6 Things I Do with Every Client

No matter what energetic skill level and capacity a client has when they come to work with me one on one, we end up working on these 6 fundamentals, and it universally makes a huge difference.

I have shared some form of this framework with almost every single private mentorship client for the last few years--people who are newer on the path and get overwhelmed going to the grocery store, people who have some energetic tools but maybe not everything they need, and even well-established practitioners who may have a blind spot about something fundamental to their practice.

The reason these 6 things are so beneficial and universally applicable is because these are the Foundations of Energetic Mastery.

These 6 things build the solid foundation of your energy practice.

These 6 things make all the "fancy" work possible. These are essential skills for things like channeling and mediumship, shamanic extractions and soul retrieval.

These 6 things will save your butt when you feel overwhelmed, depleted and stressed out.

These 6 things will bring you back to center when things in your life go sideways and you're too distracted to channel the angels for guidance.

These 6 things are deceptively simple, but simple is effective.

A lot of people who already have some training in energy work think they have the fundamentals mastered, but then I show them these 6 things and their eyes go wide. They say, "No one has ever explained it to me like that before. I didn't know I could do that. That makes so much sense. Will you please teach me how?"

Here are the 6 things:

The Foundations of Energetic Mastery

1. Awareness

This is the foundational skill that makes all the other pieces possible. Your awareness is your ability to sense and assess your body and etheric field, to discern what energy is yours and what is not, as well as to determine the presence, location and other relevant information regarding blockages or interferences in your body and energy field. Your awareness is your ability to direct and project your consciousness like a voluntary muscle. Your awareness is foundational to your energetic regulation and radiance.

2. Clearing

Clearing is your ability to release and send away any energy that is not yours, or things that are yours that you don't need anymore. Clearing releases hidden and trapped emotional residue, old karmic patterning and soul blueprints, trauma and traumatic imprints, energetic parasites and psychic implants, stagnation, other people's energy, and more.

3. Grounding

Grounding enables presence. Grounding helps you anchor your consciousness firmly into your bioform, the cells in your body, and to Gaia. Grounding is your ability to be stable and resourced in your presence, and to call upon the aliveness in your body and the Earth.

4. Centering

Centering brings you back home to yourself. This practice calls all parts of your Self, your energy and your attention back to wholeness with you. Centering is also where soul retrieval comes in to support healing from soul loss and fragmentation.

5. Cultivation

Cultivation brings in energy from Earth, the Heavens and Source to increase the amount of energy in your field, as well as your capacity to hold it. Cultivation practices give you radiant aliveness, raise your vibration, support thriving health and well-being and enable you to practice high-demand energy work like incorporation mediumship.

6. Protection

Finally, Protection acts as a semi-permeable membrane to help you conserve your energy and regulate yourself efficiently. A lot of people think it's important to start with Protection, but this is actually the final step.

In which of these 6 things are you most confident? Which one feels the most challenging to you?

Do you want help with this in your own practice?

I've got you covered!

Get Support:

Are you ready for support with the Foundations of Energetic Mastery?

Book a call with me to talk about what type of support is right for you.

What's in the Box?

What's included in the Sacred Ecology curriculum? Check it out:

1. Foundations of Animism

• What land and nature spirits are

• Why land and nature spirits are vitally important to animistic practice (shamanism, witchcraft, traditional medicine work)

• Context and positionality in animistic practice

• Why your Shamanic work needs to be anchored into Gaia to be most effective

• Reclaiming and healing indigeneity

2. How to Communicate with Land and Nature Spirits

• Devotion and collaboration

• 3 essential types of offerings

• How to make offerings

• Receiving messages, signs and communication from nature spirits

3. Temple Planet

• Geomancy: collaborating with Earth magic

• Ley lines and the Earth grid

• Sacred sites, living temples and power portals

• Guardians and anchor allies

4. Creating a Protectorate

• What are the Directions and how to work with them

• How to attune yourself to Gaia's frequency

• How to cast a protectorate and create temple space

5. Nature Spirit Allies

• Introduction to nature spirits

• Embodied and etheric nature spirits

• Individual, communal and planetary nature spirits

• Which nature spirits are trying to get your attention and connect with you?

6. Foundations of Ecology

• Intersection of science and shamanic practice

• Niches, roles and relationships with other species

• What is the context of a nature spirit? What role do they play in the ecosystem? What is their medicine?

7. Initiation and Integration

• Ceremonial initiation with your nature spirit ally

• How to work with and integrate your ally

• Working with land and nature spirits in your personal and professional spiritual practice

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Use this code for $100 off at checkout: EB100SE

Early Bird expires July 1! Register now to claim your discount.

Attn: Solo Practitioners and Healers

If you are a solo practitioner, you need strong connections with spirit allies to do your work properly.

All healing and ceremonial work is collaborative. Sometimes we collaborate with other practitioners, like a coven or priestess circle, or co-facilitating a shamanic ceremony. But even when we’re “alone,” we’re never alone. We collaborate with our clients, we collaborate with medicines, nature spirits and guides. We collaborate with Gaia herself. Because all healing work is collaborative, strong connections with spirit allies are vitally important to healing work and magical practice.

As individuals, our knowledge and power are finite. None of us are experts in everything. Our personal energy is inherently limited by our bodies, personal practice, resilience and nutrition. Personal energy can fluctuate and be impacted by a bad night’s sleep, hormonal cycles or existential angst.

Without our spirit allies, we burn out. We are limited by our personal resources and capacity. We are more vulnerable to predatory energies. We support our clients at the expense of our own health and well-being.

The great thing about collaborating with spirit allies is that we don’t have to rely solely on our personal knowledge and power. We get to invoke the spirits that specialize in the energy we are inviting for our clients, and share their mastery. We get to call upon and channel the abundant generosity of Gaia, to resource our healing work from the continuously flowing planetary grid.

Do you want to…

• …create a functionally purposeful allyship with Gaia to support your spiritual practice?

• …receive teachings and initiations from the original wisdom keepers: plants, animals, stones and nature herself?

• …anchor your personal or professional healing practice into the powerful, amplified grid of Gaia?

• …ensure optimal safety and protection in your home, ceremonial and temple spaces?

• …receive guidance and support as you establish powerful partnerships with new spirit allies?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Early Bird pricing ends July 1. Use this code at checkout for $100 off: EB100SE

Attn: Retreat Leaders and Ceremony Facilitators

Retreat leaders and ceremonial facilitators: if you are not connecting with the land and nature spirits before your clients arrive, you are making your work more difficult and your clients’ experience less powerful than it could be.

I’m sure you’re great at leading retreats and holding ceremonies. You probably clear the space before your clients arrive, and maybe set up an altar. That’s a good start, but it’s not enough. Anchoring your retreat or ceremony with the local land and nature spirits is one of those things where you don’t think it matters until you do it, and then you realize what a huge difference it makes.

A shamanic practitioner friend of mine attended a retreat in Guatemala, and while she enjoyed the retreat activities, she felt like there was something missing. She told me, “The land never let me in while I was there. It was beautiful, but it was like looking at a pretty postcard. I couldn’t actually feel it like I’m used to.”

I am acquainted with the facilitators of the retreat she attended, and I am fairly certain that they did not anchor into the land and Earth grid before everyone arrived. (These people are great at what they do, but they are not well trained in shamanic practice.) Most people probably never would have consciously noticed, but my friend is a highly skilled and sensitive practitioner, and she felt the disconnect.

Even though most of your retreat or ceremony participants might not consciously notice the disconnect, they will feel it on the subtle level. So much of the work at retreats and ceremony takes place in the subtle realms. We cannot ignore the impact this has on the experience.

Here are some of the things that can go wrong if your retreat or ceremony isn’t connected to the land and nature spirits:

• Participants have more trouble grounding and regulating their energy. People are more likely to feel tired, triggered, and depleted. Participants may not sleep well, are more likely to develop colds or “ascension flu” symptoms and may be generally more uncomfortable or agitated.

• You (and your team/co-facilitators) will have to work harder to hold the container. Participants may need more personal attention from you and you will be depleting more of your personal energy to anchor the field. You are more likely to feel depleted during and after the event.

• There will be a higher risk of unwelcome energies and potentially harmful entities, especially if practicing medicine work, channeling and mediumship. There may be more need for energetic “heavy lifts,” such as entity extractions and psychic surgery.

• Since your clients will be working harder to ground and regulate themselves on the subtle level, less of their personal energy will be available for deep work. They will probably have some epiphanies and enjoy themselves (because you’re a great retreat facilitator), but they might be left feeling like there’s a piece missing, or like your retreat was great, but not amazing.

Here are some of the ways that connecting to the land and nature spirits can help your retreat or ceremony be even more impactful and beneficial:

• When you anchor into the land, you are resourcing your practice from the Earth grid and you have the blessing of the local nature spirits to do your work. Participants are more likely to sleep well, feel resourced, have an easier time grounding and regulating their energy and feel connected to their inner wisdom.

• You and your team will not have to work as hard to anchor the field, because the land and nature spirits will help you do that. More of your personal energy will be available to support your clients and help them have an amazing experience, and you will feel more resourced and supported as you do that.

• While there is always the potential that unwelcome energies and entities might show up, that risk is much lower when your work is anchored in with the land and nature spirits. Nature spirits are naturally immune to many harmful entities and they will support your ceremony field in staying clear and healthy.

• Since your participants will be so supported by the land and nature spirits, more of their subtle energy will be available for creativity, inspiration, intuition and deep healing work. They are more likely to gel as a group and form positive connections with each other. Their nervous systems will have more regulation support, so they will likely have more “aha!” moments and be able to bounce back more easily in the case of triggers or overwhelm. Attendees are more likely to walk away from your event feeling full, radiant, and like they had an amazing experience.

Your retreats and ceremonies can go from “great, but something is missing” to “OMG amazing and impactful.”

Do you want to learn how to connect with the local land and nature spirits, to support your retreats and ceremonies?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Use this code for $100 off at checkout: EB100SE

Early Bird expires July 1! Register now to claim your discount.

Meet Your Guide

I’m Michelle Hawk: Shamanic Alchemist, Spiritual Mentor, Master Healer.

As a child, I always felt connected to animals, nature and magic. The world felt alive to me in a way I eventually realized most people didn’t understand, so I hid and didn’t tell anyone about my conversations with animals or the spirits I saw.

When I found out about Shamanism at age 15, everything changed for me. Animistic Shamanism gave me a context and vocabulary for what I already knew: the world and all beings are alive and connected through the unseen realms, and the animals, plants and stones all have powerful wisdom and to share.

I have been studying and practicing animistic Shamanism with various teachers since 2003, and under dedicated mentorship since 2009. My core Shamanic lineages come from the Shaman clan Baksa of what is now Hungary, and the Celtic people and horse tribes who traveled across Europe. I have also studied with Turtle Island indigenous teachers.

For me, the spirituality of life and the science of life have always gone hand in hand. In university, I earned my degree in biology, specializing in animal physiology and behavior. My undergraduate research was in hummingbird foraging behavior, and I dove into tropical ecology and conservation during my research.

As a Shaman, biologist and passionate naturalist, my practice is rooted in deep reverence for life and the wisdom of Gaia, scientific principles of ecology and environmentalism, and genuine appreciation and enthusiasm for nature.

Are you ready to work with land and nature spirits?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Early Bird pricing ends July 1. Use this code at checkout for $100 off: EB100SE

Safety and Protection in Home and Temple Space

If you don’t have active, working relationships with local land and nature spirits, you are missing a big component of safety and protection in your home, temple, and ceremonial space.

You know that energetic safety and psychic protection are important in healing and ceremonial work. You probably have some great tools for clearing energy, invoking angels and casting a circle of light. Maybe you have some nice altars set up with salt and tourmaline.

But did you know that your biggest, most immediate allies in safety and protection are the local land and nature spirits?

There are plenty of yucky entities and energies that can be drawn to your home or temple space, particularly if you’re doing deep healing or shadow work, hosting medicine ceremonies or practicing channeling and mediumship. Mocking spirits, parasitic entities, vicious spirits, walk-ins, hungry ghosts, soul fragments, vampiric energies, distortion fields, egregores, unprocessed trauma, or even psychic attacks from another person: we know these entities exist in the world and practicing energy work carries the inherent risk of inviting more of them into our lives. But if your protection practices aren’t 100% solid, these entities will hang out in your space and your energy field. Best case scenario, they feel sludgy and make you tired. Worst case scenario, they will f* you up, and f* up your life.

Why are land and nature spirits the best allies for protection?

• Most of the energies I listed above originate from or feed on warped human ego projections. Land and nature spirits don’t have human ego projections, so they are simply immune to these entities. Their immunity comes from innocence. Nature spirits connect us with our own, primal nature and innocence. They help us become immune.

• Even though land and nature spirits are immune, they still don’t like the harmful distortions the entities cause, so land and natures spirits may intervene to either get rid of the entities or compost them. Gaia is great at composting old, decaying or discarded energy and turning it into something fertile and healthy.

• Land and nature spirits can be more effective than angels or etheric guides for safety and protection because they are actually embodied on the physical plane. Angels and etheric guides are great, but they have no material correspondence on Earth. Land and nature spirits are anchored into bioforms, and on Earth, matter matters.

• Having active, working relationships with land and nature spirits and anchoring your home or temple space into the Earth grid means that you are less likely to attract harmful entities in the first place. Gaia is a living temple planet, and when your sacred space is integrated with hers, you are under her protection.

But here’s the thing: in order to receive the safety and protection of the land and nature spirits, you have to ask for help. They won’t just automatically protect you. You must have an active, working relationship with the land and nature spirits, and you must invoke them as allies.

Do you want to collaborate with the living temple of Gaia to create sacred space in your home and ceremonial circles?

Do you want to communicate with powerful allies so you can learn from their wisdom and receive their support and protection?

Do you want to learn how to work with land and nature spirits?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Early Bird pricing ends July 1. Use this code at checkout for $100 off: EB100SE

Are you sabotaging your energy work?

If you don’t have an active, working relationship with local land and nature spirits, you might be sabotaging your healing and ceremonial work.

Imagine for a moment that you are setting up a healing studio or ceremonial circle in an existing temple space. This temple already has its own altars, temple keepers and guardians who protect and regulate the energy of the space. There are plenty of people who already live and work and pray at the temple. The temple was humming along just fine, doing its own thing before you got there.

When you arrived at the temple, you didn’t ask anyone’s permission if you could be there and do your work. You didn’t introduce yourself to anyone, or take the time to get to know the existing temple structure. You simply waltzed in and set up your healing studio right in the middle of the temple. You built your own altars on top of the ones that were already there. You never considered whether you, your clients and your type of energy work were welcome and compatible with the existing structure of the temple. You wanted to move into that space to do your work, so you did.

The temple is a sacred space and the guardians there are generally kind, so they may or may not ask you to leave directly. But they’re probably not going to go out of their way to help you or accommodate you, especially if you never bothered to introduce yourself, learn their names, or ask them if you could set up your healing work. The temple and temple keepers are going to keep doing what they were already doing, regardless of how it may disrupt your healing work. They are going to maintain their altars and the currents of energy already in the temple, even if it disturbs the ceremony current. Best case scenario, they will ignore you. Worst case scenario, they will interfere with your healing work to make you leave.

Now imagine that this temple space is the land herself, and the guardians and temple keepers are the nature spirits that already exist on the land. The altars are the sacred spaces on the land where energy converges and regulates the ecosystem. The currents of prayer in the temple are the ley lines and Earth grid of aliveness on Gaia.

You would never move into a human-built temple space without asking permission. You would never assume you were invited. In order to do delicate and powerful work for healing and ceremony, you would have a conversation to make sure your work is welcome and aligned. To move in with entitlement would be rude and the temple keepers would be totally justified in kicking you out.

Active, working relationships with land and nature spirits are not just nice to have for healing and ceremonial work. They are functionally purposeful, and necessary.

Here’s what becomes possible when you have active, working relationships with local land and nature spirits:

• Instead of imposing your presence and work on the land without asking permission, you will be a welcome collaborator with a powerful, existing temple. Your healing and ceremonial work will be allowed to utilize the temple resources and harmonize with existing currents of energy.

• Instead of being sustained and generated by you and your spirit council, your healing and ceremonial work will be grounded and anchored into the energy grid of Gaia. Your work will be more powerful, sustainable and resourced.

• Instead of being an uninvited guest, you will form close relationships with the guardians and temple keepers (local nature spirits) and may call upon them to support you in your healing and ceremonial work. The more you nurture these allyships, the more they will collaborate with you.

• Instead of having to work really hard to ground your energy and make sure there are no interferences, you will be clear and supported by the local nature spirits and they won’t interfere with you and your clients. Moreover, they will intercede against unwelcome influences on your behalf for the purpose of protection and regulation in ceremony.

As one student recently shared: “I’ve always felt confident and stable in energy work, but when I started making offerings and actively working with the land and nature spirits, it completely upleveled my healing work. I felt more resourced, grounded and supported. I was able to invoke the energy grid of the land where I live, and my clients since then are blown away by the power of the work. They say, ‘Your work was great already but something is different!’ So it’s not just me, they notice it, too.”

Do you want to learn how to work with land and nature spirits?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Early Bird pricing ends July 1. Use this code at checkout for $100 off: EB100SE

Why you probably don't have an entity (and no one is attacking you)

I have learned to never be surprised by the shit people tell me, or by people contacting me out of the blue with some truly wild stories. Seriously—my email is a fascinating read. I regularly receive messages from random people that range from two sentences to a few pages long, and most of these emails include the person’s assumption that they have picked up a harmful entity, and/or someone or something is attacking them. Occasionally, people request an exorcism.

My response to these people varies, depending on the level of wackadoo in the email. I will usually offer support in the form of resources and practices to ground and strengthen the field. (I tell them, “go watch this podcast episode, do these practices for a week and then let me know how you’re doing.”) If the person seems relatively grounded and stable, I may invite them to do some sessions with me.

Interestingly, the people that I give practices to never circle back around with me. Seriously. Not once. This astonishes me, because in my mind, if I thought I had an entity and a Shaman told me to do something to support my system, I would do exactly what they told me.

Of the people I have worked with who came in thinking they had entities, attachments or were being attacked by someone or something, care to guess how many actually did?

Answer: a small handful.

In other words, over the 15+ years that I’ve been studying and practicing Shamanism and healing work, the percentage of people who think they have an entity or are being attacked, who ACTUALLY have an entity or are being attacked, is tiny. Like, maybe 5%.

So, what’s going on with the other 95%?

Without fail, the other 95% of people do not actually have entities or attachments, and are not being attacked by anyone or anything. Instead, they are feeling their own Shadow, and ascribing their discomfort to something outside of themselves.

Here are a few notable examples:

1. Several years ago, a woman contacted me about getting an exorcism for her 8-year-old granddaughter. She described the situation and I tuned into the field. Did the granddaughter have an entity? Answer: no. She was just being an 8-year-old and processing a lot of trauma in the only way she knew how—by screaming, acting out and going from zero to tantrum at the drop of a hat. I offered healing work (not an exorcism) and the woman said no. I believe she went on to have her granddaughter exorcised by a priest. (Cringe.)

2. Last year, a client came to me who thought he had entities that were making him tired and depressed. Did he? Answer: no. He was processing his own Shadow and metabolizing energy on behalf of his lineage. We did some very powerful healing sessions that released ancestral trauma, rewrote some unhealthy soul contracts and supported him in stepping into his empowered soul work and purpose.

3. Recently, my ex asked me if I was “sending her bad juju.” When I asked for clarification, she said she felt a lot of bad energy coming from me and was physically afraid for her safety. She thought I was attacking her. Was I? Answer: of course not. The fact that she thought I would further illustrated the wisdom of that separation. What was actually happening? She was most likely processing her Shadow and pain body magnified by our breakup.

4. A while ago, a woman reached out about her son. She was concerned for his health, and thought that he might have an entity or attachment. It turns out that the boy’s father had died in a bad way and that the boy had been the one to find him. Did he have an attachment? Answer: in this case, yes. The father’s spirit had attached to the boy.

These are only a few examples, but my god, people! The level of story-making blows my mind. Why do people so quickly jump to the conclusion that they have an entity, or that someone or something is attacking them? How did this become a thing?

I have a few thoughts on this:

1. Generally speaking, most people don’t understand the principle of Shadow or Shadow Work. For our purposes in Shamanic and Alchemical philosophy, the Shadow is “that which is unseen or unintegrated.” If people are confronted with their Shadow, it’s probably something they’ve been avoiding and it makes them uncomfortable.

2. If people aren’t used to being uncomfortable, they will try to explain their discomfort by assuming something is wrong, rather than “I’m processing trauma” or “I feel really bad about my decisions” or “I’m learning some really hard lessons right now,” and letting that be okay.

3. Projecting the discomfort to an external source means that people don’t have to take responsibility for it. If they’re not ready to own the energy and actually move through it, it’s a lot easier to blame their off-ness on an entity or an attack.

4. If people think there is an external source to blame, it means they get to be a victim, and they don’t actually have to change themselves or their behavior. Instead of looking at how they are creating or contributing to this experience, people think that the problem to be fixed is simply getting rid of the entity or stopping the attack.

5. Pop culture has glorified and misrepresented possession, entities, psychic attacks and all sorts of other bullshit. Yes, all of these things do exist. Yes, it is possible to be possessed, to have an entity or attachment, and energetic attack is totally a thing. However, it is not the most LIKELY explanation. Far more likely is the Shadow Work explanation. Occam’s razor, people: the simplest solution is probably the correct one.

The next time you’re moving through some uncomfortable energy and wondering if you have an entity or are being attacked… stop. It’s probably just your own Shadow. Here’s what to do:

1. Regulate your energy. Use energetic and physical practices to clear, ground, cultivate and protect your field. If you don’t know any of these techniques, tune in to my podcast, Shaman Sister Sessions. Katherine Bird and I offer lots of tools and practices.

2. Once you’ve regulated your field, assess how you’re doing. Ask yourself some guiding questions to learn more about your experience. Examples include:

   • What energy is moving through me?

   • What part of me is asking to be seen?

   • What am I getting out of this experience?

   • What part of me is asking to change or transform?

3. If you still need help, contact me! Yes, I know how to do exorcisms, but you probably don’t need one. Instead, we would most likely work on supporting your field, metabolizing unprocessed energy, healing trauma, actualizing your purpose and bringing you into your fullest, most empowered expression in the world. Isn’t that more fun than an exorcism?

When these people who contact me choose to show up and work with the Shadow, the results are incredibly powerful. Imagine consciously and lovingly working with the unseen and unintegrated parts of yourself to bring them into a harmonious state. Wouldn’t you love to give yourself that gift? Instead of keeping it surface level and assuming that someone or something else is to blame for your experience, imagine taking empowered agency for your process and transmuting your own Shadow.

Special sneak peek: new Shaman Sister Sessions episode comes out on Thursday! Episodes #92 and #93 are both about Entities, Attachments and Psychic Attacks. Episode #92 continues this conversation about why you probably don’t have an entity. Episode #93 talks about what to do if you do have an energetic attachment. Want access to the episodes? Join Lightworker Portal—the FREE community I created just for you! Get instant access to all the content archives.

Whether you have an entity or not (let’s face it: probably not) the opportunity for you is the same: to transmute your Shadow, to master your energy and to embody your fully empowered sovereignty. Regardless of how you choose to learn this lesson, your own Soul is inviting you to be more powerful and compassionate, and live with more grace than ever before.

This is true Alchemy.

If you find yourself in a situation like this, it's because your Soul is giving you the keys to your own actualization. Even though the energy may feel dense, heavy, insurmountable and incredibly painful, it is this same energy that will liberate you. This is your own personal lead--the heavy base metal that you get to transform into Gold. Your Soul is calling you to step up and alchemize your Shadow into your greatest Light. Your Soul is asking you to alchemize your pain into joy. Your Soul is inviting you to alchemize your grief, your anger, your suffering into grace, compassion and peace.

If you’re ready to say YES to your Soul, I’m here to help.

Do you want to…

• …go from feeling like you’re living at the whims of change, to intentionally choosing your own path of transformation and creation?

• …have a roadmap to guide you through the hardest transformational moments of your life?

• …learn tools and practices that will immediately and noticeably enhance your vitality, health, energy and well-being?

• …know without a shadow of a doubt that you are living your life “on purpose?”

• …feel connected to something bigger than yourself? Do you want to commune with Spirit through this ancient and powerful lineage?

• …use these powerful tools to support loved ones, clients and your community in their journey of transformation and actualization?

Applications are now open for Embody-Wild that will help you heal your Shadow.



Check out all the details here.

Many Blessings,

Practice prompt:

Get comfortable sitting with your Shadow body. Rather than dismissing or avoiding it, practice asking questions like:

• What energy is moving through me?

• What part of me is asking to be seen?

• What am I getting out of this experience?

• What part of me is asking to change or transform?

The School of Shamanic Underworld Initiation

Are you ready for a big announcement???

Drum roll, please...

I am going back to school!!!

Now, I know you might be thinking that this seems sort of unexpected. Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are! Let's just say an opportunity fell in my lap that I can't possibly ignore. This special invitation is beckoning me to continue my studies, deepen in my practice and step into my Mastery more than I ever have. How could I say no?

Would you like to know about this school?

Again, drum roll...

I'm happy to announce that I'm attending the school of Shamanic Underworld Initiation!!!

Hahahahaaaa okay, please forgive the joke. But for real, y'all, if you've been through an underworld initiation of your own, you know as well as I do that it can school you harder than pretty much anything else. (Based on my previous studies, looks like I'll be going for my PhD.)

What is Underworld Initiation?

For those of you who might not be familiar with the term, an Underworld Initiation (also known as Dark Night of the Soul) is a Spirit-led initiation through the Shadow mysteries, usually precipitated by a big life change or traumatic event, and characterized by ego death, radical transformation and rebirth in a new, elevated form.

...that is, if you do it right.

See, the thing about underworld initiation is that most people don't seize the opportunity, and instead hang out in their confusion/trauma or never completely go through the necessary catharsis. Some of the most common ways that people avoid fully moving through their Dark Night of the Soul are through distraction (which can take many forms, including relationship, career, shopping, hobbies, internet/TV, food, etc), medication and substance abuse.

But when we're fully present to an underworld initiation cycle, I am here to tell you that it is crazy powerful and you will come into some next-level magic as a result. It will be pretty fucking uncomfortable, but it is totally worth it.

What do you learn in an Underworld Initiation?

What you learn in your underworld initiation(s) will be different from mine and anyone else's. In essence, you will be confronted with opportunities to shift and/or release your personal shadow patterns and wounding, and come into deeper Self Mastery from a place of authentic actualization. If you're successful, the lesson usually either doesn't show up again, or it shows up in a different way that helps you go even deeper in your Mastery. If you don't make the shift, you're very likely to see a repeat of your Shamanic Underworld Initiation school curriculum the next time around.

Here are some examples of what I've "studied" in previous initiatory experiences, and the resulting uplevel of my skills and mastery (in bold):

• Stepping away from my connection to Spirit, to fully claiming and embodying my holy nature as a Divine Embodied Being, before anything else.

• Questioning my belonging in community, to feeling more connected to a tribe of like-hearted people.

• Abandoning my power, to fully stepping into the expansive potential of my personal magic and my gifts, and using my power with ease.

• Feeling abandoned by loved ones and community, to cultivating healthy relationships with a group of supportive humans who I know have my back.

• Home and financial crisis, to internalizing my sense of safety so I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have what I need, and resulting stability and abundance.

• Not trusting myself and my intuition, to always standing by what my inner wisdom tells me, even if other people don't believe me or listen. I trust myself fully, no matter what.

• Embodying the Wounded Healer archetype, to embodying the Empowered Healer archetype and stepping into my authentic service.

• Receiving manipulation and abuse, to loving myself so much that I only accept loving and compassionate treatment from others.

• Feeling like a powerless victim of my circumstances and my emotions, to being able to confidently draw upon the infinite wellspring of my personal power and life force in order to transmute energy for healing.

• Lack of boundaries, to boundaries, boundaries, boundaries! (Okay, I'm still working on that one in certain areas, but I'm much better than I used to be.)

I feel very confident that I have completely shifted many of these, but there are still a couple lessons that keep showing up in the cosmic syllabus, along with new stuff! I'm so excited about this learning opportunity, I could scream!!!!!!!

Do you know the best part? Every time we return to the school of Shamanic Underworld Initiation, we have more tools. We have additional perspective and information from the intervening years, we have more people in our corner to support us, and we have even more capacity to move a massive amount of energy. Best of all in this case, I actually know what underworld initiations are now, and I know how to let myself go into them without completely losing my shit (there are moments where it gets a little dicey, but I'm much better at being uncomfortable than I used to be). Don't worry--if it feels like you're dying, it's because you are!

How do we get into the school of Shamanic Underworld Initiation?

...why? Are you thinking, "that sounds great! I want to go to that kind of school."

If so:

1. You're crazy. You do not want to volunteer for this kind of learning if you can do it in a different way.

2. You don't choose the school of Shamanic Underworld Initiation. It chooses you, whether you like it or not.

You might be thinking, "But, Michelle! You sound kind of excited about this. What gives?"

Well, friend, I wouldn't say I'm "excited." Again, it's super uncomfortable and I definitely would prefer to not be having this experience. But it is fair to say that I'm leaning into it with a certain degree of good humor and "fuck it, let's do this." I can guarantee you that I fought tooth and nail to avoid going into this underworld initiation, and hahahahaaaa of course that didn't work. But now that I'm here, I am going to make the best of it and seize the opportunity for some major lessons in Mastery! (I keep flashing back to May: this is exactly the feeling I had when I didn't make it on the ferry back from Orcas Island and had a 7-hour wait at the ferry dock. I genuinely felt as cool as a cucumber and in good humor, even though I 10000% would rather have been on the ferry. I made the best of it and did fine once I was in the experience.)

What are some tools for a successful Underworld Initiation?

I'm so glad you asked! Based on my experience, here are some of the most important things you can do, regardless of your particular lessons:

• Do not avoid your process. Do not avoid your pain. Whatever it is, be present with your feelings and allow yourself to completely receive their gifts and messages. Even the most painful circumstances hold powerful medicine, and you'll miss it if you're distracted.

• That being said, it's okay to step back from your process every now and then! Go watch a movie. Hang out with friends. (It's a balance. Don't overdo the checking out, but don't be a masochist hero.)

• Reflection is an amazing tool: journaling, meditation, counseling, talking with friends.

• ...but make sure to receive inputs of new information and energy so you're not just spinning around in your own shit! Read articles, get perspectives from different people, tune in to my podcast (link below), get some outside wisdom.

• Move energy on all levels: physical, mental, emotional, Spiritual. Make sure you have practices to support this (movement practice, breathwork, mantra, crying, journaling, energy healing). I AM Alchemy is a great resource for all of these.

• Ask for help. Whether it's from loved ones, community, or a professional, it is vitally important to receive support and remember that you are loved.

• Remember that if it feels like you're dying, it's because you are: the old version of your Self and your life is dying. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it's okay to grieve this. But keep in mind that you're growing into something new and you get to claim it whenever you're ready.

You know what? After writing all of this, I actually am kind of excited. I can look back on previous rounds of "school" and see how they were instrumental in my personal and energetic education. As a result of these Shamanic Underworld Initiations, I received concentrated growth and learning within short periods of time. I have these initiatory experiences to thank for aligning me with the process of Alchemy (applications for I AM Alchemy are now open), cultivating a comfortable relationship with Death and Sacred Destruction, and coming into strong allyship with associated spirit guides and deities. Some of my strongest medicine comes from these experiences.

I know that these periods of my life when I was most uncomfortable were also incredibly valuable training grounds for my gifts, my resilience and my ability to work with big energy. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

(Have you experienced Underworld Initiation and wish you had more tools for next time? Are you experiencing one right now? I recommend applying for I AM Alchemy to give you tools and support to move through these lessons!

Many blessings,

Inspiration

As Long as it Takes

I don't usually use this platform for movie reviews, but... holy cow, y'all! I watched a documentary over the weekend that has me inspired, activated and deeply reconnected with my Inner Warrior.

When I began delving into my study of Shamanic Astrology several years ago, I learned that Aries is activated for me in a few different areas of my chart. Aries is one of these signs that we see portrayed as strong-willed and independent, but one of the ways I like to think about this archetype is through the lens of the Peaceful Warrior. Aries pushes the edges not for the sake of conflict, but because the eternal question burning inside them asks, "What is possible?" Aries is the Pioneer, the Wayshower, the one who climbs the "impossible" mountain to discover within themselves that it can be done, and to pave the way for others.

The film I watched literally portrays two such Peaceful Warriors in their quest to climb an "impossible" mountain.

The Dawn Wall (available on Netflix) follows world-class rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson as they attempt to successfully free climb the notorious 3,000 foot Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite. In the interest of not giving away spoilers (because I really, REALLY encourage you to watch this film), I'll share with you a couple of my takeaways without referencing specifics. If you watch it and want to email me what you got out of the film, I would love to hear from you!!!

One of the repeating themes in The Dawn Wall was the idea of "as long as it takes." This showed up not only during the actual attempt, but in the preparation. Not only had both of these people practiced climbing for pretty much their entire lives, but Tommy Caldwell had climbed El Capitan for years. When he decided to try the Dawn Wall, he spent six years researching and testing possible route sections across the sheer rock face.

When is the last time most of us spent six years devoted to mastering a very specific task where the outcome was so uncertain?

We live in a culture of instant gratification and guaranteed results... which, when you think about it, is inherently antithetical to true Mastery. The state of Mastery is an uncertain outcome with an uncertain timeline--but we do know it's a long-haul journey. As Bruce Lee famously says, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." In other words, the best way to be effective and powerful in a given skill set is to simply practice it over and over, as long as it takes to master it.

Not only did Tommy and Kevin practice the Dawn Wall over and over, but they failed over and over. One thing that drives me crazy is hearing stories about someone who achieves "overnight success," when in fact, they spent years out of the spotlight developing Mastery and cultivating their skills, often failing more than they succeed until they get it right. Tommy and Kevin were in this journey for the long haul, which included years worth of injuries, setbacks, emotional toll and bloody fingers. True Mastery is a journey that tests us on every level, and offers us thousands of opportunities to walk away. Those who are committed to the journey, even with no guaranteed outcome, will show up for as long as it takes.

Back to that burning question, "What is possible?" There was no climbing route on the Dawn Wall when Tommy first considered it. This was uncharted territory in every sense of the word, that would require not only physical strength and endurance, but also creative ingenuity, emotional resilience, fierce commitment and dedication, lots of support from community, and a colossal investment of time and energy.

And yet, Aries is the keeper of the Spark--the catalyst, the tiny explosion of a match that eventually leads to a bonfire. When we ask "what is possible?", we strike a match. It's up to us whether the match goes out, or whether we nurture it into a full, blazing flame.

By nurturing that tiny spark, true Warriors push the edges of what we as a society deem "possible." All of a sudden, the seemingly impossible enters the realm of "doable," and paves the way for others to not only push their own edges but go beyond to become Wayshowers of the next frontier.

We may not all be world-class rock climbers, but I promise you that we each have an opportunity to embody our Inner Warrior in other ways. What is your Dawn Wall? Where is the question, "What is possible?" pointing you? What are you willing to show up for, to practice over and over, to fail at over and over, and to ultimately master?

Whatever your own Dawn Wall may be, know that I'm right there, climbing beside you... as long as it takes.

Are you ready to go from being "just another healer" to a Fully Empowered Master of Transformation?

Apply now for I AM Alchemy 2020!

Inspiration



"I have a very distinct goal all the time that I'm working toward, and I love the way it makes me live."

~Tommy Caldwell

"What's Your Animal Guide?"

“What’s your animal guide?”

People often ask me this question after I introduce myself as a Shaman who works very strongly with Animal Medicine. In the context of a quick conversation, my short answer usually sounds something like, “Oh, I have many animal guides, and so do you,” but this brief response does nothing to illustrate the infinite layers of complexity and magic that come with delving deep into working with Animal Totems.

“My animal guide is an otter, because I’m very lighthearted and I like to play.”

I love that Animal Medicine has worked its way into popular consciousness! Many people share with great certainty the identity of their animal guide and an attribute of this guide with which they resonate strongly. However, as soon as I ask follow-up questions such as, “How else do you work with otter? What other aspects of its medicine do you find particularly impactful?” Most people answer that they haven’t really done anything further with their totem.

To me, this is akin to meeting your new best friend and powerful ally, learning their name, shaking their hand and then never speaking to them again. Imagine if you were at a party and the host tells you that a friend of theirs wants to meet you. The host leads you over to this person and you immediately perceive a strong energetic connection. You find yourself drawn to this person and feel excited to know them, and perhaps a bit honored to receive an introduction. The host goes on to offer further explanation of why this person was interested to meet you, and you find out that they are a wealth of talents, knowledge and power. This new person smiles glowingly at you and you shake their hand, feeling a surge of energy at this new, profound connection! Then, someone else calls your attention away and you make mental note to return to speak with this amazing new friend again, but you never do. You leave the party without exchanging information or making plans. You never reach out to the host to ask to put you in touch. From this point on, you recall with fondness the memory of that one time at that great party that the host introduced you to this amazing, glowing person with whom you felt such a strong connection, even though you never spoke again.

What if this potential best friend is still out there for you, waiting for you to rekindle the connection? What if this powerful ally has been waiting for you to reach out and ask to know them better? What if this amazing, magical being has been watching you, witnessing your life, ready to offer their teachings as soon as you are ready to receive that wisdom?

Throughout my many years of working with Animal Totems, I have witnessed time and again the magic and profound lessons that come from diving deep into animal medicine. To date, some of my most powerful initiatory experiences made themselves known through Animal messengers appearing for a dramatic introduction.

And yet, the introduction is exactly that: the first step in claiming your relationship with a powerful ally. The work that follows holds the real magic of depth, subtlety and power. By stepping into relationship with your Animal Totems, you cement a bond with their medicine that can last a lifetime and support you in your continued unfolding of joy, love and purpose.

Do you already know the identity of your Animal Guide and want to delve further into your personal connection with its medicine? Even if you don’t know its identity, do you feel your guide out there, waiting to meet you?

Magic & Medicine is an in-depth, four week long journey of discovery with your Animal Totem. This experience includes:

• The Meeting: Welcome the new Totem into your energy field.
• The Messages: Learn why this Guide is appearing to you and how it wants to reveal its teachings.
• The Merge: Bring your Animal Totem to life within your own body and make its energy actionable on the Earth plane.
• The Manifesto: Delve into the purpose of your work with this Totem and solidify your mission together.
• And more! Learn the details of Magic & Medicine here.

Contact me for a free consultation and begin your Magic & Medicine journey with your powerful animal ally today.

An Offering for Elephant

Originally published on Eagle Song September 14th, 2015.

Elephant

Wise mother, North-holder, tribe guardian.

Thank you for blessing me with the wisdom of your medicine. I am so happy and grateful to feel your thick-skinned feet teach my small human form what it means to pulse with deep Earth vibration. The rhythm of your walk and swaying of your head echoes in my own heartbeat, and I feel my dance slow to match your deliberate strength.

Feminine sage, keeper of knowledge, partner of accountability.

I surrender to your teachings. I trust that my embodiment of your energy works in highest service to Self and Spirit. I thank you for your guidance in returning to the wisdom of the Mother, creating the Sister Tribe, building community based in vibrational and emotional intelligence. I hold in my cells the memory of safe passage to water and the oasis of the Divine.

Delicate strength, discerning pleasure, fine detail.

I embrace the sensitivity and dexterity of your complex trunk! I spin and whirl in perfect precision, savoring soft strokes and sweet, sparkling sensation. I am safe. Thank you for teaching me that, even in great expansiveness, no detail is lost. Your luxuriant eyelashes offer their evidence.

Earth ambassador, beloved teacher, honored guide.

I am grateful to remember the infinity of connection, even in the empty moments.

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Animal Guides: Spider

Originally published on Eagle Song September 3, 2015

About a month ago, Spider announced herself in my life in a somewhat startling, then very beautiful way.

On the night of the last Super Moon at the end of July, I brought all my crystals outside to soak in the moonlight. I joined them on an air mattress and was sleeping relatively peacefully, until sometime in the middle of the night when I awoke to feel a spider bite my top lip, right in the center. In my half-asleep, bewildered state, I announced to the spider, “That hurts! Who does that?!?” I rolled over, already feeling my lip swell under my fingertips. I managed to fall back asleep fairly quickly, thinking that the spider had some nerve biting me (on my lip, no less) while I was minding my own business, sleeping.

The next morning, my upper lip was swollen to several times its normal size. I endured a few hours of talking strangely and drooling a little bit, but with my magic natural detox, my lip looked pretty much normal by midday. I filed the incident under “Unusual, but not significant,” and moved on.

Two days later, I participated in a traditional Native American dance ceremony. At some point in the late morning, I noticed some very tiny spiders appear on me. I escorted them down to the safety of the grass, only to discover more and more baby spiders show up throughout the next several hours. They appeared as if out of nowhere to crawl on my body and my clothes, and I gently transported them to the grass and nearby plants where I wouldn’t accidentally smoosh them with my movements. I asked both of my dance neighbors on either side (about 5 or 6 feet away) if they had any tiny spider visitors, and I felt surprised when each of them told me that they were completely spider-free. Apparently there had just been a hatching immediately over my head. The rain of baby spiders continued through the early afternoon, and while I thanked Grandmother Spider for sending me her grandchildren and tried asking her what I was supposed to learn, I was sufficiently distracted by the dance ceremony itself (read about it here) and did not have enough attention for an answer.

When I eventually did get to meditate with Spider energy a few days later, the information that came through resonated deeply with me:

Spiders are the weavers of life. Through their weaving, everything is connected. They help form the bridge between the past and future, the subconscious and conscious, male and female, waking and dreaming life, physical and spiritual realms. They embody infinity, and their webs’ spiral shape represents the First Cosmic Key of the Universe, from which all other forms manifest.

Research from outside sources revealed that Spider is the keeper of ancient languages and alphabets, and that the geometric shapes found in a spider’s web became the first symbols of written language. Spiders are storytellers! How cool is that?

It blows my mind that I could be so deeply connected to Spider without consciously knowing that I work with her energy. Maybe that’s why she sent one of her children to bite me in my sleep, on my lip, infusing me with a strong dose of Spider medicine to aid in my own storytelling of weaving the bridge between human and Divine realms. (I even use the term “Thought Spiral” when I’m describing the long, multidimensional path an idea takes when it pulls together many seemingly unrelated concepts that ultimately connect to form a complete and cohesive picture. Thank you, Spider.)

All that said, working directly with Spider medicine has not felt completely intuitive to me. Some animals (generally mammals and birds) are so much easier for me to jump right into a very embodied understanding of what it means to access their energy. Maybe it’s partially due to cultural conditioning, maybe it’s because their movement and body shape are so unlike my own, but I definitely need to sink deep in order to fully honor this guide and do her justice.

That’s partly why I’m so excited to teach my Animal Dance workshop next weekend in Portland, OR. While I guide others through the process of discovering their Animal Totems and moving into a place of embodied understanding, I plan to do the same with Spider. I am so grateful for the opportunity to facilitate this journey! Working with my own Animal Guides has been a rich, truly educational experience that helps me discover more and more layers of my own consciousness and personal evolution. I can’t wait to help others access the wealth of knowledge and powerful wisdom available to them from their Animal Guides.

If you would like to register for the workshop, please do so here.

Workshop information here.

To sign up for my newsletter and receive notifications about future events and workshops, do so here.

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