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!
Copyright 2015 Sandra Ingerman. All rights reserved.