Please note that due to the COVID pandemic, Bekki’s classes have been moved online and will be taught online as well as in-person when possible. For workshops on creativity, shamanic rattle and tool-making and so on, see the Shamanic Arts page, under Teaching.
Introductory
Tarot I: Intuitive Interpretation
Journeying Experience Required
Rooted in the Heart, Seeded in the Soul
“The spiritual depth and academic breadth of Bekki Shining Bearheart’s shamanic practice are something wonderful to behold. Bekki is a delicately sensitive, highly intuitive practitioner with a gift for guiding students gently along their paths. Her belief in the limitless potential of her students is heartwarming and loving, and she always finds time to support and encourage the people she interacts with.”
–Heather Anderson, Detroit, MI
Click on individual workshop titles for a full description of each experience. Advance registration is required; see the Events Schedule for information on when and where each workshop will next be offered, or contact us to find out more.
Experience with shamanic journeying is required for all workshops except Fundamentals of Shamanism, Metaphysics, Astrology, and Tarot I and II, unless otherwise noted.
Fundamentals of Shamanism
I have known Bekki Shining Bearheart for 30 years. In all respects she is an excellent shamanic teacher and guide. Bekki’s work is rooted in deep experience, integrity and insight. If you are looking to come to shamanic practice for the first time, or continue your journey of exploration, I know of no better teacher than Bekki.
Dr Chris Forester,
Chair, National Counselling Society
I didn’t really know what to expect with the Fundamentals workshop, I only knew that I had been very intrigued to participate for a long time. The workshop was not what I expected- but in a good way. We were guided through the experience of journey work in a very thoughtful, grounded way that made it accessible to all of us that were present. Over the course of the workshop not only did we learn what the lower and higher realms were, but how to interact with them and fully experience them. I met guides and Teachers, and we learned how to listen to their wisdom and guidance. The Fundamentals of Shamanism class is absolutely that- a fundamental introduction to the world of shamanic practice and experience. I am incredibly grateful for the teachings of the Church of Earth Healing and the community that I’ve been welcomed to be a part of.
Gabby W., Athens OH
This workshop is designed to teach you how to do shamanic journeying. There are recommended readings (see below) but no prior knowledge of shamanism is required.
This or similar experience in shamanic journeying is required for participation in other shamanic workshops offered by the Church of Earth Healing, as well as Bekki’s Shamanic Healing Apprenticeship.
Shamanism is the most ancient technique of spiritual empowerment we know of. It is basic to all humans in every culture. It is most often used in healing, which may be individual, relational and communal. It is also such an effective technique for connecting with Spirit that it underlies all early spirituality.
Coming from extensive spiritual, experiential and academic backgrounds, Bekki and Crow have taught the techniques basic to shamanic healing wherever it has been found; these techniques are of profound value today in helping to heal ourselves and others.
With Crow’s passing, Bekki has taken on the task of training new teachers to take his place, and to take her own place as that becomes necessary.
This workshop begins with the background of shamanism presented in lecture and discussion. We then prepare the class and lead it into several classical shamanic journeying techniques, which we use to find and work with our personal power allies, do ally retrievals and other work for others and to contact and work with our teachers and guides. The climax of the class is everyone’s participation in a group healing. The strength of our teaching lies in the fact that we are committed to a quality learnig experience for all students. In over 20 years of teaching, only a handful of students (literally) have been unable to journey. By the end of the average class, all students find that they are doing journey work with verifiable results, and gaining knowledge and information for themselves and their fellow students that they have no access to or prior knowledge of in ordinary waking consciousness.
Crow and Bekki have taught this introductory workshop since the early 1980’s and always have found it to be one of their most exciting workshops. It is always amazing to be with students as they experience the archetypal connections shamanic journeying brings.
RECOMMENDED READINGS: Readers beware: many books with ‘shamanism’ in the title have little to do with the subject. If shamanic journeying is not mentioned in the index or table of contents, think twice about buying the book.
The Shaman by Piers Vitebsky, Riding Windhorses and Chosen By the Spirits by Sarangerel Odigan, Sacred Tree by the Four Worlds Development Center
A more in-depth listing of scholarly and popular works can be found on the Apprenticeship page.
Introduction to Metaphysics: First Steps to Self Knowledge
A weekly series that covers subjects from numerology, astrology and tarot to the metaphysics of vibration, color and sound, and some basic information on shamanism (what it is and how it is viewed in the cultures where it is practiced).
This class is organized in a series of units. All classes include hands-on experiences for the students, and most include demonstrations. There are also handouts and a list of recommended titles for going deeper into each subject. This is a taster course, which gives you a true feel for the subjects, how they can be helpful in guiding you to an deeper understanding of you and the universe you inhabit, and enough information to see if the subjects are something you want to study in more depth. Each participant signs up for one unit at a time. and it is possible to skip units you aren’t interested in, but each unit must be taken as a whole. Also these are sequential. I will be referring to previous units throughout– the first segment, which starts with numerology, is core to the course. Number and vibration are at the root of Western (and most other) systems of metaphysics. Each two-hour session costs $25.
The first unit consists of two sessions on numerology; one session on vibrational healing and color and sound theory; and 2 sessions on chakras, auras and energy medicine, for a total of 5 sessions.
Unit 2 consists of Magical Herbalism and Planning Your Magical Garden, including a brief discussion of planting by astrology. These sessions will also give students a chance to plan some gardening for themselves- a good thing to do in early spring! and continues with Gemstones: Their Healing and Magical Properties, for a total of 3 sessions.
Unit 3 covers Tarot: The Traditional System in Divination: Minor Arcana, and Tarot: The Traditional System in Divination II Major Arcana, plus Uses of Tarot for Personal Growth; there are 4 sessions in this unit.
Unit 4 covers Astrology: Natal Astrology in the Western Tradition, and Astrology East and West (a comparison of Asian and European systems); Relationship Astrology: Composites and Synastry; Relocational Astrology: The Geographical Cure; and Mundane Astrology: Electional and Horary Charts, Transits and Progressions, and other useful tidbits. This section consists of 7 sessions.
Unit 5: Runes, Ogham, I Ching and other divination systems. (This unit is still under development – I expect it to be 2-3 sessions.)
Unit 6: Paganism: An Overview; Working Magic; Words of Power; and Shamanism: what you need to know before you journey (the very short course!) 3 sessions.
Astrology
Bekki has been teaching astrology at the beginning and intermediate levels since 1980, in workshops, ongoing classes, and with apprentices.
Bekki’s astrological teaching is customized to suit her students. If you are interested in taking or sponsoring an astrology workshop in your location , contact Bekki to discuss your needs and interests. She is knowledgeable in natal chart reading, relationship astrology and transit and progression work. (See this link for more information about her expertise in these areas.)
In addition to working with a left-brain approach to learning astrology, Bekki uses guided meditations to help students become familiar with the planets, signs, and houses. This is especially helpful to those who learn in a more experiential manner.
Tarot I: Intuitive Interpretation
The Fine Art of Tarot I: Intuitive Interpretation is an experiential exploration of Tarot. This workshop will get you started if you are a beginner, and deepen your understanding and interpretive skills if you are experienced. It will enhance your grasp of the art of reading by guiding you into a richer relationship with the Tarot archetypes.
This workshop looks at Tarot symbolism using a variety of metaphysical systems, including numerology, to see the deeper meaning behind each card, and explore how various decks use these meanings to explain the intricacies of human experience. By comparing and contrasting decks, Bekki helps you develop an intuitive understanding of the cards and their core meanings, bringing you into greater contact with your innate intuitive gifts.
Bekki has been reading the Tarot since 1973, and teaching Tarot workshops since 1988. She also occasionally takes on Tarot apprentices. She has been reading professionally since the 1970s.
Tarot II: Telling the Story
The Fine Art of Tarot II: Telling the Story guides participants to an intuitive approach to reading with the cards. Students hone their reading skills by synthesizing the meaning of individual cards into a “life story”. As they learn to see the patterns within each individual reading and how these reflect the client’s life story, their effectiveness as readers deepens.
Bekki discusses how to communicate the messages in the cards to the client, in ways that enhance the client’s understanding of her/his life and help the client to envision positive changes in potentially difficult or challenging situations, or to more fully utilize positive circumstances.
Bekki has been reading the Tarot since 1973, and teaching Tarot workshops since 1988. She also occasionally takes on Tarot apprentices. She and Crow read regularly for public presentations given by a variety of organizations on the Ohio University campus in Athens OH beginning in 1990. She has been reading professionally for private clients since the 1970s.
Singing Wolf, Listening Deer: Balance and Power in the Heart and on the Path
This two-day workshop requires shamanic journeying experience.
This workshop was gifted to Bekki in 2012 by her helping spirits. Like Bear Medicine and Magic, it focuses on forming or expanding a relationship with specific animal allies, in alignment with the shamanic lore, myths, and tribal wisdoms of these allies across cultures and through time.
In some circumpolar traditions, humankind was born out of the marriage of Deer and Wolf, the first parents. Wolf and Deer form a synergistic partnership of hunter and prey; sacrifice and consumption; the heart and the belly; giving and taking. Both Deer and Wolf live in tribes. Yet the group dynamic of the two is different, and centered on each being’s unique relationship with life and the maintenance of life. Thus they guide us in different and special ways.
As we journey with Wolf and Deer we gain a more personal and direct understanding of their energies and gifts; of the power of community; and of our own place in community. Personal healing and shamanic power and wisdom can come through these connections, and we seek all of these as we communicate with these sacred beings.
In this workshop participants will
• Expand their relationship(s) with Wolf and Deer if they already work with them as allies
• Form powerful helping relationships with Wolf and Deer if they have not yet worked with them as allies
• Learn myths, stories and related teachings of Wolf and Deer which come from several indigenous cultures around the world, and experience these teachings directly through shamanic journeys.
• Celebrate their connections to these two magical and spiritual beings through ceremony and ritual, and receive the blessing of their presence.
To the Waters and the Wild: Journeys with the Fey
This workshop is perfect for those who have always been drawn to the lore, mythos, legend and realm of Fae Folk. During this workshop we learned about proper preparation for journeying to realm of the Fae, which must be made with awareness and intention. Oftentimes Faeriefolk and their kin are depicted as sweet, innocent beings who are small and flit around sprinkling sparkle dust as they go; but what you learn from the experience of journeying to their realm is that the truth is very different. Fae folk are extremely powerful beings who are not to be taken lightly, but to be treated with high respect and appreciation. We can work with the Fae, but they do not work for us. Learning how to navigate their realm with appreciation and intelligence was key during this workshop and it certainly paid off. My experiences during this workshop were some of my most memorable and special to me, and should it be offered again I’d absolutely recommend anyone drawn to the Fae sign up.
Gabby W., Athens OH
This two-day workshop requires shamanic journeying experience.
Bekki has been fascinated with the Good People for as long as she can remember: from stories drawing on her Danish and Hungarian heritage (raised on Hans Christian Anderson and stories of the old Scandinavian gods, and the origins of the ancient Hungarians re “The White Stag”) to her studies and collecting of the magical ballads of Britain, a practice begun in her early teens.
A childhood spent in the company of nature– wild rivers and wilder woods, gardening, and contact with animals wild and domesticated– nurtured her connection to the Fey. Avid reading of literature both traditional and contemporary added fuel to this fire. For many years she lived side by side with the Fey but never attempted to do more than cohabit their world, and it wasn’t until late in her shamanic career that she attempted real study of literary scholarship on the Fey. Chance encounters with Orion Foxwood, a well-known teacher in the Pagan community, and Mary Pat Lynch, a life-long scholar of all things Celtic and many things mystical, led her to a deeper understanding of the Fey. In recent years she has benefitted greatly from her friendship with Dorothy Abrams and Eric Reynolds of the WEB Path Center, Clyde NY, who have shared many resources and conversations regarding their work with the Fey. These have validated many of her personal experiences and shown her once again how true and powerful shamanic work is.
In 2006 she undertook several trainings with Tom Cowan to explore her lifelong love and fascination more formally and to activate her relationship with the Fey more directly.
For some years her students have been requesting that she include the Faery work in her teaching, and so with the guidance of the Fey she is bringing this work to her community.
Since 2007 she has practiced Faery Doctoring, and has developed her shamanic practice with the Fey to enhance much of her other work, including her shamanic dream work.
In addition to finding a Faery helper (or two) to help in our shamanic practice, in this workshop participants will explore
- the Fey and the roles they occupy as shamanic helpers and healers, caretakers of the earth, and so on
- Ancestral Fey (Fey of different lands and cultures)
- Fey as Spirit Lovers
We will also share the teaching stories and songs of our forebears and make selected journeys based on these teachings, to aid our understanding of how to best relate to and work with the Fey.
Circle of the Ancestors
“The Circle of the Ancestors workshop was a wonderfully deepening experience, allowing access to new levels of connectivity and personal healing. I’ve studied the metaphysical and spiritual for years, but Bekki and Crow’s teaching has finally brought me to actually experience the rich inner landscape of the soul.”
— Jo Wheat, Columbia, SC
“The value Crow and Bekki place on ancestry has been very powerful, and has brought about direct and tangible healing not just for myself but also for my family (living and deceased). This has shown me my roots, where I stand in the larger flow of things, and created a solid foundation to work out from. Most importantly, they have always encouraged trust in the spirits and in my ability to hear the voice of Spirit within. What could be more important?“
— Daniel Foor, Asheville, NC
This two-day workshop requires shamanic journeying experience. You should be familiar with upper and lower world journeywork and have established shamanic allies and teachers.
It is an excellent next step after taking the Fundamentals of Shamanism workshop. Circle of the Ancestors is required for participation in Bekki’s Shamanic Healing Apprenticeship.
Shamanic peoples recognize ancestors as essential connections to Spirit who provide potent guidance. In many cultures the ancestors are as significant, sometimes more significant than allies. They often function as teachers.
This workshop focuses on contact with our ancestors through journey work so that each participant can develop a “tribal history,” giving a unique window into our individual shamanic heritage.
We learn how to work with our ancestors for personal healing, to resolve family issues, discover plant and animal spirit energies essential to our lineages, and learn about ancient rituals and ceremonies.
We do shamanic work for each other with our ancestors’ help. Anyone doing shamanic work who is interested in his or her spiritual heritage can enjoy and benefit from working with their ancestors.
Ancestor work forms an integral part of most shamanic cultures. It compliments the primary skills of professional healers of any discipline, and is excellent for individuals who wish to advance their own healing. A major goal of the work is to open the student to the shamanic realms and to help her/him use these connections in daily life.
For Bone Woman
This is the song I give to you
Woman who eats the bones
I make this song for you
Woman who eats only bones
Out of the silence of the mountain
I sing this song
Out of the mountain’s heart I birth it
Out of the shape of wolves I shape it
As when we put on the skin of the wolf
Running, running under the full moon
Running silver and white in her light
Shining, yellow-eyed, against the midnight snow
This is the song I make for you
Ancient one of the mountain
With your heart of fire
I am flesh of your flesh
Spirit Grandmother
As we grow long tails together
As we hunt the prey together
Running out of the mountain together
As you guide me, as you guide me
This is the song I sing to you
Teacher in the darkness
The darkness of longing, the darkness of despair
The darkness before birthing
The darkness of the winter
The darkness inside the mountain
The darkness of rest and waiting
The darkness that teaches patience
Will I ever learn patience?
This is the song I sing to you
teacher in the darkness
The darkness of transformation
I sing it to honor you, my teacher
I thank you for the gift of the night sight
I thank you for my crystal body
And the body made of green things
And the body made of the mountain mud
And for your birthing me into these bodies
To teach me the way of change
And the gifts that await me in the dark…
——Bekki, 1993 (Thank you, Ailo Gaup, for your teachings. They changed my life and made it deeper, richer, more blessed…)
Rooted in the Heart, Seeded in the Soul: Shamanic Work with Plant Spirits
This two-day workshop requires shamanic journeying experience.
Rooted in the Heart, Seeded in the Soul is a two-day workshop that I prefer to teach at Medicine Spring Farm in Ithaca, NY or any other location with access to extensive gardens.
An essentoal part of the course is the medicine making we do under the guidance of the plant spirits.
Crow and I individually and separately became so fond of plant spirit work, and it has been so essential to our work with herbs, that we taught this workshop almost every year at Dragon Waters. I continue to teach it in Ithaca at Medicine Spring Farm, my herb gardens there, and in Athens when I visit.
Many tribal shamans are masters of herbal healing and work deeply with the healing energy of plants. When asked where their knowledge comes from, they tend to say, “The plants told us how to use them for healing.” Even those shamans who are not herbalists traditionally use plants and plant energies in their work, as costume, as “decoration,” in many kinds of purification, and sometimes as aids to the journeying process.
I believe that you will be much more effective in your shamanic practice if you have an active relationship with plant spirits.
In this workshop, you learn about traditional plants of power and the plants most important to your growth. It is the usual blend of lecture, discussion, journey work, practical work and ceremony that Crow and I developed years ago, and takes you to the lands of Spirit, the herb gardens and the herbalist’s kitchen so you may experience plant energies on many levels.
Mapping the Landscape of Love: Shamanic Guidance for Navigating Relationships
This two-day workshop requires shamanic journeying experience.
In this workshop we explore relationship from a spiritual perspective. If we discover what our deep self needs and desires in relationship, what we have to give to relationship, and the meaning and purpose of relationships we are in, we can experience more joy and satisfaction with and through them.
We look primarily at partnering, but also consider how we relate to parents, children, friends, mentors, spirit helpers, and animal companions. We use journaling, discussion, and journeying, and through them, we examine our conscious needs and desires. We seek information from Spirit to illuminate our understanding and alert us to aspects of the work not available to our conscious minds. The insights we gain help us move forward in our relationships and grow through them.
Animal Spirits
This two-day workshop requires shamanic journeying experience.
Working with the spirits of animals, which we call animal allies (called “power animals” in some literature), is characteristic of shamanic practice throughout the world. Animal allies are usually our first, and for some practitioners remain our strongest, connection with Spirit throughout years of shamanic practice.
This workshop explores the kinds of relationships practitioners and students have with animal allies, including anecdotes from three decades of teaching and insights from ethnographic material.
You will explore personal connections with allies in ordinary reality through natural history, and in the shamanic realities through targeted journey work. We journey to classical animal allies shared by many powerful shamanic cultures and your unique animal spirits.
It is a special opportunity to experience the power these allies can bring to you.
Bear Medicine and Magic
Bear Medicine and Magic is a two-day workshop requiring shamanic journeying experience. It is not limited to those currently working with Bear Spirit.
Bear Spirit has been revered since prehistoric times, wherever bears are found, for the gifts of physical and emotional healing, prophecy and dreams, herbal knowledge and protection.
Bekki has been working with Bear Spirit consistently since her earliest journeys. She comes from a lineage of women (first-borns) who all carry gifts traditionally associated with Bear Medicine: true dreaming, herbal healing and spiritual healing of body and spirit.
Bear was Crow’s first ally and She, a six foot tall Black Bear, was the first to welcome him into every healing journey, dancing the directions with him and leading the team of animal spirits who are the source of his shamanic healing knowledge.
In this workshop participants explore the traditional shamanic gifts of Bear through oral teachings of Asia, Europe and the New World, and through journey work, song and movement. Those who work with Bear as a healing ally will initiate and dedicate a personal healing bundle.
If you do not already work with Bear, discover how this energy manifests for you, and whether Bear will be a regular ally for you. If you already have made the Bear connection, deepen your knowledge through journey work and discussion. Learn how to use the gifts of Bear to help yourself and others.
Dreaming the Journey
Shamanism has always included dreams and dream work. The call to become a shaman often appears first in night dreams. Dreaming is one of the altered states shamans use for divination, diagnosis, healing, and psychopomp work. In many traditional cultures, shamans are expected to be strong dreamers, and in some the word for “shaman” also refers to strong dreaming. Shamanic cultures still remember the links between dreams, spirituality, oracles and healing. Dreams themselves offer us ways to renew these ancient ties.
This weekend, we connect with our dream life and forge new links between dreaming and journeying. Dreaming means much more than trying to remember what happens while we’re asleep. It includes dream incubation (the processing of setting intentions and opening to dreams), the dream itself, and the process of interpreting, sharing, and honoring the dream. Each culture and time in history has its own approach to this process, and Bekki will share some of these traditions. We also journey into dreams, to our allies, and to ask for new allies and guidance as we explore the world of shamanic dreaming.
What to bring: items for the altar, journals and pens/pencils, sleeping bag, blankets, comfortable clothes, shoes for outside walks, drums and rattles (if you have them). If you keep a dream journal, please bring your most recent one, plus records of any big dreams or shamanic dreams you have had. If you do not currently record your dreams, please record some prior to the workshop so that you can work with one during the workshop.
Bekki has had an active relationship with her dreams since childhood. She has worked with several shamanic approaches to dream work in the last 15 years. She originally taught this work with Mary Pat Lynch, a long time member of the Church of Earth Healing Drumming Circle in Athens OH, and a remarkable and gifted shamanic practitioner and teacher, with a special gift for dream work.
Drumming in the Temple
Drumming in the Temple is a dynamic two-day workshop that requires shamanic journeying experience. You should be familiar with upper and lower world journey work and have established shamanic contacts.
This workshop explores an aspect of shamanism common to all shamanic peoples but not often addressed in Neo-shamanic contexts — our connection with the Divine. All shamanic peoples believe in a Divine Being or Beings who created the world and continue to shape and guide it. These Beings are concerned for their creation and are available as shamanic helpers for healing and maintaining balance of our world. Bekki developed this workshop for exploring our connection to Deity under the guidance of the spirit helpers who are her Divine connections.
For some people this work is entirely new. For others it is a natural outcome of our work but one we have not yet explored through shamanism. Some have encountered specific Deities as shamanic helpers. Some have been drawn to them through studies of mythology, anthropology, religion or other formal or informal training.
During these two days we use the shamanic journey, trance dance and other techniques to
● open a dialog with the Gods
● discover how we can connect more fully with our spiritual path
● discover how we may be of service to the divine and all our relations
● discover how this connection may further our ability to help others through the healing path of shamanism
● discover what it means to dedicate ourselves to a path and to a particular face of the Divine.
Divine beings are among the most potent of shamanic helpers, giving us meaningful guidance and strong support, as well as powerful healing energy.
We follow a protocol similar to that of the Circle of the Ancestors, involving shamanic journey, trance dance and other techniques to open a dialog with the Gods.
We examine what it means to dedicate ourselves to a spiritual path and to a particular face of the Divine. It is our intention to discover how we may be of service and how this connection may further our ability to help others through divinely inspired shamanic work.
Persons of any creed can use this work to augment their experience of Spirit. For a detailed perspective on this experience see Crow’s article on Drumming in the Temple:
Opening the Shamanic Voice
“Opening the Shamanic Voice is a deeply transformative spiritual experience. For me it was a completely new awakening to how I am able to interact with God/Spirit/the Universe as well as how I look at every day life.”
— M.T., Chicago, IL workshop, 1999
“The healing portion was amazing. Lots of pertinent information and the hands-on portion gave me more confidence in myself to diagnose problems.”
— Mairyann Montalva, McArthur, OH workshop, 2008
“I found the workshop to be a powerful experience, I did not realize that I could do hands-on work, and was very amazed that the work that I did resonated with my partners.”
— David Russell, McArthur, OH workshop, 2008
“Opening the Shamanic Voice was essential for me to access and make friends with vital parts of my core power. I’ve used this for healing and also just in life in general. It’s a powerful workshop that will open more than just your voice.”
— J.R., Beavercreek, OH workshop, 2008
“This work helps bring the shamanic experience more fully into one’s body. It is a way to translate the journey work into sound and movement; bringing it down into one’s core and then giving life to that expression of self. It is an experience to connect with oneself in a deep, vibrating way to bring one’s voice and core self into the here and now.”
— R.F., Warminster, PA workshop, 2002
This active two-day workshop requires knowledge of shamanic journeying. In the past it was a prerequisite for Bekki’s and Crow’s advanced Two Week Intensive Training (which has now been replaced by the Shamanic Healing Apprenticeship).
Bekki has trained Colleen McKenzie, one of her shamanic apprentices, to work with her in facilitating this workshop. In the past, she and Crow have invited other advanced students to assist them in this process.
Sound healing is used by shamans of diverse cultures. Learning to make healing sounds and songs involves becoming a vehicle for Spirit. To do so requires knowledge, discipline and opening to the ways of Spirit.
But this workshop is about much more than using the voice or sounds for healing. And having a powerful singing voice is not a criterion– though many people have found their voice though doing this work.
This workshop provides the guidance and safe container, the “cauldron”, within which self-healing may take place, to allow each participant to connect with the “seed sound” within and use it for self-healing and for helping others. We do this with the active help of shamanic allies.
Clearing pathways for energy to manifest allows us to use other forms of energy as healing tools. In the early 1990s, Bekki was given a process by her allies for clearing these pathways and finding the “seed sound”, the energetic essence of our authentic self. This is the core work we will be doing in the workshop. in the past, each participant has been guided through this process, and assisted in evoking the seed sound, by Bekki and Crow. Bekki always work with a co-facilitator in this process.
After accessing the seed sound, we explore other kinds of shamanic energy work including trance dancing and hands-on healing with the help of spirit allies.
The Elementals in Shamanic Practice Series
The Elementals Series consists of four workshops, and is designed to introduce students to the four classical elements recognized by cultures ancient and modern. Each two-day workshop explores the interface between shamanism as a healing and spiritual practice, and the realm of the elementals as viewed and experienced in both traditional shamanic cultures and in modern Pagan practice. Experience with shamanic journeying is required. Normal progression of the workshops begins with the Earth element and continue with Water, Air and Fire. Participants must commit to all four workshops. Because each class is energized by the element being worked with, there are aspects of each that are unique to that workshop.
Each class begins with invoking the element through ceremony facilitated by Bekki, according to guidance given by Spirit. Bekki then leads discussion of the place of elemental work in shamanism, and the lore of the elementals we are working with. We will journey to meet with elemental spirits, and establish a working relationship with them. Each element is associated with a different aspect of our human experience: Fire = Spirit, Air = Mind, Water = Emotions, Earth = Body. As such they help us walk in balance with that aspect of our being.
We also do group and individual ritual work as shown to us by our helpers.
Get A Life: Past Lives and Shamanism
Many people who have studied with us over the years have expressed interest in past-life work, and have asked us about whether this is compatible with shamanism and the shamanic world view.
Many tribal, shamanic peoples do have some sort of belief system that encompasses reincarnation. Exactly how they see this differs from group to group and is often quite different from the highly developed view point of Hindu or Buddhist beliefs that most Westerners are familiar with.
Over the years Bekki and Crow have developed ways of working with past lives that marry neo-shamanic techniques to a pan-cultural approach to reincarnation. This shamanic perspective on experiencing our past lives is somewhat different from the process of “past life regressions” which many people are familiar with.
Your teachers come to this work with a deep understanding and an appreciation of those cultures, tribal and non-tribal, who acknowledge strong connections to past lives and to their ancestors as part of their daily existence.
Both Bekki and Crow have been directed by Spirit to use past life work in doing shamanic healing for their clients. They have also explored past-life material in a variety of settings, including a joint hypnotic regression to explore a past life in which they had been together. In comparing notes, they discovered they had visited the same past life! and were finishing each other’s sentences… This convinced the sceptical, Virgo-in-spades Crow that there really is something to this past-life stuff!
In shamanic past life work, you are the one who has the direct connection with your past lives. No one does it for you or “to” you; you are the one to live the experience.
Finally, working with your teachers and allies makes the shamanic approach an especially safe and comfortable one.
This weekend workshop,designed for students already experienced in shamanic journeying, will help you to understand the significance of past lives, karma and reincarnation for other peoples. Drawing on this material we will also consider the ways in which access to your own past lives can be exciting and helpful for you today.
The workshop will include plentiful opportunities to experience connection with your past lives for pleasure and for self discovery. You will also use these valuable connections to strengthen your own healing and to help others.
The Church of Earth Healing 