Honoring the Ancestors

Hello, friends! Here in the northern hemisphere, we are entering the portal of Samhain. (This holy day is commonly acknowledged on November 1, solar Samhain falls around November 7, and lunar Samhain varies with the lunar cycle. Pick your favorite). Samhain (pronounced SOW-in, or SOW-ain), one of the four cross-quarter holy days, marks a time of year when the veil between this world and the spirit realm is thin.

During this season, we honor the third and final harvest, release and Death on Gaia. The solar cycle of the year ends, and we prepare for the next.  This is the portal of the Tomb: returning to the Void, surrender and rest.

This holy day is a powerful time to celebrate our ancestors--those ones who came before us, both known and beyond our knowing, who carried the torch of life through the ages, and whose flame lives on in us today.

At this time, we may request blessings and support from our healed ancestors.

We may offer blessings and healing to our ancestors who are wounded or suffering.

We may make offerings and prayers for ourselves to become good ancestors and take our seat of power to be in healthy service to all of our descendants (children, ideas, projects and legacy).

If you are called to do so, you can make a dedicated ancestor altar for the season for the purpose of prayers, offerings and healing work. Here are some tips on how to do that:

Michelle’s ancestor altar

How to Make an Ancestor Altar

There are many ways to make your ancestor altar. Some cultures and traditions have specific directions and practices, and if you observe these practices, go for it. If not, you can still honor your ancestors in an appropriate and respectful way.

Here are some items you may wish to include on your ancestor altar:

• Photos of your ancestors

• Personal belongings or heirlooms from your ancestors

• Items in the color red, to honor the bloodlines

• Offerings of food and drink (especially any known favorites of your ancestors,). You may wish to offer a small bite of your meal to the altar daily.

• Candles, flowers, incense and other nourishing/energizing sacred offerings

• In many traditions, offerings of tobacco, alcohol and sugar are considered particularly nourishing and energizing to the spirits. Please use your best discernment of what feels healthy and appropriate, especially if you are aware of a history of addiction within your lineage.

I invite you to bring your authentic, sovereign prayer to connecting with your ancestors. If you want some inspiration, here is an ancestor song:

We are remembering all of our ancestors
We are remembering all of our ancestors
Deep are the roots of the tree
Long is our memory
Great is our family
Of love alive in me
Of love alive in me

I'll be posting more ancestor songs on Instagram over the next couple of weeks. If you want to tune in, follow me there for more.

Blessed Samhain!

Michelle Hawk

How Do You Honor Your Guides? Archangel Michael

Saint Michael Feast Day: Sept 29

I'm a firm believer that any day is a good day to make an offering, anytime is a good time to pray, and it doesn't really matter what you say as long as it is true and sincere.

That being said, working with the specific frequencies of your guides can be particularly helpful to honor them, attune to their wisdom and most effectively receive their medicine.

For example, if you were to pray with Deer spirit, making an offering of meat and requesting support with cultivating courage and fierce boundaries would not be in alignment with the wisdom path of Deer. Your prayer would still be heard, but it might be answered by another guide, or in a way you didn't expect, or less efficiently.

If you were to pray with Deer spirit, make an offering of flowers and greenery, and request support for attuning to your higher guidance and divine wisdom, and receiving subtle communication with spirits in the liminal spaces, that prayer and offering would be very aligned with Deer wisdom path.

When making prayers and offerings to your guides, it's a good idea to consider the nature of their wisdom path, any important correspondences (colors, foods, items, songs, things they like) and days or times of year when they are most powerful.

Let's look at an example:

Saint Michael's feast day is approaching. He is one of my patron guides. Do you also work with Archangel Michael?

Here are some ways to connect with this powerful energy.

Archangel Michael

Feast day: September 29
Color: blue
Stones: sapphire, blue topaz, kyanite
Energy: Divine Protector, Peaceful Warrior, Defender of Faith, "Who Is as God."
Wisdom Path: Guardian of the Blue Ray (the First Ray, the beginning of creation that emanates from the Void), Bearer of the Sapphire Flame, Keeper of the Sapphire Temple.

Here is a prayer to connect with Saint Michael:

"Archangel Michael, I invite you to please be with me now. Please support me in aligning with truth, integrity, faith, devotion, fidelity and righteousness. Please help me to calibrate my personal will to Divine Will, so that I may know and act in right alignment with Divine Will. I ask for your support to help me be courageous, to help me live as a Peaceful Warrior of the Light. Please help me to live by and uphold the Laws of Love in my life, for the highest and greatest good, for the benefit of all beings, everywhere.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the blessings."

I hope this supports you in connecting with your guides more powerfully!

If you would like to join me for a special Saint Michael Feast Day Ceremony next weekend, please join my list for invitations and event notifications.

Most spiritual practice is like cleaning your house

Most spiritual work is like cleaning your house.

It’s mundane, but very necessary, and things get really yucky when you don’t do it.

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about this before. Yes, it’s time for another article about how spiritual practice is actually very unglamorous, contrary to a lot of what you might see on social media.

And friends: that doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful, meaningful, powerful, miraculous and life-affirming. It is all of those things, and more.

But on the day-to-day basis, spiritual practice is more like cleaning the toilet.

Imagine you didn’t regularly clean your house. I am pretty sure every single one of us has gone too long without vacuuming at some point in our lives, so we all know the feeling. You get used to the piles of paper, the dust bunnies in the corners and the scuzz in the sink.

And then, a guest is coming over! Time to recycle all the junk mail. Time to vacuum up the pet hair and scrub the gunk.

And wow, it feels great. The sink is so shiny. The counters are clear. Your socks are no longer covered in pet hair because the floors are clean.

Cleaning your house feels way more dramatic and miraculous if you don’t do it often.

Spiritual practice feels way more dramatic and miraculous if you don’t do it often.

If you only clean your toilet once a year, it is going to feel like a f*ing revelation when you finally do.

If you clean your toilet before it actually gets yucky, it is going to feel sort of mundane and potentially unnecessary.

If you don’t have a consistent and regular spiritual practice, the moments when you do tap in and connect are going to feel like the clouds parting, a beam of sunlight illuminating your vision as a choir of angels serenades you with your favorite song.

If you do have a regular and consistent spiritual practice, you will probably reach a point where it feels boring and potentially unnecessary, because it is working so well.

One of the most significant benefits of spiritual practice is helping you be regulated and stable in your life, no matter what. This sounds super unglamorous, but I promise it’s easy to regulate your energy when things are going well and a whole lot more difficult to do so when shit hits the fan.

When things go sideways, as they do for every single one of us, your spiritual practice will help you maintain your inner equanimity.

Your spiritual practice will help you not lash out from hurt feelings or anger.

Your spiritual practice will help you process your grief.

Your spiritual practice will help you find joy and hope in the darkest moments.

Your spiritual practice will help you be kind to yourself and others, even when it’s more convenient to be unkind.

Your spiritual practice will help ground you and keep you from dissociating when you feel overwhelmed.

Your spiritual practice will help you access your intuition and inner wisdom when you feel lost.

Your spiritual practice will help you love, even when you’re hurting.

Your spiritual practice will help you tune in to the wisdom of your body when you need healing.

And yes, your regular and consistent spiritual practice will help you connect with high-vibration divine beings, have transcendent epiphanies and receive cosmic downloads. Your spiritual practice will help you sing songs to the spirits, experience magic and synchronicity, expand in love and joy, and feel more connection and beauty than you ever thought possible.

But the most beneficial support your spiritual practice can offer you is to help you be more at home in yourself and present in your life, which will make the biggest difference when you need it most.

Archangel Michael and Dragons

Last weekend I incorporated Archangel Michael and a Dragon in immediate succession with each other. I don’t say that lightly.

My guides have directed me to share this story with you for the purpose of offering a healing and coded transmission about correcting distortions through the collective consciousness. (Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t write about it, due to privacy and respect for the beings I work with.) I invite you to allow this to flow through you and trust that you will receive whatever you need from this message.

In case you’re new to the idea of incorporation mediumship, here’s a brief teaching: mediumship is the practice of communicating with and being a psychic conduit to the spirits. Incorporation mediumship means allowing the spirits to enter and incorporate into a channel’s physical body. This is a very powerful process that allows spirits to come work directly through the channel—to speak, to dance, to offer healing work and transmissions. Depending on the skill of the channel and on the beings present, this can be very beautiful and healing, very uncomfortable and/or very dangerous. This is not a beginner practice.

I have been practicing mediumship for many years, and am very confident in my ability to safely incorporate spirits that pass the inner “checklist:” Is this a divine being who abides by the laws of sovereignty, free will, love and reverence for life? Is this being here for the purpose of guidance, illumination and healing? If yes, then we proceed.

Last weekend I co-facilitated a sacred plant medicine ceremony. (More on that and an “official” announcement coming soon—for now, if you’re interested in getting news and invitations about my sacred plant medicine practice, join that list here.)

During the first night, one of the participants started to struggle and requested support. I approached them to help, and moments later, the force of the medicine in the entire room increased exponentially. My hands flew back as if I had been shocked, and immediately, a massive light being, bigger and more powerful than I had ever experienced before, incorporated into my body. Even now as I type this, the energy of it is once again electrifying my skin and all the hair on my arms is standing up.

At the time, I only knew that this massive, divine being was there to help. I wasn’t yet aware of its identity but I knew clearly that it was aligned with divine law, and was offering support. I felt colossal waves of power rolling through my body as it facilitated a major extraction and clearing on behalf of the participant.

At some point, the energy shifted as the participant made a crucial choice towards love and healing. The first massive being left my body and was replaced by an equally enormous being who I clearly identified as a Dragon. The Dragon supported the participant in recalibrating to love and reconnecting with the womb of creation. The energy of this Dragon was pure, primal love and raw Gaia power.

Things with the participant continued to shift and ease. They later described this experience as the best moment of their life.

After ceremony closed, I reflected on the experience and wondered who the being was that had incorporated at the beginning of the extraction. “I feel like it was an angel,” I said to my co-facilitator, and immediately felt the truth of that. “I think it was Archangel Michael.” Again, immediate truth and confirmation. “Seriously, that was Archangel Michael?? No wonder it was so big.”

As I’ve reflected on and integrated this very powerful incorporation mediumship experience, my guides brought some things to my attention that they wanted me to share with you. Here you go:

There is a tremendous distortion field in our collective consciousness around the Angelic Court, Archangel Michael specifically, Dragons in general, and the relationship between Dragons and Angels.

Dragons have long been vilified through the oppressive, patriarchal systems within organized religion as standing for evil, primitive consciousness, temptation, falling from grace and the Devil. Dragons have been cast as villains, embodiments of greed and sin, violence and harm.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Dragons are beings of primal Earth power, love, creation and transformation. Dragons weave currents of magic and aliveness through Gaia. Dragons love and hold deep reverence for life, truth, compassion and right relation.

Archangel Michael has his own distortion fields in collective consciousness, although these are less obvious. He has been cast as a figurehead of divine law, soldier of God, warrior Archangel of righteousness, slayer of demons. He is depicted in many works of art and literature as slaying Dragons and conquering the Devil.

Yes, Archangel Michael is a warrior of Divine Law. But these are laws of love, truth, sovereignty, integrity and creation. These are laws of mercy, compassion and right relation.

The distortion fields created by systems of oppression are designed to cast Archangel Michael as the hero of Heaven and Dragons as agents of the Devil, and yet the reality is that they both abide by the same laws of love and truth. Archangel Michael stands in for Divine Law from the Above—the celestial realms, the One Mind, the organization and architecture of creation. Dragons embody Divine Law from the Below—the realms of Inner Earth, the One Thing, the Void, the fertile potential and prima materia (first matter) of creation.

In offering healing to this ceremony participant, both Archangel Michael and the Dragons were needed. Archangel Michael supported the extraction and clearing of shadow. The Dragons supported the restoration and rectification to love and creation. Their medicine combined was more than the sum of its parts: they offered a complete healing and helped this person find their way back to the Sacred within themself.

I invite you to take a few minutes to feel the truth of this transmission in your heart and see what arises for you. Are there distortion fields asking to be cleared? Is there new inspiration for your connection to the realms of Divine Law and Creation?

Thank you, thank you thank you so much to Archangel Michael and the Dragons. We are so grateful for the blessings.

Where does your shamanic lineage originate?

If you practice medicine work or any shamanic tradition that comes from a different region than where you live, you’re probably overlooking this vitally important foundation of your practice.

In the modern, western world, it is likely that people learning shamanism take courses online or travel to meet with teachers. Or, if you are working with a local teacher, it is possible that the lineage or the medicine you are studying came from a different part of the Earth.

Shamanism is relational. Shamanism is contextual. Since shamanism is rooted in connection with the natural world, every shamanic tradition is going to work with different energies according to its context. If you live and practice your shamanic healing work in the Southwest high desert, you would call on nature spirit allies like the juniper tree, coyote and vulture. If you live and practice your shamanic healing work in the Amazon, you would collaborate with nature spirits like chacruna, frog and snake.

Most online shamanic courses focus on techniques. They will teach you how to journey, how to make a rattle, how to do particular shamanic healing practices. But they skip the most important part: creating a foundational relationship with your local ecosystem, forming allyships with local nature spirits and receiving consent from the land where you live to practice your work. They skip this because it is difficult to "teach" this online. The only way to form these relationships is through direct experience and intimacy with your local ecosystem.

Similarly, when we travel to study with teachers, we are entering their context. We are stepping into their local ecosystem, where they have working relationships with the land and nature spirits. We get to "borrow" the power of these spirits because we step into the agreement that those teachers have with the land to do their work. That consent does not transfer when we go home. That context is unique to that specific ecosystem.

The same is true when we work with specific medicine lineages that have their own agreements with local land and nature spirits. The nature spirits of that lineage exist in that context. If you go study with ayahuasqueros in the Amazon and then take those teachings back home to New York, you are decontextualizing the medicine and removing that work from its original, most powerful land and nature spirit allyships. If you are initiated into a medicine lineage, it’s important to honor the context the medicine comes from and its nature spirit allies, but it’s also important to anchor that medicine work into your local land and nature spirit ecosystem.

What happens when we work with nature spirits out of context?

• Working with nature spirits out of context removes them from their zone of power. They are certainly still powerful and beneficial allies, but their medicine may not be as effective in your ecosystem as working with a local nature spirit.

• If you work with certain nature spirits because your teachers worked with those spirits, you cannot bypass forming an actual relationship with them. You must receive the specific consent and initiation from those spirits, which they may or may not give you.

• If you are inviting non-local nature spirits to work with you without anchoring into the local ecosystem energy, they may not integrate smoothly. The living temples and guardian spirits of the land where you live may disrupt your work or there might be disharmonious alignment in your practice.

Here are some ways to gracefully integrate local and non-local nature spirit allies from different lineages:

• Always start with the local nature spirits and living temples on the land where you reside or practice. If you do not have the consent and collaboration of the local ecosystem, it will disrupt your life and your work.

• If you are studying or receiving initiations from non-local lineages, make sure to form direct relationships with the nature spirits of those lineages. Make offerings, ask for their consent and permission to work with them, and don’t assume that their allyship comes bundled in with the teachings. Consent does not transfer.

• If you are integrating local and non-local nature spirits into your practice, make sure that the non-local spirits are welcome with the local ecosystem before you invite them in to collaborate. Ask all of your allies to stay within their zone of genius, and don’t invoke them for things that aren’t appropriate. For example, call upon the local guardians for safety, protection and anchoring the temple grid because they live and thrive in that environment. Call upon your local nature spirit allies to support the general experience of your work. Call upon the non-local nature spirit allies to support the specifics of the medicine work or healing practice that comes directly from the related lineage.

Do you want to gracefully integrate your local and non-local nature 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.

Register now!

Who is Sacred Ecology for?

Dear human,

I get it. You love nature. You love animals and plants, you love being outside and you can feel the energy of life all around you. You know that Gaia is alive and that all beings on Earth have their own magic, teachings, life path and purpose.

But sometimes you feel disconnected from that web of life. Sometimes you feel like you’re on the outside looking in at the mysterious beauty and power of nature. And unfortunately, that is a normal byproduct of modern society. We live in a world of houses and concrete and wifi, where human intellect is placed on a pedestal above all other life forms. It is a weird and shitty world view that separates us from our true origins as children of Gaia, and removes us from our natural connection and allyship to land and nature spirits.

Working with land and nature spirits is your birthright as a child of Earth.

Maybe it never occurred to you that collaborating with the land and nature spirits could improve your physical health, bring peace of mind and enhance your psychic abilities. Maybe it slipped your mind that anchoring your healing practice into the Earth grid would make your work safer, more powerful and sustainable. Maybe you want to connect with the nature spirits, but you don’t know how or where to start.

Regardless, I see you, and I’ve got you covered.

I see that you want to create powerful allyships with land and nature spirits to support you in your healing or spiritual practice. I see that you feel drawn to a particular animal, plant, river or mountain, but you don’t know how to build a deeper connection. I see that you feel disconnected and isolated in this concrete world, and you are ready to come home to Gaia and the web of life. I see that you want to pray with the trees, make offerings to the Earth and receive messages from the birds and the wind.

I see that you are ready to work with land and nature spirits.

Who is Sacred Ecology for?

• You love nature. You feel connected to plants and animals and enjoy the outdoors, but you’re ready to go beyond enjoying nature into a deep, functional allyship with Gaia.

• You are ready to receive initiations and teachings directly from the original wisdom keepers: plants, animals, stones, elements, and Gaia herself. You are ready to collaborate with ancient and powerful allies.

• You want to go beyond the superficial, “Instagram Witch” nature-based spiritual practice to learn the underlying concepts and tools that support powerful animistic practices like shamanism, mediumship and witchcraft.

• You are a healer, ceremonial guide, retreat facilitator or spaceholder. You want to make sure that your container of healing and transformation is as safe and powerful as possible so your clients can receive the most benefit. You are ready to invoke your nature spirit allies to support your work.

• You are a homesteader, gardener or permaculturist. You want to go beyond the functional aspects of land stewardship to cultivate a spiritual partnership with the guardians and wisdom keepers of the land.

• You are on a healing journey to regulate your nervous system, support mental or physical health, or recover from trauma. You want to attune and calibrate your etheric and physical bodies to the nurturing stability of Gaia.

You feel the calling and remembrance of the wisdom of nature.

You feel Gaia beckoning you to collaborate with her magic.

You are eager to meet and study new, powerful allies.

You are ready to work with land and nature spirits.

If any of this calls to you, Sacred Ecology is right for you.

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.

Register now!

Decolonize Your Spirit Guides

Creating a strong relationship with a spirit ally takes time, devotion and care. There is a misconception that, as shamanic practitioners, we can call upon whatever spirits we want to in session and they will show up and do whatever we want them to. But if there is not an existing relationship or energetic connection, there is not a true allyship. This spirit must consent to sharing their medicine with us, and we must be initiated into their wisdom.

Shamanic practice without consent is colonization. Drawing power from the Earth and nature spirits without their consent and without an active, working relationship is extractive and consumptive. The planet is full of people who show up to take, because they think they are entitled to the abundant life and generosity of Gaia.

Animistic practices like shamanism, witchcraft and mediumship are rooted in energy exchange, respect and honoring life, and relationship. A practitioner trying to form a relationship with land and nature spirits makes offerings, asks permission to form a connection with them, and treats them as honored allies. Collaborating with the land and nature spirits is never assumed. Allyships with medicines and spirits are cultivated over many years, and that relationship is what allows a practitioner to draw upon that power.

When you establish consent with the land and nature spirits, you can study with them and form a working relationship. It is impossible to receive the medicine of a nature spirit unless it offers to share its power with you, and that only comes through asking consent and honoring the answer, yes or no.

When you have healthy relationships with the land and nature spirits, you can call upon them and collaborate with their medicine for the purpose of healing and ceremony.

Do you want to…

• …create functionally purposeful allyships with local nature spirits to support your spiritual practice?

• …build lifelong partnerships with powerful natural allies and receive deep initiations into their mysteries?

• …confidently invoke the nature spirits during your meditation or ceremonial practice?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

Register now!

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: 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

Healing Through the Timeline: Trauma, Ancestors and a New Earth

You may have heard me mention a “shitty breakup” that took place last fall. In fact, the nightmare of those four days took place exactly six months ago this past weekend.

To give you a little bit of context, my ex and I were together for two years. There was a lot about our relationship that was really good and loving, but we simply weren’t right for each other. We “officially” broke up last summer, but continued for all intents and purposes to be in each other’s lives as partners because we loved each other so much. So of course, I was fully invested in supporting her with her big annual event: a four-day in-residence retreat in September.

The specifics of what happened at that event are not important for this story. All you need to know is that my partner of two years broke my trust more hurtfully than I ever thought possible, in a way that was completely out of integrity at every turn. Even worse, this betrayal took place during a time when I put everything else aside to help her and support her vision. Even worse still, I was stuck at this event for four days in a leadership role. I couldn’t leave, as I was responsible for her event attendees. My only option for external support was two other staffers who knew what was going on and helped me hold it together in front of 60+ people. During that time, I called deeply upon my own reserves of resilience and self-love. All you need to know is that those were four of the most challenging days of my life, and I’ve been healing and processing the resulting lessons and trauma in waves for the last six months.

Please understand, I’m in a good place now. In fact, I’m super impressed with myself and the amazing healing work I’ve done. (Self-hug. Good job, Michelle!) Overall, I have grown into a much healthier, more vibrant and alive place than I’ve been in a long time. And even though that challenging experience gave rise to so much growth and goodness, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard as f***. Even six months later, I still have the occasional wave of trauma echoes rolling through, and I get to roll up my sleeves and practice grace and compassion.

One such wave came through in a big way last week, and it's directly related to that powerful Full Moon. (Did you see it coming up huge and orange the other night???)

I felt “off” all day Thursday and Friday. I felt tender, reactive, volatile and like my energy was blocked. I did my practices, canceled everything that wasn’t important and took care of myself because I could tell something big was ready to shift.

On Friday night, I woke up promptly a few minutes before 3am. (The time period of 3-5am is when a lot of energy healing and psychic activity takes place. Usually I’ll wake up at that time if there’s deep healing work to be done, or Spirit really wants my attention.) Instead of feeling exasperated or resentful as I sometimes do when nudged awake at this hour, I asked with calm curiosity, “What do you want me to know?”

Immediately, I knew that I was being haunted. I rarely use that term, but the word “haunted” popped unmistakably into my mind, and I felt a lingering energy present with me. I asked if I was being haunted by my ex. “Not exactly.” I felt some of her energy but it didn’t feel like her, specifically. I asked if I was being haunted by anyone or anything else. “No.”

Then I saw a vision of myself from six months ago, and I realized that I was being haunted by this past version of myself. I looked awful. The energy around me was sharp, hot and fragmented, like shattered glass. I also felt a lot of wetness (grief is a very “wet” emotional energy). This version of me from the past looked enraged, on the verge of tears, and ready to explode. In other words, I saw myself as I felt during those four days.

I maintained the feeling of calm curiosity as I surrounded this vision of myself with love and compassion. As I soothed this Self, I was transported back to the event. I saw my Current Self standing next to my Past Self. I saw my Current Self at times literally with my hands on my shoulders from behind, offering love and support to my Past Self. I literally had my own back. I watched myself walk by my own side through every trauma of those four days. My Current Self held my Past Self as I sobbed in rage and grief. I got to relive one of the most hurtful experiences of my life from the perspective of six months down the road, knowing that I am whole and illuminated on the other side of this challenge. I got to support my Past Self from a place of empowerment, grace and feeling secure in my own health, well-being and aliveness. Instead of simply remembering the event as my Past Self, I got to re-experience it with my Past Self, with all the perspective and grace of my current reality. And it felt completely different.

Take a moment and let this sink in: I got to retroactively go back and offer myself healing through the timeline (Energetic Principle #1, above). Read on.

When I think about my lived experience of the event, I remember how supported I felt, even in the midst of four of the worst days of my life. Despite the devastating feeling of betrayal and horrible disillusionment, despite feeling bitter, trapped and alone, I remember feeling almost surprised at how much loving energy I felt around me. I remember several moments when I looked around and almost laughed at the astonishing juxtaposition: on one hand, a key area of my life was actively falling apart in irreparable damage. On the other, I felt more connected, supported and loved than I had any logical reason to feel.

I know now that, during the event, the support I felt was coming not only from my Guides and Teachers (as I thought at the time), but also from my Current Self offering healing that positively impacted my past experience (Energetic Principle #2, above). Read on.

Two of these moments in particular stand out:

On Saturday night after the main event of the evening, I made my way back to the staff house I shared with my partner. I didn’t even know if she would come back that night, or if she would find somewhere else to stay. Regardless, I felt sickened, physically nauseated and shaking from head to toe. Then the weirdest sensation came over me, and I watched as my hands started packing up all my things. Literally, that’s what it felt like. I didn’t consciously make the decision, but somehow my body was moving as if someone else had taken control and was telling it what to do. I watched my body move calmly around the space and was fascinated at the precise care and assuredness my hands exhibited, while my heart and mind felt anything but calm. At the time, I simply marveled at the feeling and let it happen.

The other night as I lay in bed and watched this vision, I saw my Current Self packing up my things at the event. I watched myself calmly and firmly guide my Past Self to take the necessary steps to remove myself from further harm, just as I would guide a friend or client in the middle of a traumatic situation. What I experienced in the moment at the event was my Current Self directing my movements, during a time when I was incapable of making grounded decisions and taking empowered action. Just like my friend describing the car accident, I experienced the visceral feeling of receiving my own, retroactive healing during the traumatic moment itself.

The other big moment of healing I experienced directly while at the event took place that night as I lay awake in a fiery rage. After wandering around and finding absolutely no available beds (short of dragging a mattress into the van), I had decided to sleep on a narrow cot in the next room, rather than stay one more second in a bed I had shared with my partner. I lay seething, wracked with grief and rage in equal measure, and used my breath to open my channels and allow the energy to flow. Suddenly, I was overcome with bliss. I didn’t consciously understand it, but I knew somehow that I had shifted out of the raw pain and into the pure life force at its core. I didn’t question it, I simply let myself dissolve in that bliss and be revitalized by it.

The other night as I watched this vision, I saw my Current Self kneeling beside the cot, placing my hands on my Past Self and offering all the healing love and compassion in my heart. And I saw the practices and intention I had at the time combine with and respond to this healing through the timeline. In the past, I experienced it as an inexplicable gratitude and euphoria. But now I know that I was able to retroactively heal and alter my lived experience of an incredibly traumatic circumstance. I felt healing take place the other night as I offered love to myself in the past, and I felt healing even while at the event, as I received love and blessings from myself in the future.

When I eventually did go back to sleep the other night, I knew that some profound healing work had taken place. Indeed, the next several days have felt much lighter and clearer.
 

TAKEAWAYS:

(If you decided to skip ahead, resume reading here.)

• I was guided by Spirit to offer healing energy to a past situation, and it worked.

• I experienced a profound and immediate relief by offering healing energy through the timeline. I feel the effects of this healing not only in my current reality, but I also experienced the benefits during the traumatic incident itself.

• As citizens of Earth and Lightworkers on this planet, we all received a powerful Priest/ess activation from the Virgo Full Moon. We are all being prompted and activated to offer healing energy throughout the timeline for the benefit of All Beings.

• As we are empowered Creators building a New Earth, we have the opportunity to offer healing to our ancestors, to our own past lives, to our descendants and to the future of Earth.

• It is vitally important that we use this Sacred Work to offer healing through the timeline, not only to clear and heal trauma from the past, but also to set the course for our future, personally and collectively.

• At a time of tremendous uncertainty and fear, a lot of people are asking, “What’s going to happen?” Friends, we answer that question every day with our choices, our prayers, our words and our actions. Instead of asking what the future holds, part of the Priest/ess path is the Sacred Work of anchoring in the frequency of harmonious alignment, joy, peace and right relation that spans throughout the timeline. The Sacred Work is to lovingly guide our planet and all beings to live in alignment with frequency, and create a New Earth in that vision.

  Get Support:

  Are you ready to step fully into your Embodied, Wild Self and offer powerful healing throughout the timeline, for the benefit of All Beings?
  
  Apply now for Embody Wild™ 1:1! Check out the details and submit your application here.

Practice Prompts For You:

(This is a new style so I'm open to feedback on this variation of Practice Prompt--let me know how you like it! One prompt each for ceremony, journaling, movement, discussion and inspired action.)

Ceremony: Hold a Full Moon ritual for yourself (if you haven’t already)

Journal: What is my Sacred Work?

Move: Ask your body how it wants to feel, move and express your Sacred Work. Dance, roll, stretch, walk it out.

Discuss: With a friend/family/community member, talk about the concept of healing through the timeline. What past challenges and traumas would you like to heal for yourself and for the planet? What future healing would you like to see for yourself and for everyone?

Act: What ONE inspired action step can you take TODAY to move in this direction?

Get Support: Are you ready to step fully into your Embodied, Wild Self and offer powerful healing throughout the timeline, for the benefit of All Beings?

Apply now for Embody Wild™ 1:1!

Peek Behind the Veil: What happens at I AM Medicine Mentorship?

Happy Equinox! On Sunday, I got to spend the day with a handful of my amazing spiritual mentorship clients. After a wonderful day at my favorite retreat center, I feel...

...full of energy, enjoyment, grace, and amazing food.

...inspired by my amazing clients, by my personal takeaways, and by the practice itself.

...honored to bring together a group of such powerful, aligned women who are all walking the path.

...supported by the epic land and its steward, Ruthanne of Heaven and Earth Retreats.

...eager to share the magic with you!

Here's a sneak peek inside what goes on during a magical I AM Medicine mentorship day:

We started off the morning with building community: we gathered around a fire to eat delicious snacks while creating connection, sharing our journeys and discovering how much we have in common! How many of us go through our lives feeling like we're alone and have no community, only to come together in a group like this and discover that there are other amazing people out there having the same experience?

We talked about the energies of Autumn, the equinox and meditated to receive a guide for our journey through the West Gate.

After a delicious, gourmet lunch, and some gentle Qi Gong (didn't get a photo because it's hard to demonstrate movement and take pictures at the same time), we headed back out to sit around the fire again. We all wrote intentions for what we would like to "consciously compost." Part of working with Autumn is about what are you choosing NOT to harvest, but instead, to put back into the Earth to turn under and replenish the soil? We then "composted" these energies in a fire ceremony.

Following the fire ceremony, we built a collective altar with what we are harvesting and want to create more of in our lives.

What an epic healing circle! We meditated, prayed and all settled in to enjoy a deep, nourishing healing experience. Everyone was blown away by the power of the group!

We took away some steps for guidance on our Creator path. Everyone's message aligned perfectly with their intention!

We closed as the evening sun was filtering through the trees and bathing everything in nourishing, golden light. As we enjoyed a round of epic snacks to help us ground back in our bodies, we reflected on the powerful experiences, aha! moments and takeaways of the group. One last group hug circle and we drove off into the sunset!

I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful, nourishing, inspiring retreat day experience! This work is so much FUN, and I get to share it with a cohort of passionate, powerful clients who are changing their lives and changing the world. It is truly an honor and a joy to dive deeper and deeper into this work. I AM Medicine is stretching me, pushing me and inspiring me to uplevel my practice and my craft in ways I never imagined. What a journey.

Would you be interested in joining my I AM Alchemy spiritual mentorship? Sign up here!

I'll be taking the next few days to rest and integrate! Catch you soon.

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

P.S. Enjoy this Journal prompt:

How am I receiving now from the intentions I set earlier in the spring?
What am I harvesting this Autumn?
What would I like to turn under to be composted?

Song as Medicine

Over the past month or so, I've been sitting in deep contemplation with my relationship to music and song. This is still a fairly new and somewhat vulnerable theme for me, but I feel called to share it with you! (For more background on how this has been coming up for me, check out this previous article.) Suffice it to say that I am currently exploring Healing Songs as an important manifestation of my medicine and Sacred Work in the world.

Last night, I had a Medicine Dream that reaffirmed this theme for me:

In my dream, I was performing as the closing act of a concert which took place in a church. I was supposed to play a song on the flute. Even though in my dream I didn't know how to play the flute, some part of my subconscious nature did, so I trusted that I would be able to perform the complicated song when the time was right.

I opened my performance by speaking about Standing Rock and offering a prayer for the sacred waters and the Water Protectors. Many people in the audience started talking and ignoring me as I spoke. I became angry and frustrated and tried to play my flute song, but was barely able to make any noise come out of the instrument. As I grew more frustrated and the show director asked me to leave the stage, I heard a subtle thread of drum beats and music coming from somewhere nearby. My microphone was still on, so I started to sing. I sang my frustration at the people for ignoring the prayer, I sang a call to prayer and I sang the prayer itself. People stopped talking in order to listen to the prayer song, and I started dancing the prayer as well. It was a simple, powerful song that reverberated around the church and pulled people into its strength.

At this point, some older men came into the church, playing drums. It was their music I had heard in the distance. They came to play with me as I sang and they spoke to me, offering me their blessings and witnessing me in my prayer song. I awoke still reverberating with the power of the song and the message.

I know these men represent my guides, who appeared to support me in sharing my song. My voice is my instrument of power, and while I don't know exactly how it will manifest, Healing Songs are an essential component of my Sacred Work in the world. While revealing this publicly still feels sort of new and tender, I am so excited to continue exploring this powerful Medicine! More on this to come, I'm sure.