upcoming events:

Re-Imagining Your Life, and Stepping into Adulthood
September 11-12, 2010
Co-facilliatated by David Conneely and Monica Murray
LGBT Community Center ~ NYC, NY

Monthly Open Circle in NYC
Aug 1, Sept 5, Oct 3, Nov 7, Dec 5, 2010
LGBT Community Center ~ NYC, NY

---

previous events:

The Shamanic Mind: Programming Your Thoughts for Success
Co-Facilitated by David Conneely and Lisa Sienkiewicz
Does it seem sometimes that no matter how hard you try to change things in your life, that those efforts somehow fall short? Most people have never found a practical and effective tool to address their frustrations and improve their lives. Physician and consciousness researcher, John C. Lilly, spent decades studying the human mind.

5th Annual Shamanic Gathering of Men
with Tom Cowan & Jim Wood
Emerging from winter, the season of "with-in," we will gather at the Vernal Shamans have always responded to the crises of their times. We live in a country fighting two wars; and wars are taking place in many countries around the world and maybe always will be. How should we as shamans respond to help heal the suffering that war causes in people, animals, the land, and culture? How can we be makers of peace? How can we tend our own feelings of grief, anger, disappointment, and disillusionment that can arise from war?

4th Annual Gay Shamans Retreat: A Rite of Spring
with Tony Allicino & Tom Cowan
Emerging from winter, the season of "with-in," we will gather at the Vernal Equinox to be with Nature and our Bloodline Ancestors. Together we will collectively create a Rite of Spring to feed our roots and support new growth in our spiritual and physical lives. Using traditional shamanic techniques of ecstasy (ex stasis = to stand outside oneself), we will support each other to dissolve the fog of separateness, move towards a deeper realization of our androgyny, and connect with joy of the new season as a gift from the Divine.

The Gay Shamans Retreat
with Tony Allicino & Tom Cowan
Indigenous people have always honored the spirit powers that they find residing in the four directions and the sacred center of our world. This paradigm has been called the Medicine Wheel, the Celtic Arts, the Sacred Horizon, and other terms. Different cultures see this in different ways. And since there is rich variety in these perspectives, we invite participants to come prepared to share your personal, or your tradition’s, understanding of the Great Wheel. We hope this will provide a lively and informing discussion throughout the weekend.

Advanced Training Workshop
with David Conneely and Tony Allicino
We will offer advanced Shamanic Training for gay men on healing with spiritual light. Participants will experience several journeys during the course of the weekend around the subject of transfiguration, and the use of transfiguration for the healing and empowerment of oneself, another person, and the community. Those of you who have read Sandra Ingerman’s book Medicine for the Earth would be
familiar with the work. The intention for this training is to further equip gay male shamanic practitioners with more skills and experiences so they can be more empowered in their shamanic practice.

Queer Deathwalker Workshop
with David Conneely and Tony Allicino
We are often taught to embrace our lives with great courage and fervor, but what about death? Our lives often draw us away from death, which Joan Halifax (author of Being with Dying and Shaman: The Wounded Healer) refers to as a gift that is rarely opened. In this workshop queer men will gather to perform ceremony and shamanic journeywork to open a portal of comfort and understanding with the issue of dying
and the destiny of souls.

Extraction: A Shamanic Healing Technique
with Tony Allicino and Cynthia Crisp
You will be introduced and trained how to see with shaman’s eyes in order to perform extractions, a traditional shamanic healing method for removing localized negative intrusions from the spirit body which causes pain and illness. To do this work, skilled experience with shamanic journeying is essential. The workshop is for people who wish to incorporate extraction into their healing practice and not for personal healing. Bring your drum, rattle, journal and pen.

Seeing in the Dark: An Introduction to Gay Shamanism
with Tony Allicino and David Conneely
During this experiential two-day workshop, we gather as gay men to create and hold Sacred space for one another, enabling each to move safely at one's own individual pace. You will be introduced to the basic techniques of the shamanic journey aided by drumming and movement. We will also explore dreaming and divination. You will learn how to awaken dormant spiritual abilities, connect with your spirit helpers, and restore personal power. You will discover how to apply these skills in your daily life for personal self-healing, restoration of harmony, empowerment, and spiritual evolution.