ShamanTalk

This week I’m delighted to welcome Sam McLaren to ShamanTalk!

 Sam is a Celtic seer, shamanic healer, animist, Reiki master, dancer, and musician. She also holds certificates in counselling and has extensive experience in mental health support.

Sam adheres to a robust Celtic mystic and religious discipline through studies with Sharon Paice MacLeod, Celtic Scholar, linguist, and musician from Harvard University, with whom she is undertaking ongoing one-to-one training in Celtic history and religion. This course is ensuring that the information Sam imparts is as accurate as possible, which is vitally important for those seeking a genuine connection to our indigenous spirituality. Sam is currently studying a BA in Celtic Studies – University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Sam shares some of these fascinating insights about Celtic culture, dispels some myths and talk us through how to find out what’s genuinely Celtic, and what simply isn’t!

Information shared on the Podcast:

Medicine Wheel story:

https://www.ucd.ie/tlh/trans/rib.eriu.4.001.t.text.html

Try reading this story, then listen to Sam’s free Medicine Wheel training in our Facebook community in the Units section.

Click here to join the community. 

Sources for Celtic Information:

We often read or hear things about which we might like to check the sources.

As discussed, Sam recommends using Google Scholar Not Wikipedia! Wiki is not a reliable academic source for this kind of work.

www.britannica.com is also a good option.

Recommended reading:

‘Celtic Cosmology and the Otherworld’ by Sharon Paice MacLeod

‘Celtic Myth and Religion’ by Sharon Paice MacLeod

‘The Men of the North’ Tim Clarkson

‘The Gaelic Otherworld’ John Gregorson Campbell

‘Ancient Irish Tales’ by Cross and Slover

‘The Gallic War’ by Julius Caesar

Activity this week

Watch the free Training in the Community group and compare that training to the medicine wheel story above.

Compare the story and see if you can pull the salient points from the information – this will give you some practice in drawing the relevant elements through the later Christian additions.

Don’t know how to Journey? No worries. I got you.

You can sign up for my free monthly live online introduction to Shamanism training here.

You don’t need to be a shaman to work with shamanism.

Let’s think about it in terms of a tribe.

Every tribe member would be connected to nature, their body and their soul. Every member would have innate skills of connection, from where to gather food and when and what type, to hunting, being deeply connected to the animals they hunted. They were linked to each other on such a deep level that they almost moved as one.

This connection is what we are missing in our western lives. And shamanism (or at least the type of shamanism I teach) can bring us to that place of intimate connection.

What we’re looking for ultimately is real, deep, safe, unswerving connection. We want to belong (not just fit in), we want to be able to listen to our inner and outer landscape and understand our bodies. We want to walk through this life feeling strong and confident, clear with boundaries of steel but deep compassion and understanding.

The work we do here aims to lead every individual to that place which is first a connection to ourselves, our bodies, our hearts, souls and minds. Then that will mirror in our relationships in the outer world.

At the Centre for Shamanism, I do that by supporting you to create a map for this work.

There is no right or wrong way here. You can bring all of your spiritual experiences together under one roof. The joy of living in this time is that you get to decide.

Activities for this week

Ask to be shown how shamanism can help you within your life. And how the inner work that you do ripples out and into the world. Feel free to split this into two journeys if you need to.

If you’re brand new to the work, how has this podcast broadened your understanding of shamanic work?

If you been at it for a while, how has your understanding changed over the years?

I’d love you to share in the group as the competition for this week, your experience with Shamanism, what it’s done for you, and how your perceptions have changed.

Don’t know how to Journey? No worries. I got you.

You can sign up for my free monthly live online introduction to Shamanism training here.

What is a control freak?

Why do we do what we do? And can’t seem to stop it?

Is there actually a way to recover from Control Freakery?

Doing some research into this issue I see lots of posts about how to live with a control freak, how to ‘deal’ with a control freak but not but from the control freaks perspective.

In this episode I’m going to go through some painful truths I learned about myself as a control freak. While also exploring some of the reasons I and others suffer from this fate. And it is suffering! If you think living with a control freak is hard – try being one.

It took me a long time to figure out why I did what I did… but when I worked it out, it was really simple. That is often the way for me!

Turns out, behind every controlling behaviour is deep-rooted fear. And an inner child who feels deeply unseen, un-heard and unable to express their needs in relationships.

I share my story & my ongoing relationship with Control. I’ve tried to be as open as I can, even if a lot of what I felt at the time was shame and embarrassment. I chose courage over comfort and accepted the painful truth about my behaviour so I could heal and begin to move on.

Not an easy journey but one I definitely recommend!

Activities & Journeys

Go on an inner journey (into your body) with your guides and ask to be taken to meet your inner child. Remember that your Inner Child might come to you in any form so be open to that.

Ask your inner child what you can do to nurture them and help make them feel safe.

Take notes of these actions and put them into action.

For example, today the control in my body was rude to my husband. I felt the control try to manipulate him into changing his behaviour around X or Y. I was able to tell my husband that the control was running riot and that the control was making me feel dangerous. I was able to tell him that I needed to take a time out. My husband was very understanding.

By taking the time to actually write about your experiences, the power of narrative storytelling comes into play. So, I recommend not just ‘thinking’ of your Control as separate from you but also take the time to write it down. You can keep this writing private and at the end your project (whenever you feel complete with it) you can ask your Guides what the best thing is to do with all these written stories.

Don’t know how to Journey? No worries. I got you.

You can sign up for my free monthly live online introduction to Shamanism training here.

All of my work right now is centred around Empowered Spirituality.

But what does that actually mean? How do we become empowered? Where do we even start?

Being an empowered spiritual person always means that you have to start with personal or inner work – you have to find a way to move into a right relationship with yourself in order to be a highly effective spiritual person.

Your own trauma acts as a filter, a lens through which information is skewed. The more personal work you can do, the clearer your information becomes.

So in this podcast, we’ll talk about ways that you can move into right relationship with yourself, what that means for you and practical ways you can do that.

Currently, my life‘s work is to give other people the opportunity that I had for transformation. It is my heartfelt intention to create a pathway for anybody who wants it or needs it to be able to access this empowered state of Being.

As I’m sure you’re aware I offer many free ways to work towards this empowerment.

I also offer 121 healing sessions on a pay-what-you-can basis.

There are two paid pathways to support you on your way to empowerment

The Apprenticeship:

The step-by-step Shamanic Training Program that helps you become a Shamanic person & escape your mind-traps so that you can create a more happy and fulfilling life.

Click here to discover The Apprenticeship

The Shamanic Spiritual Momentum Membership:

A monthly membership to help you feel Spiritually Supported every day.

Weekly LIVE events – Training workshops, Healing Circles and Ceremonies.

Plus a whole lot more.

Click here to discover the membership (and get your first month FREE!)

It’s my hope that you commit to moving into right relationship with yourself, for the good of yourself, your family and the wider community you live in. Every step towards empowerment you take ripples out and affects the world in unimaginable ways.

I’ve been fielding a lot of questions recently about Spiritual protection and space clearing.

There so much information out there about what’s ‘right’ and wrong’

It’s no wonder everyone gets confused about protection, smudging, space clearing etc.

So I’m going to share what I do and why I do it.

And why there’s NO RIGHT OR WRONG WAY with this work.

Then I’m going to discuss how you can develop your own sense of how to work with protection and clearing.

Using only clear, mindful intentional action.

These are techniques I’ve developed a relationship with over many years and they work because I intend them to work.

So, if you want to dance around naked, singing Kylie songs and waving a feather duster to clear your space…. Go ahead…. It will work! It’s ALL ABOUT INTENTIONAL ACTION.

And when we talk about Spiritual Protection, our old friend FEAR comes out to play! We imagine all sorts of nasties in the night! But here’s the thing, we wear a seatbelt because we MIGHT crash. We don’t crash every time we get in a car… and many of us never crash.

Spiritual Protection is the same. We learn how to work our spiritual seatbelt on the rare occasion we MIGHT crash… not because there are ‘bad spirits’ waiting to pounce at every corner!

Activities & Journeys

This project will help you to develop ways to protect and clear your space from unwanted energy.

Part A

Part B

3.  Keep a note of how you feel and how this changes for you.

Don’t know how to Journey? No worries. I got you.

You can sign up for my free monthly live online introduction to Shamanism training here.

In this podcast, Scott and I share the experience of our holiday in the wilds of Scotland. The experience for us was deeply ceremonial in many ways and it got me thinking…

What does Ceremony mean to me?

What I know to be true for me is that life is a Ceremony, those sacred conversations that open a doorway, the spontaneous Ceremony that can just appear for us as well as the thoughtful and laid out more ‘obvious’ Ceremonies we perform as shamanic people.

So, Scott and I invite you to join us on an exploration of our Ceremonial experiences and some funny moments too!

Activities & Journeys

Be open this week to moments of Ceremony that happen spontaneously. Some examples are:

And when you catch a moment, allow the feeling of connection to source to flood your body. Allow the flow of the moment to fill you up.

Though a ceremony needs a form, and often forms that are repeated over time gain power, you will find that a spirit of spontaneity and playfulness is so welcome in your ceremonial life. Maybe you will be moved to dance or drum or sing to celebrate these moments.

Make notes and think about that moment.

Don’t know how to Journey? No worries. I got you.

You can sign up for my free monthly live online introduction to Shamanism training here.

It’s something I’ve been hearing a lot recently in the Facebook Group.

‘How do I know I’m not making it up in my head?’

“I can’t ‘see’ anything in my journeys”

“Is it all just my imagination?”

In this week's podcast, we discuss the different types of ways that you might receive your messages

The four ways we will discuss our clairaudience clairsentience claircognizance and clairvoyance

It’s easy to get lost when we are trying to understand spiritual messages

 I hope to clear up some of the mystery.

I also welcome my husband Scott to discuss his experience and how he interacts with messages & shamanic guides (hint – he doesn’t work with guides)

Scott and I experience shamanism quite differently and I hope you enjoy listening to a different perspective

Activities and Journeys

Working with symbols as a way to work on intuition and receive messages.

Hold the intention to receive a symbol. keep your senses open throughout the day and see if anything appears for you, you can also journey and ask for a symbol

Make a Touchstone. Write on your hands, on notes or on your phone to remind yourself throughout the day. This will help you to keep your symbol in your mid mind.

To help amplify your symbol think of possible fairy stories or myths.

Once you have worked with symbols in this we go back to omen walking and weave this knowledge into your walks. this will help to deepen your understanding of your connection and spiritual perception.

It will also help you to develop different ways of receiving messages and help you to understand the different types of ways that you can receive messages

It’s understandable to want to help someone one in a bind.

But what if they didn’t want help?

Do we accept their refusal? Or do we insist on helping, believing we know exactly how to handle their problem, regardless of their desire to work it out themselves?

A saviour complex describes this need to “save” people by fixing their problems.

People with a saviour complex tend to:

This week we take a look at how to recognise this kind of behaviour and why it can do more harm than good.

We also discuss how compassionate ways that you can respond to being ‘saved’ by others when you didn’t ask for help.

Activities & Journeys