“Life is a rush into the unknown. You can duck down and hope nothing hits you, or stand up tall as you can, show it your teeth and say “Dish it up baby, and don't be stingy with the jalapenos.”

- Fireman's Fund Ad

Shamanic Power Tools

Ceremony and ritual are the two power tools of the shaman used to call spirit in to intervene in human affairs. There is a quality of sacred space necessary for this work to succeed as well as establishing an authentic connection with spirit.

Though these words are used interchangeably today, ritual and ceremony are not the same. They are polar opposites used to accomplish two completely different things.

• Power Tools is offered in three weekends. Participants must commit to all three.
  
• Pre-requisite: experience journeying and Wisdom of the Shaman in Everyday Life or Cycle of Transformation workshop.

Part I. Altars

Altars ground our relationship with spirit and anchor our sacred space. The creation of a working altar involves the creation and activation of power objects that embody the energy of the helping spirits you work with. The right placement of the objects demands understanding your sacred cosmology, where you are in your soul's path, and where you are going.

Part II. Ceremony

The purpose of ceremony is to ground people, to strengthen the bonds within the community, and the community's bonds with Spirit and the Ancestors. In a successful ceremony the energy spirals downward, towards the earth, drawing Spirit into the community to reinforce the status quo. The magic of ceremony is in its predictability and control.

Part III. Ritual

Ritual is used to call on the spirit world to help achieve goals that the people cannot achieve in any other way. It is used to create change and upset the status quo. In ritual the energy spirals upwards, towards Spirit; it is unpredictable and uncontrollable. Ritual is never the same twice. That is the uniqueness and the magic of ritual.