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Otter Medicine

The Otter is a wonderful creature. It has long been associated with Women’s medicine.  It is the symbol of grace and empathy. Otter medicine takes great pleasure in the success and happiness of others, and will work untiringly to help others achieve that. There is no selfishness in otter. They could never be mean, or self-centered, or self-driven. You will not find an otter who gossips, or who “flames” others, or who is unnecessarily critical in a vengeful way, for the purpose of otter is to support and enhance OTHERS, not themselves.

Otter with pups
Otter with pups

Otter is also a signal that you need to take more time for yourself to just play and be silly. Lighten up! You must feed otter’s playful side so that she can continue to help balance your great concern for the welfare of others. We lose sight, sometimes, of our own spirit’s need to be lighthearted and to laugh and be childlike. That is a very important element in walking in balance. [Read more…]

Shamanic Drumming

Drumming Up Spirit

There are many different reasons we play drums. Perhaps you enjoy the feeling of social togetherness when you drum in a circle. There are two very distinct drumming circles in my vocabulary; one is the shamanic drumming circle, which encourages all participants to drum as we bring up our Spirit Song; the other circle, for me as a drummer, is for pure Joy!! Perhaps you are a musician at heart and enjoy performing for people within a group. You might have a goal of mastering complex African polyrhythms, I know I have tried many times. The key to being able to, I have discovered for myself, is practice. It may be that you simply enjoy drumming, that the rhythm moves your body and spirit in ways that not many other things do in life. Whatever the reason, becoming aware of why can help to ease your state of mind and open you to your own spirit song. [Read more…]

Long Snows Moon and Elk

The Long Snows Moon whose guardian is Elk is the last moon on the Medicine Wheel and which places special significance on the importance of the Guardian Spirit. North on the wheel is the place of the four-leggeds, and for me, it is also the Place where the Crystal People dwell.  The four-leggeds are the runners, the double receivers.  I view them as one foot in each quarter of the wheel, as well as two legs in the Spirit World and two legs in the Human World, that is my interpretation of a double receiver.

Elk cow and bull
Elk Cow & Bull (click to enlarge)

The Elk has told me that he is one of the most sacred four-leggeds. He is regarded in some cultures as the Guardian of the Thunder Beings.  The Thunder Beings are usually associated with the evening (darkness, the unknown), and although for some they can be very terrifying, they test our strength and endurance.  They help us to realize how really very small and insignificant we are compared to the great powers of The Universe. Thunder Beings are the Lightening which strikes the horns of the Elk, he helps it to flow through and transform the energy.  He is the greatest receiver of energy; the energy magician, changing and moving the appearance, feel and effect of energy. Elk is the Keeper of Thunder and Lightening. [Read more…]

The God Shot

In my podcasts, and in person, I often talk about the “God Shot”. We all want them and some of us have them. But what is a God Shot? I think it is when you have a spiritual experience so profound it affects, or can affect, the very underpinnings of our present lives.  God Shots certainly help to catapult us to a deeper and more profound relationship to Spirit, or at least it can.

Some of us have had the luxury to travel for spiritual workshops. Some of us are fortunate enough to have great workshops in the places we live. The workshops, ceremonies, etc. often bring us closer to the divine. The question then is; what do we do after? Integration of our experiences is important, but how do we do that? Another aspect of the God Shot is to work with it. We are invited to be in the presence of the Divine but how do we stay with the Divine? [Read more…]

Bees and Bears

Winnie the Pooh protecting his "hunny" from bees.
Winnie the Pooh

If I asked you to call to mind a modern bear with an obsession for honey, would you name? For me, it would have to be Winnie the Pooh. I remember reading his adventures with “hunny pots”, and sticky paws coupled with guilty looks. If I asked you to call to mind a modern bear with an obsession for honey, who would you name? For me, it would have to be Winnie the Pooh. I remember reading his adventures with ” I think A.A. Milne incorporated this lovely little nod to history on purpose. Or perhaps it is simply because Christopher Robin though all bears like honey – hence Winnie would LOVE honey.

A Finnish creation myth I love to tell is of Mielikki, the Forest Goddess. In her stories, it is often mentioned she held the keys to a chest of honey. Honey has been a highly valued substance often denoting wealth. In this case, I think it has many meanings as she has a chest of honey. As a creator figure in Finish mythology, she would be in touch with the Divine. Honey and the Bee have been associated with the divine in our oldest esoteric teachings. [Read more…]

Shamanism in Edmonton

Kriket lives and hosts numerous events in Edmonton, Canada. She also performs healing sessions there. To find out more, or book a session check out her personal site.

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