Walking the shamanic path often challenges us to be receptive to messages from the beyond. For millennia, people have embarked on spiritual journeys or pilgrimages to receive communications from higher consciousness. In Central and South America, this is often done through Temazcal, Ayahuasca and Huachuma ...
Many people today are talking about a sacred and ancient plant remedy from the Amazon rainforest called Ayahuasca. For those of you who are drawn to this medicine and its other-worldly effects, I’d like to give you a heartfelt caution. We Americans and Europeans come from a culture of conquest and ...
When I hear the word “herbalism”, images of candlelit apothecaries, exquisite antique bottles of tincture, and the age old mortar and pestle come to mind. Even today, this isn’t too far from the mark – a resurgence of the age-old practice is in full swing and the craft has not changed ...
Spring is a time of cleaning, clearing, cleansing and making way for the new. It is a time of nourishing new life and delighting in the renewal and rebirth of our environment, our beliefs, our relationships and our life. To cultivate and nourish our new selves, we need a spiritually and physically clean and ...
I write this piece with a humble heart, knowing full well that we men only get an occasional glimpse into the enigmatic depths that comprise humanity’s better half. In one of the last interviews he ever did, legendary Lakota elder Russell Means once told our team, “We men go from diaper to diaper – ...
I’ve heard it said that the medicine is everywhere, we just need to learn how to find it. Last week, I was taught a lesson that took my understanding of this concept to the next level. I had the honor of sitting down with two distinguished medicine workers from the high Peruvian Andes. You often hear us...
Spring is upon us and many of our medicinal weeds, herbs and edible wild foods are beginning to grow. Harvesting from the wild is truly a magical experience, and when done correctly, it can nourish the relationship of people and plants. Many of us herbalists have places we return to in the wild to harvest our...
There’s a saying that’s been following me around for the past decade, ever since I began to embrace the spirit path. “You’ve gotta pay to play.” This notion is usually associated with casino games, but it holds true for the metaphysical things in life too. The shamanic path is not for the faint of ...
Many people today appreciate the beauty of folklore in a multitude of ancestral traditions. Dance, music, songs, and many forms of exquisite art are viewed as the very foundation of human culture itself. Movement and music can often transcend the barriers of language, race, ethnicity and gender, and have a ...
Spring is here! Birds are laying eggs and joyfully singing in the morning. Wildflowers are popping up and fruit trees are blossoming as bees and butterflies swirl in the breeze. People are falling in love, planting seeds in their gardens, cleaning their homes and decorating them with flowers. Fertility, new ...
The great Lao Tzu of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE) once said, “If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.” If you were to rank the most prominent human fears, the fear of death would most ...
When my husband moved out, I found myself depressed, alone, and without a sense of purpose—unless you consider sleeping until noon and then going on 12-hour eating benders a higher calling. For six months, I spent teary nights alone, recreating the pasta sauce he’d made for me on our first date. The ...