I am so excited by my upcoming trip to Ireland.  This will be my first visit to the mystic isle and I can hardly wait.  Celtic shamanism speaks to me so deeply because of its mystic view of life.  There is no separation between this world and the “other world”.  They overlap and are accessible to us.  I love the concept of “betwixt and between” and that there are “edges” in our reality where the veil between the worlds is thinnest.  I like to think that the “Tuatha de Danaan” are here among us urging us on to a better world and to an acknowledged interaction with them.  I leave for Ireland the end of September and will return the middle of October.  I will fill you in on more at that time! 

May the faeries dance upon your heart,

Jeanne

Wow, I just returned from Waupaca Wisconsin after facilitating a Wild Woman Weekend there.  I must tell you, the Women in Eastern Wisconsin are just as wild as the women in Northern Minnesota if not moreso!  It was a fantastic weekend of sharing, drumming, dancing and supporting women!  The weather spirits forced us to have our fire ceremony inside, in front of the fireplace, but it was just as powerful as if it was outside.  We had wonderful accomodations in the mostly pine woods and a beautiful building to shelter us. 

I don’t know why, but I am always amazed at the power of women coming together in circle.  We talked about this some during the weekend.  This must have been the  power of the old sewing and quilting bees, the Red tent, moon lodge, etc.  Women need community with other women, it feeds our hearts and souls.  Too often today in our fast paced world we forget to take time out for us.  If you long for woman companionship, join a women only group—a book club, spiritual study group, etc.  or just ask a friend or two out to lunch.  Make time to feed your heart and soul!

May the spirit of the heart of woman touch your soul,

Jeanne

I’ve just read two great Celtic books that I wanted to share with you. 

The first is a fiction work, Marian Zimmer Bradleys “The Ravens of Avalon”.  This book follows the life of the warrior goddess Boudica—you get a wonderful feel for her energy, her pain, her justice, during the time of the Roman takeover.  It is a violent book, but one that is truthful to the times.  It helped me to understand more the warrior spirit of the Celts.

A new book just out is a fiction work, “The Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey” by Ellen Evert Hopman.  The author is a practicing Druid and has written books on herbalism.  This book is filled with herbal practices and you really get immersed in the Druid way of life.  It is beautifully written and you fall in love with the main character and her love of nature.  Of course there is a love story in it, not just of two people, but with the forest too.  This book also gives you a sense of the role of the goddess in ancient celtic life and how the arrival of the Romans and the Christian church changed the life of the forest ways.  It also talks a lot about the warriors who lived in the forest, the Fennidi, and their life and impact on the times.

In reading both of these books, they awakened my sense of the damage the church did when it overtook the goddess/nature societies.  I had of course known about this before, but it really personalized it.  The Mists of Avalon book talked somewhat about that at the end, but both of these books really look at how it changed life—and the change was not good.  Especially in reading the Priestess of the Forest book it made me wonder what life would be today if the Church had never existed.  Something to ponder……..

May the warmth of the sun inspire you!

Jeanne

I’m really excited about how this Spring is shaping up!  I’ll be bringing Wild Woman Weekend to Waupaca Wisconsin!  How exciting to meet all new women and to join with them in connecting with their wild woman.  I’ll also be teaching an Intro to Shamanism class in Spooner Wisconsin the end of April and one in Appleton Wisconsin the second weekend in May.  I’m so excited about branching out!

More exciting news is that I am working on new workshops!  In addition to the new one I created last fall on Expressions of Grief: Calling in the Ancestors, I’m also working on one for Reiki Practitioners that introduces them to shamanic skills and techniques that they can incorporate into their Reiki practice–Shamanism and Reiki together!  Another new class will be on working with the Weather Spirits—I’m really excited about this one especially with the summer months approaching where we can truly be out in nature.  And finally I’m working on a Journeying class that is for those of you who feel you need more instruction in learning how to journey.  And please let me know if there are other subjects you would like classes on!  I’m willing to put together anything in shamanism and the reiki fields.  Just let me know!

May the warmth of the spring winds gently wrap around you,

Jeanne

Hey everyone, I just found a website that maybe you already know about.  It is a website for spiritual singles looking for love.  I’ve done lots of years of internet dating and what is always lacking is the spiritual component.  Here’s a whole website full of women AND MEN who are into spirituality.  Just go tohttp://www.spiritualsingles.com/125.html and see who you might find!  I’ll let you know if I find anyone too!!!   Enjoy!

Lunar eclipse blessings to you,

Jeanne

In the past few weeks I have seen two movies that everyone in the United States needs to see.  They are Sicko by Michael Moore which talks about our broken health care system, and Zeitgeist which presents the real people who run our world and their goals.  I cannot recommend these enough to you.  Sadly, as I was watching Zeitgeist, it became very apparent to me that the powers that be will make sure Hillary Clinton is our Democratic contender for President, just as I believe, they did with George W. Bush.

There is a line from the movie Zeitgeist that talks about one way to control people is to disconnect them from nature.  It made me realize that this is why shamanism is so important to the world.  Re-connecting with nature is a reconnection to your own power, the power of Mother Earth and the Universe.  This is why people who go through the shamanism program find their lives completely changed.  They become empowered and are no longer moved and swayed by outside influences.  They have learned to listen to their own hearts and draw upon the power of nature.  It is a lesson worth remembering!

In Sicko, what spoke most to me, was a man in France who stated, “We take care of one another”.  This was in reference to a healthcare system that is totally free there.  It made me realize that we have turned our power over to insurance companies who are refusing to “take care of us” when we are ill.  Instead, we should be taking care of one another.  To quote Mother Teresa, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to one another.”  We truly are One!

May the blessings of the wind, the rivers, and the warmth of the sun caress you today!

Jeanne

It’s 16 degrees below zero as I write this!  As I awoke this morning, I looked out upon my back yard and saw mists rising in the air from the river below.  It was so beautiful in the crispness and silence of the rest of nature, to see these etherial mists arising.  And what a gift it was to my morning, to see the breath of the river, rising to meet the day!  Nature brings us such beauty and wisdom even when it’s 16 degrees below zero!  I love the mists.  I think that is part of why I love Celtic Shamanism so much.  The mists being symbolic of the other world, the betwixt and between, where inspiration is born!  Today I will take the mists into my heart, and fill it with the inspiration of the ancient bards and poets.  Perhaps I’ll write a poem today, or write a new song, or smile more!  Thank you Spirit of the River for sharing your breath with me today!  Jeanne

Greetings everyone!~ 

Thanks so much for visiting my website.  This is the first time I will be working with a blog so I ask for your ideas, input and comments.  I’m so excited to finally get my own website set up so that the students I have trained have a place to converse with one another and share information.  You received an invitation to visit this website because you were or are a student who has taken shamanism or Reiki classes with me.  So this is your place too!  I hope you will enjoy it.

The website is in its beginning stages and I have much info to put on the pages that are here.  I feel this new year is a new adventure for me, having quit my “traiditional” job and putting my efforts into that which I love—teaching and offering healing services.  I have also developed an integrative counseling approach for those of you who need some traditional counseling and I have integrated that with energywork.  To me this makes much more sense, integrating body, mind and spirit.  I hope to have a fuller description of this service up on the site soon.

So I invite your comments, observations, musings in the realms of spirituality, shamanism, energy healing, peacemaking etc.  This is a forum for us all to speak and share!

May your day be filled with the joy of the faeries,

Jeanne

Thank you for visiting my new Blog. This is an exciting, and I admit, a teeny bit intimidating new adventure for me. Please visit often and I welcome your questions, comments and more.