Summary: A lovely man from France informed me that my Encyclopedia could be pirated for free on the Internet. My initial response was to be flattered. My second thought was, well, good luck with that… To take without an exchange of energy never, ever goes well. To be out of balance in this way is to be in debt in this world or the spirit world and is one of the main reasons that one’s spirit gets stuck in the land of the living at death, unable to complete the journey to the other side. “Reciprocity and gratitude,” explains, shaman and host, Christina Pratt, “is at the core of a true shamanic stance in the world. Called ayni in Quechua, this concept is largely untranslatable to the capitalist, me first world.” It is critically important that we value gratitude and express it openly for all things that move our hearts. This is the reciprocity—that we allow ourselves to actually be moved into action by the things that move us—that we must value. There must always be an exchange of energy we are not balanced and we are not practicing shamanism. Without ayni the energies do not flow between people, between people and other living things, and ultimately between the realms. Without flow we are consistently and horribly out of balance. This week we explore energy exchange as a necessary part of balance and well-being.
