Debra Morrill - Shamanic Healing

There are numerous names for it. The label currently used most frequently is “empath.” It’s also called being a “sensitive.” The term “highly sensitive person” originated with Dr. Elaine Aron, one of the first authors to write on the topic.

If you’re reading this and you identify with being an empath, you’ve probably been referred to as “the sensitive one” in your family. Those around you might have said, “You’re just too sensitive. You need to get over it.”

If it was just as easy as “getting over it,” we wouldn’t be in discomfort.

Indeed, empaths are sensitive. Our senses are more highly tuned than the average. We pick up on emotions around us. We take on energy that is not ours, sometimes to our great detriment. One of my friends who was highly sensitive describes it as “walking around in the world with a raw nerve exposed.”

If you are empathic and sensitive, there are tools to be more comfortable. You don’t have to suffer. You can feel better.

Grounding, centering, and healthy methods of protection are a big part of it. Learning to discern what is yours versus what is not yours is key, as is learning techniques for healthy boundaries.

This work is real, and it matters.

Hi, my name is Debra, and I’m an empath. I struggled with my empathic gifts for the first 35 years of my life. I was the sensitive child in a stoic Midwestern family. My parents didn’t know what to do with me and they found emotions uncomfortable, so I kept everything bottled up inside. When there was chaotic, loud energy around me, I would leave my body and experience the sensation of floating above my head. Years later, I realized how ungrounded I was – like a leaf blowing in the wind.

As an empath, I was also affected by the heavy energy of people around me. If a friend was struggling, I would take on their pain as though it were my own. This led to physical illness and exhaustion. When something happened in the larger world, like 9/11 or the death of Princess Diana, I carried the pain and suffering of the country in my energy field.

Later I began to participate in spiritual circles. Many of these gatherings opened with a talking circle where each participant shared their personal struggles. Because I had no boundaries, these stories caused me great pain. As each person went, I felt heavier and heavier, sometimes even crying openly at their pain. Eventually I would collapse into a puddle on the floor.

Finally, a spiritual mentor asked me if I was an empath. Every cell in my being said, “Yes!” And then I asked what that term meant. She explained that an empath is someone with a porous energy field who easily takes on the energy of others around them. That described me perfectly! I didn’t feel so alone when I learned that there were other people like me.

As I continued to explore my spiritual path, I learned to breathe and ground. Long walks in nature helped me open my own personal connection to Mother Earth and the stability available through her grounded energy.

With time I began to develop tools and techniques to help me better manage my empathic abilities. The attention to learning about my gifts worked. I am now grounded and aligned with healthy boundaries that allow me to stay centered in my own energy. I am stronger and more able to speak my truth with greater clarity. Learning to manage my empathy also allows me to do healing sessions for clients without taking on their pain.

I teach these tools and techniques in the “Energy Essentials for Empaths” classes. A handful of simple techniques can help us be grounded and centered within our own being and have healthy energetic boundaries. It’s empowering to be able to stand in our center and share our light and our compassion without it taking a toll on us.

This work is real, and it matters.

+ + + + + + + + + + +

If you are interested, you would be very welcome to join us. Even if you’re not sure you’re an empath, you are still welcome. These are very helpful tools for life! The fall series of the “Energy Essentials for Empaths” class is in-person at Crow Moon Healing in rural Mazomanie, WI. Module 1 happens on Saturday, September 14 from 9 am-5 pm. Visit debramorrill.com/workshops for more information and registration.

One day a sense of sadness began to arise as I was walking through the woods. I left the trail and found my favorite rock. As I sat, the heavy emotional weight continued to build.

Slowly the breeze began to blow. At first just little puffs, then growing. The tree branches began to dance, creaking against each other and saying, “Let go, let go.”

My ancestor grandmothers came with the wind. They wanted me to acknowledge the legacy of sadness I carried. They wanted me to mourn and then to release the burden of the grief on the wind.

Their presence supported me as I wailed. At the height of my mourning, the wind wailed with me, and as my grief tapered off, so did the wind. As I came to a place of peace, the ancestor grandmothers added their love and blessings. They were my inspiration and my teachers.

The ancestor grandmothers in spirit form often participate in shamanic healing sessions. While creating sacred space, they may come and circle the client, shining their love into the session and adding their blessings to the healing.

At other times, a representative will step forward during the diagnostic journey and share the story of the original wound in the family, bringing it out into the light for healing.

During soul retrieval, the ancestor grandmothers may hold the soul piece and welcome it back into the family. It’s very healing for that aspect of the soul to experience the love and nurturing it may not have received in childhood.

In families where the maternal bond has been ruptured, we can call on the spiritual lineage of the divine feminine – such as Mother Earth, Mother Mary, Kwan Yin, Isis, and Green Tara – to fill this role.

Whenever we are struggling or in pain, we can invite the benevolent ancestor grandmothers to lend their power and strength. It’s as simple as closing our eyes and saying, “Compassionate ancestor grandmothers, please come and support me. Bring your wisdom. and guide me from a place of love.” And then we step into that moment of grace and allow.

This work is real, and it matters.

We are affected far more by our ancestors than we realize. Their pain and unresolved wounds live in our body, passed down in the genetic code. We feel their suffering and it influences us, often subconsciously.

One of the most effective ways to work with ancestral issues is to track patterns. Some of these patterns may be very specific, such as oldest sons experiencing bankruptcy and losing their businesses in mid-life. Some examples are more of an emotional nature, such as an inherited thread of grief or fear. The patterns repeat themselves in the hope of getting attention and ultimately healing for the original wound.

The heavy energy continues in the family lineage until one or more members of the family decide to shift it. I often hear clients say, “I am NOT passing this on to my kids.” By breaking the cycle, they leave a healthier legacy for their children and grandchildren.

Healing dysfunctional family energy patterns is a process. Here are some things you can do on your own to begin:

* Notice patterns. What situations, illnesses, or personality traits are repeated? You might interview older family members to learn what they know about their parents and grandparents.

* Look at old family photographs and notice the energy of your ancestors. Pay attention to how they are positioned, how they are standing, and any gaps in the photos.

* Bring the issue out into the light of awareness. Talk about it with trusted friends and family members. Ask the divine compassionate ones to shine light into this pattern and ask for clarity.

* Talk to the ancestors and ask them to step back out of your energy field so you can live your life, free to have a different experience than they did.

* Meditate on what positive energy (such as love, support, safety, balance, etc.) would have helped the lineage and ask your helping spirits, power animals or angels to bring that energy through to the family line.

In my shamanic healing practice, the most complex situations I work with are often ancestral in nature. In more intense cases, the energy can be extremely dark and heavy and include the need for compassionate depossession, curse unraveling, and retrieval of soul pieces taken through soul theft. For these, I recommend working with an experienced shamanic practitioner over time to help shift the family energy system to a greater place of balance and harmony.

This work is real, and it matters.

Ancestral healing can be many things depending on what is needed by the family system.

It can be as simple as acknowledging and honoring the love, joy, and triumphs of our ancestors along with their pain and struggles. When we offer compassionate witness, wounds and patterns come out into the light for healing.

Each family lineage carries gifts which have been forgotten. We can call on the collective resilience, wisdom and strength of our ancestors. We might reclaim healing abilities and practices that have been lost in recent generations. Our ancestors may have had gifts of sight, plant medicine, or folk magick. By remembering these gifts, we are healing the lineage and restoring part of its light.

It’s also ancestral healing when one member of the family steps up and says, “No more!” The cycle of abuse or addiction stops with them and their children and grandchildren are free to have a different experience.

In family systems that have moved away from their geographic roots, there can be a profound sense of grief. Depending on how the relocation happened there can be trauma carried in the lineage – especially if it was not by choice such as slavery, war, or loss of land. Even when the choice was made with free will (such as famine or for better opportunity), there is still pain. Energetically reconnecting to the ancestral homeland soothes the yearning for home.

Any of the shamanic healing techniques can also be used to heal wounds in the family lineage:

* soul retrieval to return the missing ancestral soul essence to the lineage
* soul retrieval to untangle generations of soul theft and restore stolen soul essence
* agreement unraveling to release limiting tribal beliefs/family agreements
* extraction to release the red thread of dysfunctional energy from the family
* curse unraveling to release family curses
* compassionate depossession to release ancestors (or other suffering beings) stalking the family lineage as hungry ghosts

As we offer ourselves as a channel of transformation for our family, the ancestors open to receive the healing they never got during their lifetime. As we experience the ancestors and the family energy system shifting into a more balanced place, we have a greater sense of peace and a more heart-centered connection to family. The healing ripples out to the ancestors, the current generations, and the generations yet to come.

This work is real, and it matters.

Quite a few years ago, I flew to Arizona to visit my parents where they wintered as snowbirds. The trip was emotionally unsatisfying, and I was especially frustrated that my mom wasn’t able to be present with me. It triggered me, and I cried on the drive from their home to the airport to return to Wisconsin.

This continued to affect me profoundly for several days. I finally journeyed about it and asked my helping spirits for insight and healing.

In that healing journey, the divine compassionate ones brought through one of my ancestor grandmothers. She identified herself as Wilhelmina. She appeared grief-stricken, cradling a dead baby in her arms. Her husband had been away from home when her infant child died, and so the responsibility for digging the grave fell to her.

It was winter, and the act of laying her beloved baby in the cold ground stripped her raw. She was unable to share the depth of this pain and grief with anyone, so it entered the family genetic stream and carried through the women in the lineage, finally down to me, her great-great-granddaughter, many years later.

Was my great-great-grandfather really away from home when the baby died? Did my ancestor grandmother literally dig a grave in the frozen ground herself? I don’t know. What I do know is this. She felt emotionally abandoned and alone in her grief. It was a frigid isolating feeling to her - so cold that the energy of grief became frozen in my maternal lineage until it was witnessed in this journey. By holding space for Wilhelmina, the sadness and sense of loss was allowed to flow and release.

I compassionately witnessed her pain, then asked my spirit guides to do an ancestral healing. They drained the heavy energy of grief from her, the lineage, and me.

After this healing, I noticed shifts in my mother and in myself. For me, it included a willingness to open my heart wider, to allow more joy in, and to be more present with my emotions.

I always realized that my motherline carried a heavy energy of grief. The grief was tangible - it showed up in old family photographs, etched on their faces and in their posture. I never knew its origin until this journey.

This work is real, and it matters.

I was raised in a conservative farm family in Minnesota. The traditional Christian faith of my childhood didn’t satisfy the questions I had.

In my mid-30s, I was introduced to shamanism as a spiritual practice, and it resonated. It explained many of the concepts I felt intuitively and gave me language to use in exploring those ideas.

I believe there’s a divine animating power in the Universe. I see Spirit in everything - no one religion has a special connection to God at the exclusion of others. I believe that Great Spirit, God, Allah, the Goddess, the Buddha, and Yahweh are all names for the same divine life force.

I follow my spiritual practice in order to feel a deeper connection to the natural world and to others – to acknowledge my place in the web of life and feel a connection to all living beings.

I consider myself spiritual but not religious.

Shamanism has played a large role in my personal healing journey. Shamanic practices have helped me grow and evolve and live in more direct connection with my soul (which I define as the individual expression of the divine).

I also believe that there is an unseen spirit world. Many divine compassionate beings from these realms are eager to help us on our path. Once we learn to journey, we have another channel to connect with their wisdom, healing, and support.

This work is real, and it matters.

Hi, my name is Debra, and I’m an empath. I struggled with my empathic gifts for the first 35 years of my life. I was the sensitive child in a stoic Midwestern family. My parents didn’t know what to do with me and they found emotions uncomfortable, so I kept everything bottled up inside. When there was chaotic, loud energy around me, I would leave my body and experience the sensation of floating above my head. Years later, I realized how ungrounded I was – like a leaf blowing in the wind.

As an empath, I was also affected by the heavy energy of people around me. If a friend was struggling, I would take on their pain as though it were my own. This led to physical illness and exhaustion. When something happened in the larger world, like 9/11 or the death of Princess Diana, I carried the pain and suffering of the country in my energy field.

Later I began to participate in spiritual circles. Many of these gatherings opened with a talking circle where each participant shared their personal struggles. Because I had no boundaries, these stories caused me great pain. As each person went, I felt heavier and heavier, sometimes even crying openly at their pain. Eventually I would collapse into a puddle on the floor.

Finally, a spiritual mentor asked me if I was an empath. Every cell in my being said, “Yes!” And then I asked what that term meant. She explained that an empath is someone with a porous energy field who easily takes on the energy of others around them. That described me perfectly! I didn’t feel so alone when I learned that there were other people like me.

As I continued to explore my spiritual path, I learned to breathe and ground. Long walks in nature helped me open my own personal connection to Mother Earth and the stability available through her grounded energy.

With time I began to develop tools and techniques to help me better manage my empathic abilities. The attention to learning about my gifts worked. I am now grounded and aligned with healthy boundaries that allow me to stay centered in my own energy. I am stronger and more able to speak my truth with greater clarity. Learning to manage my empathy also allows me to do healing sessions for clients without taking on their pain.

I teach these tools and techniques in the “Energy Essentials for Empaths” classes. A handful of simple techniques can help us be grounded and centered within our own being and have healthy energetic boundaries. It’s empowering to be able to stand in our center and share our light and our compassion without it taking a toll on us.

If you are interested, you would be very welcome to join us. Even if you’re not sure you’re an empath, you are still welcome. These are very helpful tools for life!

This work is real, and it matters!

Several years ago a friend told me I was one of the most grounded people she had ever met. The compliment meant a lot because it wasn’t always the case.

I grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota with parents who were practical, salt-of-the-earth people. They were uncomfortable dealing with emotions. I was “the sensitive one” in the family.

I remember feeling completely scattered many times as a child and young adult. The more sensory input happening around me – noise, activity, people – the more ungrounded I became.

Ungrounded, I had a hard time focusing on the task at hand whether it was studying, driving, or even walking.

I would also take on the energies and emotions of those around me. This wasn’t such a bad thing when the people nearby were happy or joyful, but it quickly became a burden if the energies were grief, anger, or despair.

Ungrounded, I lost connection with myself and forgot who I was.

I felt at the mercy of any energy in my environment. If a Hallmark commercial came on television, I cried. If someone got mad at me, I metaphorically flopped down and showed my belly.

Ungrounded, I swayed like a leaf in the breeze, affected by everything around me.

I lived in this uncomfortable state for many years until my mid-30s when I was consciously on my spiritual path. A mentor introduced me to the concept of being an empath. I began to look for ways to feel more comfortable in my body.

Through some guidance from others and much experimentation on my own, I discovered tools that worked for me. It was empowering to realize that I could manage my empathic abilities. As I became stronger, I realized they were a blessing, not a curse.

Grounded, I came more and more home to my body.

So years later when my friend mirrored for me that I was one of the most grounded people she knew, I rejoiced because that meant I was solid and steady and anchored in my own being, able to witness compassionately and hold space for others without taking on their pain.

I am deeply grateful for where my life has brought me and joyfully share my wisdom with others. The “Energy Essentials for Empaths” classes were the result. Through the years, I have held space for hundreds of empaths to feel more empowered and comfortable with their gifts.

This work is real, and it matters.

The backbone of a personal shamanic spiritual practice is the journey, a trancelike state used to access the guidance of Great Spirit and the divine compassionate ones. Journeying bypasses the thinking mind and helps us connect with our soul and the intuitive, energetic, spiritual aspects of our being. A regular journeying practice deepens our connection to Spirit and brings support, clarity, healing, and growth.

In shamanic journeys, we travel into the spirit realms and open our intuition to communicate and receive messages from Spirit. Journeys can be described as a cross between a dream and meditation. Sometimes in journeys we actively participate, sometimes we observe, and sometimes we receive messages while in an altered state.

There are a variety of ways that information comes through in the journey. Sometimes it’s very literal, and sometimes it’s more symbolic or metaphoric. Depending on our natural mix of intuitive gifts, we might see a flash of an image or a short video clip. We might hear sounds such as talking or chanting. We might smell a scent such as roses, frankincense, or freshly mown grass. We might feel with our skin or notice emotions. Or we might have a sense of knowing something.

A repetitive sound such as drumming or rattling takes us on the journey, helping us to enter a new state of awareness. Our power animals and spirit guides accompany us as we travel into the spirit realms, bringing the experience and the wisdom that is in our highest good at the time based on our intention for the journey.

Just a few examples of the myriad intentions we could hold for a journey:

* meet a power animal and receive the benefit of its medicine
* talk to Mother Earth and receive a healing
* connect with a deceased loved one and continue our healing work with them
* visit our benevolent ancestors and connect with the wisdom of our lineage
* meet the spirit of a season or direction and learn about its wisdom and energy
* travel to our birth star and have the experience of being home
* go to the Hall of Records and see what soul contracts are influencing us in this lifetime
* connect to universal energy and learn about ancient wisdom and practices that have been forgotten on earth but still exist in the collective memory
* receive messages of love and support from our soul and helping spirits
* explore the wisdom of the elements (earth, water, fire, air, and light) and ask for a cleansing

There are several ways to learn to journey. Platforms like Zoom and the availability of online classes have brought more possibilities. These are good ways to get started if you are eager to begin journeying and don’t want to wait for an in-person class.

I also recommend taking an in-person class with a shamanic teacher to guide you in the nuances of journeying and provide a safe space for exploration. In the early stages of learning to journey, it can be helpful to be in a group energy field which boosts our intuition and abilities. In a group setting, we also learn from one another’s experiences and perspectives.

This is an academic explanation of what it’s like to journey. When we are in the experience, many magical moments of grace, love, and healing happen. Through a regular spiritual practice of journeying for our self, we can connect directly with the divine and receive the support and wisdom of our helping spirits.

This work is real, and it matters.

My current favorite song. It speaks to the human condition.

Shinedown - A Symptom Of Being Human (Official Video) Watch the official video for "A Symptom Of Being Human" OUT NOW! Listen to "A Symptom Of Being Human" here: https://shinedown.lnk.to/ASOBHLivestream Release ...

Empaths, not everything you feel is yours.

Imagine a scenario where you’re going about your day, feeling settled and cheerful. Then a dear friend calls. She’s struggling with a difficult situation and shares with you what she’s going through. You listen to her and feel yourself getting heavier, more tired, and maybe even developing a headache. You were fine before the phone call. As you ponder what happened, you realize you took on your friend’s stress.

Because we soak up the emotions of those around us like a sponge, we tend to assume everything we experience is our energy, but that’s not the case.

Many empaths also take on the suffering of animals, plants, and trees. And also global unrest and dis-ease when there’s war, natural disaster, or famine happening elsewhere on the planet.

It is not our job to take on other people’s suffering. We can do more good by staying in our center, connected to our own being in a place of neutral compassion. Taking on someone else’s suffering never has the intended effect. It doesn’t lighten their load - and now there are two people who are in pain.

We’re not stuck going through life feeling everything around us. We can learn tools to have healthier energetic boundaries.

When we first start to feel an uncomfortable energy or emotion, or realize we are carrying the weight of the world, it helps to pause and take a centering breath. Then we can ask ourself: “Is what I’m feeling mine or someone else’s?” Often, the awareness that this does not belong to us is enough to set a healthy boundary: “This is not mine, so I’m not going to take this on.”

And then take a few deep breaths and let go of the energy you’ve taken on. Or go for a walk in nature and let your grounding cord help return the heavy energy you’re carrying to Mother Earth for recycling.

This work is real, and it matters.

My friend and colleague Ana Larramendi is offering a five-weekend series called “Walking the Beauty Way” starting March 22-24, 2024. It’s a gentle entry into shamanism. You will deepen your journey skills, connect with nature, and learn to be present for your personal healing. I highly recommend it. The deadline for registration is March 8, so if you are interested, please reach out to Ana soon. More info below in the reposted content.

WALKING THE BEAUTY WAY
An Apprenticeship Exploring Shamanism as a Personal Spiritual Practice
(Series begins March 22-24, 2024)
5-Weekend Study Series with Ana H. Larramendi

Class will be held at near Dodgeville, WI.
Meetings begin at 7:00pm Friday and end at 3:00pm Sunday.

How do we live a life of Spirit? How do we integrate Shamanism in everyday life?
This apprenticeship is for those who are exploring shamanism as a personal spiritual practice and wish to have more depth in their understanding of this tradition. I recommend this training as an excellent foundation to build your shamanic skills and to be better prepared for more advanced healing classes or apprenticeships. A commitment to all 5 meetings is expected.

Walking the Beauty Way teaches core practices that appear cross-culturally in many shamanic cultures. The meetings include mindfulness, meditation, journeying, ceremonies, personal rituals, gratitude, and love of the natural world. This training is excellent for those who would like to explore these practices for personal spiritual purposes, or if you want to be well prepared for more advanced shamanic studies.

Meeting 1: March 22-24, 2024
Foundational Practices: This meeting will focus on a more in-depth overview of shamanism by learning some basic foundational practices. We will review cross cultural understanding of calling in directions: Understanding why it is done and what purpose it serves. You will learn a basic template of what each direction symbolizes so you can confidently create sacred space yourself. In addition, we will learn about smudging, making simple offerings, including a simple Peruvian technique that can be easily applied to many situations. We will also learn grounding and discernment, holding space, as well as practices to stay safe. This will include spiritual hygiene and self-care, such as setting boundaries so we can communicate in a safe and meaningful way with our helping spirits, Power animals, and teachers. A discussion on ethics in this work will also be covered.

Meeting 2: May 17-19, 2024
Nature Communication: In this gathering we will delve into the spiritual world of nature by developing ordinary and non-ordinary reality skills that help us communicate with nature and elemental beings. This meeting focuses on how to be in harmony with nature and re-wilding ourselves. Practices will include: Fox walking and stalking, Bird language, Techniques of invisibility, communicating with trees and listening to medicine plants. Also, practices on how to receive and interpret signs and omens from nature. We will do Journeys to the Spirit of Places as well as discovering the landscape that is most harmonious for your personal spiritual growth and grounding. This meeting will deepen your ability to walk with oneness in a natural landscape through nature awareness.

Meeting 3: July 26-28, 2024 (at Anawasi)
Death & Rebirth: In this meeting we will explore the concept of death from a shamanic viewpoint. We will explore what happens to the soul at the time of death…the cosmology of the soul’s journey, including reincarnation. Understanding the soul’s journey after death, empowers us with knowledge that dispels the fear of death that many struggle with. Making peace with death is an extremely important theme for those who walk this path. We will learn how to perform psychopomp, (crossing souls to the light), as well as ways to support and calm those who are in the final stages of life.
We will learn the practice of Tupay (conflict resolution in sacred space) as a means to bring peace to unresolved relationships. Our group will experience practicing Death Rites on each other…as a way to learn the soul’s journey.
This meeting is an opportunity to be reborn through shedding the past and creating a new relationship regarding our perception of death.

Meeting 4: September 20-22, 2024
Ritual & Ceremony: In this meeting will focus on how to bring the sacred into our everyday life. We will learn how to confidently create our own meaningful and personal rituals and ceremonies by learning basic structure, forms and “rules” that create best practices. This will include; proper opening and closing of sacred space, space clearing, as well as how to construct ceremonies for: Rites of Passage, Personal Initiations, Blessing Ways for newborns, and other personal rituals to demarcate beginnings or endings in our lives. We will also learn proper protocol for building a fire for fire ceremonies, have a fire ceremony, and learn several types of traditional offerings (to***co ties, prayer arrows) typically offered to the Spirits.

Meeting 5: November 8-10, 2024 (at Anawasi)
Personal Work: Here we will focus on knowing and claiming our authentic selves--of being in our power. We will explore behavior patterns that weaken us, or cause us to give away our power, as well as working with our ego. We will bring attention to how we may create unconscious sorcery, and how to stay in integrity in our spiritual practice. This meeting focuses on self-care, journeys for self- healing & awareness, and journeys for clearing of heavy energies in our own energy fields. We will finish on Sunday with exploring different types of divination practices, including how to phrase questions and how to structure a divination for comprehensive, useful results.

Cost per weekend:

$650 Private room in main building
$610 Private room in separate building (or sharing a room in the main building)
$565 Non-residential (includes all meals)

Price includes: Instruction. 5 meals and 2 nights lodging.
Email Ana for questions and registration: [email protected]