Image by JUNO KWON
In This Article:
- A spiritual alternative to traditional twelve-step recovery
- Integrating shamanism with addiction healing
- The role of shadow work and inner surrender
- How recovery becomes a daily shamanic practice
- Living on purpose and embodying the Aquarian Shaman
Beyond Addiction: The Twelve Steps of Shamanic Recovery
by Linda Star Wolf Ph.D., author of the book: The Aquarian Shaman.
Recovery from addictions means a willingness to open to the Great Mystery that we have experienced as a void. We have tried to fill the void with all manner of substances and obsessive behaviors. Once we understand we are not alone, what appeared a frightening plunge into the void reveals itself as instead a surrender to the dance with the Great Mystery.
The Venus Rising Shamanic Recovery and Discovery Process is grounded in the traditions and principles of all twelve-step fellowships. Our intention is to create a bridge that incorporates the roots of the twelve-step philosophy and expands it to embrace shamanic consciousness. It means walking the shaman’s path with daily awareness of our recovery on all levels and discovering our own unique lived expression of shamanic recovery.
Twelve Steps of Shamanic Recovery and Discovery
1. We accept that we are powerless over our addictive, compulsive, and codependent patterns of thought and behavior—that in the attempt to fill the void rather than embrace it, our lives have become unmanageable.
2. We come to believe that, within ourselves, we can access a power greater than anything we previously imagined, which can open us to love and nurture us through our path of recovery and discovery.
3. Knowing that unconditional love is our healer, we make a decision to surrender our will and our lives to the care of an inner Greater Power as we understand it.
4. We take a loving and fearless inventory of ourselves.
5. We share our inventory with our Greater Power and another person, without the need for self-recrimination, knowing that in naming our shadow we will open our hearts.
6. We’re entirely ready to have our Greater Power remove these inner obstacles, and to give up our need to be perfect.
7. We humbly ask our Greater Power to help us let go of all distractions from the divine that manifest in negative and self-destructive patterns of thought and behavior.
8. We make a list of all the persons we have harmed while attempting to fill the void, and become willing to make amends to them all, forgiving them and ourselves.
9. We make direct amends to those we have harmed, except when doing so would injure them or others. When making direct amends would cause harm, we make amends through a ritual or ceremony that honors the other and ourselves.
10. We continue to take personal inventory daily, as an act of reverence, committing to our personal growth. When we are wrong, we promptly admit it and lovingly accept responsibility for our mistakes. We also admit when our boundaries have been violated, and choose to fearlessly and lovingly tell the truth to free ourselves from the bondage of inauthentic living.
11. Through prayer and meditation, we improve our conscious contact with our inner Greater Power, praying only for knowledge of our Greater Power’s will for us, and the love and strength to carry that out in our daily lives by acting from love rather than fear.
12. As a result of these steps, we reach a greater understanding of our true selves and are able to carry the message of recovery and discovery in our daily lives. We may then live the passionate dance of co-creating our lives through the synthesis of our will and the will and wisdom of our inner Divine Spirit.
Adapted from the teachings of Alcoholics Anonymous, Codependents Anonymous, and Humans Anonymous, this expansion of the twelve steps is lovingly offered from the participants and staff of Venus Rising to give hope and strength to anyone looking for soulful sobriety.
Living Our Life On Purpose
As we learn how to live our lives on purpose, we will discover a deeper relationship with the Great Mystery, ourselves, and one another. We will honor our ancestors, both those living and the ones who have passed on. We will learn from their failings as well as their successes.
We will seek to consciously embrace our own shadows that we have unwittingly taken on from our childhoods and even our past incarnations. We will work to change those aspects of ourselves and our lives that can be changed, with bravery, empathy, compassion, and determination. We will cultivate humility and opening to the divine both within and without, to help us make the changes we seek to make. We will practice surrendering our old ways of being, and thus we will become teachable.
We will gladly show our gratitude by having compassion, empathy, and genuine concern for those among us who are also seeking to transform their lives, and we will support them where possible.
As we live our lives more fully and move closer to our destined selves, we will discover a newfound freedom beyond our prior dreams and spiritual longings.
Being Set Free
We will find we have been set free from many of our fears, anxieties, depressions, and other mental, emotional, spiritual, and sometimes physical problems. This newfound freedom in release from the past depends upon a commitment to living a grounded, spiritually disciplined life, one day at a time, while remembering that all life is a spiral path and therefore we must practice patience, humility, gratitude, healthy boundaries, and generosity of spirit for all. The word “discipline” comes from the Latin disciplina, which means “instruction or knowledge,” so we are in essence being called to seek knowledge of our highest self.
As we transform ourselves, we will automatically begin to transform the world around us. This is done not from a place of codependency, but through leading by example, raising our own principles and frequencies. Through the laws of attraction, we will embrace both shadow and light, to continue assisting our soulful recovery and shamanic evolution.
May we all experience the grace and magic of recovering parts of ourselves we thought were lost, and discovering new parts that have been waiting for us.
Ultimately, we are descendants from the Cosmos and from Great Mystery itself. It is time to remember our sacred lineage and shamanic birthright, and to embrace the Aquarian Shaman within us all. The future is ours if we choose to transform our past and live fully in the present.
To all my shamanic Aquarian brothers and sis stars
We are all related
We are the ones we have waited for
In love and service to the All.
~ Star Wolf
Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved. Adapted with permission.
Published by Bear & Co., an impprint of Inner Traditions Intl.
Article Source:
BOOK: The Aquarian Shaman
The Aquarian Shaman: Walking the Spiral Path of Transformation
Linda Star Wolf, Ph.D.
Describing how to recover the magical sensibility and innate awareness that most of us leave behind in childhood, Linda Star Wolf shares essential shamanic techniques, including the Shamanic Healing Initiatory Process and Shamanic Breathwork. She discusses the power of the imagination, showing how imagination is actually a liminal realm rooted in the cellular records of our body through which we can journey to other worlds and connect with our ancestors.
This Aquarian guidebook will help you not only awaken to shamanic consciousness but also cultivate more love, inner awareness, and personal power as you walk the spiral path of transformation.
For more info and/or to order this book, click here. Also available as a Kindle edition and Audiobook.
About the Author
Linda Star Wolf, Ph.D., has been a visionary teacher and shamanic guide for more than 35 years. The founder and codirector of Venus Rising Association for Transformation and the founder and president of Venus Rising University for Shamanic Psychospiritual Studies, she is the creator of Shamanic Breathwork® as well as the Shamanic Ministers Global Network and the Wise Wolf Councils.
A spiritual granddaughter of Seneca Wolf Clan Grandmother Twylah Nitsch, Star Wolf is the author of Shamanic Breathwork and co-author of Visionary Shamanism, Shamanic Egyptian Astrology, Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, and The Anubis Oracle.
Author's website: ShamanicBreathwork.org
Article Recap:
This article introduces a powerful integration of twelve-step recovery with shamanic consciousness. Linda Star Wolf outlines the Twelve Steps of Shamanic Recovery and Discovery, offering a path beyond addiction that reconnects us with the Great Mystery, our ancestors, and our sacred self. A journey of healing, humility, and spiritual discipline awaits.
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