Services

Comprehensive Shamanic Sessions (CSS)

Specifically designed to be a core, profoundly healing experience, a comprehensive shamanic session seeks the root of an issue that has perhaps stubbornly persisted, despite a person’s best efforts to resolve it themselves or through a myriad of other modalities. Engaging initially in a deep listening ‘conversation’ in which the client’s life experiences are explored*, a fundamental wound or issue is mutually determined (often not what the client first expected or assumed). Once assessed, a variety of tools are utilized to clear the client’s energy field of hucha (heavy, restrictive, unproductive energy associated with the wound or trauma) and discover energetic and spiritual allies and messages that seek to support integration of healing and forward movement.

*Occasionally, a CSS is appropriate when an acute issue arises suddenly. These sessions are often of shorter overall duration, but require many of the same interventions described above (and in FAQs About Sessions, below).

 

“Owl’s Wing” Listening/Guidance Sessions

Following a CSS, some clients seek to establish a more active ongoing mentor/guidance relationship with me via telephone, email or text conversations (or a combination of these).

The feeling of safety and care that comes from sitting in Sacred Space and being held within the protective energetic embrace of care, compassion, respect, and trust that comes with it is akin to being taken under the protection of an owl’s wing. In my Owl’s Wing sessions, I create the Sacred Space, calling in our allies, guardians, and guides, and then I listen to you and provide compassionate accountability, intuitive guidance, and honest insight.

Once a person has experienced the profound impact a Comprehensive Shamanic Session can have on one’s life and perspective, it’s common to desire a check-in now and again that doesn’t require a full complement of energetic intervention, but still has grounding in the CSS experience. The intimacy created in a CSS is unique and rare in our impersonal world. Once experienced, many people recognize its value in their lives and appreciate the deep listening relationship we created while in the Sacred Space of the Comprehensive Shamanic Session and yearn to experience it again.

Most of my clients know that a CSS with me almost always is much more of a beginning of a whole new chapter in their life rather than just an ending to their pain, trauma, or issue that plagued them for years. As a result, they often welcome the validation and camaraderie of witnessing or guiding them through the next steps that inevitably appear in their lives. I love being of service in this way. Whether it’s encouragement, guidance, or grounding and reassurance when life throws a curve ball, I am here for you.

And finally, I’m happy to speak with people who simply want to discuss their experiences of spiritual growth or explore strategies on living life from a more nature-based, ‘shamanic’ perspective. These opportunities are included in my Owl’s Wing offerings.

 

Shamanic Journeying

Within the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic, I realized the truth of how our perception – how we choose to perceive ourselves, our circumstances, the world, and our role in it – holds incredible power and opportunity. While I’d learned this concept decades earlier, I hadn’t appreciated how few people know how to shift their perception in order to gain access to ‘new’ concepts and realities that are just waiting to be discovered. Fewer still practice engaging in methods that provide them with direct access to guidance, wisdom, and answers to their own unique set of circumstances.

One perception-altering activity is shamanic journeying. This technique, which generally relies on rhythmic, percussive sound to shift our brain waves in order to perceive different frequencies of energy (most often via drumming or rattling), has been employed by most indigenous cultures across the planet for millennia. I’ve been journeying since 1991 and have found the wisdom and guidance I’ve received over the years has profoundly influenced the course of my life.

Shamanic Caravan/Wagons

After some nudges by Spirit, in the fall of 2020 I was inspired to create the Shamanic Caravan, which is a group of people who gather together (in ‘Wagons’) to take shamanic journeys in order to access insight, inspiration, guidance, or perhaps simply peace of mind. I created these ‘Wagons’ in order to help people access and experience the power of a group engaging in the same practice at the same time. (In my experience, this often leads to better results, especially when just beginning.) It was also a great way for like-minded people to connect with each other and ideally make journeying a regular practice in their life.

For nearly two years, Wagons took place twice a week. One participant, Maria Rodale, even wrote a book from the results of her journeys: Love Nature Magic*.

Since the world has become busier again, I’m considering offering them every other week or perhaps once/month (usually Tuesdays at noon and Thursday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time). If you are interested in receiving a Zoom invitation to Wagons as I offer them, please send me an email with “Shamanic Caravan” or “Shamanic Wagons” in the heading and I’ll put you on the mailing list.

It helps to know how to journey, but the process is actually quite simple, and there are only a few rules you need to know to engage in it safely.

Solo Expeditions

If you would prefer to learn how to journey on your own, in a private session with me, then Solo Expeditions are for you. I will open Sacred Space, teach (or remind you of) the rules of the road, and rattle for you. Upon your return, we’ll discuss your journey in depth and explore the imagery and messages you received. While the gift of journeying is immediate, internal access to our personal guides and guardians, sometimes it’s helpful to have an experienced ‘walker between the worlds’ help you decipher the unique way your helping spirits communicate. If needed, I’ll also help you frame your intention.

Beyond the 1:1 attention and privacy you receive, Solo Expeditions are also scheduled directly with you, giving you greater flexibility than trying to make it to a scheduled Wagon. It’s also not uncommon for us to receive ‘marching orders’ in our journeys. I can help you keep track and hold you accountable in follow-up Owl’s Wing sessions or additional Solo Expeditions.

Listening Retreats

First and foremost, these are not silent retreats. While silence does play a role in our weekend together, it’s pretty much a portal into the realization of just how much inspired communication and magic surrounds us – when we start to pay attention.

Join like-minded others in a setting that embraces Mother Nature and encourages us to awaken to how little we know about (or practice) deep, sacred listening. Remember what it feels like to be truly witnessed for who we are without judgment or feeling like we need to be fixed.

Give yourself permission to step away from the habits we engage in to numb ourselves out to the stresses of our lives. Every Listening Retreat is different, but every one of them is an invitation to remember who you are and what’s important to you.

Each Listening Retreat is a reminder of how sensuous and joyful it is to reconnect with nature, with other lovely humans, and with yourself. Experience the magic of listening to the whisperings of your soul.

Merkabah Medicine Program (MMP)

Based in the Q’ero tradition of personal medicine (power) acquired through self-knowledge and working with Pachamama (Mother Earth), Intitayta (Father Sun), the Hatun Chaskas (Great Star Brothers and Sisters), the elements, the directions, and our fellow creatures, students create a representation of their cosmic selves. This creation or medicine bundle is known by many names in cultures worldwide, and often used for personal healing. In the Q’ero tradition it is known as a mesa or misa. Some people are called to use their mesas for the healing of the Earth or other beings, human and otherwise.

Within the MMP, students receive the Great Rites of Initiation, which are the nine rites revealed by the Q’ero, transmitted in their original form, in the Quechua language. These rites invite us to embark upon the path of becoming persons of wisdom and power, willingly accepting stewardship for all creation. These ancient energetic transmissions are offered in their traditional form and ancient language in order to help us remember on a cellular and soul level who we are so we can consciously step into who we are becoming. These Rites are provided as part of the Merkabah Medicine Program.

*affiliate link

Frequently Asked Questions – About My Services

What can I expect to happen during an appointment?

How long do sessions usually last?

Is this process similar to psychological counseling or therapy? In other words, if I have a session with you, will I be expected to continue on a regular basis?

What do you charge?

How can shamanic work help me?

Do I want to heal?

What are the most common techniques used in your work?

What do you mean by “healing?”

Other Offerings

Venmo and Paypal

 

What can I expect to happen during a Comprehensive Shamanic Session appointment?

It’s best not to have any expectations, or at least as few as possible. This is because Spirit and our own souls often have their own agendas, which ultimately lead to the most profound results and greatest growth. Even when I see a client for more than one session, things never unfold the same way twice. I’ve found it to be best for all to simply remain open to our heart’s unfolding as we ask for assistance.

That said, there are a few consistencies to every session:

The first thing I always do is open sacred space. I do this by “calling in the Directions,” which is a means of greeting and inviting the archetypal essences of the Four Directions, as well as Mother Earth and Father Sky, to join us consciously in our session. This prayer or ritual creates a cocoon of safety and sacredness.

We then have a conversation, during which I ask you why you’ve made the appointment, and explore how your path has led you to being where you are today physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. During this conversation, the healing work has already begun (as always happens when doing anything within sacred space). It is not uncommon to discover at this point that old wounds or traumas we thought we’d overcome or transcended continue to have an impact upon our lives by influencing our choices and perspectives.

After reaching agreement on the issue most in need of healing at this particular moment in time, we engage in the Illumination process, described below. During this process, it is not uncommon for me to be guided to engage in other techniques as well (also described below), the need for which only becomes apparent as we both enter into an altered state of awareness that comes from deep relaxation.

Once all the work I’ve been asked to do by Spirit and your soul has been completed, I complete the Illumination process by filling those chakras that have had specific work done upon them with pure energy of the highest vibration (known as sami in the Inkan tradition) and then aligning and balancing all of your chakras, the energetic vortices that comprise every human being’s system. I close sacred space, releasing the archetypal essences of the Four Directions, Mother Earth, and Father Sky and expressing gratitude for their oversight and guidance during the session.

Last but not least, the session includes a comprehensive follow up email providing detailed information and descriptions of work done on an energetic level throughout the session. This email includes information retrieved during the “shamanic” portion of the session, including results of journeying on your behalf, and includes “homework” to be done to facilitate comprehension and integration of the work performed. This email has come to be a treasured portion of the session for most clients, as the details and information provided often take on new layers of relevance and significance in their lives as time goes by.

How long do sessions usually last?

A comprehensive shamanic session can last an average of 4 to 6 hours.

While it is sometimes impossible to arrange, I recommend that clients try to keep the rest of their day free of any appointments or tasks that require a great deal of concentration or focus, as “the work” does not end at the close of our session.

It’s also not uncommon for the ‘work’ of the process to begin once a session is scheduled. By that I mean it often seems as though circumstances start occurring that bring a client’s issues to a head immediately prior to a scheduled appointment. While sometimes uncomfortable or unsettling, it’s also a sure sign that your soul is leading you to the healing it seeks.

Occasionally I find a person’s soul will eagerly step up to meet the challenge of engaging in deep work ‘quickly,’ allowing us to isolate the underlying issue and begin the energetic aspect of the healing process far more rapidly than is usually the case. Most often this occurs with people who have had prior sessions with me. This is all part of the process of working with unique individuals and Spirit. Again, I try not to have any expectations, and encourage you to do the same.

Is this process similar to psychological counseling or therapy? In other words, if I have a CSS session with you, will I be expected to continue on a regular basis?

No, it is not, although the beginning of the process may feel like a therapy session, in that I ask you why you are seeing me and we engage in a deep discussion of a variety of topics ranging from symptoms to memories and experiences you never expected to bring up. I listen to your entire being, and we do this to determine exactly what it is your soul needs and wants you to heal. Often, the root of your discomfort is something you thought you were ‘over’ or believed you’d resolved through other means, but which actually has remained in your luminous energy field, waiting to be triggered anew – often when you least expect it.

Once we isolate the issue we need to work on, which again, may or may not be what you thought you were going to work on when you made the appointment, we then begin the illumination process, which is described below.

In addition to the illumination process, I may also be guided to engage in extractions, soul-retrieval, attachment removal, or other energetic techniques, which I also describe below.

Resolution of an issue is almost always achieved in one session, particularly if a client sincerely engages in the ‘homework’ I give them, which is specifically intended to assist in the integration of the work. There are no magic pills or waving of wands that will create a state of healing for a person without that person also committing to integrating the changes in perception and consciousness that accompany shamanic work.

It’s been said that human beings are like onions; we are comprised of many, many layers. Particularly with people who are determined to move forward in their lives, I’ve found that once an issue has been healed and integrated, it’s not uncommon for another challenge to eventually bubble up and demand attention. Thus, after months – or even years – of integration and self-reflection generated by our first session, clients occasionally request another session.

Follow-up sessions are often shorter than first sessions and almost always center on a completely different matter than our initial session, as our education and inner evolution builds upon each of our experiences. My sense is that this is true because my clients, in doing their work and establishing a deeper connection with themselves and Mother Nature (always a big part of my recommended homework), are better able to tap into what truly needs to be healed – on a spiritual level rather than on a mental ‘what they think is wrong with them’ level. This enables us to dive into what needs to be worked on much more quickly.

What do you charge?

Comprehensive Shamanic Session (CSS)

Effective June 30, 2019, my rate for a comprehensive shamanic session is $350/hour*. This is billed  in half hour increments at the close of the session, which includes receipt of a detailed written follow-up. Payment is expected upon receipt of the written follow-up unless other arrangements are made beforehand.

I recognize that the cost of a CSS can initially appear prohibitive. In contemplating whether such a session is right for you, I encourage you to consider a few perspectives:

– The cost of regular, ongoing traditional therapy sessions often have a discrete, usually 55 minute, length. A CSS takes ‘as long as it takes’ because I give you my undivided attention, within Sacred Space, with the intention of discovering the issue or wound that yearns to be healed. I don’t look at my watch just as we’re getting into the good stuff and say, “OK; we’ll take this up at our next session.” I stick with you and your intention to heal. If you’re committed, I’m committed.

– The cost of not addressing your issue at all can look (and feel) pretty grim. Financial constraints and a deep need to heal oneself can sometimes feel like a never ending cycle of despair. I am willing to accept payments over time via PayPal, which will automatically deduct payments on a regular schedule. I will work with you to break that cycle and provide the healing you seek.

Venmo or PayPal are preferred, but checks are also accepted.

As described above (and below), I love following up with my clients and engaging in discussions and explorations of how a session is being integrated into their life. I’m also available for listening, guidance, and assistance in providing perspective.

In order to encourage ongoing communication, insight, and guidance, I offer a variety of opportunities to work with me at a reduced hourly rate.

These include:

“Owl’s Wing” Listening/Guidance/Mentoring Sessions

A) Single 30 – 60 minute OW:  $220/hour (or $110 for a half hour).For the occasional half or one hour opportunity to ask questions, seek guidance, gain perspective, explore thoughts and insights, or simply feel listened to and heard. These can also include accessing guidance via tarot or other oracles, or a request for me to journey on your behalf.

For those clients who would like to establish ongoing, regularly scheduled Owl’s Wing sessions, or who would like to ensure access to guidance or support ‘on the fly’:

B) Two to Four OWs per month: $170/hour*. Whether you would like to set up weekly sessions on a specific day or time, or know that you will want to talk more than once per month (or for more than 60 minutes per month), but don’t want to commit to a weekly schedule. These don’t need to be hour long sessions. As long as I’m available, I will speak to you ‘on the fly,’ but will need to bill for at least 15 minutes.

C) Five or more OWs per month: $125/hour*. These are especially good for those times in your life when you’re facing a lot of stress and need the serenity and clarity of being listened to in Sacred Space. I can help you make sense of and discern the messages around you. As mentioned above, these do not need to be hour-long sessions. As noted by the asterisk, these are available and billable in 15 minute increments. So if you need to talk, or want help in listening to yourself, I’m here to provide you a safe and sacred space in which to grow.

*The smallest increment of billable time in monthly access Owl’s Wing sessions is 15 minutes. This includes communication via Zoom, telephone, text messages or email exchanges.

D) “Hoots“: $35.  (15 minute, ‘quick hit’ opportunities to access an Owl’s Wing perspective, insight, grounding, or assistance in taking flight. Time strictly monitored.)

Shamanic Caravan/Wagons:

Providing a safe and private space for like-minded people to journey together, sharing the collective power that comes with focused intention. Wagons are 90 minutes long.  $20 per Wagon. 

Solo Expeditions:

Providing private and individualized attention to your journeying experience, with help in setting an effective intention and assistance in discerning the messages, symbols, or metaphors encountered.

60 minute excursion: $170.

90 minute excursion: $260.

How can shamanic work help me?

In order to understand how the Illumination process works, it is helpful to have an idea about the energetic composition of our world, specifically as it relates to our bodies.

Ancient teachings from many cultures suggest that our physical bodies are surrounded by a Luminous Energy Field (LEF) that records every thought, word, and deed directed at or generated by us. Traumas, like bruises that are hit over and over, can leave deep imprints on our LEF. These imprints, when triggered by seemingly unrelated events, can cause us to relive old hurts or respond to situations or relationships in predictable, if unhealthy, patterns that are difficult to break or overcome.

Essentially, the LEF or bubble of energy surrounding each of us contains the blueprint for our physical bodies. Traumas or wounds lodged in the luminous energy field, if triggered enough times, can also ultimately manifest as symptoms or illness experienced by our physical body.

It is also important to recognize that what constitutes a “trauma” for a particular person is defined by the person experiencing it. Thus, a situation experienced by a person when they are 3 years old could, in that person’s world at that time, feel intensely traumatic, even if, from perhaps an adult’s perspective, the experience could be seen as benign or not even remotely intended as a traumatic event. The child’s subjective experience of an event, therefore, could conceivably leave a wound that that person, as an adult, continues to unknowingly or unwittingly have triggered by seemingly innocuous words, gestures, or situations.

Shamanic healing works at an energetic level to clear the imprints left by traumas and to create balance by restoring essential energy and repairing injuries to our LEF. It works to re-establish our connection to the natural world and help us begin experiencing again the interconnectedness we all yearn to share with ourselves, with each other, and with our environment. This interconnectedness extends from stones to human, from plants and animals to fire, from the wind to all of creation.

Shamanic work has a special, nurturing regard for the soul. Some shocks, like the loss of a relationship, an accident, or the experience of cruelty, serve to diminish soul force and can leave people feeling lost. Such intrusions on and losses to our energy can create imbalances that manifest in different ways, such as panic attacks or anxiety, in excessive anger, fear or other emotion, or in physical symptoms.

For every individual, the shamanic healing process is a unique journey into personal
history, present circumstances, and future aspirations. It is a journey that can lead to a profound sense of coming home to your Self.

It might be helpful to ask yourself:

· Do I have problems getting over or sustaining relationships?
· Have I suffered an illness, accident, or loss and never felt the same since?
· Do I try to fill an inner emptiness with addictions or material objects?
· Do I take up new interests and soon abandon them because nothing seems to fulfill me?
· Do I allow other people to control me?
· Do I suffer from depression, feel overwhelmed by stress, or engage in repetitive negative thinking?
· Have I spent too long trying to break free from the experience of abuse (past or present)?
· Do I feel like something is “missing” from my life but I just can’t figure out what it is?

Observe your initial “gut” reactions and answers to these questions. Sometimes our reactions to a question are more telling than the answers we might give ourselves because our egos like to concoct stories to make us feel like we have our act together. Ah yes, the games we play with ourselves…

Now ask yourself the most important question:

Do I want to heal?

Your deepest desire is critical. Only you can answer this question. Shamanic work is for those who are ready to shed their issues and begin making profound changes in their lives and their relationship with themselves and the world.

What are the most common techniques used in your work?

Illumination – This is the basic process of locating the chakra that is most impacted by a trauma or issue, clearing out the heavy energy associated with that wound, and illuminating or healing the imprint with pure, essential energy.

Extraction – This technique involves removing from the LEF crystallized energy that has become embedded through repetitive trauma or belief. Extraction can also include removal of intrusive energies or entities that may have become attached, stuck, or lost through trauma, fear, or affinity.

Soul Retrieval – Sometimes, when an experience is too traumatic to bear or happens so regularly that our soul sees no way out or hope of escape, a piece of ourselves will split off and go to a place where it feels safe. Regardless of whether you call this safe place the Underworld (which is the shamanic term) or the unconscious (a more 21st century, scientific term), experience has shown that this process of splitting off happens more often than we might realize. This “soul loss” can result in a person feeling as though they’ve lost a part of themselves, or are missing something that they often try to compensate for by buying things, numbing themselves, or behaving inappropriately.

In this situation, a process of journeying (often using a drum or rattle) is undertaken to discover the original source of a wound and the agreement made on a soul level in response to that trauma. This process often involves deciding to change the inner agreement and retrieving the soul part that retreated when the original wounding occurred. It is not uncommon to retrieve a power animal or ally to aid the client in integrating the renegotiated soul contract and retrieved soul part.

Listening –  Integral to all Owl Medicine work (whether comprehensive shamanic sessions or Owl’s Wing sessions) is deep and soulful listening. This practice encompasses far more than just ‘hearing’ with our ears. Indeed, it requires engaging senses that extend beyond the purely physical realm.

What do you mean by “healing?”

There is a profound difference between the concepts of healing and curing. “Curing” is what we most often think of when we look to the allopathic (modern age medical) model of health and disease. We hear about the scientific community’s constant search for a “cure” for cancer, etc. (and here you can substitute pretty much any of the awful diseases and conditions with which people suffer), and we imagine that “cure” to be some miracle elixir that will wipe the disease off the face of the earth. So much of what is done in the allopathic tradition is aimed at masking or erasing the symptoms of disease, including pain. This approach is primarily reactive, not preventative. It is, unfortunately, turning out to be a model of disease care as opposed to health care.

Shamanic work does not seek to “cure” illness or disease in the sense of our modern ways of thinking. Rather, a shamanic perspective on illness, disease, anger, malaise, addiction, etc., always and fundamentally stems from the recognition that the conditions we experience as “needing to be cured” often signal an imbalance of some kind, a lack of harmony within or without or both.

When we engage in shamanic healing work, we look at our lives from a completely different perspective than we otherwise might. We look for areas in our lives where imbalance or disharmony may prevail in our thoughts, words, feelings, actions or beliefs. We excavate these imbalances and seek new ways of bringing harmony and congruence to our lives.

Of course, as we seek to restore balance energetically and on a soul level, there is no reason not to embrace the extraordinary potential offered to us by a wide range of allopathic, homeopathic, and other medical modalities existent in our 21st century lives.

Sometimes this work can effect profound changes in the physical body. Almost always, this work gives clients a new perspective on themselves and how they live their lives and walk upon the Earth. This work helps people remember their connectedness to All Life and the profound impact our attitudes and beliefs have upon our energy and our lives. Shamanic work can restore balance in our lives and help us remember that, ultimately, there is nothing to fear, which in turn can totally change our perspective on our symptoms, our challenges, our circumstances, or even our attitude toward life and “death” themselves.

When faced with life threatening illnesses and disease in particular, shamanic work can help us restore balance in our relationship to self and others, and give ourselves a heightened appreciation for the meaning and joy to be discovered in the life we have to live right now, in this moment. Those qualities, in shamanic terms, are “healing.” And let’s face it, in truth, every life on this earth is “terminal.” Our responsibility is to live our lives in as grace-filled and beautiful a way as possible.

Energy Cleansing – Techniques to protect and preserve your energy are also offered. This can include cleansing of your personal energy field, as well as your home or office. There are times, more and more so lately, it seems, when the spirits of the land of which we are caretakers also demand to be heard and ask to be healed.

Venmo and Paypal

I accept Venmo (@Lisa-Weikel-4) and Paypal for my services. Paypal provides an easy and convenient way for you to pay by credit card. Please contact me if you would like to find out more about how this works.