I have now been to 2 new aya ceremonies. On the first I was very sick, purging out all the stress and illness I had accumulated again since my time with Ross in Peru. I had a difficult journey but Sarah and Ross sang our ayahuasca songs to me and made me better.


Then they gave me a floral bath and I was well. My second ceremony was much better and I realised I am God and the universe is inside me and so I am very powerful indeed.



On the course I also learned to talk to plants and sing their songs, understand the core principles of all shamanic herbalism so now I can prescribe plants effectively for any client, and I followed a shamanic diet with White Rose so had her as an ally (or at least I did until 7.31pm that night when my diet ended providing I didn't have sex, drink alcohol or eat sausages until then).


Back again soon with pictures of my Soul Retrieval and Shamanic Healing Course certificate. With many thanks to Ross and Sarah - I passed!

Ezekiel
Indie Shaman

How time flies! I'm soon to attend Ross' Soul Retrieval and Shamanic Healing course so here's some more first about my experiences earning my Shamanic Practitioner Diploma.


My favourite part of the course was the plant spirit work: listening to the whispers of the plants divulging their secrets to me. This spirit to spirit communication feels very natural and I’m looking forward to working more with plant spirits on my shamanic path and singing more songs of nature. Creating plant perfumes in the rain was more fun than I anticipated and I thought my own concoction (for love, if you must know) looked particularly pleasing to the eye in one of Ross’ hand-painted bottles.

Mesa work and the medicine wheel

I was feeling a little sad when the course was almost at an end – we had learned so much that I couldn’t possibly blog it all but I feel brand new and by the looks on the faces of the other course participants, they shared this feeling I have inside ...

... and I must have done OK on the course as at the end I was awarded my certificate!

Here are a couple of my new friends all with our certificates

It's so exciting me getting my first ever 'ology and now having a Diploma in Shamanic Studies I think you might want to see a close up so here it is :-)


As I said at the start of today's blog I'm staying with Ross and Sarah in Spain a bit longer so I can join in with the next course too. So do catch up with my blog again soon!

Many hedgehog blessings
Ezekiel
Indie Shaman

A Very Shamanic Hedgehog

Hi again to all my friends. I'm back with some more tales about my exciting and educational experiences on Ross Heaven's Course in Shamanic Healing in Spain.

We made many drum journeys to explore the spiritual realms available to us and afterwards we sat and discussed our experiences. I enjoyed the sharing of our journeying stories and these were some of my favourite moments. It’s funny how themes started to emerge within the group and it was already starting to feel like we’ve all been brought together at the perfect time.

This was a big drum for a small hedgehog but I managed to make a big noise, providing I remembered to keep my nose out of the way.

Power and soul retrieval were challenging for me: old fears and beliefs arose in us as we learned to work with the techniques, but we were such a close knit group by then that we worked together to heal and support each other as these issues came to light. I feel like I’ve made so many good friends here!

With Teresa in the workroom

We learned methods of shamanic counselling – guiding people to find their own power and retrieve lost parts of themselves appeals to me as it’s so empowering for the person you’re working with. I personally found the blessing ceremonies wonderful to take part in and afterward felt energised and, funnily enough, blessed!

Gold and Shadow Counselling

"King Ezekiel awaits counselling from the Merlins"

Well I felt like a King! That's all for now. Back again soon with the rest of my blog from Ross' course.

Yours, blessed and passing on the blessings
Ezekiel
(aka Shaman Sham, Indie Shaman)

Viva España

Here I am when I landed safe and sound in Montefrio, but a bit green around the gills. I'm still not used to airmail! As Ross said it's a good job that hedgehogs are well known for their ability to breath plastic. Although of course he meant only very special hedgehogs like me. Plastic is very dangerous for ordinary hedgehogs who can't breath through it at all.


Here I am with Sarah who showed me around the workroom. I was a bit nervous at first to meet all the new people who were also taking the practitioner course but soon after meeting them we were all chatting away like family. Everyone was excited at the prospect of Ross' course in shamanic healing and I was looking forward to using some of the skills I've picked up on my travels.

Ross explained the medicine wheel, the cosmology of the shaman and how we traverse these different worlds to seek information and allies with whom we work in partnership to facilitate healing.


We learned how to diagnose energetic imbalances in each other using sage smoke and pendulums, agua de florida and jungle tobacco. I found the gazing techniques more difficult but was assured that I will improve with practice.


Here I am dowsing Boris for energy imbalances. I discovered that Boris, while very pretty, is quite depleted in energy due to being dead.

Feathers can be used to realign energies and I have become fond of using a white duck feather to move energy within a client’s body. We learn how to rebalance the energy body and clear the chakras, so that any further healing work will flow freely through the client. Then Ross demonstrated extraction techniques during a spontaneous healing need that arises in the group! This leads us on rather appropriately to the methods used by shamans to extract unwanted energies from them.

I'll be back next week to tell you more so do visit me again soon. I'm on Facebook too at facebook.com/shaman.sham

Many blessings
Your friend
Ezekiel (aka Shaman Sham)

Hi all

I hadn't been back home with Indie Shaman very long when my good friend Ross Heaven invited me to attend his Shamanic workshop in Spain. I'm going to learn how to become a shamanic practitioner and healer! This is a unique 14 day course at at the Hummingbird Retreat Centre in Spain from 9 - 22nd April. I think there may be a very few places left so if you want to book one and join me contact Ross soon.

So as soon as I've had a good rest and caught up on my jet lag I'm off again to Spain. I had started packing but June said I wouldn't need any of the things I had borrowed so I put them back. I can't decide which amulet to wear though so I may wear both of them.

I may not be able to blog for a while until I've arrived in Spain and I believe Indie Shaman is closing for a week at the beginning of April too. Something to do with June and Simon needing a holiday. The Indie Shaman forum will still be open though under the very capable hands of Cathy.

So until I'm back on here again here are a few hedgehog facts for you courtesy of Secret World Wildlife Rescue (p.s. If you want to adopt a hedgehog, or an owl, fox, badger or otter ... but hedgehogs are best honest .... just click on the link).

* Hedgehogs have poor eyesight, but our hearing and sense of smell is very sharp
* Hedgehogs are born blind and our vision starts to develop two days after birth
* Hoglets leave their mother and their nest when they are 4-5 weeks old
* We used to live under hedges, but now, due to modern farming methods, we are almost reliant on gardens
* The biggest dangers hedgehogs face are: road traffic, garden chemicals, drowning (in pools and ponds when we fall in and can't climb back out steep sides), bonfires, cattle grids and garden machinery

So if you have a garden please think of my friends and family and make it hedgehog friendly.

Many blessings
Sham

Bye Bye to Texas, Hello Home and Happy Birthday

Ooops sorry I hadn't realised it had been so long since I last posted my blog! I had got rather sidetracked by setting up my new Facebook page . Do join me there as well. I can't write as much on there as I can on here but its good for keeping in touch with all my friends and for making new friends.

Yesterday I arrived back at home in the UK just in time for my birthday, today. I really had a wonderful time in Texas. The photo shows how Spring is coming already there - the peach tree is already in full bloom! Unlike the apple tree pictured below who still has her winter coat on but that will soon change; as you can see she has a few buds out.

You can probably also tell that I like sitting in trees. Unusual for a hedgehog I think! I'm always very careful getting up though so the trees don't mind and its a good place to sit and listen to them.

I helped with some more gardening before I left Texas. Here are some lettuces I helped plant. I also said goodbye to all my chicken friends. They have all grown a lot while I have been here and are now all laying eggs. I shall miss them very much.

A very big thank you to Sherry and her family for letting me stay plus a special big thank you to my new friend Jessica for the amulet she gave me. I hope you can see it in the photographs above. Its a fish she painted for me so very special to me as well as very lovely. As you may remember from earlier blogs I discovered my real name was Ezekiel the Fish during my ayahuasca journeys in Peru with Ross Heaven and Tracy Thornbury last August.

It's lovely also to be back home at Indie Shaman for my birthday. Indi said hello and didn't try to eat me at all so she must remember me a bit even though she has grown a lot since I last saw her. I will have to give a hand with the garden here as well as she seems to have dug it all up and it is now mostly mud and big holes!

Many thanks to everyone who has sent me birthday greetings on Facebook and promise to blog again soon.

Happy Winter Solstice and Christmas

Hi everyone

Just a quick blog to wish you all a Very Happy Winter Solstice (or Summer Solstice if you are on the other side of the world from me!). I've been chatting to my friend Indi who live with Indie Shaman in England and thought you might like to see the card she sent me. She wishes everyone a very Happy Solstice too.

I have the best present ever. Not only am I getting to stay with my new friend's in Texas over the festive period but I now have my own Facebook page, Shaman Sham. Do join me there. I will be posting all the pictures on there from all the lovely places I have stayed and all the lovely people I have met on my travels.

Talk to you all in the New Year. I am looking for new people and places to visit in 2011 so if you are interested in having me to stay do let me know. I am now quite a mature hedgehog (about 30 in human years) so a fully house trained guest and very well behaved, I promise!

You can contact me via Indie Shaman or my Facebook page. I usually only visit Indie Shaman members but if we know you and you are doing something interesting do send me a message.

In the meantime I wish everyone a Very Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2011!

Many blessings to one and all.
Shaman Sham x