About
Alex Solomon
Since I was a child, I have talked to Spirits. I spent countless hours in the woods talking to the rocks and the trees, as well as other Spirits with whom I developed relationships. Throughout my life, I interacted with the world with the understanding that everything around me was alive. Growing up in the Northeast, I watched myself changing with the cycles of the seasons, and grew to appreciate the natural world around me and the way that I interacted with it. At the same time, I was in touch with the unseen, and continued to communicate with the Spirits.
In 2008, I took my first workshop with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. The work of the Foundation and the intensive training in Core Shamanism provided me a context for my earlier experiences. It also gave me the structure I needed to deepen my relationships with the Compassionate Helping Spirits and learn methods to bring the healing and wisdom I had experienced back to my community.
In addition to the FSS residential programs (the Two Week Shamanic Healing Intensive and the Three Year Program in Advanced Initiations in Shamanism and Shamanic Healing, as well as the Harner Shamanic Counseling training), I have completed extended studies in Celtic Shamanism and Mongolian Shamanism, as well participated in cultural exchange with Shamans from the Peruvian Andes and the Lake Titicaca region of Bolivia. I have also worked with my own ancestors to integrate my own cultural traditions (particularly Ashkenazi traditions) into my practice, as a way to honor the traditions of my own lineages.
The practice of Shamanism has changed my life in ways I could not have imagined. It has expanded my worldview, given me miraculous experiences of healing, and made me more able to live in harmony with the world around me. I love nothing more than guiding other people in the process of discovery of this ancient and powerful way of living.
About Core Shamanism
Core Shamanism consists of the universal, near-universal, and common features of shamanism, together with journeys to other worlds, a distinguishing feature of shamanism. As originated, researched, and developed by Michael Harner, the principles of Core Shamanism are not bound to any specific cultural group or perspective. Since the West overwhelmingly lost its shamanic knowledge centuries ago due to religious oppression, the Foundation's programs in Core Shamanism are particularly intended for Westerners to reacquire access to their rightful spiritual heritage through quality workshops and training courses.
Training in Core Shamanism includes teaching students to alter their consciousness through classic shamanic non-drug techniques such as sonic driving, especially in the form of repetitive drumming, so that they can discover their own hidden spiritual resources, transform their lives, and learn how to help others. Core Shamanism does not focus on ceremonies, such as those of Native American medicine men and women, persons who do both shamanism and ceremonial work.
--shamanism.org
Training
Foundation for Shamanic Studies Two Week Healing Intensive
Foundation for Shamanic Studies Three Year Program of Advanced Initiations in Shamanism and Shamanic Healing
Foundation for Shamanic Studies Harner Shamanic Counseling Training
Two Year Program in Celtic Shamanism with Jane Burns
Mother Tree Shamanism Practical Shamanism of the Nomads training in Darkhad Mongolian Shamanism