Born into a family of mediums, I was encouraged to explore spirit connection from a young age. I remember often closing my eyes and flying above an inner-world of tall grass, filled with flowers, following a gently meandering burn with butterflies and dragonflies swooping overhead – usually whilst sat in a spiritualist church as a small child, waiting, whilst my Mother received hands-on-healing. It was infinitely more pleasant than the scary faces I remember witnessing before bedtime, when I was 5 years old.

As I grew up, my exploration of mediumship led to a deeper interest in shamanism and animism. At first I connected to my guides and spirit animals and later discovered shamanic journeying with the use of drum and voice. I would describe a shamanic pathway as developing a connection to the life-force contained in all things including connecting within and finding ways to embody more life-force energy. What’s interesting about the shamanic pathway is that it becomes very much a healing pathway, allowing us to integrate parts of ourselves that are often lost, buried or forgotten through life experiences, challenges and traumas. A synergy can occur once we learn to accept the parts that make us whole, bringing gifts and talents to the surface, or indeed allowing the wisdom to surface, that may lie dormant within our bones – our ancestral knowledge can be stored here.

AdobeStock_562809977 permission obtained by Andy Clare

I write about this shamanic synergy in context with my arrival at the Community, where I was delighted to attend the solstice spiral meditation and the arrival of the Angel of Synergy. It made me reflect on the global challenges we have all faced over recent years – particularly due to Covid – where we faced the breakdown of normal organisational structures in government and community, and individually, our ways and methods of operating in the world seemed to shift significantly. It brings a question to mind: What are the parts that make us whole?

Often on a spiritual journey we face a breakdown of the self, a disintegration, before we can then begin rebuilding. Removing old parts and releasing what no longer serves us is an important process, that opens up space within us and around us. We can then accept more readily what most aligns with our true self, allowing for it to flourish and express itself through our being. I see this as a mirrored process that is reflected in the wider community where I find myself today. Knowing I am being held within a community engaged in co-creation, I take hold of solid foundation stones, place them with wisdom upon the ground, and build a new (inner) temple with love, allowing light to enter the new space that has been created – giving time for wholeness to unfold.