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The Standing Bear Center for Shamanic Studies Apprentice Training  
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ An apprenticeship with me at The Standing Bear begins with three sequential levels of training that gradually deepen over time. During these initial levels of training, you learn to use feminist shamanic methods to psychologically balance and heal yourself. You can apprentice to establish a personal feminist shamanic practice, or to become a Certified Feminist Shamanic Counselor (CFSC). Certification is followed by a minimum of two years feminist shamanic counseling mentoring with me, as you create your own feminist shamanic counseling practice. Both local and distance students are accepted into the apprenticeship program. All advanced levels of training beyond that are by invitation. All students, both local and distance, are required to attend the Center's annual Shamanic Foundations Intensive each summer. The Intensive focuses on shamanic ceremony, work in nature, and the qualities of the Center position on the Medicine Wheel Mandala. It is a time when we all gather to create community, tend the Center's apprentice Medicine Wheel, share accomplishments and difficulties encountered in our shamanic work over the past year, and hone our group shamanic skills. The Apprentice Training Program: An Overview The Apprentice Training Program is organized into three distinct levels of training. Each level of training is divided into seasonal quarters, during which specific medicines and skills of a particular direction on the Medicine Wheel Mandala are taught. In addition, the medicines and skills associated with the Center position on the Medicine Wheel Mandala are taught during the summer Intensive. Each quarter, students are provided with written materials containing teachings and study plans for that quarter. Local students meet with me monthly to carry out the study plans. Distance students work independently, and communicate regularly with me by email and phone throughout each quarter's studies. Distance students are required to begin their studies by coming to the Center for a weekend-long introductory workshop, during which they learn and practice the basic skills they will need to carry out their assignments on their own. Some students are able to complete the first three levels of training in three years, but others may require more time. Each student works at her own pace, within certain basic parameters. Level One Studies As a Level One student, you will spend the entire first year mapping the content of the Middle Level of the Medicine Wheel Mandala, one direction at a time, using a special journey method I developed for that purpose. In the course of your mapping adventures, you encounter and begin to create working relationships with various animal spirits who make themselves available to us as helpers in your future shamanic work. You also encounter the first four of many shamanic goddess archetypes residing within the Medicine Wheel Mandala, and begin developing working relationships with them. I do a power animal retrieval for you during our initial workshop together, and you begin learning your power animal's medicine and integrating it into your sense of who you are as a woman. You also learn and begin practicing the four different kinds of scanning that are used when working with clients, and begin practicing basic feminist shamanic counseling skills. During this level of your training, you are an apprentice candidate. By the time you complete this level of training, we will both know whether or not you should continue on with further studies. The program will trigger issues for you, and how you handle them is the first of many challenges you will face as you progress in your apprenticeship. If, at the conclusion of this level of study, we both feel confident and positive about your accomplishments, and you want to continue on, then you are accepted as a full apprentice. Level Two Studies As a Level Two apprentice, you move forward with additional mapping...of the Below and the Above realms of shamanic reality, which require you to learn more advanced journey methods, and continue to create relationships with the animal spirits, ancestral guides, and other shamanc archetypes residing at those levels of shamanic reality. You also further develop your scanning skills, and begin a serious study of feminist shamanic psychology, counseling skills and ethics. Level Three Studies As a Level Three apprentice, you continue your study of feminist shamanic psychology and counseling methods, seeking out volunteers that you can practice on. You are introduced to very advanced methods for using the shamanic journey to travel into your own genetic memory, integrating what you discover there into your sense of yourself as a shamanic pratitioner or counselor. You encounter and learn to work with four ancient bird goddess archetypes who oversee the processes of birth, life, death and rebirth. Finally, you begin making your first shamanic shield, which can take many forms, and which you will present to the community during the upcoming summer Intensive. Your shield will symbolize all that you have learned and accomplished so far. Once you have presented it, you are given your first shamanic name, which I will have retrieved for you from shamanic reality, and are presented with your Certificate of Completion. You are now qualified to move on into the mentoring program, and to begin developing your own feminist shamanic counseling practice. Additional Levels of Training There are several additional levels of training beyond these first three levels, which you may be invited to pursue. You may also be invited to take part in the Center's feminist shamanic research projects, the results of which will be published at some point. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Please feel free to contact me for further information about the Apprentice Training Program, using the contact info below. Choose this link to return to my home page.  Standing Bear Center for Shamanic Studies 52 Bear Springs Lane · PO Box 272 Surry, ME 04684 1.207.664.0752 · toll-free: 1.877.664.0752 scarlet@thestandingbear.com
© Scarlet L. Kinney, MA | |