What Is Shamanic Healing?

Did you see my big announcement from the other day?

In case you missed it, here it is: I am officially re-opening my Shamanic healing work.

(I never actually stopped doing it, but I wasn’t specifically inviting people to do that work. Shamanic healing has always been a part of my practice because it’s what got me started on this path 22 years ago. But after primarily focusing on offering training and mentorship for the past 8 years, my guidance is very loudly telling me to officially re-open the healing crucible.)

You might be wondering:

What is Shamanic Healing? Do I need it?

New clients sometimes ask, “What do you do in Shamanic healing sessions?”

There is no standard answer to that because every client is on a unique healing journey. I draw upon a vast array of tools, techniques and decades of training to support each client in their individual journey. Here are some common themes and Shamanic healing techniques that I utilize in my sessions.

Shamanic Healing sessions may include:

• Energy clearing, blockage removal, emotional liberation

• Past life healing, karmic clearing, soul contract and Akashic record work

• Ancestral and lineage healing

• Soul retrieval

• Shamanic extraction

• Psychic surgery

• Intuitive mediumship, messages and transmissions from spirit guides

• Wisdom retrieval, energetic upgrades, etheric code transmissions

• Sound healing, chanting and healing songs

• Breathwork, somatic and movement practices

• Nervous system regulation, trauma release

• Grounding, energetic cultivation, nourishment and radiance practices

• Protection and boundaries

• Personal healing ritual and ceremony

In the words of one recent Shamanic healing client:

“After years of feeling disconnected, Michelle helped me awaken to myself and Spirit more deeply. She is a masterful healer who, with grace and intuition, guided me through old blockages and reconnected me to my passion and purpose. I feel alive again—more whole, more me. I am deeply grateful for Michelle’s love and care during these powerful healing sessions.”

Shamanic Healing 3-session packages are available now. The regular rate is $ 1200 but I am offering a $ 100 discount if you schedule a consultation before May 8. (A consultation is required to assess your healing needs before beginning intensive sessions.) Sessions take place in person near Portland, Oregon or online anywhere worldwide.

Book your Shamanic Healing consultation here.

Q: Why is a consultation required to book Shamanic healing sessions?

A: I personally interview all potential clients to make sure we are a great fit to work together. A consultation gives me the opportunity to assess your healing needs so I can offer the best support for your path. If for any reason I believe another practitioner or offering would be a better fit for you, I will make a recommendation or referral accordingly.

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

Shamanic Healing Sessions in Portland, OR with Michelle Hawk

“If you’re well, you have 100 problems.

If you’re not well, you only have 1 problem.”

So many people in our community are profoundly unwell.

And I mean unwell on every level: Physical ailments such as chronic pain, insomnia and autoimmune conditions. Epidemic levels of mental health disorders, anxiety and depression. Emotional pain and dysregulation. And of course, spiritual trauma, karmic reckoning and dark night of the soul initiations.

Oooouuuuch. We are collectively participating in a brutal healing curve.

Which is what brings me to my big announcement:

I am officially re-opening my Shamanic healing work.

Because you, my community, have been asking for it.

Because I see how needed it is right now.

Because so many people are in so much pain, healing deep soul fractures that ripple out to negatively impact their health, their relationships, their sense of safety and stability, their ability to work, their sense of purpose, and everything else in their lives.

You might be wondering, “Do I need Shamanic healing work? How do I know if this is right for me?”

Shamanic Healing work is for you if:

• You are going through a deep personal healing journey. You want support with trauma healing and nervous system regulation, relationship challenges, childhood wounds, beliefs and conditioning, or physical symptoms that “don’t make sense.”

• You are ready to release blockages, clear trapped energies and get rid of everything that’s holding you back.

• You want to reconcile ancestral and karmic wounds in order to heal and clear karma and rewrite soul contracts and patterns.

• You want support with soul retrieval, integrating the wisdom and lessons of past lives and coming into full expression of your Higher Self knowing.

• You feel the presence of spirit guides and you know you are going through powerful spiritual initiations. You want help anchoring the codes and transmissions that you are receiving so you can integrate and live them fully.

• You feel stuck or blocked in your continued development, disconnected from your purpose or like you’ve reached a plateau, and you’re looking for some fresh energy and perspective to help you renew your transformation and growth.

• You are going through a big life transformation and you want practical support to help you process, stay grounded and feel present/connected to your inner wisdom through the transition.

• You want support from a grounded spiritual healer / mentor who has been on this path for a long time, who can help you see what you might be missing and give you specific tools, guidance and healing support that is aligned for you as you grow and transform.

In the words of one recent Shamanic healing client:

“After years of feeling disconnected, Michelle helped me awaken to myself and Spirit more deeply. She is a masterful healer who, with grace and intuition, guided me through old blockages and reconnected me to my passion and purpose. I feel alive again—more whole, more me. I am deeply grateful for Michelle’s love and care during these powerful healing sessions.”

Shamanic Healing 3-session packages are available now. The regular rate is $ 1200 but I am offering a $ 100 discount if you schedule a consultation before May 8. (A consultation is required to assess your healing needs before beginning intensive sessions.)

Book your Shamanic Healing consultation here.

Q: Why is a consultation required to book Shamanic healing sessions?

A: I personally interview all potential clients to make sure we are a great fit to work together. A consultation gives me the opportunity to assess your healing needs so I can offer the best support for your path. If for any reason I believe another practitioner or offering would be a better fit for you, I will make a recommendation or referral accordingly.

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

Shamanic Healing with Owl Spirit in Portland, Oregon

5 Owls in 7 Days

Wowza, Owl is coming through strongly! You know that feeling when Spirit is practically slapping you in the face with a repeat message? Yeah, I thought so.

Ready for a story?

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you’ve already heard me tell the stories of an owl attacking me and offering me a deep medicine initiation. You’ve heard the story of my powerful dreams and visions with Owl, and how this healing energy comes through in my Shamanic healing work with clients. (If you haven’t heard those stories and you want to, check out the blog archives.)

Owl began getting my attention one evening last week, when I heard 2 (or possibly 3) Great Horned Owls calling back and forth for 15 minutes straight. They were somewhere close by in the forest in front of my house near Portland, OR. At the time, I just enjoyed it and didn’t tune in more deeply.

Two days later, I was driving home after offering an Alchemy teaching/wisdom transmission, and suddenly a massive owl flew right over my car on the dark highway. I swerved slightly and recovered, but then forgot about it (until this morning).

Yesterday morning, Athena and I were hiking in the forest near our home and we walked right under a Great Horned Owl sitting on a low branch. I only saw it because I turned around to look at Athena right as it took off, and landed slightly ahead of us on a higher branch. I paused by its tree and offered gratitude and appreciation. As I turned away to keep walking, it flew off.

This morning on my way home from the park with Athena, a Barred Owl flew right in front of my car (that’s when I remembered the owl that flew over my car a few nights ago).

Message received. It was time to journey with Owl and see why Spirit was trying to get my attention.

So this morning I journeyed with Owl. And as Owl medicine does, it brought my attention to some things that are uncomfortable for me to see, but that hold the opportunity for profound healing. Owl offered guidance related to one of my current growth edges and helped me see where I have been resistant. And as Owl medicine always reminds me, “It is safe to see in the darkness.”

I received some powerful messages and healing transmissions that I’ll be reflecting on and integrating. Thank you, Owl!

Do you desire to connect with your spirit guides for healing and messages? Do you feel them trying to get your attention but you don’t know where to start?

Are you going through powerful spiritual initiations and healing portals?

Do you want help anchoring the codes and transmissions that you are receiving so you can integrate and live them fully?

Receive 3 Shamanic Healing sessions with me. I’ll help you connect with your guides, receive healing energies, messages and transmissions, and anchor them into your life.

>>>Get started by booking a consultation here.

Q: Why is a consultation required to book Shamanic healing sessions?

A: I personally interview all potential clients to make sure we are a great fit to work together. A consultation gives me the opportunity to assess your healing needs so I can offer the best support for your path. If for any reason I believe another practitioner or offering would be a better fit for you, I will make a recommendation or referral accordingly.

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

Shamanic Ritual to Heal the Land

A sea of cut branches intermingles with mud churned up by colossal machines, the tracks of their tread gouging the earth in wide, deep scars.

The crowns of trees and poles deemed “too thin to be useful” spray in chaotic disorder as evidence of the careless destruction.

It is carnage.

But the part that truly makes my stomach turn are the three piles of logs left uncollected. Over 100 trees that were killed with the intent to harvest for lumber, but their bodies were simply left in a pile.

They killed more than they needed. And they left the rest to rot.

This is the scene currently in the forest near my home, after the loggers came through and “thinned” the woods in January and February. But this same disregard for Earth and right relationship with resources is playing out everywhere.

This is what happens when we live in a society with a deeply ingrained culture of scarcity consciousness, mindless consumption and instant gratification.

When we are removed from the cyclical flow of life, we forget where our resources come from.

When we engage with money as credit cards and digital bank accounts, we have no embodied relationship with true wealth.

When we can go to Home Depot and buy lumber for a home project, we forget the forest it came from.

We never walked through the woods and witnessed all the birds, deer and abundant life before the logging. We never watched the canopy shake and heard the ground shudder as a massive tree was felled. We never saw the piles of logs left over because someone cut first and calculated later.

Unnecessary destruction and loss of life.

Our relationship with abundance, fertility and embodied wealth goes beyond our personal healing: it is imperative for our collective healing and evolution of human consciousness.

The way our society (in general) lives without regard for Earth and right relationship with non-human life is completely unsustainable.

And it is deeply wounding all those who perpetuate that system, even if they don’t realize it.

Will you join me in a special healing event?

Instead of thoughtless consumption, we can celebrate life and the fertile creative power of this living temple planet.

When we offer our heartfelt prayers in devotion to life, we amplify this abundant aliveness in the world.

And through our heartfelt prayers for Earth, our own abundance is amplified.

This wisdom is rooted in very ancient principles of High Magic.

And I will be sharing some of these teachings in a special Beltane event on May 10.

Come offer healing to the land with your prayers.

Come amplify the abundant, radiant aliveness in the world, for the benefit of all beings and for the evolution of human consciousness.

Let us gather in devotion to serve life itself. Let us gather in devotion to allow these currents of abundant aliveness to flow through us and blossom in the world. Let us gather in devotion to offer, to be generous, to give freely.

Come join me.

Beltane Shamanic Abundance & Fertility Ritual

Saturday, May 10, 1-5pm

Forested Retreat Space in Corbett, OR (just outside of Portland)

Sliding scale (see below)

We will gather on private, forested land to celebrate Beltane and align with Gaia’s abundant creative power. This event includes:

• Shamanic teachings on abundance, creative power, reciprocal generosity and embodied wealth.

• Shamanic ritual experience to work with Earth magic and anchor in Gaia’s grid of creation.

• Wildcrafting elixir ritual: make a personalized medicine from the land to take home and integrate your ritual experience.

• Community connection with like-hearted seekers, in person!

• Forest bathing, meditation and reflection time with the land.

• Tea and light snacks.

There will be some outside time during this event, rain or shine. Address and preparation details provided upon registration. Choose your sliding scale option:

Support the Work Pricing: $97

This option is encouraged for those who have the financial means to support the work and ensure its continuation.

Sustain the Work Pricing: $77

This option is invited for those who are able to pay the asking amount to attend the event.

Scholarship/Equity Pricing: $57

This option is intended for those who need financial assistance to attend the event.

Come pray with me in the forest temple! The land is waiting for you.

Shamanic Past Life Wisdom Retrieval: I Remember Atlantis

I remember Atlantis.

I remember the fall most vividly, but I remember some of the circumstances and power struggles that lead up to the devastating end.

I remember soaring crystal pillars and smooth floors that hummed with power. I remember the beauty of the temples and the elegant architecture of precious stone.

I remember my studies as a young priestess, my growing awareness of different factions and philosophies, and the unease that grew as I progressed on my path of service.

I remember when I was initiated into the role of high priestess, my mentor counseled me to be very careful. She told me to remember the teachings I had received in the right use of power, and to use the influence of my position to protect the safety of my people.

I remember walking through a vast hallway when I was suddenly brought to my knees by discordant sounds screeching through my bones. I covered my ears in pain, but the sounds were inaudible vibrations ricocheting through me.

I got up and ran into a massive room with towering crystal columns and giant orbs that crackled and sparked. Something was very wrong. Two of my priestess sisters were already there, and the three of us took our places together to drop into a trance and assess what was wrong with the energetic architecture of the grid.

I felt it immediately. I saw where someone had tried to magnify an output of power from one of the generator stations, and the entire grid of Atlantis was fluctuating wildly as it tried to compensate for the imbalance.

I heard a deep cracking sound, and opened my eyes to see fractures running the entire length of the crystal columns, all the way up to the orbs at the top.

My heart broke. My sisters and I stood and raised our hands to try to offer what support we could in one final attempt to stabilize the grid. I remember singing cords of light into the glowing crystal pillars.

But the rumbling started, and soon after, the waters came crashing in, and Atlantis was no more.

——

This memory surfaced many years ago in the early days of my awakening. It served as an important part of me claiming my own power and integrating the remembered wisdom teachings from other incarnations into my current life and service.

And honestly, I had kind of forgotten about it until February, when I received a healing session from my Shaman mentor and it all came flooding back. (Along with a memory of the fall of ancient Sumer, but that’s another story.)

The heartbreak and despair I felt from the fall of Atlantis is rippling through the timeline to the heartbreak I feel watching the misuse of power and political upheaval now. I am once again a wisdom keeper who has pledged her life in spiritual service, and I am trying my best to support my community and protect the right balance of power to prevent the fall of another civilization.

It all feels a little too familiar.

But it also feels different.

This time feels different, because it’s not just a small group of wisdom keepers who are trying to hold the balance. This time, it’s much more out the in the open. The awareness of that imbalance is spreading, and more and more people are standing up to protect the right use of power.

I have lived many lifetimes of service in the mysteries. I’ve lived through the collapse of multiple ancient and powerful civilizations. Part of my practice has been to draw upon the experience of other incarnations and to integrate that knowledge, so I can move forward from the fully empowered wholeness of my eternal spirit and all the wisdom I have gained through all my lifetimes.

I am once again feeling some deep inner re-structuring, and it’s a bit uncomfortable, but also feels very powerful and clarifying.

And I know other people are remembering powerful mystery teachings, too.

This is a time when we are all being called upon to embody the knowledge not only of our current incarnations and the teachings we have received this time around, but to implement the hard-earned wisdom, codes and spiritual technology we carry from all of our many lifetimes.

I feel strongly that we are living through a very powerful portal, where we get to put this wisdom to work and achieve different outcomes than we have in the past.

But it requires courage, deep alignment and skillful application of this wisdom. It requires us to not only remember and feel the echos of our other incarnations, but to integrate the wisdom codes and transmute them into our empowered actions in this Earthwalk.

Friends — The mysteries are alive and asking to be remembered.

Maybe you've felt some recognition or knowing that doesn't make logical sense.

Maybe you've felt your bones hum like tuning forks when you hear the name of an ancient people.

Maybe you hear the whispers of your ancestors, and the lineage holders and wisdom keepers, beckoning you to listen, and feel, and remember.

What spiritual technology wants to awaken within you? What codes and mysteries are asking to come alive in your consciousness so they can once again serve in the world?

If you feel the call and resonance of this story and know that there is remembered wisdom awakening within you —

I am offering 1:1 support with Past Life Wisdom Retrieval.

If you’re ready to fully awaken and embody your inner knowing —

If you feel the remembrance of wisdom from other incarnations and you want to anchor it into this lifetime —

If you know that you are here to be a force of healing, transformation and creation in the world —

If you’re ready to master the spiritual technology, codes and mysteries that you’ve inherited from all your lifetimes —

>>>Book a call with me to retrieve and integrate your Past Life Wisdom.

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

Shamanic Healing Retreats in Portland, OR

Come heal in the forest with me!

April 1st marked one year since I moved into this gorgeous temple home in the forest just outside Portland, OR. Yay!

In the past year, I have hosted 13 retreats for clients who are called to come experience deep healing and personalized support.

Do you crave in-person magic and connection with nature?

Do you desire deep spiritual practice, healing and initiation work in the forest?

Do you want to get out of your daily grind and spend a few days in a temple with a master healer and teacher?

Bookings are now open for one-day, two-day or three-day intensive retreats!

In the words of one retreat client:

"Well, shit! That [retreat] had far greater implications than I was able to predict. I have felt a deep shift in my approach to relationships and life. It was a wonderful energy that put my life into balance. On the heels of that energy came a flood of transformative energies that are continuing to break me open."

Shamanic Healing in Portland, OR: When the weather is agreeable, we do most of our work, including Shamanic healing sessions, outside on the 5 acre forested property.

1:1 Intensive Retreat Details

• 1-3 days, including temple lodging and nourishing meals.

• Deep Shamanic and energy healing work.

• Shamanic journeying, intuitive and mediumship practice to connect with the spirits for guidance and healing.

• Teaching and instruction from Shamanism, Alchemy, and other lineages.

• Personal ritual or ceremony.

• Embodiment and movement work, consciousness practices, energetic techniques.

• Personal guidance, processing, support and reflection.

• Coaching and strategy, visioning, working with your spiritual business or soul-aligned practice.

• Hiking, forest-bathing and relaxation time in beautiful nature.

• 3 online sessions for preparation and integration.

• Current 1:1 clients receive a major discount!

More words from retreat clients:

“This retreat showed me how powerful I am without plant medicine and that deep spiritual experiences can happen without plant medicine. I feel like I reclaimed more of my authentic true self and feel more connected to spirit. I am remembering that I am the medicine and my clairvoyance is very strong. Michelle, I really appreciate you welcoming me into your sanctuary and sharing your wisdom and love. I felt safe, seen and heard.”

“I wanted to thank you again for such a fun retreat!  It really was important and powerful to mark this point in my journey.”

“The 1 on 1 shamanic healing retreat I did with Michelle was sublime and powerful. The flow and balance of work sessions with rest and integration time gave the space needed for deep healing. After every session I had profound experiences of revelation, recognition and peace. The underlying current throughout the 3 day process was a deep connection within and coming home to my soul.”

>>>Book a call with me to schedule your retreat.

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

Shamanic Healing for Your Transformational Journey in Portland, Oregon

Are you going through a deep healing journey? Are you looking for Shamanic and spiritual support? — Today’s article is personalized for you.

(Practitioners — your personalized article went out yesterday. Did you see it? If not, look back in the archive.)

“I feel disconnected from my power, joy and purpose, and I need help finding my way back to myself.”

“I feel like there are energetic blockages and karmic / ancestral / past life wounds I need to heal, but I want someone to guide and support me.”

“I want to connect with my spirit guides for healing and messages — I feel them trying to get my attention but I don’t know where to start.”

“I feel totally alone on this path and I need help from someone who gets it.”

These are just a few of the common themes I hear from people coming to me for support.

Do any of these sound like you?

Hi! I’m Michelle Hawk— Shaman, Alchemist, master healer and spiritual mentor. I’ve been studying and practicing Shamanism and other modalities since 2003.

There were so many times, particularly during the beginning of my journey, where I felt confused, frustrated and as though I was fumbling around in the dark. I was going through deep healing initiations and underworld transformation cycles. The thing that made the biggest difference for me was the personal guidance and mentorship of powerful teachers and healers.

Instead of feeling lost and alone, I felt seen and supported.

Instead of feeling like I was totally crazy and making things up as I went along, I felt validated and empowered.

I have been so blessed to receive support from some fantastic mentors over the last 20+ years. I know how essential it is to have someone in your corner who understands what it means to go through spiritual initiations and guide you through deep transformation into grounded empowerment.

Do you need that kind of support?

Do you want it right now?

I am opening spaces for new clients to come into 1:1 Transformational Healing work with me!

***There are no prerequisites for working 1:1 with me. I work with spiritual seekers who want powerful tools for their healing and transformation. I also work with aspiring, new and established spiritual practitioners for their growth and skill development.***

This work is for you if:

• You are committed to your personal growth and development. You want practical spiritual tools in your personal tool kit that are more than guided meditations.

• You are going through a big life transformation and you want practical support to help you process, stay grounded and feel present/connected to your inner wisdom through the transition.

• You are going through a deep personal healing journey. You want support with trauma healing and nervous system regulation, relationship challenges, childhood wounds, energetic blocks, beliefs and conditioning, or physical symptoms that “don’t make sense.”

• You want to reconcile ancestral and karmic wounds in order to heal and clear karma and rewrite soul contracts and patterns.

• You want support with soul retrieval, integrating the wisdom and lessons of past lives and coming into full expression of your Higher Self knowing.

• You have a gift for intuitive practice, channeling and mediumship, and you want to explore it safely with support and guidance to discover the authentic expression of your intuitive gifts.

• You feel the presence of spirit guides and you know you are going through powerful spiritual initiations. You want help anchoring the codes and transmissions that you are receiving so you can integrate and live them fully.

• You feel stuck or blocked in your continued development, disconnected from your purpose or like you’ve reached a plateau, and you’re looking for some fresh energy and perspective to help you renew your transformation and growth.

• You feel alone on your path, you don’t have any spiritual community and you want to be able to talk and process with someone who doesn’t think you’re bonkers.

• You are participating in sacred plant medicine work and want help processing, integrating and anchoring your experiences and translating them into aligned shifts and healing in your life.

• You are recovering from abuse or harm by a practitioner or medicine community. You don’t want to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” but you need help coming back into healthy alignment and relationship with your authentic spiritual practice in a safe and supportive spiritual container.

• You want support from a grounded spiritual healer / mentor who has been on this path for a long time, who can help you see what you might be missing and give you specific tools, guidance and healing support that is aligned for you as you grow and transform.

If any of this sounds like you, I invite you to step into 1:1 Shamanic Healing Work with me.

Our sessions together may include some combination of the following:

• Shamanic and energy healing work.

• Teaching and instruction about specific principles and tools of spiritual practice from Shamanism, Alchemy, and other lineages.

• Shamanic journeying, intuitive and mediumship practice to connect with the spirits for guidance and healing.

• Personal ritual or ceremony.

• Learning and practicing embodiment and movement work, consciousness practices, energetic techniques.

• Personal guidance, processing, support and reflection.

With 1:1 Shamanic Healing Work, you get me in your corner for personal support.

If you’re ready to work deeply with a healer who gets it —

If Spirit is beckoning you to step into your transformational healing journey and you want support while you do —

If you’re aching to resolve old wounds and reconnect with your joyful purpose and you want a guide in your corner to help you —

>>>Book a call with me to discuss if this work is right for you!

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

Shamanic Training and Mentorship for Healers and Practitioners

Practitioners! Healers, coaches, therapists, bodyworkers — this invitation is personalized for you.

(Non-practitioners — your personalized invitation is coming tomorrow. Stay tuned!)

“I’ve been practicing for a long time but I know there are more intuitive or Shamanic gifts that I need to explore and incorporate into my work.”

“I’ve taken so many trainings, courses and workshops in spirituality and healing modalities, but I feel like there’s something missing. I still don’t feel like I’m connecting to my personal magic and I need help figuring out what that is.”

“I feel called to be a healer or spiritual practitioner because I want to help people, but I’m not sure where to start.”

These are just a few of the common themes I hear from people coming to me for support.

Do any of these sound like you?

Hi! I’m Michelle Hawk— Shaman, Alchemist, master healer and spiritual mentor. I’ve been studying and practicing Shamanism and other modalities since 2003.

There were so many times, particularly during the beginning of my journey, where I felt confused, frustrated and as though I was fumbling around in the dark. I was going through intuitive healership initiations and mediumship awakening. The thing that made the biggest difference for me was the personal guidance and mentorship of powerful teachers and healers.

Instead of feeling lost and alone, I felt seen and supported.

Instead of feeling like I was totally crazy and making things up as I went along, I felt validated and empowered.

I have been so blessed to receive support from some fantastic mentors over the last 20+ years. I know how essential it is to have someone in your corner who understands what it means to go through spiritual initiations and guide you through deep transformation into grounded mastery.

Do you need that kind of support?

Do you want it right now?

I am opening spaces for new clients to come into 1:1 mentorship work with me!

***There are no prerequisites for working 1:1 with me. I work with advanced practitioners who have years of training and study and want personalized support for themselves and their work. I also work with new and aspiring healers and practitioners who want support in foundational skill development and processing their awakening.***

This work is for you if:

• You’ve been studying energy healing or various modalities for a long time but it feels like something’s missing. You want to go beyond the certifications and modalities to anchor into your personal gifts and authentic magic.

• You have taken lots of online classes, read lots of books and want practical, personal support that goes beyond a generic “Spiritual 101” curriculum.

• You have a gift for intuitive practice, channeling and mediumship, and you want to explore it safely with support and guidance to discover the authentic expression of your intuitive gifts.

• You feel the presence of spirit guides and you know you are going through powerful spiritual initiations. You want help anchoring the codes and transmissions that you are receiving so you can integrate them fully into your life and your practice.

• You have been “on the path” for a while, but you feel like you’re not growing past a beginner or intermediate level, and you want to source your practice from deep knowing and mastery, and refined spiritual skill development.

• You feel stuck or blocked in your continued development, or like you’ve reached a plateau, and you’re looking for some fresh energy and perspective to help you renew your transformation and growth.

• You have a professional spiritual or healing practice and you are tired of trying to make it fit in a box that was never meant for you. You want someone to help you structure your programs, offerings and business practices in a way that actually aligns with your sacred work and your lifestyle.

• You are a practitioner, healer, therapist, coach or medical provider. You have been “in the closet” about your Shamanic, intuitive or magical self, and you are ready to stop hiding and start sharing this aspect of your practice.

• You have a “normal” job or career that is making you miserable and you are finally ready to shift out of it and explore your soul-aligned service.

• You are facilitating sacred plant medicine work and want support with mastering your practice: healership skill development, mediumship cultivation, refining your ceremonial practice and more.

• You want support from a grounded spiritual mentor who has been on this path for a long time, who can help you see what you might be missing and give you specific tools, teachings and guidance that is aligned for you as you grow and transform.

If any of this sounds like you, I invite you to step into 1:1 Transformational Mentorship with me.

Our sessions together may include some combination of the following:

• Shamanic and energy healing work.

• Teaching and instruction about specific principles and tools of spiritual practice from Shamanism, Alchemy, and other lineages.

• Shamanic journeying, intuitive and mediumship practice to connect with the spirits for guidance and healing.

• Personal ritual or ceremony.

• Learning and practicing embodiment and movement work, consciousness practices, energetic techniques.

• Personal guidance, processing, support and reflection.

• Working with your spiritual business or soul-aligned practice, planning and strategy.

With Transformational Mentorship, you get me in your corner for 6 months of personal support.

If you’re ready to work deeply with a mentor who gets it —

If Spirit is beckoning you to step into mastery and you want support while you do —

If you’re aching to express your personal magic and higher service and you want a guide in your corner to help you —

>>>Book a call with me to discuss if this work is right for you!

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

1:1 Shamanic Healing, Mentorship and Retreats

I’m finally poking my head up here after a very intense magical portal shift. Phew! Time for an update and an invitation.

Here’s the update:

Last weekend was the graduation retreat for my I AM Alchemy students. During a total lunar eclipse. And my current cohort of Alchemy apprentices began that Sunday. It was an intense weekend.

I am so happy for my students in their fantastic accomplishment! They persevered through a deep dive year of apprenticeship in the mysteries, which is both a beautiful and challenging endeavor.

The next cohort that began just over a week ago is launching into the crucible, and I am so excited for them as well! It is my sincere joy to guide seekers through the fires of transformation.

But Alchemy isn’t the only kind of support I offer. Since the course is underway for the year, I’ll be shifting gears to offer more work through 1:1 shamanic healing, training and mentorship.

Here’s the invitation:

Shamanic Healing

3 sessions of deep healing work, including trauma healing and nervous system regulation, soul retrieval, past life healing, wisdom retrieval, Shamanic extraction, and more.

>>>Book a call with me to dive in.

1:1 Mentorship / Healing

Six month deep dive into your personal journey of healing, transformation and mastery. This work is for healers/practitioners looking for support with their spiritual skill development, mastering intuitive gifts and cultivating their Shamanic practice. This work is also for non-practitioners who desire support with personal healing, transformation and spiritual growth.

>>>Book a call with me to dive in.

In-Person Immersive Retreats

Bookings are now open for in-person 1:1 intensive retreats! Join me at my temple home on sacred, forested land near Portland, OR. Retreat options include:

• 1-3 days, including temple lodging and nourishing meals.

• Deep Shamanic and energy healing work.

• Shamanic journeying, intuitive and mediumship practice to connect with the spirits for guidance and healing.

• Teaching and instruction from Shamanism, Alchemy, and other lineages.

• Personal ritual or ceremony.

• Personalized embodiment and movement work, consciousness practices, energetic techniques.

• Personal guidance, processing, support and reflection.

• Coaching and strategy, visioning, working with your spiritual business or soul-aligned practice.

• Hiking, forest-bathing and personal relaxation time in beautiful nature.

• 3 online sessions for preparation and integration.

• Current 1:1 clients receive a major discount!

>>>Book a call with me to schedule your retreat.

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

The medicine you need most might surprise you

Yesterday during a healing session, I offered my client a Shamanic journey to connect with one of their animal guides.

The journey was very beautiful, and the animal guide came through very strongly. It told me about some of the medicine that it wanted to share with my client, and *wow.*

After the journey, I told my client which animal guide had emerged. “Huh, that’s surprising,” they said. “I never in a million years would have guessed that.”

The guide who stepped forward was an ocean animal, and my client shared that they didn’t really resonate with the ocean. “I’m more of a desert and forest person.”

“Let’s see how this guide wants to support you,” I told my client. I guided my client through a journey to connect with their guide, and I journeyed simultaneously to receive more information and transmissions about the medicine this guide was offering.

My client surfaced from the journey with new appreciation for this guide. They told me what the guide had shared with them, and how it perfectly related to their current life circumstances.

Then I shared with my client what the guide had shown me regarding its medicine, and my client ended up in tears. “That’s exactly what I feel like! Yes, I definitely need that. That is f***in rad.”

All of this to say —

The medicine we need most might surprise us.

Some of the deepest, most powerful lessons and support can come from areas of our lives where we feel less familiar or comfortable.

Are you ready for your medicine to surprise you?

Are you open to powerful lessons and support from unexpected sources?

Are you called to work with powerful spiritual forces for the purpose of guidance, illumination and healing?

>>>Book a call with me to talk about what type of support is right for you!

Here's What Your Spiritual Practice Is Missing

Have you studied different spiritual or healing modalities, but still feel like there’s something missing?

Have you read the books, taken the courses and listened to the podcasts, but you don’t know how to organize your knowledge and training into a synergistic transformational practice?

Have you gotten the certifications and feel like you “should” be working with your tools, but you’re not sure how your unique magic and personal medicine fits within the systems you’ve studied?

If so, you need I AM Alchemy.

I AM Alchemy Mystery School will teach you to confidently transform yourself and others through the power of ancient spiritual wisdom and practical skill development.

Alchemy is the spiritual science of transformation — the logical, predictable map for how transformation actually works.

This system of ancient wisdom is the missing piece that will help all of your other modalities, tools and practices synergize and work together most effectively.

But don’t just take my word for it. Past students have reported:

“I recommend I AM Alchemy to anyone who has taken many courses and programs but still feel like they're not fully integrating. For me, this was like the graduate study in practical magic that helped pull everything together and allowed me to lead my own transformation.”

“Through I AM Alchemy, I have learned so much about how creation, transformation, and magic works on both a practical and spiritual level. This course helped me to incorporate all of the different teachings and modalities that I had learned before into a strong foundation that I can continue to use over and over again.”

“I feel so much more confident in my own practices, magic, and ability to lead.”

“I joined I AM Alchemy because I had been on a spiritual and magical journey for several years, but I desired something deeper to truly integrate all that I was learning. I knew I needed something with structure that was not just about completing modules or participating in calls, but something that I was able to immerse myself in while still living my day to day life.”

If you’re reading this and feeling, “YES, that’s me!” —

The I AM Alchemy course begins March 17!

This course is especially crafted for healers, practitioners and guides who desire an in-depth study and practical application of transformational spiritual skill development.

Are you ready to learn tools and practices that will immediately and noticeably enhance your vitality, health, energy and well-being?

Are you called to use these powerful tools to support your loved ones, community and clients in their journey of transformation and actualization?

>>>Book your I AM Alchemy interview call now!

These Practices Will Save Your Butt (when you need them most)

Simple practices will save your butt when you need them most.

I am finally emerging from two solid weeks of a very severe respiratory infection. It has been brutal. I haven’t been that sick in over a decade.

During that time, the things I was doing to take care of myself got pared down to the simplest, most effective and most necessary. I didn’t have energy for anything else.

But here’s the important part: My version of “simple practices” is actually a pretty solid baseline of physical and energetic health tools, because I have spent years making them second nature.

Here’s some of what that included:

• All the immune supplements and potions (mineral detox, 12+ different kinds of mushrooms, nano silver, superfood hot chocolate, electrolytes, vitamin C drink I made from Douglas fir twigs from my land, plus six types of tea and all the nourishing soups and broths).

• Medicinal aromatherapy (immune booster capsules I made from six types of essential oils, Raindrop protocol blend made from seven essential oils applied twice a day, diffuser and steam inhalation of respiratory and immune support oils).

• Qigong and movement practice as I was able (dredging the lung channels, Ringing the Heavenly Bell and other lung channel practices, shaking and clearing, short walks outside every day).

• Energy healing (clearing and purging, microcosmic orbit meditation, I even tried a Shamanic journey during one of my feverish episodes but I wouldn’t say that one was terribly effective).

• Of course, lots of rest and snuggling with my dog and cat.

For someone else who doesn’t have the tool kit that I do, my care routine may seem overwhelming or out of reach, especially during a time of crisis.

At some point between states of feverish listlessness, I thought about this in terms of the challenges people are facing all the time: grief and loss, depression/anxiety/mental health, physical illness, spiritual psychosis, mediumship awakening and more.

When you are in challenge or crisis, it will not be the fancy or complicated practices that save your butt. It will be the simple, effective practices you can do without thinking.

When we’re in crisis (whether it’s an activated nervous system state, a trauma response, or a depressive or dissociative state), higher cognitive function shuts down.

In those moments where you are in the thick of challenge and you need your practices to help you stabilize and regulate, you will not remember the complicated meditations or invocations, or the order of the steps of a long practice.

In the moments where you are sick, afraid, tired, in pain, dissociating or all of the above, the simple practices that you have done thousands of times will help you discharge and clear energy, stabilize enough to bring some cognitive function back online, and resource yourself sufficiently to take steps towards care and relief.

Here’s the other very important part:

Doing the simple practices over and over when you have capacity to learn them will ensure that they’re second nature to you when your cognitive function is impaired.

I guarantee you the only reason I remembered the ingredients to all those complicated recipes when I was sick and feverish is because I made them hundreds of times when I felt well and healthy.

The only reason I was able to dredge the lung channels and do other qigong practices was because I’ve done them over and over for years and I didn’t have to think about it.

The fundamentals of energetic fluency are very simple practices. And they are often overlooked or glossed over in favor of shinier, more exciting practices.

But the shiny practices will not help you when you need it most. In fact, the more complicated they are, the less likely you are to remember how to do them when you’re in crisis.

It will be the simple, fundamental practices that save your butt when you need it most.

Do you want to develop your energetic fundamentals to make sure you have effective tools when you really need them?

I hate to bring up the scary state of the world/country/politics, but it is indeed scary and probably only going to get worse.

If you’re reading the news right now and dissociating —

If you feel powerless, afraid and like you’re struggling to put one foot in front of the other —

If you are called to spiritual practice as an effective tool to support your personal empowerment, well-being and fortitude (viva la resistance!) —

>>>Book a call with me to talk about what type of support is right for you!

Direct Contact with the Mysteries Will Change You

Direct contact with the Mysteries will fundamentally change you.

Ironically, the more easily accessible spiritual teachings become, the more we have to go out of our way to experience that direct contact.

Yesterday in our I AM Alchemy group call, we talked about the two main ways we are learning and transforming through this course:

1. Materials (modules, textbook, practices)

2. Direct transmission (actually being in the Crucible of Alchemy)

It’s easy for us to focus on the tangible (materials). We can watch the training videos, read the book, do the practices, show up to class and session.

But the tangible materials aren’t the thing. The tangible materials are the way in which we learn how to access the intangible thing.

The materials are the tools we use to regulate our nervous systems, open our awareness, focus our consciousness and get out of our own way enough so we can actually feel and participate in the Mysteries.

This direct contact with the Mysteries is where we transform.

Not from watching the videos. Not from reading the book.

In Alchemy, the practitioner seeks to create the Philosopher’s Stone: the most perfected, illuminated state of being. (In pop culture, this is usually associated with creating gold and the Elixir of Life, aka Immortality Juice.)

But the Alchemist cannot create this perfected state of being separate from herself. She must enter the Crucible of transformation as well. She must surrender her body, heartmind, and soul to the forces that govern all of life.

In I AM Alchemy, we use teachings and practical tools to open ourselves to directly experiencing the Mysteries of transformation.

But the teachings are only the beginning.

Are you ready to be changed by the Mysteries?

I’m inviting 12 fully committed soul seekers that want to enter the crucible of Alchemy in 2025.

12 people who are ready to master ancient mystery school teachings and practical spiritual skills in the next year so they can heal their own body, mind and spirit.

12 people who are ready to awaken their deepest gifts and confidently facilitate transformation for others.

The course begins in March, and applications are open now.

If you’re one of the 12 people who is finally ready for big transformation and wants my help to make it happen…

>>>Click here if you’re ready to be changed by the Mysteries.

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

Embrace Your Transformation: A Journey Beyond the Ordinary

Dear Seeker,

Have you ever encountered something in nature that stopped you in your tracks, making you question your perceptions and beliefs? Recently, I had such an experience with a beautiful snake on a hiking trail. (If you missed my last article, go check it out!) This encounter reminded me of the transformative power that lies within each of us, often hidden beneath layers of fear and societal conditioning.

Just as many people fear snakes, we often shy away from our own potential for transformation. But what if, instead of retreating, we chose to embrace the unknown? What if we saw our fears not as barriers, but as gateways to profound personal growth?

You might be:

• An energy healer seeking to unlock your authentic gifts

• Someone committed to personal growth, looking for practical spiritual tools

• Going through a major life transformation or deep healing journey

• Seeking to reconcile ancestral and karmic wounds

• A new or aspiring intuitive practitioner, channel, or medium

• An experienced spiritual seeker feeling stuck or plateaued

• A medical or therapeutic professional wanting to integrate spiritual gifts into your practice

• Someone with a "normal" career yearning for a meaningful spiritual practice

• Involved in sacred plant medicine work

• Feeling isolated on your spiritual path and seeking community

• Called to embody a new way of being and contribute to global consciousness shift

If any of these resonate with you, I invite you to consider transformational mentorship with me. Like the snake shedding its skin, this journey offers you the opportunity to release old patterns and step into your true potential.

Through our work together, you'll receive:

• Personalized guidance to anchor your unique spiritual gifts

• Practical support for processing life transitions

• Tools for trauma healing and energetic block removal

• Assistance with soul retrieval and past life integration

• Safe exploration of your intuitive and channeling abilities

• Support in receiving and integrating spiritual initiations

• Fresh perspectives to renew your growth

• Help aligning your practice or business with your authentic self

• Guidance in integrating spirituality into your career

• Activation of your natural gifts and intuitive channel

• Assistance in making sense of your various trainings

• Support in rewriting energetic codes and healing ancestral trauma

• Empowerment to embody your mastery and creative potential

• Guidance in awakening to your Sovereign Self and Personal Power

• Support in discovering and living your unique Sacred Purpose

Like the too-often misunderstood and vilified snake, your path to transformation might seem mysterious or even frightening at first. But I assure you, it's filled with beauty, strength, and wisdom waiting to be uncovered.

Are you ready to shed your old skin and embrace your true potential? I am opening a limited number of spaces for 1:1 clients to come do deep work with me. Details here.

Book a call with me today, and let's explore the transformative journey that awaits you. Together, we'll navigate the shadows and emerge into the light of your authentic self.

Click here to schedule your initial session with me. Your transformation begins now.

BOOK A CALL WITH MICHELLE

Many blessings,

Michelle Hawk

P.S. Remember, just as the snake lives in intimate contact with the Earth, your transformation will ground you deeper in your true nature. Don't let fear hold you back—reach out today and take the first step on your transformative path.

The Beauty and Opportunity of Being Triggered

As a healer and spiritual mentor, I regularly witness people feeling triggered. This is a normal part of any healing or transformational process, and even though it can feel yucky, it’s actually something worth celebrating because it opens a portal of opportunity.

Instead of trying to avoid them, I teach my clients to approach triggers from a place of understanding them, feeling prepared and ready to work with them as part of the healing process. Triggers are an inevitable and predictable part of shadow work or underworld initiation, and it’s important to remember that when they come up.

Here is my working definition of a “trigger” or when someone “feels triggered:”

A trigger is a sensation of nervous system arousal that results from a person or situation resonating at a similar frequency to an unhealed wound or unresolved trauma.

For example, if someone grew up in a household with abusive, alcoholic parents, and they have not worked to regulate themselves and resolve their developmental trauma, they may be triggered by seeing another person drink a cocktail, even if that person is behaving peacefully.

Triggers, while they may feel super crunchy and we may wish to avoid them at all costs, are actually beautiful and powerful opportunities for some of the deepest, most powerful transformational healing work.

In some practices, such as Alchemy, there are even meditation and healing techniques that deliberately elicit trigger responses so that the practitioner may work with the energy of the trigger to transmute it from a wound or base state into peace, love and fully actualized radiance (the internal gold).

Here are three important things to know about healing through trigger portals:

1. Triggers are opportunities to heal. In order to work with a trigger for the purpose of healing, the person must understand that their nervous system is being aroused to a stress response due to energetic resonance with a past trauma, not directly because of the current circumstances. If they understand that, they can employ nervous system regulation tools, consciousness practices and repatterning techniques to create a feeling of safety and peace within their body, heart/mind and spirit. From this place of feeling regulated and embodied, they may use Shamanic journeying, soul retrieval, extraction or liberation healing work and Alchemical ritual to transmute the underlying wound.

2. If people mistake the trigger for a trauma, or try to bypass the trigger, they reinforce the original wound. This is very typical if people don’t yet have the tools and awareness to understand and intentionally work with their triggers. This is also true for people who may have awareness of some healing practices, but perhaps the trigger is particularly strong or charged. Regardless, every time someone’s nervous system runs unchecked in a trauma pattern, it digs that neurological groove a little deeper. It is never too late to heal, but it requires effort, attention, repetition and consistent reinforcement of a new pathway.

3. Working with triggers requires simple practices. When the nervous system is activated into a stress response, cortisol in the body spikes, the logical mind shuts down and people may experience memories of trauma, physical sensation or pain. Since the intellectual brain shuts down in a stress response, it is impossible for someone to “logic” themself out of a trigger response. For healing through trigger portals, we must rely on very simple practices that we have ingrained in our muscle memory from practicing them thousands of times while not in a triggered state. When we use these regulation practices to bring our cognition back online, then we can shift into consciousness practices and more advanced Shamanic and Alchemical healing techniques.

Are you working with nervous system healing and regulation, and healing through trigger portals?

Do you want some help with that?

I am opening spaces for new clients to come into 1:1 work with me!

***There are no prerequisites for working 1:1 with me. I work with advanced practitioners who have years of training and study and want personal support for themselves and their work. I work with new and aspiring healers and practitioners who want support in foundational skill development and processing their awakening. I work with spiritual seekers who are not practitioners and want powerful tools for their own healing and transformation.***

This work is for you if:

• You are committed to your personal growth and development. You want practical spiritual tools in your personal tool kit that are more than guided meditations.

• You are going through a big life transformation and you want practical support to help you process, stay grounded and feel present/connected to your inner wisdom through the transition.

• You are going through a deep personal healing journey. You want support with trauma healing and nervous system regulation, relationship challenges, childhood wounds, energetic blocks, beliefs and conditioning, or physical symptoms that “don’t make sense.”

• You want to reconcile ancestral and karmic wounds in order to heal and clear karma and rewrite soul contracts and patterns.

• You want support with soul retrieval, integrating the wisdom and lessons of past lives and coming into full expression of your Higher Self knowing.

• You feel stuck or blocked in your continued development, or like you’ve reached a plateau, and you’re looking for some fresh energy and perspective to help you renew your transformation and growth.

• You are recovering from abuse or harm by a practitioner or medicine community. You don’t want to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” but you need help coming back into healthy alignment and relationship with your authentic spiritual practice in a safe and supportive spiritual container.

• You want support from a grounded spiritual mentor who has been on this path for a long time, who can help you see what you might be missing and give you specific tools, teachings and guidance that is aligned for you as you grow and transform.

If any of this sounds like you, I invite you to step into 1:1 work with me.

Our sessions together may include some combination of the following:

• Shamanic and energy healing work.

• Teaching and instruction about specific principles and tools of spiritual practice from Shamanism, Alchemy, and other lineages.

• Shamanic journeying, intuitive and mediumship practice to connect with the spirits for guidance and healing.

• Personal ritual or ceremony.

• Learning and practicing embodiment and movement work, consciousness practices, energetic techniques.

• Personal guidance, processing, support and reflection.

• Working with your spiritual business or soul-aligned practice (designing your new program, making a retreat budget, updating your website and your intake forms).

With Transformational Mentorship, you get me in your corner for 6 months of personal support. Check out all the details here, and when you’re ready, book a call with me to discuss if this work is the right fit for you!

BOOK A CALL WITH MICHELLE

You can also book an in-person 1:1 retreat with me at my temple home on sacred forested land just outside of Portland, OR! Book a call with me to discuss your personal retreat.

If you’re ready to take inspired action on your healing and transformation journey…

If you’re reading this email and thinking “Yes, that’s me”…

If you want me in your corner for personal support and guidance…

Use this link to put yourself on my calendar.

I look forward to speaking with you soon!

6 Things I Do with Every Client

No matter what energetic skill level and capacity a client has when they come to work with me one on one, we end up working on these 6 fundamentals, and it universally makes a huge difference.

I have shared some form of this framework with almost every single private mentorship client for the last few years--people who are newer on the path and get overwhelmed going to the grocery store, people who have some energetic tools but maybe not everything they need, and even well-established practitioners who may have a blind spot about something fundamental to their practice.

The reason these 6 things are so beneficial and universally applicable is because these are the Foundations of Energetic Mastery.

These 6 things build the solid foundation of your energy practice.

These 6 things make all the "fancy" work possible. These are essential skills for things like channeling and mediumship, shamanic extractions and soul retrieval.

These 6 things will save your butt when you feel overwhelmed, depleted and stressed out.

These 6 things will bring you back to center when things in your life go sideways and you're too distracted to channel the angels for guidance.

These 6 things are deceptively simple, but simple is effective.

A lot of people who already have some training in energy work think they have the fundamentals mastered, but then I show them these 6 things and their eyes go wide. They say, "No one has ever explained it to me like that before. I didn't know I could do that. That makes so much sense. Will you please teach me how?"

Here are the 6 things:

The Foundations of Energetic Mastery

1. Awareness

This is the foundational skill that makes all the other pieces possible. Your awareness is your ability to sense and assess your body and etheric field, to discern what energy is yours and what is not, as well as to determine the presence, location and other relevant information regarding blockages or interferences in your body and energy field. Your awareness is your ability to direct and project your consciousness like a voluntary muscle. Your awareness is foundational to your energetic regulation and radiance.

2. Clearing

Clearing is your ability to release and send away any energy that is not yours, or things that are yours that you don't need anymore. Clearing releases hidden and trapped emotional residue, old karmic patterning and soul blueprints, trauma and traumatic imprints, energetic parasites and psychic implants, stagnation, other people's energy, and more.

3. Grounding

Grounding enables presence. Grounding helps you anchor your consciousness firmly into your bioform, the cells in your body, and to Gaia. Grounding is your ability to be stable and resourced in your presence, and to call upon the aliveness in your body and the Earth.

4. Centering

Centering brings you back home to yourself. This practice calls all parts of your Self, your energy and your attention back to wholeness with you. Centering is also where soul retrieval comes in to support healing from soul loss and fragmentation.

5. Cultivation

Cultivation brings in energy from Earth, the Heavens and Source to increase the amount of energy in your field, as well as your capacity to hold it. Cultivation practices give you radiant aliveness, raise your vibration, support thriving health and well-being and enable you to practice high-demand energy work like incorporation mediumship.

6. Protection

Finally, Protection acts as a semi-permeable membrane to help you conserve your energy and regulate yourself efficiently. A lot of people think it's important to start with Protection, but this is actually the final step.

In which of these 6 things are you most confident? Which one feels the most challenging to you?

Do you want help with this in your own practice?

I've got you covered!

Get Support:

Are you ready for support with the Foundations of Energetic Mastery?

Book a call with me to talk about what type of support is right for you.

Most spiritual practice is like cleaning your house

Most spiritual work is like cleaning your house.

It’s mundane, but very necessary, and things get really yucky when you don’t do it.

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about this before. Yes, it’s time for another article about how spiritual practice is actually very unglamorous, contrary to a lot of what you might see on social media.

And friends: that doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful, meaningful, powerful, miraculous and life-affirming. It is all of those things, and more.

But on the day-to-day basis, spiritual practice is more like cleaning the toilet.

Imagine you didn’t regularly clean your house. I am pretty sure every single one of us has gone too long without vacuuming at some point in our lives, so we all know the feeling. You get used to the piles of paper, the dust bunnies in the corners and the scuzz in the sink.

And then, a guest is coming over! Time to recycle all the junk mail. Time to vacuum up the pet hair and scrub the gunk.

And wow, it feels great. The sink is so shiny. The counters are clear. Your socks are no longer covered in pet hair because the floors are clean.

Cleaning your house feels way more dramatic and miraculous if you don’t do it often.

Spiritual practice feels way more dramatic and miraculous if you don’t do it often.

If you only clean your toilet once a year, it is going to feel like a f*ing revelation when you finally do.

If you clean your toilet before it actually gets yucky, it is going to feel sort of mundane and potentially unnecessary.

If you don’t have a consistent and regular spiritual practice, the moments when you do tap in and connect are going to feel like the clouds parting, a beam of sunlight illuminating your vision as a choir of angels serenades you with your favorite song.

If you do have a regular and consistent spiritual practice, you will probably reach a point where it feels boring and potentially unnecessary, because it is working so well.

One of the most significant benefits of spiritual practice is helping you be regulated and stable in your life, no matter what. This sounds super unglamorous, but I promise it’s easy to regulate your energy when things are going well and a whole lot more difficult to do so when shit hits the fan.

When things go sideways, as they do for every single one of us, your spiritual practice will help you maintain your inner equanimity.

Your spiritual practice will help you not lash out from hurt feelings or anger.

Your spiritual practice will help you process your grief.

Your spiritual practice will help you find joy and hope in the darkest moments.

Your spiritual practice will help you be kind to yourself and others, even when it’s more convenient to be unkind.

Your spiritual practice will help ground you and keep you from dissociating when you feel overwhelmed.

Your spiritual practice will help you access your intuition and inner wisdom when you feel lost.

Your spiritual practice will help you love, even when you’re hurting.

Your spiritual practice will help you tune in to the wisdom of your body when you need healing.

And yes, your regular and consistent spiritual practice will help you connect with high-vibration divine beings, have transcendent epiphanies and receive cosmic downloads. Your spiritual practice will help you sing songs to the spirits, experience magic and synchronicity, expand in love and joy, and feel more connection and beauty than you ever thought possible.

But the most beneficial support your spiritual practice can offer you is to help you be more at home in yourself and present in your life, which will make the biggest difference when you need it most.

Who is Sacred Ecology for?

Dear human,

I get it. You love nature. You love animals and plants, you love being outside and you can feel the energy of life all around you. You know that Gaia is alive and that all beings on Earth have their own magic, teachings, life path and purpose.

But sometimes you feel disconnected from that web of life. Sometimes you feel like you’re on the outside looking in at the mysterious beauty and power of nature. And unfortunately, that is a normal byproduct of modern society. We live in a world of houses and concrete and wifi, where human intellect is placed on a pedestal above all other life forms. It is a weird and shitty world view that separates us from our true origins as children of Gaia, and removes us from our natural connection and allyship to land and nature spirits.

Working with land and nature spirits is your birthright as a child of Earth.

Maybe it never occurred to you that collaborating with the land and nature spirits could improve your physical health, bring peace of mind and enhance your psychic abilities. Maybe it slipped your mind that anchoring your healing practice into the Earth grid would make your work safer, more powerful and sustainable. Maybe you want to connect with the nature spirits, but you don’t know how or where to start.

Regardless, I see you, and I’ve got you covered.

I see that you want to create powerful allyships with land and nature spirits to support you in your healing or spiritual practice. I see that you feel drawn to a particular animal, plant, river or mountain, but you don’t know how to build a deeper connection. I see that you feel disconnected and isolated in this concrete world, and you are ready to come home to Gaia and the web of life. I see that you want to pray with the trees, make offerings to the Earth and receive messages from the birds and the wind.

I see that you are ready to work with land and nature spirits.

Who is Sacred Ecology for?

• You love nature. You feel connected to plants and animals and enjoy the outdoors, but you’re ready to go beyond enjoying nature into a deep, functional allyship with Gaia.

• You are ready to receive initiations and teachings directly from the original wisdom keepers: plants, animals, stones, elements, and Gaia herself. You are ready to collaborate with ancient and powerful allies.

• You want to go beyond the superficial, “Instagram Witch” nature-based spiritual practice to learn the underlying concepts and tools that support powerful animistic practices like shamanism, mediumship and witchcraft.

• You are a healer, ceremonial guide, retreat facilitator or spaceholder. You want to make sure that your container of healing and transformation is as safe and powerful as possible so your clients can receive the most benefit. You are ready to invoke your nature spirit allies to support your work.

• You are a homesteader, gardener or permaculturist. You want to go beyond the functional aspects of land stewardship to cultivate a spiritual partnership with the guardians and wisdom keepers of the land.

• You are on a healing journey to regulate your nervous system, support mental or physical health, or recover from trauma. You want to attune and calibrate your etheric and physical bodies to the nurturing stability of Gaia.

You feel the calling and remembrance of the wisdom of nature.

You feel Gaia beckoning you to collaborate with her magic.

You are eager to meet and study new, powerful allies.

You are ready to work with land and nature spirits.

If any of this calls to you, Sacred Ecology is right for you.

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Register now!

How to Recognize and Integrate Nature Spirit Initiations

I was attacked by an owl in September 2017.

One week later, I was catalyzed into a major healing initiation, supported by Owl medicine.

In Shamanic tradition, attacks, stings, bites or significant encounters with animals are sometimes recognized as initiations into their medicine. The same is true for plants: stings, scratches, poisoning, reaction or significant encounters are sometimes, but not always, initiations.

I had just moved into a new home, and the first thing I do whenever I move to a new place is to walk the area and get to know the land and local nature spirits. I walked through a patch of forest behind my neighborhood and had just come out the other side when something slammed into the back of my head.

I whipped around in stunned confusion, and saw an owl flying away. It landed on a nearby tree branch and regarded me with piercing eyes. We stared at each other for a moment, and it launched itself at me again, flying right towards my face. I reflexively raised my arms and yelled something, and it flew back to the branch. I walked away, looking over my shoulder. By the time I walked a shaky lap to calm down, it had gone. I had to go back through the forest to get home, but I did not see the owl again that evening.

The following day, I returned to the patch of forest and saw several snags (standing dead trees) with holes that looked ideal for owl roosts. I made an offering to Owl at one of the snags and asked for their consent to share this land with them.

The big bump on my head remained for about a week, right at the site of my back body Third Eye. During that time, I reflected on Owl energy. I was unsure if this had merely been an introduction to a local nature spirit, or if it was an initiation into their medicine to form a deep allyship. The answer soon became obvious.

The following week, I decided to invoke my spirit team for a healing session, for what I thought was a completely unrelated issue. Something regarding my ancestral lineages had been bothering me in the back of my mind for a while, and I wanted to give it some attention to see what would emerge.

As I dove in, I saw big, black eyes rushing toward me through the darkness, and I felt a jolt of energy as I recognized the owl’s eyes. I remembered thinking at the time of the attack, “I understand why some cultures are afraid of owls.” They are silent, ghostly predators who come alive in the shadow. There are some species of owls who have bright yellow irises and their eyes look more “cute” and friendly to our human perception, but the kind of owl that attacked me has eyes that look completely black. (It was a Barred Owl. Go ahead, look up a picture and imagine it flying at your face. It was intimidating.)

As the black eyes filled my inner vision, I was surrounded in soft darkness. I felt my awareness heighten, my senses sharpened and everything seemed to go still. I heard the words, “It is safe to see.” The darkness seemed to ease, but I realized it was my perception that had changed, not the light.

And then Owl showed me a puzzle piece that I had never seen in 30 years of knowing my family history, and I felt the collective grief and pain of my ancestors come crashing down.

I ended up on the floor of my healing room, sobbing as I channeled the words and the grief of my ancestors. But even though I felt their heartbreak moving through me like a river, I felt myself held in the soft embrace of Owl wings, and I saw the black eyes reminding me that it was safe to see in the darkness.

When Owl spirit sent one of its children to strike me in the back of the head, it was not merely an introduction to the local land guardians. It was an infusion of Owl medicine directly into my Third Eye. Owl was preparing me to serve the healing of some deep, multigenerational grief in my own lineage, and also to help others navigate their darkness with more peace and comfort. Owl is one of my primary spirit allies when I support my clients in deep shadow work. When I took up painting a few years ago, my first project was an Owl portrait that now hangs in the stairwell leading up to the healing room.

I have continued to study with Owl since my initiation. I regularly see owls in that same patch of forest, but have never been attacked again. I now live on different land and there are owl guardians here as well: Barred Owls, and tiny Western Screech Owls that are not shy about flitting close to me and Athena, and could fit in the palm of my hand.

Not every encounter with a nature spirit is an initiation into their medicine. Sometimes they appear as a message or an invitation, sometimes they show up just to hang out, or sometimes they are simply living their lives as sovereign beings in our vicinity.

Here are some indicators that a nature spirit is showing up not just as an encounter, but a medicine initiation:

• A nature spirit ally is more likely to appear at a threshold moment in your life. Big shifts make space for new energy, and as you enter new life chapters and phases, you will grow with new allyships.

• Nature spirit initiations are not always dramatic. They often appear as repeat encounters, both in their embodied form and in other areas. (Maybe you start seeing rabbits in your neighborhood, and then you see rabbit stickers, toys or artwork everywhere you turn. Follow the White Rabbit!) Repeat encounters gradually introduce you to the medicine of this nature spirit and open you to receive their teachings.

• Sometimes initiations are dramatic or intense encounters, but not every dramatic encounter is an initiation. During a dramatic encounter such as an attack, there is a code transmission that integrates over a longer period of time.

• If you say yes to this ally and invite them in, they will start to show up in your life, appear in your meditations, etc. You can support this relationship by making offerings, observing them in a respectful way, and communicating with them in your personal practice.

Do you want to…

• …receive teachings and initiations from the original wisdom keepers: plants, animals, stones and nature herself?

• …create functionally purposeful allyships with local nature spirits to support your spiritual practice?

• …build lifelong partnerships with powerful natural allies and receive deep initiations into their mysteries?

• …confidently invoke the nature spirits during your meditation or ceremonial practice?

• …receive guidance and support as you establish powerful partnerships with new spirit allies?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

Register now!

Meet Your Guide

I’m Michelle Hawk: Shamanic Alchemist, Spiritual Mentor, Master Healer.

As a child, I always felt connected to animals, nature and magic. The world felt alive to me in a way I eventually realized most people didn’t understand, so I hid and didn’t tell anyone about my conversations with animals or the spirits I saw.

When I found out about Shamanism at age 15, everything changed for me. Animistic Shamanism gave me a context and vocabulary for what I already knew: the world and all beings are alive and connected through the unseen realms, and the animals, plants and stones all have powerful wisdom and to share.

I have been studying and practicing animistic Shamanism with various teachers since 2003, and under dedicated mentorship since 2009. My core Shamanic lineages come from the Shaman clan Baksa of what is now Hungary, and the Celtic people and horse tribes who traveled across Europe. I have also studied with Turtle Island indigenous teachers.

For me, the spirituality of life and the science of life have always gone hand in hand. In university, I earned my degree in biology, specializing in animal physiology and behavior. My undergraduate research was in hummingbird foraging behavior, and I dove into tropical ecology and conservation during my research.

As a Shaman, biologist and passionate naturalist, my practice is rooted in deep reverence for life and the wisdom of Gaia, scientific principles of ecology and environmentalism, and genuine appreciation and enthusiasm for nature.

Are you ready to work with land and nature spirits?

Sacred Ecology begins July 26.

This course includes:

• 7 live online classes, each including training, hands-on exercises and integration prompts.

• Ceremonial initiation with your new nature spirit ally.

• Private online community for resources and connection.

• Upgrade option: Add three discounted 1:1 sessions with Michelle for personalized support and mentorship.

Early Bird pricing ends July 1. Use this code at checkout for $100 off: EB100SE