Blogging Shamanic Shifting 2

Shamanic vernal equinox spiritual parade practice

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:20 GMT

Image by Indy Kethdy via Flickr

Noticing the horizon points of sunrise and sunset move southward for winter and northward for summer has inspired a shamanic exercise I find encouraging.

I imagine each place where the sun "touches" the perimeter of my extended neighborhood as the entry and exit gates of a universal gift bestowing spirit-parade.

From any particular place on earth, because our planet's axis tilts, the sun appears to travel from the winter solstice southern extreme to summer the summer solstice northern extreme as we orbit around it, bringing darkest to lightest days, with spring and autumn equinoxes of almost equal night and day. Light strikes and shadow falls upon and between prominent buildings and trees on my block help me remember to pause and attend to the changing solar route and welcome the soul empowering, benefaction flinging march-past of spirit and spirits.

Taking a moment to shaman-talk each day's sun-journey into a consciously-customized shower of blessings, tossed upon me, my neighborhood and the world (as I know it) by a processing spiritual entourage is fun. Day-dreaming this on cloudy days requires determination. If I forget at dawn, I may do it in retrospect.

Perhaps the end- and mid-point passages, like today's vernal equinox, properly stir more fanfare, wonder and ritual. I began this spiritual parade practice some years ago on an "ordinary" March day, when I realized that for shamans — who must experience life marching locally and universally at once — all days must be holidays, almost-equally worthy of celebration and ceremony.

Re: Hi, I've asked folks NOT to join here...However

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:24 GMT

Cool! Thanks for the resources, I will check them out. I'm really glad Spring is finally here; this has been an exceptionally hard winter on me. -shauna ... --

Re: An update about this site

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:31 GMT

I wondered where everyone went ... From: foxxfeather Subject: [shaman_fools] Re: An update about this site To:

Does chemical dependency sidetrack shamans?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:38 GMT

Image by epSos.de via Flickr

Frequently, I caution against interacting with mood and perception altering plants and chemicals to open oneself to shamanic experience, because I have seen this practice lead, all to often, to deeper disconnections and limitations instead of spiritual re-connecting and expanding. Because many safer ways of shifting consciousness can do the trick, I recommend and teach a variety of those instead.

In the West, intoxication was separated from the sacred long ago. Sacred and secular arts have been separated for centuries, too.

Yesterday someone asked me whether some of the most expressive and creative artists of our day and age who have lived hard but died young, from chemical dependency (or abuse) or related accidents or ailments could be sidetracked modern shamans.

The original shamans were performing artists acting out sacramental psycho-drama amid purposeful adrenaline rushes, embodying and joining inner dreaming and outer transformation (towards better), along with and on behalf of their communities.

Some or many of today's most famous (much lamented) alcohol and drug related casualties could be sidetracked contemporary shamans, drawn back towards ecstasy bestowing teacher-chemicals, yet misstepping and becoming lost in the illusive, illusory gap between the holy and the worldly or misunderstanding the lessons.

Or, maybe they aren't sidetracked — just journeying over weirder edges or newer horizons on our behalf.

Shamanizing is always intentional, as opposed to accidental or habitual. But this universe is full of levels of soul and psyche and dimensions of space and time where meaning and purpose might be hiding, disguised as unfortunate or tragic mistakes.

If someone is healed by the touching the art, I credit Spirit moving.

Ostara Ritual Planning Workshop, March 21st, Milwaukee WI

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:57 GMT

Ostara Ritual Arts and Planning Workshop March 21st, 12-6pm, Location on the East Side of Milwaukee near UWM. Please pre-register for address *Take a

Re: Hi, I've asked folks NOT to join here...However

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:15 GMT

I did the drum circles in my home. You might try the Unitarian Church in Mequon. I attended a Kirtan chant circle there. I don't know if you have to be

Re: Hi, I've asked folks NOT to join here...However

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:38 GMT

Hi Pat, I'm in Cedarburg right now myself! That's pretty fascinating. Where did you run the full moon drum circles? I've been looking for good/inexpensive

Re: Hi, I've asked folks NOT to join here...However

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:59 GMT

I live in Cedarburg and have run Full Moon Drum Circles in the past. I now only do it occasionally, but would love to meet and maybe start something again

Re: Hi, I've asked folks NOT to join here...However

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:15 GMT

Thanks for the note. I'm curious who all is on this group, and what sacred work you are doing. I just recently moved north of Milwaukee, at least for the time

Doing business with individuals, by any name and many names

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:35 GMT

Image via Wikipedia

Most of the professionals at this business address say they have "clients," a word which used to mean a lower-class denizen living under the protection (or patronage) of a patrician (or upper-class denizen), until English lawyers began referring to their customers by the term in the 1600s, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. So, a client was someone who was patronized.

The psychiatrists here still do business with patients, which could mean long-suffering people who embody the virtue of patience, the same reference informs us.

I say customer (meaning "person with whom one has dealings") or I use the word visitor or student or associate, depending upon the nature of the transaction at hand.

I am happy to report that it has been over a year since I have heard the word "consumer" being substituted for "client" (usually to refer to the customers of mental-health professionals or institutions) because it sounds more respectable, to some.

As a free-market enthusiast, I do not hear any pejorative connotations reverberating around the word customer. But by "free-market" I do NOT mean today&os;s heartless, high-tech, government-subsidized, state-regulated pseudo-capitalism.

One mental-health paraprofessional informed me that "participant" is the more respectful and egalitarian term now favored, yet reacted to the possibility of being referred to as "one of my participants" with visible and audible dismay. On property management gigs, I have used the words "tenant" and "resident" instead of customer, intending no disrespect.

Working as an airport ramp agent (years ago), I noticed that the even the words "passenger" -- or "ramper" -- could develop some pretty...ah, well, never-mind.

I opine that word connotations emerge and resonate and build up or break down inevitably during common usage (intentionally and unintentionally), through the songs and dances of everyday tones, gestures and expressions. Meanings and nuances generate and re-generate as psyches and souls interact, thinly or thickly disguised by attitudes.

And attitudes can be changed on purpose, I remember happily.

Re: An update about this site

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:59 GMT

... Ok ... Feather -<<<<<~

ShamanicShift's Contact and News Portal

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:11 GMT

This site is a contact form and news portal for ShamanicShift, a.k.a. ECP.

To send Elizabeth a message related to hypnosis, shamanic stuff or ministerial services click here or the CONTACT tab above.

The other tabs lead to information about the ministerial, shamanic and hypnosis projects at Shamanic Shift Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Visit Elizabeth's shamanic blogspot or her events and updates log to read more.

Or, TWEET @ShamanicShift!

News:

Elizabeth's new career emphasis is freelance writing and freelance funning.

To hire Elizabeth as a freelance writer, researcher or editor open an email conversation through this contact form.

There won't be new posts here, because this is a contact and news portal only.

Filed under: Hello Tagged: Milwaukee Wisconsin, Shamanic Shift Center

An update about this site

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:12 GMT

Greetings, I am, ShamanicShift, a.k.a. ECP, who hates to delete or hide a site, so I leave this one here as a memorial and archive. The owner(s) of this group,

Hi, I've asked folks NOT to join here...However

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:02 GMT

Greetings, I approved a new member even though the top of this page says NOT to join. I did not want to insult anyone by ignoring or denying. Here I am,

Earth watching in shamanic dreams

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:41 GMT

Image via Wikipedia

WOW. I'm still shaking.

Now that I have access to a shamanic dream station on the Moon, set up gradually this February, I launch many of spiritual journeys from it into the non-ordinary sides of our solar system, galaxy and local group.

I have ridden asteroid orbits and passing comets on quests for wisdom and understanding.

But last night I constructed a spirit-spaceship and orbited our planet, watching the earthquakes and tsunami waves, wondering "What next?" and seeking as many meanings as possible for the national and global catastrophes we are living and dying through today.

The daily news prompts me to pray and wonder often:

"How many uphill battles are happening all at once on our world, unleashing terror and trauma?"

Could our cetacean cousins, who endure so much human misbehavior, have been troubled by premonitions of tremendous geodynamic displacements? Is Chile shaking us into Earth Month early on purpose?

Many calamities we experience as unusual are within the normal ranges conditions for earthy, incarnate life, of course. My vision cannot comprehend even a tiny fraction of the blessings being unleashed by all the tragedies playing out.

Still, even more blessings can be released by harmonious voluntary cooperation, the spirits remind me.

Based upon past stories and future visions, I know that any cross – the X marking any pain or death, from the greatest to the least – can release seemingly miraculous (yet perfectly natural) reality shifting energy for change towards the better, when (and as long as) someone notices and says so.

But there are even better ways to heal and transform. Even while Earth remains rife with hazard zones, shamanic shifters can begin opening soul-loopholes in the continuum of LIFE.

When critical masses of "shamanic shift centers" everywhere are dancing funner dreams of the best though mustard-seed sized (Planck-length or smaller?) openings, anywhere, stretched wider and wider, gains will flow irresistibly from behind all everyday scenes with fewer and fewer pains.

Image via Wikipedia

I decided to stand up.

Then I improvised an ad hoc costume and impromptu ceremony expressing Earth as the universal X, dancing the break-though resonance of FUN taking over the cosmos, relentlessly and re-creatively.

Through I have no knowledge of how many unknown neighborhood shamans are participating in this sacramental paradox, each in their own ways, unadvertised, I keep on imagining this circle of circles growing and glowing, and will keep on, no matter what.

Believing is optional. Just be and live.

Starhawk Ritual: Open event, Mon. March 1st, Milwaukee

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:17 GMT

Greetings all, I wanted to send out a reminder note about Monday's open ritual with Starhawk. The workshop portion of the event is sold out, with a waiting

No more cash outs at IM Report Card, but MyLot still pays money

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:36 GMT

Image via Wikipedia

IM Report Card, a website that focuses on internet marketing reviews, was on my list of online writing gigs to sample and review.

But it has switched to a write for "status icons based on your credits earned," that you "will be able to use...as virtual currency to purchase some selected internet marketing materials, or gain access to certain internet marketing sites that you would normally have to pay to access."

So I can scratch IMReportCard off the list now. I need to shorten my list (even more), anyway.

A website that still pays for informal content generated by ongoing social participation around many topics is MyLot. Discussions, comments and photos all count.

Anyone who likes to blurt and opine, will have fun there, while waiting for pennies to add up to the $10 minimum payout (via PayPal).

MyLot also has a system to match "taskers" with "workers."

It looks like an OK place to read the AP news and chime in about something or open a discussion about anything.

Transformational festival synergy

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:24 GMT

Image by Paul Stevenson via Flickr

When it's impossible to count how many miracles are happening, or measure how much power is being unleashed, as seeds burst, stars explode and galaxies collide (as matter and energy, and as soul and spirit), attempts are made to express or contain the fun and mystery as ordered numbers on conventional calendars.

A musing:

I was studying the old Athenian (Attic calendar) month of Gamelion that celebrated sacred marriage.

Gamelion would begin sometime during our (Gregorian calendar) December or January and last until sometime in January to mid-February, sometimes synchronicitously near our Valentine's Day (of unclear origin). The Lenaia festival honoring Dionysus began midway though the month of Gamelion.

Dionysus, birthed from the joining of Zeus and the Thebian princess Semele, is the Greek god of fertility, festivity, pleasure and art. Dionysus rescued his mother, storied to be the only mortal to give birth to a god (in those days). He restored her life, raised her from the underworld and found her a home on Mount Olympus.

For me, these energy patterns and cycles resonate and reverberate infinite possibilities, as a wild, wonder-full, harmoniously cacophonous, serendipitous synergy of unlimited potentials.

The sacred joining of two opposites during winter's darkest days, flows into the agreement of three (or more) gathered around a cooking flame, on the way to see one holy bride's early miracle-pregnancy. This long-awaited, shamanic dream of miracles being born into ordinary reality, sooner than later, is presented and celebrated in the temple of LIFE as Imbolc, and candlelight, and groundhog shadows, and much more.

Then feast days and traditions mix and fire up in the Dionysian, flesh-shriving, carnival Mardi Gras.

Outer masks express inner reality shifts during these tipsy-turvy spells of space-time. Extraordinary shamans' costumes trump same-old/same-old, status-quo customs.

But suddenly, new life goes into (who knows how many?) weeks of secret incubation before springing out again, all at once, all around.

Shamanic journey the interstellar medium

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:42 GMT

Image via Wikipedia

In my Scientific Blogging column I wrote about the new interstellar medium map that has been published (PDF) in Astronomy and Astrophysics and widely reported around the Net. Because even the press release was highly technical, I linked up a college course introduction (PDF) to the interstellar medium, by Richard W. Pogge, Professor of Astronomy at the Ohio State University, Department of Astronomy, as background information.

In the ordinary-reality universe there is star-stuff and other-stuff, unevenly scattered through the wilderness of all that is. In the 20th century, Caroline and William Herschel and other astronomers realized that the space between stars in the universe was not a vacuum.

In the most widely accepted theories of the interstellar medium, the energy of supernova outbursts swirl together with outflowing winds from clusters bright, newborn stars to open pockets thinner, but not at all empty, space-time.

Non-ordinary reality is heterogeneous, too, through all the processes, cycles and patterns of life evolving and transforming into new life, even while its eternal fullness, paradoxically, is unity-itself. But within the vast, multi-level, multi-everything realms of spirit(s) and soul(s) where shamans journey and dream, voids and abysses (as well as The Void and The Abyss, according to many travelers) are part of the scape and scope of it all.

After I built a launch platform and gate-vehicle during a shamanic moon dream, I began venturing into the spiritual sides of the interstellar medium to explore its thinner places and empty spaces. My intention is retrieval and reconnection of soul-help and spirit-healing for Earth, Moon and Sun, and side-effect blessings for all celestial bodies residing or passing though Earth's neighborhood.

The vast, dancing interplay among beings and places at all orders, directions, levels, dimensions, kinds and sizes of existence, from the most macro- to sub-microscopic, are generating wild shamanic rides out there, so far.

Book suggestion:
The Georgian Star: How William and Caroline Herschel Revolutionized Our Understanding of the Cosmos (Great Discoveries)

I like Blogger best, as free blog-spots go

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:28 GMT

Image via CrunchBase

My first blog ever was this LiveJournal account. Back then I barely knew how to turn on a computer and hook it up to the internet. This LJ&os;s purpose was allowing me to update my (beginning stage) shamanic web presence, back when I didn&os;t know any code, or even how to login to a file-manager. My LJ was linked to a static website built for my shamanic practice by someone who could only occasionally meet with me for updates.
Then I opened five (yes, 5) accounts at Blog-City, back when there was a free (ad-supported) version, and linked each of them to my next five static webpages. But soon I had learned html and enough CSS to do my own web-keeping and Blog-City stopped offering permanently free blogs. So I closed three out of those two.

Blog-City and LJ are both favorite blogging platforms, and I like WordPress, too.

WordPress.org offers the WP blogging platform free for installation on a server, for folks who want to host their own WP blogs. Security vulnerabilities must be troubleshooted to successfully host a WP blog, however. The extra know-how required plus the costs of the hosting make hosting a WP blog another non-free blogging option. (WordPress.com does host free, but ad-supported, blogs on their server that come without security risks, but there are fees (modest and reasonable) for most customizing and for removing the ads. The last time I checked, visitors see the ads, but logged in members do not.

Blogger is still my favorite

I still don&os;t know why, when I already had six blogs going, I began my Blogger blog, nowadays nicknamed "my blogspot," but I keep it open because I like Google&os;s Blogger service a lot.

I would not dismiss Blogger as "just for beginners."

There are no ads or the blogger&os;s own ads. Blogger has been owned by Google since 2003, so it is extra-easy to display Google Adsense on Blogger, (and voluntary). Other ads may be displayed with, or instead of Google Adsense (in compliance with all TOS agreements). Recently integration with Amazon became an option, enabling bloggers to include text and/or picture links to relevant Amazon products during blogging.

Blogger blogs come with a top navigation bar in several colors for blending it in. But the navbar is easy to hide through a hack. Blogger does not display advertising beyond the navbar, but Blogger&os;s TOS requires the "B" Blogger logo to be displayed somewhere on the blog.

Blogger offers total control over the blog&os;s html or drag and drop customization of the look and feel, add-ons and functionality with editable gadgets on a layout. Blogger has integrated itself with many services.

I found some "Blogger hacks" listed in Blogger&os;s support pages and forum. Many, many Blogger tips and tricks have been posted around the Web. For free Blogger templates, just search.

Blogger enhancements discovered or devised by bloggers:

How to display recent posts
Set up a tag cloud
MakeUseOf&os;s top ten Blogger hacks and tips
FiveMinuteGenius&os;s Blogger tips and tricks
Blogger Buster&os;s complete list of Blogger widgets

Blogger blogs live at a Blogspot subdomain or can be set to a registered, hosted domain. To do this, go to Publishing, under Settings (from the Blogger dashboard) for instructions.

Blogger&os;s downside

Blogger has long been derided as the host-of-choice for spam-blogs, or splogs.

Google&os;s spider-bots continuously seek and detect TOS violators, and freezes, then deletes, those algorithmically suspicious blogs (automatically). The process pauses a few weeks, awaiting a human response (from the owner&os;s suddenly frozen dashboard) to signal a false positive and trigger a review. The human review may take a week to ten days to happen. Release happens a day or two after the false positive has been confirmed.

Google&os;s clean-up process may be running far behind the sploggers, but I rarely see nepharious Blogger blogs as I research.

MySpace stopped allowing outgoing links to Blogger blogs, because of Blogger&os;s bad reputation as a host for phishers, malware intallers and other splogger types. So far, I have not encountered restrictions on links to Blogspot URLs anywhere else.

To be continued...

Shamanic Moon dreams all February

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:10 GMT

Image by Alan Miles NYC via Flickr

Maybe the freeze and thaw cycles of February have churned up more frequent Moon dreams for me. I have visioning Moon crystals, too.

February is the only month that can pass without a Full Moon, but this year Earth's Moon will bid a full good-bye to February on the month's final day. Like every month, February always has Dark Moon moments and there is always the Moon's far-side (or "other side") to consider.

The February 1 announcement that NASA's Constellation project (to return earthlings to the Moon) has been shelved in a drastic direction change to funding private companies to develop space travel (and space tourism) instead, might be stirring up my recent Moon journeying dreams as much as the weather.

Shamans can connect with any phase that the beings, places or flows of the present moment happen to be shifting through. Our Moon's dark, little-known and unseen regions may be shamanic journeyed or dreamed to, as well as the brighter, better known areas. Loopholes and pathways to unimagined possibilities can be conjured amid any current circumstances.

February is also Black History Month, also known as African American History Month, and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, celebrated with pink ribbons (a color vibration of wonder because it may not exsist). Saint Agatha of Sicily, whose breasts were chopped off during torture sessions (and healed later, by an apparition of Saint Peter) is celebrated on February 5 in many in Christian denominations that follow the western spiritual calendar.

With the souls of saints, activists and researchers who have traveled ahead in spirit, I shall continue my shamanic Moon adventures all month. In my dreams, I shall seek awareness adjustments, healing medicines and surprises hidden in pink rocks.

Have you ever touched Moon rock or Moon meteorite?

Hunting and dancing with shadows on Groundhog Day

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:40 GMT

Image by Barbara L. Hanson via Flickr

Reveling in the present happy holiday synergy of Imbolc, Candlemas (also known as the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple) and Groundhog Day, I lit candles amid clouds and sought the wisdom of dancing shadows. This afternoon my colleague the Tortoise Cat and I saw no signs of our shadows outdoors.

A shamanic journey can head intentionally into the shadows of a life, event or situation, circling around and zeroing in on a period or theme, to shed light on any given present troubles. Shadows may frighten but they signal the undaunted liveliness of Spirit's lights, radiating a new now, re-creating this world's dreams and shapes from the ongoing collapse of open-ended fields of darkness.

Today, back indoors after sweeping snow from the back doorway, I shamanized by a simpler technique, in fun. I played, capered and spun with shadows amid candle lights, then lay down, relaxed on purpose and waited for wise messages and spiritual strength to arise in mind, heart and body.

My experience with ArticleIncome is no-go, so far

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:29 GMT

Image by ZeroOne via Flickr

I signed up for an ArticleIncome.com account on January 6, 2010 and received a notification that my "account is pending."

Then, since the account seemed frozen in pending status, I registered again using a friend&os;s computer and one of my alternative email addresses, just to rule out a glitch. But the same thing happened.

On February 1, I received an email at the first address, with the subject line "IMPORTANT: Regarding Your ArticleIncome Membership - Please Read," from "the new Customer Relations Manager" of ArticleIncome.com.

The email read:

"Hi Elizabeth,

This is an important announcement from ArticleIncome. (Which is why
you are receiving this email even if you specified that you don&os;t
want any newsletters from us.)

My name is Melissa Sencio and I&os;m the new Customer Relations Manager
at ArticleIncome.com. The site and program is now under new management
and hopefully in the coming months you will see a substantial
difference in the value you get out of your membership.

Over the past few weeks, the ArticleIncome Team has spent a lot of
time and energy combating unethical users who open duplicate accounts
to garner points and referral credit, to game the screening system,
and to get back into our system after having been banned.

We have decided that the best way to solve this ornery problem is to
revamp our entire submission and registraton system. Consequently,
ArticleIncome.com will be closing the site for NEW members only.

*Since you are a member nothing else will change other than the
submission policy as detailed below.

======================================================
New Policy - Unique Content Submission Only
======================================================
One major issue we are fighting against is the mass submission of
duplicate content. While currently we accept content that is legally
owned by the submitting member even if duplicate content, we&os;re
planning on limiting content submission to only UNIQUE content.

We feel that accepting higher quality, unique content will only
benefit our network of websites and therefore benefit you as a
member. Our main goal is to get traffic to these sites AND make sure
as many visitors see your articles as possible.

We need to ensure that the best quality content is published on our
sites. This will enable more quality traffic to be driven to your
articles and more money to be made.

We understand that submitting unique content may take longer and
more work. However, in the end your article will most likely receive
more traffic and ultimately more money.

======================================================
Highly Recommended Tool to Make Unique Content - Your Discount Link
======================================================
We would like to recommend a tool that can help you create unique
articles from your already created articles. It is an article
rewriter and spinner tool and it&os;s called "The Best Article Spinner".

This is the only tool we can recommend that produces high quality
unique articles from already written content. We&os;ve secured a
discount for you that is available only for a few days.

Please go here for your discount and to watch the video and see the
powerful features this software offers:

http://www.the-name-of-the-software-was-here.com

If you use this tool to rewrite your articles we&os;re sure you will
get more out of your ArticleIncome Membership."

But when I log in at ArticleIncome, the message is still, "Your account is pending" and I have no further access. Maybe this means my account approval is pending my purchase of the article spinning software ArticleIncome&os;s new management is pushing.

Insisting upon unique content is standard now. However, I cannot understand a website that states it pays for and sells "unique" articles, then peddles article-spinning software to its writers, up front.

Perhaps I am misconstruing this weirdness and my misunderstanding is spiraling out of context. I shall investigate further, if the opportunity arises for me to get to the bottom of the problem and give the place a chance (if my account ever gets activated).

Raising Energy in Ritual intensive, Chicago IL Feb. 6-7

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:26 GMT

Hi Southeastern Wisconsin folks, I apologize for not forwarding this along sooner. I know that a few folks from Milwaukee are planning to come down for this,

My Life123 experience begins..but has ended suddenly

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:26 GMT

Update, 2/17: Oops. Life123 is dead already! My test article is still live at this writing, but the contributor side of the website has been closed. I received a notice by email that I would be paid for the article by the end of February. I will watch for that.

So the review below is outdated.

My original, outdated review:

I published a first article on Life123, a content website that purports to be picky about writing quality. My latest quick sampling of articles on the site suggests otherwise.

But it is too soon to tell, because I have yet to return to see how quickly (or if) staff editors are removing the several articles I noticed that did not come close to meeting Life123&os;s editorial guidelines (with incorrect punctuation or misspellings). I skimmed many well written articles while I was browsing there, as well.

Life123 pays contributors up to $20 per article: $5 each for the first 50 and next 500 unique visitors and $10 for the next 500 unique visitors. Contributors may write articles on topics that fit Life123&os;s taxonomy or claim SEO-team-researched titles from a long list.

The Life123 community has four levels: Member, Contributor, Writer and Expert. Life123 encourages publishers at all levels to drive traffic to their own articles, though all are searchable by category and topic on the site.

My one (experimental) article, Choose a Fun Way to Fix Broken Healthy Habits, is up to 14 unique visitors, after minimal efforts to draw readers. (Besides this link, I have posted it only on Twitter and Facebook, so far).

Founded in 2008, Life123.com calls itself "the place to start when you need practical expertise—fast." It is a subsidiary of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), along with Mindspark.com, Ask.com, Citysearch, Evite, Match.com, ServiceMagic, Bloglines, Zwinky and Excite. Life123 boasts a long list of content partners.

Meteoric shamanic journey return

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:15 GMT

Image by Navicore via Flickr

After a deep sea shamanic encounter, a wild space ride:

I dream-dived two-and-one-half miles down into the Kairei Indian hydrothermal vent field in the central Indian Ocean to interview Crysomallon squamiferum the scaly-foot gastropod with the unique, extra-tough, three-layered shell. Scaly Foot is teaching materials scientists to build invincible armored suits and vehicles.

The iron-clad, cushion-padded snail's spirit presented me with an old, dented but whole, abandoned shell, whose original inhabitant had shapeshifted. This rare, simple gift represented psychological assistance for growing thicker skin and stronger courage, as well as soul wound healing and ongoing protection for all in my world who desire it.

After giving thanks and heading back, I found myself returning from the non-ordinary ocean floor to ordinary reality upon a spiritual meteoroid.

I wondered. What happens if a spirit-asteroid (or comet) collides with Earth?

In this dream-ride I sat upon a tremendous chunk of salt crystal. I could see ahead, somehow, that our course would graze the sun and glide by Earth.

As we coasted between Earth and the Moon, Albatross flew out to meet me and winged me the rest of the way home.

When I gazed up, I saw the meteor flash. The snail shell sparkled and gleamed in shades and tints of blue on the palm of my hand.

Shamanic flying and diving to deep sea, scaly-footed gastropodic dreams

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:41 GMT

Image by dimidam via Flickr

Human beings continue to learn exoskeleton technology from animal companions.

Today on DigitalJournal.com I reported research by MIT materials scientists on the scaly-foot snail, Crysomallon squamiferum, as a model for improving military armor.

Scaly-Foot's three-layered shell, unlike other natural or man-made exoskeletons, allows it to survive a crab's powerful, tenacious (possibly week-long) vise-like squeeze. Scaly-Foot diffuses the mechanical energy of Crab's grip into the ocean waves.

Living in deep, predator-filled, highly acidic waters near heat-blasting hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean, Scaly-Foot has grown adept at dissipating the natural, ongoing energy-patterns of everyday challenges and expert at preserving what matters most.

Tonight I will shamanic journey to this extraordinary gastropod's wise spirit (within Spirit) seeking protective assistance for peaceful, life-improving or adventurous purposes to balance the combat applications. Albatross and Penguin will wing and dive me parts of the way.

Suite101 and Demand Studios: Two experiments end...No, they pause

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:06 GMT

In September, 2009, I applied eagerly for freelance writing gigs at Suite101 and Demand Studios. I was thrilled to be accepted by both almost immediately.

I sold several articles to DS and published two articles on Suite101.

It&os;s been a while since I have thought of claiming any titles at DS, although I am still an approved writer there. I am listed at DS under a pseudonym, because errors might get edited into articles once DS owns them. I might go back and grab a few jobs someday.

Who knows if I will suddenly need cash-flow and remember that DS pays up front (via PayPal) twice a week (as well as through revenue share assignments)? There is no minimum number of articles to turn in to stay on their list.

However, this week, with only two articles published on Suite101 after a generous deadline extension in effect, I requested that my contract (to publish at least ten articles every three months as a contributing writer) be terminated. I could not get comfortable at Suite101 and blocked up. I have not figured out why yet.

Suite101 and Demand Studios both are OK to great online writing gigs for many freelancers, but -- for reasons I may never trouble myself to understand -- I have been unable to get myself to produce a significant amount of content for either one of them.

Demand Studios

I became enthused over Demand Studios while perusing FreelanceWritingGigs, a site of freelance gig-inspirations that has partnered with DS.

After glimpsing the inside of DS, I found the detailed Wired article on DS definitive. Unlike many over at DS, I did not read this investigative review as derogatory and was surprised to discover it was received that way.

For favorable reports about DS from freelance writers, read on, here and here, where I was convinced to apply.

DS has been overhauling its system for years, but I arrived during an extra-tumultuous spell. The style guides were revised, then revised again. Twice, articles vanished when I attempted to save a draft.

On one occasion I was shocked to find an article submitted for review as I attempted to save the draft. That one was finished enough to be approved without a rewrite request.

In the DS forum I read scary stories about glitches, absurd and/or rejected re-write requests and unanswered appeals. I chose to let the couple of re-write requests I received lapse and publish those gems elsewhere. I had decided not to expend any more than one hour per piece, for those low but handy upfront payments.

The modest payments, from $3 (for 50 word tips) to $15.00 (for articles) were OK by me, as long as I stayed within the space-time boundaries I set. After all, freelance writing in meat space requires meetings, travel and other 3-D expenses, which cut into the higher rates I get, considerably.

Right before I backed away, DS began rolling out a new image gallery feature and requiring its use instead of uploads. From brand-newness it had too many bugs in it to be useful, but it must be working much better by now.

I have found the DS community to be highly helpful and supportive.

It was the bugs and glitches in the DS platform that drove me to call it quits for a while, though long-term DS writers were vouching in forum discussions that things would surely improve and get better than ever. I do believe them, so I will probably check back, later.

To be continued...

Image via CrunchBase

Suite101

What was it at Suite101 that turned me off?

The blogger whose Suite101 review put a notion in my brain to sign up seems to have gone inactive there as well.

"Turned off" applies only to my writing. I have nothing unfavorable to report about Suite101, nor have I been able to turn up many complaints through web searching.

I did find the Suite101 section and subsection tree a bit tangled and confused from overlapping. I was surprised – not pleasantly – to find that the subsection entitled Shamanism is listed under Mind & Soul > Paganism/Wicca at the discordianism subdomain.

Outdoor and Recreation, focused on activities, still overlaps with the destination focused Travel section. In the forum, many of the section editors have posted particular preferences or peeves, but the Travel editor&os;s list was the only simple, clearly titled, easy to remember example I had found before I took my leave. Her section specific guidelines encouraged and welcomed, and read like a pep talk.

The one copy editor who gave me feedback was nothing more or less than polite. Someone from the main editorial team answered my questions about policies and procedures within a day.

Also, Suite101 Admin informed me I can email a request to be reinstated if and when I hack through the block I was experiencing there.

Though I am not writing for Suite101 now, my articles, profile and membership remain. I continue to earn (Google Adsense) revenue sharing payments from them, though it will take quite a while to reach the $10.00 minimum payout, with so few articles.

While active on Suite101 I published only two articles: The Question of Shamanism Certification and The University of California-Davis Arboretum.

To be continued...

Starhawk in Milwaukee, March 1st 2010

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:29 GMT

Greetings all, I'm very pleased to announce that the Milwaukee Pagan community will be hosting Starhawk on March 1st. The Monday afternoon workshop might be a

Unusual request: How to cast with Swarovski crystals

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:10 GMT

Image by orsorama via Flickr

Casting or circling with the help of ornaments, accessories or miniatures?

As a neighborhood and universal shaman (written with a small "s") I tend to open circles to Spirit and Spirits rather than "cast" symbols and/or beings around in a protective or proscriptive pattern. The word cast brings many images up, besides the magical (prayer or meditation) actions of casting a spell or circle.

But intention is key when creating sacred space for shamanic journeying or placing crystals in divination or grounding any kind of inner change with outward, visible and tangible signs.

Focusing upon differences in terminology can illuminate unnoticed perspectives--or stop conversation. Anyway, I received an email asking how I would cast Swarovski crystal figurines in shamanizing. I wrote back, asking for clarification, but my email bounced back.

Swarovski is a company that produces precision-cut lead glass crystal. It was founded by Austrian glass cutter and jeweler Daniel Swarovski in in Wattens, Austria.

Certainly the bright figurines inherited by my mystery inquirer must embody patterns of paying close attention and working accurately and carefully on one chosen task at a time. Many cultural and singular shape and color meanings, perhaps new sets of correspondences for each person who gazes, must find room to inhabit each many-faceted piece.

I imagine this approach could ring true for any brand of crystal sculpture or bead. The crystal under consideration here is lead glass, which is denser and more refractive than ordinary glass, and not microscopically crystalline at all.

Lead crystal took on its name by resembling natural crystal. This suggests a successful synergy of nature and art, or nature and nurture.

Gemstone and semi-precious crystals, cut and carved, in agreement with their symmetry systems, would reflect their distinctive light-shifting attributes into any healing or transforming practice, just as well, and add the clear-cut virtues of their different sacred geometries to the spiritual reality-shift being sought.

Shamans can work with helping beings of all sorts, conditions and substances. Some of my favorites are plastic -- and scratched and dented.

For a shamanic journey -- the multipurpose practice I recommend most often -- I would arrange the crystal figures, according to the topic being shamanized, into a sacramental gateway to travel through into non-ordinary reality, via active imagining or stay-awake dreaming.

HubPages versus Squidoo, an experiment begins

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:46 GMT

Image via CrunchBase

Squidoo: I have been using Squidoo as a file system for online references and resources more than a publishing service. My experience, so far: I made Giant Squid status in September, 2009, with 75 lenses.

From all of these lenses I have earned only a couple to a few dollars per month.

The Squidoo community has been friendly and helpful to me and, as a Giant Squid, I receive improvement tips every day by email. Still, I remain unconvinced that time-consuming CSS and html lens tweaking will pay off.

Currently I am coasting on Squidoo while I flow energy toward other projects with more income potential.

I was constructing lenses for fun and future reference, anyway.

Ad-revenue at Squidoo is pooled and shared among lenses ranked higher than #85,000 with higher ranking lenses getting a bigger share. Commissions from modules are shared 50-50 and a limited number of one&os;s own affiliate links can be included (for 100 percent).

There is a complicated provision to receive a share from lensmasters who through an affiliate, and I haven&os;t tried to understand how that works..

Though Squidoo modules are supposed to be simple, the large, diverse array of them can slow, frustrate and daunt a newcomer to the platform. Many have quirks and glitches to work around.

Image via CrunchBase

HubPages: I published my first Hub today. The pub-tool at HubPages is much simpler than Squidoo&os;s, with fewer options, and no apparent way to tweak a hub with code.

Hubbers receive 60 percent of the ad revenue from their own Hubs via individual accounts with Google Adsense, Kontera, Amazon and eBay (for those who merit an eBay affiliate account).

Hubs seem like simplified Lenses to me. Squidoo has modules and HubPages has capsules but the concepts look alike to me.

I will publish more hubs and see how they perform, in fun as well as profit, compared to my lenses.

Neighborhood shamanism is universal

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:25 GMT

Image by (Bill and Mavis) - B&M Photography via Flickr

My unfinished business on the Net, 2009:

In March I began constructing a shamanic teaching website called Your-Neighborhood-Shaman.net, linked to Squidoo lenses. This project progresses, albeit slowly. My understanding keeps changing, so much of the content needs revision, already.

What I am calling neighborhood shamanism differs from all published traditional and contemporary interpretations of shamanic ways, including Core Shamanism and other (Michael) Harner-style approaches. But any single neighborhood shamanism may overlap one or more of the world's (diverse, individual or collective) shamanisms, and will interconnect with all of them, somehow.

In my dream, each neighborhood shamanism is specific to one shaman (preferably written with a small "s"), who may work in any field, under any title, who lives to bridge the non-ordinary and ordinary realms of reality within h/er closest community, for the benefit of self, neighborhood and all. All life purposes center around bridging spirit and matter to shift life towards the best.

Every neighborhood includes the subatomic to gigantic and the particular to collective--backwards and forwards through time and radiating through all directions of space.

S/he draws upon many sources, from any bailiwick.

S/he may be inspired by other shamanisms and encouraged by other shamans, locally and worldwide, though inward spiritual and outward physical teaching. Teaching is experiential, open-ended and ongoing.

I envision an unceasing, unbounded circle of circles, voluntarily and individualistically uniting all neighborhood shamans, of every when and where--mostly unknown, non-famous and unpublished--coiling and spiraling, weaving and manifesting an ever shapeshifting, world-helping Universal Shamanism.

More unfinished projects and unmet goals:

I have changed the purpose (and URL) of my LiveJournal blog, a permanent paid account which was inactive from August until now. As soon as I decide upon a look I like, this journal will be dedicated to freelance writing and freelance anything--my experiences and general information and resources--as well as to any topic I happen to be wondering over, researching or keeping for future reference.

Also I am still getting around to deleting or hiding unused web presences, fun experiments I initiated, but have abandoned, along my Net adventure. Any seldom-visited profiles, listserves and other websites that require updating to remain accurate or useful will disappear (or be forwarded to one of the "keepers") soon.

The goal is a short-list of several places where I post daily or weekly.