Sweet Land of Liberty

Waking and honoring the Spirit of the Land of the United States

As a shamanic practitioner, part of my job is to work with the Spirit of the Land. Recently I was called to expand that work in a big, but beautiful and fun way.

dandelion wishes

Recently I received a call from my shamanic friend Rose De Dan, who said her Spirit Guides had just asked her to do something completely new to her. They asked her to gather a couple of shamanic friends and sing to the Land. She replied to this by asking "Let me get this straight, you want me to create a shamanic choir?!" and they said yes!

They said that the purpose of this was to be a ceremony to awaken the Land and All Our Relations which was needed to help in the fight for democracy and freedom. When Rose told me that, I had chills which told me this was true and important. I also immediately thought of the Invasion Cycle of Irish mythology, in which many myths tell us that whichever side in a battle can convince the Land to join their side, that's the side who wins. Every time.

So, although I'm not a singer, I was in! We quickly decided our third would be fellow shaman Patrick Corrigan. Rose called and he was an enthusiastic yes as well.

The Song

Rose's guides gave her the song we were to sing - "My Country Tis of Thee". This is a beautiful, patriotic song that was used as one of our national anthems before the adoption of "The Star Spangled Banner" as the official U.S. national anthem in 1931.

The melody of "My Country Tis of Thee" is adapted from the national anthem of the United Kingdom, "God Save the King". This melody was deliberately repurposed in resistance to the idea of rulership by a king. That felt very significant considering our purpose for this ceremony.

Shamanic Choir

We met for our ceremony over the phone, each in our own place in this beuatiful Land. I chose to go outside to my back yard, but others of our group stayed in their homes. We called in our Spirit Guides, and invited the plants and animals living around us to join in our ceremony. Then we began to sing.

I am not a great singer, but that wasn't the purpose here. Still, I tried to harmonize with my fellow shamans. And failed. The more I tried, the worse I got! Our singing was out of synch, and I tried very hard to sync up, and could not. Finally, I just let go. I abandoned the attempt at control and just "went with the flow." And when I did, I felt the power of the ceremony flow through! I felt my connections with this land where I live, the plants and animals who live here.

I felt the shamanic Power of the ceremony flow out, filling the land around me with Light and Love. I felt the response of the Land. A lizard came over close to me, looking directly at me, and sat with me. I felt my connections with the Land around me deepen, open.

When we finished singing, we sat in silence for a moment. Just being in the energy. My lizard friend sat with me.

Then we began to share our experiences. Each of us had tried to harmonize, had tried to sync our voices together, and had failed. The more we tried, the more "off" we were. Until we gave up and just let go. Then, we each felt the power of our ceremony expand once we let go. We felt the beauty, the connection.

We would have won no singing awards that day. But it was profoundly beautiful. What we did do is create a beginning, a portal which still stands open, to connect with and awaken this beautiful Land of ours. This Land that has been abused and mistreated, neglected and forgotten. We have forgotten to acknowledge the Spirit of our Land for far too long. This ceremony was a beginning, the start of building relationship with our Land and All Our Relations again as a country.

We began this ceremony, but it was never intended for it to stay with just us. It was not a "once and done" thing. It was a beginning.

You Can Join the Ceremony

You, yes YOU can join in the ceremony. From wherever you are. Whenever. We created the container, the vessel, to carry the energy. You can contribute any time and your energy will add to the Power of the ceremony. The more people adding in their energy, the better. The more places around the country, or world, people add from, the better!

You can join in your home, or go outside, whichever is most comfortable for you to do. Connect with Spirit in whatever way works for you, and set your intentions to join this ceremony. Then sing the song! Focus on your love for this Land, your connections with All Our Relations who live near you as you sing. The song will help, as it's all about the beauty of the Land of this nation.

We used the lyrics found here for the words to sing the song. I hope that you join us! I would love to hear your experiences about it if you do.

Rock'n Animal Guidance: Wisdom from the Spider

Spider shared some wisdom with me, saying it's important for us all right now.

As a shamanic practitioner, I am in communication with the plants, animals and trees who live around me and share space with me. They are my neighbors. They also have a lot of wisdom and guidance to share when we take the time to really listen.

Spiny Orb Weaver Spider on her beautiful, large web in my back yard

As I went to do the watering in my back yard the other day, I came across this beautiful orb weaver spider on her beautiful and huge web. I felt a connection with her, she had a message for me. She began telling me about her web and how essential it is for her survival and her wellbeing. It is her support network. She showed me how it corresponds with community for us humans, and how important that is for our well being. It was clear this message was for more than just me, I was to share it widely.

This spider gave me some good tips on building community, our web of support. She gave me simple guidelines that we can use, to make life more comfortable and fulfilling without feeling overwhelming.

Spider's Guidelines for Building Community Support

Spider began showing me the steps of building her web. She showed me how proper planning sets her up for success before she begins a single thread. She first determines the purpose of her web. What does she want to accomplish with it? And that leads her to placement, which includes several different factors. Once she has the placement decided, only then does she begin actually building her web. Once built, there is monitoring and maintenance. All of these same steps apply in building our community support network.

Purpose: What do you want to accomplish?

Placement and supports: The cornerstones of your support network

Weaving the Strands of Support

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Purpose: What do you want to accomplish?

What are the main goals of your support network? Our spider friend was looking to build her web to catch food for herself and make a home. What are you looking for? Maybe you're just looking for a group to game with, or garden with. Or maybe, you're looking to build an entire network of community support to look out for each other when times are tough.

Placement and Supports: The cornerstones of your support network

Our spider friend gave me the advice that we should be building community support networks that will help each other survive and thrive in difficult times. With the political situation being what it is globally, and with climate change increasing, this feels like a very good idea and so that is what I'll be writing more about. But if you have a different goal in mind, the steps are the same.

This is where you identify all the areas of your life you might one day need support for. We need to get less dependent of major corporations and get more local. Think about your daily life, what needs to happen to keep you going? Do you have young children? If so, you'll want to include people who could provide child care. We all need to think about food and water. What would happen if the grocery store shuts down? Those of us who live where there are hurricanes know that we need to stock up before a storm because stores won't be open for a day or two. Think about things like shortages, natural disasters etc. These are becoming more common, and that will continue due to climate change.

Then, think about things like household repair, health considerations etc. What services do we use regularly like hair cutting, childcare, mechanics. What are the things that support our lives? What needs do we need to ensure continue to get met?

Now, what skills do you have to offer? Are you really handy around the house? Do you have a green thumb? Can you keep children occupied and entertained? What are you willing to offer to your community in support? A community support network relies on everyone contributing in their own way. Maybe you need help painting your house, and in exchange you can feed your neighbors nutritious and delicious dinner?

Weaving the Strands of Support

Now for the fun part! Keeping your supports in mind, look for ways to fulfill those support needs for yourself and those around you. Look for ways to share your skills and the supports you have with others. Look for ways we can care for each other. Maybe start a neighborhood garden sharing project, or a childcare share for the neighborhood. Be creative, look for win - win solutions. Everyone is a strand in the web. How many strands can you connect? A good support network will connect many people, and support all.

Then monitoring and maintenance come in. We need to keep checking in on all our strands. Are they doing okay? Do they need anything? How can we help? If we care for each other, we can weather any storm together. When times are good, we have a block party and share the bounty. When times are hard, many hands working together lighten the load.

We have gotten so disconnected, from nature and each other. We were not meant to be so alone. We need to be in connection, in community. We need to support each other. Life is better together! Together we are strong.

Saminchukuy - Energy Clearing

How to clear and maintain your personal energy

Saminchukuy is a method of personal energy clearing from the Q'ero, the native people of the Peruvian Andes. The Peruvian people are very down to Earth, their techniques tend to be simple but highly effective and this one is a perfect example. It is a method of clearing energy that is weighing you down, keeping you feeling stuck.

This energy is called hucha. What is hucha? It's energy that is incompatible with you. It's not negative, or bad, but incompatible with your energy. It tends to feel heavy, it can make you feel weighed down or irritable. It can also get stuck in your body and can cause health problems if it isn't cleared.

We pick up heavy energy all the time, it's everywhere. It's created by fear, anger, trauma. It's literally flying through the airwaves on the news, it's created in traffic when people get road rage. When people think a judgmental negative thought about you, they can send heavy energy to you along with that thought.

When we get weighed down with this energy, it can cause us to get irritable, or feel overwhelmed, or depressed. It can cause emotional distress, and over time physical issues as well. So what do we do about it? Well, this simple technique can work wonders. Regularly clearing your energy helps you maintain emotional equilibrium throughout stressful days, helps you feel lighter and see life more clearly. The Q'ero say anyone who practices saminchukuy daily is on the path to enlightenment. Note that they do not say how long the path is!

To begin, sit comfortably. Picture, feel or intend for a root to grow from the base of your spine down into the Earth. Let it grow deeper and deeper, far down into the Earth. Then, allow any heavy or incompatible energy that is not serving you to flow down towards this root, and then down the root into the Earth. As the heavy energy is flowing out, picture, feel or intend a beam of light coming from the heavens, from the source of all life down toward you. Open your crown chakra - the energy center at the top of your head - and feel this energy begin to flow into your body and fill you up. This is important as you are releasing energy, you don't want to leave a vacuum - an empty space where the heavy energy was because it would fill again with heavy energy. This energy from source is life force energy, healing and light.

Continue the flow of heavy energy down and out, and the flow of light energy in. When you feel the heavy energy is gone, stop the flow down the root and pull the root back into your body. That root is your energy too, you want to keep it. Close your energy field at the base of your spine. All that's required is the intention, your energy will do as you intend. Once you feel full of light energy, then stop the flow into your body and close your crown chakra. You should feel lighter, calm and clear.

It is recommended to do this twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening for 5 minutes each. This allows you to begin your day clear, on the right foot so to speak. Then, you clear all the energy picked up throughout the day before bed. This allows you to sleep more peacefully and rest more fully. But you can do this whenever you feel you need it. If you're in a stressful situation, you may want to clear your energy during lunch, and you absolutely can. It may take some time to clear all the heavy energy built up around traumas that have been stuck for a while, it doesn't all come out at once and that's ok. You will see benefits to this practice immediately, but the benefits will increase over time with regular practice.

When you begin this practice, you might find it easier to do with your eyes closed, but you don't need to. In fact, as you get familiar with it, it's best to be able to do it eyes open. This is intended to be an invisible practice, meaning you could be out to lunch with family in the middle of the mall and be doing your energy clearing while eating a hamburger and nobody would know except you.

If you are someone who picks up other people's emotions or gets overwhelmed by the energy around you, this practice is truly life changing. It has helped me immensely, and I hope it does the same for you.