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GQ Article – The Strange Boom in Shamanic Healing

Read the full article here

CamApril 1, 2020

Recent Posts

Hot on the healers: The best spiritual practitioners in London – Tatler Magazine
Are you having a spiritual meltdown? Best shamans in London – Evening Standard
Modern Masculinity and The Power of Shamanism – Interview with Starseeds
Article for Saiki Wellness
One of the capital’s top hotels is now offering a ‘spiritual concierge’ – The Metro

eddyelsey

After the recent video about entities and the like

After the recent video about entities and the like - I’ve had so many messages about people who’ve been told they have demons in them by healers. This is wild to me. As someone it’s happened to, as I said in the video, by a pretty well known healer too - I really sympathise.

Our own minds are enough for most people to deal with - let alone being told we have demons inside of us - especially without being told what these “demons” actually are.

The collective psyche, especially in Europe, has a deep rooted fear about these things. From the witch hunts, to the heavily inforced puritan Christian values and scare mongering about the devil, even in Hollywood where a new possession related film comes out every month - we have a lot of anxiety reserved for these images. As healers I really feel we have responsibility for this collective fear and it’s our job to reduce it - not whip it up in people. It’s like some holier-than-thou priest telling you you’ve got the devil inside of you.

Yeh? Welcome to the club!

There is a lot of responsibility in healing because of the power dynamics that occur between healer and client. The job is to give all of that power - which comes from spirit and isn’t our to keep - back to the person who needs it. Not to take any for ourselves by making sure they book another session, or scaring them into booking one in the first place. I don’t know how anyone would know for sure how somebody has an entity without going into trance anyway. It’s so easy for our minds to get in the way and tell us a little porky.

Just another rotten branch from the ascension tree that shames anything that isn’t pure 😢

I was at a festival once called Kiva. It’s held

I was at a festival once called Kiva. It’s held in different places around the world and this was one was in Cambridge in the UK. Wonderful indigenous teachers from all over the globe came to pray, give talks, hold ceremony and share their wisdom. It’s based around a dug out altar in the ground, where a sacred fire is kept for the duration of the festival - and there is ceremonies each morning and evening and the idea is to pray and give back to the earth.

On the last day, all of the Elders were giving their final prayers. It was beautiful - each of them sharing their cultures beliefs on what we need to do to re-balance the earth. After afew hours of this, even though what was being said was important, and true - the energy started to shift, as it does - and dare I say - it got a little bit too serious and spiritual.

Up jumped a Wixarika Trickster Shaman. This probably isn’t the right spelling but in their tradition they’re called Chiquaqui. He had swapped his sacred feathered hat with a punter for their sheep head beanie. And he waltzed into the middle of the circle and said:  “You see all of the trees around us. BURN THEM DOWN!”

“Fill the sea with Coca Cola!”

“More plastic!”

I was shocked to say the least. I don’t think I was the only one. He then got down on all fours and prayed as deep as I have ever seen to the earth. The other Elders watched with reverence.

The trickster is part of life. We have these voices in our head. We have destructive urges, and dark thoughts. By giving them a sacred place, and putting them out in the open - on the highest stage - you feed that which we are too terrified to even look in the face. If you can do that properly - it becomes an ally.

It is said that the hardest role a shaman can take is that of the trickster. To stay on purpose whilst dancing with these spirits is incredibly difficult. The discipline is amazing. When things get too serious they crack the energy with a dirty joke. When things get too jokey, they are the most serious in the room.

Without them - there is no balance. Lesson learned!

⁣The thing about life, is that life is messy. Fo

⁣The thing about life, is that life is messy. For most of us anyway. We go up, we go down. We feel comfortable, we feel uncomfortable. We grow, we don’t grow. We love, we hate. We laugh, we cry. We fuck and we fight. We’re the all-knowing-soul AND the absolute rascal of a monkey that laughs at the other monkeys playing with their dicks.

That will never change. We’re all on this crazy old carousel of love and loss and we feel every bump and grind along the way. You don’t have to associate with it all - but we’re going to have some form of neurosis whether we like it or not. ⠀
⠀
Why are people in the West so obsessed by growth? It’s like we’ve internalised capitalism. Whenever the going gets tough we decide we want something new. That carries into spirituality - of course it does - it’s our culture. You can’t untangle yourself from culture successfully just because you’re spiritual - it’s in your bones. So we want to ascend past our old life. Or do another 10 ceremonies. Or do a yoga teacher training and then guilt ourselves for still wanting to get bang on it on the weekends. Maybe even, you decide you can’t be friends with your friends anymore - that’s a sad day.⠀
⠀
The good news within all this. Is the only person putting pressure on you is you. We’re not gods. We have limits. We grieve. We fall apart. We overdo it. We look with wonder at the wonderful world we live on. Sometimes in horror too. We make mistakes. Graze our knees. But the ecstasy in life is because of our burdens. It’s through our limits that magic occurs. We’re meant to have limits. We’re meant to be wild!⠀
⠀
It is the fear, the awe, the pain and the pleasure that keeps us alive. Take a moment to wonder why you would ever wish to give up your imperfect and messy humanity. ⠀
⠀
Hold your loved ones tight. We are not here for long. Rejoice in the gift of your uncontrollable humanity.

Time for walkies 🐯

Time for walkies 🐯

A year ago today - speaking on a panel for @veneti

A year ago today - speaking on a panel for @venetialamanna with @brettcobley and @michaeljameswong - look how close we were all sitting! The good old days!

And a workshop - with real people all together in one room. Thank god for zoom but you can’t beat face to face!

It will soon come again 😊

Some tips to come back to your centre if you’re

Some tips to come back to your centre if you’re feeling a little untethered at the moment:

Depersonalise what’s going on. It’s happening - but it’s not happening because of you.

Summon up the courage to laugh. Even if it’s painful - like a dead leg.

Look in the mirror with your most serious face and see how long it lasts.

Get outside - even for 5 minutes.

Do one press up and then take a photo of yourself tensing.

Be a little bit naughty. Whatever that means to you.

Stop fighting yourself.

❤️

How can we as a community start to unpick the lies

How can we as a community start to unpick the lies and untangle ourselves from what’s going on?

The honest answer is I don’t have a clue. I suppose it is a personal journey.

My opinion is that people are completely free to believe in what they want to believe. Let’s be honest here - I spend 5 days a week drumming and taking advice off of invisible spirits that I met mostly naked in the woods. And I’m from Enfield. I can’t really talk.

The problem it seems is where a belief causes division. Is your belief taking you further away from a connected society? A community is not taking a group of like minded people somewhere to live in a bubble without opposition - that is a cult. A community is living peacefully and working with all different sorts of people who often don’t share any personal commonality. A bird can’t fly without both wings.

But any belief, and you can fill in the blanks here, that brings you towards a certain group of people whilst shaming and taking you further away from another group of people - is only creating a divide. That’s a big danger. It might not be one now - but over time that dehumanises either side, and within that dehumanisation absolute travesty occurs. It’s happened throughout human history. Exactly what are your ascending? The communists thought they were ascending in Russia. The Nazis thought they were ascending in Germany. Isis think they are ascending in the Middle East.

All members of those communities are full of love for their own. The issue is that through that love in their own cause they are dragged away from their humanity. The rule of ascension is literally to drag yourself away from humanity. To move past human experience with all the muck that comes with it. Into utopia. Why do you think people are saying the spiritual communities have been highjacked by far right thinking?

The idea of an ascended part of society - light workers and light beings and pure souls. Explain how that is different in its essence to any other idea that preceded genocidal thought?

We need to be very careful we don’t sow the seeds of pain.

Doing my best to be a Mongolian prince Don’t la

Doing my best to be a Mongolian prince

Don’t laugh

⁣Do you observe any taboos in your life or your

⁣Do you observe any taboos in your life or your work? ⠀
⠀
When I was younger I wanted pure freedom. A limitless life where I could come and go and do as I pleased. It sounds great, but - for me anyway - that life lacked the boundaries I needed to actually push on and make things happen. That could of been in work, or in relationships, or just in my personal expression. We need boundaries and limits - they help to contain our personal power and enable us to stand solid in ourselves.⠀
⠀
Within shamanism specifically - you have to prove to the spirits you work with that you’re committed. Because we lack a traditional holding with engrained rules and regulations for shamanising - this comes down to the persons personal relationship with the spirits they work with. ⠀
⠀
They’re quite simple and are all observed for 24/48 hours before any spiritual work. Luckily I’m quite busy now - but it means these can go on for days:⠀
⠀
No sex, masturbation or intimacy for 24/48 hours before any form of spiritual work. I’m married to the spirits in this time. So it means not even kissing - although I may sneak a smooch here and there. This is difficult - especially when you have a hot fiancé. She’s very patient 😅⠀
⠀
Daily offerings - feeding the land around where I live and work. Refreshing the offerings on my altar. This is a non negotiable - no gifts - no spirit!⠀
⠀
No booze or any form of drugs. I know it may seem as if I’m a complete pub hound but in reality I hardly drink. I make up for it when I have some time off!⠀
⠀
No junk food. I don’t follow a specific diet but I feel I work best if I work hungry.⠀
⠀
These all help me stay “clean” when I work with others. If I don’t do these things - the healings or ceremonies just generally aren’t very potent. Like I said - they’re pretty simple run of the mill things but they keep me honest. A little commitment goes along way!⠀
⠀
When I’m not working - I don’t observe these rules - and that helps me to separate from a pretty mentally taxing job and refresh myself for when I then work again. It’s needed, and just as sacred - because it allows me to go deeper with the work. Just like when you recover from the gym. Same same.

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eddyelsey

After the recent video about entities and the like

After the recent video about entities and the like - I’ve had so many messages about people who’ve been told they have demons in them by healers. This is wild to me. As someone it’s happened to, as I said in the video, by a pretty well known healer too - I really sympathise.

Our own minds are enough for most people to deal with - let alone being told we have demons inside of us - especially without being told what these “demons” actually are.

The collective psyche, especially in Europe, has a deep rooted fear about these things. From the witch hunts, to the heavily inforced puritan Christian values and scare mongering about the devil, even in Hollywood where a new possession related film comes out every month - we have a lot of anxiety reserved for these images. As healers I really feel we have responsibility for this collective fear and it’s our job to reduce it - not whip it up in people. It’s like some holier-than-thou priest telling you you’ve got the devil inside of you.

Yeh? Welcome to the club!

There is a lot of responsibility in healing because of the power dynamics that occur between healer and client. The job is to give all of that power - which comes from spirit and isn’t our to keep - back to the person who needs it. Not to take any for ourselves by making sure they book another session, or scaring them into booking one in the first place. I don’t know how anyone would know for sure how somebody has an entity without going into trance anyway. It’s so easy for our minds to get in the way and tell us a little porky.

Just another rotten branch from the ascension tree that shames anything that isn’t pure 😢

I was at a festival once called Kiva. It’s held

I was at a festival once called Kiva. It’s held in different places around the world and this was one was in Cambridge in the UK. Wonderful indigenous teachers from all over the globe came to pray, give talks, hold ceremony and share their wisdom. It’s based around a dug out altar in the ground, where a sacred fire is kept for the duration of the festival - and there is ceremonies each morning and evening and the idea is to pray and give back to the earth.

On the last day, all of the Elders were giving their final prayers. It was beautiful - each of them sharing their cultures beliefs on what we need to do to re-balance the earth. After afew hours of this, even though what was being said was important, and true - the energy started to shift, as it does - and dare I say - it got a little bit too serious and spiritual.

Up jumped a Wixarika Trickster Shaman. This probably isn’t the right spelling but in their tradition they’re called Chiquaqui. He had swapped his sacred feathered hat with a punter for their sheep head beanie. And he waltzed into the middle of the circle and said:  “You see all of the trees around us. BURN THEM DOWN!”

“Fill the sea with Coca Cola!”

“More plastic!”

I was shocked to say the least. I don’t think I was the only one. He then got down on all fours and prayed as deep as I have ever seen to the earth. The other Elders watched with reverence.

The trickster is part of life. We have these voices in our head. We have destructive urges, and dark thoughts. By giving them a sacred place, and putting them out in the open - on the highest stage - you feed that which we are too terrified to even look in the face. If you can do that properly - it becomes an ally.

It is said that the hardest role a shaman can take is that of the trickster. To stay on purpose whilst dancing with these spirits is incredibly difficult. The discipline is amazing. When things get too serious they crack the energy with a dirty joke. When things get too jokey, they are the most serious in the room.

Without them - there is no balance. Lesson learned!

⁣The thing about life, is that life is messy. Fo

⁣The thing about life, is that life is messy. For most of us anyway. We go up, we go down. We feel comfortable, we feel uncomfortable. We grow, we don’t grow. We love, we hate. We laugh, we cry. We fuck and we fight. We’re the all-knowing-soul AND the absolute rascal of a monkey that laughs at the other monkeys playing with their dicks.

That will never change. We’re all on this crazy old carousel of love and loss and we feel every bump and grind along the way. You don’t have to associate with it all - but we’re going to have some form of neurosis whether we like it or not. ⠀
⠀
Why are people in the West so obsessed by growth? It’s like we’ve internalised capitalism. Whenever the going gets tough we decide we want something new. That carries into spirituality - of course it does - it’s our culture. You can’t untangle yourself from culture successfully just because you’re spiritual - it’s in your bones. So we want to ascend past our old life. Or do another 10 ceremonies. Or do a yoga teacher training and then guilt ourselves for still wanting to get bang on it on the weekends. Maybe even, you decide you can’t be friends with your friends anymore - that’s a sad day.⠀
⠀
The good news within all this. Is the only person putting pressure on you is you. We’re not gods. We have limits. We grieve. We fall apart. We overdo it. We look with wonder at the wonderful world we live on. Sometimes in horror too. We make mistakes. Graze our knees. But the ecstasy in life is because of our burdens. It’s through our limits that magic occurs. We’re meant to have limits. We’re meant to be wild!⠀
⠀
It is the fear, the awe, the pain and the pleasure that keeps us alive. Take a moment to wonder why you would ever wish to give up your imperfect and messy humanity. ⠀
⠀
Hold your loved ones tight. We are not here for long. Rejoice in the gift of your uncontrollable humanity.

Time for walkies 🐯

Time for walkies 🐯

A year ago today - speaking on a panel for @veneti

A year ago today - speaking on a panel for @venetialamanna with @brettcobley and @michaeljameswong - look how close we were all sitting! The good old days!

And a workshop - with real people all together in one room. Thank god for zoom but you can’t beat face to face!

It will soon come again 😊

Some tips to come back to your centre if you’re

Some tips to come back to your centre if you’re feeling a little untethered at the moment:

Depersonalise what’s going on. It’s happening - but it’s not happening because of you.

Summon up the courage to laugh. Even if it’s painful - like a dead leg.

Look in the mirror with your most serious face and see how long it lasts.

Get outside - even for 5 minutes.

Do one press up and then take a photo of yourself tensing.

Be a little bit naughty. Whatever that means to you.

Stop fighting yourself.

❤️

How can we as a community start to unpick the lies

How can we as a community start to unpick the lies and untangle ourselves from what’s going on?

The honest answer is I don’t have a clue. I suppose it is a personal journey.

My opinion is that people are completely free to believe in what they want to believe. Let’s be honest here - I spend 5 days a week drumming and taking advice off of invisible spirits that I met mostly naked in the woods. And I’m from Enfield. I can’t really talk.

The problem it seems is where a belief causes division. Is your belief taking you further away from a connected society? A community is not taking a group of like minded people somewhere to live in a bubble without opposition - that is a cult. A community is living peacefully and working with all different sorts of people who often don’t share any personal commonality. A bird can’t fly without both wings.

But any belief, and you can fill in the blanks here, that brings you towards a certain group of people whilst shaming and taking you further away from another group of people - is only creating a divide. That’s a big danger. It might not be one now - but over time that dehumanises either side, and within that dehumanisation absolute travesty occurs. It’s happened throughout human history. Exactly what are your ascending? The communists thought they were ascending in Russia. The Nazis thought they were ascending in Germany. Isis think they are ascending in the Middle East.

All members of those communities are full of love for their own. The issue is that through that love in their own cause they are dragged away from their humanity. The rule of ascension is literally to drag yourself away from humanity. To move past human experience with all the muck that comes with it. Into utopia. Why do you think people are saying the spiritual communities have been highjacked by far right thinking?

The idea of an ascended part of society - light workers and light beings and pure souls. Explain how that is different in its essence to any other idea that preceded genocidal thought?

We need to be very careful we don’t sow the seeds of pain.

Doing my best to be a Mongolian prince Don’t la

Doing my best to be a Mongolian prince

Don’t laugh

⁣Do you observe any taboos in your life or your

⁣Do you observe any taboos in your life or your work? ⠀
⠀
When I was younger I wanted pure freedom. A limitless life where I could come and go and do as I pleased. It sounds great, but - for me anyway - that life lacked the boundaries I needed to actually push on and make things happen. That could of been in work, or in relationships, or just in my personal expression. We need boundaries and limits - they help to contain our personal power and enable us to stand solid in ourselves.⠀
⠀
Within shamanism specifically - you have to prove to the spirits you work with that you’re committed. Because we lack a traditional holding with engrained rules and regulations for shamanising - this comes down to the persons personal relationship with the spirits they work with. ⠀
⠀
They’re quite simple and are all observed for 24/48 hours before any spiritual work. Luckily I’m quite busy now - but it means these can go on for days:⠀
⠀
No sex, masturbation or intimacy for 24/48 hours before any form of spiritual work. I’m married to the spirits in this time. So it means not even kissing - although I may sneak a smooch here and there. This is difficult - especially when you have a hot fiancé. She’s very patient 😅⠀
⠀
Daily offerings - feeding the land around where I live and work. Refreshing the offerings on my altar. This is a non negotiable - no gifts - no spirit!⠀
⠀
No booze or any form of drugs. I know it may seem as if I’m a complete pub hound but in reality I hardly drink. I make up for it when I have some time off!⠀
⠀
No junk food. I don’t follow a specific diet but I feel I work best if I work hungry.⠀
⠀
These all help me stay “clean” when I work with others. If I don’t do these things - the healings or ceremonies just generally aren’t very potent. Like I said - they’re pretty simple run of the mill things but they keep me honest. A little commitment goes along way!⠀
⠀
When I’m not working - I don’t observe these rules - and that helps me to separate from a pretty mentally taxing job and refresh myself for when I then work again. It’s needed, and just as sacred - because it allows me to go deeper with the work. Just like when you recover from the gym. Same same.

Load More... Follow on Instagram

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