Nine people of all ages joined me at Spirit of the Mountains Retreat in Penrose, North Carolina, last week. It was especially meaningful to me that Coral invited me to hold the last workshops on her magic-filled mountain, before she moves on to new adventures. I've been to Coral's over the years for training in esoteric healing. Her gorgeous cabins sit right on top of the mountain where, in March, I had the privilege of holding a mountain ceremony to complete my apprenticeshi

This week, I hosted a new moon celebration in North Carolina - my first since moving here. It was an awesome evening! After sharing a delicious pot luck, we opened our circle with drumming and a sacred pipe blessing. Since this new moon marked the beginning of a fresh 7-year cycle, we meditated on the intentions to incubate at this time. We made a despacho (a blessing packet) filled with our love, gratitude and our intentions. Our despacho was released to great spirit in a sa

For the recent full moon in May, I offered a group outdoor blessing ceremony in Charlotte, Michigan for our local group’s Full Moon Shaman Gathering. The experience was inspired by the beautiful Andean tradition of Despachos. Despacho means “dispatch” in the Spanish language. Traditional Despachos are an important ritual of gratitude and reciprocity through a “feeding” of the spiritual realms. The Despacho dispatches blessings to the intended spirits – the land, the mountai