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 journey – Drum 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.

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)

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

Information circulated
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

Run by Shenoah on Zoom

Information circulated
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

Face to Face with Shenoah & David

Information Circulated
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.

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.

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.

Run by Shenoah on Zoom

Information circulated
Those who work with shamanism often feel they are walking a shamanic path, and this can mean very different things to different people.  For some it is a sense they are here to do something specific with their lives. Others may feel they are know what that is while others do not quite know what this is or how to manifest it. For some it may mean living a life guided by the spirits or living as much as possible in harmony with the cycles of nature or supporting others.
The beauty is that it is always an individual path and experiencing the unfolding of our lives in connection with the spirits brings richness and deepening.
At this meeting we will explore our personal shamanic path including what areas we are ready to develop, what it means to walk a shamanic path and to receive the resources we need to be true to ourselves and the spirits as we walk it.Many thanks to Nina for suggesting the theme for this meeting. 

1st journey – drum journey
I am going on a journey to ask my spirits to show me what walking my shamanic path means for me and the spirits and to give me a way to keep connected to my shamanic path (eg words, image, song, ceremony)

2nd Journey – drum journey – acted out
I am going on an acted out journey to ask my spirits to show me my next steps to developing my shamanic path and what would stop me from taking the next steps

3rd Journey – Paired clearing with rattle and song
Asking my spirits for a clearing for what would stop (insert partners name) from taking their next steps.
Do it one way then swap over

4th Activity – Thank you song
Give thanks to our sprits, ourselves and each other. to also give thanks to Karen Kelly who was one of the people who started the Lodg group and recently died. It is Karen walking her own shamanic path and creating lodg that has supported hundreds if people over the years to deepen their own connection and follow their own shamanic paths.

Run by Shenoah and David face to face

Information Circulated
Many people have the wish to bring about changes in their lives. Making the change is often a struggle against inner thoughts and established habits and sometimes ends in the intention being discarded.  At this meeting we will be asking our spirits which inner thoughts or established habits within us, our inner demon, is ready to leave us.  

This meeting is based on work taught by Myron Eshowsky when he visited the UK in 2000. It should be noted that although Myron uses the word demons, he uses it only in the context of these inner thoughts and established habits and within the context of a specific cultural practice of creating spirit houses which we will explore during the meeting.
 
During the meeting we will be making a spirit house to house one of these inner demons. This small object will be made of air drying clay and you will need to bring a container to put it in to protect it on the journey home. The finished item will be no bigger than the palm of your hand..

There will be an additional cost of £2 for the clay.  Please bring something to work on – e.g a wooden or plastic board. You mat also want to bring items such as a knife or sculpting tools you can use when creating the spirit house. 

Myron Eshowsky is an inspirational teacher, shamanic healer and peacemaker. You can read about his work here http://myroneshowsky.com

1st Journey – drum journey
I’m going on a journey to meet the spirit of one of my inner demons that I am ready to let go of. (learn what it looks like, how it presents itself, its purpose, what it needs, how it wants the spirit house to look)

2nd Activity – Make the spirt house from air hardening clay
Make a spirit house for the demon. Do it in an intentional way, may want to sing / drum as you make it.

3rd Journey – drum journey
Journey to the demon, collect it and blow it into the house (much like a power or soul retrieval)

4th Journey – acted out journey to your own spirits (not the daemon)
I am going on a journey to ask where to put the spirit house, how often and for how long

5th Journey – singing
Asking for a song to help change my relationship with the demon

Run by Shenoah on Zoom

Information circulated
With the daily reports of local areas and wildlife being threatened, climate crises, near extinctions and disasters it is easy to become overwhelmed.  Each of us can have a part to play in bringing balance but it is sometimes difficult to know what it is it most important for us to pay attention to and what exactly we can do.  At this meeting we will work with our spirits and in ceremony to explore how we can make a difference in the world in a way that nourishes inspires and expands our awareness.

1st journey – personal journey – free style drum journey
Going on a journey to ask my spirits how they understand sacred activism and how I can best approach it

2nd journey – personal journey – acted out journey
If you know of a local or bigger issue that calls to you
Going on a journey to ask my spirits what is my part in defending / supporting / working with / advocating for …..

If you don’t now of a local or bigger issue that calls to you
Going on a journey to ask my spirits to be shown an issue I can support and to ask what is my part in defending / supporting / working with / advocating for …..

Third Journey – paired work
Ask the spirits for a blessing for the work (insert partners name) was shown
swap over

4th journey – group ceremony
Everyone in the group sending power using song / rattle / drum etc to the area they are working with

End with song
Earth, please make me a sanctuary 
Pure and holy, tried and true
And with thanksgiving, I’ll be a living
Sanctuary for you