Healing Soul with The Sacred in Shamanism, Jung, & IFS –
July 31-August 4, 2025
Welcome to the 23rd Annual Crows Nest Wounded Healer Summer School, where we will be diving deep into the Sacred Core in Parts Work from Shamanic, Jungian, and IFS perspectives. This 5-Day Intensive will offer a transformative experience as we explore healing practices and models in a heart-open, integral approach.
Throughout the workshop, we will delve into the basics of establishing ourselves in Center, the Sacred Core, in healing our inner wounded parts. We will learn experientially through a variety of practices how to apply these teachings in our own healing journeys. The Shamanic Journey and carefully crafted Guided Meditations are employed as safe and powerful tools in healing, caring for, and updating our wounded parts from the Sacred Center. These practices empower us to take central leadership of our own healing, and transforming of parts, and in creatively reorienting and shaping our life and work.
We will learn how to find and establish ourselves in the Sacred Center of our being, so that we know exactly with how to Self-Heal and Self-Transform. Healing the Inner Child will be explored in depth. We will also explore ways embodying our spiritual practice and listening to the needs of our bodies and the roles and tasks required of us in the social world, and to avoid spiritual and somatic bypassing.
The workshop will be held in a Southwestern Michigan woodland setting, where we will open and close with Fire Ceremony and maintain a Sacred Fire Altar as the focal point of our communal healing space. This event is not just a workshop, but also a retreat for the soul, offering a space for contemplation, community, and transformation.
Join us on this journey of experiential self-discovery and healing as we explore the depths of our inner world and learn to integrate our wounded parts into a more cohesive and empowered whole. Let us come together in a spirit of empathy and compassion as we walk the Heart Path and explore the transformative power of Parts Work.
Safety First / Disclaimer: This workshop is intended for personal growth and transformation oriented individuals who are not currently undergoing a major life crisis. It is not a substitute for individual psychotherapy, medical, or psychiatric treatment. Parts Work can be a powerful tool for working with past trauma. However, in this workshop we will learn about parts work and have experiences practicing for your own personal growth and healing. The event is intended for the enrichment of shamanic practitioners, psychotherapists, natural healers, life coaches, Jungian analysts, creative artists and poets even, and for those interested in any of these fields. It is not for someone suffering from a severe mood disorder or experience in a high level of crisis or suicidality, nor for someone with a serious medical condition. We simply cannot offer that level of safe containment in a workshop context. If you have questions about any of this, email us so we can consider your situation and make a determination if it is right for you.
REGISTRATION & PREPARATION DETAILS:
When: July 31, 2025. Come early to set up tents and your camping area. Mobile Campers (RVs) are welcome. Event Start Time: 4pm July 31, and event closing time to August 4th 4:pm.
Location of the Intensive: Set your GPS in the USA for 471 Stafford Road, Niles, MI 49120
What to bring: Tent, sleeping bag, rain parka, loose clothing, a recorded shamanic drumming file on your cell phone recorder, with ear-phones for shamanic lucid dreaming at night. Bring your drum, rattles, didj, other musical instrument, eye cover (bandana, Mindfold). Bring a journal art paper and paints or colored pens or pencils for expressing. And sharing in dyadic and group process.
Meals: Bring an extra $60.00 cash to pitch in for meals. We will plan meals on the first day, and pitch in for groceries, camp-style cooking and cleaning up.
Tuition: $475.00 ($450.00 early-bird price before July 7th.
STAFF:
C. Michael Smith, Ph.D. (aka Mikkal) is a practicing clinical, analytical psychologist, and shamanic teacher. He is known for his body of work integrating Jung and Shamanism. He is founder of Crows Nest Centers for Shamanic Studies International (Belgium, France, South Africa, USA) , and has taught at the University of Chicago, Chicago Theological Seminary, Saybrook University, and the Cercle de Sagesse in Paris, France. He has served on doctoral comities at CIIS, Michigan School of Professional Psychology, and in the Pacifica Graduate Institute for more than 20 years, and has taught Jung and Shamanism for the International Association of Analytical Psychology [IAAP] and the Russian Academy of Science (June, 2021), and for the IAAP/Analyst Training Program in Bangalore India (March-April 2022), and for the Instituto Mediterraneo Di Psicologia Archetipa, Sicily-Italy, (May-July 2022), and for CIPA, the Italian Center of Analytical Psychology (Oct. 2022). He will be presenting for the Multidisciplinary Hybrid Psychedelic Council , Amsterdam, Holland June 2-4, 2023. Mikkal has presented for the Shift Network with Robert Moss, and for Sounds True (Shamanism Summit, 2018) and many podcasts worldwide. He is author of PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE SACRED, (Gradiva Awards accl), 1995) and the classic JUNG AND SHAMANISM IN DIALOGUE: Retrieving the Soul / Retrieving the Sacred (1997, 2007). In early 2025 he was interviewed in Jeffry Mishlove’s NEW THINKING ALLOWED, with Dr. Leanne Whitney.
Laura Burkett Gutierrez, MA, (she/her) has been in private practice for the past 14 years. She holds a Masters degree in Transpersonal Psychology, is a Level-3 certified practitioner of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, and holds multiple certifications in holistic nutrition, the psychology of eating, and psycho-shamanism (a synthesis of depth psychology and traditional healing). Laura has spent time in South America, Central America, and the American Southwest to study traditional practices in physical and psychological healing. She continues an ongoing apprenticeship in depth psychology and psychoshamanic/psychological healing with clinical and Jungian psychologist and shamanic teacher, C. Michael Smith and has assisted in IFS therapy trainings. You can read more about Laura’s work at lauraburkett.com and realfoodwellness.com
Aion Farvahar is a Life and Spirituality Mentor, and a Certified IFS and Psychoshamanic Practitioner who has collaborated with Mikkal and is an active member of the Crows Nest Community. His mentoring work is focused on Self-Awareness, Life Purpose, and Spiritual Awakening. He has a YouTube channel (“Celestial Twin Life Mentorship”) and posts content related to the Internal Family Systems model [IFS], Psychoshamanism, and Spiritual Awakening practices. For more information about Aion and his life-mentoring practice, check out his website (www.celestialtwin.com).
Jamila Blue is a Transformation Coach, helping individuals elevate their Essence by connecting to the Divine through Play. Jamila is also the Crows Nest Center for Shamanic Studies and event Registrar. She will offer Ecstatic Sacred Dance Sessions around the Sacred Fire again at this year’s event.
Website: www.jamilablue.com
