that they will be okay, and all we have to do is now. I can't comprehend what's ahead, because if I do I will be consumed with worry of momentum lost on writing projects, practice-building, being present for my family. Shit, you should see my house.
I can't comprehend the vulnerability of One More Thing that requires me to viscerally respond. I can handle a crisis. I can handle two crises, maybe even three. What's going on right now is a shit storm of monumental proportions. I'd love to lighten that load, but certainly no more right now, please.
That's the gold that shed the light on the epochs of my life.
I always thought the things I had to heal lay in opposition to what I really wanted to be creating. I believed this: healing, or creating. I anguished over all the things I could have been doing if I wasn't busy mining the shit of my soul. And as NAC (New Age Correct) as it is to say, "Our healing is our creation," and, "We are our life's work," fuck that. There really was a whole other life out there happening, and I so very often wasn't part of it. I was inside, breathing, howling, and checking for more.
Then there were the zeniths, in which some sync of trajectories found me free. The quietest, yet most vibrant times of my life were when I was creating something--a poem, a painting, a book, a relationship, a class. In those times I wasn't within. I wasn't without either, cos that's way too far outside the lines for me. But I was straddling a gorgeous balance of beholding where I'd been, where I was, and all the things that had to have gone right to get me there--even if I couldn't vividly see them. While I wasn't feeling the backlogue of what remained to be healed, I was always aware it was there. Creativity was its distraction, my guilty pleasure in eloquent words, scenes, parables.
Those, I was elated to undertake, and I begged for them to take me. Not once in my life have I ever had writer's block, or whatever it is that artists get when they can't make things do. If anything, I have more going on in my head than I can ever commit to creation. The only interference has been what needs healing.
It was always one or the other--healing or creating. Some guru on an image quote taught that closing the gap was a goal. It can't all be work any more than it can all be play, but process, initiation, realizing one from the other without choosing. That, I get. There's context.
Right now all I've got for furthering that narrative is feral accounts in the rough, the play-by-play of life in animistic trenches. Sometimes it's poetic, it's always healing--this I do find in the moment. I'm still not happy about it.
I accept, now, that I won't arrive at some neat sequitur. Neither state will go away, nor will they fully merge. And one likely wouldn't progress without the other.
The pattern is.
Coded into all of Nature is timing.
I cannot say with any sincerity that I will ever like any of it, or that I'll even try to. I just know that fighting it or my own process creates more conflict.
That, and may we all find our way, uniquely, authentically, and with as much awareness of our own fucking divinity as possible.
If You Want to Be Real on your blog, visit the inaugural page --http://www.soulintentarts.com/what-it-is-wednesday/ and follow the instructions there to share your reality with the world! Read other blogs in the carnival, below:
The post What It Is Wednesday — Dauntlessly Dealt (divinity) Reality appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
May 8, 2017
The Weekly Rune – Laguz
Hitting pay dirt, the sacred way.
Laguz is the half-month stave through 14 May. Sowilo (Sowilu) is the intuitive stave, and Fehu indicates Nature's message to us. Read right to left is Laguz, Sowilo, then Fehu.
The half-month rune is set by the runic calendar, and governs for a tad over two weeks. The intuitive stave (meaning, I draw it blind) indicates the life force most available to us, which brings the focus of the half-month rune into sharper focus for the present week. It suggests how we can handle these energies. The planetary stave (also a blind draw) indicates the state and needs of the planet.
Below is a summary of The Weekly Rune. If you'd like to receive the full runecast, subscribe for as little as $5 a month. The full runecast provides more details on how the current runes impact human life force over the next week, and how to best manage the curves and twists therein. With a subscription, you also receive it on Sunday instead of Monday!
Tuck in, as for those of you receiving the full runecast, this one's pretty detailed. There's a lot happening in the repetition in the casts between last week and this week.Last week Laguz set us up for a dramatic change, pretty much right as it hit the ground running. Perhaps the timing of the Taurus New Moon and Beltane/Walpurgisnacht set us up for speed quickening. It's tricky to know the nature of water, which is never more evident than with Laguz. In general, it portends a time when flow is going well, we're in sync with the elements around us, they support us, and we're moving along with whatever the current plan is.
The nuance of this stave is that no aspect of it can be controlled. Water is as water does, and at best, we're along for the ride. Fighting it can prove at least futile, and at most fatal. Completely surrendering to it can be the same. Where is the medium with flow?
Again in the position of telling us how we can best make use of Laguz, Sowilo demands that we remember our own divinity. With this repetition, it is not asking politely. In order to really go with the flow and be an active participant in manifesting our wyrd, we must manage the ego trappings that keep us from realizing our power. It is utterly possible to stand in our personal truth, live it every day, and still be a humble, grounded, compassionate being. It's not just possible--it's our job.
The part of Sowilo that brings humility is its function of paying it forward. By seeing the divine that shines from behind the sun into life, in ourselves, we can embody it such that we shine on others.
We need you. Be you now.
As if that repetition wasn't interesting enough, the message from Nature comes this week from Fehu. For savvy runesters, we know that Fehu precedes Uruz in the traditional ordering of the Elder Futhark. Where Uruz is that formula of embodiment to create, Fehu in this cast is the wealth it takes to do so from a well place.
Meaning "wealth," we often attribute it to meaning "money." Yes, it does; however, more than mere money, it means the presence of what we need to create and sustain the energy exchange that keeps us alive, metaphorically and literally.
Regarding the casts of the last two weeks, the order is relevant. Arriving at Fehu as Nature's memo after the frenzied delivery of Uruz, we are heavily encouraged to create ourselves, and find faith that it will meet us. We don't get to choose how (or do we?), though we do get to choose the faith and satisfaction that comes with just doing so. In fact, that's exactly what we're guaranteed.
Nature doesn't hold back its true self, ever. No component of it is insecure, indecisive, complacent.
It's time for us to find and be the part of ourselves that isn't, either.
I'll say it until I drop--thank you for being you. Thank you for what you bring to the planet. We need exactly that, and no less.
#beyourcommunity
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Originally published on Soul Intent Arts.
The post The Weekly Rune – Laguz appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
May 1, 2017
The Weekly Rune
A supported groove goes a long way.
Laguz is the half-month stave through 14 May. Sowilo (Sowilu) is the intuitive stave, and Uruz indicates Nature's message to us. Read right to left is Laguz, Sowilo, then Uruz.
The half-month rune is set by the runic calendar, and governs for a tad over two weeks. The intuitive stave (meaning, I draw it blind) indicates the life force most available to us, which brings the focus of the half-month rune into sharper focus for the present week. It suggests how we can handle these energies. The planetary stave (also a blind draw) indicates the state and needs of the planet.
Below is a summary of The Weekly Rune. If you'd like to receive the full runecast, subscribe for as little as $5 a month. The full runecast provides more details on how the current runes impact human life force over the next week, and how to best manage the curves and twists therein. With a subscription, you also receive it on Sunday instead of Monday!
The drama of Tiwaz through February has settled quite a lot. Having come through the soothing of Berkana, the deep introspection of Ehwaz, and the social tune up of Mannaz, we're finally in a place to make use of elemental support brought by Laguz.Where Mannaz had us test drive our newly found awareness by at least lightly introducing it to the world, Laguz brings us some native support to stay with it.
Keep in mind that 5 May marks the true crossquarter known by various names. It's most popularly celebrated on 1 May, as May Day. Regardless of which day it's honored, the half-month is the same. For specific runes for the date and time, you can receive the 2017 Beltane Runecast by supporting The Weekly Rune through Patreon.
Drink. Take what's offered now as help from the Multiverse--or however it presents itself. There's, of course, no time or room to slack off. It's not an opportunity to slow down or take a break. We can, though, take advantage of this growing season to help us sustain and further our work.
Sowilo underscores that great gift with a healthy dose of remembering our own divinity. Accept this elemental support from Laguz, and use it as a time to boost self back up. The last months have been rough, and they have demanded that we show up, throughout. And the thing is--we have. It's a true testament to staying true to our core, facing the shadows around it, and staying the course through it all, still.
This week Nature underscores that personal boost with Uruz. Often associated with Audhumla, the sacred cow who manifest herself, then subsequently licked Ymir from the ice blocks of the void, it's that very initiative we can claim. Nature is tenacious, and we are, as well. We are built to survive, and we're driven to thrive.
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Originally published on Soul Intent Arts.
The post The Weekly Rune appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
April 24, 2017
The Weekly Rune
New life force, old shadows (again), and fortitude.
Mannaz is the half-month stave through 29 April. Thurisaz reversed is the intuitive stave, and Algiz indicates Nature's message to us. Read right to left is Mannaz, Thurisaz reversed, then Algiz.
The half-month rune is set by the runic calendar, and governs for a tad over two weeks. The intuitive stave (meaning, I draw it blind) indicates the life force most available to us, which brings the focus of the half-month rune into sharper focus for the present week. It suggests how we can handle these energies. The planetary stave (also a blind draw) indicates the state and needs of the planet.
Below is a summary of The Weekly Rune. If you'd like to receive the full runecast, subscribe for as little as $5 a month. The full runecast provides more details on how the current runes impact human life force over the next week, and how to best manage the curves and twists therein. With a subscription, you also receive it on Sunday instead of Monday!
Over the last week, Mannaz has in some way brought (or forced) us into some challenging need of people. Most often this stave introduces us to some social group or interaction that we wouldn't normally place ourselves in. It may be that events force our hands to step out into new territory, or that we realize of our own volition the need for new insight and support in a life area.
That said, Thurisaz reversed presenting twice in a row indicates challenge in dealing with Mannaz. Whatever the distress, it's coming from within, and it's old. Now's the time to cull present needs from old wounds. Clarify exactly what's priority--honoring new wisdom, or feeding old fears. Where disparity falls between those, bring in the healing that's needed, so that the focus can be solely on the present.
Algiz as the planet's memo to us indicates that the support is inherently there for us to do the healing asked of us, this week. A stave of caution, it reminds us that boundaries are everything, and this week is a good time to examine them. Are old ones still needed? Maybe new ones should be in place? We are creatures of familiarity, and Algiz is the shrine of that safety. Fortitude is its hallmark. It presents when we need to situate more deeply into our home space, bio region, and Nature Spirits, therein.
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Originally published on Soul Intent Arts.
The post The Weekly Rune appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism.
Intentional Insights - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism
Since 2004, Soul Intent Arts' shamanism blog Intentional Insights features The Weekly Rune, the Life Betwixt series, essays on life as a modern shaman and animist.
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