earthdrummer.com » Featured Articles

EarthDrummer Welcomes You

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:22:12 +0000

EarthDrummer is your place to “Come into the peace of wild things….And Remember.” Here I will be sharing thoughts, ideas, and my own brand of wisdom. You will also find information on all of the services and classes I offer and more. Please visit often, sign up for the newsletter and make this one of your sacred online spaces. Namaste, Jeanne Marie Troge.

The Shamanic Path

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:17:42 +0000

I was just telling a friend about my experiences in studying Celtic Shamanism with Tom Cowan. (He is an incredible teacher!). When I first started studying celtic shamanism, I wasn’t sure that this was a path that really sang to my heart. I had difficulty understanding the concepts as it seemed so foreign to what I had known and what I was used to doing in core shamanism. Core shamanism is pretty straight forward and clear cut, so it is easy to wrap your mind around it. Celtic shamanism, however, is a whole another mind set that you really can’t define. It is like celtic knotwork—you travel the path around curves and over previously traveled paths not knowing at all where you might be going, but trusting it will take you where you need to be. It is not a theory or way of thinking, it is a way of being and feeling governed by the heart. Through the years I have come to appreciate the expansiveness of celtic thought—the idea that our soul is everywhere and has no limitations placed upon it. The idea that the otherworld is right here with us and not somewhere else at all, but contains the whole universe. The idea that everything is sacred and holy and is honored and lived “right out there” in everyday life. And the deep deep place that the mythology can take you—-to deep recesses in the psyche that I didn’t even know were there. I love the magic and mystery and depth of it all! I really am trying to live from that awareness that everything and everyone is sacred—that every moment is sacred, that is my goal this year. For me that connects me to not just knowing about the divine, but to the actual feeling of the divine in everything and in my life in every minute of it. That is the celtic gift, to move through the mists, which are the portal to the place of sacredness, poetry, heart, and divinity. I can feel Brigid’s fire burning in my heart. I am so thankful that I did not give up on this journey. It has taken me a long time to get to this place—to truly understand what the celtic belief and life is all about. Traveling to Ireland really helped me with that. I live in such gratitude now and feel so connected to the source that sustains us all.

Spirit of Nature

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:14:59 +0000

The Green Man is speaking to me again! In Celtic belief the Green Man is the Spirit of Nature, the Spirit of the woods. Wildness and passion are a part of the Green Man’s character. I’m sure you’ve seen representations of him as a face of a man covered with leaves. For me his presence was strong about 10 years ago in my life. Now, he has resurfaced. Perhaps it is because it is spring, or he is returning because the world is now asking us to live green. For whatever reason, he is returning and he’s connecting with my heart. He was reignited in me at the Celtic Shamanism training on the Druid Wisdom Tales with Tom Cowan. I feel he is challenging me to look at my own wildness (or unwildness) and passion. So many times I find myself living the same life day in and day out. He asks me to connect with the wildness within my heart, and ignite that passion that is in my heart and live fully alive! When I look at the forests, the trees now budding out and flowers blooming, I am captured by the glory of nature in all of its becoming! Such fertility and beauty! Let us look today at our own lives and see if we can bring more wildness and passion into our lives so that we can “become” and feel that nature connection of fertility, creation, wildness, passion and beauty! Awesome!

May the Green Man visit your heart today,
Jeanne

Crow Wisdom

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:06:26 +0000

I spoke with crow during the night. I asked for clarity, to help with the feelings of sadness that surrounded me. Feelings of being old and outdated, spent and useless. Crow led me with its call across the meadows and into the forest, heading deep into the forest, deep into the darkness. I followed his lead as I know he would bring the magic of creation into my life. I stepped into the darkness feeling supported and safe. I felt myself drawn to a certain place in the forest—it was shrouded in darkness with a twisted tangle of branches and vines. I could not see through the bramble, but noticed something shining from within it. I approached slowly, not knowing quite what I was to do. Once confronted with the tangled mess in front of me, I asked Crow how to reach inside to the glowing object. Crow looked directly into my eyes and said, “Your tears will untangle what blocks you. Your way in will then be clear.”

I went deep into my sadness, into the feelings of uselessness and my tears fell easily upon the twisted branches. As my tears fell, the branches magically released and I could see this shining light clearly. I reached through the opening into the twisted branches and grasped the shining object. It was an egg shaped object, here in physical reality, yet also in the otherworld. There were many dimensions to it. Crow told me to open the egg. Again, I asked him how to do that. Crow said to use my breath, to breathe from my soul. I closed my eyes and felt deep within my body for the breath of life. As I breathed upon the egg, it opened. Inside I found my heart~~~~May Crow speak to you today,
Jeanne

Lake Superior…My Sacred Place

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:59:24 +0000

EarthDrummer is your place to reconnect with Mother Earth.

For the past 18 years I’ve had a love affair with Lake Superior. She is my healer, my lover, my nurturer.

On a cold blustery spring day I went down to the Lake and found this stone heart waiting for me on the beach. I stood there and cried at the gesture, the Spirit of the Lake loves me too!