The Magic In "Ordinary" Days

This is also the title of a Hallmark movie starring Keri Russell that I do (yes, I said I do) recommend. There is an emphasis on what is truly important in life and the simplicity of it, a shamanic perspective with deep resonance right now.

Last week I visited the Mago retreat center in Sedona, Arizona for The Gathering Of The Shamans. The original impetus was intuitive and based on a focus to have more fun this year; particularly to not be so serious. My friend Stacy, also sharing this focus , joined me. The event is put on by Heirophant publishing yearly (I believe for the past decade or so). Many who had attended before attested that this was the best one yet and I could truly feel that. This was a transmission from the OG elders.

The retreat center is down a very rocky dirt road that takes about 30 minutes to drive. After waking at 4 am, two flights and a two hour shuttle drive, rattling in my seat along with (the nuts and bolts of the vehicle), the vast desert stretched out in all directions felt like the beginning to a potent vision quest-a little endurance and grit being emphasized at the outset.

Mago is in the high desert and surrounded on all sides by striped majestic mountains. It is incredibly quiet at night and this was my first experience of stars in a dark and encompassing desert sky-wow. Once there, a feeling of arrival and home sets in.

Friday was an all day workshop with Dr. Luis Stephens of The Power Path on Toltec history and spiritual and energetic practices and processes. We experienced several including an hour and a half practice on healing DNA and clearing karma in every direction from the past seven generations as well as one on cutting blood ties and a journey to realize our highest vision and potential in this lifetime, based on the now. This again called forth some measure of commitment and endurance; the emotion and transformational energy was potent in the space. We also connected deeply with mother earth and father sky along with all of the elements and the cosmos. Hummingbird, panther and the blue deer were amongst the animal guides.

It was all profound and I could feel the Toltec energy strongly in the journey meditation. We flew through the sky on the back of a panther, over all kinds of impossible terrain, to the top of a mountain and back. A treasure chest held the symbol/energy of our highest vision for this lifetime to be taken in and realized. Mine was filled with an alien blue/green energy and two snakes.

Saturday was a full day steeped in spiritual practice, wonder, and connection with nature. In the morning, I walked the property, seeing three desert rabbits as I breathed in the citrus-y floral smell of the sage brush and also connected with many new plants as well as the energized and ruddy terrain. The last rabbit hopped right up to me, nose twitching, staring, just two feet away.

Midday I took part in a Shamanic breathwork experience led by Linda Star Wolf (picture Dolly Parton's Shaman sister). The room was full to the brim with folks getting comfortable under blankets and stretched out on their yoga mats. We were instructed to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth in a circular breath by Linda who also gave a long description of what might be possible in the space along with the importance of being and feeling safe; her trainees gave out a series of howls from the back row and we took off...The music was loud and reverberated throughout the room taking us on a journey through the chakra system. People screamed and cried and laughed...this was a similar container to what might take place during a ketamine journey or ayahuasca ceremony sans the drugs. I visualized a golden bubble around me for the first quarter of the experience and eventually got into it-journeying to all different trippy places with loved ones, creating along the way and eventually ending up way out in the cosmos. Afterwards came the integration which included heartfelt stories from Linda's childhood in rural Kentucky and ended with Elvis impressions and a dance party-Don't Be Cruel To A Heart That's True.

In the evening, we travelled to Earth Hall, an outbuilding on the far North side of the property with a beautiful peace mural out front. Giant statues of Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, Mother Mary and others stood tall around a model of the earth, representing oneness and the love inherent in all forms of spirituality. Here, Heidi McBratney guided us through several processes connecting to our star ancestors and the realm of aliens and the stars. In my journey I saw the Arcturians along with the planet Orion and the Toltec blue deer, there was much to be discovered here and it was a wild, multidimensional ride through the galaxy.

Sunday was our final day and it started off with delicious coconut chia pudding and berries along with pancakes and sauteed peaches, scrambled eggs and greens in the pescatarian dining hall; the vibrant and delicious food throughout was a delightful experience in itself. Stacy and I agreed that we felt like royalty in this sense, not needing to think about or prepare the food but simply enjoying the creativity of it as well as the nourishment. What a gift. The company was also wonderful, so many heart centered and interesting souls in one place.

Dr. Steven Farmer donned one of his favorite T-shirt with Heath Ledgers joker on the front-why so serious? Indeed. He ended our weekend experience with multiple processes on connecting with animal guides, including a power animal. He shared the basics, that seeing an animal in this world, three times or in an unusual way or circumstance meant it had a message to impart. He also mentioned that shadow animals have messages for us and there are many ways they can be interpreted and delivered. He spoke about direct revelation, purpose, never feeling alone and told various jokes along the way. Eventually, he led us into a final journey with his psychedelic snake drum-there were two of them painted on the front in an alien blue/green hue. The hypnotic drumming took me through an intricate tree root system into the lower world.

Many animals appeared but eventually it was rabbit who stood before me; first appearing as a whole rabbit family scurrying around in their den and then shapeshifting into a giant six foot rabbit staring down at me, twitching his nose. His message for this chapter and part of the spiral, an honoring and focus on: Sensitivity. Stillness. Fertility. Creativity.

His poop had shown up as little hematite pellets given to me while visiting another planet in the cosmos the night before. Everything is connected.

After lunch on Sunday we began the journey home. It was long. Switched flights, flight delays, layovers, storms, too much coffee and sleeping sitting up. We were more than ready to get back home. Flying from Chicago to Charleston the sun was setting and some of the clouds were full of lightening. The sheer beauty and seeming impossibility of being right up in the clouds was touching and poignant as always.

I looked down at the city where I began my shamanic training and journey in this life seventeen years ago and the significance did not escape me, flying home and into a new part of the spiral. I am and was aware that much has shifted over these past years and also in those few EXTRAordinary days in the desert. How fortunate and powerful. Thank you to all who made it possible.

Now home, I have a renewed and restored sense of the magic in the ordinary (as well as clarity on my personal journey right now). The connection with the four communities, one of my original shamanic teachings-self, others, nature and the spirit realm, is potent. The embodied love in these connections is the medicine and the meaning. The why. Love, a force that flows through all, we know this. Love is ever present in every moment and it is the magic. When we are in a heart centered space we are deeply connected.

A whisper, sign or vision from spirit through the flora or fauna, a message from the ancestors, a deep feeling of gratitude, oneness or wonder...it is the ordinary-love, oneness. It is in the chopping of wood and carrying of water.

I thank you for your magic and am honored to embody mine. Aho.