Journeys to the Soul: A Shamanic Healing Practice

11/01/2025

Wishing everyone a Blessed Celtic New Year! This time of year harkens the need to withdraw and introspect in preparation for winter and the return of the light at Winter Solstice. A powerful Samhain to all!

10/21/2025

We are stardust, we are golden.
We are billion-year-old carbon
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.


---Joni Mitchell
"Woodstock"

In my July newsletter, I wrote to you about a master race of ancient Ireland, known as the Tuatha de Danaan. You might have wondered upon reading about them: whatever happened to those folks? Well, the story goes that they made a decision to create a reality more suited to them than the one their Celtic invaders were offering. And so, it is said, they “turned sideways into the light” and disappeared. They became known thereafter as the Sidhe, or the Shining Ones, and it is believed that they still thrive here, deep within the Earth, where they have created for themselves a different—and more suitable—dimension than the one we know.

Over the years, I have worked with the Sidhe from time to time and have always found them to be remarkably wise, yet formidable. A no-nonsense group of beings. They have always offered great insight into the peculiarities of human behavior, as if they know us better than we do ourselves. Now, they offer us this message:

“In the beginning, we were a story you sometimes told one another, a story soon forgotten, maybe hinted at by an elder or whispered in your dreams, an implausible tale you no longer came to believe. But we, the Sidhe, are more real than you, living as you do in your world of illusions. What are you creating, we sometimes wonder, when so many of the ingredients you are using don’t even exist?

Here are some of the things you have come to believe: that you lack options; that you must succumb to a reality you can’t stomach; that the world as you know it is imploding; and, that the power to change all that lies in the hands of others.

We were once where you are now. Here is what we learned: if you seek help in liberating your world from oppression, you will be supported by forces more powerful than what you seek relief from; if you think beyond what is into what can be, it will become; dreams have no limitations; your imagination holds all the power you require to change anything. Anything. The trick is to live, see, and become straight from the heart.

Do not feel helpless, because that is a falsehood. Do not despair; what you don’t want, you can change. Do not languish in the dark; turn sideways into your own light, as we did. Do not lose focus; hold onto your heartcenter, because it is from there that everything truly comes.

Here is what we see when we look at the human race: humanity is caught in a kind of fugue state—a chronic unknowing—an amnesia, having all but abandoned its once gentle and caring nature—its community consciousness. It has become instead, self-serving, predatory, retaliatory and destructive. It believes it must fight and fight hard for what it wants and this has made the human being ruthless and cruel.

Those who choose not to become predators, instead become prey. At present, this seems to be the only other option. You think you will remain safe if you hide and say nothing, do nothing.

The heart consciousness that many of you wish to create and become part of here on Earth does not have to be created from scratch. The truth is, we already created it many millennia ago, and we offer it freely to you. Think of it as simply a higher frequency than the one you have grown accustomed to.

We offer you this daily practice: Through the eyes of your heart, take yourself to the most sacred place you know. Close your eyes and see yourself standing within the elements of this place. Feel the warmth of the sun shining itself directly down on you. Feel the bottoms of your feet become magnetized to the earth as you become rooted there like a tree. Feel the sun’s warmth penetrating every cell of your body.

Now, imagine if you will, a soft blue light emanating from the ground and surrounding you. Stand in this calming, gentle aura—what you might think of as the breath of this sacred place—and feel it soften and relax, yet completely support you. A soft breeze blows in and moves this blue light through you, as if you were completely porous—which, by the way, you are. Feel yourself becoming less dense and defined, more spacious, freer, lighter. Lighter than you ever remember feeling before.

Feel now the vast space that surrounds all the cells of your body. Inhale and allow the blue light to swim all around and through you. This light will fortify and expand you. It will raise your frequency as your cells will begin to hum and vibrate with new and restored life. It will protect you from the lethargic, sleep-deprived passivity that many of you have been feeling.

You can do this daily practice any time you feel powerless and confused. Whenever you have forgotten yourself, and no longer understand who you are, or where you came from.

We give you this practice and this help freely and with love. We are the Sidhe.”

I'll be in touch again next month. And don't forget to check out my new novel, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Sea-Novel-Jane-Burns/dp/0991417933/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.M4H3zlrWRVXKpTF52hvMOQ.bHzN4b9OAIQAh3AKkL1s-4Hng9y2p7dgtrA0g8y8Tr0&qid=1761074813&sr=8-1

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hungry-sea-jane-burns/1148520385?ean=9798260325926

09/23/2025

For the next two days you can access my talk for free. Join the summit!

I am participating in this 7-day free online event entitled "Crones, Hags & Elder Wise Women. I will be speaking with Alison Palmer about How We Can Reclaim Our Sovereignty. It starts September 23rd. Sign up here: https://www.fullcirclewomen.com/3iyh

09/22/2025

The poem is not the world.
It isn't even the first page of the world.

But the poem wants to flower, like a flower.
It knows that much.

It wants to open itself,
like the door of a little temple,
so that you might step inside and be cooled and refreshed,
and less yourself than part of everything.


---Mary Oliver
Section 8. of "Flare"
Living with intention is part of the shamanic way. The ancients saw themselves as participants in a larger story in which they had an obligation to serve. How could they personally add to the greater good?

If we see ourselves as someone alone against the world, the force and magnitude of what lies against us feels too great. But if we instead see ourselves as part of a larger initiative, united with spirit allies, nature beings, and every human intent on bringing goodness to the world, then we are gathered within a strength and force that cannot be bested.

Shamanism is a community practice and mentality. Its vision and intention are collective in form. Your dream fulfilled is a dream fulfilled for all. It is not self-serving; it is serving the greater good.

This month, the helping spirits offered these words of advice:

"Life does not happen to you. You actually create it as you go. The more you move forward with intention, the more you can thoughtfully revise what does not suit your purpose. The more creativity and self-reflection you invest in the process of living, the more satisfactory results you'll attain.

Adverse patterns remain because you do not step forward to alter them, to say, that was not my intended result; no, this is my intended result. Don't accept what you do not want! The most important factor in changing your circumstance is believing that you can, that you must, that you are supposed to.

Think of a flower blossoming. The code for its self-actualization lies quietly within. It does not question its entitlement to bloom, to come into the fullness of its beauty. It does not wait for the world to give its approval. Instead, it announces itself. Here I am, it says, in all my splendor. I want you all to see this.

You, too, have a code that lies quietly within, but you have come to believe that the world must agree to make room for your blossoming.

The world itself cannot fulfill your dreams. It does not even know what they are. Only you can know that. Only you can say, this is the life I am here to make real; this is the answer to my prayers, what my dream-realized looks like. I want you all to see this.

If you let go of the steering wheel and simply suppose—if luck will have it—that the desired result will appear, there is far less chance the vehicle will arrive at its destination.

Your destiny is inscribed on your soul. The challenge is to not stand in the way of its fulfillment.

Ask yourself: what is the life I came here to live? What is the work I am meant to undertake? Who is it I am meant to serve?

Not only can you fulfill your destiny—you must. It’s precisely why you’re here. You came here with a game plan, and now you are responsible for bringing it into being. Don’t wait for the world to say, okay, you may have your heart’s desire now, because that won’t happen. The world is not your provider—you are.

Fulfilling your destiny does not require someone else’s dream to shrink or alter. The blossoming of one flower does not impose upon or prevent the blossoming of its neighbors. If anything, it encourages it. Shape your dream so that it encourages the flourishing of other dreams that may not be your own. Align your dreams with the force of goodness that is still present in the world.

Identify your dream and give it a name. Hold it in your heart and see how it flourishes there. Nurture it as you would any newborn. This is where your dream becomes magnified and strong. This is the source from which it drinks. Next, witness how the dream expands and grows beyond your heart center, stretching out into the world like the tendrils of a vine. Locate three words that describe this expansion and process, words that tell the story of the dream realized. Repeat these words whenever you think about your dream. This makes clear your intention and your plan. See yourself in the director's chair; see yourself in the dream realized—how do you appear? Make that person the one you see in the mirror each day. Make that person the one who speaks about their dream to the world.

Look around you. The world could use some new dreams right now. Make yours one of them!"

We'll be in touch again next month. And don't forget to check out my new novel, The Hungry Sea!
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+hungry+sea&crid=MQXYVLRFZ1W3&sprefix=%2Caps%2C89&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_2_0_recent

09/15/2025

I am participating in this 7-day free online event entitled "Crones, Hags & Elder Wise Women. I will be speaking with Alison Palmer about How We Can Reclaim Our Sovereignty. It starts September 23rd. Sign up here: https://www.fullcirclewomen.com/3iyh

09/08/2025

I am part of this Inner Wisdom Summit put on by Cissi Williams that's currently running. All interviews are available to listen to at your convenience. Here is the link to the summit: www.innerwisdomsummit.com

08/27/2025

A snippet of The Hungry Sea! If you would like to read more: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+hungry+sea+jane+burns&crid=UYWN8DF4U0X3&sprefix=%2Caps%2C96&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent

08/20/2025

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted–

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

---Mary Oliver
"Morning Poem"

The ancients were deep observers of nature. The nature beings were their teachers and their family. They gave the sky and the earth, the wind and the birds titles of respect and affection. They praised and thanked them for their beauty, their gifts, and their wisdom. They gave them their wonder and awe.

Much like the helping spirits, I have found that nature beings are respectful of our free will. Though they may cross our path from time to time in some magical and unexpected way, perhaps to bring to our attention something important, they generally leave us to our own devices. Unless we extend ourselves to them. Then they respond with great generosity.

When nature turns chaotic or destructive, it isn't personal. Nor is it an attack. It is nature simply transforming itself, expressing itself, for which it does not require our permission. Nor, for that matter, have we ever required nature's permission to change. Because humanity has changed over the millenia, and nature hasn't stood in our way. It has in many ways allowed the diminishment of itself.

And yet, so much can be derived from an ongoing working relationship and understanding with nature, as the ancients once enjoyed. The changes we desire in nature will happen once we change.

Here is a gentle messsage and practice from the helping spirits that we all could use:

"Nature is your world, your home and your solace. Ever present, ever loving, ever available. And yet for many of you, it is something other. You call it the “natural world” as if it were apart from the world you inhabit. You go there, out into nature, and walk among the trees and animals, as if it were some place you do not normally inhabit. Where do you think you are exactly?

Are you not also part of this blessed planet you call Earth? Is not the sky above you the same sky all of nature shelters beneath, and the ground below you the same ground everything else stands upon? Does the breeze not blow against your face, too, the rain not drench your clothes, the birds not awaken you with their song? Do the stars not shine for you and the ocean not rush to meet you?

Nature has not moved away from you; you have moved away from it. You have made it separate from you, perhaps not physically as much as in your heart and perception, and it is for this reason you are oftentimes lost, angry and afraid.

When was the last time you touched a tree, lay down in the grass, watched the clouds change shape as they drifted across the sky? There is comfort there; there is wisdom there. The beings of nature have the power to heal you, to neutralize your anxiety. It requires only your engagement, your attention.

Once upon a time, you did these things every day. As children, you ran into the arms of nature for adventure and splendor, but also, more importantly, for companionship. Once upon a time you too were wild.

The wild beings of nature are your brothers and sisters. They have never deserted or betrayed you. It is you who has broken that bond; it is you who has gone silent.

Here is a suggestion: choose one being of nature each day: a tree, a bird, a flower, a stone, a ray of sunlight, a stream, and so on. Spend a minimum of five minutes in its company. Pay deep attention here, noticing every minute detail of its physical presence. Feel how it vibrates with life—yes, even the stone. Breathe in its outbreath—yes, even the stream. Be as you once were—led by your imagination.

Nature doesn’t care about what you know; it cares about how you feel. It cares about what you can become; how you can transform. That is the power nature shares with you and that is what it sees and appreciates in you.

Next, move past the physical attributes of your nature friend and sense the spirit within it. (It’s doing the same thing to you.) Tell it what you see and sense. Listen. Does it have anything to say to you? What does it see and sense about you?

Thank it for what you appreciate about it: its beauty, its majesty, its strength, its grace. Acknowledge its essential presence on the Earth, just as it acknowledges yours. Feel the incompleteness of a world in which it does not exist.

Make this practice a daily habit. Then, notice the changes. Observe how the wild beings of nature come more frequently into your path. How nature extends greater beauty to you because it sees you coming. Nature wants to be noticed; if it knows you are looking for it, it will show up in splendor.

Notice the changes in yourself. It’s hard to feel sad in a world of splendor. It’s hard to feel unloved in a world where nature shows up every day to charm and delight you! It’s hard to be afraid once you have reclaimed your wildness and the vast extended family you forgot was yours.

Now, feel the incompleteness of a world without you."

07/29/2025

This
is not a poem about a dream,
though it could be.

This is a poem about the world
that is ours, or could be.


---Mary Oliver
"5 A.M. in the Pinewoods"

In ancient Irish lore, there was a centuries-old conflict that constantly brewed between the Tuatha de Danaan and the Fomorians. The Danaans ruled Ireland as a masterful and elegant race known for their spiritual prowess, their artistic skills and their genius. The Fomorians were a dark and beastly horde that lived in the middle of the sea. They were hideous creatures, said to be only partially formed, having either one eye, one leg or one arm They were drawn only to war and destruction, and from time to time, they would raid the Irish coast and destroy the beautiful creations of the Danaans, for no other reason than to simply upset the proper order of things.

Though the Tuatha de Danaan were endlessly pestered by the Fomorians, they never feared them. They made attempts to peacefully coexist with them--which invariably failed--but they never fell into despair over the constant threat and torment the Fomorians visited on them. The Fomorians were part of their world, and if anything, their presence made the Danaans strive ever harder towards mastery.

When I was given this month's message from the helping spirits, I thought about these two ancient races--one striving to destroy, the other striving to create--and how the Earth's story is still in that constant and perpetual swing. The pendulum, for us, seems to shift unexpectedly, but I wonder if that's really true:

"As you look at the world around you now, you might think that what you are seeing is something new. It is not new. This overt cruelty, greed, disregard and corruption have always been there. More in disguise, perhaps, not so loud or impossible to ignore, as it is now, but, always, nevertheless, there.

You might wonder how such inhumane actions and sentiments can garner a following. How so many become indoctrinated so quickly. How so many can be blinded to what is crystal clear to your eyes. The answer is because it has always been so. It has always been present. It just has, until recently, been denied a large stage from which to speak.

And now, it has come forward. It has declared itself. It has said: I am here and this is my intention. It has laid out its plans fearlessly and without disguise.

If you are shocked, it is because you must be shocked. The veil must be lifted and the scales must fall from your eyes. You can no longer live quietly in denial, content that what is unsavory and dangerous will be carefully swept under the rug for you so that you won’t have to contend with it. You can no longer believe in the smallness or powerlessness of the destructive and chaotic.

Humans, in the galactic scheme of things, are young. And like naïve and brazen youth, they can sometimes think they will live forever. They can believe they are indestructible, and that they can secure and guarantee their indestructibility so long as they play their cards right. As long as they back the right horse. They just assume the Earth will continue and continue and that it does not require their care, their reverence, or their foresight. They do not see tomorrow; they only see today. They do not even understand the meaning of consequence.

And so, they are learning now. That is why they are here, behaving as they are: raging, raging, raging.

And, that is why you are here, doing what you can to hold back the storm. These two sides of humanity: the blind and the seeing; the compassionate and the vain; the destructive and the nurturing. They are both here—in force—right now, because they need to be. Because this is the standoff that is called for. The question that hangs in the air for every single human on the planet: which way do you choose?

Of course, the careless and destructive ones, the entirely self-serving, will say that they are the protective and caring ones, they are the ones in the right, the ones to be trusted. That is not new either; that is an ancient script which has been used to dupe and disempower for centuries. And centuries.

So be careful. Protect your sovereignty. Your sovereignty is the most precious gift you have; that is why it is the Golden Fleece in this battle. It is the most sought-after prize of the ambitious and the greedy. Why? Because with your sovereignty in their pocket, they can do anything.

Be self-governing! It is time to listen to your heart, and not your head. It is time to go within, as they say, and ask yourself: what are my principles? What do I believe in? What is the world I want to live in? Enter your own place of stillness and generate from there the world you wish to be part of.

Then, give that world your full attention and love. Give that world your imagination and your trust. Your belief and your conviction.

If you give your attention and your fear to a dark and cruel world—even if that is what you see happening around you—then you have handed over the most precious and desired prize of the ruthless and unconscionable—your sovereignty. And with it, goes your power. Your imagination. Your grace. All hope and promise of peace.

What you fear, you lend power to. What horrifies and torments you becomes magnified under your focus and attention. You think that by keeping an eye on the destructive forces present now, analyzing them, lining up all the facts, the twists and turns, that you are protecting yourselves and your future from collapse. But the opposite is actually true—whatever you give your emotional focus to increases.

And yet, to ignore or turn your attention away from all the horror and inhumanity around you would seem unforgivably cruel and unconscionable, would it not? It is not about hiding your head in the sand; it is about choosing with intention the brand of attention you choose to extend. Love, not fear. Hope, not despair. Compassion, not guilt. Gratitude, not pity. Grace, not anger.

The tide is turning. It always does. The world is changing, yes, but it is changing because you are changing. You, first. You don’t change in response to the world; it changes in response to you. So, what will you choose to do differently then, today and tomorrow and the next day? If you want a different world, you must be different than who you were yesterday. You must be a lover and a champion of that changing world. You must see it, greet it, celebrate it.

Otherwise, all those you see suffering in the world have no hope. It is too much to expect them to gather together their strength, their optimism, their vision—they are too embattled. But you can. You have been given the freedom and sovereignty to build something better. So, use it! Create and step into the world you want to see, taste it, feel the sweet embrace of it. Feed it. Talk about it.

Rather than bemoaning the world that is, celebrate the world that can be. Only this will bring it into being."

And, please check out my new novel, The Hungry Sea, available here: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+hungry+sea&crid=1CDOMXA06DJYE&sprefix=%2Caps%2C79&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent

07/19/2025

Thanks to those of you who have already purchased The Hungry Sea! and for sending me pictures of my book nestled in all the new homes and hands it has been blessed to find its way to!

The book is now available on Amazon!

When I decided to write The Hungry Sea, I wanted to undertake an examination of grief in all its many guises. While grief is a frequent visitor (and unwanted guest) in our lives, it is often mistaken for other things--depression, fear, confusion, guilt, or worry--and can linger within us for many years, unacknowledged. Each of the characters in The Hungry Sea suffers from some form of disenfranchised grief, a deep sense of loss that is either not recognized, validated or, for some reason, permitted expression.

Grief is the hungry sea and as such, a great transmuter of sorrow, which often hits us at a level of suffering we had previously adapted to and learned to silence. Just like an ocean leaving detritus along the shore, grief is an excavator that will bring to the surface everything we have so carefully hidden away.

It's my hope that reading the novel and entering into the story through its characters will also help to metabolize some of the grief each of us brings with us as we enter the book.

The Hungry Sea tells the story of a woman, Tess Lynch, who loses her husband and 10-year old son, Declan, in a tragic accident, one that is precipitated by her husband's addiction. As she finds herself without the support a tragedy of this magnitude requires.her troubled history with her parents becomes even more strained, She feels guided to move her home in the hopes of finding a new life and somehow reconnecting with her lost son. There, she meets Owen, the single father of an autistic son and Olivia, a young woman caring for a father with dementia, who both face significant challenges of their own. The narrative unfolds through these various points of view, including Declan, who endeavors to understand his own fate and his mother's through remembering and recounting the Celtic stories his mother once told him.

The Hungry Sea examines the confounding nature of the human struggle to thrive and move forward through loss, and the fragile, tender relationship that still flickers between those who have transcended into another realm and those who must carry on in this one.

Please note, we have a revised date for the book signing at The Ruby Tree in Woodbury (289 Main Street South)! It is now Saturday, July 26th from 12-3:00pm, and if you're in the neighborhood, I'd love to see you there!