13th April 2024 – Ancestors, Healing and Resources

Run by Shenoah on Zoom

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Many traditional cultures maintain an active relationship with their ancestors who offer ongoing support, guidance and strength. At this meeting we will explore how different ways of connecting with our ancestral lineage can support us in our lives. This session is inspired by the systemic ritual work of Daan Van Kampenhout.

Introduction to the day
Studies have shown how the experience of our ancestors can have an effect on our biology, mindset and patterns. Some cultures believe the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. As spirits who were once human themselves, they are sometimes seen as being better able to understand human needs than would a divine being. 

The ancestors were concerned with the same areas of life that we are – love, relationships, providing for our family, where to live, earning a living etc. Within the field of our ancestors there will be those that overcame obstacles successfully, those who have wisdom and resources and who can and want to support their descendants. Below shows a representation of 6 generations of the ancestral field. If the red triangle is you, behind you in brown is your mother and father, behind them in yellow are their mother and father – your grandparents, behnind then in green their parents – your great grandparents and so on, In just 6 generations you will have 64 bloodline ancestors.

Ancestral Field by Daan Van Kampenhout

1st Journey – going on a journey into my ancestral field to ask for a healing I need at this time for my ancestral line

  • The healing is for something that has come down through the ancestral line that is still effecting you – once on the journey you will be shown what it is, it may be something you are already aware of or something new.
  • Ask your spirits to take you to your ancestral field, it is usually in the middle world, but you may be taken somewhere else
  • Stand at the front of the ancestral field, feel your ancestors behind you, how does it feel, turn around and see your ancestors in front of you, experience what it is like
  • Speak to your ancestors and ask them to help you – speak respectfully, introduce yourself as their descendent, why you have come, ask them to look kindly upon you
  • Walk into the ancestral field and walk amongst the ancestors, find one who can help and see what unfolds. 
  • You may find that the healing comes down from them to you, it may also go back the other way, as we heal ourselves so we can heal our ancestors

2nd journey – Going on a journey into my ancestral field to ask for a resource / gift from my ancestral line and is there anything I can do for you

  • This is asking the ancestors for a gift that has come down to you through the ancestors. It may be someting you already know or it may be new. They may give you information about how to use it or deepen it or how it was used by other ancestors. 
  • Start in the same way as you did for the first journey by walking into your ancestral field

Journey 3 – working in pairs
Asking (insert partners name) ancestors for the help (insert partner name) needs at this time

The work is in pairs using zoom breakout rooms. Decide who is going to receive and who is going to give the help. You will be facing each other on the screen for the work. 

person receiving help – will be sitting perceiving their ancestral field in front of them

Person giving help will be standing perceiving your partners ancestral line behind you. You are representing their ancestors and being the vehicle for ancestors to offer help to their descendent

Person receiving – Relax and be in place of receiving. Speak to your ancestors and ask them out loud for the help you need ‘ dear ancestors it is I …… your descendent, i ask you look kindly on me this day and help me with ….

Person giving – percieve yourself at the front of your partners ancestral field with the ancestors behind you. Call your spirits and ask to receive the help from that persons ancestors – may be via rattle, drum, singing, words may come, you may be shown images. 

When you have finished the work. let your partner know the work is over, share and swap.

The following are other ways of working with the ancestors that were suggested to those attending after the meeting

•perceive the ancestor field when not on a journey and walk amongst them
•perceive the ancestors in a circle around you walk to the one that can support you
•Use the ancestor field map and use stones to represent the ancestors

2nd March 2024 – Healing with Shamanic Tools

run by Shenoah and David face to face

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From drums, songs and rattles to feathers and herbs, the diverse toolkit of shamans goes beyond their journeys, offering hope, healing, and insights to people seeking them.
At this meeting we will delve into the power of sound in shamanic healing exploring the use of the drum, rattle and song and how to use them in our shamanic practice for ourselves and others.
You do not need to be able to sing in tune or to have a drum to attend but please let us know if you do have a drum and will be bringing it when you book your place.

1st Journey – drum journey
Going on a journey to meet my healing teacher to ask how to work with song, rattle and drum, as healing tools (they may also speak about other healing tools you use)

2nd journey – partner work with drum healing
2 rounds – first partner says what you want healing for. 
Calls their spirits and listen to the drum and where it wants to be played and the rhythm – be sure to be sensitive to how loud it is, do not want people jumping out of their skins
Share and swap

3rd journey – partner work with song healing
2 rounds – first partner says what you want healing for 
Call spirits and allow song to sing – may be words, or sounds, or just one phrase that repeats and repeats
Share and swap

4th – Journey – group healing with rattle
Half in the middle others round and go in and do rattling over people 
Swap over

10th February 2024 – Planting and Nurturing the Seeds of our Life

Run by Shenoah via Zoom

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Imbolc at the start of February marks the coming of spring when seeds are sending roots down into the earth their shoots up into the world. At this meeting we will plant and nurture the seeds of our life and work with the energy of the coming spring to help them grow and flourish.

1st Journey – drum Journey
I am going on a Journey to be shown the seeds of my life to plant at this time and the place of fertility to plan them – do not plant them just look at the place. If you have some ideas of seeds you want to plant let your spirits know about them too

2nd Journey – Acted out Journey
Journey to the place of fertility to give of my heart the food for the growth of my seeds (and to ask how I continue to nurture them)
it could be in song / dance / energy / intention / speaking words of hope – allow it to flow through you. It comes from you but it also spirit power of your spirits and the spring energy.

3rd Journey – partner work
Journey to ask the spirits to release anything that may get in the way of (insert partners name) seeds coming to fruition
Could be a narrated journey or sung journey or just rattle or drum and say what happens afterwards
Share and swap over


14th January 2024 – Healing into the Future & Wassail

Run by Shenoah & David face to face

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At the meeting we will be doing work for ourselves and others as we move into the coming year from a place of hope, strength and possibility. A new year has begun and we carry our hopes, dreams and intentions for the coming year.

While some of them may be new others may have been with us a while and the hope is that the coming year will bring a different experience than what has gone before. At this meeting we will work with clearing and healing what may stop us from our hopes, dreams and intentions coming to fruition.

Wassailing is an ancient tradition that promotes a good harvest in orchards by blessing the trees for the coming year. Other than during lock down we have been blessing and wassailing the fruit trees in Vauxhall Park for many years. We look forward to honouring them again with song, cider soaked toast and general merriment.  

1st journeyDrum journey with everyone rattling as well
Everyone wrote in their journals their hopes, dreams and intentions for themselves in the coming year. They then did the following journey –
Going on a journey to meet my soul to ask for the hopes, dreams and intentions it would like for you in the coming year.
Before we started the meeting many long colourful ribbons had been placed around the altar. Once people had the answer they came back from their journey and wrote the hopes, dreams and intentions from both themselves and their souls onto a ribbon and tied it to the wassailing hat.

2nd activity – Wassailing Ceremony – blessing the fruit trees in Vauxhall Park
You had to be there but there was the wearing of the wassailing hat with ribbons flowing from it, singing, rattling, blessings, waking up the trees and putting cider soaked toast in the branches, nuts for the squirrels and apple juice and warm mulled cider for us to drink. The song we used was Who Will Stand.
“Who will stand, who will stand for the bees and the trees and the spirits and the land?
We will stand, we will stand for the bees and the trees and the spirits and the land!”

3rd Journey – healing in pairs
Asking for the healing (insert persons name) needs so their hopes, dreams and intentions will come to fruition in the coming year.
Share and swap over.

Finished with a song of thanks. Those who wanted to left their ribbons on the hat and they will be placed on the alter for the coming year.

9th December 2023 – Celebrating Life & Winter Feast

Run by Shenoah on Zoom

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Many years ago a seidr ceremony asked how members of a shamanic group containing many lodg members could keep connected. One of the answers was to hold Winter Feasts. Since that time there have been annual winter feasts in different shamanic groups. At LODG we used to meet in person and everyone brought food to share so it was an actual feast. Since lockdown it happens online and it is a time for celebrating the group, each other and the spirits. 🙏🏼
 
The lodg altar is a place in the spirit world we all journey to.  In the spirit of the season giving and receiving is encouraged when there, as well as enjoying the party.🎈 It has to be said the experiences of the virtual winter feasts in the lodg altar are sometimes a bit more raucous than they ever were in person 😊 😅
 
In the final meeting of this year we will celebrate life and give thanks for all we have received. While life can sometimes be a struggle it is good to remember there is also much to celebrate. As well as celebrating the current season this meeting will include receiving what we need to support us through the long winter months and giving thanks for all the support we have received through the year. 

There will be song, dance and general merriment and while we may not be in the same room, or even in the same country, we will celebrate the season, ourselves and each other.

There will be a visit to the LODG altar for the annual winter feast and In keeping with the season of giving and receiving we will receive a gift from the spirits to support us through the winter and also offer a gift to to give thanks for all the support and guidance we have received.

1st Journey – drum journey
Going on a Journey to be shown how to celebrate life and ask my spirits how to celebrate them

2nd activity – Celebration Singing and Dancing to We are One by Rainbow Spirit Oregon (can find it on YouTube.
The Dance
As go in on 4 beat raise hands as if gathering up
As walk out lower hands as if giving thanks
Walk Around as if going hand over hand with others in the circle
The Song
We are one in harmony singing in celebration / We are one in harmony singing in love x2We are one singing in celebration / We are one singing in love x2

3rd journey – in pairs – Witnessed interactive journey
Journey to ask the spirits for a spiritual gift to support me through the winter
Partner A journeys to their spirits with the above intention and speaks the journey out loud while partner B witnesses the journey from between the worlds. When the journey has ended partner A stays in the journey and partner B asks their spirits for a gift to thank them for all the support Parter A has received.  (the gift is of course coming from your spirits through you to their spirits)

4th Journey – Acted out drum journey – Journey to the lodg altar / room to take part in the winter feast and to receive a gift to remind me to continue to celebrate life  (receive something from altar and put something on it for someone else in lodg to collect)

11th & 12th November 2023 – The Staff, the Song and the Ancestors – working with Seidr

Face to face on 11th – run by Shenoah and David face to face
Zoom on 12th – run by Shenoah on Zoom

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The first LODG seidr day was in 1998 and interestingly also had the focus of Ancestors.  I am running both a face to face and an online meeting as there are very few opportunities to work with seidr on line, and even fewer opportunities face to face.  Working with the song and the staff is also my special interest and I love sharing the practice. What to do with a rattle and a drum is fairly clear, but how to work with a staff is more of a mystery and it often happens people have had a staff leaning against a wall for many years.  

November will be our annual meeting working with Seidr. There will be two sessions. One face to face on Saturday 11th November in Vauxhall, London, The other online on Sunday 12th November. When confirming attendance please confirm if you will be coming to the face to face or online meeting or both.

Journeying on song with a staff is my favourite way of working with the sprits. It is a freer yet focussed and power filled way of working that offers a different experience than journeying with the drum or rattle. Being able to sing in tune is not required, it is our intention and the power it carries not how it sounds that is important. 

At this meeting we will use the medium of seidr to work with the ancestors. We will explore how the ancestors can support us in our lives and how the practice of seidr is as relevant today as it was in the time of the Vikings.  As well as working for ourselves we will work together as a group in a community seidr ceremony. 

1st Journey – singing self on journey with staff
Going on a Journey to meet an ancestor to ask how they can support me in my life
If you have not worked with a staff before or do not have a seidr teacher go with one of your known helpers. Talked about blood, milk and story line ancestors prior to the journey

2nd journey in pairs – Blessing from the ancestors
The client sings the seidr worker on the journey at the start and back at the end of the journey then swap. Recipient decides what they want a blessing for
Going on a journey to ask for a blessing from the ancestors for (insert partners name and what they want a blessing for)

3rd journey – Community Seidr, both days we did the same intention – to Send the Healing Needed at this Time to the World Tree
Face to Face Seidr – Participants sang 4 seidr workers who were sitting on the seidrhjel to gather the healing power from the spirits and song and deliver it to the World Tree. When the work was done the seidr workers took personal questions
Zoom Seidr – Community Seidr – All participants perceived themselves standing around the world tree with their staffs touching it and singing. They asked for the healing power from the spirits and ancestors and delivered it to the World Tree

14th October 2023 – Personal Transitions and the Turning of the Year

Run by Shenoah on Zoom

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There are many transitions we go through in our lives. Whether related to rites of passage, age, birth, death, family, relationships, work, healing or spiritual, we can find support from the spirits and the land. 
By connecting the turning of the year as nature makes its own transitions, we can tap into the energies of that season to support us make our own.
At this meeting we will connect to the flow of this season to support us in our own transitions, whatever they may be. 

First Journey – Drum journey
I am going on a journey to meet a transitioning nature being to ask for a teaching about transitioning at this time of year

Second Journey – Acted out Journey
Journey to (nature being you met before) to merge with it and receive the support I need for my transition (or you can name what the transition is)

Third Journey – Partner work
Asking for a blessing so (insert partners name) can transition (or insert what their transition is) with grace and ease
Connect with your own spirits and also the nature being from the previous journeys
Share and swap over

Ended the meeting by rattling and singing to give thanks

9th September 2023 – Personal Healing

Face to Face with Shenoah & David

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There are many forms of shamanic work that can support our personal healing journey. At this meeting we will explore different healing techniques and receive the healings we need at this time. As well as working for ourselves we will be working with others and in nature.

1st Journey – Asking my spirits for the healing I need at this time
Create a representation of yourself either on the floor or a chair. Call your spirits and allow them to guide you to do the healing you need for yourself on your representative using your own rattle / drum / songs.

2nd Journey – in Vauxhall Park – Going on a walking journey to meet a plant who will support me in my healing journey
Choose something specific you want to work with and state your intention before starting your walking journey. When you find the plant that wants to work with you sit with it, expand so your energies are merged and receive the healing – may be received as energy information etc.

3rd Journey – acted out partner work. Do it one way and then swap over
Going on a journey with my healing teacher to do a tunnel clearing for (insert partners name)
Go into your own tunnel/passage as if you were going into your lower world but do not go out of the tunnel. Let the spirits do the work. You do not decide the form of the healing or what happens. Do not make assumptions about anything you are shown – something you may think of as insignificant may be very important for the person the healing is for. You may be the witness to the spirits doing the healing or they may ask you to do something specific.

Share the experience with your partner in an empowered way. How you tell your partner about it is part of the healing. Swap over.

12th August 2023 – Guardianship of the Land

run by Shenoah on Zoom

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The land feeds us, clothes us, offers shelter and beauty but it is increasingly threatened in both big and small ways.
At this meeting we will look at how deepening connection with a specific area and the spirits of that area can show us our part in protecting, supporting and living in harmony with nature and the land. 
As we create connections with the land so we come to know our place in the world and understand we are part of nature, not separate from it. The development of this connection can bring a feeling of richness and abundance to our lives and also a sense of belonging.
Many thanks to Jutta for suggesting the theme for this meeting. 

1st Journey
Going on a journey  to … (insert the name of place if you know it)  or to be shown the land that is willing to work together. Meet the / a spirit of that land who is willing to speak on behalf of the land 

On the journey ask to be shown anything it is important for me to know about the land – e.g history, how it feels about humans, what to to be aware of about it, what it wants for itself

2nd Journey
Going on a journey ask what the land and the land spirits need from me as a guardian and how to honour and live in harmony with them

3rd Journey – acted out journey
Going on a journey to create a totem with the land to keep  us connected

Make it on the journey, you and the land may be putting spiritual energy / words / focus etc into it

4th Journey – blessing
Everyone shared their totem and put it virtually into the middle of the circle. With song and rattles we asked the spirits for a blessing for our relationships and guardianship of the land.

11th July 2023 – Drawing Strength from Nature to Face Life’s Challenges

Run by Shenoah & David in Kensington Gardens, London

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Saturday 8th July will be our annual outside meeting and a celebration of the life of Karen Kelly who, along with David,  was one of the Lodg founders. We will be meeting outside in Kensington Gardens and the meeting will be run by Shenoah and David.  We meet under a grove of trees which gives protection from the sun and have an alternative sheltered place to work if it is wet. Connection and learning from Nature is one of the foundations of shamanic work and even in the city nature is all around us and we can connect with and receive wisdom from the spirits. At this meeting we will connect to and work with the spirits of nature and the land in Kensington Gardens to ask for help and resources to meet life’s challenges. Many thanks to Bebetta for suggesting the theme. 

We will be having a picnic so please bring food to share.  There will also be a give away so you are welcome to bring anything shamanically or spiritually focussed that is ready to be passed on. Everything will be put on a blanket for others in the group to take. If anything you bring is not taken you will need to take it home with you. 

1st Journey – Walking Journey
I am going on a walking journey to meet a tree to ask for a teaching about ow to manage adversity

2nd Journey – Working with the spirit of place
I am going on a walking journey to find a power place to ask to receive the power I need at this time to support me in my life.

Break for the second sitting of the picnic

3rd Journey – finding a power object for a partner
Walking to journey to find an object to help my partner keep connected to the help received today and to find some objects to honour Karen.