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Passcode: Shaman

Our 2022 Spiritual Discernment
ENCOUNTERING THE INFINITE
Meeting the Divine Mother in Nature, Humanity, and the Cosmos
~a contemplative, exploratory inquiry and discovery…

Following the morning worship inside the Sanctuary, we will gather outside and together build a communal fire. If it is raining we may reconsider this!

“Imagine a woman who
Embodies Spirituality.
A woman who Honors her body as
the Sacred Temple of the Spirit of Life.
Who breathes deeply as a prayer
of gratitude for life itself:
You are that woman.”

“The female shaman is a brave, honourable, and integral part of bringing protection and healing to their people, and imparting their great wisdom through teachings. There is no single word or even agreement amongst archaeologists as to what a shaman is. The word shaman just describes the role of a tribal sage, of one particular Siberian culture, which was brought to the west centuries ago. The word shaman probably derives from the Manchu-Tungus word šaman, meaning “one who knows”. ~ Daniella Hills

The Community as Shaman
The primary function of a shaman is not individual healing, but mediating the relationship of the human community to the non-human world. What would a “shaman community” look like?

Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments and illnesses by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul or spirit are believed to restore the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. Shamans also claim to enter supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community. Shamans claim to visit other worlds or dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. Shamans operate primarily within the spiritual world, which, they believe, in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance is said to result in the elimination of the ailment.

The wounded healer is an archetype for a shamanic trial and journey. This process is important to young shamans. They undergo a type of sickness that pushes them to the brink of death. This is said to happen for two reasons:

• The shaman crosses over to the underworld. This happens so the shaman can venture to its depths to bring back vital information for the sick and the tribe.
• The shaman must become sick to understand sickness. When the shaman overcomes their own sickness, they believe that they will hold the cure to heal all that suffer. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism#:

• DONATIONS INVITED
• https://interfaithcommunitysanctuary.org/donate/
• Your generous donation allows us to continue offering interfaith worship services, events, classes. Also to continue creating sacred community as well as maintaining a historic building in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Currently we are in the process of recovering from rain water damage. Thank you for your help!

What is Interspirituality?
Interspirituality is committed to finding the spirituality both within and beyond religion. What ties us together is a shared desire to connect with the Ground of Being in a way that fully respects our differences. The challenge is to embody what is most true and real for us without seeking to convince or convert others.
~ Joan Borysenko

Interspirituality comes from the work of Wayne Teasdale, who developed this term to reflect commonalities between religious traditions, specifically those that are spiritual in nature. These commonalities across religious practices do not erase differences in beliefs, rather they build community and sharing across practices, leading to the ultimate goal of more human responsibility to one another and the planet as a whole. At its core, this is an “assimilation of insights, values, and spiritual practices” drawn from many different traditions that can be applied to one’s own life to further personal, spiritual development.

Reverend Karen Lindquist is co-founder and co-minister of Interfaith Community Sanctuary, a spiritual community grounded in circular leadership principles. She co-creates interfaith services throughout the year at the Sanctuary and with interfaith organizations in the greater Seattle area. For many years she served as a board member on The Interfaith Council of Washington and The Interfaith Network, now known as Northwest Interfaith.​​ Reverend Karen’s regular spiritual practices include deep immersion within the Mevlevi tradition (as a follower of Rumi) with the Mevlevi Order of America and absorption into the mystic tradition of Hagia Sophia Gnostic Parish.