{"id":13755,"date":"2017-05-01T01:10:45","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T06:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=14432"},"modified":"2017-04-24T18:48:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T23:48:51","slug":"a-spiritual-toolkit-for-the-exam-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2017\/05\/01\/a-spiritual-toolkit-for-the-exam-period\/","title":{"rendered":"A Spiritual Toolkit for the Exam Period"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-14436\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Revision-Books.jpg\" alt=\"Revision Books\" width=\"645\" height=\"484\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t<!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } A:link { so-language: zxx } --><br \/>\n\t<\/style>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i>A year ago I started using some tried<\/i><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i> and tested \u00a0techniques from shamanism (the most ancient spiritual practice known to humankind) to support my eldest son through his GSCE exam period (those are general exams for all 16 year olds in the UK). I can\u2019t be the only parent who is actively looking for a spiritual toolkit specific to the challenge of exams. In this article I will share some tried and tested things that work well for our family. <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Powering up!<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">Our society has (largely) replaced religion with science. This means that most people roll out of bed and start their day without prayers, meditation or actively setting their focus and intention for the day.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">In shamanism we greet every day as a wonderful gift, not a God-given right. Before we do anything else we power up! By this I mean that we greet our personal allies and helping spirits. We seek alignment with luminous beings more powerful than ourselves . My son knows how to do this for himself (for him this means calling in his power animals: e.g. his Clan of Monkey Spirits!)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-14433\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Monkey-Clan.jpg\" alt=\"Monkey Clan\" width=\"636\" height=\"477\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>(Clan of the Monkey Spirits)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">As the exam period arrived, my son asked me to do some spiritual work on his behalf every day. At 8.45 a.m. on school days you will find me standing by my altar: drumming, rattling singing. <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>(Not only for him, also for family members, clients, students and colleagues who have asked for spiritual support).<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> Next I make the procedure a little more specific: e.g. my son had a poetry exam recently, so I call in the full \u2018society of dead poets\u2019 in the Other World and ask them to watch over his shoulder and guide his hands. For an exam in mathematics I call in the great mathematicians of all time. For the Newtonian type of physics 16-year olds study in the UK, I call in Isaac Newton. For the Quantum Physics my son is studying this year I do not shy away from calling Niels Bohr, Max Planck and of course and Einstein himself!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">And so it goes\u2026. I always get the feeling that these great spirits LOVE being of help. The essence of those great minds lives on outside time (one of shamanism\u2019s great teachings) and you may call on them \u2013 in my experience there is always an instant response. \u2013 And isn\u2019t that cool, seeing your son walk up the Hill in his school uniform accompanied by Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and a veritable society of long-dead poets? I love the limitless potential of creative shamanism!!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2026 <span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>and that includes Calling In The Ancestors!<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">On a similar note: make a point of also calling in your child\u2019s compassionate ancestors. We have an Ancestor Gallery in our house (where I have photographs of ancestors up and a special cupboard where I keep family heirlooms). I go there every day to light a candle, place a small vase with flowers from our garden and so forth. I talk to them and tell them what is happening in the family, who needs spiritual support. Then I ask them to watch over all our three children: to please walk with them, keep them safe, help them make good choices and so forth.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-14434\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Ancestor-Gallery.jpg\" alt=\"Ancestor Gallery\" width=\"496\" height=\"662\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>(Ancestor Gallery)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">In exam periods I especially call on those ancestors who share the same talents and interests as my son. After all those passions were passed down the blood line, they didn\u2019t come out of nowhere! I thank them for watching over him and nudging him in the right direction when it comes to choosing a profession later in life. And I have no doubt that they do this. They are only too happy to be asked!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">In our society we have lost the concept of ancestor veneration but in any tribal communities this is seen as essential to the well-being of members of the Tribe and to maintaining the balance between worlds. (Take just one moment to think about how relatively short a human lifespan is: we are ancestors for a much longer period than our own \u201cbutterfly lifetime\u201d on Earth!)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Revision Parties\u201d + extra attention on your son or daughter\u2019s emotional life<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">For most parents unconditional support is a given at any time in a child\u2019s life. However, as they grow older (taller than us and <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>very<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> independent and opinionated!) there can be a tendency to get busier with our own personal and professional lives and miss those little hints that something isn\u2019t quite right. That lovely boy who used to drop in three times a week \u2013 why hasn\u2019t he been here for nearly two months now? Have they fallen out? Has something happen in their friendship group?? <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">Our own son\u2019s first serious girlfriend broke up with him (after 17 months together!) just before their exams started. He was feeling rough and in the end we hosted a <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>Revision Party<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> with unlimited supplies of chocolate and crisps. It was really a getting-over-the-girlfriend party but we couldn\u2019t call it that! A posse of teenagers came around, dressed up in animal costumes (that I keep around the house for workshops), played four-handed piano and actually studied some physics. My son was his normal self after that. Equilibrium had returned, PHEW!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-14435\" src=\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Revision-Gorilla.jpg\" alt=\"Revision Gorilla\" width=\"650\" height=\"488\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>(Revision Gorilla)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">This is obviously a very tricky area: some teens want to talk and others feel the last person they\u2019d ever speak to is the weird creature commonly known as a parent. The trick is to be available but not in their face. <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>They will talk to you when it suits them \u00a0\u2013 not when it suits you<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">!! In our house this means me settling down again for a long midnight conversation when I was just heating a mug of milk and headed for bed at 10.30 pm. Losing sleep (even daily, large amounts of it!) is definitely the lesser evil when compared to losing touch with the emotional life of a teenager\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Spiritual Principles for navigating Teenage Tempests <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">I have discovered that the general principles of shamanism (and shamanic healing) work perfectly well for the dilemmas that this age group runs into. With my son I make a point of reinforcing the following core principles:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Fair Energy Exchange<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> \u2013 in all of your relationships\/friendships observe how energy is flowing. Does it freely flow both ways? Do you support your friend and does he or she support you back? When it becomes one-sided, something tilts out of balance. Perhaps a heaviness or lack of joy sets in. Time to renegotiate?! \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>Example<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">: my son has been going to parties but he is very anti-alcohol at the moment (\u201cI can\u2019t afford to lose brain cells when I want to get into a good university long-term!\u201d) This meant that at parties his friends get drunk and he gets involved in cleaning up vomit and seeing them home safely etc. He does not find this role <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>entirely enjoyable<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">. In the end I have said to him: when a friendship starts to feel like <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>social work<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> you may just want to reflect on the energy balance. He took that on board and made changes in his choices.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Reflection on what we can control and can\u2019t control<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> \u2013<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i> Change the things I can and accept the things I cannot change<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> (the Serenity Prayer is very useful here, I will paste the first part below) \u2013 My son has a heavy dose of teenage idealism, meaning that he doesn\u2019t always see clearly where we need to draw a line goes between \u201cwhat we can control\u201d, \u201cwhat it not worth even trying to control\u201d and \u201cwhere we can actually make positive changes by shifting our own perception\u201d. Lucky for me he has always been a talkative child. He processes things by talking them through. This means I am on an intensive course in understanding the world of teenagers (because I work in a professional capacity with them as well, meaning I see a wider range of expressions, boys\/girls, all ages\u2026)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"CENTER\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>God\/Higher Power grant me the serenity <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>To accept the things I cannot change; <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>Courage to change the things I can; <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>And wisdom to know the difference.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Doing Inner Work with Noticeable Result<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">s<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>\u00a0Outside Us<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> \u2013 When we cannot engage with something externally (meaning: in the world around us) <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>we can always work on things internally.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> We can put focus on things, we can hand issues over to spirit allies for safe keeping or resolving, we can ask our power animals to go talk to the other person\u2019s power animal and ease the way between us and so forth. There are always more options that we commonly realize when we get frustrated<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>. (Teenagers often feel frustrated: they have the bodies of adults but not yet the freedom of choice, lifestyle or financial freedom that adults have).<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>You remain responsible for your own choices and actions, no matter what another person does! <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">&#8211; <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">My son has been on quite a journey with this one. He is a little hot-tempered and has an over-developed sense of fairness. He gets upset when people break promises or mess around with the feelings of others in any way. On a few occasions I have had to invite him to express his anger (safely, without directing it at anyone) but then think long and hard: <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>what kind of person do I choose to be? Do I choose to meet this person on their level of functioning or do I set my own code of ethics for how I behave and respond?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> On reflection my son will agree that he needs to actively choose his own actions. Meaning that he is acting, not re-acting to others the whole time. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">When we set <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>strong intentions<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">, energetically speaking <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>we set events in motion<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">. E.g. my son felt he needed to talk to one person in private because she was blanking him in school. I helped him formulate a strong intention for what he actually wanted most of all: <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>to<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>meet up privately, after school, and discuss whatever is going on.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> My son didn\u2019t believe for one minute that this would produce a result. He said: \u201cOK Mum, we try this and maybe by the end of the school year something will happen\u201d (this was in March). The next day he came home from school and reported that this person had approached him and asked to meet up after school. \u00a0My son was suddenly very impressed by \u201cthe stuff shamanic teacher mum peddles\u201d!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">Last but not least:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Teenagers are fully fledged sexual beings\u2026<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">I could go on and on \u2013 but if I do this article turns into a book! However, one final thing I want to say is this: by the time young people are 16 years old, they are fully fledged sexual beings. The statistics tells us that young people are sexually active at an earlier age than we ourselves (perhaps) were. However you privately feel about this, it is a fact of modern life. As regards my own son I recently made some comment that my child-bearing days are in the past and that any babies arriving in our family might just be courtesy of son #1, <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>one day<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">. Oma (Grandma, my own Dutch mother, who happened to be visiting) was aghast and accused me of \u201cpromoting teenage pregnancy in my house\u201d \u2013 am I mad or what?!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">However, my son looked quite pleased to be acknowledged as capable of fathering a child but he said: <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>\u201cNot for years and years Mum! I still remember vividly what it was like when my baby brother (son #3) was born and I want to enjoy my years of freedom before I embark on any of that!\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> So he and I were in total agreement and he gave me a lovely smile. I knew that we had understood each other. Only grandma (aged 77 1\/2) nearly had a heart attack. A different generation and in truth my mother has always been \u201celderly\u201d in her approach to life. (My brothers says she was middle-aged by her late twenties). I doubt that this is going to change as she sails through her 8th decade on this planet!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">If you like the sound of using shamanism in parenting and you want more suggestions or tools, I invite you to check out my book. <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Natural Born Shamans: A Spiritual Toolkit for Life <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><i>(using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages).<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> It can be ordered from amazon (as well as any quality bookstore).Soon after publication it was listed as \u201ca hot release in shamanism\u201d and it even achieved best-seller status\u2026. As my own son concluded: the stuff I teach must be effective \u2013 why else would people show up for my courses or read articles I write?!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">I invite you to find me on Facebook and join my Closed Group <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>NATURAL BORN SHAMANS<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"> where anyone can ask questions, start discussions or share interesting links and information for parenting and working with children. Welcome!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\">(Please note: this article was adapted and expanded from a blog by the same title I wrote a year ago).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-family: Arial, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span lang=\"en\"><b>Imelda Almqvist<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><b>About the author:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Imelda Almqvist\u2019s book\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><i><strong>Natural Born Shamans: A Spiritual Toolkit For Life<\/strong> (Using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages)<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">\u00a0was published by Moon Books in August 2016. \u00a0She is based in London,UK and teaches shamanism and sacred art internationally.\u00a0 She was a presenter on the Shamanism Global Summit in July 2016.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.shaman-healer-painter.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #185e15;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><u>www.shaman-healer-painter.co.uk<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/imeldaalmqvist.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #185e15;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><u>https:\/\/imeldaalmqvist.wordpress.com\/<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/shamanismsummit.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #185e15;\"><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><u>http:\/\/shamanismsummit.com\/<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"_GoBack\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; A year ago I started using some tried and tested \u00a0techniques from shamanism (the most ancient spiritual practice known to humankind) to support my eldest son through his GSCE exam period (those are general exams for all 16 year olds in the UK). I can\u2019t be the only parent who is actively looking for a spiritual toolkit specific to the challenge of exams. In this article I will share some tried and tested things that work well for our family. Powering up! Our society has (largely) replaced religion with science. This means that most people roll out of bed and start their day without prayers, meditation or actively setting their focus and intention for the day. In shamanism we greet every day as a wonderful gift, not a God-given right. Before we do anything else we power up! By this I mean that we greet our personal allies and helping spirits. We seek alignment with luminous beings more powerful than ourselves . My son knows how to do this for himself (for him this means calling in his power animals: e.g. his Clan of Monkey Spirits!) &nbsp; (Clan of the Monkey Spirits) As the exam period arrived, my son asked me to do some spiritual work on his behalf every day. At 8.45 a.m. on school days you will find me standing by my altar: drumming, rattling singing. (Not only for him, also for family members, clients, students and colleagues who have asked for spiritual support). Next I make the procedure a little more specific: e.g. my son had a poetry exam recently, so I call in the full \u2018society of dead poets\u2019 in the Other World and ask them to watch over his shoulder and guide his hands. For an exam in mathematics I call in the great mathematicians of all time. For the Newtonian type of physics 16-year olds study in the UK, I call in Isaac Newton. For the Quantum Physics my son is studying this year I do not shy away from calling Niels Bohr, Max Planck and of course and Einstein himself! And so it goes\u2026. I always get the feeling that these great spirits LOVE being of help. The essence of those great minds lives on outside time (one of shamanism\u2019s great teachings) and you may call on them \u2013 in my experience there is always an instant response. \u2013 And isn\u2019t that cool, seeing your son walk up the Hill in his school uniform accompanied by Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and a veritable society of long-dead poets? I love the limitless potential of creative shamanism!! \u2026 and that includes Calling In The Ancestors! On a similar note: make a point of also calling in your child\u2019s compassionate ancestors. We have an Ancestor Gallery in our house (where I have photographs of ancestors up and a special cupboard where I keep family heirlooms). I go there every day to light a candle, place a small vase with flowers from our garden and so forth. I talk to them and tell them what is happening in the family, who needs spiritual support. Then I ask them to watch over all our three children: to please walk with them, keep them safe, help them make good choices and so forth. &nbsp; (Ancestor Gallery) In exam periods I especially call on those ancestors who share the same talents and interests as my son. After all those passions were passed down the blood line, they didn\u2019t come out of nowhere! I thank them for watching over him and nudging him in the right direction when it comes to choosing a profession later in life. And I have no doubt that they do this. They are only too happy to be asked! In our society we have lost the concept of ancestor veneration but in any tribal communities this is seen as essential to the well-being of members of the Tribe and to maintaining the balance between worlds. (Take just one moment to think about how relatively short a human lifespan is: we are ancestors for a much longer period than our own \u201cbutterfly lifetime\u201d on Earth!) \u201cRevision Parties\u201d + extra attention on your son or daughter\u2019s emotional life For most parents unconditional support is a given at any time in a child\u2019s life. However, as they grow older (taller than us and very independent and opinionated!) there can be a tendency to get busier with our own personal and professional lives and miss those little hints that something isn\u2019t quite right. That lovely boy who used to drop in three times a week \u2013 why hasn\u2019t he been here for nearly two months now? Have they fallen out? Has something happen in their friendship group?? Our own son\u2019s first serious girlfriend broke up with him (after 17 months together!) just before their exams started. He was feeling rough and in the end we hosted a Revision Party with unlimited supplies of chocolate and crisps. It was really a getting-over-the-girlfriend party but we couldn\u2019t call it that! A posse of teenagers came around, dressed up in animal costumes (that I keep around the house for workshops), played four-handed piano and actually studied some physics. My son was his normal self after that. Equilibrium had returned, PHEW! &nbsp; (Revision Gorilla) This is obviously a very tricky area: some teens want to talk and others feel the last person they\u2019d ever speak to is the weird creature commonly known as a parent. The trick is to be available but not in their face. They will talk to you when it suits them \u00a0\u2013 not when it suits you!! In our house this means me settling down again for a long midnight conversation when I was just heating a mug of milk and headed for bed at 10.30 pm. Losing sleep (even daily, large amounts of it!) is definitely the lesser evil when compared to losing touch with the emotional life of a teenager\u2026 &nbsp; Spiritual Principles for navigating Teenage Tempests I have discovered that the general principles of shamanism (and shamanic healing) work perfectly well for the dilemmas that this age group runs into. With my son I make a point of reinforcing the following core principles: \u00a0Fair Energy Exchange \u2013 in all of your relationships\/friendships observe how energy is flowing. Does it freely flow both ways? Do you support your friend and does he or she support you back? When it becomes one-sided, something tilts out of balance. Perhaps a heaviness or lack of joy sets in. Time to renegotiate?! \u00a0Example: my son has been going to parties but he is very anti-alcohol at the moment (\u201cI can\u2019t afford to lose brain cells when I want to get into a good university long-term!\u201d) This meant that at parties his friends get drunk and he gets involved in cleaning up vomit and seeing them home safely etc. He does not find this role entirely enjoyable. In the end I have said to him: when a friendship starts to feel like social work you may just want to reflect on the energy balance. He took that on board and made changes in his choices. Reflection on what we can control and can\u2019t control \u2013 Change the things I can and accept the things I cannot change (the Serenity Prayer is very useful here, I will paste the first part below) \u2013 My son has a heavy dose of teenage idealism, meaning that he doesn\u2019t always see clearly where we need to draw a line goes between \u201cwhat we can control\u201d, \u201cwhat it not worth even trying to control\u201d and \u201cwhere we can actually make positive changes by shifting our own perception\u201d. Lucky for me he has always been a talkative child. He processes things by talking them through. This means I am on an intensive course in understanding the world of teenagers (because I work in a professional capacity with them as well, meaning I see a wider range of expressions, boys\/girls, all ages\u2026) God\/Higher Power grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference. Doing Inner Work with Noticeable Results\u00a0Outside Us \u2013 When we cannot engage with something externally (meaning: in the world around us) we can always work on things internally. We can put focus on things, we can hand issues over to spirit allies for safe keeping or resolving, we can ask our power animals to go talk to the other person\u2019s power animal and ease the way between us and so forth. There are always more options that we commonly realize when we get frustrated. (Teenagers often feel frustrated: they have the bodies of adults but not yet the freedom of choice, lifestyle or financial freedom that adults have). You remain responsible for your own choices and actions, no matter what another person does! &#8211; My son has been on quite a journey with this one. He is a little hot-tempered and has an over-developed sense of fairness. He gets upset when people break promises or mess around with the feelings of others in any way. On a few occasions I have had to invite him to express his anger (safely, without directing it at anyone) but then think long and hard: what kind of person do I choose to be? Do I choose to meet this person on their level of functioning or do I set my own code of ethics for how I behave and respond? On reflection my son will agree that he needs to actively choose his own actions. Meaning that he is acting, not re-acting to others the whole time. When we set strong intentions, energetically speaking we set events in motion. E.g. my son felt he needed to talk to one person in private because she was blanking him in school. I helped him formulate a strong intention for what he actually wanted most of all: to meet up privately, after school, and discuss whatever is going on. My son didn\u2019t believe for one minute that this would produce a result. He said: \u201cOK Mum, we try this and maybe by the end of the school year something will happen\u201d (this was in March). The next day he came home from school and reported that this person had approached him and asked to meet up after school. \u00a0My son was suddenly very impressed by \u201cthe stuff shamanic teacher mum peddles\u201d! Last but not least: Teenagers are fully fledged sexual beings\u2026 I could go on and on \u2013 but if I do this article turns into a book! However, one final thing I want to say is this: by the time young people are 16 years old, they are fully fledged sexual beings. The statistics tells us that young people are sexually active at an earlier age than we ourselves (perhaps) were. However you privately feel about this, it is a fact of modern life. As regards my own son I recently made some comment that my child-bearing days are in the past and that any babies arriving in our family might just be courtesy of son #1, one day. Oma (Grandma, my own Dutch mother, who happened to be visiting) was aghast and accused me of \u201cpromoting teenage pregnancy in my house\u201d \u2013 am I mad or what?! However, my son looked quite pleased to be acknowledged as capable of fathering a child but he said: \u201cNot for years and years Mum! I still remember vividly what it was like when my baby brother (son #3) was born and I want to enjoy my years of freedom before I embark on any of that!\u201d So he and I were in total agreement and he gave me a lovely smile. I knew that we had understood each other. Only grandma (aged 77 1\/2) nearly had a heart attack. A different generation and in truth my mother has always been \u201celderly\u201d in her approach to life. (My brothers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}