Early spring

Spring seems to have sprung here in the Northeast, earlier than usual. While I am delighted to feel the waking up in the land and in myself, I am also struggling with the knowledge of the impact we have had on our environment, and the challenges that this shift creates for ourselves and for our non-human community.

This is the balance--holding these two things together, feeling joy and sorrow at the same time. The essence of Shamanism is relationship: relationship with the world around us, relationship with our spirits, but also relationship with ourselves. I talk a lot about our capacity to hold power (as my own teacher does), and I am recognizing that part of that capacity involves capacity to hold deep feelings. In a circle I attended last night, I was struck by how, when we all journeyed on the same question, we all came back with messages on the importance of love. On the other side of deep feeling, we can let love flow--love for the humans around us, love for our environment, love and gratitude for our our helping spirits, and love and compassion for ourselves.

I invite you to take a moment to send love and gratitude to the world around you. This is relationship, this is the essence of what we do.