what i'm finding is, the more "medicine" i fill myself with and then offer to others (love, healing, wisdom), the more my immediate needs are met. and sometimes that has nothing to do with money at all, sometimes it's trade, gifts, etc, and it turns out i don't need as much cash as i thought i did......as if the medicine supports me, the more i hand it out.

has alot to do with faith..

"When the student is ready, the teacher dis-appears."


nice!

it has to do with predatory shamanry when it deals with personal gain as the primary focus of some ones work...

i dont live in an intentional community and i do work... but i am working towards living in an intentional community and not working within the system any more...
however you dont need to live within an intentional community to do what im speaking of... ive spent years working with people who live nomadicly, share every thing, live in squats or camping or via barter/reciprocity and live off of interrupting the waste stream of American society, like raccoon people. a hard life, but ethicly resonant with the act of living.

part of the sickness inherent within western society is the buy/sell/own belief system its worked its way into nearly every ones life around the world and get perpetuated in how we relate to what could be sacred reciprocity. but when we mindless continue to buy/sell/own in this work we perpetuate a sickness that has MANY other symptoms that we wish to cure in doing this work in the first place... shamans that do this with out looking at this dynamic and curing it in the way they do the work are doing harm ultimately from what i have seen...
ive seen families that needed to do the work who showed up at ceremonies humiliated when they where asked to pay, not knowing that they there was a charge, these people had very little and it was pretty much demanded of them that they give what ever they could or even owe the shaman and pay him back some how latter. one year i did work with this hispanic woman who after the ceremony was over really emotional shared her anger and frustration that this work and healing was not available to her people, her community because of the cost. doing the work in this way is ultimately damaging and also dangerous in that it perpetuates power systems based around the myth of scarcity instead of the healing truth of abundance and the humility of having enough.
this is relevant because this whole post is in many ways focused on ethics, what is ethical and how we and others act ethically in regards to shamanry.
from what i have discovered is that doing this work with out thinking about both socially and ecologically responsible ethics is ultimately damaging in many ways, and must be questioned so that the work we do an support can have a resounding healing effect thats hear to stay.
i remember when i was doing healing work as my primary focus in life that i would never ask for anything from any one to do the work... often times it came at a cost to me. I had little to nothing and what i did get was dedicated to helping others in doing this work. One evening a friend i had helped out repeated in doing healing and guidance asked me what he could do to help me. I had always had a pay it forward sort of attitude, telling people to take what ever they had gained and to share it with the community, this sort of reciprocity was in itself a healing act bent on changing the way we live our lives in this society. when he asked me what i needed or what he could do for me.. i told him i had no idea, but that if he saw something that i needed he could give me a hand at any time and i would for sure appreciate it. my intention in saying this to him was to foster a culture of people who pay attention to the needs of others and give wisely helping those that need it when they do.. allowing spirit and intuition and compassion to guide the process. pay attention to the needs of others i told him, including me and see how you can give.
what i learned is that you allways get what you need to humbly keep doing the work... you dont have to ask for payment you dont need to charge money... doing so is harmful and those that do it this way ultimately miss out in a larger healing that effects all of us.

a big part of the reason why brujeria was put on me when it happened was BECAUSE of this sickness caused by perpetuating the myth of scarcity and the practices of this perpetuation. the shaman i was working with felt that it was money that was going to make his mission in life a success and he had to secure my role in that process by putting "hook" in me to keep me working with him and keeping the whole thing running. he was afraid of the scarcity myth and so used magical manipulation to secure his ability to keep his work going, which was brujeria and harmful to me... ultimately though i am greatful for the sickness as well as the cure because through out the whole process i was able to learn about how not to relate to this work and how to focus on the long standing work ahead reintroducing shamanry to western society and the healing that has to be done to benefit future generations.
its allowed me to take a step back and see why people are doing this work, what they need and what they are seeking. part of this work is being able to SEE the source of the sickness so you can know how to heal the sickness, and what i have seen is that there is a sickness that is currently intertwined with how we relate to reciprocity in this work that lays the ground work for brujeria and other sicknesses to manifest actually through this work... no beuno...no bueno...