7 Steps in my journey …

It does not matter what I have been taught and believed before, those belief systems that seemed to have robbed me from choice and perception through my upbringing; educational system, media, church and ‘authority’ etc…They are no longer my focus.

The important thing is that I follow the star of my Soul now, and leave the shadow of dogma and external control behind.

As my life evolves, together with humanity’s current advance towards Self-realization, I’ve come to realize the following that brings me peace;

Removing my focus from suffering, agony and pain, the Crucifixion…

To that which renews me, gives me hope and, moves me forward: The Resurrection.

Judgment.

The harshest judge is I. Me. Mwa.

Not other people.

Nor Great Spirit.

I take the first step to be gentle with myself.

Self-righteousness

I am in essence the beauty of who you are. No matter my financial circumstances, choice of career, the color of my skin or even my gender, my beauty is reflected in you, as your beauty is reflected in me. What I perceive as a shadow in you is only a reflection in me I’m projecting.

I take the step to acknowledge this mirror.

Separation

There is no distinction. I am loved unconditionally. So are you.

I take the step of connecting.

Only one Path

My heart’s intention takes me where I want to go. Neither religion or dogma, nor man-made rules will return me to Source. Fear is the opposite of Love.

I take the step of Love.

Free choice

My choices are honored because it’s a gift and I exercise it. I am gently shown the way of Love where my choice lacks wisdom. I make mistakes. I forgive myself as I am forgiven. How then can I not forgive others?

I take the step of taking responsibility for my choices.

Surrender

My ultimate goal is the Will of Great Spirit living through me. I die daily to make space for unobstructed Light. This is my true purpose.

Surrender is not a linear time event. It can be instantaneously, or gradual. I am unique and am treated as such.

I take the step of trust.

Variety.

Nothing is specialized and complete in itself. Variety permeates everything and is unlimited. This is the Power of Great Spirit. To experience All aspects of everything, to accept everything as having a place in the puzzle of life, I therefore acknowledge the great diversity and power of Creation, of which I AM part of.

I am stepping out from the shadow of the Cross, and stand outside the empty tomb. The embalmed fragments of blood and tears a scant evidence of whom I once was.

Yesterday.

Today I am resurrected by the power of the Christos,

and I remember…

Christ is begotten, not made.

Sharon

There is no fundamental difference between the preparation for death and the practice of dying, and spiritual practice leading to enlightenment.
Stanislav Grof

Festival of Shamans, Greyton, 24 – 26 February 2012.

The old Lakota was wise.  He knew that man’s heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too.  ~Chief Luther Standing Bear

 She carries us, feeds us, quenches our thirst, and exhibits her true beauty for us to enjoy, without holding back. Treating her with dignity, respect and honoring our Mother for her continuous support is the purpose of the true Shaman. This is our opus of Healing.

 

Greyton

Hazel and I went to the festival to set up our Shambala7 gazebo in the trading village to sell some of our arts and crafts. The following notes illustrate some experiences during these three days.

Walking under the trees down the dusty road, I was transported back to my childhood days of mining towns where I grew up. The same smells of nature, cool shades of trees and slowness of time swirled around me. Greyton, a sleepy village, close to Caledon with Genadedal perched on the edge, is an arty village with several coffee shops where one can sit down and speak languidly about the day’s business of relaxing. We stayed over in 87 on Park, a sweet 2 bedroom cottage adjacent to the owners’ house. Overlooking a quiet pond the view of hazy-blue mountains on the horizon glimmered, and picking veggies from the garden replenished our inner and outer senses.

Parking off-road we had to unpack the car every night and re-pack with our stock before going to the Festival, a mere 4km away. A total of 15 times packing/unpacking the car tested our strength and endurance, and if you don’t believe us, we have the biceps to show! Well, tiny ones…

 

Shaman Festival – Blue Hippo

We opened with a fire ceremony after supper on Friday evening, where C. Michael Smith (Mikkal) and Lyn Spirit Eagle started the original fire after inviting the 4 Directions, Father Sky and Mother Earth in the circle.

Throughout the whole festival the fire-keepers kept the fire burning. Their commitment despite the heat and glowing sun astounded me, for this meant not moving out of the circle, away from the fire, for many hours on end. It was a great idea to have more than one fire-keeper to share the load, else we would have had a biltong Shaman. What to do with a biltong Shaman? I won’t forget the kindness of our ‘chef’’ bringing a jug of ice water and a wet sarong to cool down one of the fire keepers in the heat of the day. He contributed further by spray-hosing some of the hot bodies to cool them down. (Interpret ‘hot’ as you wish)

I was lucky enough to partake in some of the events;

• Walking the labyrinth with Terry de Vries, I noticed her quarts crystals shone like no other I’ve ever seen. Asking where she got them and how she cleansed them she said the crystals are from ‘John of God’. She cleanses these specific ones with sea water.
• I also attended a group entity removal ‘workshop’ by Peter von Maltitz, our local Sangoma, with the name of Zanemvula – meaning bringer of rain. Luckily for our traders the rain stayed away this time. We could feel the energies of certain entities on some people in the group, and Peter confirmed what it felt like, explained what attracts them, what they look like, and then demonstrated how to get rid of them.
• Then, experiencing ‘Meeting the Shaman within’ journey with Mikkal, akin to a guided meditation, I would like to commend him on his ‘story-telling’ ability, pausing at the right moment, drumming where sound was needed, thus painting a picture that enhanced the imagination or inner-eye pictures vividly. I met my inner Shaman, and received a bronze spider as a gift. Beautiful symbolism. Please check out his website if you are interested in Jungian Therapy and the Crow’s Nest Centre’s work.
• Lastly, I surprised myself dancing wildly (as if aloneJ) during the Ecstatic Dancing with Eva Morales Dancing Deer for more than an hour. What liberation to move and express that inner-self that was so long hidden! I was sweaty and hot afterwards, but not as tired as I expected, and definitely felt the release of all the tension I was carrying.
• Most importantly I attended the opening and closing fire-ceremony, for which I am grateful. Greeting everyone at the end, face-to-face and eye-to-eye, reminded me that there is enough love in the world to go around, if only we allow ourselves to be loved and to love anyway.

The food was strictly vegetarian, prepared by our ‘Chef’ Wayne Lewis. I remember Gloria and Catherine Dubuisson washing many dishes! For a generous plate of goodness some of our meat eaters felt nothing was amiss.

The people were fabulous, colorful and friendly, their beauty reflected in their love for Spirit and Mother, and I made some new friends. (Thanks Annemarie for dragging my previous shy self to the Ecstatic Dancing!)

 

Shambala7 Trading     

 

Initially we were quite separate from the sacred area, which was understandable at first, but we missed the interaction with all the events taking place. I truly believe things are changing, bringing world and Spirit together, and on Saturday we were told that we can move to the sacred area. Unfortunately we have already unpacked and set-up our spot, and Hazel had hurt a back muscle, so we decided to move our Shambala7 gazebo and goods to our new spot on Sunday, the last day of the Festival. That was quite an immense change; we really felt part of the whole group and could interact more wholly. Hazel’s back also got sorted out by one of the healers doing the EFT technique on her.

What was quite amazing is that 7 items (music, sage, craft etc) were added to our stall by those, who due to practical reasons, could not set-up a spot. This confirmed part of Shambala7’s purpose to aid and carry other crafts/arts as we go along.

We did not make a lot of money, but our experience-income was abundantly replenished by working together and learning ways to display our arts and crafts, which items were popular and also made us re-look our prices. Thanks Hazel for your practical input, much appreciated, as well as manning the store while I attended some journeys and workshops!

Monday morning we packed up and headed home. Tired, but happy that all went well, we arrived home safely.

We will definitely be at the next Shaman Festival, and hope to see you there next year!

Sharon

Links:

For photos and events of the festival check out:

A Festival of Shamans on Facebook and http://shaman.spazaspace.com/

The layout of the Blue Hippo Village echoes the peaceful surroundings. See http://bluehippo.co.za/ for a good idea what to expect.

Our local Sangoma’s site: http://www.zanemvula.co.za/

John of God: http://www.johnofgod.com/

Mikkal: Jungian Psychologist, Shamanic Teacher, Founder of Crows Nest International, author of JUNG & SHAMANISM IN DIALOGUE

http://www.cmichaelsmith.com/

Lyn de la Motte: Artist and Shaman

http://lyn.spazaspace.com/

A bit of Her-story

Shambala7 was birthed more than a year ago, but 2 years before that I already had this idea of a website where more than one person could share their creative endeavors with others, and from time to time collaborate with the other artists on the site, co-creating new ideas and art forms, and then exhibiting these creations together.

As life goes, one needs to go through a fair amount of lessons and transformations to start a vision, especially if you are like me who after 26 years in the IT industry, did not know much about how things worked on the ‘outside’ world. Thanks to a year spent with Billi (see previous posts), I’ve learnt a lot about what works and what does not, principles like discipline and structure, which nicely balanced my ‘Right’ brain and naive dreamer personality. I am thankful that through all of this, I’ve kept my innocence and unwavering faith that everything works for the good to those who love Spirit. Although our paths separated, we still connect and touch base every so often.

People come into our life for a reason and in late 2011 I met up with Hazel Suttill, another woman with many skills and experience. I shared my vision with her, and after some discussions we’ve decided to focus on getting Shambala7 back on the map again. It is a road after all;)

The vision

We are currently combining our skills and knowledge with the eye on marketing our creative materials. The benchmark will be the Festival of Shamans at the end of February, and after that, we will have a better idea of the way forward.

Nothing ever stays the same, and we currently see Shambala7 as a dynamic enterprise that changes as the energies change. Shambala – the road, and 7 – the people. Only two at this stage, we hope to have another 5 artist to join later this year. We have no selection criteria except that the creative products produced are positive and uplifting, and that the artist joining us, brings constructive energies to the group.

This will undoubtedly give the artist, crafter, musician, writer, poet or any other creative person the chance to put a foot into the electronic door, so that their work will become more visible. There is still a lot of detail to unfold, but, all at the right time. This next stage will start in March 2012.

In the meantime…

Our next, (and the first of our new endeavor), is an “outing” to the Festival of Shamans in Greyton from the 24th to the 26th of February 2012. Hazel and I will be trading our products in the Shaman Trading Village, and I will partake in some of the ceremonies that will be presented there. (I started my Shaman Apprenticeship in 2011).

For more info visit  http://shaman.spazaspace.com/

Hope to see you there! Be assured we will be posting some photos after the event. (Hazel is the photographer).

Bear with us while we oil the rusty wheels, and share in our vision that the road home will soon be filled with similar co-creative vehicles.

Sharon