FEATURED POETRY AND ESSAYS
Anthologies
The Journey of Healing
The Journey of Healing, edited by Marjorie Ryerson, featuring S. Kelley Harrells’ poem “diligent suns.”
The Spirit of a Woman
The Spirit of a Woman, edited by Terry Laszlo-Gopadze, featuring ‘Telling the Bees’ by S. Kelley Harrell
Nature’s Gifts
Nature’s Gifts, edited by Smoky Trudeau, features Kelley’s essay, ‘Spiritual Gardening’
Engaging the Spirit World
Engaging the Spirit World, edited by Lupa, featuring Kelley’s essay, “Remembering the Tradition.”
iPagan
iPagan, edited by Trevor Greenfield, features Kelley’s essay ‘Life Beyond Ecstasy’
What is Shamanism?
What Is Shamanism? edited by Trevor Greenfield, featuring, “Modern Shamanism, the Middle World, and Ego,” by Kelley
Kelley’s gift of sharing offers readers insight into how we can learn to understand those things that are beyond our control while gaining control of our own destiny.
– SageWoman
Featured Posts
Free Articles
Deathwalking Fear
I’ve had a new deathwalking class in the works since last fall. and one thing after another has stalled it. Curious that the thing stalling it now is death. As such, it’s an opportune time to talk about some of the aspects of deathwalking that should be animism 101,...
Thursday Betwixt – Modern Challenges in Ecstatic Trance (Part 3)
It's been a whilesince I wrote in the Life Betwixt series. To be honest, I've not had a lot of branewidth to do so, though the experiences I've had offroad with health crisis of the last 2-3 years have taken all of my spiritual teachings even deeper. Turns out, that...
#metoo, Animism, and Ancestral Trauma
This post contains references that may be triggering for survivors of patriarchy. During the public display of Dr. Ford's personal life, an older article (by Sharon Blackie) circulated on the rape of the well-maidens. It offers deeper insight into the Celtic story of...
My Response to DIY Shamanism
A dynamic I see often brought up in shamanism forums is the projection that shamanism is and should be DIY, or it's not authentic. (Ranting ahead.) Somewhere along the way modern shamanism internalized the idea that the shamanic path is done alone. Whether it's that...
My Response to “How Do I Meet My Animal Guide?”
This question is another that I see often in shamanism forums. The revelation of animal guides has spread far beyond mere shamanic trope. I see it brought up in tarot forums, groups focused on general spirituality, paganism, divination... It truly is the new,...
My Response to “How Do I Get Started in Shamanism?”
Without a doubt, this the question I see most often in shamanism forums. Online, in-person, in the checkout line (seriously, that happened, once), people ask me at least once a week how to get started in shamanism. For the sake of not answering it evermore, I'm...
The Question Everyone Asks About Shamanism
"Do I have to work with Shadow to be a shaman?" It's true. I bet I've been asked that question more than any other, over the last 25 years. That and "What's my life purpose?" The funny thing is, we can't know the answer to one without resolving our issues with the...
Life Betwixt – Depression in the Shaman’s Life
Throughout the Betwixt Series I've emphasized that shamanism isn't called 'fire in the head' for no reason. It's inextricable from mental illness because we culturally can't honor hearing voices and engaging trance states without also projecting judgement onto sanity...
Life Betwixt – Deathwalking
So many people have contacted me since I blogged about my experience in February of this year, when the planetary Watchers told me that we need to be prepared to deathwalk Midgard (Earth). Likewise, after I posted early in September about planetary soul loss, many...
Life Betwixt – Shaman 2.0, or Why Soul Tending
Soul Healing? Check. Now What? You know the phase that comes after realizing you have no glaring soul wound to heal? No? You're not alone. Loads of other people don't know it, either. That curious place does exist, though. Chances are you've experienced it and weren't...
Betwixt – Feathers and Felonies
In the Betwixt series, I talk a lot about Nature Spirit Allies. For many seekers, these allies are engaged through work with fetishes, or power items, as has become the phrase-of-the-day. For a shamanist, this means possessing some likeness of the Nature being,...
Life Betwixt – The Ayahuasca Thing
I don't talk much about entheogens in my work, largely because I don't use them. I don't think they're bad or any such, I just have never needed to use them to get where I want or need to be, in terms of the ecstatic. Nonetheless, when I teach Intro to Soul Tending ,...
Thursday Betwixt – Spiritual Crisis and Psychosis
It's been a while since I updated the Betwixt series. For those of you who are new to it, on selected Thursdays I shed light on lesser discussed aspects of the modern shamanic path, and in the vein of disclosure, hope to frame this path in a more realistic and...
Thursday Betwixt – Modern Challenges in Shamanic Journeying (Part 2 of 3)
Last week, we discussed self-doubt and failure of imagine as culprits limiting the experience of shamanic journeying. This week, we continue in Part 2 of that dialogue, with: Over-rationalization. One of the most valuable skills of the modern mind is the ability...
Thursday Betwixt – Modern Challenges in Shamanic Journeying (Part 1 of 3)
In the first phase of the Thursday Betwixt Series we've discussed diverse possibilities in allies available to support the modern shamanic path, and to a great degree that of animism. Moving into phase two, I'd like to talk about how we do what we do on...