Category: Shamanism as a Way of Life

Transmutation News – May 2019

I love the month of May. There is an energy in nature during May that always seems so lovely. I feel peaceful every time this month arrives. Maybe the word “May” holds a particular vibration that speaks to me.

When I first started performing and teaching Soul Retrieval, I would share very detailed stories with my clients about what caused their soul loss. I would see the clothes my client was wearing at the time of the trauma. This was typically confirmed by the client. I received long messages about the trauma and then healing stories about the gifts that the returned soul parts were bringing back to my client.

Over time I found that clients and students were getting lost in the stories instead of focusing on absorbing the light, power, and gifts of the returned soul essence.

At the time no one was on the internet. So, I wrote Soul Retrieval newsletters every six months and sent them to my students who subscribed to them. I also added a new Preface and Afterword to my book Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self.

In one newsletter I wrote about this issue and the advice from my helping spirits of how to correct this. They stopped giving me the details of any past story that a client could get stuck in. Instead, my helping spirits started focusing on the healing stories of the gifts being returned and what the client now had to look forward to.

For in the times we live in, we don’t need more trauma anchoring us to the past. Soul Retrieval brings back the essence that returns the vital health of the client. It the energy that is returned not the words or story that creates positive changes in a client’s life.

I wrote about the shift in my work in my Soul Retrieval newsletters, and I was amazed by the response I got. The same time I changed my work most of the practitioners I trained also had been guided to change their work as I had. We all collectively received this guidance at the same time! It is amazing how the helping spirits work!

This was a big message and teaching for me as we keep incorporating ancient spiritual methods into our modern culture. We can get stuck in our heads and want to understand too much rationally. Information does not heal, energy heals. In contrast people in indigenous cultures just want to absorb the healing energies.

I see this happening now with our shamanic and ceremonial work. People spend so much time in their rational mind, seeing only through ego’s eyes, and wanting to understand messages given in shamanic journeys instead of perceiving the power of the energetic transmission of communication.

I truly believe that the people who are willing to shift to a “new frequency” of working with higher vibrational energies and songs are changing and evolving in a similar fashion to that of the Earth.

There are so many theories about splits in dimensions where people who choose to stay stuck in the vibration of fear, hate, and separation split from the dimension of people choosing to ride a different wave of a higher frequency.

For years now I have been writing on this column how my spiritual teacher Isis keeps advising us to pick the wave we want to ride- meaning what dimension of reality do we choose to live in?

On this wave of higher consciousness, I believe we will be stepping into a new way of opening our senses so that much of our communication is on the psychic level and through energy transmissions.

For when we focus on too many words, we are losing the meaning of our spiritual work and the gift that it provides for us.

Try taking walks in nature and don’t talk to other nature beings you meet along the way. Just transmit love and radiant light. Notice the energy transmission that you receive. My bet is that it is so much deeper than any words. Your awareness and perception of life will change as you do this.

Try some journeys where you remain in silence with your helping spirits and see what transpires through your shared energy. Let go of needing more messages and words. Observe the transformation ` that begins to happen within you.

My guess is that you will feel more clear, peaceful, radiant, and more connected to life, and more rooted to the Earth.

On the note of stepping into different dimensions of reality I taught a seven-week course “Shamanic Journeying with the Spirits of Nature: Building Strong Reciprocal Healing Relationships with Animals, Trees, and Other Allies in the Middle World”.

In this course I shared how in shamanic cultures every living being that lived in their landscape of the community was kin. Ongoing conversations went on between the people, the plants, stones, trees, animals, insects, birds, and the list goes on. For everything that lived in the environment was family.

I was so delighted to see how many people woke up to a completely different way of life talking to trees and other nature beings and listening to them talk back to them. Often, we ask for a sign or a message instead of taking the time to talk to nature as a friend and family such as asking a tree how its day was.

I watched as people who stepped into this new dimension did not feel invaded by the denser collective energies due to a new sense of reality had opened for them – one filled with such beauty, joy, a wealth of sharing love back and forth with nature, and kindness being shown towards all of life. I feel like so many people actually opened to and stepped into a new evolution of consciousness. The transformation I watched was stunning. We filled with beauty and then could perceive the beauty in life.

Of course, there were those who got lost in the suffering aspect of how we treat other life forms. For on many levels, we are living in barbaric times especially towards our treatment of nature. We have a lot of healing to do on this level. I move in and out of this state myself.

But to be able to hold all of life in love, kindness, honor, and respect does change the energy field.

And since the destructive forces on the planet are also feeding the collective with so much anger and separation, we have to really step up with our work to flood the collective with love and light. Otherwise, I don’t believe we will see positive change. But there will be people who will organically shift into a new evolution of consciousness through being in such deep connection with nature.

On Facebook a few people posted this absolutely fabulous video. I feel this completely captures what I was teaching in the course and throughout the years with Medicine for the Earth. This is a video of a beautiful woman from the Lakota nation sharing her experience of speaking with water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeeAMNxuqio

The course is a fabulous course, and I transformed so much through teaching it. I feel I stepped into a true flow of love going back and forth between myself and nature and the creative forces of the universe bringing new healing energies into my life. I truly believe this work should be taught before learning shamanic journeying to work with helping spirits.

I did schedule a once a month 6-month Community Group to continue exploring this magical work. The 6-month course will be bundled with the initial 7-week course for those interested in exploring the beauty of nature and communicate with nature beings. Whether living in a city or suburbs these practices are transformative and bring about a feeling of deep peace. I don’t have a link yet for more information yet, but I will send out an email when I have more information on the course and registration.

The full moon is May 18. Make sure to do your work to move into your spirit self and a sacred space. Travel within to the truth of who you are. Under all your feelings and thoughts, you are pure spirit, divine light, and unconditional love. This is the energy you carry. Now let’s join our energies of light together and transmit, radiate, emanate light within and throughout this great Earth. Let’s continue to weave a beautiful web of life that embraces every being on the Earth.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News. Please visit Creating a Web of Light on the homepage for the instructions of our full moon ceremonies.

I woke up one morning with a powerful message: It is time to run towards the work instead of away from it so we can plant seeds for future generations!

Transmutation News – April 2019

Over the last months I have been writing Facebook posts, describing some
amazing experiences I have had during the night. I have been sharing these
posts on the Transmutation News as many of you are not on Facebook.

Here is the post I shared recently:

I have been having my most profound visions at night. For the last year or so I have been getting visions and powerful spiritual transmissions that deeply impact my body.

Last year I posted on multiple Facebook pages many of the transmissions that I received from a group of spirits I call The Ancient Ones. The transmissions, messages, and healings I received are still resonating through my body.

Last night in the middle of night I was awakened by a noise. I could not fall back asleep. I just laid quietly in bed.

All of a sudden, I found myself floating in the universe. I work a lot in the Void, and it is the territory where I do my creation and manifestation work.

The territory I was in last night was so similar to the Void, but it had a different quality. I was simply floating in universal love. I saw, felt, and heard that the universal energies that all life is born from is pure unconditional love. The universe is always singing love songs to us. Love just infused every cell of my body as I just floated through the universe. There were no spirits or beings. I was just in a pure field of love.

The song and music I heard was so like the music I heard when I had a NDE experience due to drowning in the ocean.

What the transmission brought me was how much unconditional love we are all being held in. And we are being sung to every minute of our lives.

I cannot tell you how extraordinary this experience was!

But it left me with these questions:

Why can’t humans receive this love that is around us 24/7, and why don’t we hear the music and songs of love, life, and creation?

And how do we start to bring through this love from the universe to flood our current dense collective? As I keep sharing shamans are gardeners of energy. How do we cultivate this type of love in our collective?

I know this is something I must pursue. For if you could feel what I felt last night you would know we are missing so much of the magic of life!

One of the themes Renee and I are talking about on The Shamans Cave is the importance of understanding the power and meaning of creation stories. In shamanic cultures it was the creation stories that create the road map for the community as well as for the shaman to know the steps of living a harmonious life and also ways to create ceremonies for healing. Creation stories help us to define our role in life and share with us values that we can strive to attain.

When you understand the song of creation and how the creative forces of the universe created you then you have a better understanding of the vibrations and energies needed to infuse a new world of substance.

In the 1990s, as I wrote Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Environmental and Personal Toxins, I shared the importance of journeying/meditating to learn your own creation story that has meaning to you. I continue to write about creation stories in my later books including Walking in Light: The Everyday Empowerment of a Shamanic Life.

I truly believe that learning one’s creation story is required to fully embrace the practice of transfiguration. For if you do not know who Source is to you how do you experience Source within you? Without getting more of a sensory experience of Source the practice becomes more of a rational understanding. And the mental concepts around what it means to transfigure into one’s divinity does not have the fuel or energy to create the vibration of new life where our work has the widespread effects we are all hoping for. Our work needs to be infused with the true physical experience of Source, God, the goddess, or the creative power of the universe.

So take some time and journey, meditate, or do some automatic writing to explore your story of creation.
Who created you and life on Earth?
Get an experience of how expansive the energy of creation is. The energy is infinite and has no boundaries.
Feel the love that went into your creation.
Experience the light of creation and then journey within to find the Source of your own radiance within.

The full moon is April 19. Let’s join together after experiencing the loving energies of the power of the universe and bring them through as we create a radiant web of light within and throughout the Earth.

If you are a new reader of The Transmutation News please visit Creating a Human Web of Light on the homepage to learn the instructions for our monthly full moon ceremonies.

Josephine, in our global community, gave me some wonderful feedback after I posted Tracy Shulsinger’s practice in the March Transmutation News. Josephine has shared with me very interesting work before. I love her dedication to seeking and to her shamanic practice. Thank you, Josephine, for all you do! Here is what she shared with me:

“In 1969 I visited a Japanese Peace Garden in Hiroshima. It was awesome. No hint of ‘Look what you have done to us.’ No desire to make us feel shame or regret. Peace and harmony and of course exquisite beauty. In those days I normally didn’t feel anything – neither pain or joy. But in Hiroshima I did feel the joy which comes with peace and harmony.”

Josephine continued by sharing:

“The Shinto approach is before they embark on any project to create a building or garden they discuss it with the Kami, (similar to our Caretakers of the Land) and with the plants and trees and stones which will be part of the project; and then perform ceremonies for the success of the project. And then more ceremony at the end in gratitude for the successful completion.”

Josephine believes that there are other gardens being created like this around the world. But I wanted to plant the seed with you of the Japanese Healing Garden and the Shinto approach to bringing ceremony into any garden they create.

When we wonder what we can “do” the idea of Peace Gardens inspires us to see that there are many ways to raise consciousness and bring harmony into world communities. We really can become shamanic gardeners providing a huge service by creating Peace Gardens in our communities.

Transmutation News – February 2019

In January I had the wonderful opportunity to do the New Year’s show on Renee Baribeau’s Winter Solstice Summit. The talk and the practice I led was very well received. I thought you might enjoy watching my presentation. You can click on:

https://youtu.be/tpP_aVhMpKE

The last few years have been filled with so much change and sculpting away of old parts of my personality that no longer reflect who I am now. So many of us are experiencing the death of what is familiar, what we know, and what we can count on.

This leads us back into the language of Nature and the cycles of death and rebirth.

My life, even before I started practicing shamanism, was filled with a deep desire to make people feel loved and worthy to be here. I have always and still feel so much unconditional love for people and of course for all of life. At the same time, I find myself doing the paradoxical dance of” being” love while my ego/personality continues to slip into separation and judgement.

I am still teaching, still trying to sing my own authentic song in the world. But I am get so caught up in the facts that:

There are too many people on the planet.

Human beings are making a choice to give birth to babies and then feed them with polluted water, air, and food. Babies are coming in with illnesses that no child or family should have to experience.

Humans are losing all sense of humanity.

And most of all humans don’t know the language of Nature. And how does a species survive who does not learn his mother tongue? How do we learn the wisdom of Nature that provides us with life instead of feeling like we are the most evolved species and in dominion over Nature and life?

While I think about these things endlessly, I find myself being strongly called within. For the ruminations of my mind are not productive.

My words of inspiration in some way start to feel meaningless. At the same time spiritual energies come closer to me dancing with me, going away, coming back, all the while sharing amazing mystical information about yes, the process of letting go but also the miracles that are possible through the really old practices of shamanism – not the superficial practices and ceremonies that make everyone feel good for a short period of time.

For these miracles to happen we go through a death. For right now a part of the collective is only singing dismemberment chants – not realizing the power of their words and thoughts. We no longer have our Creation Stories that teach us how to sing intentions and chants of creation and rebirth.

It is important when facing death and dismemberment to say goodbye to what no longer serves. And then it is a time to go within and cultivate and tend to your inner landscape through deep spiritual work. Plant the seeds of textures, colors, tastes, sounds, feelings, sights, and even good memories that help us remember how to create and reengage fully in life.

The collective is separating into different dimensions of reality. Or as I have writing for years, we are all finding different waves to ride. For those who want to join in the process of rememberment this is a time to focus your energies in ways you might have not chosen to before.

In January I had a very powerful journey and a very different message from the spirits.

They reminded me how people who journey to the different species in nature keep getting the message that there is compassion for us as we grow into our higher selves and evolve.

If nature is compassionate and we are nature (we are not connected to nature) then what does it say about our own essential nature.

This is helping me with some of my judgements. But it is a work in progress learning how to be compassionate for myself!

As I keep repeating shamans are gardeners are energy. When the helping spirits shared this teaching with me it changed my entire understanding of shamanic practices and healing. To fully grasp that we are only energy and as shamanic practitioners we only work with energy gives us more choices than just looking at the dying of forms as we are seeing today. We are dealing with the thoughts that formed through erroneous and unevolved thinking. We believe that we have the intelligence to think our way through everything. And we don’t.

In reality we don’t even know what to pray for. For we don’t know the language that would make our prayers a reality. I have reflected deeply on when words of power that serve your intention, do not come, be still silent, and let your heart speak.

It is imperative for us at this point to let go of even thinking about the outcome of where the world and our lives are going. This is a time to be silent, pray, perform your ceremonies with as much energetic fuel that you can and let the wisdom of our next steps simply unfold.

Trust me it will!! That is part of being in the flow. When in the flow all the next steps of our practice and actions will unfold.

If everything is energy think of the energy required to transform the current collective’s energy. Ask yourself are you putting in compensatory energy to fully be a transformative force?

If not, then this is what you want to reflect on this month.

The full moon is on February 19. Let’s raise our energy to experience the depth of transformational light we can radiate within and throughout the Earth to really flood all of life and the Earth with radiant light feeding the energy of new birth, life, and creation.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News please read Creating A Human Web of Light on the homepage for the instructions for our full moon ceremonies.

During the month of February Valentine’s Day is celebrated by many. It is a day of celebrating love!

In shamanism reciprocity is one of the most important practices we can engage in. For example, nature loves to be sung to. But when a common language is found between two different species and songs of love are sung to each other magic happens.

Let’s continue to share our love with all of life. Sing love songs and listen to the songs sung back to you!

**We are looking for a new volunteer Russian translator. If you are willing to be a volunteer, please contact me at info@sandraingerman.com. This is not an email address for personal emails.

Transmutation News – January 2019

As we spiral into a New Year there is always a sense of hope. Hope burns bright when we realize that we have new opportunities for healing, growth, and change.

There are always new doorways and openings in the collective fields of energy to find spiritual help for transformation. But many of us wait to see who shows up in our behalf instead of seeking out hidden and infrequently traveled realms. In these unseen territories there are actually very ancient powerful allies that are ready to help if we seek them out, ask the right questions, and learn how we can work with them.

More and more students are sharing with me that they are carrying the Ancient Ones energies into the world. And there is so much knowledge waiting to help if we take the first step of seeking.

Over the years I have written that the unconscious behavior of humans stems back to the basic principle that most of us did not receive the kind of nurturing love that would help us grow into a mature person who honors oneself, others, and all of life.

If we truly experienced the unconditional love that went into our creation, we would organically carry the energies of love, light, and honor, and respect into every single action we take and into every activity, and meeting with others.

We came here to remember the power of love and light.

First, we have to start with ourselves and relearn how to hold ourselves in unconditional love. And then we have a chance to be able to do the same with others.

And we do know that what is needed is to open up the box we put ourselves in and learn the language of the Earth and nature. Find a being that calls to you in nature – a rock, a leaf, grass, a tree, a river, and so on. Befriend this being. Leave it where it is but make the effort to visit it daily and tell it about your day, talk to it like you would a friend.

Notice if once the nature being you are now in relationship with starts to share with you over time. It takes time to build a connection to nature for we have to open ourselves up to a new way of thinking and a new language as we relate to other species we share the Earth with. But what a lovely practice. And see where it leads you over time. You will probably notice that you open a deeper relationship with yourself and also to nature. Learn the language of Nature and watch how you change.

What an amazing way to greet the New Year. You might also reflect on performing a ceremony to release what pain you are ready to release and set your intention as we welcome in hope and new possibilities of new beginnings. Instead of focusing on the outcome you want, focus on how you want to deepen your work. For that will lead to the highest outcome for all.

The full moon is January 21. Let’s open to the unconditional love of the power of the universe and Source, and radiate beautiful frequencies of light and love that weave into a brilliant web of light that embraces, supports, honors, and uplifts all of life.

If you are a new reader of The Transmutation News please read Creating a Human Web of Light on the homepage for the instructions for our full moon ceremony.

I join our circle in holding the best for all of life as we spiral into a New Year!

Transmutation News – November 2018

I have been joining you in performing the practices to step into a deeper relationship with Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. I can really feel a difference in my body. I feel a deeper connection to myself as well as to all of life.

One day I was eating a small apple from my apple tree. I suddenly could feel that we are connected to the spirit of every life form we eat. I could feel roots growing through my body and a deeper connection to nature. That of course awakened different parts of my imagination, and I started thinking how every time we eat, we connect to the life form we ingest and threads of connection form inside of us.

I started thinking about how those of us who are committed to our spiritual practices often start our day, our spiritual work, and so on with gratitude. And during the month of November people in America celebrate Thanksgiving.

This led me to wonder about the spiritual difference if before we give thanks, we ask permission from the land where we got our food from and the spirit of everything. Ask permission to eat the bounty that Mother Earth provides for us along with her partnership with air, water, the sun, the moon, the constellations.

If you ask permission “to take” first I wonder how that would change your own internal landscape, your feelings, thoughts, your health and your connection to life.

We certainly want to keep up our gratitude practices and even bring them deeper into our field of energy. But what if we added the practice of asking for permission as well as asking for encouragement on ways we can lighten our step on Gaia.

As we do this, I imagine the forces of nature, the ancestors, and the ancient ones singing songs of gratitude and thanksgiving for us.

This practice might also help us to make dietary and lifestyle changes as we tune in deeper ways to the energies we are absorbing.

The full moon is November 23. Let’s bring a deeper awareness and wake up fully to our spirit within which is simply pure divine light. Don’t contain it. Let it flow with abandon instead of trying to contain your light. Let us join together as we share transformative light with the Earth and all of life. Think about how the sun, the moon, and the stars transform growth. Are you shining your light strongly enough to be a transformative force?

If you are a new reader of The Transmutation News, welcome. Please read the instructions for our full moon ceremony by visiting Creating a Human Web of Light on the homepage.

A message came to me during a walk. When the world dissolves there is only spirit. By going through the initiations we are experiencing now, we are dissolving into our spiritual selves.

Transmutation News – October 2018

We are living in a time where life is moving at such a fast pace, we often forget what is important to us, and we set our own personal priorities aside as we try to keep pace.

I was with a friend who was sharing about a lecture he listened to where the speaker said the only way people can move more quickly is if we become part human and part computer. What an interesting thought!

In truth the key is for all of us to move more slowly and start to set our pace that reflects back to us a state of health and balance. In this way we move back into the flow of life where our path leads us to next steps of healing and evolution in a balanced way instead of feeling like we are caught in the tornado of life in the modern world.

As I engage in interviews to let people know about my new book The Book of Ceremony, I find myself having a difficult time finding the words to talk about the power of ceremony. What I realized is that we cannot rationally even imagine the power of performing ceremonies. For the work is so body centered instead of being a linear process.

Shamanic cultures mark time differently than we do. We are so focused on clocks and calendars while people in indigenous cultures watched the changes of light, phases of the moon, constellations in the sky, and of course the change in seasons. They have a more organic way of watching the changing of time.

This is a more body centered way of living that brings us naturally into the rhythm of the Earth. And by doing this we have a different sense of navigating waves of change.

In many ways society has created a sense of disconnection to a real sense of time. We live in an illusion of where we are in history and in the evolution of the planet. This artificial way of observing time and life creates more illness as what we need to do is once again enter the flow of life instead of separating ourselves out from it.

The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. The wind was the first living being before the primal sea was even created. And the sea itself is billions of years old. And think about the age of the sun, the moon, and the constellations. The practice of shamanism dates back 100,000 years. And then we have ancient ancestral traditions.

When we perform ceremonial work we actually step into this ancient collective. We step into a new frequency and a new vibration of life where we can travel back and forth between dimensions of the unseen realms building bridges so healing energies can flood this current collective.

The ancient and future ones sing for us. They guide us through their songs. All of nature sings to us yet we keep questioning our connections. We often feel powerless in the midst of so much turbulence.

If you close your eyes and attune your heart and energy to Gaia who is 4.6 years billion years old and to the elements and helping spirits who are behind us, how can we feel powerless? And when we tap into this feeling, we must ask ourselves how we approach our ceremonial work. Are we stepping into this amazingly strong and solid spiritual collective with full open hearts and doing our best to honor these forces of life?

Don’t think about this. Feel into this. And you will notice all kinds of doors of new perspectives opening up for you. There is a different collective you can step into if you let go of the distractions of the modern world.

But today people want new material without repeating spiritual practices again and again to match the feeling of solidity that comes from deepening our work during these times that are so destabilizing. Always going to the next “new practice” keeps us riding the surface waves which just lead to feeling more destabilized. The key is to grow the deepest roots possible into the ancient ways that hold so much healing and wisdom for us.

For the Earth has witnessed the same challenges we are going through now. Gaia is speaking to us. Learn her language instead of forcing her to learn yours.

Perform your ceremonies and step into your full power as you join with primal forces and ancestral traditions that were walking right behind you and encouraging you to move forward into a new evolution of consciousness. Feel this truth in your body!

People in shamanic cultures know how dance with the cosmic forces of the universe.

The full moon is October 24. When you perform your ceremonial work to radiate your light along with the radiant light of our community please remember the ancientness of the spiritual forces you are partnering with when you do your work. Is there a new way for you to prepare yourself to step into such a sacred collective and truly be a light that shines within and throughout the Earth? Deepen your work and meet and dance with powerful beings beyond your wildest imagination.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News please read Creating a Human Web of Light on the homepage.

Transmutation News – August 2018

I want to thank everyone for the beautiful messages I received about the July Transmutation News.

I know many of you are sensitive and might be feeling lost in the current storms of life we are experiencing. I wanted to share some things from own life without writing an entire autobiography.

I grew up in a typical neighborhood in Brooklyn that is often depicted in comedy shows on TV. But life was not funny as people struggled to take care of themselves and their children.

My father had a small store a few blocks from our house. I would either go to visit after school or sometimes work there. I loved being outside and playing sports with my friends or in my house writing fictional stories. But I did spend quite a bit of time helping at the store.

When I would walk to my father’s store there would always be someone who would stop me and ask if I was willing to talk. I was only about 7 and would always stop to listen. I remember one day the wind was so strong. And you know how on city streets when the wind is so strong it blows dirt and garbage like a tornado around your feet. I remember one day garbage and dirt was blowing around me while an elderly man asked to speak to me. I don’t remember the conversation. I remember the scene and his face so clearly. But he thanked me at the end of our time together for my kindness and listening to him.

These kinds of events kept happening. And there were customers who would come into the store to simply talk to me and of course felt obligated to buy something. I remember a beautiful nun in a full habit who would often come to speak to me and then tell me what a special child I was. I am not aware at this point of how I helped so many, but I was a stellar listener and always had a smile for people.

Then when I was about 13, I could see I had come become quite depressed. And although I grew up around people who were suffering, including my own family, I was quite a happy child. But I noticed this happiness had left me. I would sit on my bed and wonder why I felt so sad all the time. And at that point I realized I was taking on the pain of others around me.

Fast forward to my later teenage years when the Vietnam War began. I was outraged. I always supported those who went to war and of course many of my dear friends were drafted. But I felt the war was unjust, and I participated in demonstrations on Wall Street where bottles were thrown at us and the police would set off tear gas as we marched the streets.

When I realized that my efforts had no impact on creating a change, I guess I had what some would call a nervous breakdown, but I could still work, go to school, and function in the world. For my own survival I knew I had to do something drastic for my own mental health, and I stopped watching any news or reading the news. I did not even know who the president of U.S. was for about 10 years. I experimented with drugs, moved to a commune in San Francisco, and started to explore alternative ways of living.

In a true organic progress, I started to heal. During my years in San Francisco, I left the commune, enrolled in San Francisco State to get my BA in Biology, specializing in Marine Biology, and loved all that I was learning. I worked at the Student Learning Center. The manager would sit at the front desk and always had the newspaper on his desk. One day after a year or so of working there I found myself reading the headline on the front page. I did not go past the headlines for months until one day I started to read articles, and this was my entrance into finding my way back into knowing about what was politically occurring.

My story continues with various situations like this. But my saving grace was that I did have a lot of access to the unseen realms through my own predisposition to spiritual work, my Near Death Experiences, and all the plant spirit medicine I worked with. And then to add to this in 1980 I was introduced to shamanic journeying.

It was through my shamanic journeying that I learned from my helping spirits that I can affect a lot of change through spiritual work. Hence all my teachings and books came out of the wonders of what I was shown about the invisible foundation of positive change we create by the work we do in the non-ordinary realms.

I am sharing this with you as I am hearing from hundreds of people feeling too sensitive to be enveloped by the truly insane and inhumane behavior. We are more visceral than we might realize. But so many have deadened the sense of feeling through finding distractions.

We all have a destiny. And for some people they thrive on being politically active and demonstrating. What a gift to share with the web of life as people defend the rights of all of life. Then there are those whose destiny does not support being that active politically. But our destiny and gift is to be active in the unseen realms weaving a new of fabric of reality that will replace the one that is dissolving. Then there are the people who have the destiny to do both. As I frequently share Gandhi was one example of many who could do both.

We all have gifts to share right now. And if you have to take a “news break” or go on a “news fast” then take care of yourself and do it. A few years ago, I was reading tweets by a wonderful woman who wanted to make the public aware of all the animal cruelty going on in the world. I felt I had to read and see the photos or videos every day to honor these animals and not turn a blind eye to what was happening. And the result was I had quite the meltdown and went off Twitter.

Yes, I have done a lot of work in my life so I could be a psychotherapist and shamanic healer and not get ill by taking on my clients’ issues and pain. But I am too sensitive to be in a true flood of negative energies, heartbreaking news stories, and so much hate. I do keep my ears open, and I am certainly aware of everything going on. But I know I can’t immerse myself in these energies. I stay true to my shamanic work and work on a different level – not better or inferior to what others are doing – just following my destiny.

I can still be a spiritual warrior in bringing about a new world. But I have to honor my sensitivity that makes me a good healer and work on different dimensions of reality to birth through the change. And that is what the Medicine for the Earth work is all about.

And this is why I keep writing books and teaching to inspire people in multiple ways to effect change in the world. To add to this my spiritual work also brings me much needed solace to stay focused and centered during these times.

Honor your destiny of what you came in here to do. If you feel lost in the current storm take a break from the news. Perform the spiritual practices I have been encouraging you to do as I have written since 2000 in the Transmutation News, in my books, and as I teach in my workshops. Many of you have found practices to work with that really support your health and your deeper work to be of service.

It is not just frivolous words when I keep sharing that it is who we become that changes the world. For as we fill up with spiritual energies of love, light, joy, peace, honor, respect, and equality, these qualities naturally birth through us and begin to weave new energies into the web of life.

Never question the work that has been passed down for thousands of years. The reason the practices I share are so powerful is that they work. But yes, it is true that change does not come in the timing we want. I wrote a beautiful section on this in my new book The Book of Ceremony: Shamanic Wisdom for Invoking the Sacred Intro Everyday Life. Shamans have always used ceremony to effect change. And it is time for all of us to bring ceremony into our lives on a very regular basis.

Take care of yourself on all levels and then you will take care of the planet.

I was looking for a message the goddess Isis shared during one of my sessions while teaching an online course. The message I was looking for was on the need to work with our spiritual heart. But I found this one instead, and felt it was appropriate to share now.

Message From Isis

“You have traveled through many different realms to learn about your true nature and to touch into those vulnerable parts of yourself that needed to be strengthened. Your work is far reaching beyond you. For you reflect back parts of the collective that need healing.

We have been living in times where humans have fallen out of harmony with nature and the rules of life itself. It is easy to see the path ahead as more dissolution will occur as so many do not wake up from the hypnotic trance they live in and do not respect life itself.

As I have taught time and time again you can ride a different wave. For beyond this dimension of reality is another veil to open that allows you to step into a new frequency and a new vibration of life. You can travel back and forth between these dimensions building bridges so healing energies can flood this current collective. But you cannot save the collective. And you should not try.

Love is the healing force that all must wake up to. And you cannot force others to open to a state of true unconditional love. First you must begin by loving yourself. Imagine a cup that is overfilled with water flowing in and water flowing out. Your love must flow with ease – it cannot be a forced process.

Once you have experienced the unconditional love of the goddess and unconditional love and acceptance for yourself only then can you share this love and healing power with others. And you hold all in love and trust that what will be will be. There is more than you can see with your ordinary eyes.

But you will always know in your heart that you did show up for yourself and the Earth and all of life. And in that you will carry the energy of a spiritual being who did bring change for all of life.

Stay focused. Imagine walking a path where there is destruction and dissolution to your left and right. But walk the path that is ahead of you putting one step forward and then the next step forward neither looking left or right. Keep walking the path. And know you are held in love by me, and by the gods and goddesses throughout times. The ancient ones sing for you to guide your way. Listen to their song. The descendants sing for you. Listen to how they light your path.

Walk the path to true freedom and let go of all attachments. Just be love.”

Now I will share an excerpt of a message that Isis shared about working with our spiritual heart. The entire message she gave is written in the October 2017 Transmutation News.

“In your world teachers, including your own, encourage you to open your heart to the spirit of love.

But this teaching is not correct on the level of heart that you are being asked to connect with.

For the focus has been on your physical heart which is simply part of your ego. And so many of you are experiencing and seeing suffering which on an evolutional level is expanding your sense of compassion. It takes you so deep into your humanness. But you are still trapped in the energy, vibration, frequency of suffering and that is the energy you are feeding in the world. And by carrying the energy of suffering so many people are becoming ill.

You are now literally and metaphorically being cracked open to the deepest place within where all the knowledge and wisdom is waiting for you to learn from as you touch deeper into your humanness.

Behind your physical heart is a spiritual heart. You do not have to travel that deeply within to connect with it. It is talked about by many gurus, mystics, and spiritual teachers.

And this spiritual heart – one with Source and the joy, bliss, and unconditional love for all of life and creation knows no suffering. It knows bliss, it knows unconditional love, but has no experience of suffering on this Earth.”

People keep writing to me and asking for a variety of prayers for challenges happening all over the world. Please remember that everything we are witnessing in the world today is being birthed through us. Yes, keep praying. But if you don’t examine your ongoing daydreams and stay focused and disciplined with your dreaming work, I personally do not see positive change happening. For any change that happens will be birthed through us- it will not come to us.

Our beautiful radiant full moon is on August 26. Let us explore experiencing our spiritual heart to tap into a deeper space within ourselves, perform our preparation work, and join together as a spiritual community to radiate our light and love within and throughout the Earth.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News please read Creating A Human Web of Light on the homepage for the instructions of how to join us in our monthly ceremony.

Transmutation News – July 2018

Last month I had a dream where I heard, “Often in life we lose sight of what is important.” Although this is not a new teaching the message spoke to me in a way that acted as a wakeup call. And the timing of the message was perfect for me.

Then I left on the first vacation I have taken in years. And while listening to the magical song of the ocean I received the same message.

It seems to me that with the resurgence of shamanism and renewed interest in this powerful work there is a wave of movement that is both beautiful to watch and at the same time is quite frightening to witness.

For in the collective field of excitement I am finding that people are being drawn outside of themselves. And I have to include myself in this population. As I am so available publicly, I can perceive a frenetic energy going into the work. And that is not what the practice of shamanism is about.

Over the years I learned that when I reached out for too much help it ended up being a distraction pulling me off the path I was walking on. During certain life challenges what stood in the way of a shorter and more graceful path to my healing was listening to what others thought and what others were telling me to do.

I keep having to stay focused on my own essential core teaching that the key to life is to create a deep, rich, and meaningful inner world. I focus on not getting drawn out of my inner world and getting pulled outside of myself.

In listening to others, I did not uncover the gems of what my own soul was trying to lead me to. And the only way to identify these gems is to dive deep within. There have been times when I lost faith in my own inner healer that I have always trusted to help me move out of and transform any challenge I have experienced in life.

With the practice of shamanism what is so attractive to many is jumping into working with healing methods and being part of communities. This needs to happen along with working deeply to discover the gifts, strengths, and abilities in our inner world that we still think we find by engaging in learning shamanic “methods”.

For the practice of shamanism is an organic process. We are part of the Earth organism and not separate from it. We join with all species to make up the appendages and organs of our Earth.

In order to be in the flow of the organic process of life we must find our own voice, inner healer, and be willing to face some old wounds that only you can see, feel, and experience. It is important to remove yourself from everyone’s projection and remember who you are again.

When participants in my Medicine for the Earth trainings ask me what is next, I have shared just keep deepening your transfiguration work and keep doing the personal work I have shared to learn how to be a healthy and responsible human. Stop looking for more “magical” methods to work with. And on many levels, this is true.

But in shamanic and other spiritual traditions people were not introduced to such powerful work before learning how to look within and develop a level of evolution in shifting into a new consciousness and way of living in the world. And I find for many, not all, the focus strays from the inner work we have to do, and we are mesmerized by ways of creating miracles and try to enter a fast track to healing.

For to really work with the power of light and transfiguration we have to change our lifestyle, our identity of how we perceive ourselves, be aware of how much we project onto others, how much we avoid our own shadow states, and the list goes on. Without these skills we cannot “live the work”.

The key is not to stop trying to learn more healing practices, but to polish the work of how we explore the deepest layers of ourselves which leads to an organic way to work with light so that we can be a presence that shines.

For years I have been wanting to teach some practices that help us to tap into some advanced spiritual practices of telepathy, changing the nature of substances using blessings and light, etc. But I have felt that there is more work for all of us to do before we are ready.

We use so little of our brain’s capacity. We have gifts and abilities that are beyond our wildest dreams. And our potential is untapped.

I see one of the reasons for this is that we allow ourselves to get so distracted and pulled out of ourselves.

I no longer want to lose sight of what is important about life. I want to continue to deepen my exploration of my beautiful and magical inner world. And invite you to join me in this journey.

This month please take some time to be in nature, journey, meditate, drink tea and reflect, and so on and ask yourself the question, “Have I lost sight of what is important in life?” Am I focusing too much on what is happening in the outer world and not focused on the calling of my own soul?” “Am I listening to my inner voice”.

Notice how the different phases of the moon draw you within to times where you are supported in doing this deep inner work.

Continue to read inspirational books or take workshops that you are drawn to. But please do not forget about the magic seed of light that is growing within you. And how do you stay present to the challenges and the blessings of your own journey?

I feel there is a lot to reflect on. For so many people are talking about the exciting changes of consciousness that are being witnessed in the world. What is the conversation you need to take into your inner world?

The full moon is July 27. Reflect on how you can take your transfiguration practice to deeper levels as you continue to explore your inner world. For once you can evolve your practice other gifts will emerge to support the powerful work we are doing together.

On the full moon let’s join our hearts together and shine our light in ways that truly impact the living organism of Earth.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News please read Creating a Human Web of Light on the homepage of this site.

Transmutation News – March 2018

My helping spirits have started working with me by only giving me body centered experiences. They are not only giving me information in words, but rather helping me understand certain teachings by giving information for me to feel on a sensory level.

Over the last months my helping spirits keep showing me the need to move back into a place of flow. I have shared a bit about this in previous columns. First, they started by talking to me about flow. Then they asked me to travel within and notice where I was holding tension in my body. That was simple to do.

About a month later in a journey I was given the direct felt experience of the difference of gripping on to life and trying to control it rather than allowing myself to flow with where life was taking me to. I could feel how I was trying to hold on to my desired outcomes in a way that was not healthy for me or would help me manifest change.

I feel that the key to healing for me and probably for others is to loosen our grip on life a bit more and enter in life’s flow.

We so often try to separate out the cycles of life instead of allowing our body to get a sense of how all the cycles flow together. Many of us work with the moon and separate out the practices and ceremonies that we perform on the new and full moon. All the phases of the moon are part of one cycle that organically flow together.

The seasons are not separate phases in our life. For the cycle of death and rebirth and all that occurs in between is all one organic cycle.

What is the effect on own organic sense of flow and timing in life when we keep trying to separate transitions instead of perceiving them as flowing from one cycle to the next? When we can do this, we get a different sense of how all changes we experience in our personal life and on the planet are all woven together. There are no separate events, separate phases of life. There is only one natural flow.

When we enter into that natural and organic flow, we embrace a deeper understanding of change and the gifts and teachings being brought into our life.

There is an entirely different dimension of reality we enter into when we step into the true flow of life. I work and use the metaphor of “The River of Life”. Some of you might prefer to focus on the inner flow of tides, changes in wind patterns as it continues to flow, or the different feelings and sensations you have when you lie on the earth.

Today there is so much talk about the shadow and light. And when we separate these cycles, we miss the finer details of the changing light that creates both the shadow and light. By sinking into the quality changes of light we understand more of how the light and shadow are always intertwined and dancing with each other.

I did post on Facebook recently, and I am including this post in this column as it is relevant to what to I am sharing:

We cannot change the past. But we can change the present and future.

We do this by diving deep into our spiritual practices while examining how we act, think, and behave towards others and all of life.

The shadow and light are all part of being alive on this planet. On a daily basis nature reflects back to us the power of these mighty forces that live within each of us.

We must embrace both as we are nature. The reason we were born is to experience the entire range of what it means to be human. By embracing both the shadow and the light we learn how to reconnect to a state of wholeness embracing both the beauty and challenges of life. The challenges help us grow and evolve into humans who carry such spiritual strength we can transform all that has occurred in the past. Building strong spiritual muscles to ride all the waves that life brings us is key to thriving.

If you look at old amazing trees the trunk often can look so twisted but yet the tree grows deep roots into the earth and splendid branches up high into the sky. These trees bring awe to us when we see their inherent beauty and strength.

Nature teaches us the power of growing deep roots and branches like a tree no matter what happens to us in life.

Until we build strong enough spiritual muscles, we cannot be a true light in the world.

To add to what I wrote on Facebook I suggest observing the changing quality and cycles of light during the day.

Daily I watched my father follow the cycles of the light and also the setting sun. His most precious possession was his watch. He had a cheap watch that was stolen when he died. But no matter how ill he was or how deep into his dementia he was in, his anchor to life was his watch. I would sit with him each day and watch how he sat outside or inside tracking the changing light and marking the change by noticing the time. It helped him in some deep way.

I get a sense of the power of what he did and how he had his own sense of his inner flow and connection to life.

Watch the changing qualities of light during March where once again we are welcoming in a flow of one season into another as we celebrate the equinox.

I do believe strongly as we do this, we naturally build up the spiritual muscles we need to flow through the coming waves and changing cycles. We must enter into an organic flow reconnecting our energy with how life and nature move in order to swim through the present and coming waves.

This is an important practice to add to all we have been doing together over the years.

There are so many hectic and chaotic spiritual energies floating around in the collective right now. I truly believe if you enter into life’s flow you will not be impacted by these energies as you build up your spiritual strength.

Back in the 1970’s I received my BA in Marine Biology. I focused on the study of algae and also with a classmate performed significant research on hermit crabs. It was really crazy as my classmate and I statistically proved that if you give a hermit crab a larger shell it will also grow larger. This statistical study brought great attention to us, and we were offered a grant to continue our research. I am still pondering on the question of why science is so ready to fund research projects for something like this, which is so obvious.

Anyway, back to the point of my story. Every day I spent long hours at different locations on the Pacific Ocean south of San Francisco. I had all the information I needed about the time the tide would come in. But I would get lost in discovering the true unique living treasures in the ocean. I forgot to look at my watch or focus on the changing light as the sun would rise and the tides would start to come in. Every day I would find myself moving from being able to walk in the tide pools to finding myself being taken under by a wave. I would find myself swimming in deep waters with my coat, hat, just trying to not go down and swimming as fast I could.

The teaching here is that when we enter into the flow of life we can swim with ease through the changes in life. When we try and think too much or lose track of the changing tides we can easily be taken down.

I am seeing this as a way to navigate the changes that we are experiencing in life. We need to pay attention to the changing tides and qualities of light or we can easily be tumbled around by a tide that came in we were not expecting.

The full moon is on March 1. And again, we flow into this phase of the full moon. There was a lot of energy building in the previous phases that led us to the exponential power of the full moon. We use this exponential power to continue weaving a radiant web of light and love within and throughout the Earth. Join our spiritual community which is truly one collective energy as we welcome in the grace of this phase of the moon to perform our spiritual work.

Keep sinking in deeper beyond ego and personality to allow your own inner divine light to shine through you. Our ego and personality are what keeps us in a state of control. Our inner divine light knows exactly how to enter into the flow. Perform your transfiguration work. Let your light flow effortlessly dancing with the light of our circle and shining strong like the moon and the stars in the night sky who reflect back to us our true spiritual identity and the strength of our own light.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News please visit Creating A Human Web of Light on the homepage for instructions for our full moon ceremony.

We greet the equinox together on March 20. We welcome in spring and fall depending on which hemisphere you live in.

As soon as you read the Transmutation News start being aware of the changes of light. You can put a plant in your window and watch how the light shining on the plant changes each day. It does not matter if you live in the city or a suburban area. You can still watch the changing patterns of light during the day and watch the changing phases of the moon. It does not matter if the sun is shining or not. If you wake up your sensory awareness you will notice subtle changes in the light each day and notice how your body and mind is impacted.

No matter where you live look up towards the sky and let the sun bathe your body and eyes. At night go out and when possible, take a moon bath and let the light of the moon flood you with her changing quality of light.

It is all about noticing the changes in QUALITY of light. This is such an important body sensation for all of us to get. For we are falsely separating out the seasons and lunar phases when they are all part of one cycle. By separating out the cycles we are not honoring the change that also occurs between the shadow and light. This separates us from the true flow of “The River of Life”.

On the equinox design a ceremony you can perform to welcome in the equinox. It can be as simple as leaving offerings for the earth, air, water, and fire as the sun. Honor your ancestors and the spirit of the land you live on. Connect back into a state of oneness with all that Nature brings to us. Complete your work by giving thanks for your life. You might release something that is blocking you from moving forward with manifesting your dreams or sharing a prayer with the universal forces as well as earth, air, water, and fire.

If you have created a Prayer Tree, as I have been instructing you to do over the last few years, you might want to leave a prayer for healing or blessing on the tree. If you are a new reader of The Transmutation News you can read Walking in Light: The Everyday Empowerment of Shamanic Life to learn about creating Prayer Trees.

Sing, dance, read poems to the elements. Leave offerings where you live.

You can burn a piece of paper in a sacred bowl that has your request for healing or for a blessing. You might choose to blow bubbles into the wind or breezes. Or you can find a stone calling to you and place it in a body of water or bury it in the earth again with the intention you are asking for. Remember to always transmute the energy behind your thoughts to a vibration of light and love that feeds you and all in the web of life.

An issue shared:

A good question/issue was sent in by one of the members in our circle. She shared that together with her husband they feel safe working with shamanic practices due to the fact that the current collective is supporting using shamanism only for healing and bringing through light. My response to this is that yes, things are changing. Slowly the old paradigm of the hierarchical and dark practices of shamanism are being replaced with life giving energies that create peace and harmony within all of us replacing the old paradigm. We still have a way to go as this paradigm has been in place for a long time.

But as the foundation of this paradigm continues to unravel it leaves more space for “conscious” practitioners to weave in loving and light energies into the fabric of the new paradigm that is now being created.

The key is to continue to do your own inner work and explore the projections and the thoughts that live inside you. And keep transforming and transmuting them to energies of light and step into your own spiritual power where you share your unique gifts collectively as you do your work. We are all interdependent on each other and the more light we shine, the more the past lineages can heal and harmony can be restored.

I join with our community to wish you a bright and blessed equinox!

Transmutation News – February 2018

I shared in a few monthly columns that I am writing a new book titled The Book of Ceremony which will be published by Sounds True. I write my monthly column in time to send it to our amazing translators who are so generous with their time.

Due to the tight timeline on my next phase of editing my book and needing to get the February Transmutation News written by mid-January I decided to post my New Year’s greeting on Facebook for this month’s column.

I know that a majority of readers of The Transmutation News are not on Facebook, and don’t see my solstice and equinox messages.

I hope this has meaning for you. And if you already read it maybe you will see something you missed reading it the first time.

Before I go on, I wanted to talk about what I mean about going deeper. I have received multiple inquiries asking me to explain. It is hard to explain with words. Diving deeper is more of a kinesthetic feeling where you feel all the insights you have read and heard are sinking deep into your cells, so you are living the work instead of thinking of how to do your practices. It is an organic process that cannot be explained.

You need to work through some of the projections you are placing onto others, work through issues around forgiveness, learn to love yourself and nurture yourself and use your words, thoughts, and daydreams as blessings instead of as curses. You need to stop blaming others for what is not working in your life and in the world and do your practices daily. Then you will sink into the luminous light I have been trying to take you to in the transfiguration work. But the states of consciousness I mentioned above (and these are only a few) must be transformed and worked through before you become “a walking star”.

Below is what I wrote for my New Year’s message on Facebook:

We are cycling in a New Year! I know people are struggling with words of how to greet 2018. For many of us are not comfortable using the cliché wishing everyone a happy New Year. We know we are in the long haul in our current initiation.

I am sure there are very evolved beings who can look past at the traumas we are witnessing in the outer world. Their inner landscape is so rich with beauty that they only see beauty everywhere. We are working on it!!

Words do get tricky. I was interviewed recently for a summit. The interviewer asked me if I believe that shamans believed in positive thinking. His question was based on how I teach that people living in shamanic cultures were diligent about the words, thoughts, and daydreams they spoke silently to themselves or to others.

I responded by saying that shamans were the first people who taught about neuroplasticity. But I said that shamans do not teach or talk about positive thinking. They ask us to reflect on whether the words, thoughts, daydreams we express silently or out loud are blessing or cursing ourselves, others, and the planet.

As we enter 2018 this is an interesting thought to ponder on. Do you use your words, thoughts, daydreams as a blessing or a curse?

I wrote a lot for my solstice post on December 21. And I wrote a lot on my January Transmutation News https://sandraingerman.com/tnjanuary2018.html

As we greet 2018, I wanted to share a few stories with you. They might speak to you on levels. and if they do take in the lesson. If not let it go.

Back in the very early 1970s I had a tiny import business with 2 other friends I lived with in the Haight Ashbury. We would travel to Mexico and bring back just a few clothes and sandals we could sell at the flea market. We were not business people, and we were true hippies in every sense of the term. We did not speak Spanish, so we had two people drive with us to help us on our trips. For obvious reasons, our business never took off.

One of the men who accompanied us was named Tubby. He was the gentlest soul you would ever want to meet. But he was incarcerated in San Quentin for a long time for a murder I truly believe he did not commit. Whatever happened in his past I cannot prove. But I can say what a beautiful light filled man he was. He got his name Tubby as he was over 300 pounds.

We were swimming in the ocean in Mazatlán and there was a strong undertow. The last words I remember hearing were from Tubby who yelled to me, “Sandy, whatever happens don’t panic.”. I was starting to panic as the waves were so turbulent and the current was pulling me under. I tumbled and tumbled and could not breathe. But I remembered Tubby’s words and kept repeating to myself, “Whatever happens Sandy don’t panic.”. At that point I lost consciousness and swam through a beautiful, brilliant tunnel leading me into a non-ordinary garden that I will never have the words to describe. There was a stone bench I sat on. And I heard music that can never be duplicated in this dimension. I was so flooded by unconditional love and peace – words have no meaning to describe the state of consciousness I experienced. But I looked directly into the eyes of God.

Once I did, God, the goddess, the ocean, my own inner spirit, or some divine force threw me out of the water, and I washed up on the sand.

The teaching for me is when we experience a new dimension of consciousness spirit does lead us out of a perilous journey and washes us ashore where we can feel the beauty and warmth of the earth.

One of the teachings Tubby shared with me was about life in San Quentin. Again, this was in I think, 1973 so the world has changed. He told me that how the prison guards controlled prisoners was through creating events that divided the prisoners. The guards knew that if the prisoners stood strong together, they could not control them. So, they created false fights that divided all the racial communities in prison so that the guards did not have to worry about being in control as the prisoners fought with each other.

I wonder if you have read posts on Facebook from the shamanic community. Many are standing strong together, but the division in the spiritual community is also growing. I wonder if there is a force that is dividing us as we fall into their trance of division. It is so important to look at our projections right now. There is a deep lesson in what Tubby shared. Even if we don’t agree with each other we can stand strong together and make a difference.

One of my students/peers shared this true story with me many years ago, and it is in some of my older books.

In Santa Fe we have a new age bookstore that community members flock to. It has survived and thrived during the online shopping phase. One day my student was in the bookstore buying something. At the checkout desk was a Tibetan nun who was paying for a book she bought. She was emulating pure light and joy through her eyes and her presence. But some people knew she had immigrated from Tibet where she had once been imprisoned by the Chinese. She was horribly tortured. Someone in the bookstore said you are such a presence of joy and light how did you heal from such torture and pain. She responded by saying she repeated this mantra 24/7:

“I am grateful for everything. I have no complaints whatsoever.”

How does one respond to that?!!! What a teaching!

When we greeted the millennium in 2000, my husband I sat on our lawn at midnight. I played my Tibetan Bowl as we greeted the New Year. While I was playing my bowl, a red fox came and sat no more than two feet from us. It was mesmerized by the sound of the bowl. The teaching is every being in nature loves music! Let’s sing, chant, make music, and dance more!

I absolutely adored my father Aaron Ingerman. He died at 97. His psychic gifts were more advanced than mine, he had the most amazing green thumb, and animals just loved him. He grew up on the lower East Side of New York during the dark days of the depression. He was a little man, but strong. He was my height. I am only 5’3”. You can only imagine how he was bullied. The stories I was told of his father is that he was the barber for some of the mafia. My grandfather died before I was born, and I never got to meet him. But what he passed on to my father who passed down to me is to NEVER stand down. I was taught the power of using my fists, but as I evolved, I learned that I could do more with radiating light. First, I had to honor and work through my projections before I could tap into the light within that radiates to every living being on this great Earth.

Lastly, I wanted share some advice from my mother Lee Ingerman who died at 98. Her brain was better than mine when she died and blinding light shined from her eyes. She did live a very hard life, and every day I wished she had an easier life as I loved her so much.

She had certain phrases she repeated again and again. So, wisdom from Lee Ingerman as we face the joys and challenges as we greet the New Year:

Dance while you can. Do everything while you can because one day it will be too late.

Life is a gift and precious!! Your body is precious don’t abuse it.

Do God’s work.

Eat chocolate.

It will all press itself out (this was an old immigrant expression used by many who immigrated to New York from Russia to escape persecution). This was the wisdom my grandfather imparted to me and my mom.

And finally, my mom’s and my New Year’s blessing to you: “May everything you want in life come easily for you.” Well, my mom died before we moved into such a turbulent state. I am glad she did not get to see it. It would have added to her heartbreak.

The part that I did not share in my Facebook post is that I had asked my mother for a message for my students before she died. And the blessing above is what she gave me to share with all of you.

I know her final words don’t have a lot of meaning these days. But our ancestors do care about us and want the best for us. Let’s honor them and let them guide us during these dark times.

We honor earth, water, air, and fire for our life, and we continue to pray and bless all in the web of life.

As we greet the New Year as a strong spiritual global community, we say we dream a good life for every living being on this great Earth!! We focus on how we bless and how we curse. We travel deep within to our inner divine spirit who says, BE LOVE!

According to the Farmer’s Almanac the fact that we experienced the full moon on January 31 there will not be another full moon until March 1. Wow!

Sylvia does send out the Transmutation News early so those who are ready to do your preparation work let’s dive in January 31 and create the most beautiful, stunning, radiant web of light. Join together with our circle of people from all over the world who like you want to see the best for all of life. Transfigure and shine your light and radiate love within and without the Earth touching every member of our circle and all in the web of life.

If you are not ready to join in on January 31 then just pick a date. The transfiguration practice we do each full moon is outside of time and actually should be done as a daily practice. So, join in and add exponential energy to our web of light when you can.

For those of you who are new to reading the Transmutation News we welcome you into our circle, and I invite you to read Creating A Human Web of Light on the homepage for instructions of our full moon ceremony.

Issues/Comments Shared

I will continue to speak to all the issues people sent me. Here are two very different issues and comments, but I think they are both important to share.

From Heidi:

“One question that continues to bug me since long: In so many articles, workshops, gatherings, teachings we are called to step forward and follow our path of service, to become active warriors, to help to change the attitude and Awareness of our social surroundings, to help Planet Earth to heal from the poisonous impact induced by human race. This is all so very true, but what can an old lady in her seventies like me, not involved in any profession or social circle anymore, living a very simple retired life with scarce financial background do to add, to act, to offer real help, to make any difference in this sick world? I meditate regularly, I participated in some of your trainings but still I feel so helpless, so very little, so lost in finding a way to contribute. Can you comment on that? I am sure there are so many of us “silent helpless watchers” in this growing community of active people!”

If you reread the December, January, and February Transmutation News there are a variety of practices I shared that change your state of consciousness and also help to raise consciousness in the world.

We all have our destiny. Some people are called to engage in social activism. And some are called to do their spiritual practices alone or in their communities. The work happens on invisible levels, so we have to trust the shamans who have been teaching for 100,000 years that these practices transform every living being in the web of life. We get caught up in wanting to see immediate results manifesting physically. But the true magic of change is what happens in the invisible realms before manifesting into the physical. Keep up your work.

It was such a delight and inspiration to read the email that I received from Carole who is one of our French translators of the Transmutation News. The key phrase I want to read in what Carole wrote is the person in the audience who shared she had no right to keep her work to herself. I believe this message needs to be heard by all of us!

“It is an honor to be of service and assist you in sharing your messages. With the current challenging times, these are needed more than ever to instill hope.

Having been through my own deconstruction and reconstruction this past couple of years, I stand in a new place full of uncertainty but can clearly see it was time for me to step up and share my gifts, instead of hiding behind some lack of confidence in how I can contribute. I have personally realized that I have been afraid to share too much light… and for too long, it felt like there was no place for who I am, so I stayed in the background, caring and providing for my family while not speaking up too much as to not upset the status quo. Always feeling like an outsider, I kept my spiritual gifts to myself, communicated with nature and drew much strength for her. All year, I have been challenging myself to break through those erected walls that were preventing me from truly sharing who I am. Piece by piece. A few weeks ago, I had the perfect challenge… I stood up and shared a poem I wrote about doubt, shame and fear to a group of 50 people. I felt completely naked but stood there and by some grace, spoke with a clear and intentional voice. No shakiness or blushing. I was standing in my truth. Later, I received comments from people who felt touched by what I wrote and thanked me. One woman looked at me deep in the eye and said, “you have NO right to keep that to yourself”. Her words are still resonating within me. It took a while, but I finally understood that I was not doing any service if I was using my gift of inspiration and expression and keeping everything to myself out of fear to be criticized or not be well received. My allies made it clear too when I received their message that the soul’s qualities, I brought here in this incarnation were Love and Expression. I intend to honor these in a more open and meaningful way in 2018. Aho.”

Thank you, Heidi and Carole, for letting me share the emails you sent me. I think they speak to important issues we are all dealing with.