My teacher and lineage
My teacher and mentor Vicki Dean
It is true that Shamanism has become a trendy word and there are a lot of people offering Shamanic practices so I thought I would take some time to share my experience and training so you can decide if what I offer may be aligned with where you are at and what is important to you.
There is a lot of talk of cultural appropriation in this work, rightly so, and some practitioners are using processes, rituals and teachings without permission or knowing where it has come from and the respect and acknowledgment that it deserves. An important question to ask any practitioner in shamanic work is who are your teacher’s teachers?
This is my Teacher and Mentor Vicki Dean and she is a wonderful human being. I just adore her. Wise, embodied, humble and hilarious she is the real deal. What do I mean by the real deal? Her work and lineage is rooted in integrity and honesty and a deep connection to land and community and to those she has learnt from. She teaches safety in the work and the importance of integration. I know where each process comes from and what I do and don’t have permission to share in my own work in the community. Her presence and love is felt by all who have the privilege of working with her.
Her life has been a deep involvement in the creative and healing arts for the past forty years personally and as a group leader, facilitator and creatrix. She has written 5 nationally and internationally credited courses in Shamanism, Psychodrama and Nature based Creative Leadership. She has received Shamanic training in Australia, USA, Peru, Nepal and NZ as well as in depth training with Rafael Locke, Gurdjieff’s Mystical Teachings and Movements, Tom Brown Jnr and in the Michael Harner method. She has been given permission from indigenous elders including Uncle Max to teach this work in Australia, on Aboriginal land and was encouraged to move from traditional shamanism into shamanism for the modern world, which is so needed right now.
I finished a two year Diploma in Shamanism, Mask and Traditional Healing with Vicki in2023 and I feel really strong in the work and trust how it continues to unfold for each of us that did the training. This is an apprenticeship with Spirit and it doesn’t end at the end of a two year course. This is a life long journey. There is no one size fits all in how we take it into the world and we are encouraged to find our unique offering, whether it be applying the work to a practitioner role, parenting, in the corporate world, in the workplace and of course in our personal relationships.
The Shamanic way is a way of being in the world, connection to Self, land and Spirit and accessing our medicine to continue to step into ourselves and share our gifts. It is a journey of courage and remembering that we are supported and have the capacity to heal and move towards wholeness. It is about community. What affects one, affects the collective. We do this work for the planet. For all beings. It is all connected.
I am so, so grateful for this work. I am moving through a huge transition at the moment, and whilst it is really challenging, I have never felt so spiritually strong and capable of being with what is. So grateful for the tools and resources that I have learnt and embodied to navigate change, breathe and be with the unknown whilst knowing in every cell that I am loved and supported by Spirit and those around me who mirror back to me who I am.
The women I studied with are Epic. The places we have journeyed to together is unbelievable. We kept showing up. We kept doing the work. Even when we wanted to run away. We found the courage and trusted the work. We laughed (a lot) cried, died to old versions of ourselves and witnessed each other birthing new.