What you need to know
about shamanic healing and soul retrieval
Upcoming Workshops:
Alida Birch,
Introductory & Advanced Trainings in Shamanism
E-mail: AlidaBirch@yahoo.com
ACTIVISM & HEALING
I am not an activist in the true sense of the word. I am a healer. I focus
on restoration of health and regeneration. As a healer I wonder ‘why
is it important for me to be an activist?’ Of course I know about
the danger our trees are in, the state of the planet, the corrupt political
powers that have been entrusted with our future. This is the compelling
external reason for us to "get involved". But if this were enough
of a reason, we’d all be out there, wouldn’t we?
There must be more.
Many of us are on healing paths. The work of healing oneself is primarily
a call to relive the past, to remake the past and resolve the past. We
courageously confront the pain and grief we have experienced in our lives
and we work at coming to resolution and being in peace with ourselves,
our families of origin, and our lives. We learn new options for being
and interacting. All very potent stuff. Steps which are absolutely critical
for becoming fully functioning individuals in the present.
The energy it takes to be depressed or neurotic is enormous. When healing
occurs,
a tremendous amount of bound up energy is released, bringing with it the
potential for transformation. As we heal, it is our option to drop unhealthy
coping mechanisms, addictions, rigid thought and behavior patterns, dysfunctional
relationships, etc. When that energy is released, it’s a tidal wave
of power and it must be directed because it’ll surge somewhere whether
we choose it to or not. Unfortunately, this incredible energy is often
misused to create yet another trauma/drama that perpetually fascinates
and involves us and those nearby.
I am reminded of a dog I once knew. Years ago his leg was wounded. He
was taken to the veterinarian and his leg was bandaged. The dog’s
human family poured attention on their injured pet. Finally, the bandages
came off and his leg was fine. The family was relieved. Do you know what
that dog did? He tore at that leg until he opened up a sore. He limped
more noticeably when people were nearby. He presented that wounded leg
for sympathy as humans present their hand for introductions. He never
let that leg heal again. The sore leg became his way of interacting with
people, his identity.
This dog taught me a great lesson. We can all be like this dog. We can
dote on our wound until we forget that we can heal. We can adopt labels
such as survivor or former addict. We can perpetually attend support groups
or workshops and adopt someone else’s philosophy or program of how
we are to heal.
My questions to you on a healing path are these: when are you healed?
When have you worked on your issues enough? How much is enough therapy?
When is yesterday over? And when does your wounded inner child get to
grow up and integrate into you, the adult? When will you be here in the
present?
Ultimately, the path of healing never does end, but continues on in subtle
ways throughout our lives. But there is a point when we need to shift
our focus from self as wounded to self in the world.
Carl Jung said that we experience trauma so that we can know the soul,
to give our lives meaning. The Dalai Lama teaches that the transformation
of difficulties is the path to spiritual awakening. And we need to awaken
as a society as well as awaken personally.
We are lacking a model for health, a model for how to use our energy to
move forward to something positive rather than back to the past, back
to our pain. What do I do with all of this newly released energy, how
do I create a life that has meaning? What is the gift my soul came here
to express? What is my life purpose? These are questions we should be
taught to ponder as children and teenagers. Today we are fortunate to
encounter these questions as adults. These are the questions that will
lead us from the past to the present and help us to form a life sustaining
future.
I can most easily speak of this phenomenon from a personal perspective,
my own experience. Six years ago I left the corporate world because it
was not my path. I awakened to my true passion, which was facilitating
healing for others. I became a shamanic counselor and healer. Did hundreds
of soul retrievals and helped people find meaning and passion for life.
I loved my life. It was magic. Then I feel asleep again.
I was fearful about the future, about financial security. My family of
origin had taught me to be very concerned about money to the point of
paralysis. I decided to go back into the corporate world so the fears
would quiet down. But, I did not look forward to work. I looked at work
as a trade of time for money and I could not wait for the day to end so
I could go home and recover from my job. I was living in the future, living
for the weekends, the evenings, trying to fit too much into too little
time. Always rushed. Ironically, the very path I had chosen to create
financial security had created a disease that could have prevented me
from reaching retirement age. I was not following my passion and my body
knew it. Within a year I had cancer.
The cancer taught me to regain my passion for life or to give up my body
to something that had more interest in living in the present moment. I
confronted the possibility of death. And as a result, I developed a passion
for the present. Despite my fears that were based in my past, I had to
look beyond to what I was creating NOW. I quit my job. I began to remember
how to savor my life. I woke up.
Fortunately, all that is left of the cancer is a scar on my right shoulder
and some grim memories of the surgery. But I have re-created my life.
My energy is focused on my healing practice once again. Most importantly
if someone was to ask me "what are your regrets?" I would have
none.
I believe that the sanest act we can create right now is to live our passion.
Find our purpose and move closer to it day by day. Identify priorities.
Identify what gives us pleasure and joy.
We must engage with life as we engage with ourselves. It’s not possible
for us just to heal ourselves, else we get caught in recycling our energies
back to the same old issues. To quote Thich Nhat Hanh, "Mindfulness
must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise,
what is the use of seeing?"
Once we are truly filled with ourselves, understanding our gifts and purpose,
then we can act from a place of inspiration and cohesiveness. Then we
will go out and work for the trees and the other causes we feel drawn
to. The difference is we will be drawn to activism, not pushed by guilt.
The ways to be an activist are infinite ranging from working with improving
the soil in your yard to helping neighbors live in cooperation. As your
circle widens activism can include the schools, the environment, and feeding
the hungry. I encourage you to start small with what you feel a passion
for and with what you can see as a possible first easy step.
There is no greater force than a person who is living their vision.
We are all connected. My studies in shamanism have led me to know that
not only are we connected, but also everything is alive and is sustained
by a spirit or life force. Yes, everything. People, animals, the trees,
the rocks, our drums, our houses, heck, even the computer I’m writing
on has a spirit (but that’s another story...).
We are interconnected. We have to undertake personal healing and we have
to undertake social action simultaneously. We have to find a way for what
is finest in each of us to transcend hopelessness, bitterness and cynicism.
The time for mere self-improvement is over. It is time to support the
unending process of self-discovery that leads to world improvement. We
can neither ignore the world until we get better nor ignore ourselves
until the world gets better.
Copyright © 1998 by Alida Birch.
"It’s not the great things you do that matter, but the small things you do with great heart." Mother Teresa