WiseWomanhood School

Supporting Women - Body, Mind, & Soul

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Shamanic Birthright

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The ancestors of everyone, very, very far back were animists and used shamanism as a tool (from 200,000- 300,000 years ago until about 8000 BCE). While many people think of shamanism in terms of indigenous peoples of today, it actually predates what we call “civilization”.

Tribal hunter-gatherers were living in a very different world, not only externally, but in their viewpoint of it. Their view is generally considered to be what’s called animism. Animism is an experience of being connected to the spirits of all beings – humans and other animals, plants and trees, and stone people, and so forth. These humans lived throughout the world, before agriculture became firmly established.

Tribes were nomadic, moving according to food availability. An egalitarian yet specialized way of life worked. Some in the tribe were very good hunters and gatherers. Others were experts at knapping tools or curing skins for clothes. Yet others were shamans who were very good at journeying to the spirit world and bringing back information to support the tribe’s survival. Everyone was aware of the spirit world, but shamans specialized in it.

Today animism/shamanism is re-surging. We sorely need it to reconnect to nature and our own souls. It offers direct experience of the spirit world. Some are concerned with shamanism being cultural approriation from indigenous cultures.  This can be avoided by not taking on the cultural practices and rituals and beliefs of these peoples. When shamanism worldwide was studied core practices were found, no matter what the local cultural trappings and modifications were. Using core shamanic practices, it’s possible to learn more directly from spirit world helpers. 

Finding a teacher who is both knowledgeable and experienced in core shamanism will avoid any cultural appropriation.  Safe and ethical use of shamanism can support personal and group development.

Interested in trying shamanism and learning about animism with core practices?

Terra offers some study groups and classes HERE and HERE.

Paul Francis is Terra’s preferred teacher. Paul shares a complete basis for your journeys and allows for your own path in all the worlds. You can find him HERE. Lots of free information and great classes.

Shamanism – A Path to Healing

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Shamanism is a timeless practice that connects us to Heaven, to Earth, AND our Deepest Self. These practices seem to be inherent in those who try it, yet generally dormant in our culture. It was dominant for the thousands of years that humans lived sustainably on the planet as part of Nature, rather than apart from Nature.

  • Want to make the belief that all of life is sacred more than an opinion?
  • Looking for a practice that sustains you….and may help sustain the Earth too?
  • Ready to delve into the unseen realms?

You can enjoy and experience the power, protection, and nurturance of Shamanism in your life. Terra offers this supportive pathway to creating your own practice:

Step One – Understand how shamanism is healing for people and the planet.  learn about the Lower, Middle, and Upper Worlds and what they are like.  What journeying is and how to do it. A lecture by Terra on YouTube  https://youtu.be/_15PELe3dnk   .

Step Two – a guided journey to meet your Power Animal in the Lower World. Terra will meet with you privately via Zoom to help you journey. Meeting and relating with your Power Animal is a crucial part of journeying safely. Your Power Animal is your power and protection. This is a session by donation and you can sign up by emailing Terra  with your schedule and wish. This session takes up to one hour, maybe less.

Step Three – Once you have a Power Animal, you can join our free monthly Shamanic Study Group. A group meeting creates a community, as well as way to learn from each other. We meet the 4th Sunday of the month, 10 am Mountain Time for up to 1 ½ hour. Terra leads a topic share and discussion, then rattles for everyone to journey. After the journey, participants take notes on their experiences and share with the group. Register here .  There is also a similar group the 2nd Sunday, same time with Jyoti Wind, another practitioner, which you can sign up for here.

Step Four — For a fully grounded experience, you can also join our Book-Journey Study Group. It begins Jan 7, 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sundays of the month. We’ll read the book “The Shamanic Journey- A Practical Guide to Therapeutic Shamanism” throughout January, February and March, then at our zoom meetings we’ll discuss readings, do a journey, and share. This group is appropriate for those new to journeying AND provides a very clear & thorough understanding built on the work of Paul Francis. In this paradigm we become fully familiar with the Lower World before going to the Upper World. The book explains why.

The recommended donation is $70 for the whole session, you can pay if you wish, after registering here. No one turned away due to inability to pay.

Terra Rafael has been exploring shamanism spontaneously for many years. During the last 10 years she’s practiced more consciously with mentor, Jyoti Wind. And since COVID Terra took classes with Sandra Ingerman, Alberto Villaldo, Itzhak Beery, and Hank Wesselman. She is now studying regularly with Paul Francis at the Three Ravens College(https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/ ) via zoom classes. Paul offers many resources free on the website, as well as classes.

Questions? Email Terra Rafael

Grounding with the Chakras

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Grounding in the seasons of Autumn and Winter helps balance the airy nature of cool winds, especially in dry climates.  Eating more heavier root veggies and fatty foods might work – with subsequent added body weight. Another way to ground is through energy of the chakras.

There are many different chakra systems… yet it is common in cultures that acknowledge  our energetic bodies that chakras are accepted.  Whatever system you  are used to, most seem to be focused on moving upward.  The “up is good” and “down is bad” paradigm is part of the negativity towards such various parts of life such as sex and dirt.  Moving the energy upward definitely doesn’t help ground.

The more animist form of chakra system is about an interchange between Earth and Sky, Mother and Father, with us in the middle of them. See more here. Our energy is naturally related to both the Upper World and Lower World and thereby to the Sky and to the Earth.  This formation lends to more grounding AND more relationship with the Upper World.

In this system  the lowest chakra on our body is the Foot chakra.  By putting awareness into the lower chakras it helps ground – without putting on the calories.  Walking is one way of emphasizing the lower chakras. Another way is to do some breathing with a visualization.

This visualization is in tune with the in breath and out breath.  Sitting or standing, tune into the Crown chakra. With inbreath visualize a flower blooming open, with outbreath see it turn into a flame that purifies that chakra. Many pictures of the chakras show them as discs on the front of the body. Rather than this visual, “see” the flowers horizontally oriented, and centered on the spine.

Move down the chakras, following the base chakra with the Foot chakra. See all the chakras blooming and purifying with each inbreath/outbreath. (see picture here- thanks to www.therapeutic-shamanism.uk) Continue for 5-10 minutes.

Play around with this – try moving up from the feet to crown or focus on particular chakras where you might notice less flexibility.

May you experience this holiday season as a grounded, nourishing time.

Smiles,

Terra Rafael

Growing Community – Essential to Health

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Attending the Colorado Ayurvedic Medicine Association conference live was so energizing. I’ve been getting messages about the need to form community for some time. This experience helped propel me forward in this work.

When I was a midwife I had “the Birth Lodge” meetings where women in my practice would have a potluck at my home and we’d just eat and talk together.  I didn’t teach. I participated and held the space. The women would teach each other about what they’d learned in their experiences. It was a natural course in childbirth and postpartum that I just hosted – no agendas. Many women became fast friends, supporting each other well after postpartum.

 I’ve also learned a lot from being part of a large community called Bright Line Eating TM . This group offers the “head” knowledge but also the “heart” support to people who have eating disorders – eating too much or too little.

I dream of this sort of community growth and sharing for Ayurveda and Shamanism.  That’s what inspired me to start the Ayurveda Rising support group for new practitioners.  And in the new year, I will offer more community opportunities around Shamanism as well.

This type of community – where it’s so safe you can be yourself and supported – does not come easily. It requires commitment by someone to hold the space – sometimes it takes awhile for things to build organically.  It requires commitment by members to show up consistently and to stick together long enough to form actual relationships. It requires some ground rules to keep the meetings safe and avoid controversies which can take away from the goals of the community.

Over and over, community relationships are shown to be a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle.  It helps us to heal traumas and to express our triumphs and gratitudes

If you are excited about creating more community in this all-too divided world, please join me in this quest.  Join my communities. Start your own communities – ask me for support to do that if you want.

May you be surrounded by a loving community!

Becoming a True Elder

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I’ve been studying shamanic practice with Paul Francis, of the UK. He teaches that the basis of shamanism is animism. Our Hunter-Gatherer forefathers & mothers lived in this kind of culture. They lived harmoniously within their human tribe and with the larger community of non-humans – Animal, Plant, and Stone Peoples. They understood all the Peoples are soulful and worthy of respect. They knew there was a Spirit World, unseen unless in a Shamanic State of Consciousness, during a shamanic journey or in a state straddling both the physical world and the Spirit World.

In this animist world, children were initiated into adulthood, signaling that they’d become a True Adult. They were shocked into giving up their childish self centeredness and into connecting more fully to the whole web of life – human & non-human. Using their talents for the good of the whole. That was the makings of a True Human Adult.

I hope to grow into that – and onward to be a True Elder, not just older but seeing beyond the daily world to bigger needs of the whole community and sharing that wisdom.  Paul Francis says that Shamans were Elders ahead of their time, with a foot in both the Spirit World and the physical Middle World. They tell stories to help keep the tribe on the path to being Truly Human Beings.

Luckily, Ayurveda helps us to live long and well as possible. With these supports I hope to make it to True Elderhood.

If you would like to join me on this path, join our free twice monthly Shamanic Study Groups and look into the excellent books and classes by Paul Francis at Three Ravens College. To have your own personal longevity plan, start with a zoom consultation with Terra or try some Ayurveda on-demand classes.

Deepening through Female Initiations

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You can view a woman’s life cycles as a series of initiations into a new state of being, a higher consciousness. When you look at them this way, they become more than a troublesome change. They become an opportunity for your soul to grow.

The phases that women go through are:  Menarche, Menstrual cycling, Female Orgasm, Pregnancy, Postpartum, Perimenopause, Menopause and Later Menopause.  Intertwined with these is Creativity.

These stages have been correlated by the author Uma Dinsmore-Tuli with the traditional Tantric Mahavidya or Wisdom Goddesses.  Most of these Goddesses are very fierce looking, ready to shock you out of your everyday patterns into a state of newness, making them excellent for Female Initiations.

This beautiful graph is from the amazing book Yoni Shakti,by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli,PhD. It clearly illustrates the relationship of the Mahavidyas to the Female Life Cycles:

We can use the teachings of the Mahavidya to bring more awareness to Female Cycles, making them more than physical experiences which are often uncomfortable.

If you’d like to learn from my research and journeys with the Female Cycles and the Mahavidyas, as well as from other women on the journey, join my upcoming live, zoom class in February. We’ll go beyond the mind and enter into the subtle worlds to contact each Goddess for personalized teachings.

I also highly recommend the amazing book Yoni Shakti by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli  , the major inspiration for my own work to learn more and share about her great paradigm.  She delves deeply into women and yoga and also offers wonderful womb yoga techniques for each cycle of womanhood.

Learn more about the Mahavidyas and Women’s Powers class