Shamanism Bay Area Earth Caretakers

Earth Caretakers

Shamanism is an ancient, worldwide practice of engaging with spirit helpers and the forces of the natural world to develop relationships, solve problems, and perform healing.

Beside the ordinary world we live and breathe in are parallel, nonordinary worlds, a universe otherwise known mainly through myth and dream. It is these parallel worlds that shamans travel to in a visionary state to do their work.

As indigenous peoples have for thousands of years, we can use the shamanic journey and related practices to find our way back into harmony with the universe and our own souls, forging sacred, reciprocal relationships that nurture the planet.

A shamanic practitioner works in reciprocity with her spirit helpers, the elements, and the forces of the natural world. Combining intent, focus, and deep reverence, she uses the shamanic tools of journeying, ceremony, power objects, sacred medicine, song, dance, drumming, and rattling in her work.

Traditionally the role of the shamanic practitioner was to help maintain balance in the world. In today's world, a practitioner may focus on the healing of individual people, specific places on the earth, and/or issues that divide a community. The practices of soul retrieval, soul remembering, power animal retrieval, extraction healing, energy healing, psychopomp, sound healing, divination, and ceremony may be utilized for any of these focuses for healing.

Earth Caretakers offers classes in core shamanism (learning to journey), Andean energy medicine, Andean ceremonial practices such as despacho making, the Munay-Ki energetic transmissions, Medicine for the Earth, and soul retrieval. We also sponsor Equinox/Solstice and other healing ceremonies in the North Bay Area.

Links to further Earth Caretakers information:

Bear, Jaya. Amazon Magic: The Life Story of Ayahuasquero and Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez. Taos: Colibri Publishing, 2000.

Cowan, Eliot. Plant Spirit Medicine: The Healing Power of Plants. Columbus, N.C.: Swan Raven & Company, 1995.

David-Neel, Alexandra. Magic and Mystery in Tibet. NY: Dover, 1971.

Emoto, Masaru. The Hidden Messages in Water.

Emoto, Masaru. The Message From Water, Volumes I and II.

Halifax, Joan. Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives. NY: E. P. Dutton, 1979.

Halifax, Joan. The Fruitful Darkness: Reconnecting with the Body of the Earth. NY: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993.

Harner, Michael. The Way of the Shaman: A Guide to Power and Healing. NY: Bantam Books, 1982.

Ingerman, Sandra. Miracles for the Earth. Sounds True CD, 2004.

Ingerman, Sandra. Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner's Guide. Sounds True book and CD, 2004. (highly recommended!)

Ingerman, Sandra. Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self. NY: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.

Ingerman, Sandra. The Beginners Guide to Shamanic Journeying. Sounds True CD, 2003.

Ingerman, Sandra. The Soul Retrieval Journey. Sounds True CD, 2006.

Ingerman, Sandra. Welcome Home: Following Your Soul's Journey Home. NY: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

Kolweit, Holger. Dreamtime and Inner Space: The World of the Shaman. Boston: Shambala, 1988.

Narby, Jeremy. The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1999.

Prechtel, Martín. Secrets of the Talking Jaguar: A Mayan Shaman’s Journey to the Heart of the Indigenous Soul. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998.

Somé, Malidoma. Of Water and Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1994.

Tedlock, Barbara. The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine. NY: Bantam, 2005.

Villoldo, Alberto. Mending The Past & Healing The Future With Soul Retrieval. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2006..

Villoldo, Alberto. Shaman, Healer, Sage: How to Heal Yourself and Others with the Energy Medicine of the Americas. NY: Harmony Books, 2000.

Whitley, David S. The Art of the Shaman: Rock Art of California. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press, 2000.

Wilcox, Joan Parisi. Masters of the Living Energy: The Mystical World of the Q'ero of Peru. Boston: Element Books, 2004.

Williams, J.E. The Andean Codex: Adventures and Initiations Among the Peruvian Shamans. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing, 2005.