There are many times we might feel called to pick up a stone, feather, shell, or stick while walking in nature. These little friends might catch our eye or even seem to "call out" to us. We might feel a pull or even seem to audibly hear them. This is especially the case during meditation walks when seeking items for certain ceremonial working such as creating a spirit arrow or staff, when in need of a particular energetic or elemental medicine, gathering for a devotional offering practice, re-stocking Burlá Ghuí/Despacho kits, when creating medicine pouches, or simply wildcrafting herbal medicines, but we may also feel this urge spontaneously. Some of us may even develop a habit of collecting a particular item, heart shaped rocks or feathers are a common favourite.

There are a few important aspects to consider when gathering from Nature to ensure that we are doing so in a good way. 

• Do we need it? 
  When we have a long standing practice of working with a particular element or natural item it is easy to simply fall into the habit of collecting whenever we see one. They seem to always catch our awareness and our affinity for them finds us often happily tucking one... or five ... into our pocket. Sometimes this isn't really a call to gather More at all, but rather an invitation to work more closely with what we already have. Those heart rocks mentioned above are a great example. How well do you know the ones already on your window sill or piled in your garden? Do you know Why you are attracted to them? In what way are you actively working with them? I mean actively working with, not just lining a path or stock piling them because they look nice. Meditating on, dreaming with, or Journeying to the spirit of a stone may reveal some profound medicine ways to deepen your relationship. Stream of conscious journaling, even direct contemplation are also helpful avenues of discovery.
• Eco-friendly Harvesting
  We want to be certain that our collecting is not altering or harming the eco-system. The shell on the beach may have small, living barnacles on the back for instance. When harvesting plants, mushrooms, roots, lichen etc., do so sparingly and collect small amounts from multiple sources rather than all from one spot. Ideally, research the most harmless method as well. Take only what is needed and aim to avoid any waste or spoilage.
• Permission
  Often in spiritually minded communities we are guided to "ask permission" from the plant, stone, or feather etc. but not everyone knows what that means or how to ask. The intention is to bring ourselves to stillness and inner quiet while holding the question very present in both heart and mind. We might choose wording such as, "Do you agree to come with me for sacred use?" or, "May I have your permission to harvest some of your leaves?" and we must wait for any sense of yes or no. This may be a subtle feeling or come through very strongly. If clearer answers are needed, we might employ methods such as muscle testing or pendulum use. A coin flip would work in a real pinch. It may also help to be touching what we are hoping to gather while asking. The important thing is to be very honest with ourselves about if we have a clear Yes or not. Be prepared and accept non consent. Even if we reallllly want it.
• Reciprocal Exchange
  ​Another common protocol is to leave something we value or hold in high regard behind. This helps ensure that we don't inadvertently adopt an attitude of only take take take. We want to cultivate a reciprocal relationship with our helping allies, just as we would any friend. We don't only call up our friends when we need something, we show them we care for and respect them. Only instead of buying our friend a coffee or bringing them care packages when sick, we place sacred herbs down, channel reiki, radiate our love, sing a song, or one of my favourites - leave a few strands of hair behind. I have an affinity for the latter, particularly when gathering plant medicines, as it is an avenue for our ally to also know Us in an intimate way. Our physical self is being shared just as their physical self is. Be sure your choice of gift in return will not accidentally seed foreign plants, poison sensitive environments, or even start a fire such as is possible with clear quartz crystals left in the summer sun.
• Legalities
  It seems obvious to ensure that we are not on private property, in a preserve or estuary, or are harvesting rare or sensitive species, and yet it is still strangely a common occurrence. Please hold the upmost integrity here and keep feelings of entitlement in check. Do some research and double check information sources well. Many people are surprised to learn there are possession laws around seemingly innocuous items, removal restrictions or harvesting limits from popular destinations, or how once traditional culinary choices may now be endangered. For example, there are limits to seaweed gathering both seasonal and by weight. Picking a few Ghost Pipe stems from the same patch or even plucking just one fairy slipper flower will kill the entire plant.

Keeping all of this in mind, working closely and respectfully with plants, stones, the elements, trees, fungi, wood, and other such items, is deeply rooted in our history. Returning to these ways of being and bringing them into our spiritual practice and daily lives helps us re-connect with the natural world and reanimate forgotten traditions. If an aspect feels particularly resonant, perhaps seek out an elder or teacher to guide and deepen your relationship with these allies.

Related Resources:
How to cultivate a relationship with plant, stone, or crystal medicine - article full of easy methods
Stone Spirit Medicine - online course for those drawn to stones in personal healing and spiritual practice

Today's podcast guest, Juliette Woods, is an incredible mix of mystic, mother, spiritual guide, creative, and earth spiritualist. 

In our conversation we talk about...

• The concept of a 'slow-cooked' life and regenerative self care 
• Tending to ourselves by tuning into our innate capacities, seeking emancipation from the paradigm of overdoing
• The recognition that we are re-learning how to be in circle and the balance between patience, openness, compassion, boundaries, and...well, we'll figure it out eventually! 
• Considering what is means to 'hold space' or be 'sending' energy to someone #gettinspiritual #woohoo
• Recognizing the places we need to perhaps reclaim ourselves
• Cultural appropriation and a gentle invitation to be ever more vigilant with our language
• Making conscious transformations in your business - even when it's a bit challenging
• Being in service to LIFE through acts of connection and contemplation (and some good ole ironic humour) and Juliette's photo project and 'devotion of trash removal on the West Coast of Canada', Lost & Found. Please Claim.

We cover a lot of ground in this long-form conversation that feels like a lengthy stroll down the beach on a drizzly day...picking up wise little stones...giving the selkies a wave hello and wink or two...remembering the seal skin tucked away in our own closets.

To support this podcast :
You can engage in reciprocity with this show by supporting me - Amber Samaya - on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ambersamaya

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.

Regarding climate change and the despair many of us feel, Pieta Woolley asked if I would share a quote of Hope for us this Spring. Here is a lovely collection of inspiration during these challenging times of renewal and new beginnings...

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?