We’re witnessing a breakdown of the law of man, and as an animist I’ve been able to find strength by focusing on the law of nature. Those archetypal, inescapable, eternal truths. This incarnation of man cannot continue to live out of balance with nature, and whether from this crisis or the next, our way of life will have to change. We have no choice but to submit to her law. 

For a long time, I’ve gone into nature to find sanity in this insane culture. What I’ve found there has not always been comforting. I’ve learned that the “real” world hiding behind our artificial one is not simply the idyllic paradise we project onto her. It is not simply a realm of fantasy, the garden of Eden from where our “logical” way of thinking has expelled us. Although it is all these things.

But neither is the law of nature simply “tooth and claw,” survival of the fittest. This is also a modern human projection. Cooperation, not competition, is the natural way of life. Nature is a living manifestation of harmony. A symphony of the divine: a theophany. 

Spend time in nature and make an effort to abandon the thought patterns, the judgements and discernments that constitute our culture’s “life-way,” and you’ll see exactly what I mean. The selfishness of the one dissolves into the mangnanimosity of the perfect whole. Nature beseeches us to surrender ourselves to her beauteous theophany; the more we fight her the more we suffer. It is at that point we realize there is no death, except in death’s season, which is inevitably followed by new life. Life is never lost, it is renewed. That is the law of nature. 

As we are bombarded by fear from the thoughts around us, I invite you to tune that crystal radio of the mind to a different frequency; that of the natural world. To perceive this current situation from the perspective of the dynamic world that came before all this:

There is celebration this spring. That omniscient sky roar has suddenly subsided! All over the planet, the feverish onslaught of the smoke of man’s fires is dissipating and clean, life-giving atmosphere is returning. Peace and calm descends over man’s concrete trails; families have joined together in their burrows, practicing togetherness and the art of “being”. Mother nature, in her infinite intelligence, has figured out a way to protect us all, to cleanse herself – not of humans, but, ingeniously, human madness. Mankind is not being punished – they are being sidelined. Something has made the humans stop their frenetic insanity, and blessed be, it’s not a colossal explosion. Now, if they can only turn away from their self-obsession, the quiet will allow them to hear us again!

And they are talking to us. The birds, the cactus, the earth honoring ancestors who understand these things. Blessed, re-awakened soul, please join our theophany again.

Everyday our actions, thoughts and feelings are a direct result of the numinous movements of our powerful unconscious; the energetic doldrums originating in the spirit-world.

Embarking on prayerful, psychic journeys with the aid of our spirit helpers through the ancient practice of shamanic journeying allows us to authentically experience the forces that inform our waking consciousness. It allows us understand the nature of our soul’s myth; to feel more deeply and better articulate our unique, personal truth.

This is my wish for us at our monthly gatherings. I look forward to sharing space and gaining insight with you this Tuesday and every third Tuesday of the month.

Healing Shamanic Journeys with David Edward

Tuesday, 1/21/20, 6:30pm

Web Of Life Animist Church, Tucson, AZ

(meetup.com link)

All are welcome. No drum journeying experience is necessary.

Donations of $7-$20 are requested.

There’s nothing quite like visiting our own sacred places in nature…it gratifies our senses with inexplicable magic suited just for us. We can’t always escape to these power spots, but we can visit them in non-ordinary reality, the spirit realm — and experience them in a new way. This month we’ll be journeying to our sacred places and invoking the unique, healing medicine they hold for us.

Healing Shamanic Journeys with David Edward

6:30pm, Tuesday, 5/21/19

Web Of Life Animist Church, Tucson, AZ

(meetup.com link)

All are welcome. No drum journeying experience is necessary.

Donations of $5-$20 are requested.

A Drum Journey Circle offering, Every Third Tuesday at Tucson’s Web Of Life Animist Church (directions)

Last month’s journey circle turned out better than expected-our attendees experienced two gratifying journeys connecting with our animist ancestors who once inhabited this valley.

We were blessed to experience their magical way of life, and returned to our present time with a new perspective and some amazing insights on how to live in balance with the natural world and revive the sacred in our lives. We hope you will join us again as we return to that immaculate place in time, before cars and computers, where we’re able to hear the voice of each other’s souls and the Spirit of the Earth guiding us. 

A monthly Drum Journey Circle offering at Tucson’s Institute For Shamanic Arts

Santa Cruz River, photo by Margarethe Brummermann

For aeons, our planet flowered in resplendent harmony. Vibrating to the cyclical rhythms of nature, a powerful resonance was established, ingraining sacred patterns and psychic currents that we can still perceive today. As animists, we long to commune with the consciousness of this divine Earth in her natural state; to join minds with our ancient Ancestors who lived as one with Her. It’s easier than you think-the “real” world waits just outside the borders of this synthesized reality, inviting us back into our true home.

Casting off the constraints of time and space, we will free our souls to soar above the millions of virgins acres of wilderness; energize our astral bodies in the pristine waters of the valley of Chuk-son, evade predators and dodge arrows -instead of psychic bullets from the binary mouthpiece of a mad “civilization”. Our intention is not to escape, but go deeper into the world – cultivating a sane, grounded perspective of our current reality.

Join me as we give offerings of love, honor and respect to our Great Mother, and reawaken to her nurturance, her unwavering adoration and perfect protection of our human spirits that exists throughout eternity.

3rd Tuesday of every month, 6:30pm. $5-20 (sliding scale) requested donation.

Web Of Life Animist Church

2016 E Broadway Blvd. · Tucson, Az

In the name of all that is holy and sacred, I greet you and honor you on our blessed journey on this blessed planet.

Perhaps no subject in our culture has been as obscured and manipulated by propaganda as the truth about the lifeway (and spiritual orientation-they are so interconnected) of our Animist Ancestors. What we can truly know is the space that the spiritual practice of animism can fulfill in our calamitous lives, and the salvation gifted us by forming relationships and bonds with natural phenomenon, our living family-and our conscious route to God/Goddess, the divine.

The world of nature extends to the realm of consciousness which we also inhabit in spirit form. In nature, our spirit family abides- a multi-tiered reality that communicates on a frequency less of the mind, but of the heart. Yet it’s intelligence is more likened to super-consciousness, offering us the gifts of guidance and healing when we actively respect its sanctity. Our spirit family is just that-our family. Once our closest bond, our orientation to nature has been skewed without our knowledge or consent. Animism is our rightful heritage-once we strip away the lies and misinformation, we see a lifeway that invigorates us to our very core, a path back into the garden.