Below is the 2011 Post Conference Page. This will be superseded by the 2012 PCP after it happens! Participants of any year are welcome to submit their experiences. David Cameron, site chef, info@earthsea.ca.
2011-Plant Medicine shaman Eliot Cowan introduced us to the Huiochl Sacred Fire. and his history of involvement with plant medicine. Here is an offering of Eliot’s work for 2012 @ Windhorse Farm and a sample interview with Eliot <http://www.windhorsefarm.org/pages/programs-events/plant-spirit-medicine.php>
We also enjoyed presentations by Eileen O’Hare and David Hickey who are both returning for the 2012 Convergence.
Presentations by local shamans Nancy Sherwood, Armand DeGrenier, Sula Paris, Theresa Thomas and Carla Silver helped us experience and celebrate an impressve spectrum of the wisdom, beauty and healing to be found in Nova Scotia’s shamanic community.
Sharing all of the above and more with our Shambhala hosts deepened and broadened the intention of the Great Weave.
As we packed to leave and rushed around for final hugs goodbye, the sky filled with Dragons; portents of things to come in 2012?
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2010-Turning from the ocean waves of Convergence 2009, to inland quiet waters for 2010. A black mink roadkill was discovered by a presenter on her way to the Convergence site. A live mink swam under water in front of beach-trolling participants.
A raging shape-shifted bear rampaged at a workshop that had been hijacked by a dead mink.
Coyotes held a loud party behind the Convergence site one night. Clouds told stories of wind, rain and bright fall weather.
Great food was had by all and all contributed to the smooth flow of chores, workshops, sweat-lodges and circled delight.
Below is the 2009 Post Conference Page.
Much happened! Great mysteries: an eagle “nearly big as a man” perched on the big rock; woodpecker medicine (see that page) ; the Acadians gather for ancestor work with Nova (unplanned but it became apparent during Nova”s Ancestor workshop that the majority of participants were of Acadian stock and related to one another, as they declared their family trees); Celtic Healing House with a Traditional First Nations Grandmother keeping safe-watch by the door…
What a marvelous convergence of energy, ancestors, tribes, shamans, Grandmothers and ideas!
Here is what Caitlin had to say:
‘Returning to our Roots: the First International Shamanic Convergence in Nova Scotia’ was an extraordinary gathering of contemporary shamans, medicine people and seekers for planetary solutions.
Those who are working towards the healing and the transformation of our planet in their own ways were both supported and inspired by this convergence which helped extend the skilful ways in which we can create and maintain community.
Held in the heartland of Nova Scotia, with its links to both native Canadian traditions as well as the lore of Scottish ancestral settlers, this was a high-point of cultural meeting and exchange that transcended barriers of faith, race and difference. I have never experienced such a harmonious and healing event. The sharing of prayers, songs and healing ways, the symposia and practical learning available at this event made it a university of spirit in which all could join.
I hope and trust that this may become an annual event, calling people worldwide to return to the special healing of Nova Scotia and the ancestral wisdom that assembles when soul-friends gather.
from Caitlín Matthews, British author of Singing the Soul Back Home, Sophia Goddess of Wisdom and Walkers Between Worlds. www.hallowquest.org.uk
The Shamanic Grandmother’s Council of Nova Scotia has given the world a gift.
Through their work, people from around the world gathered at Indian Harbour, Nova
Scotia to create a Path for Personal and Global Transformation; and create a path we
did.
The invitation went out and it was answered by many; some who knew exactly where
they came from and what they had to do and it was answered by people like me. I read
the news and listen to the reports but I can leave it “out there”. However, still knowing
we cannot continue on this course of global destruction and irreverence for the
sacredness of all things.
This convergence has opened my eyes, but more importantly, it has opened my heart
to the ways and teachings of our ancestors. We must listen to the cries of the universe
and reply with love, healing, and a commitment to change. To do otherwise will have
catastrophic repercussions.
The Shamanic Grandmother’s Council will be forever blessed for their efforts and I pray
they are able to continue their work with this type of gathering as an annual event.
Ann Chaffey, RN
Corner Brook, NL
Hi David, Nancy and the Grandmothers Council,
I just wanted to email to express my deepest thanks for being able to participate in the Shamanic Convergence. It was a wonderful experience that so connected spirituality, the environment and community…..three factors that are so essential for this time of moving forward towards a healthy and whole planet. I especially appreciated the manner in which there was no ‘right’ way being expounded, but truly a connective web in which each of us could find our own, unique way to contribute to the learning and the teaching that so embodied the Convergence.
I have come back to my life and situation in Cape Breton feeling thoroughly revived. Not just through trust and knowledge of a new-found community, but in my connect to spirit and the re-membering of my courage. I had become quite worn from the previous few years of reaching out, teaching, facilitating, always in isolation from a supportive human community (it is with my great gratitude that I can write that the spirit community was always present). Through the community built at the Shamanic Convergence I feel that such necessary energy is revived and re-inspired. Thank you for your far-reaching vision and for your hard work and determination to bring the vision to actuality.
with much love and gratitude,
Prune
I can not believe it has been almost a month since the Convergence.. Wow.
I feel forever changed..every moment spent was golden, every word spoken was filled with profound meaning. I feel forever connected to everyone of you. I am still coming down…from this beautiful beautiful experience.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Love and Many Many Blessings until we meet again.
Lori Folkins
Hi all,
I am wanting to share with you this message I just posted on the Art of
Hosting list serve — it has been inspired by my journey, by the Shamanic
Convergence, by conversations I am in around an Art of Hosting shamanic
practice training ground. Thank you all for your inspiration and happy
Hallowe’en!
I am inspired to write a bit about a question I have been exploring over the
last couple of months. It has come out of my journey – my personal,
professional, spiritual journey that has generated a depth of unprecedented
learning and significant transitions in my life in the last few months – one
of which is the birth of Shape Shift Strategies Inc. – the company and
banner under which I now do my hosting work. As I contemplate the work that
I and Shape Shift will do I wondered how to bring my spiritual path and my
work path together…. and still have credibility, and still make a livelihood
… as if they are two separate and distinct things and that acknowledging the
sacred will somehow be an impediment in some of the client work I do – not
all, but some. Then a good friend thoughtfully said to me, “I think you are
making a distinction where none exists.”
Hmmmm. Powerful. Nice pause. Deep breath. You are making a distinction
where none exists!
And now I am finding myself intentionally bringing this conversation to many
places. There are a few of us in conversation about bringing Art of Hosting
and Shamanic Practice very intentionally together in a retreat next spring
and this conversation about the sacred and work and credibility and magic is
permeating our conversation bringing a richness and depth to it.
Just today in a conversation at Envision Halifax where we are exploring an
ongoing series of conversations around civic engagement and the restoration
of community in Halifax the topic of the sacred and work also surfaced –
because I am now giving voice to it in a way I might not have thought about
just a few weeks ago. I also just wrote about it in this Shape Shift blog
http://shapeshiftstrategies.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/work-and-the-sacred-dis
tinct-and-separate-or-whole-and-integrated/ and I’ve posted the blog on
Facebook.
I am struck by the thought: What if the essence of who we are, the work we
do in the world and the sacred are not all separate things but that we have
been making distinctions where none exist –feeling like we need to leave the
sacred on the shelf while we show up at work and other places where it might
not be too well accepted? Imagine if we intentionally bring a sense of
seamlessness and integration around work and the sacred EVERYWHERE, all the
time, and people understood it to be normal rather than an edgy
conversation! Imagine the sense of harmony and ease we would bring into all
the places we touch. Every time we do this, we bring a bit more healing to
ourselves and others.
What does the world need right now? Healing. Where do we start – or where
am I starting? With what I used to think of as an edgy topic in some
settings or as “outing” myself – by intentionally bringing the sacred – and
magic – into everything I do and every place I go. I’m seeing and seeding
magic. I know Art of Hosting training and work also seeds magic. It
already has a sense of the sacred about it when we really pay attention to
the conditions we are fostering and now I find myself on a path to a next
level and being prepared to be surprised.
A few thoughts from a stunningly beautiful fall day in Nova Scotia. Kathy
Kathy Jourdain
Process Artist
Shape Shift Strategies Inc.
(web site available soon)
902-865-7076
Dear Convergers
I wanted to witness to another Convergence impact. Three members of our Ontario full moon drumming group, whose origins were birthed by EarthSea in Nova Scotia, were at the Convergence: Allison, Lucie and David.
Driving home, (1) we had a feeling that the Convergence energy would help move our drumming group to a new energy level, and of course that was partly why we were there. Certainly it acted as a point of comparison to confirm that we are on an appropriate path in a good way and should continue in respect and confidence. (2) Perhaps more surprising to we three, each got a message about a sweat lodge that our group built but for various reasons we stopped holding sweats. Here is what happened:
A group member, who was not at the Convergence, raised the sweat lodge issue, and we have ended the silence and begun respectful conversations about how to resolve the stagnant energy around that.
Another group member, again who was not at the Convergence, hosted the most recent full moon drumming, which was of course near Hallowe’en, Samhain, All Saint’s Day and thus at a time of year recognized by various cultures as appropriate for Ancestor connections. That person led us in song, dance and we shared a short ceremony from the Convergence about talking to your ancestors. We were encouraged to bring momentoes or tokens for an Ancestor shrine. In the past, we have not usually done these types of extended ceremonies, we just drum.
So this is to confirm the energy transmission. The two messages we got at the Convergence have in fact become manifest, in each case the spark coming from someone who was not even there.
Thanks again to all Convergers, to the supportive spirits, to the safe container at OceanStone, to the grandmothers, to the inspired presenters and the elements.
Ho!
My declaration at the Shamanic Convergence, September 2009:
From this place of deep rootedness in my spiritual lineages, I boldly bring
my healing gifts to the shifting shape of the world and the regeneration of
its people!