Spiritual Activism

Apolitical Spirituality is an Oxymoron

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Subtitle: Turning Off the News is Hurting People and What You Can Do Instead.

If we continue to separate politics from our spiritual life, we will wake one day and find we are being persecuted for our spirituality. It happened to shamans all over the world. The witches were persecuted. The monks in Tibet. The Uhygurs in China. The list goes on. Why do we think we are different? Even more poignant, why shouldn’t we care about others?

Pagan/shamanic cultural world view is that everything has a soul. Our entire experience of the world is about being in relationship with everything around us. We honor the collective soul. Cutting ourselves off from the collective is harmful to ourselves and to the collective.

But I am Preserving My Mental Health by Ignoring the News!

No one said that paying attention meant you had to run the woes of the world through your energetic system. That will make a person sick. It is perfectly alright to bracket your concerns and focus on key issues. 

We must weigh the mental stress the news causes us against the persecution that will happen if we stay idle. Also, take into consideration that taking action – in any form – is moving energy. Stagnant energy twists, degrades, sickens. Emotional response is grist for the mill. Moving energy is life, a salve to depression.

Think of the people that cannot ignore the news because they are already suffering under the harmful governmental policies. Yes, I am talking to the middle-class white part of my audience. Not acting in defense of the other is how Nazi Germany happened. Othering has been going on too long in this country already. We have been gaslit and psychologically traumatized into silent apathy, and we must fight to win our souls back.

Think of all that awareness we push underground to avoid the news. It has been growing in a deep storehouse of emotional energy, love and concern, fear and anger waiting for you to tap into it. When it comes out, it will be HUGE! Use it for whatever you see is fit for you in this time, in your life. To be fully yourself, show your colors, to honor and support others, to stand strong, to express your rage, your sorrow, to MOVE the energy. Create relationships with people not like you. Defeat Otherism.

The Writing on the Wall Couldn’t Be Clearer. Fascism is Very Near.

We are not immune. Our legal protections are diminishing every day. We cannot meditate or pray our way to freedom and true democracy. The whole notion of democracy is participatory governing. Living and acting in the mundane world!

We already have witnessed:

  • women traveling across states for critical medical treatment
  • state laws that require the 10 commandments be posted in schools
  •  children ripped from their parents at the border
  • our lives surveilled through the wires and cameras in almost every corner of public life
  • people losing their jobs because they publicly oppose genocide in Gaza
  • humans and animals dying from the overheated planet    

And now the supreme court has flipped our presidency into a kingship with the stroke of a pen. 

Democracy itself is about to crumble. Where will we be then?

Trump is not making threats. He is making promises, 

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/04/politics/trump-campaign-promises-dg

and his language is scary:

“root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country….”

What Can I Do? What Power Do I Have?

Plenty, and I’m sure you can do one thing in each of these categories without a lot of effort.

Power with the Spirits of Kindness 

Root yourself in your purest intentions and values and use your spiritual skills to find direction. Here are some ideas for shamanic journey intentions:

  • How can I stay awake to what is happening and use the energy, rather than be harmed by it?
  •  What is my role in this world at this time in history?
  • How can I shift my world perspective to be ‘us’ and never ‘them’?
  • How can I make people around me feel included?
  • How can I support the issues that are dear to my heart?

The Spirits of Kindness want to help us, but they cannot help us if we do not go to them!

There are lots of things you can do on the spiritual plane but that is covered in another article. [link] This is about our spiritual work on the beloved, messy mundane plane of existence.

Power of Being Fully You

Corporate culture has overcome human, non-work culture. This has caused homogenization and contrary-opinion policing. 

I miss the days when you could walk down the street and see people wearing their freak flags, expressing loudly in public their views, getting a little obnoxious and laughing out loud.

Things have gotten so bad, it is revolutionary to voice your opinion, to appear out of the norm, to attend non-consumer gatherings of people.

This is not a time to hide who we are. There has been a creeping pressure over the past 10-15 years to ‘fit in’, to ‘appear normal’. Our freak flags have been discarded or stuffed in closets. We are wild creatures. We are shamanic, pagan, witches, aligned with the spirits and the land and moon and stars, the sun, the rocks the rivers. We are non-binary, gay, straight, neuro-divergent, from many many cultures and subcultures, economic backgrounds and when we do not show it, the overculture mows us over.

There has been a creeping pressure to not talk about politics, to not rock the boat. There has been a subtle fear in the air, supported by the fact that we know we are being surveilled.

Without diversity we all start to think the same. Or at least think we should think the same. Homogeneity is bad for creativity and it’s no fun at all. Express your unique self.

  •  Put a sticker on your car (gasp!) that reveals something about yourself that you wouldn’t share at a corporate job. It’ll make a lot of people feel good and make some other people’s mind spin a little.
  • Wear clothes that you really like even though other people may not.
  • Find an open mic and revel in the humanity. You don’t need to agree with everyone. Just let their thoughts blend with yours and see what happens.

Money is Power

Don’t think your $5 $25 $50 $200 doesn’t count. It most certainly does. Candidates using the anti-corporate funding-raising model have done plenty fine working with millions of small donations. 

  •  Decide who is doing work that makes your heart sing and give them some money. Done.

Voice is Power

Speak to the government, to our neighbors, family and friends. It changes minds. It changes culture. 

  •  Write to your representatives and sign petitions. Look for petitions that you wish were out there. They probably are.
  • VOTE! You know the voting records are dismal. Voting is the one big power that can change the face of our futures – IF PEOPLE VOTE. If you were on a sinking ship and you had the choice between burning it down and fighting over the life raft or installing a mediocre captain who can at least get the holes patched before we all die, which would you choose? Would you choose?
  • Look up letter-writing campaigns to voters in swing states

Here is an ACLU petition calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment overturning the ruinous Supreme Court decision.

When we don’t speak up, our representatives are even more swayed by other forces. When they hear we are behind them, they can be brave. When they hear we are watching, they have to keep themselves somewhat in line. That’s how democracy works.

Information is Power

New information that is received by the mind changes the mind. Educate people. Educate yourself. Read books, even ones you don’t agree with.

Collective Action and Culture Is Power

  • Refuse to be isolated. People are good and some of us have forgotten it.
  • Refuse to stagnate. One way to get moving is to ask yourself what the questions are inside yourself and then go find the answers. Rinse and repeat.
  • Find ways to forge relationships with other humans from backgrounds you do not understand.
  • Learn about nonviolent communication.
  • Seek out other perspectives online and learn about the new progressive movements going on. What are you curious about?

That’s What I Got

Spirituality and politics have something important in common; they are both rooted in our deepest values. The values are the same.

I wouldn’t ask you to do these things if I wasn’t doing them myself. We all have a gift and there is no time to wait. Whatever it is that makes you shine, please, SHINE.

And yes, put your thoughts in the comments.

Tasara

Cernunnos, Mediumship

Pan – Cernunnos

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I caught his eye, he smiled at me
and we both knew that everything had fallen apart.

He could no longer be my god
and when I was honest with myself,
he never really was.

I never really liked his version of the wild hunt
for I was only good at being hunted
and the grandmothers shut me down on that long ago
after they tired of watching me die.
Again and again,
only to wake up alone,
again and again.

So this god, he reeled on,
in his fancy way, twirling with the ladies
and spinning his magic through the trees.
So much fun,
so much stress leaving me as the melodies faded.

My fingers touched the pool.
Silence blossomed.
My every bone toned with the music of the night sky.

And through the near branches, the face of another came,
eyes of wisdom awaiting my reply.

I invited him into my camp
and we told each other stories.

He of his sons and me of my poetry.
He of the green-gold gleam deep in the forest
and me of my hollow bird’s bones
a secret channel into the light high, high above.

Together we laughed at the oddities of life
and cried with the beauty of the same.

He spoke of the dead and me of the very, very brave
while his horns climbed into the darkness like a spider web
melting into the trees above us.

We shared the drink of friendship
and he was no longer a god to me,
but a friend who brought me medicine when I needed it
and accepted mine with joy.

2009 Tasara Jen Stone

Image created with AI by Adobe Firefly

Mediumship, Panther

Panther

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There in the night creeps a friendly panther. She knows where she is going and never speaks to anyone. She melts into the shadows like dark butter and when she is around usually you do not know it. She is a listener and she…she feels with her blood, which steams sometime when she is excited. What does she get excited about? The curve of things, the places between doorways where there is no one standing, the glint of light reflecting off the windows, or pouring out from the corner pub onto the alleyway.

Panther, she moves from place to place with private grace. She eats misfortune. What? She eats the debris of people’s troubles that she finds scattered across her path. She eats them up. And then she roars and heads back into the forest to contemplate what she has learned from the trouble she ate.

She is not a service. She doesn’t care. She is just curious and not interested in, in…well speaking. When she is content, she hums and her eyes sparkle green. And then the rest of the forest becomes more condensed in some way. More…tight and together with itself. Sleeping creatures smile with the welcome rush of comfort.

Go to the forest and find the panther in her nook on the low, long tree branch. She will take you to places that only you can find with her. She will lead you to your heart in the thick of wild branches, deep pools, muddy patches and under the ledges. Go there and lie where she leads. Your bones will condense. Your body will drink from the earth and your blood will steam.

She likes the sway in her journeys, the way to get there, the curling into dark crevices. She likes to remind you of your own. She’ll sniff you out and when you are looking for her, engage.

2008 Tasara Jen Stone

[image generated by AI in Adobe Firefly]

2 Ostara: Awakening and Rising

Faith. Joy. Hope.

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JOY is something that rises from within, an inner fountain, clear, rushing upwards. It is our inherent response to our connection with oneness. A burst of joy can make us giddy.

When we HOPE, we prop a window open to a brighter place so that light streams into our dark world. It does not call to any specific outer force or being.

FAITH is opening oneself completely, to allow the Spirits of Kindness and their whole ecosystem to flood in and perform their loving work. An act of faith is taking a seemingly unreasonable action with the knowledge of forces in play.

DEVOTION is love fest of mutual devotion between oneself and the Spirits of Kindness. It is an event, a conscious practice.

These wonderful things may be a natural human experience but they don’t come easily for many of us when living in this world. What I mean is, you are not alone if you can’t relate.

Joy is something I knew nothing about until I was in my forties. No wonder I was so annoyed with the “fluffy bunny” spiritualists of the time. They drove me mad. I remember one time I confessed to a new friend over the phone that I was spiraling, and if I kept heading in that direction, that the spiral would lead me to suicidal ideation. She reacted severely. (This was the second time in my life I was yelled at for talking about suicide).

She angrily shouted, “Everyone is at the party, where there is a well of light and joy. Why can’t you join us there?”

When I finally cleared enough trauma to feel the natural phenomenon of joy, I experienced it as a fountain. It is a song. I know I am happy when I catch myself singing.

Hope is something I always had, but in a more tragic sort of way. Like someone lost in an endless landscape of despair just crying inside that things must get better some day.

Not like today when it feels more like a choice – a responsibility even. I take this action and it clears my metaphysical environment. Life must go on.

Devotion and faith? Well as an ex-Catholic, those two have been tough ones. After my particular fall from the church (and it was a fall) I vowed to never again swallow, hook line and sinker another philosophy. I would have my own thoughts. So it was ten years into my pagan and shamanic practices until the topic of faith and devotion started opening up for me.

It started with my shamanic teacher in the early 00s. I almost left Janine’s classes because she was really quite so fluffy bunny. She referred to her spirits as ‘her team ‘ and smiled a lot about it. But she also showed up to class in her sweatpants and T-shirt unlike other teachers who dressed like they were going out on the town. I thought that part was cool. I realized she was genuine and I watched her in quiet awe. I didn’t get it but I loved it. She really cared about me too.

After she died, I came across a musician who performed kirtan in the most sublime way. And her voice is gorgeous. The call and response, the heightened sense that came from the practice. I volunteered to perform my light projections for her shows for free so I could support her vocation.

I think of what a devotional practice looks like in shamanism. Journeying for the simple purpose of spending time with our friends on the other side. Mediumship, inviting the benevolent beings in for a moment of time. And of course, repetitive praise chanting in the traditional way.

There can be momentary devotion without faith in the day-to-day.

On Monday morning, I went to the  beach in this dark, dark season of wet. I went to clear my head after too much time in my cave applying for jobs and stressing over the fact that I have six weeks of unemployment left. Walking across the foot bridge over the railroad tracks, I saw a whacky woman coming towards me. She had a crazy colorful hat and she was carrying a little boom box that she was singing to.

She came closer and I recognized her. A few years ago I met her by the same water. She was singing and because I missed my music jam, I stopped. I had my flute, as always, and played for her. We sang together. She told me that she came every morning to sing to The Lord. I recognized beauty in her devotion and loved that about her even though I would never sing to The Lord.

She is a small, elderly woman from somewhere in Asia. As she walked towards me on the foot bridge, we exchanged greetings and I said, “I remember you. We sang together.”

She remembered and laughed and said in that loud joyful way that the Vietnamese women do when they greet you at the nail salon, “How are you? “

Without any warning I almost burst out crying. I said, “I am not doing good.”

“Not good. Not good why?”

“I cannot find a job.”

Well, this elder gave me a good, long lecture about faith. She told me about how when her husband died and she didn’t think she would make it. How things worked out.

She insisted. “You have to have faith! You have to have faith and the Lord will take care of you!”

And she said, literally three or four times, “But you have to believe it for it to happen. You have to believe!”

I thanked her and asked her name. Song. Of course. Song.

As soon as I turned away to walk down the hill, I was bawling. It felt so good to cry. So good. How do we make it through life without this delicious release?

This Imbolc morning, I went to the lake to play my flute. The crows were moving downtown, having left the Bothell roost. The sky was filled with their river of raucousness which appeared and faded, horizon to horizon. I played screechy sounds to them but then relaxed into a tune. I played both high and low flutes and when I was done, I saw a pattern in the clouds like two curved brush strokes with an opening in the middle, swooping down to the land. I turned to the water and look at the rafts of ducks in the distance. Two small groups fluttered into the air, outwards, landing on the water again. They left an area of clear water in the middle. The scene was like a door I could just glide through into a life that was easy, with fertile ground. 

I looked up to the sky again and I knew what faith was.

Tasara Jen Stone

Spiritual Activism

Stay Awake in Times of Crisis

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There is a cry going up in the world for humanity.
There is a cry for justice, for a cease fire, for accountability.
A cry for seeing each other as the precious gifts we all are.

This cry is a collective song being sung from every corner of the earth. Join in this song, this cry, to make it louder, to be nourished by the communion of it, to save the soul of humanity.

Do not hide from the news to preserve your sanity. Turn up the glorious song of freedom and let it fuel you. Sing it wherever you can, to your friends, your family and to your representatives. There is never a time to not shine. Let your shock, dismay and all your emotions about what is happening in the world fuel your next endeavor. Will it be prayer? Will it be art? Will it be conversation? A long-planned or unexpected life change?


We must be whole. We cannot allow ourselves to become compressed any longer. The world is insane, but that does not mean we have to be. It is best for Mother Earth when we are in rich relationship with her, when we allow the Spirits of Kindness to nurture us, to allow inspiration grow within us. It does not do anyone any good to not be well, even when others are devastated.

We must shine. Each of us has something different and unique to contribute to this song of the world. When we are in our personal song, others can hear it. They are lifted and in this, can hear their own song. We must shine for the world.


We must be big, not small. When we are in our true light, there is room for everyone. We cannot allow outside forces to dictate the psychic environment we live in. Instead of suffering, we can bring our own environment to the common space.

This is a form of spiritual activism.

For those of you who have been following me over the years, you may have noticed my own long struggle to get back to my service to you. I’ve suffered under oppressive work situations, oppressive situations of my own making, physical ailments, fatigue and I earned a master’s degree while working full time. Just like you, I can feel like I am underwater, but I continue.

Right now I am applying for jobs in a new career because the field I have been in has been toxic for me. Once I have made this shift, I will be able to devote my energies to my calling again, informed by my studies in Instructional Design. My soul does not turn away from my master plan even when I forget it myself.

My new offerings will be geared towards those who are on the sacred path for the long haul. The main banner will be spiritual activism. What is spiritual activism? How do you define it? For me, my spiritual activism is helping you find what you are called to do in this world and assist you in creating a manageable scope for it. Also, when we explore and understand our own creative process, it is much easier to allow it to happen without self-judgement. There will be some hybrid offerings, (online/in person).

Thank you for hanging in there with me. Holding circle is my happy place and I am so looking forward to being there again with you. Hopefully, in the meantime, I can provide a little bit of inspiration.

Much love,
Tasara Jen Stone


(Inspired by watching and listening to activists from all over the world on ‘Democracy Now!‘.)

Spiritual Activism

A Shamanic Response to Atrocities in the Middle East

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This list may have grown if you come back to it later.

Hello my friends. I’m sure you have been following the heartbreaking stories coming out of the Middle East. I will not repeat them here but it is clear that we are witnessing war crimes, millions displaced, families decimated and in it all, no mercy. Both Palestinians and Jews are calling for a stop to the violence.

As a shamanic person, there is much we can do. If you truly believe that we are all connected, that we are all one in some invisible way, your actions have certain impact, just as a person’s silence or non-doing allows forces of destruction to continue on undisturbed

Here are five things you can do:

Psychopomp Ceremony, Sunday, October 22nd at 2-3:30pm

I will be hosting an online ceremony to assist the souls of the dead who are ready and willing, in crossing over into the light.

Psychopomp is not a safe practice to do on your own without training.
In our ceremony, we will be inviting the psychopomp spirits to do all the work while we hold space and bear witness. Please register at this link.
– Virtual sacred space via Zoom will be open at 1:45.
– No one will be admitted after 2:05pm.
– The meeting will not be recorded.
– Please prepare sacred space before you sign in and be ready to work.

If you know me personally and have been to my home in the past, you are more than welcome to come in person. Let me know if you are. Bring some snacks and we can have community time afterwards.

It is my view that psychopomp also relieves pressure on the world at large. The more unrest souls we have in the physical plane, the more intrusions, overshadowing and possession we experience. This affects human motivations and actions, including some of our world leaders.

Personal/Group Shamanic Journey for Healing

There is a way to assist through your work with the spirits and still honor the ethical boundaries of the free will of all beings. The method was developed by a small group of shamanic practitioners who met in retreat and worked with the spirits over a long period of time. It is spelled out in a little book called Shamanism without Borders which can be found here in e-book or print: https://shamanicpractice.org/…/shamanism-without…/

The organization that hosts free, online shamanic ceremonies to aid global catastrophes is here: https://shamanicpractice.org/shamanism-without-borders/

Journey to Comfort Those Trapped Under the Rubble in Gaza

Here is another thing you can do immediately (10/17/2023).

Journey to your helping spirits and ask them to ask the helping spirits of the 1000 people trapped under rubble in the Gaza strip to comfort them, to lessen their terror, to give them some faith and hope. Whether they are about to perish or be rescued, they have a great journey in front of them. Lessening the trauma is greatly needed.

Using Music and Dance

You can use dance, repetitive rhythm, drumming, chanting, fluting, strumming to express your own feelings about the situation into the world. Any sort of healing involves getting energy to move and that includes energy in your own body.

Know that you are not alone. Hear the grief, anger frustration of the collective and join the song. Feel the togetherness. After expressing your own, perhaps bring your songs of comfort, kinship and love into the collective.

All shamanic cultures are very, very expressive in their practices, until of course, state sponsored persecution of shamans. Lying down still and silent to journey is not normal. We engage and invest our physical energy into our work and it comes to life in powerful ways.

Write to your Representatives

Many of us overlook or belittle the small act of writing to our representatives. What can an email do? A lot! Our representatives need backing from their constituents to make their voices stronger in legislature.

You can look up your representatives here: https://www.house.gov/
And here: https://whoismyrepresentative.com/

“Never again” means “Never again” for all peoples. As I heard someone say, the hardest part of being human is staying human when under circumstances like these.

What Other Ways to Support Healing and Balance in Israel/Gaza Strip are You Practicing?

Please, put your ethical (not interfering with the free will of others) shamanic ways in the comments so others can benefit.

Thank you for all the work you do for healing in your own life, your family and your community.

Blessed Be,
Tasara Jen Stone

Spirit Journeys

Listen to the Spirits of Kindness

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Those whispers urging you to go for a walk, to eat better food, knock off the sugar, those nudges to call that person you’ve been neglecting, to turn off the screen and get up off the couch…

Do you see flashes of your favorite park sometimes?
Do you miss the rush of wind in the trees?
Do you truly believe in the spirits? Are you listening?

As a shamanic journeyer, do you ever feel a pull to journey?
I dreamed recently that a totem was asking me to let her in. She told me my life would be so, so-oo much easier if I did. So, the next day I found a candle molded in her form and placed it on my work-from-home desk. I invited her and thanked her presence into the stress of my life, and my whole outlook on life shifted like magic. I am so grateful. I will mark this. I will remember.

If you have been trained in shamanic journey and want your relationship with the Spirits if Kindness to deepen, you need to listen when they are trying to get your attention. Let them in. Engage. It takes very little time. This authentic communication will always spark something good. Change will ripple through your tapestry.

The spirits miss you. They don’t judge, and they are not mad. They just miss you.

The spirits are telling me to say to you,

And don’t skimp when you come to visit us! Creating the sacred space and tapping into your center is more important than anything else. Use repetitive rhythm, not music. Cover your eyes so you can go deep. Then draw out your journey into the mundane by journaling so you don’t miss the juicy parts. Take action as soon as possible if action is asked for in the journey.

The spirits say,

It doesn’t matter what you journey on, all the questions lead to the same answers.

They are saying,

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and caught up in the methods and spiritual books and tools. Keep it simple and your practice will be clear and strong.

So that’s my public service announcement. There is always help on the other side, even when we don’t feel like listening. Give it a shot and see what happens.

Blessed Be,
Tasara

Spirit Journeys

The Spirits of Kindness

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Come to me and I will show you the shape of your question.

I will bring you to the landscape etched in the sand between us.
I will lead you into plunging water and through endless caves.
We will fly the wide sky together
and I will whisper upon you.

There may be a hut between the stars
or a burrow at the base of a tree.
You may slide down roots to ancient realms
or glisten alongside frogs under moonlight.

I will ask you hard questions.
I will draw your truth out of the depths.
I will apply salve to your wounds.
I will shelter you, kiss you, surround you in my embrace.
I will eat you and see you returned whole.

I will send you signals when it is time to come again.

I will do all these things.
I need to do all these things.

But you must come.

Tasara

Learn to journey at an upcoming August 2023 workshop.

Uncategorized

Storytelling

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Hey there. Thought I’d add a link to my site of the few recordings I have of my storytelling.

Here it is as well. If you click on the “YouTube” words it will open it in a browser window so you can see on the right a list of all the stories.

If there no link in the email, click Comment and it will bring you to it.

Enjoy!

May you break free from the patterns that bind you.