An Initiatory Experience
An initiation marks a distinct time of "before" and "after". The kind of experience that, at its extreme, will feel like a complete life over-haul, almost like we have been reborn or achieved a new level of depth/height in awareness. Everything is somehow different or has shifted in a fundamental or cellular way.

Often it is a rite of passage, deep ceremony, intense personal medicine work, vision quest, or healing event that creates a significant shift in the way we relate to and experience the world. It steps us into a new phase of life or welcomes us into a community previously unavailable to us. It applies also to unplanned events like serious illness, accident, or tragedy, as well as natural life stages such as birth, puberty, menarche, labour/birth/parenthood, coupling/uncoupling, menopause, eldership,  and death.

As I have learned it, there are 3 distinct phases to an Initiation.
Severance. Threshold. Integration.
Others may have different names or words to describe them, but the essence seems consistent in my experiences and observances so far.

Severance
The preparation phase. This is the lead up to the experience, and is when the healing work actualy begins. Sometimes as early as the moment when we commit to the opportunity. We go through a phase, consciously or not, of acts of letting go of our life as we know it, saying Goodbye to all that is familiar, releasing our grip on the anchors that make us feel stable - patterns, beliefs, relationships, perceived goals and desires, daily constructs, ways of relating, ways of being, ways of thinking - and cutting all ties to the way things are.

If you recognize you are in the Severance stage, you can support and deepen this process by:

• Bringing awareness to the phase you are experiencing
• Observance. Take notice of what theme is present. What situations might be at hand that bring you to this crux time? Are there synchronicities that you are noticing?
• Mindfully acknowledging the last time you touch something before you head off. That when you see it again, you will have a new perspective and be fundamentally changed from holding the medicine and wisdom of your experience. The same for when you see someone for the last time before you go. Part with them in a meaningful way. You are releasing all that "has been" to make way for the more harmonious.

Threshold
This is where we cross over from the "before" to the "after". It is the Experience that changes us or the culmination of experiences that leads us to a pivotal threshold or doorway to step through. It may be marked by ceremony, ritual, vision quest, dark night(s) of the soul, a period of deep healing, or it may not even be fully recognized while in the thick of it - particularly when without the witnessing of community or when the experience(s) are viewed as trauma without resulting gifts.

When in this stage, you might support and deepen the experience by:

• Bringing awareness to the medicinal purpose of what you are experiencing. This is the dissolved, mush state of the not-yet-butterfly caterpillar in the cocoon phase.
• Being gentle with yourself
• Allowing the experience of ALL the feelings, sensations, thoughts, and flashes of intuition and vision. All the emotional highs and lows. All the physical discomforts and tangible revelling. Treating it all with the same level of honour and holding them lightly to more easily pass through and transform.
• Be wary of distraction. If at home this might look like Netflix binging, busy work, social media, imbibing in alcohol or unhealthy use of plant medicines, or otherwise keeping your awareness away from the raw and present. If away in ceremony, it might look like excessive note taking, or hours spent journaling. Perhaps checking the clock, talking to other participants, deflection with humour (not to be confused with healthy levity),  fidgeting or movement without purpose
• If fasting or a dieta is not part of your Threshold, eating foods that feel "clean" in your body and drinking plenty of water or herbal teas
• Draw on your personal spiritual practice. Seek council with elders and spirit guides alike. Rely on tools that are tried and true for you

Integration
Often considered the hardest part, and sadly too often overlooked - integration occurs when we are able to Return to our usual life and keep the gifts we have acquired intact. We are challenged with bringing our internal shifts outward to affect change in our day-to-day living and resist falling back into old ways of thinking, reacting, and being. Many times this transition isn't easy, might be messy, and perhaps feels a bit chaotic as things shake up in order to fall into more harmonious places. Touching in with any community, elders, or teachers that held us through the Threshold phase can be a wellspring of anchoring resources.
​
When in this stage, you might support and deepen the experience by:

• Making hard choices and having tough conversations. The theme or situations identified during the Severance phase is a clue here, notice if things intensify into intolerable levels and create the urge or push to make significant changes. You don't have to rush or force this one. If it happens, it will organically and deep down you will know what the answer is even if your mind wants to argue or complicate it.
• Keep reflecting back to the insights and medicines retrieved during the Threshold. Trust the work has already been underway and you are halfway there, or almost done.

A few years ago I wrote some practical, hands-on, tips and suggestions for integrating the medicines from the Threshold, and bringing all of the unseen, personal, inner work Out into our mundane living experience. If you would like more on the Integration phase, find yourself post-ceremony or have recently undergone a personal healing session, please read "Integration ~ the often overlooked time after soul-work".
If you would like personal and direct support as you move through any of these stages, you are welcome to send me an email at info@3foldbalance.com or book a consultation.

7 Steps to building a Community Altar practice:

1.) Consider where your Altar will be and the length of time it will remain active. Helpful questions might be; Will your Altar be indoors or outside? Are you ready for a permanent feature in your home or will it be created only for a short gathering? An Altar is created with careful energetic intention on a designated surface - so choose a location that is easy to access and encouraging for you to tend to. Perhaps more than one person will actively tend to the Altar on behalf of the community - you get to cultivate this practice to suit your needs as well as those seeking to be included!
2.) Ponder the essential quality the Altar will be designed to represent and radiate. One might choose to support people’s hearts, invoke the sense of being held in the hands of divinity, promote their safety, clear ancestral wounds, encourage physical health, or tend to a need the community that you identify and relate to from  your lived experience. 
3.) Every item that makes up the Altar will be carefully selected and geared to contribute to the chosen energy and purpose. Consider them as energetic or spiritual ‘power houses’ such as specific crystals, images of deities or photos of deceased relatives, stones from significant and relevant places, plant medicines or dried herbs, all of which carry or support the chosen intention. An Altar brings together the individual energies of the objects with your aim to create a unified energy source that “works for you” once set.
4.) Decide how you will represent people who want to be included. You might light a candle on their behalf and speak their name for long distance support or if they will be physically present you might ask them to bring a stone, photo, or personal item that resonates with their personal energy.
5.) When you have spent some time becoming familiar with the energy of the Altar, are clear on its intention and comfortable with tending to it; extend the invitation to your community to be included. One might offer to individuals already asking for support, post a general invitation on social media, or verbally encourage participants at a gathering you are offering.
6.) Be sure to hold the work your Altar is doing with utmost respect. Do not allow others to put random objects on it, keep it clean and organized, spend time in quiet reverence there, and perhaps move things around or change up the items to keep the energy fresh. You might sing devotional songs, make offerings, or speak invocations and prayers while tending.
7.) It is important to remember that as a working energy source, there are also times of rest needed. We can provide this rest by periodically laying a cloth over it and by dismantling it when no longer active. Blessing and cleansing the items with sacred smoke is also something to be mindful to do when the energy begins to feel “stale”. If out-of-doors in a public area, be sure to thank and close the Altar by removing personal items after each time of tending.

Tips to remember:

• Do what works for you. This practice is an act of service yet it is vital to not let it draw too much energy from you and become a burden. Make this as easy and enjoyable as you can.
• When I include community members, I envision them in their highest healed state full of vibrancy and joy. We want to invoke wellness and not focus on any ailments or troubles they may have shared with you.
• Be certain to only include people you have direct expressed permission to include. Generally parents of small children can speak for on their behalf as kids tend to ask their parents for help in any matter, however, we must be diligent to not assume for others. If someone is nominating a sick friend, or loved one going through a challenge - be sure they have specifically asked and received direct consent. It is unethical to infringe on another’s free will, even when we think we are helping. We cannot assume a best course of action.
• Draw on your interests or ways of working that you are excited about bringing into your practice. Crystals, herbs, plants, bones, images, stones, can all be brought into your Altar creation. Use your intuition, or tune in to the energies when choosing items. This is an aspect to cultivate and explore!
• If you have children with you, don’t be shy to include them. My children automatically know when candles are lit on the Altar set to the Divine Mother, that there are people asking for support. Sometimes they ask to light their own candles or whisper words of encouragement for those represented.
• Remember you need not go out and buy anything fancy. A simple cloth on a shelf with a few items that you already have or find in nature is all it takes.

An example of a simple yet powerful Altar as an inspiration for your own might be to dedicate to the Fairies, and include a central rose quartz sphere representing your love for them. Perhaps with a few “fairy quartz” points radiating outward and interlaced with small images of Fairies that are particularly attractive to you. You might decide to work with this creative energy space by reciting a daily invocation stating your desire to connect with the Fae on a deeper level. Visitors to your home who would like the same could be welcome to leave shiny coins or chocolate as gifts.

Another example is an altar for our Grandmothers created on a piece of lace at a Samhain gathering. Adorning with an inherited favourite tea cup, some black and white photos, and a broach your Great Great Grandmother wore establishes the connection to matriarchal lines and brings in their energy. If the intention is to heal a history of abuse for our Ancestors, including crystals that transmute dense energy, repair heartache, and impart strength safely surrounding the Grandmothers creates a powerful healing purpose. Guests could then bring their own photos, heirlooms, and written prayers for healing their lineages.

You might be surprised how many people ask to be included and share with you a real, felt sense of being supported. The simple act of someone caring is a profound sentiment let alone the supportive medicines included with, and invoked by, your Altar practice. Its free, takes little time, creates a strong feeling of community, and isn’t impeded by distance. I invite you to begin and have fun!

If you would like more in-depth wisdom to explore about Altars & Shrines, the differences between the two, their purpose, nuances, and best practices, it is a topic we cover during the first month of the year-long Shamanic Living Immersion program.
​Registration opens each June and we begin each October.
Do you have Altars ALL over the house? Here is something to consider that is often overlooked.

This video is a beautiful example of how the medicine gifts we bring to our Healers, Teachers, Facilitators, and Practitioners supports their work continuing for the community.
The dollars we pay is the energy exchange to keep them and their families alive, housed, recognizing their years of training, skills, and continued education, while compensating for their time - much of which is unseen by their clients, students, or members.
Medicine gifts, such as the sacred Peruvian tobacco used in this clearing, may be the only way to ensure certain ceremony or healing work is done. In many lineages, the facilitator is never to purchase such medicines, it must be grown, harvested, or gifted. Such gifts also honours their lineage, their teachers - both spirit and human, and the medicine ways themselves.
Without this gift of tobacco, this particular clearing and the ceremony to the Airts (directions) before it would not have occurred. It is a blessing to the community to receive such, and a sweetness to me to be entrusted and supported in this work. Many of the flowers I use in my offerings, and the herbs used for our smoke cleansing ceremonies have also been gifted during gatherings or even sent in the mail! <3
Don't think this way is only for the spiritual helpers in your community, gift your chiropractors, doctors, massage therapists, professors, mechanics, even your baristas! What would support them in supporting others? What would honour their time and skill?

Many have been called to support and respond to the wildfires in BC these past weeks. We have options open to us ranging from donating money to feet-on-the-ground, hands-on help. There are also many of us who have been working with prayers, healing work, and energetic support. Here I share a guided healing response that all of us can experience and contribute with. This technique is mindful of free will, respects the natural elements, keeps our "ego" in check and makes a measurable difference. You can bring his way of working into your day-to-day living, respond to other events, and include it in your practice, daily commute, or community offerings easily and powerfully. Bless!

I felt it as a student, I see it with colleagues, and I hold it as a teacher - there is a new aspect to the modern teacher/student dynamic that was unheard of in times of yesteryear.
The traditional way of a medicine person, shaman, bean feasa, etc etc was to study with one teacher for a number of years, become an apprentice, endure their and Spirit's sometimes harsh teachings, wait your turn, and integrate the medicines learned over time. Always showing utmost respect, learning as ready to, and mastering one's craft after much diligence.
Today those who seek to dive deeper into their spiritual practice have wave upon wave of seductive workshops, a plethora of fantastic books, online focus groups and videos abound. We live in an excellent time of sharing and availability. It's accessible. Great event coordination can happen. One can pick and choose who we like best, and who to give our precious time to. If we don't like what we hear, well, there is a book at the local occult shop we might like better.

The trouble is this, this sense of urgency. With so much in our western modern world being instant gratification and with great selection, we can easily lose respect for a Teacher and hurry our learning along - because frankly, most of us are starving for something deep, soulful, purposeful and personal. And then we want to share it and "become" useful.

This is how it seems to look...

• Student is LOVING the work, super keen, and wants to know all the details (awesome!) asks their Teacher for more guidance on a subject and receives a, "Not yet". Student gets miffed and goes to Banyan or Indigo for a book on the subject.
• Teacher offers a carefully timed, in-depth, medicine offering. Student is excited and jumps ahead in the program, signs up for workshops or watches videos on those topics.
• Student registers for various similar training at the same time, undergoes different healing modalities, and starts working with multiple teachers, facilitators, instructors. These facilitators may or may not know of all the other work being done simultaneously.

Usually, the student doesn't even realize they are doing it, they are just keen and soaking up as much as they can. Sometimes they do know, and like a child asking the other parent for a treat after being told no, actively seeks out what they feel is being withheld from them.

In traditional settings, an apprentice would never think to go to the next village over and ask a different medicine person if they didn't like their teacher's answer. To do so would end the student/teacher relationship and potentially kibosh any future relationships with other teachers. There was a trust in right timing, that things weren't withheld as a power play but for safety.

As a teacher, there may be many reasons why a question is not directly answered, or skipping ahead would be discouraged.

• A common thought is that once someone is exposed to an aspect, if they aren't fully trained in it, they may encounter significant dangers. That exposure opens them up to intense situations they may not be ready for.
• Other times topics are addressed building on top of one another, setting strong foundations first before moving into advanced levels.
• Often the motivation behind a student's driven yearning is not one of self development and healing but purely for career gains, which in itself may be part of the lesson.
• Then of course there is the issue of conflicting methods, alternate ways of working, and different value systems - which are fantastic but often confusing when one is looking for clear direction.
• Some teachers are distanced from their students and their actions. Some hold them too tightly and micromanage. Many though are mindfully, energetically caring for each student, supporting them in cultivating their own experiential knowings, and are involved with emotional, spiritual and practical support. When unknown work is being done or too much work too fast occurs, breakdowns and overwhelm easily follow. 
• When one has worked for years co-creating a personal medicine way, sometimes the sharing is free and easy, other times it is too deeply personal of a relationship. It might be how to create a specific elixir,  which herbs were being burned during a healing session, or a ceremonial process. Sometimes when we aren't told "how to", it not only protects that person's medicine way, it also frees the inquirer to establish their own deep and personal relationship in a manner that resonates as truer than if they were simply told about it.

For me as a student this unfolded when I naturally discovered how well channeling Reiki while in a shamanic journey went together for me. Shortly after, I found a book on melding various traditional shamanic healing techniques (that I hadn't been taught and trained in yet and didn't know were coming) with Reiki energy work. When she found out, my teacher at the time strictly did not allow me to blend the two modalities until much later when my apprenticeship was ending and it appeared again, unfolding as a personal medicine way for me. Initially at the time however, I was shocked, dismayed, and confused why I couldn't pursue an aspect I felt really called to and natural about. I had to trust her. Trust that spending the time to deeply get to know my shamanic practice separately held significant value (it did) and trust that I came to study with her to set a solid foundation to expand on through personal experiences over time. It's true. Learning something through doing it "the long way" holds a deeper knowing. When I experienced the intricacies of the shamanic techniques and saw the dangers that could be encountered - I understood. Now the two modalities seamlessly come together within a session, my guides support the energy work when its time for it and spontaneously attuned me to frequencies other than Reiki during an initiation period. Now when energy work is happening within a journey I can differentiate its source and purpose. Sometimes different things can appear very similar.

Yep, I could have asked another teacher what they thought about it and searched for confirmations. I could have trusted the book instead. I could have trusted what my guides were showing me at the time - and likely would have had a rockier road to getting where I am today. This path is not known for its "smooth sailing" after all.

As a teacher, these situations call for delicacy as well as trust. Trust in our work, in the student, trust in right-timing and the ability of both participants. Trust that our ego isn't driving the boat in deciding what should or should not be for another. Trust in the student as a creative, resourceful and whole person. Trust in the balance between holding and guiding a being of free will, or being too controlling or nonchalant about it. And the delicacy to be able to sometimes say No without tearing away at that trust.

A most important cue for both sides - is a sense of urgency. When either participant is acting on feelings of urgency, that is a big cue to step back.

Whether a student or teacher, I wish you blessings on your slow cooked processes.

Last week a package arrived from a dear friend and medicine woman, Nikiah Seeds of Red Moon Pathways containing beautifully crafted bundles of raw cacao paste, cacao butter, raw beans, and rose quartz crystals. Since early last Spring, Cacao Ceremonies had been coming into my awareness and inspiring a sweetness that I knew meant one day, events would unfold where I would experience this ancient and highly regarded medicine way.

Cacao is a plant ally like many other plants where relationships with the plant spirit can be cultivated and connected with during ceremony, for energetic support, and within your shamanic practice. The energy of cacao has the ability to both be gentle with it's heart-opening experience (as it is an entheogen but not a psychedelic) while also bringing more ecstatic opportunities through its natural mood enhancing and energizing compounds.

On the night of my first ceremony, my partner and I placed a piece of cacao paste, a cacao bean and a small rose quarts crystal into a large clam shell, made an offering of rose petals to this new plant friend, and set it in a place of honour on the altar. We began mindfully preparing the elixir together, warming complementing spices and herbs, whisking in ghee and setting our intentions. For hours beforehand I had been experiencing a familiar, very uncomfortable, physical sensation that occurs when I have picked up an energetic intrusion. Therefore my main task at hand was to tend to this immediately with a shamanic extraction and I hoped this could happen during the ceremony. 

When the elixir was ready, we ladled it into our mugs and took our spaces facing each other and listened to a medium's channeled message that my partner had received earlier. Each sip was a bit like a warm hug on a cold winter's day - which actually it was with the largest snowfall in years! A peaceful, calm, and sleepy cozy feeling soon came over me and all I could think of was curling up into a big feather duvet to soak in the good feeling and tend to the intrusion which still caused me a fair amount of discomfort on both physical and spiritual levels. Into a journey I went seeking my extraction guide to remove the projected energy that didn't belong to me and restore myself to a "full cup" state to prevent taking on anything further. The journey was simple - my power animal performed the removal which was different than usual, and while it was in its clutches I saw a vulture circling overhead then come to a river bank to pull apart a decomposing salmon. A scavenger feeding. The intrusion was then passed to my extraction guide to complete the removal process. There were flashes of 3 different likely sources, but truly, the source wasn't my concern - just the healing. After the extraction was fully complete I noticed all of my senses were heightened. The ambient music, energetic awareness, and tactile experience were all very sensitive, alert and far reaching. I was still extremely cozy and super sleepy but with a euphoric and inward feeling. I began slipping in and out of the journey and was guided to channel the energy of cacao, of love, and reiki into the area on my body where the intrusion had been. I could feel immediate relief as I did so, but with a tenderness to it, like after a migraine one's head still feels tender, as if it could return if not carefully tended to. For the rest of the evening I stayed curled in my cocoon, cultivating the heart-filling gift of self-care, the good feelings of the elixir, and the sleepy coziness of a winter's night. 

The next morning I marveled at how completely recovered I felt from the extraction and healing. I had not expected to feel so sleepy and cozy, thinking instead I would become energized and invigorated - though I can still feel the inspiration to dance, journey to the heart, and to create art that did visit me through the cushion my very quiet and inward focus had developed. Later, I read an article by Ruby Warrington where she says, "in ceremonial doses, raw cacao is a powerful heart opener that paves the way to transformation through self-love" This sentiment definitely resonates with my experience and was exactly what I most needed.

I will continue to cultivate my relationship with cacao in all the ways that one gets to know a new spiritual ally. I have added a cacao bean to my mala (medicine bundle), I will journey to the spirit of cacao, I will ingest micro-doses, honour it on my altar, embark on more ceremonies, dream with it under my pillow, read about it and listen to people's experiences, learn how to ensure environmental and humanitarian harvest practices, dance with it, meditate with it, and discover more ways that cacao can facilitate healing, how I may be able to support this plant spirit and its work, and listen for if cacao will become a regular part of my shamanic practice.

Please feel invited to share your experiences with this ancient and prized medicine plant either in the comments below or privately to info@shamanicreiki.ca I would love to hear them!
​Bless!

Ahhh yes! Working with an altar can become a juicy, tangible way of working in our personal spiritual practice. They bring us a physical place to tend to. It works with the powerful subtlety of symbols directly speaking to our subconscious. On a left-brained, scientific side of things, an altar brings together electromagnetic frequencies of items and the energetics of thought, intention and emotion - to generate a specific vibration - which in turn affects the world around us and our physical, emotional and etheric bodies.
Nice huh!
Let's look at a couple things before we consider how many altars we might want:

• An altar is created with careful energetic intention on a designated area.
• The items used could be thought of as energetic or spiritual ‘power houses’ such as specific crystals, images of deities or photos of deceased relatives, stones from significant and relevant places, plant medicines and dried herbs, all of which carry or support the intention.
• These power houses are placed with deliberate care, in an arrangement of some significance, or harmonious pattern.
• Altars can be created for many reasons, some examples are: 
  ~ self healing & development
  ~ to honour and work with the qualities of a deity, season, totem, power animal etc 
  ~ to facilitate prosperity
  ~ calling in a harmonious relationship
  ~ supporting a desired outcome of a situation
  ~ to help remedy an illness
  ~ change the feel of a living space

An altar brings the individual energies of the objects together with your intention, to create a unified energy source that keeps “working” on its purpose once it has been set. We can think of it like turning on a 100w light bulb with the light emanating and filling the room. Power on! Yet like a bright light, generally we don't want to leave it turned on ALL the time. Times of rest are needed, of peace filled soft light, like turning off that light bulb when not in use; or resting our body after an energetic workout routine. There may come a time where the energy begins to feel “stale” where smudging and cleansing the altar items will bring a freshness to the energy, but if we are carefully tuned in, we can feel when the need for re-charging, refreshing, or simply a break from the constant affect an altar can have on our living space is needed. A rhythm of working and resting is good spiritual and energetic maintenance. Rest times provide us an avenue for integrating the work being done. We can create this rest by periodically laying a cloth over it, or by fully dismantling it when it's no longer actively being tended to and worked with.