silenceseeker

Hello Coywolf and welcome. I'm glad the material on the site speaks to you, it seems to either connect with people strongly or not. One of the first steps in shapeshifting is to move your awareness into the animal of choice, it sounds like you do this naturally. The why you are drawn to move into them and understand them is another matter and something that would be good to explore. There are techniques to understand why you have that strong connection as well as to verify one's energetic origins but it's not something that can be described in a forum post unfortunately. I think there is definite merit to exploring your connection with wolves because by understanding the how and why you will then know what you can do with it. One thing you can do right now is use the recapitulation technique http://www.shamanscave.com/self-healing/the-recapitulation to explore that connection. You can recap your memories and feelings around wolves, etc. and see what it reveals about your emotional connection to wolves in your past. Sorry i can't be more helpful but some of what you're asking about is quite advanced techniques. Lorrie

Hi Douglas "What I "got" (later the same morning nixrana posted his response) was that "left side" was simply referring to that part of personal energy that is little-used, largely neglected, and lies outside of most people's awareness. "left side of your energy" says in 5 words what I just said in 16" I like that, it works for me. I would be submit that every thing and every event in the physical/material arena has a non-physical cause. I welcome any feedback on that statement. I would agree that everything exists as energy first before it becomes manifest in the physical. We view everything in terms of the 'three P's' (which there is an entire class devoted to). They are Potential, Possibility and Probability, which are the different states of the energy of the universe and where you choose to work when you use intent. So using intent in the realm of Possibility can create a greater probability for it to manifest in this world. Lorrie

I meant to add that there are some physical body correlations, such as the naval area being where we connect with the world.

In general, dreaming energy has been associated more with the left side and mind/reason with the right, maybe it has to do with the actual physical wiring of the brain. I remember back when I started here, I would often feel a presence behind me and to the left. It wasn't my death, it felt more like a person and I did not find it threatening. I'm pretty sure now that it was my loosely formed dreaming body. But that has gone away and I don't really think of the second attention in terms of physical coordinates. There might be some traditions that do work with accessing it that way though, I can see how that could work. Lorrie

Please check out our latest video on making a shaman's stick and subscribe to our channel. https://youtu.be/qOffuZ1eJMA Lorrie

Hi KAF, It sounds like your dreaming body is pretty active, not just when you are asleep. It is possible though for you to see and be split in two places (and even have interactions) when this happens, it's a matter of training your dreaming attention, right now you have your focus trained to be on your physical body. Lorrie

Oh. I've been waiting for someone to notice that they are claws they're not my hands tho.

Please check out our first test video, How to Make a Dreaming Stone. https://youtu.be/AHftiGrNENs

Here is a link to the discussion log from last Friday, 4/29/16 Thank you to all who participated.http://www.shamanscave.com/community/2016-04-29-public-discussion-on-dreaming See you at the next discussion! Lorrie

Just a reminder that we are having our public dreaming discussion Friday, 4/29/16, in the public chat channel http://www.shamansca...unity/live-chat at 9PM ET with Niteshad and other ShamansCave faculty. We hope to see you there. Lorrie

Discussion on Dreaming Practices 4/29/16 9:00 PM -10:00PM ET (US) Please join Niteshad* and other Shamanscave.com faculty in our public chat here for a FREE talk about Dreaming Practices of the Maker tradition. Ask any questions you have about dreaming to Niteshad. Learn what Active Dreaming and Awake Dreaming are and how they're used in the Maker tradition. Learn why the Makers don’t use lucid dreaming or dream interpretation but instead have their own unique approach to dreaming practices. Although the topic of the chat is on dreaming, any questions about the Makers, ShamansCave or shamanism in general are welcome. The link to the chat is here and on the home page: http://www.shamanscave.com/irc/irc.html Hope to see you there! Lorrie

That is a good article and it touches upon what you will be learning and working with in the first tier classes. Lorrie

Hi Douglas, I'd like to add something to this. Yes, of course there is unity in all things. This is how the shaman shapeshifts into a bear, hawk or jellyfish, because they are already a bear, hawk or jellyfish or whatever they choose to move into. It's how the shaman bi-locates because they are already where they intend to go. It's also how the shaman can heal, because they can recognize the patient's energy as connected with their own. The belief of 'otherness' is the illusion that is made 'real' through the agreement of culture - and I refuse to agree. I do believe that deep down, everyone of us knows that we are all connected, it's just a matter of removing the blocks that were put in place so you can see it. I invite you to see if for yourself, you can actually discover the answer to these questions for yourself. All the answers you are getting here were gotten from each of our own personal experiences. We weren't told the answers, we were given the tools to get them for ourselves. Lorrie

Hi Douglas, I would like to add that there are theistic and non-theistic Makers. Niteshad is a non-theistic Maker. I believe what he meant by what you read is not that the underlying energy of the universe is not sentient, it is, it's very sentient and how everything is connected and it has its own universal intents. It's just that in the non-theistic view, there is not a divine purpose for humanity or anything else, although the theistic Makers view holds that there is. But even in this view, the purpose is nothing like a guidance in the sense that some religions hold. Your free will taps into the Personal Power that Ralph wrote about. Such freedom can be terrifying to confront but there it is, do with it what you will. Lorrie

Hello Joyfull, The answer is Yes, we think it's possible. Anything is possible if you allow it to exist as a probability To say with absolute certainty that it will be stopped is difficult to say as intent moves in very complicated and seemingly unpredictable ways. However, it is amazing to discover how often one can create a 'miracle' by pushing an intent into the right opening at the right time. For a situation like this, I personally will keep pushing the opening for that to happen as things can turn on a dime when so much is at state. Lorrie

You're welcome! The class description for the Recapitulation can be found here http://www.shamanscave.com/community/shamanism-classes and sign up page is here: http://www.shamanscave.com/classes/online-classes No matter where the issue lies, self-healing should help it.

It sounds like a possibility but it could also be that it is an energy pattern of your own working against you. But if this is not something that has been part of your life for some time and kind of random or sudden, then it's probably something external. We are just starting a new session, two classes: Recap and Spirals work on healing past patterns and retrieving past intents and learning how to work with intent, they might be helpful to you. Recap I starts this Tuesday and Spirals I starts this Thursday. You can try out the basic recap using the link I posted above. If you do, I would start with the memories involving and surrounding the homeless man and especially the ones involving feeling attacked and oppressed, It should help to alleviate/release the emotions you have still connected to him. It can also help point you in the directions of other memories you need to work on. You could try this and see how it goes and see if you would like to do more through the classes. Lorrie

Hi Mklem, Yes. There are a couple of things you can do. First, you need to stop the attacks on your energy in dreaming. In the energetic world, things cannot take your energy without your agreement in some way. This doesn't mean that you openly agreed, it can be a more subtle type of agreement. They could play on your fears and desires, offering you something in response to them - say to protect you or please you. You want to form an intent before going to sleep that you will say No to any offers. Intent is a large subject and we devote several classes to it here so I can't really break it down all for you right now but if you set a thought before going to sleep and will it with all you can that you are not going to hold on to your energy and say no to anyone or thing that wants it. If you become aware in the dream, you will need to stand your ground there as well. There will be resistance when you do this from whatever it is, after all, they have been successful until this point. But the bottom line is they can't take it if you don't give it and no one has a right to your energy but you, so push back and they will eventually leave you alone. You can learn a little bit more about intent here:http://www.shamanscave.com/seer-path/intent-and-will/ The second thing you need to do is work on the ways that your energy is being hooked. Take a good look at the dreams you've been in and see where it feeds into the fears and needs of your life, the things that 'push your buttons.' Once you've identified them, you can work to self-heal the connection. You can work with the basic Recap exercise here: http://www.shamanscave.com/self-healing/the-recapitulation If it were me, I would work first with recapping the dreams themselves and take your energy back from them. Your goal is to reach a level of detachment where your energy can't be 'hooked' in the way it has. This type of detachment is not the same as losing interest in life or a sense of dread from a sense of disconnection with yourself. It's a position of strength where you are free to act with clarity and from your own sense of purpose in life. It's not an instant fix but once they let go, the nightmares should stop. You will still want to recover your energy from this experience though. Hope this helps

I've tried it, just out of curiosity so it was a very brief experience but I found that it messed with time -kind of stopped it or stepped outside the perception of it for a bit. No offense taken at all, it's just that we don't use tools as a regular part of our practice and I see this as a tool to use, so that's fine if people want to use that. I guess my reason for not using them is similar to Cyfnos's mention of the more natural state. When you use it, you are seeing through he 'lens' of its energy. I like seeing just on my own. Lorrie

Hello Mahkeis, Part of the beauty of the Maker tradition, I feel, is the focus on individuality.You are simply given the tools here and you create your own path, which makes it much more challenging in some ways. It can be both freeing and frustrating because it often seems that 'anything goes' because no one here is going to tell you what is right for you. We can't because this is a tradition of individuals. So no one requires you to choose here, you 'Make' your own path and you can certainly make it into the tradition you are trained in already. Someone could be a Maker and remain a devout Christian, they would have to create that unique path for themselves though. So if anyone leaves a particular path they're on, it's only because they choose to do so. Lorrie

Understood Mehkeis, Please feel free to contribute from your own perspective in the forums here, if you would like. As Beth noted, we are all moving toward the same end. Lorrie

Hi Mahkeis, Anyone who takes classes here starts at the beginning, regardless of the level of training they've had elsewhere. Many people who have had training elsewhere do not like this. We offer over 50 classes in total here but you will only see a few listed on the public site and this is the reason for it. People will have had training elsewhere and ask to join more advanced classes but we require that you go through the process from the start. The biggest reason for this is not that we doubt your ability or knowledge, it's that this is a tradition with its own cosmology. It is contemporary in that it molds to the present culture and evolves along with it. But it does stay very true to itself, meaning it doesn't take on other traditions and incorporate their teachings into its own. So one needs to learn the cosmology and become familiar with how the tradition moves and it all starts with the beginning level classes. Some people are offended by it, they feel that we are not honoring their current level of training. It's not that, it's that we need everyone to be on the same page with this training as it moves in its own unique path. I am willing to bet though that it would not be boring or repetitive for someone who has trained elsewhere. I think you would still find plenty of new ways to work with energy. The reason for that is that the exercises given in the classes are essentially bottomless, they're true energetic movements. You can work them over and over, always moving deeper. There's always something new to discover. Hope this helps, Lorrie

Welcome Narael, I'm going to say pretty much what Michelle has already said. You learn to see it as a true gift and understand that the people who shun you are the ones that don't have the gift and therefore are speaking from a place of ignorance and fear. Eventually, you learn to feel compassion for them and see humanity in a larger perspective where social divisions really don't matter much. Lorrie

Best wishes to you Sofia, I'm glad you found what you needed here. Lorrie

Hi Sophia, All the times for the courses are given in U.S. Eastern time zone hours which is UTC/GMT -5 hours. We have a number of people from Europe who take classes and also ones who teach them so it is possible to take them but it might be very early morning hours for you. All you really need for your computer to take them is a web browser. If you have a chat client already, you can use that but it's not necessary. There is a link for the class room that you can open in just about any browser. There is an underlying energy that flows through everything in this universe that is called, 'intent.' Without intent, nothing moves, it is the animating force of the universe. I know you asked the meaning of the word to get a better grasp of the definition but it is important to point out that 'intent' is only a word that attempts to describe something that can't really be expressed in words, only felt. What the Spirals class does it teach you how to first connect with the feeling of that energy and then learn how to start using it first, to heal your past intents and next, learn how to start creating new intents that will bring you the life you choose to have. I know that there are others here, who English is not their first language, who may be able to speak better on this but I think it is the same for native English speakers, in order to get the meaning of the lessons, you need to connect with the energy of the words. Lorrie