Sacred Space Conference: a great opportunity for spiritual learning!

One of my absolute favorite Spirituality Conferences is the Sacred Space Conference, held every year in the Laurel, MD area, near then end of winter.

This conference is very special, in that it is one of the only conferences on the East Coast of the United States that is geared toward Intermediate-to-Advanced "seekers of knowledge." It also has a heavy shamanic-focus, with numerous rituals, classes, and dances to increase everyone's relationship to Spirits.

This will be my fourth year attending, and my second year presenting. Last year I presented on the similarities & differences between Spiritual Experiences and Mental Illness. This year, I am putting together a presentation on the Old Man Himself, Coyote:

• Healing through Laughter: An Introduction to Coyote – Monika Lonely Coyote: Coyote has been called many things during his countless years in the Americas; Trickster, Foolish One, Distraction, Ruiner, etc. Very few know of him as Healer. In this workshop, attendees will be presented with a few different perspectives on Coyote, and his greatest healing tool, Laughter. Attendees will also have an opportunity to talk with the Man Himself, during a guided Journey, and discover the power of Self-Healing within foolish pranks!

 I work with Coyote almost daily in my work in psychiatric rehabilitation, and so He's taught me so many different ways that Tricks and Laughter can spark motivation towards Healing of one's Soul.

I can't wait to teach others about His amazing love for humanity, and I can't wait to see many of you at this conference!

Adjunct Teacher Status

Wahoo! I've reached adjunct teacher status within my "alma mater": Gryphons Grove School of Shamanism.

If you go to the Teachers Page, I'm the third one down!

Obviously, I am very excited and very thankful to be able to expand my teaching skills in this way, and I look forward to meeting all sort of new shamanic people in the Greater DC area!

Hail!

(free Clip Art from Wikipedia)

Translation of Spirit Speak is NOT EASY

I love talking with different shamanic healers, and comparing notes on how we interact with Spirits.

There are different philosophies and training systems regarding Spirit Communication, and Ivo Dominguez, jr has a wonderful tome that addresses some of them (Spirit Speak is the title).

In my own interactions with the different worlds, I've learned that the greater amount of "base vocabulary, concepts, ideas, etc." that I have in my head, the greater I can "translate" what Spirits are trying to say.

For example, I have studied human and animal psychology, emotional intelligence, and mental health for at least 15 years. So any time that a Spirit, Ancestor, God, or the like wants to communicate an emotional message to a client, it seems to get through very clearly. However, I have only a very basic understanding of physical/body functions, and so sometimes messages get garbled... I can see the blockages surrounding an area, and will suggest that a client ask a medical professional about it, but I usually can't go much farther than that (My dear friend Rune is excellent at this, and his work with Spirits have really helped many clients!).

Of course, this means that I have quite a bit of work to do to increase my "medical vocabulary" (which is why shamans never stop learning). I purchased a kid's "Guide to Human Anatomy" book the other day, and although I have grasped some of the concepts on a surface level, I have much work to do.

In summary, the greater the vocabulary already within a shaman's brain, the greater range of communication between the Spirits and the shaman (and on to the client).

I write this introduction to demonstrate that sometimes, messages from Spirit that are directly to the shaman (for his/her own healing), are very difficult to translate!

I read over my notes from a shamanic journey that I took a few months ago, and Hummingbird was the featured Spirit (along with Artemis and others).

Hummingbird of Love

These are my notes:

Hummingbird is full of fire and energy and continually refills itself; Refill myself with energy; Artemis is inducing a longing in me because I long for the wild solitude of the forest; eat an anti-inflammatory diet to reduce excess heat/fire inside me; take time for silence to release excess stuff; let the Universe fill the Void with energy; red quartz is both grounding and energizing which is perfect for me; concentrate on my self-work.

So, yeah, reading this now just looks like a whole bunch of crazy run-on sentences! And this is how most note-taking happens when in Trance, but the symbols and the "buzzwords" are there.

In evaluating my notes over the many weeks, I noticed that if I didn't prime my brain with the "symbol sets" then I couldn't translate what Spirits were trying to communicate.



Has this ever happened to you? How do you re-interpret Spirit Speak?

Public Healing Ceremony & Crystal Grid (LATE POST)

Back in January, my fellow healers and I worked for the DC/Maryland Community at a Public Healing Ceremony (see this previous post).

Lonely Coyote

Over 30 people attended, via Skype, in-person, and remotely (via photographs); and six different healers worked throughout the room. The room was set up in such a way that each client received healing from at least 4 people throughout the day (we overlapped many clients, in order to make sure all had consistent access to the compassionate Helping Spirits).

The grid in its entirety

 Our dear organizer, Caroline Kenner, was instrumental in creating one of the most powerful and beautiful healing Crystal Grids I have ever witnessed.

A large vortex of energy was centered around the large crystal in the middle of the grid. This assisted all of the healers in removing energetic blockages easily, and the vortex led to a world of Helping Spirits that transmuted the blockages into neutral energy.

Central Vortex

There were also grids-within-grids. A Past-Life grid was set up at one end of the room:

Past Life Healing

While a powerful Psychopomp grid was integrated at the other end of the room:

Psychopomp Healing

At the end of the Healing Ceremony (a few hours), we thanked all the Spirits who came and performed healing, and chowed down on some amazing pot-luck food! I placed an order with Seoul Food earlier that morning, and INHALED the entire bowl of Bibimbap like a Starving Coyote!

I am very thankful to be able to do this work for the community that I love. We had such an amazing response, from both the Spirit World and the Physical World, that we hope to offer another one some time after the Sacred Space Conference. Stay Tuned!

Hail the Spirts of Crystal, Stone, & Tree!

*All identifying images of clients have been removed, to protect anonymity.
**Many thanks to ACD, AC, and DJ for your photographs!