"All the same, in some ways I feel Different"...
The Monthly Broadsheet on Encounters with the Liminal Realm
Nature is evocative. What does this mean to you? When I say nature, what comes in, what sensation, vision, smell, feeling?
Over the late Spring and throughout the Summer ritual has led me to connect with breathtaking vistas and the threshold beings in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Winston Salem, North Carolina, Larbert, the Isle of Skye, the numerous glens and lochs of the Highlands, and eventually will connect me to lands and the ones who inhabit Totnes, UK.
Throughout these months, I have not only craved economy of speech and language but also an economy of presence. You see, in stillness, there comes an awareness of the impact of how much space we occupy. When we give way to the other than humans that offer their language and ways of inhabiting hearth and home, we can then understand the necessity for us as humans to collaborate with the universality of all sentient beings.
As I danced with the wild feral elemental forces of air, wind, and rain on Skye, it was clear to me that communication with the clouds themselves was occurring.
And now, as I look out the window of my retreat, I see overhead a buzzard circling, something I am told that is quite rare, buzzards in Scotland. And to juxtapose this, at my home in Athens, Georgia one morning I heard such a clamoring and woke to at least 20 buzzards on my neighbor’s roof. This brings me to some fascinating remarks about inhabiting and appreciation for place that I have heard here in Scotland, and also something that I am aware that I do back in the States. That is, not being aware of the awe and wonder that is outside our own backdoor perhaps because we take it for granted, perhaps because we are busy with surviving, and perhaps because we fill our lives with things that are distracting us on purpose so we consume more and inhabit our lives less.
So, through the potent pathways that have led me to ponder these revelations, it reminds me along the way, that as I admit to knowing less and staying curious to hearing more, synchronicity weaves her relationship with me. Upon the 2nd day of being welcomed by my generous host near Ben Ledi, she hands me a small green book of great importance. This book which recounts the experiences of a scientist and gentleman and his connection with nature spirits, is the reflection of my life and my encounters with what I have come to accept to be true.
Nature doesn’t need us to protect it, Nature has been here through several evolutions of what we call humans. I was shown how we are to nature, what clothes are to us, something simply to change in style whenever we have worn ourselves out. It will, in fact, carry on without us. However, nature wants to do life with us. For us to share our human experience collaboratively and as equals. Descartes and Aristotle may have contributed much to our reasoning but placing us a the head of the hierarchy of that reasoning was short-sighted.
We as humans who have been conditioned to think of ourselves as superior need to learn what it is like to be regular-sized in the web of relations. I believe our ancient ancestors understood this and lived in harmony with the natural world and all of the inhabitants seen and unseen. There are still intact cultures who inhabit their way of being in the world this way, who are frequently dismissed as being primitive.
Mercy, we can be an arrogant race. So how do we go about reclaiming connection with the nature spirits without unintentionally, and unconsciously showing up as superior?
Self-examination of motive is imperative. For instance, wanting to connect with these beings so you can show your other fellow humans that you are a warrior god/goddess and hold power as a healer would not yield the relationship with these forces you might anticipate. Instead, nature beings might offer you a place of respite and healing to recover from the misconceptions of ego and that may or may not go well for you depending on if you take in the wisdom and incorporate it with humility.
We also need not go look for nature spirits in distant places but first seek the ones who interact with us daily right outside our own homes. Learning to relate connectively and collaboratively with those who live beside us, who may not have physical form like ourselves, or may not have form at all is essential to living this regular-sized life I am aiming towards.
I could say much more, and will in time, but all this is to say, that this is entirely possible for everyone regardless of background or belief system.
I have held in the past 11 years of my life over 25,000 sessions guiding people in connecting with the larger web of sentience with their blood lineage ancestors, and with the wider web of relations. These connections are profound, life-changing, and I believe contribute to greater harmony between humans and the other than-human kin. I say this with this intent only, in my experiences, seen, felt, and heard, there is life beyond what we have been led to believe and that these forces, ancestors, nature spirits not only want to be in connection with us. They, in fact, care about us, love us. Well, most of them…
Ok, I have gone on enough here on the pages and want to be aware of the economy of what I spoke to and let you all digest what arises after harkening to the call.
I will leave you with ways to dive into these pathways with me either in person or via the prowess of the technical realms.
A few spaces left to sit with your ancestors and a beautiful collective of ancestor venerators in Totnes, UK, and in Larbert, Scotland
Ancestral lineage healing is the practice of relating directly with one’s blood ancestors for personal, family, and cultural healing. It involves safely establishing relationships with wise and well ancestors and enlisting their aid and participation to deeply heal your lineages reaching far back in time.
If you’ve participated in various kinds of personal healing work and you’re seeking greater breakthroughs, ancestral healing may be for you. This approach weaves helpful elements from psychology, cultural healing, and spiritual/ritual traditions. Patterns rooted in intergenerational cycles and cultural pain can finally find resolution. Coming into relationship with recent and more ancient ancestors can serve to re-establish obscured blessings, improve relationships with the living, and encourage clarity of purpose.
Over three days, we will explore the Ancestral Lineage Healing process developed by Dr. Daniel Foor where you will come into direct relation with your wise ancestors on your blood lineages, and begin the lineage repair process.
What To Expect
Our shared time is guided in ways that are psychologically grounded, ritually safe, and culturally inclusive. All teachings and practices are led by Shannon. Those new to ancestor work, adoptees, and folks with a tough experience of family and culture are warmly welcome.
Learn a life-long framework to relate in direct, safe, and empowering ways with your family and lineage ancestors
Engage in experiential practices to make connections with ancestral guides and teachers and learn to partner with those guides for personal and family healing.
Enjoy a nurturing blend of teaching, direct practice with your ancestors, and inclusive space for group dialogue and exchange.
Explore ways to join with your ancestors to support the resolution of larger systemic, generational, and cultural wounding within the supportive vessel of group ritual.
Make tangible offerings of healing and beauty for your ancestors and for the larger prayer of cultural and Earth healing.
Two seats remain in Larbert Scotland, Learn more here
One seat remains in Totnes, Devon UK, Learn more here
If you would like to have me teach an in-person Ancestral Lineage Healing Intensive in your community, reach out to shannon@redearthhealing.org
July is my Birthday Month!
Happy to be incarnated in this beautiful galaxy with you. For this month’s Ancestor Circle, I am contributing all of the proceeds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to assist with relief in GAZA. I am happy to be with you and your venerated ones and hope to connect our altars for collective healing. It will be held on July 28th, 2024 from 3 pm to 4:30 pm Eastern (you can click on the image to learn more).
Courses
If you are seeking connection with the nature spirits, the elemental forces who are with you right outside your door, and have yet to meet the spirit who companions you in life, or you would like to deepen your relationship with these, I invite you to join me in the course, FORCES OF NATURE beginning on August 15th, 2024
It is by all accounts a primer into animism, learning to be regular-sized in the liminal realms and learning how to be in reciprocity with the wider web of relations. I developed this course 7 years ago and have found it increasingly necessary for anyone who is seeking to hold rituals either for themselves or others. It is a required course for those wishing to join the Foundations of Psychopomp Practitioner Training which begins in October.