Shamanic Moments

You've all heard me say that we walk this path every day, not only when we go into nature. We are Urban Shamans-or in our case, Suburban Shaman. I once walked into a group to help with transmissions of power, and they called me Suburban Shaman-I smiled because the name fits.


But a shamanic engagement with the world means calling it to YOU. It means being aware of the world around you, asking and receiving answers, and most of all recognzing that you are being communicated with constantly.

At the fire we saw fox, coyote, hawk, elk, deer, horse...
what were they saying to each of us? It's not the same message, and not all of us saw everything.

Yesterday driving home from CA's art show Kathy and I saw peacock, rabbit, turkey, swan, heron, duck... These are the quick pictures we snapped.

At Starbucks earlier in the same day, Lauren and I looked out the window to see a tiny tail thumping chipmunk under the cars...


it's all around us! We are in nature and in the urban world. We walk between the worlds. We see things others miss, and these are moments just for us, with a message only we can interpret.

Like when I was in Walmart and saw the butterfly on the can of cashews-who would think it?

Like when Bo was walking downtown and saw the pigeon being disemboweled by the hawk...

Like Jac catching those perfect moments with the Orioles

Like when CarolLee walked into her garage and saw the Eagle sitting on the handlebars of her bike...

Like Bo, seeing the perfect snakeskin that had just been shed right before we went to fire...

Like Cara seeing the tiny half dead baby mouse under a leaf so that it could live in her hand's warmth moments before it died...knowing that it wasn't alone

Like me seeing a pair of dragon fly wings illuminated in a shaft of momentary sunlight in the middle of the park, as if saying "here"...tiny and so easy to have missed

Like Lina asking her dead son for a sign and then looking down to find a four leaf clover...which was the thing he always hunted for as a child, and she had never found before...


Like my walking out into a parking lot and finding a pair of white birds wings on the asphalt, laying next to my car...

This is the shamanic walk in the world...the everyday engagement with energy. Thank you, all of you, for allowing me the great pleasure of dancing with you for awhile, for having danced this amazing dance! And now I'm off for a walk with my camera, my dog, and my eyes and heart wide open. Hi-yi-ya!