The Heart of the Healer
Articles
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The Great Year and the Cycle of Ascension
February 2019 | By Stephanie Red Feather
Do you ever suspect that we are not as intelligent nor advanced as we have ever been?
Over 30 ancient cultures have recorded the rise and fall of human civilization in a vast cycle of time taking approximately 24,000 years (some sources say 26,000 years) to make one completion. In this grand cycle, humanity is raising in consciousness for 12,000 years and descending in consciousness during the other 12,000. This sequence of time has been called the Great Year, a term coined by Plato.
If you have studied ancient...
Puma Medicine in the "Heart" of Peru
November 2018 | By Stephanie Red Feather
Chattering happily with one of my travel mates, I suddenly stopped talking and proclaimed with glazed eyes, “I’m feeling a bit woozy and light headed. I need to breathe and try to ground myself.” A couple minutes later our bus pulled into the parking lot of our destination.
We departed the bus and our guide, Vera, chose for us to traverse a short tunnel through a rock outcropping to enter into the belly of this particular sacred site. She told us that the center of the passageway would be completely dark, so we should carefully slide our hands along the walls to keep our bearing.
I was already altered, but as we walked towards the hole in the rock, the tears began...
As Within, So Without: Adjusting Our Outer World to Harmonize With Our Inner Frequency
September 2018 | By Stephanie Red Feather
Most recently, after completing and submitting my book manuscript, I reorganized my entire office, which bled out into the hallway, stair well and temple space. Art on the walls had to be rearranged. Colors had to be altered. Coziness had to be amped up. Ceremony had to be performed. The flow of energy had to be rerouted.
Ever wonder why, when you go through a massive transition or intense shift, you almost always make some kind of change in your outer world?...
Death and Rebirth - Just Another Day in the Shamanic Life
June 2018 | By Stephanie Red Feather
There are numerous “themes” a shamanic adept encounters in embracing the shamanic lifestyle. One of the most intense and challenging is the death and rebirth mysteries. Since first being introduced to this concept in 2005, I have consciously walked through these cycles of initiation many times, to varying degrees of length and magnitude.
I find it humorous (after the fact, of course) that no matter how many times I enter into a death cycle, I resist. Though the period of resistance seems to shorten each time, I still find myself negotiating with Spirit...
Shamans: Chosen or Self-Selected?
April 2018 | By Stephanie Red Feather
In traditional shamanic cultures, shamans were selected in specific ways, often through a near-death experience, such as an illness, lightning strike or animal attack. They were chosen by Spirit and called into service. Sometimes they went willingly, sometimes grudgingly. Nonetheless, the path to becoming a shaman was distinct and narrow.
In the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition as well as other modern variations of shamanic traditions, it is recognized that “the calling” to a shamanic path...
The Art of Artes: Connecting to Spirit through Objects
February 2018 | By Stephanie Red Feather
I have always loved collecting beautiful objects and infusing them with special meaning. Long before I knew I was a shamanic being, as a child I had a crocheted draw-string bag (remember those from the 70’s?) that held all of my special amulets and trinkets. Of course, they were just rocks, sticks, costume jewelry, dried flowers, bits of this and pieces of that. But to me they had magical powers.
My favorite fantasy was about a particular ring. The “stone” was yellow, probably glass or acrylic, and there was an interesting pattern...
Open Your Mesa, Open to Love
November 2017 | By Stephanie Red Feather
Pa... cha... ma... a... ma...
You just naturally want to complete the rest of it, don’t you? For those of you who know and use these sacred Peruvian incantations, we have toned them hundreds and thousands of times to open and activate our Pachakuti mesas (and close them, too.) We’ve used them in ceremony and ritual, to connect to the elements, to establish an energetic container, to ask for guidance, or to do healing work. These chants are among the first we memorize when learning to work with the mesa.
One of the earliest teachings I remember about the mesa is that...
One Sixth Will Do
September 2017 | By Stephanie Red Feather
In PMT training we are taught our mesa is a reflection of us. It is a physical representation of the non-physical world. It is a living organism. Not only does it reveal our unique individuality, but it reflects our energies, patterns, and beliefs; it provides guidance and presents us with indications of things occurring on a subconscious level.
I have seen this relationship demonstrated repeatedly in the 10+ years I have been a mesa carrier, even in the very first mesa I created. I had been to a workshop with Oscar and decided...
The Universe is Always Speaking to Us
July 2017 | By Stephanie Red Feather
I never cease to be amazed at how the natural world is continually communicating with us, giving us signs and symbols that so directly correlate to our individual circumstances that coincidence becomes an impossibility. I have two astonishing examples of this phenomenon…which occurred on the same day!
I am currently going through a massive and multi-leveled death process, which began in the Spring, the likes of which I have not encountered since my divorce 11 years ago. In addition to my ego being dismantled, I am experiencing...