Shamanism as a Way of Life – Page 3

Transmutation News – December 2017

As we look at some of the issues we are facing in the world, one enormous issue is the lack of nurturance so many children receive today. And of course, the issue stems from the fact that parents were not nurtured by their parents, and then the unhealthy behavior keeps getting passed down.

The solution lies in learning how to nurture yourself. So many of us look to outside sources and people for nurturance. Many missed the true experience of being unconditionally loved and nurtured as a brilliant little being of light who deserves to receive the love and give the love that is our destiny. Or some people shut down due to not knowing how to relate to others as they do not know how to relate to themselves.

I feel it is so important to explore ways to nurture yourself as you adapt to the changes impacting us all.

During the time of celebrating the solstice some religious and spiritual traditions talk about the birth of the holy or magical child.

Is it possible, using the principles of shamanism, to perceive yourself as the magical child? Take some time to reflect on this during the solstice.

Explore ways to nurture yourself. If you want to help yourself, all of life, and the Earth this one practice will change the world. For using the principle of unity consciousness if you learn to love yourself, everyone is lifted up by the energy you bring into the web of life. And without consciously knowing it you have helped to change the world in a good way by bringing into the collective the much-needed energy of self-love.

The full moon is December 2. Reflect on the unique energetic signature you are adding to the web of life. Travel within and experience your inner radiance, starlight, sunlight flowing within and then throughout the Earth. Our light extends deep into the Earth as well as to all locations on the planet. And our love and light vibrate throughout the web of life bringing healing as we weave a new tapestry of reality into being.

We commit to our circle and all of life that we will continue to weave a web of light no matter what the outcome is. For the practice of shamanism is not about “winning”. It is learning how to plant seeds through your spiritual work and nurturing the seedlings until they grow into beautiful radiant plants that create change in the right time which might not be the timing our ego desires.

For instructions for our full moon ceremony please read “Creating A Human Web of Light” on the homepage.

We join together on December 21 to celebrate the solstice. Depending on where you live you are flowing into winter or summer. And nature is such a great teacher about how to flow with change. For everything in nature is in constant movement. Storms, seasons, lunar cycles, and growth impact our life on a daily basis. And once we connect with nature’s flow we connect with our own internal flow and walk moving gracefully with the flow of life.

This solstice, spend time in nature and see if you can awaken your own inner flow. Spending time in nature is so healing to you and all of life as you feed the web of life with your dreams, love, and light.

Perform your preparation work. If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News, I wrote my suggestions for preparing for ceremonial work. The instructions are posted on the section “The Transmutation News”.

You can drum, rattle, chant, and dance. But most of all be present to the gift that nature brings to us every minute of your waking life.

Feel the sun shining on your face. If the sun is not out and shining brightly imagine the warmth of the sun bringing a glow to your face. Share your gratitude with the living being we call Sun. Reach down and feel the texture of the earth you are standing on. Stand for a while on the earth rocking back and forth or moving as you find your inner flow connecting with earth where you live. Give thanks for all Earth provides for you physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Bless the wind as it caresses you. Thank Air for bringing you life and being an ongoing companion with each breath in and out. If you can visit a body of water, please do so. If not work with water in your home. Radiate your inner light to any water you can be with. You can radiate light focusing on a bowl of water and then feed it to a local body of water or to the earth. Planet Earth is a water planet, and you are a being of water to. Water flows within and without effortlessly always in the flow of movement of returning to Source – the great sea. You would not be alive without water. Please give Water your heartfelt thanks.

As you do this, notice how your body connects to the change in season. The change impacts our inner and outer world.

The only stories I have left that you shared are ones that speak to how touched you are from practicing the work shared in the Transmutation News. Thank you everyone for your kind words. I had a thought that for 2018 I would invite you to let me know what issues you would like me to address. I will only address issues pertinent to the teachings I am sharing in the Transmutation News. And I will not have space to share every issue so I will be picking and choosing what I feel I can address in the most powerful way that helps and speaks to our global community. You can use the email stories@sandraingerman.com, and I will compile a list of issues that I can address over the year.

At the end of each year, I feel so moved to honor Sylvia Edwards and the translators who are generous with their time to bring the Transmutation News to non – English speaking readers. All of these translators have their own lives and work to navigate. So to take the time to translate the monthly column to expand our international circle is such a remarkable act.

Please join me in thanking Sylvia Edwards who does so much work to help me get the Transmutation News ready each month, send it to the translators, and then to all of you. Thank you, Sylvia, for all the love you infuse into each month’s column and helping to share the column with our community. We wish for you great joy and all the best for the coming year.

And let’s join together in sending abundant blessings to our translators:

Lena Anderheim – Swedish
Nello Ceccon – Italian
Jorjette Cristescu – Romanian
Ines Fermoso – Spanish
Sofia Frazoa – Portuguese
Els de Graaff-van Meeteren and Sandra Koning – Dutch
Astrid Johnen and Barbara Gramlich– German
Miriam Kisssova – Slovakian
Carole Laplante and Bea Salgado – French
Petr Němčanský – Czech
Irina Osechinsky and Anton Uvarov – Russian
Tea Thum – Finnish
Simin Uysal – Turkish

And finally let us join together to send blessings to each other as we welcome in the solstice!

Transmutation News – November 2017

In the last few issues of the Transmutation News, I have been sharing how people are writing me about being in a state of despair and having a hard time keeping up with their spiritual work. Well now these communications being shared with me are changing in ways I did hope for and expected.

With all that is going on in our inner our outer worlds we are truly going through a death. And as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross so brilliantly outlined there are different phases as a person prepares for death and also when people experience grief. Of course, she was referring to people given a terminal diagnosis. But these phases certainly pertain to the death of our current egoic state of consciousness. The phases she described are not in a particular order, and she also admitted some people never experience these stages. But I find them remarkable as I have worked with so many people facing death and experiencing deep states of grief.

First there is denial. And then there is the anger that life is changing in ways that seem bleak as we look out of our human eyes. When great shamans gaze out of their eyes, they look beyond this material world we are living in into other dimensions of reality where hope and healing are always present. After people move into states of anger, they might move into bargaining with a divine force for a miraculous healing

At some point anger about death and change can transform into acceptance. Some people perceive that acceptance is giving up. And that is not true. For even with acceptance, we have tools to stand strong together and continue our work and not give up on our dreams. At the same time when we accept that a death is occurring, we actually learn how to adapt to the necessary changes occurring so we can move back into a state of balance.

And what people are starting to communicate to me is that with the “ego death” being experienced and the sculpting away of lives people are experiencing deeper journeys, ceremonial work, and healing work. The current crises we are in are actually opening up the veils between the worlds where greater insights and guidance is waiting for us. And the path between the ordinary and the non-ordinary realms is getting shorter as we learn to shift our perception and gaze into dimensions beyond this one as shamans have done for millennia. And in that gazing into these other dimensions of reality we truly can bring through higher energies to help us make the much-needed shifts into rebirth and illumination. These phases follow any death and dismemberment experience.

In the United States November is the month where Thanksgiving is celebrated. Each year I write the same message. In shamanic cultures, every day was a day of Thanksgiving. The sun was greeted and welcomed each day. Each community member greeted the sun with gratitude for the life and energy it provided all of life to thrive. Gratitude was given for life on a daily basis and for the plants and trees that helped to heal and feed the community and the abundance of animals that sacrificed themselves so that others could eat and survive. Through the power of such gratitude and acts of honor and respect flow and balance was created between the people and the elements earth, air, water, and the sun.

And people focused on their greatest dreams and visions daily instead of feeding what was not working in their outer world. There was gratitude for the wealth and treasures of the divine forces that live within each of us.

Every day was a day of Thanksgiving, and we could create such potent dreams if we would bring this simple and most magical spiritual practice into our daily life. For whatever is happening in life we always have life itself to be grateful for.

The full moon is November 4. The full moon is always a powerful time to join our collective energies together to radiate light and share unconditional love with all of life as we continue to weave a beautiful web of light within and throughout the Earth. Remember to do your preparation work so you can truly step into your divine light and join our global community as we shine and focus on all the places on the planet that can use spiritual healing at this time of dismemberment and rebirth.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News please read “Creating A Human Web of Light” on the homepage so you can learn the instructions for our full moon ceremony.

Inspirational Story of the Month

Thank you, Anne, for sharing the following story and photos! We wish you the best of health!

Just before the surgery to remove my left kidney and ureter, my sister and I were with my husband in our backyard. I was walking slowly on a path flagstone meditation path near the Buddha. It’s mid-December, I had already had 2 exploratory surgeries and knew that I had cancer and that it was serious, life-threatening. As I walked, I communed and prayed to the Helping Spirits, to Buddha, letting go of all expectations of outcomes. My sister took this photo as I walked. The wintery sun was angled from the South, there was nothing in the material world that could have caused this rainbow light shining directly on to the area where the operation would occur and where the cancer was located. Spirit’s answer- all deep healing comes from Spirit. Trust!

Transmutation News – September 2017

I have been encouraging all of you to align yourself with new higher vibrations and frequencies that will shift you into living in a more “pleasant and evolved dimension” than what we are seeing now in the denser collective states of consciousness. At the same time, there are consequences in making these shifts.

Like many of us I have been working on navigating new vibrations and frequencies through my body. I have had a variety of challenges with this. I journeyed and set my intention to ask for some guidance on this issue. I met this amazing helping spirit who told me that when a plant, tree, or any creature mutates there is no going back. The mutation is the new normal.

The compassionate spirit shared that it is important for our body to be in a state of coherence. For right now many of us are like an ant hill that has been disturbed. When ants are acting in their usual fashion they march in complete order and communicate with each other. When something disturbs them, they scatter and move into chaotic formations and stop communicating.

At this point he shared with me that this same phenomenon is happening with the collective. As you know I often refer to the collective as an organism.

The compassionate spirit I met said that this is what has happened to the cells of our collected field of energy. He said they were disturbed and no longer communicating or are in connection. And choosing to move back into a state of coherence is part of our greater healing and moving into a new state of evolution.

I felt that the information about experiencing a “new normal” is what is happening to so many people I know who are struggling with tuning into new energies. And to be a presence of love and light, as I have been encouraging you to do, takes some deep work to be diligent about working on body, mind, and spirit.

Also, I feel the metaphor of the ant hill is an appropriate metaphor for much of the behavior we are observing in the world today. For there is a sense of a lack of natural order and that the energy has become chaotic. I think that this is why people are acting more aggressively.

I believe this phenomenon is happening to many of us as on an egoic level we are still operating out of old patterns. At the same time, as we keep up our spiritual practices, we are experiencing a shift in our vibration and frequency. This creates a natural state of chaos until we discover how to become more aligned on all levels – body, mind, and spirit.

The instructions the helping spirit gave me was to spend time in the void where patterns could be reset. This message was interesting as a brilliant shamanic practitioner and teacher I know had brought through that she could reset her patterns by spending time in the void.

He also recommended working with sound to create a sense of coherence in the collective and to attune to the new energies.

Once we move back into a state of coherence, our presence naturally changes for the better.

Journeying and finding ways to return to a state of coherence on personal and global levels is what is needed at this time.

I still believe that spending more time in nature is a way to do this. And moving our body more through dancing is helpful. Also singing and playing instruments that help us to align our vibration which will move us back into a state of coherence. And of course, deepening your practice of transfiguration has benefits for all of life but also for your own personal alignment and attunement to the new energies entering into the Earth.

We celebrate the equinox on September 22. As nature resets, this is a potent time for us to reset our old patterns. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere this is a perfect time to journey or meditate on a ceremony you can perform to release old egoic patterns and burdens from your past that keep you from fully being able to step into a life filled with harmony and coherence. I suggest that you do some work in your inner garden removing old plants holding beliefs and wounds that no longer serve you to carry around any longer.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere as you welcome in spring travel into your inner garden and regenerate your soil. This is also a great time for you to remove those old plants of sabotaging beliefs, anger, and fear that no serve your health and well-being and that of the planet. Take some time to design your inner garden and plant those seeds that will bring love, light, and a feeling of renewal into your life.

The full moon is September 6. Let us make a clear choice and commitment to deepen our work and live from our inner light. This is a great time to make such a commitment to yourself, our community, all of life, and the Earth. Let your light flow and weave together with the light of our community. Radiate this light within and throughout the Earth bringing light and love for 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 instructions for our full moon ceremony.

In the April Transmutation News, I wrote about the exquisite being Octopus. I shared about the amazing abilities that octopuses have on a physical and intellectual level. My point in sharing was to encourage you to explore the magnificence of creatures we never think about when we tune into the amazing energetic signature that all life brings to the web of life. And I encouraged you to learn about the gifts of nature beings that you are not familiar with. For we live on a planet with a wealth of fascinating nature beings.

Well, recently someone posted a short video on Facebook. And it was so heart opening to watch. A man had found an octopus that had been beached. He placed it in a cup and let it go back into the ocean. The octopus swam out of the ocean, got itself to the man who rescued it, and placed one of its tentacles on his shoe and then shortly after swam back into the ocean. To watch this octopus give gratitude to this man for saving its life is an image I will never forget.

I know that we are experiencing challenges on the planet. And I know these changes impact all of us on different levels. But I have to say nature beings are so precious – from the microscopic to the large animals that we share this planet with. They are exquisite beings trying to survive like all forms of life. And they deserve the best we have to offer in being of service to nature during this time of extreme change. Please keep up your spiritual work. It really makes a difference!

In a recent session I taught in my Shift Network teleconferencing course we performed a remote long-distance transfiguration experiment. There are people from around the globe in the class which also makes doing transfiguration work so exciting to perform together.

Sylvia Edwards was in a hotel room in Louisville, Colorado with a variety of substances to test before and after as well as volunteer participants who would soak in and absorb the light shared from all our global community who gathered to do the work. We got some great results. You can see them by visiting the homepage of this site and clicking on “GDV Results” and then click on “2017 Remote Transfiguration Experiment Report”. You will love the image of the marble. And we had some great narrative stories from the volunteers present about how they felt before and after the work.

Although we know from our experience and practice how well transfiguration works it is always awe inspiring to witness the actual results of the work.

Only a few of you sent in stories to share which is fine. I was just opening an invitation to share with our community. I will share the few stories I received over time.

Here is a lovely story that Diane shared:

“Hello Sandra,

I wanted to share a story of a recent experience I had with my mom. My dad and brother’s ashes were spread off the shores of a beautiful place in Maine. Mom was visiting me and we went to the place near where the ashes of both dad and my brother were laid to rest. The day was sparkling and clear overhead. So too was the ocean and waves crashing on the rocky shore.

We sat on a bench and talked about our loved ones and how magnificent a place to come and visit them. We were expressing and feeling a lot of love! I had taken a couple of pictures with my phone looking out at it all.

When we got home, we looked at my pictures and saw that there was a very visible shaft of light in front of us. There was another with a shaft of light to the left of us. I had taken these 2 pictures in succession from the same spot, standing next to my mom. The sun was not overhead. These shafts of light were not visible to us when we were there. As a photographer, I’ve taken thousands of pictures outdoors and never seen shafts of light like this. We knew that our loved ones were literally shining down on us.

What occurred to me as I was reading your transmutation news, was the love that was being exchanged that day… made me think that when we send out love with our hearts, our thoughts, and our actions, love returns in kind.”

The photos Diane sent were beautiful, and I want to thank her for sharing her inspirational story with us.

I join our circle in wishing you all a beautiful equinox!

Transmutation News – January 2017

Let us join our hearts together to wish everyone in our circle all the best for the New Year!

I know so many of you had a challenging year in 2016 and could not wait for it to be over. Well, I feel like that myself. But the truth of the matter is the changing of the year does not mark the end of a cycle as time keeps moving on.

But from a shamanic point of view change happens through intention. So instead of waiting to see change happen magically, without taking any action, we can be more proactive with the work we do.

This is a time to reflect on the events in our lives and in the world that occurred in 2016. It is crucial to set your intention for what you would like to see manifest in your own life and in the world. And as we have been doing for years it is important for us to keep doing our dreaming work and keep strengthening our intention as well as standing strong in our collective so that we have more spiritual power to bring through from the invisible worlds to manifest our intentions and dreams in the outer world.

One of the complaints I hear from so many shamanic practitioners from around the world (including myself) is that we are overloaded by clients seeking help because they feel they have been cursed. When I examine this, I think that in most cases (not all) people are feeling the negativity in the collective field of energy and feel that anger and hate is being directed at them. And on one level this anger, and negativity is being directed to everyone because we are all connected. What gets sent to one person gets sent to all. I have written about this many times.

As we deepen our spiritual work, we first learn how to set boundaries to distinguish what is the energy I am feeling from others or the collective and what is my own. And as we continue our spiritual work we can separate from the denser collective field and shift into the field that is holding a higher vibration filled with light and love.

I think with so much hate and anger being sent into the collective we really need to focus on clearing this energy up and transmuting and transforming it.

And of course, this begins with us as what we feed grows. It is so important to perform our spiritual practices that help us return to our own center, express our feelings truthfully as we also make sure we are transforming the energy behind our emotions, so we are being a light in the world.

This is the work I suggest we do to bring in the New Year.

Pick a day where you can perform some personal spiritual work. You might even decide to do this work with friends, family, or members in your community.

Travel within and experience a disappointment, a hurt, a betrayal, a fear, something you are angry about, a sabotaging belief, etc. that you are willing to sacrifice and let go of so that you are participating in the healing of the collective. You can certainly journey to your helping spirits to ask for some advice about what might be good to let go of at this time.

Next journey or meditate on a physical ceremony you can perform at home or in nature to release this challenging emotion or belief into an element – air, earth, water, or fire.

There is more power if you physically perform this ceremony rather than performing it in a journey or meditation. In performing a ceremony in ordinary reality, you have to take physical action towards your own healing and that of the collective. It takes time and energy to do this which ends by being rewarded with powerful results.

As you release what you are letting go of remember to transmute the energy to light and love so you are not just releasing more negative energy into the elements. And if you burn something, or leave something on the earth, or release something into a body of water, or into air please remember to use only natural materials so that you are not polluting the environment. Use your imagination to guide you to a ceremony to perform and an object you can make that is empowered with what you are releasing.

I always have to state this, or I get emails and letters from some readers. Having emotions is good. We came here as humans to experience a range of emotions from joy to hate and anger. I am not suggesting it is unhealthy to express your emotions, just transmute the energy behind your emotions so that what fills the collective is light and love that embraces all of life.

After you have performed your ceremony you want to journey or meditate to travel to the River of Life. Use your intention to find this place. Once you have arrived at the River of Life step into this healing, vital, and clean water. You might even come to a waterfall. Ask the River of Life to cleanse you so you feel you can begin again as we all welcome in the New Year. Once you feel complete step out of the river feeling refreshed, revitalized, and ready to step into the New Year leaving behind your old history that anchors you to the past.

We will be performing these journeys, meditations, and ceremonies in our own time, but time does not matter in doing shamanic work as we work outside of time. So, the power of our global community doing this work during this month, when the time feels right, will create a tangible difference in the collective energies we are all connected to.

The full moon is on January 12. May you take the time to cleanse yourself spiritually, mentally, and physically before performing our full moon ceremony to create a human web of light. And from a place of newness and hope let us travel within to our exquisite spiritual light that shines like the stars above us or the sun that reminds us of the passion for life. Absorb that light throughout your body while your own frequency raises as you do this. And then let this light radiate out and connect with the light of our global community.

Imagine yourself as a giant star whose arms of flowing light reach all the way out to the ends of the Earth. The light coming out of your feet flows to the core of the Earth, and from your crown the light flows into the heavens. Let this light flow through you and radiate that light and love within and throughout the Earth.

For those of you who are new readers of the Transmutation News please read “Creating A Human Web of Light” on the homepage of this site for instructions to our full moon ceremony.

Carole Laplante is our new French translator. Let us join together to give her thanks for her generosity of spirit!

I wish everyone a good 2017 with the best that life has to offer!

Transmutation News – December 2016

Most of the dedicated email I sent out after the day after the election in the United States was actually what I had written for the December Transmutation News. So I begin again.

The big topic of conversation in America and many parts of the world has to do with how to create unity out of the division so many are feeling globally. This conversation comes up in every election that occurs in most countries. For there is always going to be part of the population happy with the results and part who are dissatisfied. So the conversation turns to, “Now we must heal the division and create unity.”

But the ego does not know about true unity. For the nature of having an ego is that it feels separate. The ego tends to be divisive by nature. If we want to experience true unity we must go beyond the ego and recognize our authentic self which is spirit. It is our spirit that experiences a state of oneness and unity.

We have been going through a long initiation which will continue. The road is filled with twists and turns. Sometimes we think we have arrived at the bottom only to find that we can sink deeper. But when we surrender to our inner spirit it always carries us through when we surrender to it. Our inner spirit is like a giant sunbeam, star, or moonbeam that lights our way.

The more we can drop into the light of our spirit the more we can step out of a place of division and the more our path is lit that shows us how to walk out of the depths and ride a wave of grace.

This is why it is so important to teach children, our loved ones, and others in our communities that who we are beyond our skin is spirit and divine light. This is our authentic self.

As I keep repeating the new dream manifests when the dismemberment is complete. And none of us are privy to the knowledge on the timing. But again it is our inner spirit that carries us through the dismemberment.

I journeyed on any words I could share that might be new and helpful to those of you reading the Transmutation News. I received an interesting message from my helping spirits.

They shared that in the end of our lives we will see that who we are on a personality and ego level was just a role in a play.

What will matter at the end of our lives is how does the Earth perceive our love and actions toward her. How does the Earth perceive you? How have you touched her and connected with her?

When I was really little I would play outside, and I simply could not believe how beautiful the Earth was. I was living in Brooklyn which is a urban environment. But still I was so stunned by the exquisite beauty of the Earth. I remember this so well – my excitement when I would go out to play.

When I was in my late thirties I was having a difficult time. I decided to consult with a psychic who I knew. The first thing he said to me was do you remember how excited you were when you were little about the beauty of the Earth. You would jump up and down in excitement. He said do you remember – because the Earth remembers and has always loved you for recognizing her beauty. I was amazed that someone else could see this.

We talk about wanting to protect and defend the Earth. There are many paths we can take. We can become activists. We can also integrate our spiritual work into the activism work we do. And some people will focus more on the spiritual work. It all joins together to make a difference.

But ask yourself the question: Have you opened your invisible eyes, ears, and inner sense of feeling to communicate with the Earth? The more you do this the stronger your psychic senses become whether you become more clairvoyant, clairaudient, clairsentient, or a combination of these. As I shared in the past when you strengthen your psychic senses the stronger the work you do on all levels becomes. For you are guided in ways that are beyond the rational. When the veils part between the visible and invisible miracles can and do happen.

As you do this you connect more deeply with the Earth and the web of life. At the end of your journey here the Earth will remember you as one who loved, honored, respected, and protected her. The Earth is alive and has a spirit. She knows when she is being loved.

The full moon is December 13. To start our full moon ceremony focus on something you love about life, nature, the Earth. Let that love expand your heart and help you to set a strong intention. And then let us join our expanded hearts together and radiate the brilliant love of our divinity to flow deep into the earth creating a radiant root system of light and then around the Earth to bring light into the shadow.

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

Last December we did some ceremonial work together to welcome in the solstice. This December I would like us to do some work where you live and then also in the non-ordinary realms.

The solstice is on December 21. We welcome in winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere. You can join into this non-ordinary ceremony at any time of the day as we are working outside of time and the power of our collective energies build as people keep joining in throughout the day.

Last December we began to create a space in the invisible realms where we can join together to do some ceremonial work together.

Perform your preparation work and close your eyes and begin to travel into the invisible realms. Start to create a path from the room you are journeying or meditating in. You might find yourself walking down a path that is surrounded by tall, beautiful, strong, and healthy trees. The earth you walk on is fine and you are stepping on rich dark soil. You can feel your footsteps making an impression on the earth. As you walk you listen to the beauty of the sounds in nature and take in the exquisite fragrances shared by the local trees, plants, and air which gives us life. Is there grass growing? What other nature beings are in this place? You can even experience how the air tastes. Notice if there is a body of water in this place, and if you can hear running water. Feel the power of the sun as it is setting and the stars and moon above start to shine their beautiful light.

As you walk feel your heartbeat and just notice what you are feeling. For many years you have been working in a virtual reality with people from all over the world. We have taken the time to open our hearts in love and give gratitude to each other. At the same time it is important to feel like you are connected to a family of like-minded souls who do everything possible to be in service to others and to the Earth. What does it feel like in your heart to be connected to such a community of like-minded souls? And when we engage in ceremonial work how do you want to express your love, gratitude, and respect for each of us as well as the helping spirits who continue to partner with us in our work.

As you continue to walk you arrive at a large clearing. Use your imagination to see, feel, hear, smell, and taste all that is around you in this clearing. Step fully into this clearing rather than watching your journey/meditation/daydream as if it was a movie. Be here now. Give thanks to all the helping spirits you continue to work with who are now also part of our circle.

As you enter the clearing you will be met by a guardian spirit who will cleanse you on a spiritual level. This compassionate spirit might cleanse you with incense, or a feather, or sing over you, or touch your hair, or whisper a message into your ear. Be open and know these are helping spirits who wish to help you feel unburdened by your ordinary thoughts and concerns.

Once you have been cleansed step into the clearing. Notice there is an altar here where people have been leaving gifts, offerings, and even your prayers for yourself, others, all of life and the Earth. Please add to bringing gifts to our altar over time when you feel called to visit such a place of power where you can pray and find your center.

In this stunning place in nature there is a beautiful fire that is burning in the middle tended by helping guardian spirits. Take your place around the circle. You can drum, rattle, sing, and/or dance as you do this. Feel the positive energy and love that is being shared. And begin to look around the circle to gaze into the eyes of our community.

Let us welcome each other and smile and greet each other by extending the love emanating from our hearts. Feel your feet on the earth supporting you. Again open all your senses.

Smell the smoke of the fire and listen to the sound of the fire crackling. Look into the beauty of the fire who always reads our hearts and not our minds. With your heart experience any messages fire has for you.

Put your drum or rattle down and let us hold hands together. Let us feel the strength and tangible energy and strength of our circle. Once you feel the love, support, and power of the circle drop hands. Travel within and experience your inner starlight, sunlight, inner moon light and let that light flow through your body. Let us celebrate the return of the light. With your hands facing the center towards the fire, start to tone the song of the universe. Let our toning support our light traveling to each other, to our loved ones, to our communities, and all around the world touching all in the web of life.

We tone together until as a group we start to end and fade out. Start to slowly open your eyes. Feel the sensation of peace as you have expanded out of ego and into your divine self. Experience yourself. And then once again look around our circle.

Let us wish everyone a joyous solstice and begin to take our leave. We have our starting place for our ceremonies to come. Say goodbye to our group, the fire, all the elements and helping spirits. Let the helping spirits know our work is done for now. And give thanks to all the helping spirits that guide you in your life.

Walking down the same path that you took to arrive at this place return to the room you are in now.

Open your eyes and feel yourself deeply rooted to the Earth, and take a few deep grounding breaths. You are back fully filled with radiance and the blessings of our circle.

After you have completed your ceremony in non-ordinary I would like to ask you to go out into nature and find a stick, a rock, or some other nature object such as a shell that you use. Pick up a stick or rock that calls to you. Hold the object from nature and really feel its texture and its life force. Talk to it about your wishes and dreams for the Earth and for your communities. Blow in your wish and your blessings. Give thanks to this power object for working in partnership with you to pray for all of life. Leave this object empowered with your prayers and blessings in nature – in your backyard, a park, give it to the ocean, a lake, a river, etc. Really focus on your love for life and your intention to be of service to all of life during this great time of change.

Last month I asked that you create a rattle or use one you already have to rattle for a few seconds each day in behalf of our circle. We want to keep creating a strong tangible energy that has no weak links. Please continue this practice. If you want to read what I shared about this practice last month please take a look at: https://www.sandraingerman.com/tnoctober2016.html

If you have felt called to create a prayer tree in your home or community, this would be a great time to add prayer ties/ribbons to the tree filled with love, prayers, wishes, blessings. I have written about this practice over the last few years on this column but also in some of my books. Most recently I wrote about in Walking in Light and also Speaking with Nature (co-authored with Llyn Roberts).

As we end the year it is time to thank the generosity of spirit of our translators. For they put so much work into helping to bring our important spiritual work into an expanded spiritual community. Let us close our eyes and send blessings to each one and extend deep thanks and gratitude to:

Sylvia Edwards, the webmaster of this site and who manages the email list and posts and sends the Transmutation News to you each month.

Our translators:

Lena Anderheim – Swedish

Nello Ceccon and Flavia Cavallaro – Italian

Ines Fermoso – Spanish

Sofia Frazoa – Portuguese

Els de Graaff-van Meeteren and Sandra Koning – Dutch

Annie Idrissi – French

Miriam Kisssova and Jan Lenc – Slovakian

Irina Osechinsky and recently Anton Uvarov – Russian

Astrid Johnen and Barbara Gramlich– German

Simin Uysal – Turkish

Tea Thum – Finnish

PLEASE NOTE: ANNIE IDRISSI HAS DONE SUCH AN AMAZING SERVICE TRANSLATING OUR TRANSMUTATION INTO FRENCH ALMOST SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE TRANSLATIONS. IT IS NOW TIME FOR HER TO GIVE THIS ROLE OVER TO SOMEONE ELSE. THANK YOU ANNIE FOR YOUR BRILLIANT WORK!!

If you are willing to be a volunteer translator in French please email Sylvia at info@sandraingerman.com. Sylvia will forward your name and contact info to me, and I will contact you.

Please join me in wishing our radiant and devoted global community of readers a joyous solstice!

Transmutation News – November 2016

The November Transmutation News obviously is coming to your inbox before the Presidential election in the United States. So, we do not know what the end result will be. We do know the campaign has been quite disturbing. We have so much at stake right now, and it is amazing to watch how the campaign is playing out.

We have readers from many different countries reading the Transmutation News. And although you might not feel connected to the election here in the U.S., the result will affect the entire world collective.

No matter what happens in the election please remember to:

Stay focused

Stay positive

Stay centered

Let us stay on track with our work. We must not allow ourselves to get distracted.

If I feel a need to, I will send out an inspirational dedicated email after the election is over. And of course, I will post something on my Facebook pages.

And then in November people in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving. I write the same thing every year and will continue to do so. Celebrating life should be something we do each day. It should be embedded into our daily ceremonial life. For life is a ceremony. And one of the fundamental elements of all ceremony is gratitude.

In order to experience the natural state of reciprocity everyday must be a day of thanksgiving. We must wake up every morning and start by giving thanks for our lives. And then we must reach deeply into our hearts and from a place of appreciation for all in the web of life state what we are grateful for. I always wake up and give thanks for the spirit of the land where I live, the helping ancestors of the land and my own ancestors for giving me life. I continue by giving thanks to Earth, Air, Water, and Fire as the sun for giving that we need to thrive. I honor the nature beings that live in all the elements. And I honor the hidden folk that caretake the Earth along with us. Imagine the possibilities if everyone in the world did this on a daily basis. Imagine how life on this Earth would change.

As such a large collective focuses on giving thanks during this month we can fuel the power of love and light as we join in such an energy.

We can bring increased power into our full moon ceremony of Creating a Human Web of Light. The full moon is on November 14. Let’s start building an energy of love and light that creates a vibrant fabric of reality alive with a new dream for the Earth and all of life. Let’s radiate our light, love, and gratitude together as we weave a web of light within and throughout the Earth.

For those of you new to reading the Transmutation News please read Creating A Human Web of Light on the homepage. This article contains the instructions for our full moon ceremony.

This month I would like to suggest that we all make a rattle that we can use to connect our field of energy and to call in the strength of our global community. We all know the exponential power that comes from having a strong community focus on healing for others, all of life, and the planet.

Many spiritual traditions use this power of community to support healing. For example, there are ChiGong teachers that teach you how to tap into the entire chi field created by thousands of practitioners who are working to heal themselves individually but also to be able to focus healing energies for the planet.

In our work we have also been focusing our spiritual energies to create a strong field of light and love to be in service to all of life and the Earth.

There are so many examples of different spiritual traditions who work by building a strong collective.

I invite you to make a rattle that you can designate as a spiritual tool to use to feed our global community with light and love.

You can make a very simple rattle by taking an empty bottle and filling it part way with some seeds, or crystals, or small stones, or corn. You can also make a more elaborate rattle. If you have more than rattle you can designate one for supporting the work of our community.

Keep this rattle on your altar at home. And everyday pick it up and shake your rattle while thinking about our global circle and radiating love and light to those in our circle, practitioners who work in different ways in praying for the web of life and the Earth, and of course to the Earth itself.

As you do this on a daily basis you will feel the tangible field created by all of us working together. And just this simple act of rattling while focusing on those being in service to the Earth will strengthen the field of collective energy that has unlimited power to create change and transformation.

Transmutation News – June 2016

Our fate is dependent on how much inner work we do. And no one can do this work for us.

In my journeys for this month, I was shown that the upcoming change in seasons will be quite powerful. On June 20 those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere will move into summer and those in the Southern Hemisphere will move into winter. The summer is a time to birth all that has been germinating within. And the winter is a time to slow down and allow our inner landscape to regenerate. This is a rest period before we begin germinating new life again.

It is always important to remember that as we are nature our participation in the changes in the cycles of life is key. For many of us live such fast-paced lives we don’t take the time to deepen our connection with nature and opportunities to fully engage in these powerful changes and the cycles pass us by. We are simply taken along passively in a process where we don’t understand all that is occurring. But when we fully engage and participate in the changes then we have the opportunity to make choices to flow with the changes in a graceful way.

You are all aware of a variety of myths that come from different cultures about the Gods and goddesses sitting in the Upper World looking down on the Earth. And from their vantage point they would watch humans try to navigate life. There would be a variety of conversations that they would engage in while they looked down upon us. Some of the conversations would be filled with compassion for the trials/ tribulations and the suffering that comes with living life. And some would be quite insulting as the Gods and goddesses would criticize humans for the choices we make and how ignorant we can be to the mysteries and also the magic of life.

On June 20, which is the solstice I invite you to join our circle and perform a meditation or shamanic journey where you travel to the Upper World and let us gather as a circle who has the same vantage point and view as the Gods and goddesses of past and present traditions.

Once you get to the Upper World there will be a great amphitheater where you can take a seat. Or you might choose to stand. In the middle of the amphitheater there will be a large pool of water that sits in a beautiful sculpture. And in the ways of the ancients, we can see into the water. As we look into this great pool, we can see our lives from a different perspective.

I would suggest that you do not try to observe all life on the Earth. It might be too overwhelming to take in all that is happening during this time. But look from above into your own life. As you do this, observe your level of participation in life and the changes of cycles that the Earth is going through. Are you ignorant to the changes and just going along passively as the river of life carries you through life? Or are you slowing down your activity level and choosing to not get caught up in the stress that humans are now living due to all the demands on us. Are you making a choice to ride a different wave and slow down and live life more consciously? Are you making choices that lead you to living at a different vibration and frequency than mass consciousness? And are you fully participating in life?

These are important questions for you to answer. For life is speeding up, the situations in the world are getting more intense, and we can all easily be swept away by the river of life instead of riding the waves and currents with grace and consciousness.

After you have completed your journey or meditation let’s meet in the clearing at the altar we created in December of 2015. We created an altar where we have been leaving gifts, offerings, and prayers for yourself, others, and all of life on the Earth. Let’s meet here after being cleansed by the guardian spirits who care for our sacred ground in this place. Gather around the altar. Bring a gift of a word, thought, or a dream that you can share with our group. Feel the soft earth under your feet, smell the sweet fragrances of the trees surrounding us, listen to the song of nature as everything that is alive sings. You might wish to sing a song of blessing and celebration as we greet the solstice – a new time, a new cycle, a change in our own inner landscape. Feel the positive energy that is being shared and gaze upon the bright faces of our circle. Speak your word, thought, or dream for each other, all of life, and the Earth. Let us bless our circle and the Earth during this powerful time of change. Let us greet the power of this change with excitement for all that it brings for us in our lives. As we do this we become in closer relationship with ourselves which is Nature and with Nature itself.

Remember Nature is Intelligent and always knows how to meet the changes with full participation. We are Intelligent and know how to engage fully in the transitions we face now and those that are ahead.

Let us wish each other and all of life a powerful and joyful solstice.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News you can read the December 2015 column by clicking on the link https://www.sandraingerman.com/tndecember2015.html

Let’s also make a commitment to continue to visit our altar and leave gifts and prayers to create a stronger collective. You can bring a gift that speaks to your heart. You can visit the altar for comfort, or as a place to pray, meditate, or journey for yourself, others, for all of life and for the Earth.

June 20 is not only when we greet the solstice. It is also a time when we greet the full moon and continue our work to weave into being a radiant web of light. This light goes deep into the Earth and shines within and throughout the Earth.

Begin by doing your preparation work. To transfigure to a being of divine light that truly has the power to transform we have to embody the true vibration of divine light. Have you been doing this? If not, this is the next step of your work.

Let go of your day and leave your ordinary thoughts and burdens of life behind you. Take time to meditate, sing, dance, walk. Try doing such practices such as tai chi, yoga, or chi gong. Do something that lifts you out of the dense consciousness of the collective.

Travel within and experience your divine light. This light is brighter than any light you have experienced in this earthly realm. Let this light flow through you as it travels through the root system of the Earth. And let it flow within and throughout the Earth as we weave a shiny and ethereal textured web of life that brightens and lifts all of life into a vibration where unconditional love is manifested into form and into the world.

If you are a new reader of the Transmutation News, please visit “Creating A Human Web of Light” on the homepage.

Please note: Due to my contract with the Shift Network I will need to send out one or two dedicated emails about my upcoming new teleconferencing course. If you do not want to read the emails, simply delete them rather than unsubscribing from my email list. Thanks!

I wish everyone a deep, rich, and joyous solstice!

Special Acknowledgement and Remembering Bob Edgar

I know that all of you who have been reading the Transmutation News for years know that my column was inspired by Bob Edgar. And for those of you who are new readers I would like to share the history of this column.

In 1997 after my visionary novel A Fall to Grace was published, my friend Bob Edgar encouraged me to start a monthly column. He so generously volunteered to help me put up the column each month originally on the website www.shamanicvisions.com. This website was designed for Carol Proudfoot Edgar (my dear friend, brilliant shamanic teacher and Bob’s beloved wife). I was not on email at the time. So, I would type the column and then fax it to Bob. In 2000 after Medicine for the Earth was published Bob helped me change the column to The Transmutation News. Eventually Sylvia Edwards helped me to create www.sandraingerman.com, and we moved the column to this website.

If it was not for Bob Edgar this column would never have come into being. I have been writing the column since 2000, and it has been translated (by volunteer translators) into a wealth of languages so we now have quite the global community reading the Transmutation News and working together.

On February 1 Bob Edgar died. He left such a wonderful legacy behind. He was a known scientist who was once nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. He was a loving husband to Carol, and an inspiration to others in the shamanic community as he participated in shamanic workshops and ongoing circles. And he created a men’s group of his own. He was also an amazing flute player.

What we all remember about Bob was how generous he was in inspiring others and helping others to get their work out. And of course, Bob loved to help others learn how to play the Native American flute. He had his own teaching page on www.shamanicvisions.com. He was such a humble man who did not talk openly about his accomplishments. I am not sure he ever knew how many people he helped and inspired. He was loved by so many. And I am proud to say that Bob was a friend.

I ask us all to take a moment to honor Bob Edgar for helping me to birth the Transmutation News and to have been such a loving and shining presence on this great Earth.

Please hold and send prayers for Bob’s life and his transition on June 4 when there will be a memorial for him done by the University of California, Santa Cruz with support from Carol. There have already been lovely shamanic ceremonies performed for him in Santa Cruz.

Transmutation News – March 2016

Once again time is moving quickly, and this month we welcome in a new season of life as we celebrate and honor the Equinox.

In the past couple of months, I have received three requests from readers of the Transmutation News to speak about prayer. They wondered why I did not write more about prayer.

John wrote me the following letter:

Dear Sandra,

I was relieved to read in the latest Transmutation News that you regard shamanic journeying and meditation as equally valid spiritual practices. Over the years I have come to perform fewer and fewer formal shamanic journeys. I have a daily practice that combines meditation and prayer, and communing with all of my compassionate helping spirits is part of that practice. However, I have felt like I have been cowardly and/or lazy for not doing “real” journeys with drumming. And I have felt like I have in some way let down the various (incarnate) shamanic teachers who have been generous with me in their teaching and mentoring over the years. So I thank you for taking some of that burden from me with your affirmation of meditation as being just as valid a spiritual practice as traditional shamanic journeying.

I was very curious that your comments about meditation and journeying did not include anything about prayer. Clearly asking a compassionate helping spirit in the course of shamanic work for guidance or assistance is the same process as asking for the same things from a deity or other discarnate entity the way that many people do when they pray. The only significant difference I can see is that shamanism allows a virtually infinite number of entities to be the object of one’s requests. I imagine that some practitioners of traditional theistic (especially monotheistic) religions might be offended by the notion that what they are doing when they pray is essentially the same thing that a shamanic practitioner does without calling it that. And I wonder if your not mentioning prayer is because you do not want to offend such people.

Thank you for all you do on behalf of the world.

Sincerely,

John

There is no doubt that prayer is a powerful healing force in our personal life and also for the planet. And I imagine that everyone who reads the Transmutation News prays and also has their own way of praying.

The purpose of the Transmutation News has been to teach people how to live a conscious way of life so that we become a living prayer, and we embody prayer during each minute of our lives and throughout all the activities we engage in during the day.

For we can pray all we want, but if we do not live a conscious way of life then our prayers will not have the true transformative power that is possible. Life is also a ceremony. And we have a tendency to separate our prayers and performing our ceremonial work from our daily way of being in the world.

The Transmutation News has been based on the Medicine for the Earth work I teach, and the core teaching principle of this work is it is who we become that changes the world and not what we do. And that we have to live from a place of love and unity. We must focus and concentrate on the practices, prayers, and ceremonies that do create change. We must find harmony within and live from that place as we use our imagination to create the world that holds the goodness of life for all living beings and the Earth herself.

In our culture we tend to separate our spiritual work and our prayers from how we live our life. And the key is the integration of walking on this great Earth with each breath we take as a living prayer.

Our inner world is being reflected back to us in our outer world. So, we must become artisans of our inner landscape and nurture the soil and plant the seeds that create the lives we want for ourselves and the world.

I am not trying to discount the power of prayer on any level. But to only pray and not take responsibility for the personal work we need to do to transform our own lives and that of the world might not lead to the end outcome we are hoping for.

Yes, miracles do happen with prayer. And I know many of us have witnessed these miracles in our own lives and in the lives of others.

But when we get down to praying for peace in the world, we have to be a walking prayer of peace. We have to learn how to transform the energy behind our thoughts and emotions to an energy of peace. We have to plant seeds of peace in our inner garden. We have to become peace. We have to be able to engage all of our senses to imagine people living in peace. And this takes a lot of personal work on our behalf that must be integrated with prayer, ceremonies, and other spiritual practices we might do.

Over the 16 years of writing the Transmutation News I have written monthly about tools that we can work with to become more conscious and work towards becoming who we must become to create the outcome we wish to see while also letting go of the outcome and timing.

Over the years from time to time I would summarize the practices that will help us become a living prayer. I wrote a short summary again in the November 2015 Transmutation News. For those of you who are new to the Transmutation News you might want to take a look at this short summary.

I have encouraged those who practice shamanic journeying and meditation to ask for guidance on how to make positive changes in our lives that feed our own health and the health of the Earth. But whether we engage in a shamanic journey for help, meditate to drop into our inner landscape and Source within, or pray you still have to do your work.

It does not matter what religion you follow and how you pray. All religions and prayers can be easily integrated into practices to live a more conscious way of life and embody your prayer work. The key is to DO the work, so we BECOME the pray and the work. And as we live such fast-paced lives and get so overwhelmed with what we see in the media my “mission” has been to keep us inspired and focused on how to be true positive conscious changemakers in our own lives and on the Earth.

The full moon is March 23. Let us continue to join together whether through prayer, meditation, or shamanic journeying to truly experience our own divine light. And let us together let that light shine forth within and throughout this exquisite Earth and touch all of life. The key again is to embody the light and not think about it as a mental concept. We must become the light.

For those of you who are new readers of the Transmutation News please read “Creating A Human Web of Light” on this site for instructions for our full moon ceremony.

We celebrate the Equinox on March 19 as we welcome in Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Fall in the Southern Hemisphere. This is always a time of great change as we transition into these new powerful seasons where so much change in nature occurs.

To celebrate the Equinox, I would like us to continue to cultivate our Inner World and inner landscape. As we do this together, we feed the health of all of life and the Earth. We create a global garden within and without.

Check out places in your inner garden that need to go fallow and find new space to work in. Remember our inner garden has lots of spaciousness.

Bend down and put your fingers in the Earth. Feel the grains of soil and the richness of it. Run it through your fingers fully. Have fun with playing with the soil. Taste the soil and smell its rich fragrance. Imagine yourself walking barefoot on the soil truly connecting with the energy and heartbeat of your inner garden. If the soil is dry and hard then this is a sign you have been neglecting taking care of your Inner World. Remember indigenous people have such bright light and joy shining out of their eyes due to the rich Inner World they continue to cultivate.

Reflect on what your soil needs and what plants need to be removed that no longer serve you. Feel passion about doing this. Don’t think of it as work. Think of it as play and something that feeds and enriches your soul.

Think about the wild seeds that you want to scatter as you dance and move in your inner garden. Scatter seeds of good health, peace, love, light, harmony, and so on. Scatter seeds of your heart’s dream. Sing to the seeds so they know they are planted with love.

After you do this you might reach down and push the seeds gently into the soil. And then water them with love.

In the Southern Hemisphere it is time to honor those plants and trees that have given us great beauty. Feel the leaves and branches that are now dry and brittle. What was once alive and reflected so much beauty is now ready to return to the Earth to be composted into rich soil as your inner and outer Earth garden rests through the fall and winter. Notice what parts of your Inner World need to return to the Earth so your soil can regenerate and turn into rich earth that will embrace the seeds you plant when Spring cycles around for you again.

Visit your inner garden and put it to rest. Do whatever tending you feel called to do. Sing a song of gratitude for all that has brought great beauty into your life. Reflect on what you need to let go of in your ordinary life and what needs to be put to rest. Focus on how the soil in your inner garden feels and as you put your feet on the soil connect deeply with the change you feel the earth is going through during this seasonal change. You are nature. You can align yourself with the change in seasons by merging with the earth where you live and feel how your own body is changing and how you need to take care of yourself during the fall season.

Whether you are welcoming in spring or fall plant some herb seeds in a container inside and/or outside. Feed the plants that grow from these seeds with your love. Sing daily to the seeds. Talk to the plants as they grow strong out of the rich soil you planted the seeds in. Observe the growth over time and keep feeding your plant with love. And when the plant is grown eat the herbs. Reflect on how we eat the energy from the thoughts and energies we feed our inner and outer garden with.

Make a choice to be more diligent about paying attention to the energies we send to ourselves, others, into nature, and into the world. For in the end, we digest these into our bodies and into our own lives.

I join our global community in wishing all a joyous Equinox!

Transmutation News – December 2015

Although time is not linear it is natural for all of us to approach the end of the year with a calling from our internal psyche to reflect on all that has happened for us over the year. In reality the year does not end. But like the change in seasons we spiral into a new time of life.

Much has occurred on the planet during 2015. And I know we are all concerned about the present and future of the planet. And that is why we have all committed ourselves so deeply to being in service. The rise in terrorism and climatic changes increase. Blatant terrorist acts, as what occurred in Paris in November, show that people have forgotten how precious all of life is. And of course terrorism continues to increase all over the world, but some of the tragic stories are not covered by the media. I know how heartbroken we all feel by such a lack of respect for life. And sometimes it is easy to move into a place of a fear and hopelessness. Yet during these times it is critical we stay focused on our spiritual work and hold the space for all. Building an invisible world of substance must happen before any outer changes will occur.

On October 31 of this year I celebrated my 35th anniversary of learning the formal practice of shamanic journeying. Although I have been working with bright spirits since childhood I formally met my guardian spirit and other helping spirits during my initial shamanic training. They have really held the light for me as I followed the path of spirit through my life.

And this year also marks the 16th year of writing the monthly column the Transmutation News. As I have shared in many columns working with the tarot has also provided a supportive spiritual map throughout my adult life. In the tarot the card that is associated with the number 16 is the Tower. And this is the card of dismemberment. It marks a time to disintegrate old structures so that new forms can be built.

In my own personal life I have been in the Death/Rebirth year. And I have been asked to look at letting go of the old story of who I have been and finding my new identity as my life has changed to a new cycle of life.

I am so grateful to my helping spirits and to all I wrote in Medicine for the Earth and Walking in Light: The Everyday Empowerment of Shamanic Life. For all I wrote was my continued road map as I maneuvered territories in my inner and outer landscape I had not experienced before.

And all I wrote in these two books have been the theme of the Transmutation News for the last 16 years.

I feel for now that this year completes a cycle of the format of the Transmutation News. For I have given you all the tools that I have been guided to share of how to wake up from the old dream we have been living in and how to step into a new dream. And now it is up to all of you to take what I have shared over these many years and make the work your own and live it.

For the truth of the matter is that as humans we have broken the laws of nature. But we do have the possibility to turn things around. We live on a planet that is billions of years old. And the Earth knows how to heal herself of human damage.

But can humans heal from all the damage? I do believe we can. But we have to wake up from the dense collective dream that is driving how we live on this Earth. And I feel for now I have shared what I can about waking up from the dream. Of course as new insights come I will share them with you. But it is time for me to stop looping the same material over and over again.

I have pondered on whether it is time for me to stop writing the monthly column, and I have decided to continue as I want to keep being a voice of inspiration to help you stay focused on your spiritual work. I do want to work on changing the format of the Transmutation News. For as I said I have given you so many tools to work with. Now is the time for you to choose what you do with them.

For those of you who are newer readers of the Transmutation News all I have written since 2000 is archived. You can click on a year and close your eyes and click on a month. And like doing a divination reading the writing in that month’s column might give you the perfect boost and tools that you need at this time. There is such a wealth of information I have shared over the years.

As my own inner landscape keeps radically changing as I am planting a brand new garden with new soil and new seeds I cannot say where the column will evolve to.

But for now my dream is to shift the Transmutation News to be devoted to performing ceremonies together as a global community. For when you add doing your personal work to being part of a community that performs ceremony together change happens within and without. You are changed by the ceremonial work and the collective field of energy changes also.

I hope to write out a ceremony each month or quarterly. I will keep writing monthly, but maybe shorten the length of each column. I do love to write and communicate with all of you. The virtual community we have created feels so tangible to me!

I want to keep the ceremonies fresh. As you can tell life is changing for me in a significant way, and who I am becoming is such a deep work in progress I can only stay in the present and surrender to what is and what I feel called to share.

I can only say this is a time of awakening for all of us. And we cannot wake up to a new dream until we fully let go of our old dreams and old stories. I know in my life my own stories were who I was. I have lived a rich, varied, and wild life, and I feel like I have lived multiple lifetimes in this one life. And now it is time for me to put all my old stories to rest and create a new story out of who I am now and in the present.

As we enter the solstice and the end of another year this might be a time for you to reflect on old stories that you need to let go of. What new identity do you want to nurture and manifest in 2016?

For this month on the solstice I invite you to begin to prepare for our future ceremonies. Please read what I have added on the section for The Transmutation News “Preparing for Ceremonial Work” which is now posted on the Transmutation News page just under the instructions for “Creating A Human Web of Light”.

I know some of you reading the Transmutation News are practiced shamanic journeyers. And some of you are interested in the practice of shamanism, but not yet taken the step to perform a shamanic journey. In this case you can perform your preparation work and simply drop into a deep meditative state. You do not have to perform a shamanic journey to take part in our ceremonies.

For now we want to start by creating a space in the invisible realms where we can join together to do some ceremonial work together. You might journey on what gifts and offerings you wish to bring to this place to leave in honoring the helping spirits and the spirit of this place. You might wish to drop into a heart space and think about what gifts and offerings you want to bring and leave for our group as we create sacred space together.

After your preparation work close your eyes and begin to travel into the invisible realms. Start to create a path from the room you are journeying or meditating in. You might find yourself walking down a path that is surrounded by tall, beautiful, strong, and healthy trees. The earth you walk on is fine and you are stepping on rich dark soil. You can feel your footsteps making an impression on the earth. As you walk you listen to the beauty of the sounds in nature and take in the exquisite fragrances shared by the local trees, plants, and air which gives us life. Is there grass growing? What other nature beings are in this place? You can even experience how the air tastes. Notice if there is a body of water in this place, and if you can hear running water. Feel the power of the sun as it is setting and the stars and moon above start to shine their beautiful light.

As you walk feel your heartbeat and just notice what you are feeling. For many years you have been working in a virtual reality with people from all over the world. We have taken the time to open our hearts in love and give gratitude to each other. At the same time it is important to feel like you are connected to a family of like minded souls who do everything possible to be in service to others and to the Earth. What does it feel like in your heart to be connected to such a community of like minded souls? And when we engage in ceremonial work how do you want to express your love, gratitude, and respect for each of us as well as the helping spirits who continue to partner with us in our work.

As you continue to walk you arrive at a large clearing. Use your imagination to see, feel, hear, smell, taste all that is around you in this clearing. Step fully into this clearing rather than watching your journey/meditation/daydream as if it was a movie. Be here now. Give thanks to all the helping spirits you continue to work with who are now also part of our circle.

As you enter the clearing you will be met by a guardian spirit who will cleanse you on a spiritual level. This compassionate spirit might cleanse you with incense, or a feather, or sing over you, or touch your hair, or whisper a message into your ear. Be open and know these are helping spirits who wish to help you feel unburdened by your ordinary thoughts and concerns.

Once you have been cleansed step into the clearing. Notice there is an altar here where you can leave your gifts, offerings, and even your prayers for yourself, others, all of life and the Earth. Place your offering here, and know this is a place you can visit whenever you wish to pray and for comfort.

After you leave your gift step forward to a beautiful fire that is burning in the middle tended by helping guardian spirits. Take your place around the circle. You can drum, rattle, sing, and/or dance as you do this. Feel the positive energy and love that is being shared. And begin to look around the circle to gaze into the eyes of our community.

Let us welcome each other and smile and greet each other by extending the love emanating from our hearts. Feel your feet on the earth supporting you. Again open all your senses. And in whatever way you choose by speaking or sending radiant thoughts let us bless our circle with words that hold the power of love, peace, gratitude, honor, and respect and good wishes for all.

Smell the smoke of the fire and listen to the sound of the fire crackling. Look into the beauty of the fire who always reads our hearts and not our minds. With your heart experience any messages fire has for you.

Let us wish everyone a joyous solstice and begin to take our leave. We have our starting place for our ceremonies to come. Say goodbye to our group, the fire, all the elements and helping spirits. Let the helping spirits know our work is done for now.

Walking down the same path that you took to arrive at this place return to the room you are in now.

Open your eyes and feel yourself deeply rooted to the Earth, and take a few deep grounding breaths. You are back fully filled with radiance and the blessings of our circle.

Welcome back! Our ceremonial work has begun and will continue over time together as we continue to create a loving collective field of energy to continue our work together.

During the full moon on December 25 let us join our hearts together and make sure we do our preparation work so we can drop into a true space of spirit. At this crucial time of change on the planet we must continue to feed the light of the Earth. We must continue to give gratitude for our lives and the opportunity to live on this beautiful Earth.

Feel your light reaching out and touching the light of all in the web of light. Let us together shine our light within and throughout our beautiful Earth.

When you click on the Transmutation News there are the full instructions for Creating a Human Web of Light. And we will continue this potent ceremony to radiate light within and throughout the Earth.

And remember I added a new section “Preparing for Ceremonial Work”. For as I have said time and time again if you do not take time to move from your ordinary world into the non-ordinary world your ceremonial work will have no power as you will only be going through the motions without creating the magic that is imbued in ceremonial work that is done from moving into a spiritual consciousness.

At the end of each year I love to honor all who help to share the Transmutation News in our global community. Please let us open our hearts and send love and deep gratitude to Sylvia Edwards who is the webmaster of www.sandraingerman.com and helps me in ways that are beyond words.

And let us give great gratitude and send blessings to our wonderful translators:

Lena Anderheim in Swedish

Katalin Abrudan in Hungarian

Fabio Braga in Brazilian Portuguese

Nello Ceccon in Italian

Eleni Evangelinou and Rallou Gromitsari in Greek

Ines Fermoso in Spanish

Sofia Frazoa in Portuguese

Els de Graaff-van Meeteren and Sandra Koning in Dutch

Annie Idrissi in French

Miriam Kisssova and Jan Lenc in Slovakian

Irina Osechinskaya in Russian

Eva Ruprechtsberger in German.

Eva like many of the translators have been translating for years. It is time for her to let someone else do the translating. This month and in 2016, Astrid Johnen and Barbara Gramlich have so generously agreed to take on the translation. Let’s send them an abundance of blessings for their generous offer.

Tea Thum in Finnish

Simin Uysal in Turkish

We did have a few translators stop translating this year. It is a lot of work to do each month. I ask that we give thanks and gratitude for all the translators who made the Transmutation News available to such a wide global community in the past, who are still translating, and to any future translators who step forth.

On December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere we cycle into winter and in the Southern Hemisphere we welcome in summer. Let us join our hearts together as a global community and wish everyone a joyous and peaceful solstice!

Transmutation News – November 2015

I just returned from teaching two wonderful trainings in Joshua Tree, California. It is always so amazing to spend time in the desert and feel the power of the stillness and witness trees, plants, and animals who have such a remarkable ability to thrive in adverse conditions.

I find myself still digesting and absorbing what I wrote about last month, and I feel a lack of words for any new information to write about for this month. Between the depth of what I wrote last month and speaking so much for two weeks I feel a need to move into a place of reflection and stillness. And this is always a good place for all of us as we continue on our spiritual path.

As I have shared many times before it is important to let practices settle and become you. One of the trainings I led in Joshua Tree was Medicine for the Earth and Healing with Spiritual Light. I always feel quite filled with joy, hope, and inspiration when I can introduce others to this powerful work. I find that for a variety of reasons there are participants who come to this training more than once. Some people were there to assist me, there were participants who had attended the training before and wanted to get grounded in the practices and the ceremonies I lead so that they feel they can share the work with their communities with a deeper sense of experience, and some people just simply love to return to be back in the collective energy.

For those who attended the training again I kept getting feedback that they felt they had gone deeper than they had in a previous training. Participants would ask me if I had taught the same journey before due to feeling like journeys I led were brand new to them. There was nothing I had changed in the training although of course I keep changing instructions as I find better words to describe the exercises we are doing. Participants who repeated the training gained so much more insight and went to deeper places in their own Inner World. This goes back to how I have been encouraging all of you to repeat exercises, practices, and ceremonies I have shared over the years. For the richness of the experience and how deep you go is truly when the work becomes you. And when you always keep moving on and not deepening the practices you end up only skimming the surface of the work. There is so much potential as we dig deep and nurture seeds that have been planted over time.

In a journey I performed for this month’s column I was told to encourage you to journey or meditate and imagine sitting at the end of a mountain top or at the top of a hill where you can gaze upon the landscape and just free your mind to reflect and dream.

As you gaze into the distance feel the breezes or wind caressing your face. Smell the fragrance of the clean air. Feel the air bringing messages of love and inspiration to you. Feel your body sitting on the earth and touch the texture. Look at the beauty of the landscape as your eyes stretch to see the landscape below you. Feel the energy of the sun being absorbed deeply into your cells nurturing you. Taste the flavor of the air.

As you sit reflect on how you have become the work. I know some of you are new readers of the Transmutation News. And some of you have been reading this column and joining together with the collective energies of the global community we have created for years. Imagine thousands of people from around the world all reading this column each month and doing the work in their own way. For the true power of the practices is to change them and make them your own. Experience the joy in the heart as you feel support and the strength that we all share together when we work in behalf of the planet and all in the web of life together.

Gazing upon the beauty surrounding you feel your gratitude for having a body, mind, and emotions that can appreciate with all your senses life on this great Earth. Yes, there are many challenges we are facing together. But when we join together in joy, love, and support we start to ride a different wave. And as transitions and initiations continue to occur you are now and will continue to be presented with choices of what wave you wish to ride. In ancient times and in traditional cultures the unseen and visible worlds were woven together. Today there is a solid doorway between the worlds. It is time for the veil to be lifted and to once again live a life of spirit with magic and beauty everywhere.

As a collective we are being asked to live a life filled with spirit and walk the path of spirit.

Here are the seeds I have offered you. It is up to you to nurture them and help them grow through intention, repetition, and application.

On a daily basis transmute and transform the energy behind your thoughts and words so you are feeding yourself, others, and all in the web of life with love and light. Remember the difference of expressing an emotion versus sending the energy of the emotion.

Bless yourself and others by the words you use.

Rephrase your thoughts and daydreams that do not lead to your desired outcome.

Continue your dreaming practice of engaging all your senses to dream into being the world you wish to live in for yourself and for the Earth. Live from the dream.

Stay focused on your practices while surrendering the outcome.

Work on strengthening your body and also do the emotional work you have to do to be a clear, strong, and healthy vessel that can hold higher frequencies of love and light.

Stay connected to nature, its cycles, and to the elements – earth, air, water, and fire.

Continue to watch for the omens and signs that are revealed to you on a daily basis that provide guidance in your life.

Give gratitude daily for your life, earth, air, water, and the sun that sustain you and all of life, and for all the helping spirits who guide you. Find ways to add gratitude practices throughout the day. And open your heart to be grateful for what life brings for you.

Remember the truth of who you are which is divine light. Keep up your transfiguration practice to absorb your divine light and radiate light within and throughout the earth.

Project strength onto others. Perceive others in their divine light and perfection. Do not pity others when they go through challenges. Have compassion for their situation, but do not pity them.

Perceive the beauty in all things. Our perception creates our reality.

Continue to cultivate a deep and rich inner landscape and Inner World.

Do not separate your spiritual life from your ordinary life. Become the work!

Continue to empower your daily life by living a shamanic way of life.

In the United States November is a time where people celebrate Thanksgiving. In order to experience the natural state of reciprocity everyday must be a day of thanksgiving. We must wake up every morning and start by giving thanks for our lives. And then we must reach deeply into our hearts and from a place of appreciation for all in the web of life state what we are grateful for. I always wake up and give thanks for the spirit of the land where I live, the helping ancestors of the land and my own ancestors for giving me life. I continue by giving thanks to Earth, Air, Water, and Fire as the sun for giving that we need to thrive. I honor the nature beings that live in all the elements. And I honor the hidden folk that caretake the Earth along with us. Imagine the possibilities if everyone in the world did this on a daily basis. Imagine how life on this Earth would change.

As such a large collective focuses on giving thanks during this month we can fuel the power of love and light as we join in such an energy.

We can bring this into our full moon ceremony of Creating a Human of Light. The full moon is on November 25. Let’s start building an energy of love and light that creates a vibrant fabric of reality alive with a new dream for the Earth and all of life. Let’s radiate our light, love, and gratitude together as we weave a web of light within and throughout the Earth.

For those of you new to reading the Transmutation News please read Creating A Human Web of Light on the homepage.

I am in deep gratitude for each and every one of you who does the work to create a new dream for all of life. Thank you!

Category: Shamanism as a Way of Life

Inspirational Story of the Month

Special Acknowledgement and Remembering Bob Edgar