Did not know where to post this so here it is in ect........
http://www.uniondem ocrat.com/ news/story. cfm?story_ no=24770
Shaman guides students in quest
Published: October 23, 2007
By REBECCA HOWES
The Union Democrat
Drumming her way deep into the interior of the sacred self, Terrie
Victorino of Sonora guides others on a shamanic journey to explore the
dream the universe holds for everyone.
"A shaman is not something I call myself. Someone else calls you that,"
Victorino said. "I call myself a teacher."
Part Cherokee Indian, she sees herself as a facilitator assisting in
healing or a medicine woman.
"We can't explain shamanism. Does it matter as long as healing is invoked?"
she said. "I don't profess to be a healer. I give the tools and they heal
themselves."
Originally from Santa Cruz, she has studied, researched and practiced
shamanism for the past 20 years in an attempt to understand her heritage
and her ancestors. She moved to Tuolumne County four years ago to be close
to her parents, who live in Jamestown.
"I love the trees and the mountains and being outside," she said. "There is
a sense of community here."
As a student at Columbia College, Victorino was asked to speak in her world
religion and spirituality class on her knowledge of shamanism. Those who
listened told her she should teach classes, and she listened.
Preparing a syllabus and curriculum, she proposed the idea to Trudy Lackey,
coordinator of community education for Columbia College.
"Her knowledge of Native American spirituality impressed me," Lackey said.
"When I met her, I was convinced she should teach here."
Victorino began teaching the Wilderness Women Within class in Spring 2006
and was well received.
"Anyone who has taken her class has been very positive about the
experience," Lackey said. "I have been really pleased with her."
The class was so popular with the women that men started asking Victorino
if she would offer a Wilderness Men Within course.
"The women would come home and talk about the course to their husbands,
boyfriends and friends," Victorino said. "They wanted a chance to
experience it for themselves."
The class will be offered to men for the first time next spring.
Since the spring of last year, she has taught one other class — Shamanism
and Animal Medicine, which is an introduction to the spiritual and healing
practices of shamanism and soul retrieval. The awareness of animals and
their ability to assist people in their everyday struggles is also
addressed.
Her classroom tools consist of a smudging fan, a talking stick, drums and
rattles, all laid out on a red cotton cloth that symbolizes blood shed over
the years and in life. To get beyond this reality, students listen to the
continual sound of drumming, which puts them in a trancelike state
"The shaman deals with both sides of reality," Victorino said. "This
reality and beyond."
She offers a second class to her Wilderness Women Within that is not
offered through the college. Known as the Vision Quest, this course
involves several meetings, as well as course work designed to help students
get ready for the nine day excursion to the Mojave Desert. The preparation
for the trip is nearly a year long, and safety is Victorino's main concern,
so she requires every person to be CPR- and first aid-certified before they
leave for the journey.
A vision quest is a turning point in life taken to find oneself, Victorino
said. It involves going on a personal, spiritual quest alone in the
wilderness, usually lasting for a number of days. Victorino's nine-day
excursion involves a four-day period of solo time, which includes fasting
and solitude. Food is thought to be a distraction, and solitude allows
students to be tuned in to the spirit world.
During their alone time, each person treks out into the desert to choose
their spot. They are only allowed to bring two tarps, a sleeping bag, a
memento from home for support, a journal, if they choose to keep one, and
four gallons of water. Once they choose their spot, they come back to the
home base to show Victorino where they are camped.
"The reason they don't have tents on the four days is so they are not
enclosed or shut off from any lessons they are supposed to learn," she
said. "The elements can be our teachers."
There is a buddy system that involves stacking one rock on top of another,
a signal the person is doing fine, halfway between camps to further insure
the welfare of those participating.
"Usually, the third night, the women will have their vision quest,"
Victorino said. "It can be something you see or feel or a new view on
something — a healing."
For 10 years, Victorino studied with a female shaman in Santa Cruz. Several
years ago she went on her own vision quest to heal herself. For years she
suffered from grand mal seizures, and doctors could not understand explain
why.
"After my vision quest, I no longer had seizures," she said.
She has no great scientific or medical explanation for no longer suffering
seizures, but she believes everyone has a reason to seek answers, and
sometimes those answers can heal you.
"I am incredibly grateful to be allowed to teach shamanism. It is a dream
come true," she said as she choked on her words. "It's an honor to be
called shaman."
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