Announcing a 5-Day Immersion in Shamanic Life & Practice with Mikkal at Crows Nest Center for Shamanic Studies Friday July 18th – Tuesday July 22nd
Cost: Early bird registration $375 ($425 after July 1st) | Register
“We all have the multiplex potentiality of shamans within us. Collectively I call this the “Shaman Within.” What is needed in this time is to ignite it; to wake that potentiality up; to activate and orchestrate it so that we can each and together shape-shift our world in heart-open and earth-honoring ways.” –Mikkal
You are invited to join us for a joyful 5-Day Immersion in shamanic life and practice. This is an annual event for the Crows Nest Community, and is an opportunity for new people to come and explore the possibilities of apprenticeship or participation in the community and its events.
THE MEDICINE WHEEL OF TRANSFORMATION with Mikkal The Medicine Wheel is foundational to many indigenous-shamanic traditions around the world. It is integral to the healing journey, personally and collectively. The Medicine Wheel of Transformation is a Shamanic System of knowledge and a guide to initiatory experience and its basis in walking an earth-honoring heart path. It was adapted and refined by Mikkal through his work and experience with more than 85 shamans from over 40 different cultures, and is adapted to modern Western context. Central to it is the awakening of the Shaman Within, becoming a hollow bone for the Spirit, and developing this potential within us in an ongoing spiral journey through the four directions, that is without end. The end of one cycle is the opening of the next. With this tool you have a symbolic sacred system for your ceremonial practice, and a tool by which you can always assess where you are at on your path, and what needs more development, experience, or attention. It is thus foundational to the Crows Nest International apprenticeship programs. With this Medicine Wheel we not only find the help to heal our own traumas and wounds, dissolve limiting beliefs, and transform our life from fear-based to love-based ways of living, we also help to heal the underlying mythology of our own culture and our relationship with Earth and all our more than human relatives. It serves many functions, from providing ways of creating sacred space, forming powerful prayers, and employing the sacred energies and archetypes from all of these directions. During this 5-Day Immersion in Shamanism at Crows Nest, Mikkal will offer orienting teachings on this Medicine Wheel, and we shall find it reflected through our many ceremonies, providing the sacred framework and resources for shamanic counseling and healing. There will also be many ceremonies and breakout modules set within this context:
Breakout Modules for 5-Day Shamanic Immersion * Shamanic Journey Work with Mikkal * Drum Circle * Sacred Fire & Story Telling with Robert Wagner * Sweat Lodges led by Robert Wagner * Sacred Breathwork * Sacred Trance Dance with Jamila Blue * Acupuncture with Karla Donnell Bragg * Woman’s Ceremony with Rhonda Skinner * Men’s Circle with Jeff Nixa * Singing the Soul Home with Dr. Drake Spaeth * Shamanic Counseling Skills with Mikkal * Forest Walk About with Jeff Nixa * Shamanic Counseling Principles with Mikkal * Working with the Felt-Sense with Susan Pound and Dr. Drake Spaeth * Preparation and Discussions for Vision Quest 2015 on S. Manitou Island * Make your own Hoop Drum and Rattle with Lori Engblom (additional fee, see link for details) * Amazing Community and plenty of downtime to rest and to connect with Pachamama *
This Intensive is an excellent time to meet the community and explore Crows Nest’s apprenticeship programs. If you are interested in coming just for a day or two to explore the Crows Nest experience or apprenticeships, discuss this with Jamila Blue, the registrar.
BEGIN TIME: We will begin at 6pm on Friday, July 18th 6PM with getting acquainted in Sacred Circle, orientation for the intensive, and a opening ceremony. This will be followed by a Sweat Lodge, open to the public, and for those interested, a concurrent shamanic journey ceremony in the Gathering room. Four major Sacred Breathwork ceremonies will be held during the week, and you participate in two of them, one as the journeyer, and one as the ally of your partner. These ceremonies involve deep non-ordinary states of consciousness, and are profoundly healing and transforming in power. They follow a Rites of Initiation structure, in a safe, loving, ceremonial context, led by certified Crows Nest facilitators and experienced co-facilitators under Mikkal’s supervision. Sacred Breathwork I and II will be held Saturday morning, July 19th, 10 A.M. and Saturday evening, 7:pm respectively. Sacred Breathwork III & IV will be held Sunday, July 20th 7:PM and Monday morning, July 21st, at 10:AM respectively. You process the results together in a dyad, and with colorful mandala art work expressing something of your experience. Each day there will be a time to tie it all together in dyad and group process, and we will end with the closing of the Sacred Fire ceremony Tuesday afternoon.
WHAT TO BRING: Most people bring a tent and sleeping bag to the many Crows Nest campsites in the forest and gardens. However, there are area hotels, if that is preferred. Bring your sacred tools and regalia: drums, rattles, flutes, medicine bundles and mesas, prayer pipes, bandanas, talismans. You will also need to bring flashlight, swim trunks for purification lodge, journal and pen. Some art materials will be provided, but bring your own sketchpads and art supplies or collage materials if you wish.
COST: The Costs for the 4-Day intensive event is $425 (food not included). Early bird registration ends July 1st is $375
CAMPING at Crows Nest is free (bring your own tent and sleeping bag, flashlight, and towel). If you prefer, you may book a room with the Baymont Hotel in Dowagiac, MI, just 5 minutes from Crows Nest. MEALS: We chip in on breakfast foods, such as cereals and breads and fruit, lunch is on our own each day, and we pitch-in on a community dinner in the evening, structured before and after the Sacred Breathwork sessions. This meal usually has vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. We decide the menu as a community.
LOCATION and FLIGHTS: Crows Nest Center for Shamanic Studies, Dowagiac, Michigan 49120 Flights booked to South Bend Regional Airport, about 40 minutes from Crows Nest. We will arrange to shuttle you.
About: Mikkal (C. Michael Smith, Ph.D.) is a medical anthropologist, Jungian psychologist and shamanic teacher, with more than 30 years experience. He is a member of the Cercle de Sagesse Ancestral de l’Union based in Paris, and founder and director of Crows Nest International, which has communities in France, Belgium, and S. Africa. He is author of PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE SACRED and JUNG AND SHAMANISM IN DIALOGUE.