The Knowing

When attempting to work with the deceptive adversary that is our self importance it is necessary to have many tools. Practices like shadow exploration, working with the voice of impeccability, and virtue-based work can be immensely helpful (we'll explore these a little later in the process), but for today's practice we're going to shift to a kinda fun and light-hearted way of loosening its grips on us: shape shifting. Shamans throughout time have been able to release their attachment to form and shift their consciousness into alternate forms, and this is only possible because they have released their attachment to self and identity so completely. Through the process of consciously identifying with other energies or perspectives—that of the wind, the trees, other species, etc—we can practice this art, and come into greater awareness as to the impacts and effects that our egoic self importance is having on us. Children practice rudimentary shape shifting all the time, pretending to be different energies and animals in play. The impact of this play is far from rudimentary or simple, however, and actually forms a necessary basis for relationship with all of life. Because of the hyper-availability of media and the general impacts of modern life I don't think we are engaging in this play enough in both childhood and adulthood, and are instead becoming immediately focused on obsessed upon our self image and identity from a very early age. This practice track will take you into and through the experience of releasing attachment to form and self, and back into the fluid (and I don't mean ‘gender-fluid', please) and consciously connected reality that is the true, enemy-free state of human consciousness.

In this episode of the Initiated Series, we move from an exploration of initiatory tools and perspectives into a more direct focus on who and what helps and hinders us on this path. Episode 5 is an introduction to our ‘one true enemy'. This enemy is elusive, wily, deceptive, and relentless, and is both exceptionally difficult to notice in ourselves and yet, paradoxically, quite easy to recognize in others. It is also an enemy of enormous appeal and seductive power: not a foe that fights us directly, but that consumes our energy and focus through deception and distortion, and that can corrupt our spiritual path entirely should we not be on the lookout for it always. It is an enemy that has been spoke and taught about for thousands of years, appearing in nearly every lineage of teaching I have come into contact with, though especially within that of Shamanism and Buddhism. The rather astounding thing, I think, is that we seem to have come into a kind of adoration of this enemy in contemporary society, entirely forgetting the teachings of our ancestors and their wisdom with regards to its impact. I'm not a religious person, but if I was and I had any faith in the idea of the ‘end times', I would be inclined to say that we are truly facing an ‘anti-christ'-like energy in our world right now in the form of our destructive relationship with this enemy, and how we are emphasizing the importance of its presence and demanding that the world around us revolve around it as well. Rather than exploring its damaging influence on us all, we are instead even encouraging our children even to uphold its perspectives and desires, and have become seemingly incapable of recognizing how far into its grasp we are placing ourselves. Aligned with the characteristics of the ‘anti-christ', this enemy looks like a beneficial and necessary thing, and yet it is entirely destructive. It will, ultimately, completely annihilate social bonds, relationships, and the potential for spiritual growth if we do not become aware of it. And what is it? Self-importance, and our obsession with ‘identity'. Join me for this exploration of how self importance (and its correlate, spiritual materialism) shows up in our experience, how it is functioning in our world, and some practices that might, hopefully, assist you in releasing its grip.

Patience is profoundly connected to faith—faith in something larger and more wise than ourselves, and thus that knows when and how things should be happening better than we do—and to the willingness to be humble in contact with the unknown. Therefore, the most beautiful practice I know of to encourage the development of patience is the practice of prayer. This short practice track will lead you through a prayer practice meant to open your heart and mind, relax your ego, and release the pressures and expectations you may be placing on your life process.

I have made many, many jokes on the podcast about what an awful student I was to my primary teacher. And I deserve the mockery. Of the five years that I studied with her at least two of them were spent learning one thing: patience. Again and again, every time we met for instruction, the lesson would be the same despite the magnitude of my frustration: I needed to learn to slow down, to be more present, and to release the bounty of expectations I had regarding the speed I thought things should be happening at in my life. It took a long, long time for me to clue in that she wasn't going to shift out of this teaching until I had really engaged with it, but I am so grateful she was willing to be patient with me through this (surely arduous) process. Once I really understood patience and the value of practicing it, so much in my life changed. Patience is something that our ancestors spoke frequently and seriously of, and has been viewed as one of the great virtues of a human being throughout history, and for good reason: a life lived with patience is a life lived largely without anxiety, frustration, and fear, and with an increased sense of faith and belonging within the system we exist as a part of. Patience is, seen one way, an expression of our trust that an intelligence larger than our own is guiding the process at hand, and that we are not necessarily the ones that know what is best or right for ourselves all the time. Patience is deeply connected to faith.I feel that with the advent and increasing capacity of technology, patience, like many virtues, has been cast to the side and replaced with ‘moving fast and breaking things', or with the tendency to think it's entirely appropriate to make demands of the world and other people simply because we feel entitled to do so. I realize this sounds judgemental, but our technology has inflated our egos and encouraged us to think that making demands of the world, our bodies, and each other is entirely appropriate, and that impatience, ironically, and raging at the world is actually the virtuous work. I disagree, and in this week's episode I'm going to plead the case for why I still believe that patience is a critical skill and capacity on the initiatory path, and must be something readily available to us if we are to inhabit the space of authentic adulthood. I hope you enjoy.

Let's go on a gratitude-expressing journey.

“We don't see the world as it is. We see it as we are.” - Anäis NinToday's episode focuses on the biological and perceptual truths behind the idea that we ‘create our own reality'. Each of us has a ‘lens' in our brain that filters our experience. The purpose of this lens is to limit the amount of stimuli and information coming in. This filtering serves a very important function, because without it we would go insane from trying to perceive everything happening around us! However, the way this lens works is important to understand, and investigate for ourselves, for it inherently shapes the world we live in. In essence, our brain effectively blocks or ignores information coming in that it has decided is irrelevant, uninteresting, or incompatible with the perspectives our mind currently holds. And how does it decide that something is irrelevant? Simply, just because we're not paying attention to it. Whatever you consistently and repeatedly think about, negative or positive, is what your mind will ‘find' for you in your environment, because it thinks you are interested in seeing more of whatever you're focused on. As Anäis Nin suggested, this filtration of the world results in a reality that confirms the biases and perspectives we hold already, and effectively limits our exposure to experiences or perspectives that are not aligned with our current state of mind.Approached through this understanding, gratitude is not only a mental practice that cultivates calm and a pleasurable experience in this moment, but it also trains our brain to continue to seek the ‘good' in our lives as we practice it more. More gratitude=more to be grateful for, basically. Gratitude is both a critical supporting practice on the (sometimes overwhelming) process of inititation—gratitude grounds, centers and refocuses us when we are questioning our path— but gratitude is also, like compassion, a primary characteristic of the ‘way our brain works' after initiation, and so we are once again living our way into the answers of the path with this week's work. And yes, I know there is a lot to find wrong with this world, and a lot that needs attending to. But in this episode I attempt to make the case that a continuous focusing on what is ‘wrong' absent of conscious work to emphasize the beautiful, the good, and the joy we already have actually prevents us from every having anything but circumstances of lack.

Tonglen is, by far, my favourite blessing and compassion practice, all rolled into one. I've offered this practice previously on the podcast, but here's an updated, cinematic soundscape version to hopefully walk you further down the path of open-heartedness, generosity, and presence.

In the Shamanic tradition (and others) there are very specific tools that we are guided to use to meet reality. These tools both form a framework and containment for the difficult process of Initiation—when you're going through hell they provide a structure and reliable practice that will ground you—and are innately aligned with the quality of a matured, spiritually awake mind. Our souls are generous, present, grateful, and compassionate, and so we practice these ways of being so as to live our way into that state. We'll explore two of these primary tools in this episode, compassion and blessing. By exploring the critical difference between empathy and compassion I hope you'll recognize how important it is that we, as a global community, move away from attempts at empathic attunement and towards compassionate practice. Empathy is a wonderful and beautiful capacity for small systems and families, but it just doesn't scale, and is increasing the division and conflict between social groups in our world.

This week's floating, peaceful practice track will take you into a 30 minute seated meditation practice, and includes a brief introduction at the start, extended silence, and a dedication of practice at the close. I hope it serves you well.

Life is beckoning all of us onto this initiatory path in anticipation and support of the next phase of our species' experience. We are being transformed by life (as life has the habit of doing), calling us into alignment with our surroundings and into the potential for a truly interdependent and respectful human civilization. We can all see that we cannot continue to live as we are on this planet without destroying both ourselves and our environment, but how do we change? Why do we continue to relate to ourselves and each other in such damaging ways even as we seem to ‘see' our behaviours and the patterns of our history? What is our true nature, and how do we express that more fully and beautifully? And how do we reclaim the soul self, and then build a world that protects the soul of every individual? These are the questions we'll be exploring in the next many weeks, along with many, many others. I believe that the crisis and chaos of this time is asking us to ponder these questions and live our way into their answers, and I'm excited to do it here together. In this first episode we're going to explore the principles of the initiation concept and process, what the ultimate ‘goal' of the entire experience is, and take a deep dive into the importance of reflective, conscious belief formation as the ‘framework' for this work. I offer here, with humility, several perspectives that I feel are fundamental to a powerful, awake relationship with life, and which have been distorted in the last few hundred years (and beyond) within the collective modern human consciousness. We once had access to ways of understanding our place in the world that encouraged connection, belonging, and faith, yet these have been skewed into ones that perpetuate suffering, separation, and instability. If we see the “problem” as something outside of ourselves we will be exhausted by attempting to change or fix it, but if we look within and towards the beliefs that form our world, massive change can and does happen.

As I mention in this episode, many years ago my teacher told me that in the course of human evolution we would split, as a species, and walk down two roads. I have heard this sentiment echoed by many other teachers and lineages. It has never felt more true than in the last two years, and I feel that we are watching (and participating in) that split, and it is unfolding in a truly immediate sense: there are those who are walking a path that I would perceive to be committed to (as Stella offers in this episode) a ‘Gaian' philosophy, and those that propose that Trans-humanism and the products of ‘Science' are what we should place our absolute faith in. I will expose myself here as being one of the earlier, not the latter, and one who feels that the excessive use of Science without a fulsome acknowledgement of the limitations and functional challenges of that system poses an enormous threat to our survival. I think that our current system negates and oppresses the soul self within each of us, and is being driven by a megalomaniacal and deeply inaccurate and incomplete perspective on reality. These systems can work together, certainly, but as it stands right now the prevalent ‘Scientific' view leaves little room for the grander intelligence of the system as a whole, and that just won't work. I am deeply grateful and honoured to have Stella Osorojos Eisenstein, healer and sage, as a guest on the podcast for this episode. We explore Stella's approach to healing and medicine, the necessity of befriending death within healing work, a beautiful demonstration (on me!) of her methods and approach, and much more. I hope you enjoy.

Well, hey friends. It's been a hot minute, hasn't it? I'm not entirely sure where the last six months have gone, but my apologies for the abrupt and extended and unexplained absence. I'm so happy to be back here in this space with you all, and to share the powerful conversations and explorations I have lined up for the next while. The Knowing is officially back with a whole new season, a shifted and updated format, and some really, really exciting (and provocative) conversations to share. Episode 1 starts the season off with a solo conversation, however, and an introduction to the focus of the next while! In this first episode you'll hear all about: Where I've been hiding out for the last six months. An update on the second edition of the deck and the new cards. The emphasis of this season and the big questions we're going to be exploring with all new guests and teachers. The soapbox I've been hanging out on lately.. (let's still be friends after, please?) So happy to have you here, and to be back with this offering. As always, please reach out if you have questions or comments by emailing hello@theknowing.ca or find me on Instagram @cielgrove. love x

Amidst the craziness of spring up here there hasn't been a lot of time for podcasts around here, but I was so very pleased and honoured to get to sit down with my guest for this episode, Asia Suler. Asia is a brilliant teacher and practitioner based in West Virginia, and the creator of One Willow Apothecaries. She has studied with several lineages and styles of healing, including Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dreamwork, Shamanism, and classical Herbalism, and now offers courses and teachings integrating all of these practices into her unique syncretic offerings. Apologies for the audio quality as Zoom was particularly glitchy on the day we recorded, but I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it! You can find more about Asia and her work here, or follow her Instagram page for beauty, inspiration, and incredible content.

I hope this finds you all well, and enjoying the movement and release of the liver/spring/eclipse season if you're in the Northern Hemisphere! It certainly seems to be a time of great awareness and expression of energy, coinciding rather perfectly with the easing of restrictions in many people for a significant shift! (Not here in British Columbia…we are still very much restrained, but looking forward to movement soon!)

Hey there lovely people. We've been having some crazy technology issues in recording over the last while, but finally got things together to be able to have this fantastic conversation (minus a blip at the beginning where we had to switch to the ol' school telephone…We'll blame the moon, maybe). Not sure what was in the air (or my water) the day we recorded, but we took on some really big topics in this episode, including: - Exploring both the downsides AND benefits of Capitalism and our current system, and why that's important to acknowledge. -How we use our personalities as our path and as a tool for awakening, and how they can trap us. -How scarcity mindset can be a place we stay, albeit unhappily, so as to avoid other feelings. -Why it's essential that we extract ourselves from this system and stop abiding by its dictates and values. Preeeeeetty sure I'm going to piss people off with this one, and…pretty sure I'm okay with that. We need to be having difficult, nuanced conversations right now, and I hope you'll experience this one with an open heart and mind, and send some feedback if you have it (positive or negative!). All the love, always. Connect with us here: Allison Strickland: Website and InstagramCiel Grove: Website and Instagram

Lovely humans! So happy to be back here in this space, and, apparently, using an entire hour of Allison's life to get her to try to help me navigate the chaos in my life. Ahhh…it has been a time. A very good and potential-filled time, and a time with a lot happening as well. In this episode we explore: The realities of what ‘emancipation' actually entails and requires Exploration of the unexpressed childhood emotions, and how this happensReleasing the idea of ‘heaven' on the spiritual pathRelating nondualistically to the karmic experience …and, of course, so much more. Apparently when I'm in therapy and I just talk and talk and talk…. So much love to you all. Thanks for the support, big time.

I first encountered David Richo's work many years ago, amidst a period of my life where I was, admittedly, not much of a functioning adult. Crippled by fear and self doubt and seemingly unable to offer consistent presence to the people in my lives, I ordered his book, ‘How to be an Adult' praying that there would be something sacred within its pages. I was far from disappointed. I can credit his writings (I went on to devour and apply the principles offered in many more of his works!) with some of the most significant shifts in my relational abilities and understanding of self, and I was overjoyed that he was willing to come on to the show to have a conversation.

My teacher always told me that each person had three unique medicine gifts that they were to figure out in this lifetime, and that our gifts are just as variable as human nature. It has been my journey to come to know and practice my gifts, and now to help others in articulating and offering theirs too. Allison & explore this topic in today's episode, along with some other wonderful conversation: *

I have a most complex relationship with the idea and experience of ‘hope', and Allison & I have had many conversations over the past few years about this complexity. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've had one on air, however! Hope can be a beautiful and powerful energy to have in our lives, but I feel that if it is over-utilized or utilized in a ‘passive' or disempowered manner, spending too much time in hope can be ultimately detrimental to our healing and personal awakening journey. In this episode we explore the purpose and power of healthy hope and faith, along with (of course) a lot more. It all comes full circle with the card pull we finish the episode with! Hope you enjoy x

I could not be more pleased or feel more honoured that the first guest in this space is none other than Stephen Harrod Buhner. Stephen Harrod Buhner has been an indescribable influence on my path. His books, perspectives, and basic nature are such an inspiration for me (and for many others I know), and his contributions to herbalism, human consciousness, spirituality, and ecological relations are, in many ways, unparalleled.

Well hey there, everyone. What a fun conversation this was! I feel like a LOT has been coming through within this liminal space we are currently occupying—this space of being not what we were, but not quite yet what we are becoming...—and Allison & I explored several themes that seem to be popping up frequently: namely, responsibility, scarcity, and that big ol' D-word, discipline.

Hello friends, and happy holidays. I hope this has been a beautiful time for you all, and I wish perhaps especially that the Solstice and depth of this winter season has been clarifying and meaningful. It certainly has been for me. This is a great episode. Allison & I explore the idea of what ‘healing' really is, and how that idea shifts depending on what system you're utilizing. From the perspective of Shamanic practice, it is entirely possible that a person can pass away from this life and still ‘heal', while a person may go through a life-threatening experience and remain alive but…not heal at all. Healing in this system is never about the abatement of symptoms as is classically thought in Western systems of medicine, but rather about the wholeness that may potentially be cultivated through the healing process. Hope you enjoy xx

I think that Shamanic practice offers a very beautiful (albeit difficult) perspective on what it means to really ‘grow up', as in this work being an adult is not so much related to whether or not we can pay our bills and maintain a job (though, yes, that it still important..) as it is to whether we do, say, think, and feel all the same thing. To be an adult in this tradition is to be in alignment, and to be fully awake to the responsibility we have as individuals to be showing up with the greatest integrity possible. It is the practice of always consciously doing our best. In this episode Allison & I dig deep into this topic, dispelling (I hope) some myths around what Shamanic practice really is about, and what it is not. There's a whole lot of magic in this beautiful practice and way of being in the world, sure, but the nuts and bolts of the work—and, ultimately, the pursuit and experience of power, which we also dive into a bit here—are about consciously attending to how we show up in the world. How we adult, you might say. I hope you're all fairing well out there, friends. big love.

This was such a fun conversation to have, all about how we make choices, whether we are REALLY making conscious choices and being honest with ourselves, and how to engage with making better choices in every area of our lives. My apologies again for the lack of show notes (I might take up those podcast pesterers who can transcribe them all for you someday soon, cause that sounds like a really good and timesaving option…). Hope you enjoy, friends. Lots of love

Oh man. It has been quite a time. I'm so sorry for not posting podcasts the last while, for those of you who might be waiting on these! I explain a bit more in this session about what has been going on, but omitted a lot of other life craziness that has prevented things from happening!

As human beings, our relationship to water is essential, and sacred. And yet it seems like we take this element for granted or don't acknowledge what a lack of water or even connection to water will create in our lives. This episode is dedicated to the practice of conscious connection with water, and in it we explore: - why hydration is so essential for being able to navigate these difficult times. - what it means to really make something 'sacred', and how to do it. - how to connect with water and what it offers as a teacher and healing energy. Always amazing to be here with you all, and I hope this episode is helpful.

Hey friends- welcome back. We're so happy to be back in this space with you all. Let's dive right into here, shall we? In today's episode we're exploring the realities of this ‘initiation' that we are moving through while transiting the intense vortex energies of this time. We talk about: - how sacrifice and letting things die is a necessary part of any initiatory process. - why the scariest part of letting go isn't necessarily the release, but the fear of the liminal space we move into. - why working with your beliefs about life and reality is a necessary part of this process. This episode is a little longer than most as it includes an addendum from me offering a bit more exploration of practice. I intend to offer a practice component for each week from here out, and this will be included at the end of the conversation with Allison, just FYI. As always, please reach out if you have questions or are looking for clarification on anything we explore here. We love to hear from you. @cielgrove is me. @allisonstrickland is my lovely friend. Big love and support to you all. So glad to be moving through this with such good company.

Wellll…at least for now. Welcome to the Season Finale, folks. We will be returning to this space in a few weeks (stay updated on Instagram with me @cielgrove), but I felt that this was a good time to pause, create some very deliberate content, and return with some specific practices, teachings and philosophy in anticipation of this new ‘vortex' approaching. The energies around and within us are intensifying, and will continue to do so, and so it feels important to offer clear and meaningful support during these times so that we all may maintain our centres and come to this transformation with our feet on the ground and our hearts and minds open. Today's conversation settled on a discussion of the concept of Yin, and how this related to the Water card, to surrender, and to overall well-being. We explored a whole range of aspects of the Yin and how it feels like it is commonly misunderstood, and how the ancients told us to conceptualize what it truly means in our lives. Thank you all for walking this journey with us, and I look forward to meeting you all back here soon. Big love.

We recorded this last week on a morning when both Allison and I were feeling really good. The heaviness of the previous while had lifted for a bit, and we had some good laughs and explorations of a wide range of topics (how unusual…)Some things you can look forward to exploring with us this week:How I feel about ‘ownership' and where it comes from, and…whether it has a place in spiritual work.Why Ayni is a better place to put our attention and energy.The importance of looking at both the relationship we form with the outside world AND the relationship we have with ourselves when thinking about Ayni.Exploring the idea of Intersectionality as a philosophy, and how this doesn't entirely explain what kind of trauma an individual might be carrying.

This is likely to be the first of many, many episodes where we will attempt to explore the ‘purpose' of Shamanic medicine, of healing, of spiritual practice, and of pretty much everything we engage with as modern seekers. Where are we trying to get? Who are we attempting to become? And if all the answers are already inside and present within us, are we actually trying to ‘get' somewhere…or is something else afoot? In this episode (which, be warned: feels a little ungrounded after listening to it a few days after recording. There were some intense energies happening this past week, and I think that resulted in a very wiiiiide ranging conversation) Allison and I explore some ideas like: How do we make sense of events that happen in our life when we are ‘looking for the message' in them? Why medicine isn't aiming to prevent falling apart, and what it is actually trying to accomplish. Why Allison might be using this episode to break up with me (and Shamanic practice).. The amazing (and terrifying) medicine of ‘Petty Tyrants', and why the person that is most difficult for you might also be your best medicine. How we need to respond when there's abuse what the ‘small m' magic of spiritual practice might be, and what I experience the ‘big M' magic to be.

In Shamanic practice the medicine of each person and practitioner is profoundly different, and has been shaped and honed through the experiences of their lives. I thought, therefore, that it might be interesting to provide a bit of back story for my life and experience--and resulting medicine--both so we could get to know each other better, and to answer questions I often get regarding how I ever came to be connected to Shamanic practice. I hope you'll enjoy this bit of story!

This conversation is apparently what you get when both Allison and Ciel have had little sleep, a bit too much caffeine, and a healthy dose of social chaos. We explore a wide range of topics here, including: - Why we swing from rope to rope of what is familiar for us, and why it's important to let go (and why that is so hard!) - Why surrender is so important, and what we need to focus on instead of aiming for control all the time. - Starting the conversation of what 'decolonization' in the mind might look like. - The challenges with thinking in polarities, and what it might set up in our lives (that we actually really don't want..) We love ya'll. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to Episode 10, friends! This is probably my favourite episode so far. Not only did I get to use the term ‘batshit asshole' in a complete sentence, Allison brought forward the Bones card from the deck, which is one of my favourites to work with and explore in the Soma section. The bones ask us to look at our core beliefs about ourselves, other people, and the world at large, and to question whether we are truly being ‘good friends to ourselves'. And then…what really gets in the way of doing that for ourselves and each other?

As far as transformative practices go, Tonglen is certainly up there with the most profound and powerful ones. There has been nothing so potent in helping me shift my relationship to suffering (both mine and that of those around me) than this ancient work of ‘sending and taking'. Tonglen has guided me through depression and personal struggle in the past, and continues to support what feels like a meaningful and compassionate approach to the wider suffering of the world. This is the first ‘practice' episode I've recorded, and while I think you could probably listen to it while driving your car, I might suggest that you instead set aside some time to do this work without other distractions if that feels possible in your life right now.

At this moment of great uncertainty and transformation there is so much to explore, and so much more that will become available to us over time, disclosed to us all as we explore our racial biases, limits in perspective, and unconscious orientations towards the valuing of certain people over others. We are being called to widen our understanding and compassion on all levels, and this is a beautiful, messy, and yet ultimately unquestionably necessary process of societal value shifting that we are all in the midst of. As Allison recently said to me, ‘there is no easy way to begin these conversations', but here we are together doing the work of understanding, listening, connecting and commiserating to the best of our imperfect and human capacities.

Allison + I will be back with more conversational-style podcasts soon, but thought I'd try out a new format this week: ‘The Knowing Contemplations'. Brief, pithy, and hopefully meaningful, Contemplations will aim to offer a bit of perspective and insight into topics relevant to healing + spiritual practice, and leave you (hopefully) wanting to explore more on your own! Todays' topic is Right Relationship.

If you have questions or would like us to focus on a particular topic here, please reach out! Ciel GroveAllison Strickland

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