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"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Shamanism, Jung, and the Heart with C. Michael Smith

Now more than ever we must bridge the heart-centered, earth honoring, and interconnection-based practices of shamanism with the contemporary mind and depth psychologies-and we must do it globally. Our every decision must begin to intentionally and consciously shape a different world. Join host, Christina Pratt, and her guest, C. Michael Smith, PhD, (aka Mikkal) author of Jung and Shamanism in Dialogue as they discus ways of walking the path of the heart, in which the mind finds its proper relationship with the heart to serve, focus, and act to create the new vision. Mikkal is director of Crows Nest International, Centers for shamanic Studies in USA, France, Belgium, and South Africa. He is a Jungian scholar, clinical psychologist, and international shamanic teacher. He is also trained in both North and South American shamanisms, undergoing a 14-year initiation and apprenticeship with Cherokee medicine woman Ai Gvhdi Way and an 8-year initiation with Iachak don Alverto Taxo. He is our next guest for the Society of Shamanic Practitioners sponsored interview series. In this series we explore how contemporary shamans are meeting the challenges of their world.

This week's guest:
C. Michael Smith, PhD

C. Michael Smith, Ph.D., (aka Mikkal) is an internationally recognized pioneer in the synthesis of Jungian psychology and Shamanic Healing. His most widely known book is "JUNG AND SHAMANISM IN DIALOGUE: Retrieving Soul / Retrieving the Sacred." Mikkal's teachings are a synthesis of shamanic principles, learned from inner and outer teachers, and the principles of Jungian and archetypal psychology. These teachings are a heart-centered shamanism offering skills that cultivate the daily expression of Spirit and the spirit-helpers through the heart, the absolute core of our being and of a life. Mikkal's training and apprenticeship programs, and the intentional heart-centered and earth-honoring shamanic communities that have grown around them in France, Belgium, and South Africa are known collectively as Crows Nest International.

At Crows Nest Center for Shamanic Studies, his home base in Michigan, Mikkal conducts his USA based workshops, retreats, and individual apprenticeship intensives. Mikkal is currently teaching in North America, France, Belgium, and South Africa and sponsors an annual Wounded Healer Wilderness Quest on South Manitou Island in Lake Michigan. Mikkal will be a featured speaker in July 2012 at the 8th International Amazonian Conference on Shamanism, in Iquitos, Peru. He is also in the private practice of psychology (Jungian and transpersonal psychotherapy).

Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific

Log on to Listen
Why Shamanism Now? on Co-Creator Network
Questions? Comments? Call: 1-512-772-1938

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.

Just Energy Radio

Strange Sea Mysteries & The Lost Technology Of The Maya

Dr. Rita Louise is joined on Just Energy Radio by two guests. In the first hour Gian Quasar joins her to discuss deep sea mysteries including the Bermuda Triangle. In the second hour she will be delving into the technology of the Maya and will be joined by James O'Kon.

About Gian J. Quasar
Gian J. Quasar is the first person to completely document the Bermuda Triangle, incident by incident. His research began over 20 years ago, and he has compiled the largest private repository of reports and official maritime documents, containing over 350 cases spanning over 2 centuries. Over 150 of these have been disappearances which have happened in the last 25 years.Quasar’s tenacity in finding every scrap available has gained him popular recognition as Generation X’s number 1 investigator of the most famous phenomena topics.

About James O’Kon
James O’Kon, P.E. has pursued a lifelong passion for Maya archaeology; he has combined his unique professional engineering experience with the search for lost Maya technology. He has applied his diverse engineering talents to explore and investigate nearly inaccessible Maya sites located deep in the dense rainforest. Traveling by dugout canoe, hacking his way through the tangled jungle while fighting off millions of insects and sleeping in tents, he was able to verify feats of Maya engineering and virtually reconstruct the mystery of lost Maya technology.

Fri, May 18, 2012 03:00PM ET

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/just-energy-radio

Awake: Now What?

LGBTQ: Empowered and Free: A Journey to a Lifetime of Tomorr

Guest speaker: Pamela Rose Anders

Join Courtney as she interviews Pamela Rose Anders, Trans Woman and author of Gypsy Moon. Through wit and humor, Gypsy Moon chronicles Pamela’s courageous story of transitioning from Phillip to Pamela Rose Anders. Pamela went from being trapped, hopeless, and unhappy; to fulfilled, peaceful, and joyous. Her previous existence was dark and cold, whereas today she exists in a flowery meadow, surrounded by warmth and sunshine. Pamela inspires us all to be authentic, persevere, and remember it is never too late to be one’s true self!

Join us!

With:
Dr. Lisa Bufton, D.D. is a Spiritual Counselor, Angel Therapy Practitioner®, and cofounder of LGBT Wellness Conference. www.purespirithealing.com and www.lgbt-wellness.org

Courtney Long, MSW, LC, CHt, ATP® is a Guide to the Authentic, Author and Speaker. www.authenticandfree.com

Sat, May 19, 2012 01:00PM ET

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/awake

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God, Gays, and Cognitive Dissonance

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

In the political theater that has ensued since President Obama voiced his personal support for marriage equality, one of the more interesting sideshows has been the confrontation of the religious case against it. Obama's "spiritual adviser," evangelist Joel Hunter, has come out publicly against Obama's "interpretation" of the Bible on this issue. Of course I don't think a religious text has any place in the political debate over this issue. I'm very attached to the First Amendment. But something really amazing is happening that is making the public debate well worth it. Religious conservatives are being dragged into a theological debate about the actual merits of the Biblical case against gay marriage.

Last night on "Hardball," Chris Matthews and Barney Frank destroyed Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. Perkins, who has been tied to white supremacist groups, was well overdue for serious scrutiny from the media. But more to the point, it's past time for the Biblical argument against homosexuality and gay marriage to be called into question. Both Matthews and Frank did just that referring to points I seem to remember having made myself. First and foremost, the traditional view of marriage presented in the Bible isn't just "one man, one woman." It's one man and multiple women. Most telling on that point -- and sad -- was Perkins justification for the Mormon Church's change of doctrine to disallow polygamy after just having said that the definition of marriage should not change. Said Perkins, "They had to change their rules to become a state."

Oh well. That's okay then... that they accommodated federal regulations that were at odds with their religious beliefs and reading of both scripture and prophecy. It's not like they had a choice. So does Perkins think that polygamy is a perfectly fine marriage model? It's a little unclear. But he looked like he'd been hit with a hammer when Frank pointed out that Abraham took a second wife to bear  children and kicked her to the curb when his first wife finally, um, bore fruit.

Throughout this segment both Frank and Matthews kept confronting Perkins with his own words, words he kept trying to back quietly away from. But it was "The Word" that he really had trouble confronting on this issue... because it really doesn't support his argument.

Also confounded by the holy writ on which he claims to base his case was Representative Austin Scott of Georgia. Confronted by California Representative Loretta Sanchez with the fact that the Bible calls for homosexuals not so much to be loved in spite of their sinfulness as to be put to death, Scott countered that that was the Old Testament. Apparently in Scott's world, the Old Testament is not part of the Bible.

Sanchez's point? If we're going to protect the right of military chaplains to act on their religious belief that homosexuality is wrong and disallow gay marriage on military bases, what's to prevent them from acting on their Biblical belief that gay people should be put to death. Crooks and Liars has more.

As discussed, Christian rocker Bradlee Dean seemed to endorse that view a while back and then filed a lawsuit against Rachel Maddow when she quoted him word for word in context. But that is what the Bible says. So if the Bible is your argument against homosexuality, shouldn't you also call for it to be a capital offense?

Most of the time these outspoken Christian critics of homosexuality gloss over the scriptural basis for their claims, and simply present the gross conclusion that the Bible prohibits it as if this were obvious at face value. But it's really not. Aside from how many similar "abominations" escape the ire of the Christian right, even many of the clobber verses they embrace don't mean what they think they mean. A very good write-up here explains that much of what has been translated and interpreted as defining homosexuality actually pertains to things like anal rape during battles, child prostitution, and other genuinely disgusting practices.

Personally, I don't require a Judeo-Christian-centric argument on which to base my views, but for the very observant, it would make sense to really dig into the theology rather than blindly except that God hates gay people. Unlike Mr. Perkins, I don't believe the world is only 5,000 years old and its entire history and moral structure summed up in the Bible -- or even just the latter half of it like Rep. Scott. I believe that even the known history of the world is longer and broader than does Mr. Perkins. In this interview, for instance, he claims that marriage has always been between a man and woman. This, of course, completely ignores the many Native American tribes who allowed for various forms of same sex marriage. (Full disclosure: I worked for the publisher of Living the Spirit at the time of its release. Excellent book. I highly recommend it and would whether I'd worked for SMP or not.)

I'm just glad to see this trope about homosexuality and gay marriage being un-Christian finally being vetted in the media. It's just never been that simple and too many of these religious leaders have been given a free pass on this argument for years. That some of the loudest proponents of religiously based homophobia are finally having their feet held to the fire makes President Obama's announcement well worth it for me.

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Bishops to Girl Scouts: You're Not Bigoted Enough

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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Catholic Bishops are attempting to crack down on the Girl Scouts of America. As previously discussed, the Catholic and Mormon Churches have a lot of sway with the Boy Scouts of America and have enforced anti-gay bigotry and intolerance for atheism. They have been less successful at preventing sex abuse in the organization but that should come as no surprise. Yet, the Church that has failed so miserably at protecting children from predators is determined to protect growing girls from modernity.

Long a lightning rod for conservative criticism, the Girl Scouts of the USA are now facing their highest-level challenge yet: An official inquiry by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

At issue are concerns about program materials that some Catholics find offensive, as well as assertions that the Scouts associate with other groups espousing stances that conflict with church teaching. The Scouts, who have numerous parish-sponsored troops, deny many of the claims and defend their alliances.

The problem for the Girl Scouts of America is that they have attempted to remain neutral through the raging culture wars. They allowed a seven year old transgender child to participate, for instance. Religious conservatives apparently think it's better to be cruel to small children for being different.


GSA disputes many of the charges that have been leveled against them. They are not, they say, associated with Planned Parenthood. (Heaven forbid.)

To the Girl Scouts, some of the attacks seem to be a form of guilt by association. Critics contend that Girl Scouts materials shouldn't contain links to groups such as Doctors without Borders, the Sierra Club and Oxfam because they support family planning or emergency contraception.

So not only must the Girl Scouts avoid hot button issues. They can't even link to neutral elements of organizations if those organizations also go in any way afoul of Catholic doctrine. And of course anything that in any way addresses the budding sexuality of adolescent girls must be stamped out, so their association with an international organization that includes countries not mired in a battle to turn back time is out of the question.

Many Christian conservatives are still smarting over a decision in 1993 to allow girls to use names for God consistent with their own religions, such as Islam or Buddhism. Get it? The organization must enforce Christian principles or else. Tolerance for other religious beliefs is out of the question. None of this crazy pluralism America is so famous for should be allowed in the Girl Scouts of America. It's very important to know which is the right God if you're gonna, you know, camp.

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William Henry on Olympic Strangeness

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Wenlock and Mandeville: Mascots for 2012 London Olympics

I will be the first to admit that I don't pay much attention to the Olympic Games. When I was a kid, I liked the figure skating but even that doesn't hold my attention anymore. No sports fan I, but more than that, I've completely lost interest in group-think. I find the collective, water-cooler nature of the experience off-putting. At the same time I realize that that's the major draw for a lot of people, hence the group-think. This year, though, I think perhaps I should pay more attention because it seems like something unprecedented is being directed at the collective mind. Or so I've learned from William Henry.

Henry's interview with Chad Stuemke is fascinating. The symbolism associated with the upcoming games in Great Britain is positively heavy-handed. So much so that Iran has threatened to pull out because of charges of a Zionist conspiracy. They've also apparently blocked the website. It would seem that by pulling the logo apart and readjusting the angles a bit, we come up with something that looks sort of like the word Zion. So conspiracy theories abound.

William Henry, however, has a somewhat different take, which speaks to one of the reasons I love his work. Henry's new book Secret of Sion is an examination of the mythical significance of Sion/Zion. He posits that it points to plane of existence associated with ascension, the seraphim, and the legendary rainbow body. And both he and Stuemke see the imagery associated with the 2012 Olympics as redolent with those themes. And, now that they say it, it's kind of hard to miss. This page on Stuemke's website gives a good rundown.

The promo video which introduces Wenlock and Mandeville -- the "one eyed rainbow riding aliens" -- alludes to alchemical transmutation. They start as molten, golden steel. They harden into lumps of dull, grey, base metal. After being sculpted into their weird, little alien forms, they are transformed by a rainbow from heaven into iridescent, golden beings. They ascend on rainbows promising to return to London in 2012. A cake celebrating the builder's retirement is a circumpunct, albeit, missing a slice. I believe I've mentioned my obsession with that form one or ten times. The video is just full of suns and spheres and eyes.

Henry and Stuemke discuss at length two different ways to view the apparently conscious use of all this symbolism: Illuminati conspiracy or spiritually guided consciousness event. As I've said before, I don't do the paranoia. When I look at all these symbols that so much of the woo-woo world says are the secret government flaunting their power and engaging in public rituals to keep us docile, I see the opposite. I see symbols of illumination designed to awaken humanity. How much of that is conscious and how much of it is artists, architects, and world leaders plucking archetypes from the subconscious I can't say. But when I look at a collection of symbols as blatant as these, it's hard to call it anything but deliberate.

Personally, I think what has become of the word Zion is a tragedy. Like so much of this symbolism, its meaning has been inverted. This is not a commentary on the Palestinian-Israeli crisis. I don't do those. It's more a reaction to the reaction and the way fear and paranoia distort and stupefy. As I've said before, if there's a conspiracy associated with these symbols, it's a psych op to make us fear rather than embrace them. It is positively Orwellian the way Zion has come to represent war instead of peace. These symbols are powerful. We need to reclaim them and give them their rightful place in our consciousness.

I'm with Henry's wife Claire, whom he interviews here to speak in her capacity as a native Brit:

When are we going to have some leaders that say, "Let's make this world a better place." We know what we know. We've got the ancient knowledge. It's about time that it was put on the top table and all this symbolism and hidden knowledge and art that's been showing us the way for years and years and years; for eons. It's about time we all wake up from the dream and make this world a better place.

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Tracy Morgan Raises the Serpent

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

"And the LORD said unto Moses, Make you a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live." ~ Numbers 21:8

Am I alone in being struck about dumb by this image?

This morning I simply had to watch Stephen Colbert's interview with Maurice Sendak and mourn the loss of a man whose strangely shamanic vision shaped so much of my childhood. But I was plunged into an even deeper mystery.

I think the only way this could have been more blatant is if Tracy Morgan were eating apples instead of Wheat Thins. But seeing as this is a Wheat Thins commercial, I guess it makes sense. So is the message here that eating Wheat Thins is the pathway to gnosis?

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up" ~ John 3:14

Stranger still is all the serpent food running around in little protective spheres, otherwise known as gerbil balls. How high am I?! (Not the first time I've asked myself that when watching Tracy Morgan do... just about anything.)

And in a really provocative synchronicity, now comes the tags under the video. The print is small but if you click on the image you can see the expanded view. In the second part of the Maurice Sendak interview, Colbert introduces his new children's story I Am A Pole (And So Can You).

Weird.

Just weird.

I've gone down the rabbit hole this morning and found myself in the night kitchen, where the wild things are... or something.

Tracy Morgan as Astronaut Jones

"Rocket - I'm taking a Rocket! I'm packing my suitcase, and look out moooooooooon! Yeah I Rocket, into outer space, Goodbye human race, I'll be there soooooon! Blast off! For fun and adventure, Yes I said adventure, collecting stoooooones! Yeah it's my way, On the old space highway, Once more they all say: There goes Astronaut Jones! HEY!" ~ Tracy Morgan

See also: William Henry: The Seraphim, Kundalini, and Ascension

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Around the Web, Around the World

"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Healing the Ancestral Lines

When people call out to their ancestors, they call out to a diversity of energies. Some people call out by name to the men and women of their bloodline all the way back to the first man and first woman. Others call out to all of their relations; their request reaching out to all life through the interconnectedness of all living things. While others call out to their ancestors and visualize that request reaching from humankind to nature and on through their cosmology until they reach Grandfather Fire, Grandmother Water, and the Void from which the dream of life unfolds.

Though we call out in different ways and mean slightly different things, traditionally "the ancestors" is a universally good thing. So what does it mean when we diagnose "the ancestors" as the cause of chronic disease, family patterns of addiction, or lose of hope and passion for life? Join host and shaman, Christina Pratt, as she explores why the dead aren't becoming traditional helping spirits and why they remain stuck here hijacking the lives of the living. And more importantly she will share her non-traditional shamanic healing practices that effectively heal the energy stuck in the ancestral lines, which frees the living from the unresolved issues of the past and the dead take their place as helping spirits who offer us the rich legacy of all those who have gone before us.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 11:00 AM Pacific

Log on to Listen
Why Shamanism Now? on Co-Creator Network
Questions? Comments? Call: 1-512-772-1938

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.

Suzanne Toro

BeSimply...LoveSelf {Respect}

Join 'She' for 54 minutes to work on the Inner Self.

During this segment:

'Our' energy fields are sacred and precious...In this segment we explore self respect and respect for others. We will explore how we embody respect for self and with others. Especially great for anyone with patterns and habits that keep sabotaging 'self.

Explore and Align with 'Self', How to reconnect to Self?

Parables shared...Walk through a guided clearing experience and meditation. This episode will assist you in BEing...the Jedi!

Please send in your questions to s@suzannetoro.com or call in during the episode.

Fri, May 11, 2012 12:30AM ET

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/suzannetoro

Just Energy Radio

Keith Blanchard: What Do You Love?

Keith Blanchard joins Dr. Rita Louise on Just Energy Radio where he askes the question "What do you love?"

About Keith Blanchard
Best selling author and composer, Keith Blanchard, was born on November 30, 1963, in Houma, Louisiana, and had a typical middle class Catholic upbringing. In his early teens, he often entertained himself by pondering the big questions about God and the universe. Little did he know that the day would come when those questions would form the spiritual foundation upon which he would build the rest of his life.

Fri, May 11, 2012 03:00PM ET

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/just-energy-radio

Awake: Now What?

LGBTQ: Empowered and Free: Motherly Love

No matter what your relationship with your mom, whether your mom is alive or crossed over, learn to connect with the mother within. We all have the ability to nurture and love ourselves! This is an opportunity to heal mother issues Feel good about who you are regardless of what your mom thinks.

Join us!

Sat, May 12, 2012 01:00PM ET

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/awake

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Rob Kerby Pagan Bashes on Facebook

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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I know. I'm like a dog with a bone. But it turns out Rob Kerby leaves his Facebook profile open to the public, so... I skimmed. And if I ever had any doubt that Kerby has nothing but contempt for "witches," it's gone now. Here he is delightedly mocking the upset of the self-described witches who complained to him about his vile post. Screw the Pagan community on Beliefnet, man. Screw Pagans, period. Let 'em burn.

Nothing like Christian kindness, huh?

As to the other commenters in this odious little back and forth, as of this writing, their Facebook pages are also wide open. If they'd closed them to the public, I'd have blacked out their identities. But they haven't so I didn't.

For back-story on Rob Kerby's assault on the dignity and safety of modern Pagans, Wiccans, etc., see here, here, and here.

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