Greetings fellow traveler,
At-least half the people currently subscribed to this Substack, traveled along from a list started in my early days of writing the Healing The Human Animal blog.
My work has changed so much since then, and I appreciate your continued support, while giving me the space to allow my offerings to evolve as I do.
The other half of subscribers are ‘new’, and encountered my work under the banner of The Ancestral Now. What I speak about in that regard has gone through several iterations at this point.
I have a strong proclivity towards iteration, as I am sure you have noticed, and if a box gets too small, I get claustrophobic.
I am sharing this with you because as of this moment, I am officially announcing my intention to build out a large curriculum of practice over the years that I am currently calling Primordial Shamanism.
The name ‘could change’ (see my aforementioned proclivity towards iteration for reference).
But for now, that’s what it is.
With that said...I did not set out to teach shamanism when I first started my blog years ago, or even with the birth of The Ancestral Now.
In fact, I have held a large amount of resistance towards the notion for many reasons.
Including the overall diluting and de-valuing of what is referred to as ‘shamanism’ in modern contemporary spiritual circles. It has become a marketing term, selling bottles of watered down whiskey.
But hey…in our world, almost everything must contend with that.
It took some rather intense events, incredible in your face of synchronicities and ongoing uncompromising insistence from The Ancestors, for me to accept that a part of my soul level work (at this stage) is to teach shamanism.
Primordial Shamanism
Primordial shamanism as I currently envision it, is a multi-phase process that is the culmination and fusion of nearly everything I have learned from a lifelong exposure to shamanic currents.
The curriculum will take years to teach (and learn).
With that said…I am starting slow and building it over the next 3-5 years.
Much of this will only be taught in communal courses, that will call for registration, participation and ongoing feedback.
However, as of now, I am planning on sharing the Primordial Shamanism Foundations course, on the Substack (for paid members). If for some reason this becomes untenable, I will let you know.
*As of now, there is currently material labeled under this banner, that are actually just ‘place holders’, and will changed out over the next 6 months or so.
Primordial Shamanism is a contemporary, endogenous shamanic practice for modern Western people, anchored in the core essence of the practice as understood by The Ancestors. It is not equivalent too, or even attempting to recreate ‘indigenous practice’.
A shamanic practice that is created by and for modern western people will be required to address a whole different set of challenges.
It’s not to say that indigenous shamanism has no value for modern people. On the contrary, I would say it has immense value, both from direct engagement and learning from qualified members of those traditions, and in the transmission of principles for those of called to birth contemporary traditions.
Despite my lifelong exposure shamanic practices that come from indigenous cultures, I have no intention to teach those traditions; what I have to offer was birthed in the here and now.
From Embodiment to God Force
It’s a big curriculum, with many layers.
Which includes the contextualizing and re-culturing required for modern humans to understand what a shamanic way of life entails.
Shamanic living is not just about ‘doing practices’, in a disjointed way, with no underlying context.
It’s a relational, cosmological and deeply instinctual orientation towards the whole (which includes you).
It emerged in deep time, in a people who lived wild lives close to Earth, who were much more embodied, vital, attuned and capable than most of us are today. It was the lifeblood and tree sap of their societies.
There is much ‘reverse engineering’ to do, to establish a firm foundation for more advanced practices.
Thus Primordial Shamanism starts with the humble intention of fostering a baseline level of embodiment (which most shamanic practice today completely ignores).
That’s what the very first module is focused on.
It will move through multiple phases to eventually cultivate a direct relationship with the God Force (The Primordial) in an embodied and palpable way, that is harnessed for communion, healing, alchemy, exorcism, karmic clearing and the living one’s destiny (all the way to spiritual completion).
Along the way we develop many of the ‘classical’ shamanic orientations, cosmological understandings and skills, as understood from the vantage point of a 21st century human living in modern civilization.
Below is a rough outline of what I will be teaching (with an understanding that this is still in development and can change based off of personal experience, feedback from early adopters, and of course…The Spirits).
Primordial Shamanism - The Lightstone Body Phase
This is about establishing a clear foundation by reverse engineering some of the more problematic contemporary mismatches between contemporary people and The Ancestors who created (or discovered shamanism), as well as establish a basic understanding of ‘shamanic living’.
Lightstone’s are a worldwide myth typically related to luminosity, the navigation of ships and guiding lost people back on their path. Chinese dragons are known to chase ‘flaming pearls’ in alchemical symbolism. Stones establish foundations, and light points the way. In this course will build a foundation of light (consciousness) and stone (body).
This will be built out over the next 6 months (more or less).
Which will include:
Embodiment
Learning to speak the language of energy
Feeling The Breath of Life
The Primary Triune & ‘opening’ the energy body
The central importance of the heart
The Magic and medicine of offerings
Guardianship practices
Multi-Dimensionality & Magnetics
Ancestral Context
Relating to omens (synchronicity)
Basic divination and it’s central role
Understanding animism
Building spiritual ecologies
Soul recovery
Living one’s destiny
‘Spiritology’
Cosmology and Context
All this is just foundational (an honestly, this list could get bigger).
The following phases are what are envisioned as the larger curriculum (but is subject to change).
The Ancestral Body:
This phase will center around around awakening ancestral sense faculties, the all important ancestral lineage repair process, becoming an adult of the human species, working more deeply with the energetic skills introduced in the foundations course, entering into flow states in nature, and working with an oracle deck that I am currently building called The Archetypal Ancestors, which is a teaching tool meant to transmit Ancestral wisdom.
The Horizon Body:
This phase is where the we begin to open our system more ecologically, as the emphasis moves from your individual life alone, to the call life is sending you. This is where the you and the greater whole meet, in the offering of your souls purpose. Thus emphasis is placed on the greater arc and trajectory of your destiny. Energetically, we open ones awareness and energy body into the heavens, earth and environment (the horizon), connect to planetary, primal, and stellar forces. It also begins cultivating your capacity to engage spiritual and transpersonal dynamics. We also learn more about clearing, removing pernicious spiritual influences, and begin dissolving karmic layers.
The Dream Body:
This phase is about anchoring into the Primordial in an embodied way, meditations on the three cauldrons, developing ones magical capacity, going deeper into divination, energetic emanations, shapeshifting, finding one’s organically arising ‘Daimonic’ power animal forms, establishing your destiny even deeper by moving your way of life towards the completion of your life’s work, so that you may die complete. The foundations laid here, develop and foster what the Chinese might call…the immortal spirit body.
Access The Embodiment Module….The Body as Cauldron
*With special thanks to Devaraj Sandberg, who graciously allowed me to build a part of this curriculum with his videos.
Embodiment, Grounding and Spiritual Forces
What ‘Is’ Embodiment?
De-armoring and The Flow of Energy in The Body
Bioenergetics and Standing Vs Western Physical Culture
Navigating Rocky Territory
Pleasure, Bliss and Increased Sexual Energy
The Desired Outcomes of The Embodiment Module
Key Principles for Bioenergetic Exercises & Standing Practice
The Fundamentals of Standing Practice - Instructional
Technical and Internal Refinements for Standing Practice
A Foundational Bioenergetic Routine
Structure for Sessions
De-armoring The Face Mini Class
Knowing The Breath Full Class
Unclawing The Hands
Abdominal Cultivation Course: A Fire in The Belly
Eye Cultivation Theory and Practice
Approaches & Entries into Primal Movement Practice
Awesome, way to go, i am sure it will be revolutionary in it's own way, I feel it 😻