Mental wellness extends deep roots into solitude, silence, and a sense of self. In times of quarantine we are cut off from everyday patterns of…read more.

PTSD is an illness of the soul, not the mind. Today PTSD is considered “an anxiety disorder.” However, the cluster of symptoms used to diagnose…read more.

There are many ways to look at the symptoms that the dominant, contemporary culture diagnoses as mental illness. Illnesses of the spirit or the soul…read more.

Aboriginal elders warned the religious missionaries they encountered that if the trials of initiation were stopped then an even greater suffering would be unleashed on…read more.

What we diagnose as “mental illness” today grows ever more resistant to reason, logic, pharmaceuticals, or medicine. What if these are not illnesses of the…read more.

When we look at mental illness through a different cultural lens we can see something entirely different than the standard allopathic interpretation of the situation.…read more.

What we are taught about emotions in the “developed, Western world” will make the majority of us sick over time. This is the core teaching…read more.

Health in shamanic terms requires the interaction of body and spirit, mind and emotion. There is no physical health in shamanism apart from the dynamic…read more.

Shamanic initiatory experiences often involve a break with reality and a time of madness, which is perceived of as a kind of test or challenge…read more.

How is shamanic practice evolving, as it has in every age, to meet the challenges of our time? The spirits gave us good council as…read more.

How do we live a sane life in an insane world? First we need to question Old World definitions of “reality” and “sanity” without throwing…read more.

Being shamanic is not a pass card from the responsibility of living a grounded and sane life. Shamanic skills are actually a means by which…read more.

In shamanic cultures mental illness is a community illness that is caused when the community’s many shadow projections overwhelm the collective benevolent intent. When we…read more.