Well, if you have been on my web site, which I don't have listed here, you will already have read the about me page and what I say about myself. I don't advertise here because I don't have any need to find clients.
I don't 'offer' anything other than someone to talk to. There are no workshops, no trainings or apprenticeships, no books written and no 'clientele'.
As I have already written above, I am a white, western female living in the UK and of mixed, Scottish, Irish, Gypsy and North European ancestry. One of my recent ancestors was from Ireland with the surname 'Drugan', the etymology of which goes back to the word Druid. Does this mean I AM a Druid? Perhaps not but there is possible a looooong line back to someone who was.
Back as a teenager, I went into the Methodist lay ministry for a while, it didn't fit. For the next 20 years or so you would class me as an atheist until a physical and spiritual crisis in my late 30's. There was no medical answer to my problems and given that I could hardly walk, this was getting to be very serious. No tests found answers or diagnosis and for 3 years I struggled to live both with the debilitating illness and the intense dreams and visions. The trouble is, I didn't know what the dreams and visions meant or even that they meant anything. In desperation I started looking at anything that could help me understand, including tarot which lead me to meet someone who seemed to have a different way of looking at the world and which matched what I instinctively felt too. From that moment on, I read about everything I could, met people, learned and healed amazingly quickly. At first the only people around me who shared this world-view were Core shamanic practitioners. I learned and found both help and problems. Some of what the Spirits were showing me didn't match the Core shamanic teachings. Without the Core shamanic stuff I may not have been lead to another teacher who IS of Siberian heritage and who's genuine, well grounded tradition would inform my own path.
I don't adopt her tradition or path, but instead simply follow what the Spirits indicate. Hence coming here when something doesn't feel right, so as to check and find other views. Just because I am white and western doesn't mean that I or anyone else doesn't have a genuine connection to the Ancestors and Spirits.
Although one could say that I have strong Scots and Irish heritage and I live here, there feels no need to reconstruct anything, become a druid, a 'celtic' this or that or use Gaelic since English is my native language and I use it. English is what the community that I am a part of understand and so that is what I use too, why would I use anything else? There is no need for me to find any kind of exotic label, name, status, language or anything else to give who I am, my heritage or what I believe more credence. I learn from everything and everyone but adopt nothing which isn't mine. A Nepalese shaman once told me, "take the wisdom from the ceremony, not the ceremony itself", absolutely!
Learning from different 1st Nation Elders, Sachems, Sangomas, Maribu-men and Shamans has taught me about the many and varied ways of working around the world. Not everthing is well informed and some supposedly unbroken traditions are anything but that. What seems to run within all these different cultures is the deep respect for Nature, the Spirits and Ancestors and for other people's spiritual experiences. Not one 1st Nation person I have met has challenged my spiritual experiences, dreams or visions as being spurious. In fact we have all been able to relate to certain similarities whilst honouring our often very different backgrounds, culture and heritage.
I've also come across incredible intolerance between tribes and between individuals who's own search for their heritage and inner turmoil expresses itself in name calling and bitterness. This is a sad reflection of their misunderstandings and fears rather than an indication of truth.
There are many wonderful people who the Ancestors and Spirits are trying to communicate with, bringing them to a different way of looking at the world than the Abrahamic cults of the Middle East. The problems which have brought this world to the current social, environmental and economic crisis cannot be solved by more of what caused them in the first place. Many white westerners are aware of this and need the guidance of wise elders, not the egocentric individuals or financial scam artists who this site is set up to identify. There is a need to separate the wheat from the chaff but also there has to be some open mindedness towards those who's path doesn't follow a clear lineage.
My screen name here, 'Saskia' is the diminutive of Alexandra, another of my Ancestors from Europe. I don't use my real name (though you will know it if you have been on my site) as I am not out to convert, covert, gain clients/students (as implied) or otherwise attract anything or anyone. If I were in the business of searching for clients, I would be doing a poor job of it since I don't come here often and completely missed a private message from one person for several months (my apologies). As a moderator, you must be able to see that I didn't read the responses to certain posts and so was not aware of this request for information.
In daily life I run a construction firm, outside of that, if someone comes to me for healing, I won't turn them away but nor do I charge for that either. A donation to a charity is appreciated though and that is entirely up to them if and when they do that. (this was one of the profound problems with core shamanism where my Spirits differed in their teachings)
Every person on the planet can be supportive of others and if the Spirits truly call us to help then what are we to do, go sit in a corner because someone might not like it? There are enough problems dealing with the horrors of the Catholic and Christian churches and their anti-pagan fears without having more divisions between the like-minded. The misunderstandings of white western people who seek to appropriate other cultures may not be wise and likewise the core teachings which attempted to address this, may not be the answer either when they offer prayer at a price or workshops to make you a great pooh bar shaman in 3 easy lessons. However somewhere in the middle is a path of integrity, learning and wisdom which we all have access to by right of being human. All cultures have historically been influenced by others they came into contact with and so it continues today. We can, as different cultures, choose to inform that path that others may follow by showing how to discern the difference between knowledge and wisdom, culture and personal experience, honesty and lies etc.
The term 'Shaman' has so much baggage now that it is almost redundant. From my own practice, I don't use it or any other name. Cunning woman may be a better fit but even then I don't feel qualified to use that due to my lack of deep knowledge of many local plants. A label just doesn't seem important, only honouring, helping and healing do.
If I was so remiss as to offer words of comfort to someone who bared their soul and experiences here then I wonder at the ethos of this site. I have never tried to hide the fact that I was once part of core shamanism but no longer follow a core shamanic route so yes, I have insight into that which perhaps people here do not. It is not ALL bad, there are some truly honest people with integrity and a deep spirit connection that brings healing to others. Most often these people have also learned from 1st Nation teachers and translated that wisdom into their own practice which doesn't appropriate their teachers culture. However to call them 'shameons' demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of the way that the Spirits work through those they call to service. Yes there are problems in Core shamanic and neo-shamanic groups but so there are in tribal and 1st Nation groups too.
Who am I? I ask myself that every day and the only answer is that I am me, a white, western woman in her 40s who was called by the Spirits at an early age, lost the way, was brought back to it and lives now to help and learn. Is that what you wanted?
