The intent of the Crows Nest communities and shamanic training programs is to help us move, in 2012 and Beyond, towards transforming and healing the soul of individuals so we can heal and care for the soul of the planet (Anima Mundi, Pachamama). This has an urgency requiring a creative shift from the materialistic and egoistic paradigms that are destroying the planet, to a heart-centered and earth-honoring way of life supportive of a holistic-participative planetary culture. Shamanism has universal inreaches in human nature which transcends any specific culture and is a goldmine, a kind of Noah’s Ark containing a vast real of human possibility and transformative techniques of the sacred.

Shamanism is an inexhaustible set of resources which can help us in the modern world develop a more wholesome and earth-honoring spirituality and healing practice which moves beyond the conventional and medical models of healing, while respecting and not pilfering sacred ceremonies that belong to indigenous peoples and their sacred histories. Rather our focus is on developing and owning our own ancient potentiality for shamanic spirituality, within our own cultures and environments. My own teaching and training events tend to take place in woodland retreats and wilderness settings, beginning with Crows Nest Center for Shamanic Studies in the southwestern Michigan woodlands for this purpose. We continue this tradition in Europe (France and Belgium). A strong component of this teaching is on the value of loving and supportive community, and we foster this, ongoingly, in each of our Crows Nest gatherings and events.

Mikkal