Rattling the Bones

By Lisa F. Tardiff I had a few people approach me lately with questions on Shamanism.   Many of these individuals are students doing research papers (nearing the end of the University Winter semester); but one was a young woman seeking out a spiritual path hopefully (her words not mine) unlike the religion she was born into.   Amongst these people I found at least six different perspectives on “why Shamanism is a topic of interest for young people today.”   One obvious reason is that Shamanism offers access to hallucinogenic plants as a mean to reach higher awareness.   Even if drugs are illegals in Canada and the U.S – the fascination towards psychedelics has only grown in the last decade making it a trend as well as a popular spiritual and leisure activity. Phenomenon and altered states of consciousness are a close second because it delivers an experience completely different than our ordinary life, alleviating boredom and daily stress. 3.   We’ve ...

By Jennifer Johnson. A few years ago my grandmother died, you may remember Lisa when I was asking about how to clear the house I had purchased from her estate. It had had some TRULY dysfunctional renters and I wanted to protect it because I was renting it out again and co uld still feel her there. I ended up realizing that what was still in the house was my own, and my family`s attachment to my Gran and the fact that it was Gran's house.  I laid down anchors outside as well as a stone inside the house to gather shadow left by bad renters, and smudged the entire house room by room. My fire keeper was strong and the air was thick with smoke. When I went around again with my drum I noticed the smoke swirling around in her bedroom. She passed away in the exact spot the smoke was swirling.  I knew that that was her presence, so I just simply said that it was ok, that we were letting go, and that new people would call this place home and I wanted the right people to love and fe...

By Kristen Duncan For all living things, there is some aspect of growth inherent in their nature. Growth is human nature. From the moment of conception, through childhood and adolescence to adulthood, there is a natural growth that happens physically. Phases of life I also see as a type of growth. Fetus, child, adolescent, adult, elder…… For growth & transformation to happen, what is needed is some kind of alchemy, some kind of alchemical process. With respect to physical development for example, consider all the alchemy that has to happen within the body in order to make a human grow. Alchemy to me is FIRE. Elements come together, there is ignition and cartelization (fire), and something happens. Something moves, something grows. How much growth happens is also dependent on other factors, like the right combination of elements, or the right environment. There are aspects of humans that grow naturally, like the physical I spoke of above. When it comes to personal ...

Every time I bring up the topic of phenomenon, I’m always surprised with how many stories people actually have to share.   They seem countless. Twenty years ago it was taboo to speak of phenomenon unless it related to the Church and miracles.   People were quick to jump to the conclusion that you were mentally ill if you spoke of anything out of the ordinary. Today more and more people bring up the subject of ghosts, magic and mystery.   More and more individuals are ok with admitting that they experienced the unexplained.   I’ve always been surrounded by “phenomena,” so much so that as a young adult I literally believed there was something wrong with me.   Until the age of 19 years old nobody outside my immediate family setting knew that I could communicate with Spirit.   The first time I told a friend, she literally recommended that I see a psychologist.    She even approached our common friends and told them “not to enable me.”  ...