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Fukuchiin Temple shrouded in mystical mist, Koyasan, Japan
Photo by Jim
 Welcome
to our page on Spiritual Teachings.
Following the path of Spirit is probably
the most difficult path to travel in our present day
world. Today in this 21st
Century, Western people’s lives are not centered around a religious culture
such as the one that was birthed so many thousands of years ago at the “city
where one becomes a god” in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Nor is our culture a Pharaonic
Theocracy, such as in ancient Egypt, where the entire life of a people was
governed by spiritual truths. And on top of all of this, we, as the founders of
Divine Humanity, are asking people to express their divine qualities as well as
human ones and prioritizing the spirit and the pureness and the lightness of
one’s heart as the number one reality. But the ‘winds of change” are blowing,
heralding the dawn of a New Age.
If you are interested in spiritual development leading to becoming a 'person of power,' please visit our distant learning website Magi Mystery School. However, always
remember an important point that Vince Stogan, Salish Elder, Spiritual Leader
and Indian Doctor, once told me: “Jim, our spiritual development is like
climbing a stairway or a ladder—one step at a time. If you go too fast and
‘slip’ down the ladder, it takes a long time to get back to where you were.”
When
you accept the pilgrimage of spirit, you will undergo many tests, trials and
perils along the way; but it is the grandest adventure that any divine human
being can embark upon. Keep your faith in yourself as a divine human being and
trust in the light of God/Creation and don’t let fear stand in your way. When
the going becomes difficult and the abyss is dark and deep, remember what
Joseph Campbell so eloquently said about the hero’s adventure:
Furthermore, we have not
even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before
us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the
hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a
god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where
we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own
existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world.
(The Power of Myth pg. 124)
 A Healer
The heavens wait and the earth watches
for the ones that have suffered.
And in the suffering they have learned.
And have grown as a beautiful flower
bringing healing magic to all that ask.
The sacred heart, the perfect temple
only such through the healing of self.
Healing the wounds, walking the talk.
A healer is a healer
that has traveled the underworld in forgiveness.
And in healing the woundedness
has broken free into the light of one's own heart.
The Sun of self, shattered and darkened
whole once again, brilliant and loving.
And the dark of the Moon, the veil is removed.
The Earth blessed in it’s light
blossoms, paradise restored. (JC Husfelt, D.Div.)
Whether
we are a spiritual teacher, a religious leader or a healer, we have one basic
requirement to fulfill before we can truly accept the mantle of our position
and title. The poem, my own personal form of a Japanese haiku, above states this prerequisite, which is the healing of
one’s self. And in shamanic cultures, this has been referred to as the “wounded
healer” concept. The ageless wisdom of the earth-based traditions across the
world believed in this most basic principle:
Ku
“The all-powerful mana of the Gods of Tradition
has enabled practitioners of Ho’omana Tahito throughout the ages to be
renowned as the healers of the Pacific world. All may join these exalted ranks.
But, before one seeks to heal others, let him first heal himself. Let him
restore to as near perfection as possible that Primary Temple. Te Tino La’a,
the ‘Sacred Body,’ through the practical philosophy of living offered by Ho’omana
Tahito. Let him absorb the vibrant philosophy of Hita-po-Roa, then
apply it daily to the practical problems of living in this triune kingdom of
gods, nature, and man.” (The Kahuna Sorcerers of Hawaii, Past and Present,
pg. 89)
In
our present ego-based society, there are far too many calling themselves
healers and/or spiritual/religious teachers and leaders that have not “walked
their talk.” It is important for them to be as well and healthy in their own
personal healing before ‘healing others’.
It is too easy to take a few weekend
workshops (such as Reiki) and proclaim one’s self a Master and practice with
blind acceptance such an ancient healing art as “laying on of hands.” A
“master” who is as troubled and wounded as the person that they are supposedly
healing is creating a risk and breach of healing.
There is also no magical
power in certain symbols (i.e. Reiki), words or movements except when used as a
trigger to open the healing power within our own hearts, which directly
connects us to the mana, the force, the Ki of creation. The purer our heart,
the purer our “bowl of light,” the greater the love/light of creation will be
that flows through us.
Remember no one can heal another. All a healer can do is
to restore the harmony within the person and the person may then heal himself
or herself. The restoration is accomplished with love not fear. And the cause
of the dis-harmony is looked at and healed through a process of forgiveness and
divine love.
One
of the greatest problems with modern medicine is that it temporary restores
harmony through, what I would call fear and intimidation. They immediately fix
the symptoms not the cause by “cutting, radiating, medicating” and
dis-empowering rather than healing and empowering. Sometimes the immediate cut
is necessary for life; so do not judge me as being against the miracles that
modern medicine can provide. But standing alone, it is not whole.
In fact, the
truest wholistic medicine would be an assimilation of the theories and
practices of the East and the West combined with the heart, mind and spirit
healing of the shamans, druids, kahunas, etc. of the past. There is a principle
that Serge Kahili King of Kauai teaches that underscores this—Effectiveness is
the measure of truth, whatever works-use it.
Before
we go further, let me clarify the statement above. There is great power
in symbols, words and/or movements. In fact, this concept is referred to in the
East as the Triple Secret: the transformational power of the Mantra
(vocalization), the Mudra (body) and the Mandala (visualization—mind).
It is the ultimate goal of the healer to have a resolute imagination and to
have received his or her own vocalization, whether it is a song, chant or
mantra, to have ‘strong’ hands (hands-on-healing) as well as a strong mind with
a pure and clear image of the desired healing with complete focus and intent
without chatter and doubt. All of which comes only through years of spiritual
practice and dedication.
When I speak of a healer, I am also referring to
spiritual/religious teachers and leaders because in our belief if a person is a
spiritual/religious leader they are also a healer. However, not all healers are
spiritual/religious teachers and leaders.
SHAMANS, KAHUNAS AND DRUIDS
by Peter Pracownik
The following is from our book "Holy Blood Holy Heart":
It’s late afternoon and hours since we set sail from the
mysterious, veiled shrouded island of the Golden Dragon. Raziel has kept to
herself and the Hermit has been conspicuously quiet seemingly deep in thought
or meditation. According to the Hermit’s charts within a short period of time
we will be arriving at the Island of the Shamans—the first of our four island
destinations.
I have heard a few tales of the
Shaman but I have never meant one. Once, years before in the dusty alleyways of
the Eastern City of Leon, I had stumbled upon an old comrade of mine,
Julius. I had been in Leon only a few
days seeking a new cargo of spices and silks when rounding a crumbling corner
of an abandoned building; I ran head on into Julius. At that moment I was
shocked to see him breathing, much less smiling and laughing, because for many
years I had thought him dead.
In the corner of a dimly lit
café, over a mug of the strongest but sweetest coffee this side of the Rumbling
Sea, Julius told me his tale:
“It’s always good to see an old friend, but Captain, to
meet you once again makes my heart fly open as wide and as fast as the ivory
thighs of the temple goddesses on the isle of Caperius.”
“Julius, my friend,” I said with happiness in my heart,
“you always had a way with words. It is also so good to see you, even though at
first, I thought you one of the desert specters that haunt this surreal area of
the world.”
“I realize that it must have been a shock to see me," Julius replied. "You
are now among a few of our former comrades that know that I am alive and that I
survived that terrible day.”
Tears started welling up in the
corner of my eye as I said, “I tried to come to your rescue but there were too
many of those black hearted devils. And…”
“You need not to go on explaining, Captain.” Julius said
compassionately. “If you harbor any guilt in your mind, let it go. There was
nothing that you could have done except what you did do. It was my destiny to
almost die that day, for that battle changed my life forever.”
“Your eyes do look different.” I said.
“I am not the same my friend.” Julius, with eyes sparkling,
continued with his story, “I was near death on that barren, and I thought,
god-forsaken island. After the ambush, as I lay close to death, I was in and
out of consciousness.
Taking a deep breath, Julius continued on with his tale, "Captain, there are other realities, you cannot even
imagine. At my last moment of wakefulness, I thought I saw an angel, dressed in golden chain
mail with a flaming sword, coming towards me. And then, nothingness.”
I listened with awe to his tale of transformation. The
clatter of the café and the wind born smell of salt from the Gulf of the Two
Humps only added to the wonderment of the moment.
“I awoke, as I was to find out, many days later. I had approached
the gates of death many times only to be pulled back from the brink of the
abyss by the hands and the song of Lathrin.
A Shaman and master healer was he. Within a moon I was up and about and
even able to practice a few simple saber forms, or what Lathrin referred to as
the 'dance of the sword.' Before long I was my old self again; or that’s what I
thought. See no one who has faced death, symbolic or real as I did, is ever the
same again. I felt more balanced with life and I felt a harmony that is hard to
put into words.”
At that moment one of the serving men tripped and upset a
full cup of scolding hot coffee into Julius’s lap. Without so much as a word,
just a smile, Julius stood to let the liquid run off, patted the frightened man
on the shoulder and said, “Accidents do happen, do not worry, it is alright.”
“As you can see Captain, I am a different person. In the
past my saber would have flashed to his neck demanding an apology and
compensation. My anger ruled my life and kept me separate and in pain. But all
that has changed. The most important lesson that Lathrin taught me was
forgiveness.” (Tales of the Capt’n
from the book “Holy Blood Holy Heart”
by Dr. JC Husfelt)
THE WOUNDED HEALER
The
Shaman is at once a visionary, wounded healer, exorcist, magician and a rescuer of sick souls. For eons, Shamans, whether they are
called Druids, Kahunas, Indian Doctors or Curanderos, have been the keepers of
the various cultures’ sacred traditions. Humans have often looked to these
dreamers for guidance and knowledge about the inner, invisible world of power and
healing.
Shamanism is a journey of the soul conducted by the Shaman, master of
the Spirit Helpers. This Mystic adventures consciously among ancestor or creator
gods and goddesses, spirits, and energies on other planes of reality, and
returns with sacred knowledge that will be a benefit to themselves and
others.
Shamanism
is a worldwide spiritual/wellness system, based in philosophic and religious
thought, which has existed since the first humans formed together into
communities. Out of any given community, there were individuals who had a
special gift. This gift was the ability to connect the profane or earthly
existence, with the sacred, the heavens.
Shamans are the link between the heavens and the earth. By entering a
trance-state, an altered state of consciousness, they are able to retrieve
knowledge and information about the Mysteries. Altered states of consciousness occur
through repetitive movement (dancing, running, walking, etc.), repetitive
sounds (drumming, chanting, singing, etc.), hallucinogenic plants, breath
control, fasting, isolation, sleep deprivation and extremes of temperature
(sweat lodge, cold water asceticism, etc.). The Shaman then translates this
sacred knowledge acquired from the spirit journeys into a set form of ritual
and ceremony in order to achieve balance, harmony, and unity (oneness) within
the community. But before these spirit sojourners were able to accomplish these
acts of magic, they needed to heal their own emotional and spiritual wounds of
the past.
Between
our senses and our intellect lies a wondrous world of dream, an Otherworld of
imagination and reality that may be delineated into the Lower World, the Middle
Earth and the Upper World. To reach these worlds Shamans need to engage in
their own soul work. This quest, of healing their past woundings, facing their
fear of the unknown and experiencing the transformational benefits of death and
re-birth, takes considerable time. When these voyagers of soul are initiated
and spiritually resurrected, they are finally able to communicate with the
Middle Earth and the Otherworlds. In this manner, they connect with the sun,
the moon, and all things that were, and are, a mystery to all others.
This
healer of the soul was and still is an adventurer traveling between the worlds
of life and death and life and re-birth. Through ritual and ceremony, the
Shaman lets others have a glimpse of these mysteries by illuminating the
darkness. To accomplish this difficult task of bringing light to the mysteries,
the mind of the Shaman needs to be strong.
To forge a strong mind the Shaman
faces many physical experiences of fear as well as many symbolic experiences of
life, death and re-birth. The mind and the body need to become one through
these experiences before the Shaman is able to enter through the true gate of
the Otherworlds.
The process requires one to be humble yet confident. The way
to accomplish this is not just with the mind but also with the totality of
body, mind, emotion and spirit. These Shamans understand that the only way to
accomplish their healing is having the courage of a spiritual warrior, having a
true heart and listening to the wisdom that is the province of the Earth.
Forest Guardian by Edward Beard, Jr.
THE WISDOM OF THE EARTH
The
Shamans, these soul healers, are sensitive to the wood, the stone and all of the
elemental forces that surround them and are a part of their essence.
They look
to the four winds and listen to the magic roar of the streams and the oceans to
learn the truth of the great mysteries of life. The shape of the clouds reveals
to the Shaman the secrets of life and death. The cry of the owl reminds them of
their ancestors and the knowledge and the wisdom of these old ones that have
walked before them on the earth.
As
a magical source of inspiration, the earth provides a well of knowledge and wisdom
for the Shaman. Respecting this source of sacred knowledge, the Shaman provides
a mythological story and map for others to follow as a teaching in the caring
and respecting of the earth and all of her “children.” To the Shaman, the earth
is not something un-conscious nor is it a wasteland, but it is a living
paradise that provides her “children” with all that they need. Having
experienced their death and re-birth and the healing of their wounds through
the earth, the Shamans became the guardians and the protectors of the earth.
The earth, the symbolic Mother, is the teacher and the sacred source of
vitality for the Shaman as he/she develops a living, nurturing relationship
with all of Mother Nature. The landscape
of the great mother provides the Shaman with opportunities to face fears and
become a person of power. Questing in caves and purifying in streams, the
Shaman experiences the death of the old self and the re-birth of the new self
as a child and guardian of the earth and a person of love and power.
To the
Shaman, the veil between this world and the Otherworld is the thinnest near
running water. Water is fluid, clear and cloudy, mysterious and foremost
sacred. This is the reason why one of the earliest forms of symbolic death and
re-birth, Bathing (full immersion) as the original form of baptism, was
performed in swift flowing streams and rivers.
The earth, to these wounded
healers, is a place of magic and a source of wisdom, as nature becomes a
magical reflection into the soul of the mysteries. The Shamans, besides being
masters of nature, are also considered Dream Masters—Masters of the Spirit World.
CASTING OUT SERPENTS
Shamans,
first and foremost, are usually recognized for their healing abilities. The
types of healing come in all different forms ranging from extraction to
exorcism, which may also take the form of a Descending Spirit—Ko Rei
exorcism. Probably the best-known historical shaman, in his role as a healer,
is Jesus.
There is a multitude of stories of Jesus healing people in many
different ways. He may ask a person to extend a diseased limb and it will be
healed. He may call out the demons to be gone from a person’s body and/or mind.
He may use touch and the person is healed. He may simply tell the person they
are now well. Or he may do something to the person and tell them to go
elsewhere and perform an instruction so that the healing is complete. As in the
example of the blind man who was healed when Jesus made a salve of mud, from
his own spittle and dirt, and applied it to the blind man’s eyes and then told
the man to go to the river and wash his eyes where his sight was then restored.
Jesus as shaman is a lesser-taken view of him, but his teachings, practices and healings were very much like the practice of shamanism.
In
“Jesus the Magician”, author Morton Smith writes:
“Besides
prayer, magicians might - and Jesus did - resort to physical means. Most common was touching the patient, either
fingering the affected area, or taking hold of the person; Jesus/the magician’s
hand was his most potent instrument. Fluid could help to make the contact
closer; the readiest form of fluid was spittle, and both spittle and the act of
spitting were commonly believed to have magical powers; so we find Jesus, like
other magicians, smearing spittle on his patients or using a salve made with spittle.”
Douglas
Lockhart states a similar case in his book, “Jesus the Heretic” -
“And
in the gospels that unseen world is spoken of, and we have Jesus expelling
spirits and devils from the sick in accordance with the belief-structure of his
day - beliefs that he himself held to be true. Incantations and sorceries and
‘spittings’ were considered the antidote to such forms of illness, and although
strictly prohibited by both the Torah and the Mishnah, these forbidden
techniques were sought after by the common people. Some sages were not averse to a little ‘whispering’ or ‘spitting’
over a wound (Jesus used spittle on at least one occasion), but such
conjurations were frowned on by the religious authorities, and Jesus seems to
have relied more upon touch than anything else.”
Casting
Out Serpents is one of the oldest and more advanced forms of shamanic/spiritual
healing. It is the actual hands on healing of extracting old energies that are
in the form of a serpent. This energy will usually wrap itself around a
person’s limb during a time of intense trauma that is most often not a physical
trauma but more commonly of an emotional, mental and/or spiritual nature. It
may lie dormant for years until something triggers its activation. These
energies that take the form of a serpent have nothing to do with evil and are
nothing to fear. It usually manifests as an unexplainable illness where people
have problems with pain and/or circulation. Traditional allopathic medicines
cannot diagnosis or find a ‘cause’ for the condition. Only the symptoms may be
somewhat alleviated, but not ‘healed’.
Once
the healing, the casting out, is completed the underlying wounding that allowed
the serpent to attach in the first place must be identified. If the underlying
emotional, mental and/or spiritual wounding is not explored and healed then the
same serpent may “stalk” the person and eventually re-attach itself to the same
part of the body.
 For
an example of a present day shamanic ( Photo by Jen Taylor ) extraction, we turn to the following case
study of a healing performed by JC (Jim)
J.R. writes of her healing experience:
From
the start it was a strange injury. I do several sports; karate where I was a
purple belt, and tennis which I play competitively at the club level. And so I always have plenty of opportunities
to get injured. But I didn't get injured while I did a sport. I didn't even get
injured within several days of doing one of my sports. I just woke up one morning and my heel hurt. Within two days, my leg started to hurt and
within hours I couldn't put any weight onto my leg at all. I had ruptured my calf muscle. Recovery
involved about six weeks in an air cast and physical therapy that included
everything from swimming to special stretches.
After
about three months I began returning slowly to my sports. After about nine months, I was back fully
to my sports. There was, however, a nagging tightness and sometimes aching in
my leg that never seemed to fully leave me.
After a strenuous workout it would even develop spasms at times I had
full range of motion and didn't seem to be hindered sports wise other than the
discomfort, so I knew that something else was going on. I spoke to JC and asked
if he would do a healing on my leg.
Early
one August morning after a very powerful baptism ceremony, JC performed the
healing. I don't know what energy he was tapping into; I did feel tingling up
and down my spine. It was excruciatingly painful when he put his hands on my
leg and pulled off whatever it was he was pulling off. That night when everyone
had gone to bed at my house, I went into my meditation room to do some chanting
and ceremony. My chanting kept getting interrupted because I felt like snakes
were crawling over my body. I knew from the rational world that there were no
snakes in my room in my house. But they felt so real that I couldn't
concentrate. Finally after several fruitless attempts, I decided to call it a
night. As I was closing up my altar, I suddenly heard a very distinctive
hissing sound coming from the corner of the room. I couldn't see anything, but
the noise had a distinctly otherworldly feel to it. It made the hair on the
back of my head stand on end and my blood instantly ran cold in my veins. It
had the effect that a good horror film will have on someone - paralyzing. I ran
out of the room, closed the door and called JC even though it was near
midnight. Normally JC & wife have an
answering machine on so they do not have to answer the phone at night. But on this night JC had fallen asleep
downstairs by the phone and had gotten up and was standing by the phone when it
rang at midnight. I remember sobbing to him that something was hissing at me
and I was terrified. JC said that he had taken a serpent off of my leg that
morning and had cast it away but sometimes this serpent energy will follow the
person and “stalk” them. He taught me a secret mudra (a hand position), a
mantra (a vocalization/prayer), and a movement to chase it away.
When
I touched the doorknob of the room, I immediately felt the same cold horror. My
hair stood up and my blood felt chilled again. I walked carefully into the room
with my arms crossed in front of me and my hands tightly holding onto the
mudra. In the corner where the energy was most intense I performed the combined
movement and mantra twice.
Immediately,
my blood warmed up and the fear dissipated. Since this time, my leg has been
wonderful. Other than occasional bouts of stiffness, I am able to move much
more energetically and I can feel the energy flow has returned to its normal
levels. I am very grateful.
What others have said about the spiritual/shamanic
work of Jim and Sherry:
“How does one thank people who have opened a door
to a most wonderful place to live? I know I’m only beginning this journey—But
it feels like ‘coming home’.” A.M. Participant
“How can I ever thank you enough for all the
love and support you have given me … for still believing in me when I was ready
to turn my back on myself. I will always be grateful for the lessons, and I am
so thankful that the journey continues! You are truly wonderful!” A.D.
Apprentice
“Your
work is amazing—it changes lives. We love you both…” I.O. Participant
“It’s
been an aaaawwwweeesoooommmmeeee year…. how to let you know how deeply I’ve
been impacted? …I’ve stayed longer than I’ve ever stayed before…I’ve found a
place where I can heal my wounds … to feel … where I am sung to … challenged to
go beyond what is comfortable … challenged to come out of my shell … a place where I can let out the ugliness
that I’ve kept hidden away for so many years … where I can look at my dark side
in order to get to my light side … where I can look at my ego, meanness,
pettiness, selfishness, jealousy, competitiveness … a place where my harshest
judge, my only judge, is myself … a place where I can cry … where I can let my
anger out so I can go beyond it … where I can look at my loneliness, my sadness
… where there are others who are struggling with their issues … a place where
we love and support one another … I know that my challenge is to let go of my
past and to not fear my future … to be in the here and now … to shut the
chatter off … to stop being the victim and to embrace the powerful light being
I am … I thank you for sharing yourselves … for showing your humanness … it
only increases my respect for you … I feel that I’ve come a long way this year
yet feel that I still have a long way yet to go which at times I find
overwhelming … but I hear your words, Jim, about not quitting … about
continuing on the journey … so I’ll be back …….. besides I still have to learn
to laugh more and I can definitely see that you two will show me the
way!!!!!!!” C.H. Apprentice
Jim
and Sherry are available for personal One-on-One Life Counseling via phone and internet, healings, group
presentations and ceremonial work. Please Contact Us for more information.
There is no charge for healing or ceremonial work, however donations are
acceptable.
Sisiutl, or double-headed and horned serpent
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