Sublime

The traditional or tribal shaman, I came to discern, acts as an intermediary between the human community and the larger ecological field, ensuring that there is an appropriate flow of nourishment, not just from the landscape to the human inhabitants, but from the human community back to the local earth. By his constant rituals, trances, ecstasies,

For the shaman, one of the significant reasons that prayer is often of limited success is that the compassionate spirits of the Upper and Lower Worlds are not all-powerful outside the realms in which they dwell. Since their power to affect circumstances in the Middle World is limited, they characteristically need ordinary-reality allies to help cre

meditation gives us not only the light of insight but also the power for expansive change.

In the most basic ways there is a spirit, both holy and whole, behind our ages-old rituals; and we tell stories when we are summoned by their covenant with us, not vice versa.

For instance, healers may burn themselves out if they are always giving to others but are unable to give to themselves the time they need to feel nurtured and recharge their energy.

As you follow the path of joy you can learn to open to new things while you are in a state of acceptance and peace with the old.

Marion Woodman,