This is my experience of combining modalities. May it serve as a springboard to reflect on your own.

Years back when I had my head in researching all things to do with my sensitivity and what modalities might work best, I came across a common narrative.

In the most purist of practices, the leader/teacher/guru would often speak about the dangers of doing other alternative practices as it would dilute the strength of the original.

In one way I was in full agreement, in another I wasn’t at all, because I didn’t want to be limited to one type of modality or belong to any dogma. My astrology chart is ruled by a truckload of mutable water signs so there was no way I was going to fit into anything with a long-term inhibiting structure. Sure, structure is good but not when they become akin to the walls of a prison.

What I did come to understand over time was that one of the reasons this was important to speak of, was that it became common that people would want to join to become nothing but shallow dippers of these practices rather than diving deep and allowing themselves to be fully immersed in that particular path. They would just flip through modalities like a magazine but not read more than the first paragraph of an article, much like a workshop junkie who doesn’t dive deep enough to integrate the practice before signing up for another modality and then call themselves experts and healers of the top sea foam that they swam in.

You don’t get much if you skim the surface of things unless of course, you are a human surfer or a dolphin cutting through the big blue ocean. You also don’t need to be pulled down into the dark deep of being indoctrination into a path that is not adaptable and subtly shames you for thinking outside its philosophy.

Nature is change. More than ever in these times, we need to be adaptable and to move with those changes while holding respect for that which we value.

Spiritually, I have always been a lone diver into the sea of the unconscious and it wasn’t until I found myself journeying through the doors of madness. Through that journey of many little deaths and dark nights of the soul that I came across, the universe led me to….what really suited me.

I found a path of practice, language and understanding, that is as strong today as it was then, maybe even more so. I found a way of working through things that have been consistent, reliable, and most importantly, mutable enough to adapt to other tools that integrate well.

That path of course is Shamanism, and within that path, I discovered that the journeying aspect of shamanism fits me like a glove.

Being a journey guide comes naturally to me.

My path is not one of tradition steeped in indigenous blood ancestry, animal skin, ceremony or traditional ritual, although I have admiration and respect for all the traditional ways and those that handed down the teachings.

I am a modern woman born of Celtic blood and fae knowing who was brought up in the East. I am known as a contemporary shaman and a wound hunter of modern times who is primarily a guide, spiritual midwife and navigator and negotiator in the invisible realms.

I see myself akin to an internal gardener who tracks down thorns, weeds, pests and what lies in the underbrush of the psyche to be cleared so new shoots can be planted, and grown in order to flourish.

Along with this integral part of my service I have over the years added what I feel are authentic complimentary modalities. This is in no way a mishmash recipe of things. These are well-investigated and experienced practices that work along with my shamanic signature.
The keyword that fits in with all the other complimentary modules is JOURNEYING. They all have an element of journeying into the psyche that flavours them. There is a saying, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. Yeah, well, I’m all about the journey.

Opening my toolbox book and looking inside just to double check, yes, all the tools actually do have a journey element to them or tools to compliment the healing of that journey.

The wholehearted healing trauma work I do is akin to journeying within the human body and cells to discover what is blocking or has been injured. Be that from the original cause, following an ancestral wounding, tracking a fragment or the loss of a peak state, I am accompanying someone who is on an inner journey of some kind and that’s what I love to do. I love all the negotiating, the navigating and the discoveries that come along with it.

When I first started training in Reiki, I did it to tune in to the flow of the universal life force, but I knew pretty quickly that I wasn’t going to become a Reiki practitioner even though I could see the healing benefits and a way to access to from the source rather than using my own life force. Little did I know I did it for another reason. Something kicked in big time when we were asked to go away and practice on people. I had a tendency to gravitate to the head first, probably because I love it when people would Reiki my own head. I was standing at the crown of the person who was lying on the table and laying my hands close or gently on their head, and after I turned on the symbols and allowed, it felt like I was on a river, journeying alongside the person psyche, seeing bits of their inner story as visuals continued to pop into my mind. I was flying along beside them and picking up on things that stuck out along their inner landscape. For my own clarification, after it kept happening, I asked if my practice clients wanted to know what I saw, they did and to my surprise what I saw was very relevant to where they were on their path. Reiki was one of the early modalities that opened me and connected me to the flow of the invisible realms.

I have always been fascinated by the human psyche and how we are all so different yet so similar. In getting to know the aspects of the self I gravitated to the teachings of Voice Dialogue. A technique born from the Jungian way of understanding our inner archetypes, our inner selves. Jung was dubbed the first modern shaman and compared to others walked through the dark night of the soul, investigated the heck out of it and came through the other side to be of service to others. Voice dialogue for me is akin to journeying deep into the psyche while exploring and engaging with the inner selves that make up who we are. Each self has a reason for existing, each self has its own story and each self goes through its own journey of development.

In shamanism I find myself accompanying people on journeys a great deal. Be that journeying within their psyche, into other lives, their inner selves, recalling lost fragments, the inner child, densities within their subtle bodies, their wounds, their strengths and their spiritual support systems. So if I do add a modality it naturally weaves itself into that way of working rather than detracts or splits from it.

Shamanism in my view is very mutable but has a strong stable core.

Just now an image comes to mind of a tree being blown by the wind, no matter how great the force blowing the branches around, the trunk is sturdy and the roots are deep and connected to the earth. That’s what shamanism feels like to me. A strong reliable core but flexible enough to adapt to the changes that come.

When I am setting up for a client and getting in tune with being of service it’s as if I have begun to journey alongside them already. When the session is finished, my journey beside them ends and I return to my own.

I would suggest if you are looking to refine your practice, look to see what comes naturally to you, what healing modalities you tend to gravitate to when in need and what actually works for you personally. What do you enjoy doing and why? If it’s because you get an ego hit from it, it’s probably not a path of service. If it’s because it comes naturally to you and its effects change, then give it more time and attention.

You see for me when things go to crap, my default, the natural fallback position is to journey within. Why? Because I get results! Tangible results. Think about what your natural fallback portion is in tough times. There is a big clue there.

Shamanism has taught me that I am more than a human form. I am energy in movement and how I work with that energy, unpack it, clear it, is primarily via journeying.

Take time and reflect on your own natural abilities, and what works for you personally, and look to develop these qualities, strengthen them, dive into them, experience them and master them within your path of service. We are all unique and have our own signatures. That signature is woven into your natural talents.

If you are going to make a recipe of modalities, make sure all your ingredients complement each other and, always leave room for adaptability and spontaneity, make sure to taste it along the way to make sure you like what you are creating.

Ps. Write the recipe down so you don’t forget it.

Blessings

Odette

(c) O. Nightsky 2022