Sacred Stream

The Destination Studies workshops were born out of the premise that certain forms of wisdom can best be studied in the places where they were developed. In shamanic understandings, certain parts of the earth contain specific forms of knowledge. Although all shamanic traditions are derived from Earth-based wisdom traditions, some forms of wisdom are thought to be more accessible in one area of the earth than in others.

Many people travel to learn about new perspectives gained by visiting different cultural environments. In the Destination Studies workshops we seek to gain understanding about the roots of the knowledge traditions of different cultures. We do this by aligning ourselves not only with certain elements of the culture that flowered in that place, but also with the way those traditions aligned with the  natural world of that place.

Shamanically-based cultures that grew up in certain places on the planet have a different emphasis on certain forms of knowledge than those in other areas. From a shamanic perspective this is because the earth holds different types of wisdom in different places.

This concept is easily accessed for the modern westerner by considering the Dream Time traditions of the Australian Aboriginal cultures. In these traditions, features of the landscape, such as hills, valleys and rock formations are thought to be indicative of certain types of activities by the ancestors from long ago. By observing the particular qualities of the different features of the landscape, much can be learned about the nature of the ancestors, their intentions and the messages they embedded through the natural features. These messages can be “decoded” by modern people who are willing to open their perspective to include the Dream Time. This usually involves some form of altering the state of consciousness through meditation or other forms of intensive inner focusing. In this way, the messages held in the landscape are revealed to the person seeking knowledge and the landscape becomes a doorway into a deeper form of knowing.

With the teachers of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, we visit several different areas on the Earth, which are chosen because of the knowledge systems that were developed there. These knowledge systems have been largely lost to modern westerners in external transmissions systems of knowledge, but can still be accessed by listening to the Earth in ways the ancients listened. We examine the scraps of evidence of these ancient forms of knowledge that are available in the written historical records and we compare this information with information we glean on site through meditation and the shamanic journey.

The Introduction to the Shamanic Journey class is a prerequisite for these classes. The shamanic journey is a relatively direct method of accessing inner knowledge. Knowing how to journey helps students “tune into” the perspectives provided by approaching travel in the way the Destination Studies workshops do.

The Foundation of the Sacred Stream provides private tutorials just before the beginning of any Destination Studies course. In the tutorials, students gain all the tools they need to be able to approach the course material in the Destination Studies course.

One of the key commonalities between the destinations in the Destination Studies workshops is the relatively easy access to the deeper wisdom traditions informing the cultures which flowered in those places. This access is provided by the still ever present quality of the natural world in these places.

In Hawaii, we focus on the understandings regarding the non-physical structures that underlie physical reality that was further informed by the Hawaiian landscape and articulated by those who brought a more ancient form of knowing to these islands.

In Mesa Verde, we tune ourselves to the intelligence of the desert plants the way the ancestors did and so learn much about ways of surviving in seemingly inhospitable environments.

In the Orkney Islands of Scotland, we are able to enter the ceremonial chambers of those who developed the knowledge base the Druids carried forward into Celtic Europe. We learn what they learned about the cycles of life and death – and specifically incarnation and disincarnation -  by learning how they aligned themselves with the earth and the sky.

Remarkable experiences are common in this form of inquiry. Surprisingly common information emerges as different individuals focus on specific areas of inquiry individually. Surely and steadily, ancient forms of knowing emerge spontaneously as students tune themselves to the landscape in the way the ancients did.