Healing and Empowerment

Healing at the Fireside Lodge is a development process during which you work on a deep level to reconnect to your true essence, guided by Spirit, the wisdom of the universe.

This work will reaffirm your self healing capability and your ability to positively transform your life. I will function as a facilitator who opens the door for you to connect to your essence, some call this the 'Soul'. If you don't like this term, think about it as the part in yourself that is truly you; your core; your heart; your beautiful, true, unharmed Self.

Illness has many faces, including emotional, physical, social and mental aspects. Our focus is soul level healing, which works with the drivers behind your symptoms: Lack of inner strength, soul loss or injury, self-sabotage, energy blockages or ancestral influences. Each of these can be addressed by one or several healing techniques, some of which are featured below.

Soul level healing can also be useful for people who are in the process of dying or who have not transitioned well after death. More info.

Important: Engaging with the Path of the Medicine Wheel does not replace seeing a doctor if you are ill or in pain, or if you have other physical or mental problems. Western Medicine has a lot to offer, and it does not interfere with soul level healing.

More info about the Medicine Wheel
More info about Shamanism

Our Method: The Medicine Wheel and Shamanic Healing

The Medicine Wheel is a map of the universe and a roadmap for your healing journey. The four directions represent aspects that you may need to strengthen, balance, or integrate. For example; you may be good at developing a vision and initiating new beginnings (your East power), but you cannot manifest your vision and lack follow through (hence your Self in the West needs healing and empowerment).

The Medicine Wheel is a core concept of many ancient societies - from the cultures of First Nation People to the Kabbala of the Jews, to the Wheel of Life of Asian cultures.

One way of crystallising this ancient knowledge is working with the methods of shamanic healing. This not a religion, but a set of processes that allow you to to work on a deep, spiritual level and connect to the wisdom of the Universe, the 'spirits'. Our work is inspired by first nation people, but not housed in any specific culture any more. It is a safe and inspiring way of working - targeting the greatest good for everybody involved.

How we will work together

Sessions can be held in person in Hanwell, West London, or remotely per video-conference and phone.

Exploring the issue - focussing our work

As this work is spirit-driven, I will do a preparation journey to see whether and how we can work together. If I find that I am not the right practitioner for you, I will let you know immediately. Otherwise, you will receive some questions for your own preparation work and reflection about your issue.

Getting to know each other and agreeing the session plan

I will share the findings of my preparation, and I might have some additional questions about your issue or goal. I will outline how Healing and Empowerment sessions work, and answer any questions you might have. We then make a session plan and start working.

Healing and Empowerment work

Healing session address the underlaying, soul-level drivers of your issue. For these sessions, you will sit or lie down comfortably, and I might be drumming, rattling, or singing. There might be moments of silence. You don't have to do anything - just relax. I will always explain what I am doing, and you can give me feedback if anything does not feel right to you.
Empowerment sessions give you the resources to support your own healing and create sustainable change. You may sit or lay down, and I will play the drum and guide you on a visualisation journey. We may use ceremonial work to shift your energy (for example by cutting cords that hold you back, or creating a new vision for your life by using the Medicine Basket).
Even if you chose in-person sessions, some healing work is easier done remotely as it might take a long time (such as ancestral work). If this is the case, I will let you know, and I will do this work before or in-between sessions.

Read more about our Ethics and Working Principles

Number of Sessions

The Medicine Wheel path is a deep development process, and engaging with it takes time. I usually recommend at least two or three sessions to get started. After this initial work, we will see how your energy has shifted, whether you can take it from there or need more help.
The removal of certain blockages might bring up more layers of healing needs. Or you may feel the need to adjust something in your life over the course of some months, and
decide to come for regular Journey Coaching Sessions.

Will there be 'Healing'?

When you engage with the Path of the Medicine Wheel, you work with your inner wisdom and strength. The sacred 'Grandfathers and Grandmothers' support the process. These are representations of 'spirit'; the universal life energy and earth wisdom that is here for our highest good. As your practitioner, I do not heal - I am only the 'hollow reed' who channels, focuses and unblocks this healing energy.

Healing is a complex process; it means that you are getting 'whole' again. This may not happen in the exact way you expect it. We do not always understand our place in the creation. Hence, symptoms may or may not go away. Sometimes symptoms serve a purpose on your journey, which may only become clear at a later stage in the process.

However, I have never witnessed that a course of sessions would not have any benefits for the client. They feel stronger, more balanced and often more peaceful. Their self-healing power has been rebooted. Their ability to co-create and transform their lives has been strengthened.
Clients who feel that they are at the end of their life often feel renewed energy to find a positive closure and a peaceful way to pass over.

Some of our Healing Methods

Inner Power

Inner Power has nothing to do with external status or manipulating others. It is focused energy; the driving force of your Life, the petrol in your tank.
There are several reasons why you may lose part of your power. There are external influences, such as environmental pollution, and internal reasons, such as not living your purpose or blocking yourself.
It is quite normal to lose a bit of power every once in a while; we all can self-heal and have ways to regenerate it.
If you cannot regain your power, you may feel tired or ill all the time. The world may look grey, people seem to annoy you, and you may have no perseverance at all. It may be tempting to engage in bad habits or addictions when feeling powerless, to try to 'fill the gap'. But bad habits just dis-empower you even more.
Retrieving your power animal can help you regain your power. There are other ways - working with power songs, movement, dreams, etc. We will find the right method for you through the preparation journey.

Soul Retrieval

When you experience trauma, parts of your Essence (some call this the Soul) may leave to seek safety in the spiritual dimension of reality. The experience of trauma is subjective - it can be anything from being abused or witnessing violence to losing a beloved toy in your childhood.
You can also give away part of your Soul - for example when you love 'too much' in co-dependent relationships.
Soul parts often come back of their own accord. You can help this by doing things you love to do, also by finding time for meditation and prayer, being in nature or with people who nurture you.
If Soul parts do not come back, you may feel lost or torn, unable to fully engage in relationships and prone to chronical illness or addictions.
If I notice that this might be happening to you, I will journey in pursuit of the lost Soul parts and bring them back. You will learn how to integrate this part of your Essence, and prevent further soul loss. This work often enables other healing to happen. Read more about Soul Retrieval in our blog post.

Energy Balance

Your vitality and wellbeing can be disturbed when you have been exposed to negativity; other people's or your own. Blockages might build through any kind of pollution, conflict, mobbing, cursing and self-cursing, dysfunctional thinking patterns, guilt or an unrealistic self-image.
Negative influences may also come down the ancestral lines. Maybe you picked up a dysfunctional behaviour or thinking pattern of your parents, which does not reflect your True Self.
If your ancestors were involved in conflict, war or traumatic events, some negative echo of these tensions can still shine through.
In some rare cases, energy disturbance can also be caused by someone who has died but could not fully transcend to the light. For more information about this, see 'Psychopomp' below.
If I find blockages in your energy system, I can remove and neutralise these. We may also do a cord-cutting ceremony and explore how you can avoid picking up negative energies in the future.

Our Empowerment Methods

Guided Drum Journeys

'Journeying' is a special kind of meditation that allows you to access your sources of inner wisdom, which might be blocked by your analytical brain.
The journey method can unblock stuck energies and empower you to find your own answers and inner strength. These guided meditations might feel a bit like day-dreaming. An example; you may imagine yourself going up a mountain and enjoy the view from up there, and all of a sudden a hawk lands by your side and has an important message for you. This is your Inner Wisdom - some may call it your 'Spirit' - that found a way to manifest itself.
When debriefing your 'journey', I will not do any interpretation for you, but I may ask questions, reflect back what you said and witness what you experienced. This will help you make sense of what just happened and decide on how to apply it to your life.

Transformation Ceremonies: Creating Energy for Change

Personal ceremonies/transformation journey help you create a specific energy shift when you feel stuck or disconnected. They consist of guided journey work, reflection, and a series of symbolic actions. These can be as simple as arranging some candles on a table to express a 'map' of your True Self. Or they can be more complex, such as going into nature and letting your negative thoughts flow down a river. Some examples of classic transformation journey are below.

True Self Reconnection

This is a guided meditation in a ceremonial setting, which will lead you to the 'non-ordinary reality' where you meet your True Self; the place in yourself that contains your deepest wisdom and your purpose for this life.
Once you have met your True Self, you will practice a simple method to connect to it in your everyday life. This will enable you to receive guidance and support from that deep place within you whenever you need it.
You then can re-evaluate your life out of a "True-Self" perspective: What is serving your path here in this world, and what is in your way. A journey to a healing place will allow you to release what you no longer need.
A Soul Reading can be part of this ceremony. I will journey for you and bring back something that represents and honours the strength of your Soul (such as a story, a chant, a magic word, a power-dance, etc).

Medicine Basket - Vision Work

The Medicine Basket offers a powerful ceremony to help you let go of things that no longer serve you, and attract the things you would like to invite as part of your journey into the future.
The Medicine Basket can also represent your 'Spirit Womb'. You honour the place in yourself that creates new life. This does not have to be a child, but it can cover all aspects of being creative and giving room for new seeds to grow and blossom in your life. The Spirit Womb is also a deep, warm cave where you can find safety and a place to hibernate. Sacred darkness will enable your eyes to see more...
Women - especially those who have lost their physical womb or go through menopause - often feel healed and empowered by Spirit Womb work. However, this work is not just for women - everybody has a Spirit Womb.

Manifestation and Cord Cutting

Being 'tied down' by dysfunctional relationships, ideas and projects can hinder you to bring your dreams alive. Manifestation and Cord Cutting are two related ceremonies. In Cord cutting, you will cut the cords that tie you to co-dependent, draining relationships, while strengthening the positive cords that connect you to the Universe and 'all your relations'.
The Manifestation Ceremony will help you clarify your vision and goals - from the place of your True Self. This is not about societal expectations of who you should be, but an in-depth exploration of who you want to be to honour your True Self. You then gather your resources and learn about concrete action steps to manifest your goals. You send your intention out to the universe through a powerful ceremony. The last step is letting go - surrender and find peace with the suiting power of the Water.

Specific Applications of Soul Level Healing Work

Working with the Dying

Some people whose time has come to pass away can't die because their soul still needs healing. To achieve a peaceful death, they need to let go of guilt or anger, forgive themselves or others, or release some energy attachment they are holding onto.

Their soul might have experienced trauma and now is too fearful to step into the transition. Or they fear that some awful destiny awaits them 'over there'.

Andrea is a trained Soul Midwife / Death Midwife and can work with dying people both through mentoring and soul level healing.

Spirit Release - Psychopomp

People can get stuck after death and then need some extra help to find their way 'home'. Their spirit might feel that they have some unfinished business here, such as an unresolved conflict or an attachment to a certain person or task.

If you feel that this has happened to a loved one who died, you may feel puzzled, fearful or too embarrassed to talk about your experience. Please do call; we will find a gentle way to help the wandering soul transcend.

The issue with the spirit can often be resolved in one session. But the person who initially noticed or attracted a wandering spirit may need some healing as well.