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Tony Allicino
I have worked in administration at LaGuardia Community College/Cuny for the last seven years, an institution that "prides itself on being a cutting-edge college willing to take risks." So one day I challenged the Dean of New Program Development with my dream of a Center for Alternative Healing. "I had to out myself as a practicing shaman to her, but she listened attentively and said, 'I love it. Let's do it!'" And so began my latest path of service for the New York City community. In its first year the Center sponsored a one-day health fair with guest speakers Sandra Ingerman and Clyde Hall (spiritual elder of the Naraya community) and various other workshops and programs, including Myron Eshowsky's ground-breaking work
on shamanism and peace-making.
A resident of Greenwich Village, I admit that I love the life I have created here to be spiritually available to such a diverse, highly energetic, and concentrated place of humanity. I believe I am hard-wired to be in the front lines of doing shamanism in an urban environment like this. But my work in the shamanic community has taken me far beyond New York City, since it also includes dancing the Naraya, a native ceremony for healing and renewal. I have been dancing the Naraya in various places across the country since 1998 and am
an active member in that community.
My own path into shamanism began in the fall of 1996 when my partner Alan died, and a friend suggested I read Gay Soul by Mark Thompson, a collection of interviews with prominent gay men about their spiritual lives, several of whom mentioned shamanism. The idea intrigued me with memories of history and anthropology courses in college, and eventually I read Michael Harner's The Way of the Shaman, only to discover as I was finishing the book that a workshop with the same title was being offered in Manhattan by Sandra Ingerman. The synchronicity was just too obvious, so I signed up for the workshop. I continued studying with teachers from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, as well as others from indigenous
communities around the world.
My most important spiritual experiences have arrived as serendipitous invitations which I have learned to pay close attention to. Indigenous traditions have allowed me to place my Western Judeo-Christian beliefs to the side and embrace older, earth-centered ways that seem very healthy for me. Following that, I try to live my life each day connected to the broader world of "all my relations."
Today I belong to two monthly drumming circles, continue to offer workshops and retreats with shamanic components, conduct sacred rituals and ceremonies, build sweat lodges, dance the Naraya, and still find time to foster the growth of shamanism within New York City's gay men's community. My dream is that people yearning to remember their power and gifts and to feel connected to the Earth, will find shamanism as a means to help them do so. By being of service to others -- family, community, Mother Earth -- we create a web of healing that ripples inward and outward. I would describe myself as a skilled potter, a passionate cook, an avid theater and cinema junkie, a good son, brother, friend,
and care-taker for my cat Raspberry.
on shamanism and peace-making.
A resident of Greenwich Village, I admit that I love the life I have created here to be spiritually available to such a diverse, highly energetic, and concentrated place of humanity. I believe I am hard-wired to be in the front lines of doing shamanism in an urban environment like this. But my work in the shamanic community has taken me far beyond New York City, since it also includes dancing the Naraya, a native ceremony for healing and renewal. I have been dancing the Naraya in various places across the country since 1998 and am
an active member in that community.
My own path into shamanism began in the fall of 1996 when my partner Alan died, and a friend suggested I read Gay Soul by Mark Thompson, a collection of interviews with prominent gay men about their spiritual lives, several of whom mentioned shamanism. The idea intrigued me with memories of history and anthropology courses in college, and eventually I read Michael Harner's The Way of the Shaman, only to discover as I was finishing the book that a workshop with the same title was being offered in Manhattan by Sandra Ingerman. The synchronicity was just too obvious, so I signed up for the workshop. I continued studying with teachers from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, as well as others from indigenous
communities around the world.
My most important spiritual experiences have arrived as serendipitous invitations which I have learned to pay close attention to. Indigenous traditions have allowed me to place my Western Judeo-Christian beliefs to the side and embrace older, earth-centered ways that seem very healthy for me. Following that, I try to live my life each day connected to the broader world of "all my relations."
Today I belong to two monthly drumming circles, continue to offer workshops and retreats with shamanic components, conduct sacred rituals and ceremonies, build sweat lodges, dance the Naraya, and still find time to foster the growth of shamanism within New York City's gay men's community. My dream is that people yearning to remember their power and gifts and to feel connected to the Earth, will find shamanism as a means to help them do so. By being of service to others -- family, community, Mother Earth -- we create a web of healing that ripples inward and outward. I would describe myself as a skilled potter, a passionate cook, an avid theater and cinema junkie, a good son, brother, friend,
and care-taker for my cat Raspberry.
