I recently had the privilege of spending the weekend with 16 other beautiful souls for Part 1 of our 5 Part Shamanic Apprenticeship. It was a wonderful and powerful experience and I am so excited to share my learnings.

One of my biggest takeaways is the deepening of my practice of sacred reciprocity. Sacred Reciprocity is best understood as the heartfelt exchange, gratitude, and acknowledgment for everyone and everything that sustains us.

We are alive because of the balance of this give and take. Think about eating and breathing... We breathe in the waste of plants, Oxygen, while plants breathe in our waste, Carbon Dioxide. We eat life force produced by Mama Earth and we feed her back our waste which is compost for more life. This happens on every level, even the subtle, energetic ones.

Sadly, as we can see from environmental changes and nutritional strife, the balance of give and take with our Mother Earth needs major healing.  She gives unconditionally and we take, take, take. So what can we do to bring back balance?  

Our ancient, earth honoring traditions have built in practices for Sacred Reciprocity; The farmer, who would leave the most prized and precious pieces of corn as an offering of thanks to the Earth at harvest time or the Shaman who would make a despacho, an offering of deep appreciation to the spirits, or simply a pinch of tobacco to a plant before it's used in a healing. 

Many people feel daunted by trying to mend out relationship to the earth, but living in Sacred Reciprocity can be as simple as giving heartfelt thanks or acknowledgement as you walk in the woods, swim in the ocean, or hustle down the sidewalk to the place you need to get to next.  

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but just imagine what would happen if every single human being participated in a sacred relationship of exchange with the Earth?

“When we surrender the need to figure it all out, 
and cultivate the ability to let it all in, 
then our earth walk becomes
a sacred dance of healing service on the planet. 
More than the world needs saving, it needs loving.” -
don Oscar Miro-Quesada

Yours with IMMENSE gratitude, 

Lance