Workshops

Studies in Shamanic Practice 2010 - (Adelaide and Melbourne)

Why Study Shamanic Practice?

You might ask why you should be interested in something like shamanic practice which seems so exotic and distant from our everyday lives in Australian culture. The answer is very straightforward and somewhat surprising since it reveals much about our heritage.

Shamanism was the first form of spiritual and healing practice in human culture. It is alive and well in some form in about 90% of the world’s cultures. Our knowledge of shamanism extracted from archaeology extends back over 40,000 years.

The core ideas and practices of shamanism formed the foundations of the great religious traditions of the world. Many of the rituals and teachings of the modern churches, for example, are rooted in shamanic practice and world views. Modern medicine has much to thank shamanism for. Traditional shamanic practice involved a profound set of techniques in mind-body medicine, the use of states of consciousness, herbal medicine and a medicine which aligned human beings with the cycles and dynamics of nature.

Shamans and Shamanic Healing in Modern Life
Shamans are usually initiated into the profession through a profound ordeal. In this way, they learn to identify their own medicine and also embody the mythology and worldview of their people. They are then able to travel through the many worlds in which human beings can dwell in the service of healing and expansion of awareness.

They are experts in the use of symbols, myth, ritual and healing techniques, all informed by a psychospiritual view of the world.

Over the last twenty-five years, there has been a very large amount of research done on traditional shamanism and how it can assist us to live better, more richly in our busy lives in contemporary society. Shamanism reminds us that we are a part of nature, connected to the web of life, and that we can heal ourselves through this knowledge in specific ways. Indeed, the newly developed field of transpersonal medicine is almost totally informed by shamanism.

It is important to note that every culture represented in Australia today has some shamanic tradition, no matter how attenuated it may be. Indeed, many Australians are busy not only tracing their lineage, family history, but also their shamanic legacy …e.g., Celtic traditions

Shamanic Practice Course Content

The 2 year course is designed to provide students with a detailed knowledge of shamanic practice in a wide range of cultures around the world and through history so that they will:

• Understand how shamanism emerged and how it speaks to us now

• Learn to master techniques that you to cultivate different states of consciousness and undertaking spiritual journeys for the sake of healing and gaining in knowledge [for yourself and others]

• Learn how traditional shamanic ideas and practices can enhance our understanding of healing work and

• use shamanic practice to expand on any existing skills in counselling, natural medicine, biomedical science, psychotherapy, psychiatry, body work and so on

• Integrate knowledge and practices from shamanism into one’s personal life for spiritual and personal growth.
  
  The course is taught over two years in a series of modules which systematically build students’ skills and understanding. It is also true to say that the course can be a life-changing experience.

It should be noted that this course is not training people to be shamans, but to be able to use shamanic technologies for personal and professional development.

The Program and Curriculum

The program has been developed over the last twenty years by Dr. Rafael Locke through research and participation in shamanic practice in a number of cultures around the world … the Americas, Caribbean, Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia, for example. Commencing in 2004, a series of fascinating and challenging courses has been offered as a sequence for personal and professional development. All of the courses retain a faithful connection with shamanic traditions as well as translating shamanic work into modern idioms of psychology, medicine, anthropology and other disciplines.

The program is divided into 4 Parts

PART 1: Foundations: Shamanism as Visionary Practice

This first level of the program offers a comprehensive introduction to shamanic practice which will also have a strong intellectual base. The shamanic approach to health, illness, and human development will be compared and contrasted with that of the paradigms of traditional biomedical science and mind-body medicine. Detailed examination of the methods and cultures of contemporary medicines will be made so as to provide students with a clear grasp of where shamanic practice can fit in Australian society.

1. Visionary Practice I:  Shamanic Worlds and Practices This first module explores the fundamental nature of shamanism in human history and culture. It looks at the ways in which shamanism is a part of evolutionary biology and anthropology. A detailed examination of the notion of visionary practice is undertaken and the many faces of the shaman unfolded …. priest, healer, medium, story teller, magician, and so on. Shamanism is linked to life in contemporary society in a practical way and there is a special focus on shamanism and healing, connecting it to other healing modalities. Shamanic initiation and understanding personal pathways.

2. Visionary Practice II: Shamanic Journeys Exploring shamanic states of consciousness. Shamanic initiation re-visited, crisis/madness and healing. The shamanic journey as symbol and tool. Exploring states of consciousness: types of trance, divided consciousness, dreams and other states. Personal medicine. The dreaming wheel in Australia. Shamanic divination. Using visionary/spiritual intelligence. Projection: out of the body journeys. The shaman and death.

3. Visionary Practice III: Foundations of Shamanic Healing The shamanic body and the dreaming process. Fundamentals of shamanic healing in four major processes: 1. Entering the landscape/dreaming; 2. Tapping the stream; 3. Visiting the seat of the soul; 4. Perceiving the energy of life. This is a systematic and practical training program which uses the drum, rattle, symbol, medicine objects and dreaming wheel as essential tools. This module focuses work on shamanism as a healing vocation, focusing on healing with individuals, groups, and communities.

4. Visionary Practice IV: Types of Ritual in Shamanic Work Ritual, myth and symbol in healing practice. The meaning of ritual and how it is used in shamanic practice. How ritual works psychologically, socially and parapsychologically. Working with people to develop ritual processes and implementing them effectively. Types of rituals and specific needs of clients. Personal and social rituals. The transformation process.

PART 2:  Advanced Practice Skills

5. Advanced Shamanic Practice I: The Journey of the Soul The journey of the soul. The major focus of this module is the area of soul damage and soul loss. This is central to traditional shamanic practice but is also relevant to contemporary society, our lives in stressful times. Exploring traditional ceremonies for working with soul damage and loss. Related notions of spirit illness, the call and the opening of the pathway. Entry of the soul into this world and exit. Types of problems which arise, diagnosis and treatment.

6. Advanced Shamanic Practice II: Sorcery and Counter-sorcery Shamanism, healing and sorcery. Type I and Type II sorcery: The psychological, parapsychological, social and political aspects of sorcery. How ritual sorcery is performed, its meaning and impact. Sorcery, illness and madness. Diagnosing sorcery: distinguishing sorcery effects from other forms of illness and disability. Setting up and executing counter-sorcery measures.

7. Advanced Shamanic Practice III: Possession States Shamanism, possession. Gaining a working knowledge of possession in shamanic work as a tool and also as a problem which shamans deal with. Unpacking the types and stages of possession and its relation to obsession. Possession and madness. Possession and consciousness.

PART 3:  Shamanic Worlds: Culture-Specific Practices

8. Shamanism Three explorations : Looking at shamanism in Africa [the !Kung Bushmen], in the Caribbean [Vodun in Haiti] and in South America [Peru and Brazil]. This module will compare and contrast these forms of shamanism and draw from them valuable tools for shamanic practice in a range of settings.

9. Australian Shamanism Spirit of earth and sky. Shamanism in Australia. Aboriginal shamanism explored, concepts of the Dreaming. Europeans in Australia and the development of a pan-Australian shamanism. Mythology and ceremony for our times. The Australian physical and spiritual landscapes: the totemic world, the elemental world, the symbolic world. Practising shamanism in Australia.

10. Contemporary Practice Topics : This module covers the range of factors which a shamanic practitioner will need to understand and incorporate into practice in Australia. This includes matters relating to mental health, medicine, ethical and legal issues as well as refining diagnostic abilities. Setting up and building a successful practice: pitfalls and promises.

PRACTICUM

Vision Quest Traditional path-seeking through ordeal. Every student who wishes to be certified as practitioner is required to undertake a 3-day vision quest in the central desert. This ritual will consolidate the shamanic perspective and inform each student of their personal path and medicine. Details available closer to the date of the quest.

Membership of theAustralian Shamanic Practitioners Association is available on graduation.

The course is accredited by the International Institute for Complementary Therapies. Membership of the Institute is available upon graduation along with access to professional practice insurances.

This program represents a set of programs which reflect ways in which Australians can establish a meaningful spiritual sense of their place in Australia, and the world, with a specific focus on the creation of an Australian spirituality and shamanic practice which are practical and relevant to our times and needs. It is called the Australian Dreaming Project.

Click on the following link to download the brochure and enrolment form

For more information or a prospectus, please call the following :

ADVANCED TRAINING IN SHAMANIC PRACTICE 2010

Master Practitioner and Shamanic Initiation

The Australian Dreaming Project

Ikon Institute

Spirit of the Earth Medicine Society

Australian Association of Shamanic Practitioners

 INTRODUCING ADVANCED SHAMANIC TRAINING

 Ikon Institute has been conducting training in shamanic practice in Australia for 20 years. The programs offered have been based on world-wide experience, research and practice which embraces many cultures. To date, these programs have been aimed at providing participants with the fundamentals of shamanic practice in such a way that they are able to go forward, at the completion of courses, into the community to practice professionally. At the core of this process, is the life enrichment, spiritual and personal growth, of the students of this work. 

Ikon has offered workshops, short courses and the very successful two-year Diploma of Shamanic Practice throughout Australia. Graduates of this latter program are currently making their mark in the community, offering an extensive range of healing and ceremonial services.  

However, there is now a need to take this work further…. to offer advanced training and the parallel path of initiation into the shamanic vocation, following traditional lines. 

What is offered draws upon many cultures but especially the work of the Spirit of the Earth Medicine Society [SOTEMS] and the joint Ikon-SOTEMS undertaking, The Australian Dreaming Project. The latter is a comprehensive attempt to develop a medicine ways framework for an Australian spiritual practice in which shamanic work is central [See our separate brochure]. 

So, we are taking the very large step now to afford training experiences and skill development of a very high order and which will serve to create a new generation of practitioners and teachers.

We would like you to step forward if you feel you are ready for this exciting but challenging program.

THE PROGRAM

There are two strands to the Advanced Shamanic Practice training: 

1. Master Practitioner: Shamanic Practice

 This course is open to persons who have the following background:

1. Completed an Ikon Diploma of Shamanic Practice or equivalent o

2. Traditional training in shamanism in any culture or  other training and experience which can be assessed

 Assessment of applicant’s eligibility is done on a case-by-case basis.

 The training program has the following modules:

The training will involve intensive work in natural settings with occasional ‘classroom’ work.  The Central Desert modules will be held in conjunction with the  SOTEMS Vision Quest. 

The course will be physically and psychologically demanding as it requires more than intellectual understanding; rather, it requires the commitment of the whole of one’s being to the work. This creates significant personal change on all levels of existence.

2. Shamanic Initiation

SOTEMS has been operating in Australia for nearly 20 years. In that time, it has developed a strong community which is creating a medicine ways and shamanic culture across the country. This is not merely in terms of courses and workshops offered, or in terms of counselling and healing services available; rather, it is also in terms of their now being a substantial social, cultural and spiritual basis for shamanic practice. With this comes the opportunity to become an initiated shaman within the SOTEMS tradition…. and it is now a tradition!

 The process is one of personal, traditionally modelled training and initiation through several stages. Persons who wish to do the Masters in Shamanic Practice may also be interviewed for the initiation process.

 What this involves is as follows: 

a.     Enrolment in the Master Practitioner program

b.     Being interviewed for shamanic training and initiation

c.     Where a person is accepted for shamanic training and initiation, they will receive personal training from Dr. Rafael Locke which runs in parallel to the Masters program. No disclosure of the content of this individual training is available; it is discrete and focused on the individual’s needs, strengths and motivation, and personal path.

Since these activities begin in 2010, it is advisable to communicate your interest to us as soon as possible.  

Commencement:    September, 2010, coinciding with the SOTEMS Vision Quest

For specific information or to register your interest please contact Dr. Rafael Locke 0417964777 or email rafael43@bigpond.com

Shamanism for Women: ‘Traversing the Worlds of Self’

Phoenix Institute of Victoria

Please note that while this is not a SOTEMS event, it is highly recommended and facilitated by SOTEMS members.

‘Traversing the Worlds of Self’ is a four module residential program for women focussing on Pachamama, the Chakana and the dreaming wheel.  The program can be undertaken as single modules, or in sequence.

 The program focuses on:

-                    -a deeper connection to women’s traditional healing

-                    - discovering personal healing through ritual

-                    -self discovery of one’s spiritual path

-                    -building a spiritual community of women’s medicine

 Traditional native people of South America have a strong connection to Pachamama, the earth mother and powerful feminine energy that pervades all life.  They cultivate lives that honour Pachamama, and understand and practice the principle of balance and reciprocity in all their exchanges with each other and with their environment.  The Chakana, the ancient Andean cross, is a map and a symbol that embodies all of these understandings.

 The Chakana, with its horizontal and vertical symmetry, represents cosmic balance. It is a bridge to different levels and aspects of reality, and is therefore seen as a symbol of the divine.  The hollow at its centre represents the mystery of the Chakana that extends bridges between the human and the divine, between the living and the dead, between the masculine and the feminine, and between the past and the future.

  Working with the energy of the powerful feminine, Pachamama, we walk the dreaming wheel and the Chakana, drawing upon them for direction and guidance in our lives. They are ancient tools that allow us to focus our energies and move through difficulties and challenges.  They offer pathways to creatively re-envision our lives.

 ‘Traversing the Worlds of Self’ is for women who wish to face the challenge of navigating through their many selves, and who wish to reconnect with their own strength and resources as they weave their personal life stories. They are walking, or wanting to walk their spiritual path through ritual, community and accessing traditional wisdom.

 All workshops will involve traditional sweatlodges, though they are not compulsory.

 Program 1 – East:  Birth **

In this first program, beginning in the East, you connect to the powerful energy of Pachamama and call upon your own power as you plummet the depths of your life, shedding the past that weighs you down. Allow yourself to be stripped to your bones of a past that may cling too tightly, and in the process allow Spirit to grow and let the virtues of the Chakana and the dreaming wheel nurture you back to life.  Surrendering to death to be claimed by life, be born ready to continue your path around the dreaming wheel, crossing the portals of the Chakana into the worlds and layers of the self.

 Date:              26-28 March, 2010 and 11-13 May 2010 *

* There are two dates for program 1 - a stand alone weekend in March and then Program 1 (again) & Program 2 back to back in May. The back to back program is devised to enable interstate participants to reduce costs.

Program 2 – North:  Courage & Strength

This program is about walking bare, having been stripped to your bones, continue your journey around the dreaming wheel and the Chakana calling for what is needed for your path. The North is a call for courage and strength.  This is a time to call upon Wiracocha, the masculine principle, into your life to enable you to forge ahead and move into and through any difficulties that present themselves to you and your path.  It is a time to find your voice and your courage.  In this program you will reconnect with the energy of Wiracocha, honouring it and call upon the virtues of courage and strength to confront your fears and help you continue your path into the unknown.

 Date:              14-16 May, 2010

Program 3 – West:  Healing & Compassion

Continuing our journey around the dreaming wheel, we arrive at the West the place of healing and compassion, the place of Pachamama, the mothers and grandmothers.  As the flesh begins to cover your bones, we traverse the West reconnecting with the powerful feminine.  A time to honour your female ancestry, receiving the gifts and wisdom of the women who have walked before you.  It is also a time to heal any wounds that may still block the heart.

 Date:               24-26 September, 2010

Program 4 – South:  Questing for a Vision **

We step through the doorway of the South into the darkness of the unknown.  A time to step forward and be supported by the wisdom and strength which has fleshed your bones up to this point in your journey around the dreaming wheel.   Allow your connection to Wiracocha and Pachamama to carry you in this step as you call for a vision for your life, coming full circle around the dreaming wheel and the Chakana.

 Date:              19-21 November, 2010

** Note: To participate in Program 4 you must have done at least one of the first 3.

For all Programs:
Venue Residential: Coranderrk, Healesville Sanctuary
Cost $390 1 workshop $1400 4 workshops (Includes food, camping fees)
Note: Limited to sixteen participants

 Facilitators:

Maria Elena Bravo is a member and Ceremonial Leader of the Spirit of the Earth Medicine Society.  Apprenticed to Dr. Ralph Locke, she has undertaken rigorous training in shamanic work and medicine ways over ten years.  Born in Chile, Maria has a deep interest in South American shamanic traditions and has worked with healers in Peru and Mexico.  She leads regular tours to Peru for Phoenix Institute.  A particular area of interest is in assisting women in and through ceremonial work.  She has facilitated shamanic workshops, and participated in ceremonial work with women elders of the Central Desert and Q’eros community in the Peruvian Andes.

Marina Appeldorff has been involved in the healing arts for twelve years.  She is currently working in the aged care sector as a reflexologist and counsellor.  Marina co-developed an adult education course at Quantin Binnah Community Centre to assist women to find their own inner strength in a safe and nurturing space.  Marina is a member of Spirit of the Earth Medicine Society.  Her interest in Shamanism has led her to travel around Australia, including spending time in dance and ceremony with Aboriginal women.  The development and performance of ceremony is the aspect of healing about which Marina feels most passionate and gains great enjoyment.

 For further information about the program contact:  

Phoenix Institute of Victoria

(03) 9510 4264

15 Chatham St, Prahran 3181

P O Box 1137 Windsor 3181

 
Home | Sitemap | Contact Us

Please visit the Contact Us page for queries in your state or for any other queries, please contact :info@sotems.com.au

Copyright © 2004 Spirit Of The Earth Medicine Society (SOTEMS)       Last modified: 19-Feb-2010