Shamanic Workshop 2 - The Hero’s Journey & Our Personal Journey Through Life
- Debbie Irvine
- Nov 5
- 10 min read
Updated: Nov 12
Shamanic Workshop 2 by Debbie Irvine
26th May 2021
Artwork by Hamish Irvine
The Hero’s Journey: Our Personal Journey Through Life
Debbie Irvine
Opening The Circle:
Invocation: To The Seven Directions
To All the Spirits of All the Directions
To the Spirits of the East
To Eagle, Condor, Hawk
We greet you and give you thanks
For your wings that carry us beyond the Veil
For your gifts of Sight, Clarity and Perception
For Illumination and New Beginnings
To Spirits of the South
To Wolf, Coyote and Snake
We greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Childhood and our Inner Child
For Awe and Wonder
Faith, Trust, Humility and Intuition
To Spirits of the West
To Grandmother Bear for Healing
And Father Jaguar for Power
We greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Rest, Regeneration and Empowerment
Of Introspection and Setting New Goals
To Spirits of the North
To our Ancestors
We Greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Wisdom and Community
To Great White Buffalo and Hummingbird
We greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Strength, Fortitude and Courage
To Spirits Above
To Father Sky, Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Sun, The Star Nation and the Dreamtime
We greet you and give you thanks
As we remember our Origins, And where we will return to
To the Spirits Below
To Great Mother Earth
To all your two-legged, four-legged, winged and finned, and creepy-crawlies
To your Stone People, Plant People and all your Elements
We greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Beauty, Sustenance and Nurturing of our Incarnation
As we walk upon this Earth
To the Spirits Within
To our Hearts and Sacred Breath
We greet you and give you thanks
For our connection to our Higher Self
And to Great Spirit
For your gifts of Love, Truth and Beauty
We ask that we may Form a Bridge
To ALL the Directions
And to ALL the Worlds
We give Thanks and say Welcome!Mitakuye Oyasin
Sa Sekhem Sahu!
The Hero’s Journey: Our Personal Journey Through Life
Your Soul knows the Geography of your Destiny.
Your Soul alone has the Map of your Future,
Therefore, you can Trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself.
If you do, it will take you where you need to go,
But more importantly, it will teach you
A kindness of Rhythm in your Journey.
--John O’Donohue
Tonight, we will be linking the Shamanic Cycles to our Lives through the Mythic Structure of The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell. It is an Archetypal Structure, found in all lives and Life Stories and Experiences though Time and Culture: 3 Key Stages, New Beginnings / The Call to Adventure, Death, Rebirth and Transformation.
The Journey is both Inner and Outer Transformation
These can be broken down further into 12 Stages:
Part 1 The Call to Adventure:
The Ordinary World
The Call to Adventure
Refusal of The Call
Mentors
Part 2 Death:
Crossing The Threshold / Accepting The Call
Tests, Allies and Enemies
Into The Cave / Dark Night of The Soul
Ordeals and Death
Part 3 Rebirth and Transformation:
The Reward
The Road Back
Rebirth, Mastery and Transformation
Return to The World with The Elixir
This Cycle may be found within our Day, Week, Year or other periods of our Lives, especially as we shift from Childhood to Adulthood and the Stages of Midlife and Ageing.
Our Souls call us to continually seek new learning and growth, creativity, love, freedom, and connection; Longing and Belonging.
To honour the seeking and Destiny of our Souls, that may seem hidden and lost through much of our Journeys is the Holy Grail, the Elixir of our Lives.
Tonight, I am here to support you as we honour ourselves in our Sacred Hero’s Journey that are our Lives and our Lived Experience for Transformation and expansion of Consciousness.
I am going to take you through two Journeys:
The First Journey will be to invite your Higher Self, your Guides, and Helping Spirits, including Power Animals, the Ancestors, and the Elements, to bring to your awareness a Challenge that is wanting to Call You.
It may be a Present Challenge you are familiar with and struggling with at present
Or it may be another Challenge, an old one you have put aside
Or one that you are not really aware of, that may be ready to emerge for your attention and Growth, or the Growth of someone you are close to, that you may need to learn and understand more about for both of you
Or a Project, a job, a creative endeavor, a health issue, our World and our Communities which you feel drawn to.
The Second Journey will be to invite Guidance, Insight, Healing and Transformation for yourself and any others concerned in this aspect of the Journey.
It may be simply to relax and let go, to allow yourself to Surrender and let Healing Happen on whatever level of your Body and Soul is needed, and to remember that often the Healing and Guidance will continue and information, insights etc the “Mental Stuff” may break through when the time is right.
Obviously, Dreams, Synchronicities, Intuitions and bodily messages continue to Guide and Inform us continually if we set clear intentions and are prepared to Honour whatever steps we are being asked to take by our Souls and Higher Self.
The moral of The Hero’s Journey, is that to become a deeply transformative experience, we are often asked to change, let go of many aspects that we consider essential to our identities, roles and even beliefs; the death and transformation of our Ego into Unity, Love and Oneness. And in going through the difficult, blind, confusing and painful stages where we Don’t know where we are going and what it’s all about, we learn to become closer to our true Inner Nature, to Trust ourselves, our Higher Selves and our Destiny.
Explanation of Drumming cues for ending the Journey, to Return back through your Portal and to your Sacred Garden and Place in Nature, back to “Home Ground.”
Journey One Meditation:
Allow yourself to feel free and light and walk towards your favourite place in Nature where you can sit and rest. It may be in a garden, or in the bush with beautiful trees and birds around you. It might be by a river, lake or the sea, where the gentle sounds of water slowly and gently relax you. As you relax you allow yourself to merge into the landscape and enter through a Portal in the ground, tree, water or sky, into another World where you are safe and protected and where you can invite your Guide or helping Spirits to come and sit with you and take you on a Journey.
You are inviting your Guides or Helping Spirits to show you a Challenge in your present Life Journey that is currently impeding your Journey and Growth, and by coming into awareness and relationship with it, will help you move forward.
Ask for Gifts of Truth, Clarity, Strength, Courage, Openness and Patience as you face yourself on this Journey.
Simply ask to be shown what you need to know:
It might be an Inner Challenge or an Outer Challenge.
It might be a Challenge you are already in, or one from your Past that still needs attention, or one you are not aware of yet that is coming and that you haven’t seen or are avoiding.
Ask to be shown your Challenge, what you need to know (about it that you haven’t understood or are avoiding).
Ask your Guides and Helping Spirits for Truth and Helpful Information about what you may need to change, leave behind, let go of or attend to in other ways.
Most importantly, ask for Guidance in understanding your struggle and what aspects of yourself and your situation are important and what qualities you may be required to bring, change or develop with this Challenge.
At the end of the Journey, thank your Guides and Helping Spirits for their support and Guidance.
Journey Two: Asking for Guidance, Insights and Healing in your Transformation, and to receive Gifts, and Rewards for your Dedication and Resilience in Service to your Particular Challenge on Your Hero’s Journey.
Calling on your Guides, Helping Spirits and especially the Beauty and Powers of the Elements to bring Guidance, Gifts, Healing, Insights and Transformation
To help you write a New Story, to Dream a New Dream, one you haven’t imagined or Dreamed yet regarding your Challenge.
To bring Helpers / Mentors: Someone or Something new into your Life to help Guide, Heal, Transform.
To bring Gifts for you and Rewards through your Dedication and Resilience
To simply relax, Let Go, and allow Healing or whatever is needed for you, to happen.
We Remember the qualities of each Element that may bring to us the transformative and Healing qualities as it’s Gifts for us:
East: Air for New Thoughts and Ideas,
South: Fire for Light, Inspiration, Passion and Transmutation
West: Sea for cleansing, purifying and Healing
North: Earth for nourishment, nurturing, foundation and grounding, Strength Courage and Community
Above: Sky, Stars and the Moon, and the Dreamtime for Cosmic inspiration
Below: Mother Nature and all her Creatures, for Change, Shapeshifting and Regeneration, for Sincerity and Truth, Creativity and Beauty.
Within: Our Hearts, for qualities of Love, Joy, Compassion, Peace and Serenity
Sing The Invocation:
To The Elements of The Seven Directions
by Robert Moss
Spirit of the Air carry me
Spirit of the Air carry me home
Spirit of the Air carry me home to my Soul
Spirit of the Earth carry me
Spirit of the Earth carry me home
Spirit of the Earth carry me home to my Soul
Spirit of the Sea carry me
Spirit of the Sea carry me home
Spirit of the Sea carry me home to my Soul
Spirit of the Fire carry me
Spirit of the Fire carry me home
Spirit of the Fire carry me home to my Soul
Spirit of the Sky carry me
Spirit of the Sky carry me home
Spirit of the Sky carry me home to my Soul
Spirit of the Deep carry me
Spirit of the Deep carry me home
Spirit of the Deep carry me home to my Soul
Spirit of the Deep carry me
Spirit of the Deep carry me home
Spirit of the Deep carry me home to my Soul
Closing Blessing:
We thank the Spirits of All the Directions,
our Guides and Helping Spirits
and the Gifts of the Elements
for Illuminating, Guiding,
Healing and Transforming us
in our Journeys tonight.
Apache Blessing of The Elements
May the Sun warm you as you walk your Path of Life by day,
Sending you Life-giving energies and the Fires of Transformation
May the radiance of the Moon and Stars shine down on you by night
Softly restoring you and illuminating your Path through the Darkness
May the Rain and Waters wash away
Your worries and sorrows, cleansing and purifying your Body and Soul
May the Wind blow
Fresh strength and the Sacred Breath of Life into your Being
May you walk gently through the World,
On your Journey of Life and Dreams,
May you know Her Beauty,
And receive Her Sustenance and Nurturing
May you also find Love, Harmony and Truth
All the days of your Life.
Mitakuye Oyasin
Final Circle Closing:
And as we go forward on our Road of Life and Dreams,
May our Doors and Gates and Paths be open,
And the Doors and Gates and Paths between the Worlds,
And may the Doors and Gates and Paths of any who wish to do us, or those we Love, any harm, be closed.
May it be so!
Mitakuye Oyasin Sa Sekhem Sahu!
Invocation To The Seven Directions
To All the Spirits of All the Directions
To the Spirits of the East
To Eagle, Condor, Hawk
We greet you and give you thanks
For your wings that carry us beyond the Veil
For your gifts of Sight, Clarity and Perception
For Illumination and New Beginnings
To Spirits of the South
To Wolf, Coyote and Snake
We greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Childhood and our Inner Child
For Awe and Wonder
Faith, Trust, Humility and Intuition
To Spirits of the West
To Grandmother Bear for Healing
And Jaguar for Power
We greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Rest, Regeneration and Empowerment
Of Introspection and Setting New Goals
To Spirits of the North
To Great White Buffalo and Hummingbird
We greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Strength, Fortitude and Courage
And to our Ancestors
For your gifts of Wisdom and Community
We give Thanks and remember our Prayers
To Spirits Above
To Father Sky, Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Sun, The Star Nation and the Dreamtime
We greet you and give you thanks
As we remember our Origins, And where we will return to
To the Spirits Below
To Great Mother Earth
To all your two-legged, four-legged, winged and finned, and creepy-crawlies
To your Stone People, Plant People and all your Elements
We greet you and give you thanks
For your gifts of Sustenance and Nurturing of our Incarnation
As we walk upon this Earth
To the Spirits Within
To our Hearts and Sacred Breath
We greet you and give you thanks
For our connection to our Higher Self
And to Great Spirit
And for your gifts of Love, Truth and Beauty
We ask that we may Form a Bridge
To ALL the Directions
And to ALL the Worlds
We give Thanks and say Welcome!Mitakuye Oyasin
Sa Sekhem Sahu!
Invocation to the Seven Directions
Shorter Version
To Spirits of The East
We Greet you and Thank you
For Your Gifts of New Beginnings and Illumination
To Spirits of The South
We Greet you and Thank you
For Your Gifts of Faith, Trust, Humility and Intuition
To Spirits of The West
We Greet you and Thank you
For your Gifts of Healing and Power
To Spirits of The North
We Greet you and Thank you
For your Gifts of Wisdom, Community, Courage and Strength
To The Sky, Sun, Stars and Moon
We Greet you and Thank you
For your Gifts of our Becoming and our Homecoming
For The Spirits Below, Mother Nature
We Greet you and Thank you
For your Gifts of Sustenance and Nurturing
For the Spirits Within
Our Heart Flame and Divine Breath
We Greet You and Thank You
For your Gifts of Life, Love, Beauty and Joy
To All the Spirits of All The Directions
And to ALL our Relations
We say Thankyou and Welcome!Mitakuye Oyasin!
