One of the greatest blessings in my life came from my Shamanic energy medicine training with Alberto Villoldo and the Four Winds Academy— the gift of being able to help people clear their chakras and enjoy a healthy energy flow. The energy medicine technique called “Illumination” is just that—an opening so that the Light can shine through. Alberto teaches that the sessions are a “healing” rather than a “cure,” as the treatments clear blocks and maximize the client’s ability to function. When patients are seriously ill, as was the case with my friend Linda, healing their flow of energy strengthens them to work on curing their physical disease.

Hershel, Linda, Johanna, and Lanny in CA Retreat

When I returned from my Shamanic energy medicine training, Linda had been diagnosed with severe bone cancer and was under medical care. We had become  close friends ever since Linda and her husband Hershel attended an intimate three-person retreat that I led in California a few years earlier. Always in good spirits, though she was in pain, Linda welcomed me home from my Shamanic studies with great interest in hearing the experiences I was excited to share.  I described some of the healing techniques used to relax clients—mentioning an initial interview, listening to their concerns, having them choose a stone from my medicine bag to assist in the healing, using a pendulum to see which if any chakras are not spinning well, and clearing any blocks by touching release points and deepening points at the base of the client’s skull.

It was heart-warming how much Linda trusted me and was grateful to have me practice my new Illumination sessions on her as a totally devoted beginner. Linda was very in tune with her feelings and her Spiritual essence.  She knew that she was a Divine being who was much more than her failing body. Linda could readily drop inside to a deeper place and was extremely responsive and communicative during our few sessions. Each time we worked on chakra clearing, Linda would share with great joy that she actually felt tightness and blocks leave her body when I performed the Illumination.

Our first session was just before her Chemo appointment, and Linda wrote an endorsement for my website about how it helped her release blocked energy–

“Prior to my first scheduled Chemo application, I received a Shamanic Healing session with Johanna and her Shaman guides. This was a first-time experience and I was a bit apprehensive. Immediately I felt a calming and ethereal presence as the healing began.  As the shaman scanned my body with the use of the healing stones, I felt a warm and calming sensation.  An extraction of blocked energy was performed, and I felt the removal of blocks to my acceptance and understanding of the stress I was feeling around my Chemo treatment.  I truly believe that this Healing attributed to my going into the Chemo procedure without fear. I recommend that all who may feel “stuck” in a certain area or have unresolved fears or stress make use of this beautiful healing ceremony.”
—Linda N., Clarkdale, AZ

Since Linda found the sessions so relaxing, we hoped to do them more often, but they always turned out to be several weeks or months apart due to my travel and her medical needs.  At the time of our first session, Linda was still ambulatory. Months later, she had been confined to hospice care, propped up in a raised hospital bed in her living room, where I was able to give her two more Illuminations over a period of weeks. Linda told me that each session cleared out some taxing emotions and made her feel lighter and more able to accept her physical condition.

Then the pandemic came, and Linda was not allowed to have visitors. Though I had little experience doing remote sessions, I suggested to Linda that we do a telephone session. She was eager to try it so we set a time for our remote Illumination session phone call on May 9, 2020, the day before Mother’s Day.

To prepare for the session, I reviewed techniques and practiced remote Shamanic Illumination sessions on a dear Shamanic medicine colleague, Tina, with great success. She and I brainstormed the steps to make the remote session as effective as an in-person treatment. Since It was my fourth Shamanic Illumination energy clearing session with my friend, she had already experienced in-person, first-hand chakra clearing via the Illumination process and consented to imagine that I was in the room working with her as we had done several times.

I stopped by Linda’s house to bring her a candle, one of those tall glass candles with a picture of Christ, so that we could both light candles as we brought in Divine Light through our Souls to bless our healing experience. Before our session, I prepared sacred space. I made sure that I and the room were impeccably cleaned and smudged.  I lit my candle and called in the blessings of the Four Directions, Mother Earth, Father Sky, and asked for support from Shamanic guides.

On my yoga studio carpet, I laid out a pink Yoga mat and carefully positioned stones to represent each of Linda’s chakras—clear crystal for the crown, amethyst for the third eye, sodalite for the throat, rose quartz for the heart, citrine for the solar plexus, carnelian for the second chakra, and a red coral stone for the root. At the top of the mat, I placed a pillow for her head to lie on during this virtual session as I would visualize pressing on the healing points at the edge of her lower skull and the deepening points inside the notch on the back of her neck. Near the mat, I placed my open mesa of healing stones, a rattle, and a deck of Shamanic Oracle Cards.

I called Linda at our appointed time and made sure she was comfortable and ready to light her candle and start. I had asked Linda to pick a stone to place on her body and she shared that she had an amethyst in hand and was excited to learn that amethyst was a stone of Spiritual awareness, inner peace and healing of mind, body and soul.

While Linda held her amethyst stone in hand, I asked her to choose a sacred stone from my mesa as I held a pendulum over each stone and asked her to tell me when to stop and picked that stone from my mesa. With her amethyst in her hand and my mesa stone in mine, I asked Linda to talk about what was going on for her and then blow it into her stone. She chatted for a while about her feelings, mentioning concerns about not being able to have any control over health care and how she missed being with her grandchildren. And with very strong plosive breaths, Linda blew whatever she was feeling into that amethyst, releasing her emotions and concerns several times.

When Linda seemed complete, I asked her if she was ready for me to scan her chakras.  Upon her consent, I held my pendulum over each virtual chakra stone on the pink mat in my studio, starting with the root chakra and working up. When chakras are open and clear, the pendulum spins to the right. Her root chakra was spinning fine, second chakra was spinning fine, solar plexus was spinning fine, and at the heart chakra, the pendulum stood still for a moment and then swirled slowly to the left.

I mentioned to Linda that we would work on opening the heart chakra more fully, began to rake out the blocked energy with my hands, and got her permission to rattle around the area. Then I asked her to blow any more emotions she wanted to release into her amethyst and place it on her heart chakra while I placed the mesa stone she had selected on the mat next to her rose quartz virtual heart chakra.

With healing stones in place, I announced that I would move to her head and asked Linda’s permission to touch healing points at the sides of the base of her skull, encouraging her to relax and breathe and let go of whatever arose. Next, I told her that I would move my hands inward to the notch at the base of her skull to gently press deepening points. For about 10-15 minutes, I alternated between the healing and deepening hand positions, encouraging Linda to simply breathe and relax.

I had asked for Higher Guidance before doing this session and seemed to be almost “told” by a Higher Power that it was time to stop touching the back of her skull and scan her heart chakra with my pendulum. When I asked Linda how she was doing, she commented that she had felt something release and was feeling lighter. I told her that I would let go of her head and scan her heart chakra as I moved to reach for my pendulum. How wonderful to see that the pendulum was spinning quickly to the right over her heart chakra in ever-widening circles. With Linda’s permission, I waved my hands over the virtual heart chakra on my mat to soothe her and close the chakra-opening experience.

Finally, I asked Linda to lift her body a bit to allow me to place my hands under her back and virtually placed my left hand, palm up, under her lower back and my right hand, palm up, under her upper back. Sending healing energy to her second chakra and her heart chakra, I whispered soothing words.

As the session drew to a close, I listened to Linda sharing how much better she felt, repeating with amazement that she really DID feel something leave her body. I asked her if she would like to choose a Shamanic Oracle Card if she wasn’t too tired. When she agreed, I spread out my Shamanic Oracle Cards, fanning the deck, and asked her to tell me to stop at the card she wanted me to read.

As I picked up the card at which she said “stop,” I realized that two cards were stuck together. The first one was Soul Retrieval—which she was pleased to hear as I read the words: “You are no longer fragmented; you are one with Creation. You have healed the cause of the pain you feel, so you do not need to dwell on it any longer. Really, it’s true! If you are still hovering over an old wound, find a new flight path. Don’t be distracted with the little stuff you’ve already mastered. Go for the big one, the journey back to Eden.”

My friend joyfully shared how great that was to hear and said she was fine with just the one card. But when I looked and told her that the card that stuck together with this one was The Rainbow—she asked me to read the message: “The Rainbow symbolizes the seven steps of a true spiritual path, which manifest as the colors of the seven chakras. In the Himalayas, the rainbow body is seen as the full realization of our essence. The rainbow also expresses the bridge between the physical and the spiritual worlds. At the end of our lives, we can journey across the rainbow bridge to the highest heavenly realms. When the rainbow appears, it is an affirmation that all is well and that you are in right relationship with Spirit.”

Linda joyfully expressed her delight with the Rainbow message and asked me to send copies of what I had read. I asked if she was complete, closed sacred space with her on the phone, and immediately sent her the photos and the messages of the Shamanic Oracle Cards.  I am so happy that I gave Linda this session to bolster her spirits for Mother’s Day with her big, loving family.

Immediately after our session, Linda texted me her love with bunches of happy emojis:
????????thank You So Much Love To You ?????

About three weeks later, on June 5th, I received a text from Linda’s husband Hershel—“Linda passed away last night, love you.”

I am so glad that I knew Linda and that she is no longer in pain. I shared about our Shamanic session at her memorial celebration where we played her favorite song, “Stairway to Heaven,” and blew bubbles into the sky with lots and lots of love!

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