The Life of Lucianna
A Blogger who shares stories and spreads love ...
Lately I've been drawn to shamanism in a very deep way. When I say lately, I mean -- the last two to three years. What is Shamanism?It's an ancient way of life practiced by many cultures all over the world. It goes back thousands of years. To me, shamanism means: connecting and being in communion with our source (which includes nature, animals etc.); basically encompassing the unseen aspect of what drives life. I remember being about 14 - 16 years of age and being a "New Born-Again Christian" and being somewhat drawn to shamanism, even though I looked down upon it with judgment. You see, as a Christian - shamanism didn't coincide with biblical teachings. So, I shunned it -- even though it beguiled me. WHY SHAMANISM?My journey as a Christian is part of my story. I embrace and I am proud to share it. Christianity for me, was my hiding place. It was my place to go for protection and belonging. It brought about healing in different ways ... However, it had many contradictions that came along with its biblical background/teachings. From the age of fourteen to 36 (ish), I studied the bible as intricately as possible. As I got older, the paradoxes in the Bible began to make me question it's infallibility. Some things just didn't match up! I will write another post some day about that. Once again, shamanism reappeared into my life. I was becoming more and more drawn to it because it didn't have any conditions attached to it. I started to see the parts of me that I had shunned and put away, or had neglected to care for. I started embracing my shadows. What I once saw as deep flaws, I started to actually pay attention to and allow that "hurt part" of me to tell its story. I also started seeing people who really pissed me off in a different light. In the past as a Christian, it would be "Oh, I love that person because they are a creation of God". This time, it was more like "that person is just another version of me". There was no separation except two different bodies. SHAMANIC JOURNEYIf you want to know more, check out my shamanic journey post. I talked about my first journey with my beautiful friend Jaes Seiss. By the way, I am reading her book "Awakening Darkness" and it is just riveting! Jaes then invited me to join her and a few other women to a Sacred Sisterhood Rites of Passage circle. Here we honored the directions of the medicine wheel: North - represented by the hummingbird. This was a time to create healing for ancestors and your connection or lack of connection with them. West - represented by the jaguar. We went through our own death rites and shed/released what was holding us back; preparing a place for the new. South - represented by the serpent. Here, we re-kindled our passion, purpose and joy in life. East - represented by the condor. We renewed our innocence and awakened the creative spark in us by going on a birth star journey, re-visited our visions and activated our prayer arrows (mission/desires for this life journey). HOW CAN WE HEAL THROUGH OUR ANCESTORS?WOO! Don't get me started! I realized that there is a lot of pain passed down from generation to generation. I also have been learning that pain is only a messenger that comes to show us where we are not aligned (in the wise words of my friend Kevin Walton). There is A LOT of pain in every family. I won't go through the stories of the pain that has been passed down through my own family. Pain gets trapped in our cells. Seriously. Science supports this theory that emotional trauma is passed down our blood lines. You can read this article here. I will share however, that one of the ways I've been healing is through honoring my ancestors. In our medicine wheel of the north - where we honored our ancestors, I took the time to honor all the women in my ancestral line - even a few generations back). I did also honor my dad. I made a decision to bring any pain/trauma that has not been dealt with to the forefront. I became a voice for my ancestors. There was a lot of crying and emotional release. This is still happening today. I am aware of it when someone or something triggers me. Instead of ignoring it, I will pay attention to it. There are different ways of healing emotional trauma passed down through lineage:
Then there is DANCING! Which is basically "artistic expression". Psychology Today has a cool article on healing trauma through dance: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/make-your-life-blessing/201610/the-power-dance-work-trauma -- and I quote: "Dance organizes life in societies and cells in the body. It celebrates weddings, harvests, seasons, and can bring strength and comfort in times of grief." Before I start dancing, I am not always in the mood for dancing. I may be exhausted or just dealing with emotional baggage collected throughout my day. Something really magical happens though when I put on some music. Especially music that is African influenced. Being from Africa and all... So today, my friend Jeni-Lee told me that I need to listen to this song and dance to it. I was already in a dancing mood today, so without hesitation I pumped the volume and started to move. Friends like Jeni are awesome fire kindlers! Thank you, my dear! Here I am below releasing trauma in my cells! Oh what a joyous and sweaty time! My message to you... dance! Even if you can't move your legs, dance where you are... your body loves movement!
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UPDATE ON MY CYSTECTOMY HEALING JOURNEY *Disclaimer: I don't claim to be a writer. I am better at singing and dancing. I just like sharing!
HEALING FROM AN |
The swelling has gone down considerably. I miss having "harder abs" (insert monkey face with hands over mouth emoji here) - but once my insides are completely healed, I'm going to start getting toned again! Maybe this time, I can have some kind of a "six-pack". WOO HOO! Either way, I'm on the mend and I'm excited that I will be able to move more freely in my artistic expression. |
I started following a few Holistic Doctors on instagram about a year ago or so. I began my new "vegan" or shall I say, "plant based" journey at the beginning of 2018. First, I stopped eating chicken and red meat and then transitioned to not eating seafood. This new journey brought with it a deeper interest in holistic medicine, which is how I found these awesome doctors! | ![]() Photo courtesy of rawpixel As some of you may know, my mother is a Leukemia survivor. She was diagnosed in 2006, two weeks after my dad passed away unexpectedly. |
Dr. Jess MDOne of my fave go-to IG doctors! She is full of knowledge and comes across as very personable. I love how she interacts with her followers! |
Dr. Fiona McCulloch is a Toronto Naturopath with over 17 years of experience in PCOS, Thyroid and Hormonal issues. She is a huge advocate of natural medicine therapies and is an advisor to Open Source Health, which is geared toward women's health. |
Basically what a Shaman does is hold space you and invites you to share your cares, concerns, hurts, joys etc and takes upon themselves all this "baggage" and accesses your energy field to gather information regarding where you lost certain parts of yourself. In essence, the Shaman brings these "lost babies" back and re-institutes harmony. The Shaman is a bridge between the unseen and seen world. | ![]() Photo by: Casey Horner |
Welcome to my personal blog. This blog is going to be filled with everything magickal. Even the grimy stuff of life.
For even in grime and dirt, do you find true gems.
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