For context, i’ve had health issues as long as I can remember. I’ve been experiencing a flareup of some of these issues. I live with a family member who is dogmatic evangelical Christian. They let me live here for free, which I’m grateful for because I don’t have other family I can live with, and my health has been shaky to a point where I haven’t been able to consider working. We live in the forest and there’s no public transportation. I haven’t found any resources to help me. Looking into disability.
This person is abusive and neglectful, and it’s near constant. Stress can make my health issues worse.
Since this is where I need to stay, is it possible for me to make peace with how they treat me even as they’re treating me that way?

Hello,

I have bipolar 2 and i dont want to risk going to psychosis but my sould is stuck. Its down there crying xscreming covered with lots of anger shame lust etc etc that came from trauma. I have heard that a shaman can retrieve it back to me without me having to drink ayahuasca, is it true?

"In the West African nation of Benin, Vodun, an ancient spiritual religion rooted in a deep connection between humans and nature, has become a primary tool for protecting the country’s disappearing mangroves. By invoking the authority of the Zangbéto deity, local communities and conservationists create spiritual sanctuaries that forbid the destruction of mangroves under threat of divine punishment."

The people I was living with came into some opiated hash. I usually did not smoke but I did buy a gram. I decided to smoke it by burning the whole gram under a glass on a pin. As I pulled in the smoke 3 ribbons of colored light threaded through my left eye, I was kneeling and then I fell over and passed out for a second or two.

Later in the same room three dark shadowy orbs about a couple inches across appeared a few feet in front of my eyes dancing and moving rapidly. Then they kind of went "uh oh" and shot up a tube over each one, which made them look like they were wearing witches hats. Shakespeare called his three witches the "Three Norns" who wove the fate of a man and is synonymous with other traditions. In another tradition they are called the weavers and weave our reality from behind the scenes.

This all happened in slum tenement housing. Later I moved to Yellowstone National Park to work for the summer. There was a point that jutted out into the Yellowstone Canyon that I and some Yale divinity students went to one clear night at 8000 ft. The clarity was phenomenal. I suggested we all lie on our back and look at the stars and suggested you could see unusual things on such a night by simply looking up into the star field.

Sure enough we saw three colored blinking lights in the outer atmosphere and directly overhead that were stationary and could not be explained. Probably the same colors that had been in the ribbons of light that wove through my eye when I passed out.

In the morning I dropped by the ranger station and discussed what we had seen the previous night. The ranger mentioned a strange report he had gotten this morning from someone from the same location where they had seen a golden haired man dressed in white stepping from an orb of light.

Woke around 5am, happy not to have had any weird dreams. Felt restless and overly warm, and drifted in and out of sleep until eventually sleeping and entering a dream where I was initially in a building/room where I was teaching cooking? I was with a class/group, a few different rooms, hands-on baking/cooking going on. Went up to another more central room, which was like an old farmhouse/Ballymaloe-style kitchen, old dresser and utensils. I could see in through a door with a glass panel; there was a group in here, went in to join them. Old equipment, picked up a bowl/food? Went back to another room/kitchen to show Lorain, who was in a kitchen with 2 other students, doing science work? Looked through the glass window of the door, saw she was busy and decided not to interrupt, knocked off the door when I swivelled to turn away, but held balance and went back to the "old room". Looked in the window and I saw the area was closed? There was a sign in the window with opening and closing times on a ceramic sign; the class was still actually going on. I took a picture of the sign, and the teacher was looking out. I went into and through the room and saw a rich, dark, thick vine over to the left; the texture was like dark purple yams but much thicker, like a tree trunk but wrought like a vine with several large appendages. There was an old woman reclining and relaxing on the vine, looked peaceful.

The room then became like a plant garden/arboretum with the most beautiful flowers hanging from the ceiling. I looked back and there were rays of light, wide beams, shining in with what looked like snow. I said, "Look, it's snowing." The snow was shining, almost like crystals, light, not heavy.

I turned back to the room, the plants were hanging plants, like a pitcher plant, and the flowers had several bulbous, drooping flowers that were in the shape of birds, looked like hummingbirds, colours of red, yellow, hundreds of plants on vines with multiple flowers on each. I took out my phone to take a picture of the flowers, they were so beautiful, I wanted to try and identify them, I wanted to bring one home. The flowers were so ornate and beautiful.

The group, all of us, went over to the "vine" and sat around a central table which was in the centre of the vines. To the back there was a large piece of wood, piece of the vine? Peeled of bark and had an orangey-yellow hue, like it was shaved. Someone I was sat with turned and said we should have given them some of this to bring home, dried — seemed like it was significant, it would have been a good thing to do.

Came back into the kitchen area, "Ben" was on his hands and knees looking for something. I saw a porcelain chicken on the table with a missing head; he was looking for the head to put it together as one piece. He said he wanted to take a picture of it completed — I felt he wanted to take it home.

Then the whole group left that area to go back around to an outside building — they wanted to show us the barn/storage area? One of the guys was excited (young, European, long hair, long beard). I asked him did he know what was going on; he said yes, they want to give us some dried rice? He kind of sang, higher, like lion in zion, and then said, "It's time, the buffalo soldier is coming."

We came around the corner and entered the barn. There was a man standing in front of a built BBQ/fire made of brick, with the fire table at around waist height; to the side there were metal bars. I said, "Oh look, it's Alex" (shaman from Cork ceremonies) — his left eye looked kind of white/milky, and his left arm was an elongated feathered wing; the rest of his body looked normal. He was cooking fish, not placing them on the fire but placing them up on the metal bars to the side. Someone else was cutting the head of the fish, not off completely; they were handing them to Alex to cook, and he was hanging the head over the bar. The cut through the fish was glistening silvery, light blood. I turned around to the right and saw stacks of corn, wheat, straw at the back all piled up, making their own flour. I felt beautiful, warm, love.

I turned back to see the shaman, and there was a younger lady (looked South American) seated beside him. I first thought she was holding a fish against her chest; she was looking at me, and as I looked closer she was actually breastfeeding a child who was under a throw.

When I woke I felt peaceful, happy, warm, lying in bed for 10–15 minutes just remembering the details of the dream. Then I looked at my watch and it was around 6:15, so I decided to get up and record the details in case I fell back asleep and forgot.

"As our cities grow, light pollution from streetlights, floodlights and buildings is spreading. As a result, it’s increasingly rare to see dark nights and starry skies near urban areas.

For Indigenous communities, this has a direct cultural impact.

Light pollution makes it near impossible to connect with the stars, and therefore share Indigenous sky knowledge with younger generations.

Light pollution also affects culturally important species. In Barapa Barapa culture, the microbat is a men’s totem and the nightjar is a women’s totem. Both are nocturnal animals that rely on darkness, so artificial light makes it harder for them to survive."

just wanted to share an experience my family had a few months ago

so i'm a few years into training in the Andean lineage. i'm still a student, but i grew up around these beliefs and practices cause there are a few shamans in my family, so working with the ancestors and other spirits has always been a normal part of life for us.

every spring we try to have an ancestor picnic. we find a peaceful place, bring food for ourselves, prepare food and offerings for the ancestors, spend time remembering the people weve lost, eat together, do a few simple rituals. it's my favorite family tradition.

my grandma passed away a few years ago, my grandfather is still with us. he'd always called her "little turtle" because she was always seriously late to everything :D

after we finished eating and making offerings, everyone was just sitting with the ancestors in their own way. then all of a sudden my grandfather told everyone to open their eyes and look, and there was this tiny little turtle sitting right beside him on the blanket.

it may sound insignificant to anyone who wasn't there but it was otherwordly at the time. my grandfather was smiling from ear to ear and it stayed with him until we left a few hours later. it just kind of hung out with us. when we left, we found it a nice safe spot nearby and said goodbye to it.

for us, we don't believe my grandmother literally became the turtle but we do believe that sometimes spirits can kind of share the body of an animal for a short while, just long enough to say hello or share some other message.

could it have been a coincidence? no doubt. i'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. i just know what that moment meant to our family and it is one of the most beautiful moments i've ever shared with my family.

if anyone else has had something like this happen i love these kinds of stories and hope you will share yours in comments 🙏

"Tomorrow’s doctors are learning from the oldest surviving culture. Aboriginal Australians have used native plants as bush medicine for tens of thousands of years. On Larrakia land, medical students are learning how nature can heal."

Hello, I am a few days into my Shaman journey (4 days to be exact). I have done 4 shamanic journeys using recorded drum/rattle sounds.

There's this water motif that keeps reappearing through brief flashes.

On my first trip I tried to go straight into the lower word (obviously with no success had no idea what I was doing just following Harners book). But there was a point where I got to like a barrier of horizontal 'water' and saw a hand touching it.

On the trip I had today (30mins). I had seen a vision of:

1) man, feet in shallow water top down view

2) then the same sort of hand reaching up/down this 'water' barrier (like on day 1). Couldn't tell if it was above or below. But it was almost like being in a swimming pool under the water and reaching your hand up at the surface. Don't think it was my hand either, just a hand?

3) Then there were visions of lots of ripples on the surface of water.

My intuition tells me this might be the barrier to the SSC and I somehow need to pass it. Like i'm nearly there but not yet.

I have attached photos that look like pretty much exactly what I was seeing.

Keen to hear if anyone else has had these visions? and what happened when they got more advanced?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Surging interest in the purported benefits of psychedelic drugs has given rise to books, documentaries and conferences dedicated to the mind-altering substances. Now add one more business to the list: psychedelic retreats.

Hundreds of outfits across the world are offering multiday trips where attendees pay for drug-assisted experiences claiming to promote psychological healing, personal growth and other benefits.

Many have safety procedures in place, but they still carry “potential for physical, psychological, and interpersonal harms,” researchers who surveyed dozens of retreats wrote in a recent paper in JAMA Network Open.

Fairy eve is night. I have been in the high hills and have seen. Tonight will be the night, the call has gone out. Watch your thoughts and guard the gates.

From the article:

• The rising global popularity of ayahuasca, driven by religious, therapeutic, and tourism purposes, has increased pressure on the Amazonian plant species used in its preparation, with reports of growing scarcity in some parts of the rainforest.
• The beverage’s distribution chain connects the forest to international markets through opaque flows that often border on illegality, in a scenario of regulatory gaps and lack of effective oversight.
• Researchers warn about the lack of basic data on the distribution, abundance, and exploitation of these plants, which makes it difficult to create management strategies and increases the risk of environmental degradation.
• Indigenous leaders also denounce the appropriation of traditional knowledge systems and call for global responses, such as the World Ayahuasca Forum, to expand their participation in decisions about the use of the beverage.

https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/global-pressure-on-ayahuasca-threatens-amazonian-plants-and-knowledge-systems/

I am new to spirituality, but deeply learning and trying to understand it all. I have a calling to work with my ancestors. It seems to be confirmed through my astrology, tarot readings, and mediumship readings that all things point to my ancestors. After learning that, I’ve decided to learn about my ancestors, their stories, and attempted to release them from their pain/shame. I don’t have the generational addictions my lineages have been stuck with. I try to do things differently as a cycle closer. I’ve done this for months and thought I completed it all. However, I must not be… I’ve had visions of animals and I’m often woken up to words. Last night, I woke up to “Ancestry work. Yin and yang. You have the element of wind”. I don’t understand what this means and perhaps I haven’t properly practiced the art of ancestry work. Maybe this will just be a lifelong endeavor?

Does anyone have any wise words or teachings about ancestry work they could share with me? It would be very much appreciated!

If so, I’d be grateful to hear your stories.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for recommendations for a genuinely gifted psychic medium or shaman in Northern California.

If you’ve personally worked with a shaman you truly believe has a real gift, I’d really appreciate your recommendation.

I’m willing to travel anywhere in Northern California.

Please only recommend someone you have personal experience with.

Thank you.

From wikipedia: Tuonela, literally "Tuoni's abode", is the realm of the dead or the Underworld in Finnish mythology. In Estonian mythology, the realm is called Toonela or Manala.

According to the Finnish pagan faith, the fate of good and bad people is the same and the dead wander the afterlife as shadow-like ghosts. In the Kalevala, Tuoni, god of the dead, and his wife Tuonetar, are the rulers of Tuonela. Although physical descriptions of Tuonela vary between different versions of the myth, a general description emerges from most.

In runic songs, Pohjola is often synonymous with Tuonela, though Pohjola has also gained additional meanings in epic poetry over the ages. In this tradition, the ruler of the underworld is the icy Loviatar. Northern peoples, including Finns, had certain dualistic views of the cosmos: on the lower side is death, dark, north and cold, as opposed to the upper side: life, bright, south and warm.

According to scholars Felix Oinas and Juha Pentikäinen, Tuonela is described as being at the northernmost part of the world but is sectioned apart from the world of the living by a great divide. In the divide flows the dark river of Tuonela. The river is wild, and the dead can be seen trying to swim across it. The dead must cross the river, either by a thread bridge, swimming, or taking a boat piloted by the daughter of Tuoni. The river is guarded by a black swan that sings death spells.

At times living people visited Tuonela to gather information and spells. The journey required a trip through thorn thickets and dangerous woods, and the defeat of the monster Surma, a flesh-tearing monster that works for the goddess of decay, Kalma. Once in Tuonela, the living were not allowed to leave. They would be welcomed by Tuonetar, who would offer them a memory-erasing beer to erase their former lives.

Shamans could visit Tuonela by falling into a trance and tricking the guards.

i'm so glad i found this community of people who understand how important animal guides are. i don't think i could live without mine.

my main 2 guides are a lime green poltys spider and a white ghost bat, they have been with me the longest, about 9 years each.

the spider came to me during a fasting time at my grandmother's cottage when i was initiated, and the bat came to me later that year in a "random" dream.

i would very much like to hear your stories if you have them!