The Foundation for Shamanic Studies (FSS) was incorporated in 1985 as a non-profit educational organisation dedicated to the preservation, study and teaching of shamanic knowledge. Led by its founder Dr. Michael Harner (author of The Way of the Shaman) and in the UK by Simon Buxton (Founder of The Sacred Trust), it is now generally recognised as the foremost institution in the world engaged in the revival and teaching of practical shamanism and its application to health and other problems of daily life. Its field staff of fifteen works with tribal shamans from the Amazon to Siberia, and its international faculty members teach in twenty-three countries.



Simon Buxton introduces participants to core-shamanism – the universal and near-universal basic methods of the shaman to enter non-ordinary reality for problem solving, well being and healing. During this experiential weekend workshop, particular emphasis will be placed on the classic shamanic journey, one of the most remarkable visionary methods used by mankind to explore the hidden universe; otherwise known mainly through myth and dream.

Participants will be initiated into shamanic journeying, aided by drumming and movement techniques for experiencing the shamanic state of consciousness and for awakening dormant spiritual abilities and connections with Nature.

Participants are provided with methods for journeying to discover their own individual spiritual helpers and teachers in non-ordinary reality and to study with them, a classic step in shamanic practice. They will also learn how the journey can be utilised to restore spiritual power and health, and how shamanism can be applied to contemporary daily life to help oneself, others and the Earth. Practices include comparisons by participants of their discoveries and experiences, as well as introductory training in shamanic healing and divination.

DATES:   The next five opportunities to undertake this workshop are: (1) Sat 20th – Sun 21st February, 2010 - London - The Amadeus Centre  This workshop is now fully booked  (2) Sat 10th – Sun 11th April, 2010 - London - The Amadeus Centre This workshop is now fully booked   (3) Sat 22nd – Sun 23rd May, 2010 – Glasgow – The Phoenix Centre This workshop is now fully booked   (4) Sat 10th – Sun 11th July, 2010 - London -The Amadeus Centre This workshop is now fully booked  (5) Sat 9th – Sun 10th October, 2010 - London - The Amadeus Centre FEE: £145                                                                                         Book Here To book the Glasgow workshop contact The School of Holistic Therapy,    info@holistic-school.com or www.wayoftheshamanscotland.com    Tel: 07843 426 381

 

One of the classic tasks of the shaman is to journey into non-ordinary reality in order to obtain answers to questions, both at the request of others and for oneself. Participants on this weekend workshop will have the opportunity to engage in divination journeys for each other as well as for themselves and to gain experience in using various time-tested shamanic divination techniques. In the shamanic search to become persons of knowledge, they learn, as shamans have from time immemorial, how to converse with plant and animal spirits, how to learn about the use of quartz crystals, and how to seek and receive revelatory knowledge from visionary sources.

Participants will be trained in the issues of soul loss and retrieval from a shamanic perspective. We shall learn how soul loss occurs and will experientially learn how to find or track a soul and bring it back to a person. We shall explore how this can be effective in working with survivors of abuse, accidents, people who have undergone surgery and other emotional and physical traumas, as well as people dealing with such issues as alcoholism and drug abuse. According to shamanic traditions, when soul-loss occurs, a part of the persons very essence escapes in order to survive the experience. The problem is that for most people these parts do not return, leaving feelings of dissociation from life, from the body and from relationships. Soul loss keeps the person from feeling their connection with the Earth & the joy she has to offer, and soul retrieval is a set of primal yet profound techniques to heal and overcome this problem.
As well as working with techniques and practices regarding soul retrieval, the course also focuses on ‘life after soul retrieval’; how we create healthier lives for ourselves and others after the healing has taken place. This will be accomplished through shamanic journey, ritual and ceremony.

During this five-day training each participant will act as a shaman to learn the techniques and they will also have the opportunity to have the lost parts of themselves retrieved. This training is specifically designed for those people who wish to deepen their shamanic work and bring shamanic healing work into their practice with others.

Participants will learn how to deal with the issue of death & dying and the destiny of souls from a shamanic perspective. This workshop is for those people who wish to understand the death process better, for themselves and for those who either from a personal or professional viewpoint, wish to help others who are facing death.
The training will include how to help a person prepare for their own death; the exploration of the cosmology of where we might travel to after death; learning how to help a dying person cross over onto the other side, as well as classic psychopomp work including how to help a person who has died who needs assistance in moving to a more comfortable place. The journey work will include meeting with deceased relatives and retrieving information from them that will be useful to us in preparing for death as well as for living our lives.

This is a weekend training which explores the causes of illness from a shamanic perspective. Participants will be initiated into the extraction method of shamanic healing including how to see, sense and remove localised spiritual illness and pain connected to spiritual factors. You will also learn how to work in partnership to increase the effectiveness of the work. The emphasis of the workshop will be on preparing oneself to undertake serious shamanic work; how to identify and diagnose localised spiritual illness and then how to apply a hands-on technique to accomplish spiritual healing. As part of this workshop there will be a Power Dance on the Saturday evening. This dance is a classic method of awakening our own souls and discovering our own songs and dances.