Shamanic Healing: Clarity in a Time of Change

Christina Pratt
December 7-9

Christina wrote us about her work: "Literally, shamanism is about not knowing anything. When I teach, it isn't academic and I don't have a curriculum, which is what keeps the work vital and effective. This works not because I'm special, but because I do what my helping spirits guide me to do for the people who come to learn with me. I ask really good questions and have the courage, and the fool-heartedness, to believe in and act on the answers. Shamanic healing is a path for restoring joy and meaning to life for people who suffer the ills of contemporary life. Often people won't let go of their stories and don't believe they can heal, but the spirits believe in us far more then we believe in them. The magic has not left us; we have left the magic. The spirits are ready, and they give me great things to do with people. I'll create a magical retreat that will include the season and the signs, which are everywhere. The only line I won't cross is where the helping spirits say `NO.'"

"What's unique about what I do? I lead people into wild, unadulterated shamanism that's completely appropriate for the particular group gathered at this particular time. I do real shamanic healing rituals. I don't do the same ritual over and over or rituals from other cultures or from the past. I dance, and I get others to dance with abandon from their souls, even if they're paralyzed by self-criticism, haven't moved their hips in public in their entire lives, or are sitting in a wheelchair. They will all leave understanding how, why, and when to use what they learn at Rowe. They will be able to take it with them, to use it in their lives, to live in a way that honors and celebrates the wholeness and integrity of their soul in a culture that doesn't."

Winter is a time of reflection, a time when thoughts and emotions crystallize so we can see with cool clarity their unique, snowflake beauty. The ancient skills of the shaman can harness the power that would normally slip through our cold, tired fingers. Together, we'll create a winter ritual for calling in the spirits to help us read the signs that are all around us. The signs show us exactly where we are in the moment. The spirits are here to help us.
 

Christina Pratt is a Shamanic Healer who teaches the safe and responsible use of shamanic techniques for self-empowerment, personal healing, and strengthening one's connection with Spirit and Nature. Her training began in 1986 amid a lifetime of dance. She opened the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing in New York City in 1990 and in Seattle in 1995 and is a teacher of exceptional clarity, humor, and caring. Her monumental book, The Encyclopedia of Shamanism, will be published in 2002. Her shamanic work synthesizes personal shamanic experience, studies with Ecuadorian, Tibetan, and Tamang shamans, and work with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and the Center for Intuitive Energy Processing. We're honored to welcome her on her first teaching visit to Rowe.