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.