Guest Teachers


Dave Perry:

When someone asks me about how I began or how long ago I began practicing shamanism I am initially a little unsure as to how to answer the question.   This spiritual path has been speaking to me at least as long as my current lifetime, or at least as long as I am able to remember of my time in this life.  Ever since I was a toddler, (which is as far back as I can remember), I have felt a deep, spiritual connection to nature — plants, other animals, trees, weather, birds, even bugs, seasons, rocks, the land, the water — all of the living world.  And even as a young child, I understood that all of this living world is, indeed, alive — sentient, inspirited, present. 

            I have been blessed with a plethora of opportunities to experience nature’s teachings, spiritual and otherwise, directly.  As a boy, I explored the forests, beaches, and fields of my greater New Bedford, Massachusetts home, and I learned much from the tree-beings, one in particular, in my own backyard.  As a teenager, I spent many days listening to the voice of the ocean as a lifeguard on our local beaches.  As I ventured into other landscapes — the mountains of New Hampshire and Maine on summer backpacking trips, the fields, forests, hills, and streams of central Ohio in college, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado during a brief stint working in a national park, and several summers exploring the Colorado Plateau’s canyons, deserts, and mountains — I continued to feel this deep call from and spiritual connection to the natural world.   

            Sometime during college, I shed the Catholic practice of my upbringing and began to look for ways to pray to and connect with creation.  Usually these quests involved backpacking and canoe camping trips or simply time sitting quietly or walking mindfully “alone” in the woods and wilds of wherever I happened to call home at the time.  Over the course of these many physical journeys, I also experienced many moments of direct spiritual connections with nature — moments of awakening and direct revelation.

            Eventually, I began reading about shamanism, indigenous spiritual practices, and other accounts regarding mystical experiences.  I read extensively.  Then one day, in early spring 1995, an ad for Michael Harner’s “Way of the Shaman” workshop caught my eye.  I read his book and attended the workshop.  I knew right away that I had found a path, perhaps the path, for me.  At the “Way of…” workshop, I connected with Linda Crane, who was assisting Michael, and worked closely with Linda as my teacher in the weeks, months, and years that followed Michael’s introduction.  Many years, many teachers, and many students later, practicing shamanism is still my spiritual path, a path that still calls clearly to me, a path of healing and practice and learning that truly has no end.



Elaine M. Egidio, MCAT, LPC, ADTR., is a Foundation for Shamanic Studies guest Faculty member a founding member of Society for Shamanic Practioners, and a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society.  She has a private practice, Dancing Winds Therapy, intertwining Dance Therapy and Shamanic healing and training and is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and an Academy Registered Dance Therapist.   - "My shamanic and dance training began when I was a child and I danced in my yard for hours under the cloud filled skies. I hid in the trees and recognized my connection to the earth.”
For more information on Elaine and her practice visit www.Dancingwindstherapy.com.

Eeve B. Crowe is an Intuitive , Shamanic Practitioner / Teacher, Reiki Master, Past life Regressionist, Shamanic Singer and artist with a private practice in San Rafael, California.
Eeve has taught classes at various spas and holistic centers throughout the country for over 20 years. She is a guest speaker each semester at UC Berkeley educating and bringing 250 students per class on their first shamanic journey . Over 1000 students per year receive healings and journey with Eeve . She is a member of "The Foundation for Shamanic Studies" , is on the referral list of Sandra Ingerman and a Teacher and Distributor of the CloudDancing cards created by David Corbin and Nan P. Moss, and teaches their CloudDancing workshop. Her website is www.eevebcrowe.com