Hello to my return journeyers. A warm welcome to my semi-constant journeyers. And, a very special welcome to my new journeyers.

I am so glad you’re here.

Long ago, Shamans were healers from Nature-based traditions who entered a trance-like state to travel into the Spirit World. While in the trance state, Shamans were able to work with unseen forces known as Spirit kin/allies/helpers to retrieve information and bring it back to ordinary or mundane reality to help the suffering person or tribe. Traditional Shamans understood that the Soul could be harmed, and as a result, the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of the person before them could suffer. 

I am often in conflict with neo-Shamanism as there is a very thin line between cultural appropriation and understanding that spiritual teachings and spiritual knowing ultimately come from Spirit. I attempt to practice in a way that is respectful and, at the same time, follow my soul’s call to explore Shamanism deeply. 

I began to learn more about Medicine Wheels and healing circles when I was introduced to Traditional Chinese Medicine and then to Shamanism. The Medicine Wheel is a profoundly beneficial symbol for tracking your personal evolution. The relationship that I have developed with my own personal wheel involves understanding the four aspects of Self (Physical, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual) in relationship to the four cardinal directions (South, West, East, North) and the four elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth). When I first stepped onto this path, most of my healing was done in the West of my personal wheel as I dove down into the emotional depths of my wounding. 

If you’re listening or reading this in real-time, we have just passed through February 1 – celebrated in pagan traditions as Imbolc or the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. This is a very powerful time for redirecting attention and intention to the newness that Spring brings with respect to all aspects of Self. 

In my medicine wheel — yours may be different — Spring corresponds to the East and the element of Air. Air is the element that sustains life – without Air, there is no breath, and without breath, there is no life. Air is formless and reminds us that there is wisdom in what we cannot see but know is there. After all, the seen and the unseen are one. You will know if you are standing in the East of your wheel if you are experiencing new beginnings, whether they have come unexpectedly, suddenly or through great effort. The East (Springtime) is a time to ask yourself what you are birthing, renewing, or illuminating. Spring is a time to renew your perceptions of situations, relationships, and aspects of Self. If this calls to you, journey to the Spirits of the East and ask for guidance. 

For those that I have worked with one-on-one, creating relationship with a personal medicine wheel has been profound. Some whom I have met in the depth of physical suffering, who were standing in the South of their wheel as Wounded Warriors, have stepped out of that place and into the West, which is the place of emotional understanding, knowing, and wisdom.

Shamanism is experiential and exploratory. There are many paths to explore self-healing and many more paths to connect to the sacred within and without. If you wish, journeying can offer you deep healing and connection. 

Shamanic journeying offers a practice of peering into other worlds or non-ordinary reality to bring your Soul back into the knowing that you are powerful and whole. Journeying, which refers to entering an altered state of consciousness, is a tool you can use to explore, connect, and work within hidden Spirit Worlds. Spirit Worlds are sometimes referred to as planes of consciousness. 

There are many different pathways or journeys that you may take to explore the deepest layers of your individual consciousness as well as collective consciousness. 

Journeying shifts your brainwaves from your normally focused beta state, in which brain waves oscillate between 13-38 cycles per second, into theta state, where your brain waves oscillate between 4-7 cycles per second. Journeying, facilitated by the monotonous rhythm of the drum or rattle, slows your brain down enough that you can access information that isn’t normally accessible to you in your “normal operating state.” At times, I have experienced journeying as a reconnection to all that is happening underneath the surface, just out of reach when we are simply operating in this reality doing our mundane tasks. 

Every now and again, there are moments, events or experiences that wake us up – wake our soul up – to the sacred that exists within the mundane. 

Journeying doesn’t need to be fancy. You can’t do it wrong. That said, it is a skill that needs to be practiced and developed. 

The next six weeks before Spring Equinox are a time to orient your Self and Soul to all the Spring represents – new life, growth, creation, vision, illumination, and so on. 

This is your time to journey for your next turn of the wheel. Journey to the East, and I’ll meet you there.

As always, thank you for your kind attention. 

Until we meet again in this time, this place, this space, happy journeying.

-Heather