mentoring circle began…

a few years into my practice as an earth medicine + shamanic practitioner and tarot reader. I was teaching classes and seeing clients. In the course of two weeks, four people asked me the same question, "I want to do what you do. Do you mentor people?"

Do I?

I thought about how I started doing what I do--through a series of coincidences, openings, offerings, good luck and lots of mistakes. Then I thought about what was most important to me in my work. How could I distill what I do into a mentoring session? What would mentoring with me look like? And how much would it cost? Well, it would cost as much as a session with me, right? Then I thought, maybe a circle would be best where we gather all these four people to learn to do what I do and then can share the costs...well, the first circle had ten people. Each month, they told me what they wanted to learn, and I pulled it together for the next month. I had no idea how long it would run or what it would be like from month to month.

The truth is that it flowed perfectly together with teaching how to do what I do--which is live an earth- and spirit-centered life, walk the humble path of the healer and psychic, and to treat each part of life, the trauma and victories, as the sacred spiritual path. I created a nine-month psychic development/shamanic journey mentoring circle, but really I still call it mentoring circle. It flows off the tongue more easily. My first year, I combined men and women, and then the next year just focused on women in my circle. In 2017, I offered two circles--one for men and one for women.  The content is the same, but I thought it might be more powerful having men with men and women with women. In 2018, I combined men and women and find it is a potent to have a mix of masculine and feminine energy in circle together. In 2019-2020, I had to offer the last circles online.

Through the years, I have developed a curriculum that is stable and organized for our students. I started up in September and go until May where we have a closing ceremony and fire at my farmette, pulling together everything we have done into one amazing ceremony for this beautiful process. During COVID, I had to pause my circle and gatherings, and it made me question what I was mentoring. Did it still reflect what I do?

This was the syllabus I used:

September        Psychic Gifts. (Which clair are you?).
October            Psychic Protection.
November        Shamanic Journeying and Animal Medicine.
December         Ascension, Angels and Ascended Masters
January            The Wheel of the Year and Moon Cycles..
February           The Chakra System
March               Psychic Tools  
April                Altar Making.
May                  Past Lives Regression.
May                  Closing Ceremony and Bonfire

The Vision Statement my students and I created is this:

Mentoring circle connects like-minded intuitive, empathic, and psychic people to validate, strengthen, and hone our gifts. We seek to strengthen our connection to Spirit and our Higher Selves. It is a place of non-judgment and acceptance where we can explore the challenges and successes that cross our path. Through circle, we seek to empower ourselves, gain confidence in our gifts and abilities, and abide in the journey of each person in our circle.

Then my mentoring students said, "But what about Level II?!?" Level II? I had just felt comfortable with Level I, but I heard them and the call to go deeper with my Level I students. 

Level II is about stepping into your power as a circle leader, psychic and healer. It is deeper individual work, as well as answering the call to hold space for others. This was our syllabus:

September        Holding Space
October           Deeper with Shamanic Journey
November        Connecting with Spirit for Others
December        Living your Authentic Self
January            Creating Medicine
February           Shamanic Healing Techniques
March               Shamanic Dreamwork
April                Storytelling
May                  Cacao ceremony
May                  Closing Ceremony and Bonfire September

There was a point when I couldn’t imagine offering this online, I didn’t understand how I could translate the intensity of the experience in circle virtually. But since 2020, I have been thinking, organizing and planning a move online. I know it can be powerful and connective, but I also want to offer classes that reflect my research and evolving approaches to my work and healings.