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Training Opportunities

Come and personally work with acclaimed author and shaman James Endredy. Below are the 2018 course descriptions and dates. As always we also offer some of the events and training opportunities on an "as requested" basis. Which means, if you feel the call to participate in any of these activities simply contact us and we will arrange and coordinate dates with those intersted in each event. We look forward to working with you!

Entering the Vortex
Advanced Shamanism
Embrace of the Earth
Autogenic Training
Quest for Vision

Policies and Procedures

There is a rapid movement of consciousness spreading throughout the human community that places growing importance on holistic beliefs and practices. The science of physics is finding common ground with ancient mystical traditions. Environmental awareness is changing lifestyles toward cooperation with nature. People are leaving mainstream religions in search of a spirituality that celebrates and honors the differences between faiths, creeds, race, education, ancestral roots, and genders. Many that are realizing this spiritual reawakening are being "called" to learn the primordial way of the shaman.

The Earth Spirit Foundation is dedicated to guide people to enter the ecologically sound, holistic worldview of shamanism, which founder James Endredy has termed ecoshamanism. The ecoshamanic training offered by the foundation is task oriented, totally experiential, and extremely personal. In order to give form to the tasks of ecoshamanic training, the tasks have been broken down into 4 levels of consciousness - Mind, Body, Environment, and Spirit.

Your participation in any of our workshops and training opportunities directly benefits the programs of the Earth Spirit Foundation. Of your tuition, 100% of the net income (after expenses) goes directly toward the foundation's charitable projects. This is typically around 20% of the total fee you pay for the training.

Tasks at the level of Mind:
  • Dispel the illusion that the human "psyche" is somehow separate from the natural world by acknowledging and granting psychological status to our relationship with the natural world.
  • Overcome our deficient childhood psychological development stemming from insufficient reciprocal and harmonious relationships with the natural world.
  • Bring to light our current valuation and affiliation for the natural world so as to critically assess both our lifestyles and philosophical views.
  • Identify specific psychological imbalances in our relationship to the natural world.

Tasks at the Bodily level:

  • Reclaim the awareness that our physical body is the most obvious and intimate component of the natural world that we could ever know, and that alienating our selves from our body also alienates us from nature.
  • Realize that our physical health is continually impacted by the health or sickness of our environment and also by what our body is receiving as sustenance.
  • Reconnect with the inherited ancient wisdom held within our human body.
  • Learn that our body is capable of an awareness that is distinguishable from but complimentary to the awareness of our mind.
  • Develop and engage in shamanic practices to acknowledge that our human flesh is the same as the flesh of the world.

Tasks at the Environmental level:

  • Recover the moment-to-moment awareness that every one of our thoughts and actions are tied to the web of life that encompasses the entire planet.
  • Promote environmental education with a holistic systems approach.
  • Develop a deep and genuine connection and affiliation for the land where we live.
  • Learn to see a deeper reality by removing the facades and disguises that obscure the true identity of objects, situations, and circumstances.

Tasks at the Spiritual level:

  • Identify and heal the spiritual - ethical illnesses that allow for the continued degradation of our natural spiritual home.
  • Engage in spiritual practices that allow the controlling aspects of our ego to dissolve and our consciousness to flow outward in connection with the sacred elements and entities of the natural world: air, water, sun, fire, earth, moon, and also with the animating spirit of trees, birds, animals, insects, and flowers.
  • Develop a spiritual connection to the natural world that allows us to listen to and understand what the earth and her living entities are telling us.
  • Find our individual reconciliation with nature's cycles of life, death, and rebirth
  • Create and utilize spiritual ecoshamanic rites of passage and initiation in order to grow into wise and mature members of the earth community.

Ecoshamanic Training

The ecoshamanic training courses offered by the Earth Spirit Foundation are designed to provide the tools and experiences that will a usher a person into a new mode of being. They are more properly rites of passage and therefore we refer to them as initiations. Each initiation has specific goals and tasks for the initiate to accomplish. Instruction is given for completion of the tasks, but only the initiate can accomplish them and embody the knowledge contained within them.

Entering the Vortex

This powerful initiation opens the door to the ecoshamanic worldview of holism and cooperation with the world that provides us with life. We call this - entering the vortex - as we intentionally induce altered states of consciousness by extending our awareness and perception to include the entities and beings that we previously felt that we were separate from. The power spots in nature that we visit contribute in a profound way during this experience. The conclusion of this initiation is simply another beginning as you reenter the world with an enhanced sense unity, power, and vision. Prerequisite: A thorough reading of Ecoshamanism and a strong calling to learn the holistic ways of the shaman

Achievements include but not limited to:

· Learning the art of counter-practice and how to apply it to your everyday life.
· Inducing altered states of consciousness through ecoshamanic practice in nature.
· Learning to see in holistic systems within the spiraling reality.
· Making a first approach to ecoshamanic chanting.
· Experiencing an internal energetic cleansing with the Sacred Fire.
· Learning ecoshamanic dance with the Sacred Fire

.Dates in 2018: May 19-20, June 23-24, August 18-19, Sept 15-16, October 6-7

Tuition: 200.00

Click here for enrollment, payment and logistics

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Advanced Shamanism

This program is specifically designed for those in or interested in the healing arts of the Shaman.

Achievements include but not limited to:

Inducing an Integrated State of Consciousness via the Five Points of Attention
Learning and practicing Direct Shamanic Viewing
Learning the art of Shamanic Dreaming
Learning to work deeply with the Sacred Fire

Dates in 2018: July 14-15, September 22-23

Tuition: 250.00

Click here for enrollment, payment and logistics


The Embrace of the Earth Rite of Passage

In thisinitiation we clean our connection to the world even more as we humbly open to the awareness that the consciousness we call "me" is actually an extension of an infinitely larger field of consciousness that creates our reality. This is facilitated by spending the night embraced by the living earth in a personal grave-like tomb that each initiate digs by hand. Intensive preparation before and during the rite insure the proper mind-set before entering the tomb. This nurturing and healing rite of passage is known to stimulate a wide range of altered states of consciousness that induce visions, out of body experiences, merging of perception with the earth mother, purging and healing of emotional wounds, heightened awareness of our mortality, collection of divine energy, profound feelings of unity and rebirth, among many others. Please note that this initiation has been safely practiced by several hundred initiates during the last 20 or so years by shamanic researcher Victor Sanchez. James Endredy was trained in the rite by Victor Sanchez over a five year period and since 1999 has adapted it for inclusion in the ecoshamanic training of the foundation and has facilitated it for hundreds of people. The practice is totally safe - no soil is placed on the initiates, you can be physically removed from the tomb at any time if necessary, and the facilitator stays awake and vigilant the whole night in close proximity to the tombs while feeding the central fire and offering blessings and prayers. The physical dimension to the rite is only one small part - it simply helps facilitate the altered states that are the main element of the rite. This rite of passage is so unique, empowering, and nurturing that by the end of the night most initiates want to stay longer in the ground before they rise from the tomb into the sun and "sprout" into a new form of being. For a complete description of the rite, including personal experiences from initiates, refer to chapter 7 of James Endredy's book on ecoshamanism. Prerequisite: A thorough reading of Ecoshamanism: Sacred Practices of Unity, Power, and Earth Healing, and a strong calling to transcend your perceived limitations.

Achievements:

Internal preparation at home for the Embrace of the Earth Rite.
· Making of offerings to the land and construction of the tombs.
· Preparing mentally, physically, and spiritually by sweat lodge cleansing, fire purification, water practices, blessings, and group work, among others (depending on weather conditions and the location).
· Passing through the all night Rite of Passage.
· Learning steps to integrate discoveries made while in altered states during the night.
· Making of offerings related to your personal experience during the Rite.
· Leaving the land as we found it.

Dates in 2018: July 21-22

Tuition: 250.00

Click here for enrollment, payment and logistics


Autogenic Training

Autogenic training teaches you how to use the mind-body connection to influence and regulate the body’s normally involuntary autonomic functions by passively tapping into your central and peripheral nervous systems.

Acheivments:

Learning the 7 standard formulas of AT
Learning how to add specific healing affirmations and visualizations to your AT practice as well as how to work with colors and the chakras.
Advanced trainings to rekindle your primal touch sensitivity, experience enhanced sight and hearing, and awaken your primal sense of smell.
Learn how to use AT to restore our primal connection to the world of Nature through practices such as Forest Bathing, Nature's Breath, and Primal Fire Connection.

Dates in 2018: July 7-8, August 11-12, September 1-3,

Tuition 200.00

Click here for enrollment, payment and logistics


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Quest for Vision Rite of Passage

From time immemorial, prophets, mystics, and spiritual seekers of every kind have journeyed away from civilization to find answers and connect to spirit in the solitude of nature. In this rite of passage initiates lay themselves bare to the elements and the spirits of nature by fasting alone in a sacred place. Intensive preparation to set the personal intent of each initiate is of primary concern, as is the assimilation of the experience into your everyday life. This rite of passage is an offering that you make to the spirits in return for guidance and knowledge. Prerequisite: First or Second Initiation.

Achievements:

· Internal preparation at home for the Quest for Vision Rite.
· Spend at least 3 days and nights alone fasting in nature.
· Making of offerings to the land.
· Experiencing an altered state of consciousness by perceiving that while you are watching the land, the land is watching you.
· Deepening your ability to let the land sing through you with the ecoshamanic chant.
· Receiving visions and songs from the beings and entities of the land.
· Leaving the land as we found it.
· Integrating the experiences of the Rite into daily life.

Dates in 2018: This is an ongoing program during June - September. Contact ESF to request your date.

 


 


 


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