This blog will  show my struggles and successes dealing with Methylation/Detox issues, Migraines, Histamine/Amine Sensitivity, extremely sensitive reactive kidneys (I progressively lost 1/2 my right kidney as a young adult simply from food sensitivities and toxicity from growing up working with too many building materials–which also is a good part of my job now!) and Celiac with recipes, herbs, exercise, meditation, and the creative shamanic process. What works for me may or may not work for you. However I feel compelled to share my healing journey at long last after being encouraged to share what I know by many of my friends. I got the last “push” from realizing my bf’s daughter was in dire straits not knowing what if anything she could eat without intense distress.

I do feel like my experience is much like that of the ancient Shamans. I am not alone in this, since the type of person I am has always been here and IMHO always will. The very susceptibility to things we eat and how we feel is greater than that of the general population. Some call us Highly Sensitive. And it is true. However within our sensitivity lies  great strength which has been honored by cultures throughout time. Unfortunately in this modern day western culture, a natural born Shaman’s abilities are  often unrecognized or demonized. Instead many of us are given drugs, put in institutions and the like. Rather than receive the honor  or even the self knowledge that is our due.

Some of us are beginning to learn about taking care of ourselves. It  is in many ways a re-learning of ways from the ancient past now enhanced by modern scientific studies. Unfortunately many of our doctors are often the last to realize how to help us on our healing journey, due to their busy schedules as well as a predisposition to ignore information that has often been derided as “old wives tales.” Fortunately this is beginning to change as more is becoming more widely known. The new Integrative Medicine is a case in point.  For me I have been lucky enough to have a Naturopath/TCM doctor who is willing to work outside the box in order to embrace new knowledge in these areas.

I have also been lucky in the sense that I have always known that diet and herbs were part of the basic knowledge of the Shaman, as well as poetry, music, visual art and the like.  My father was after all a trained ethnologist. He and my mother worked together as archaeologists for 15 years. Discussing the practices and beliefs of the Shaman was  a favorite topic of his long after he quit his beloved anthropological work. His family after all had traditionally been ministers in Scotland. It also turns out he grew up knowing relatives closely connected with  the Christian spiritual movements begun in the 1890’s.

Is a result, I grew up knowing that Shamans  were natural religious and spiritual leaders. Their very difficulties being here made it easy for them to ” ride the horse  between worlds while they hung upside down from the world tree” like in the ancient myths of the Nords as well as similar myths  about the trials of the Shaman from Africa and Asia, and the trickster myths in the  Americas.

Just so, people such as myself (many of whom have these various intolerances) are re-learning the power and necessity to meditate and commune with the forces of Nature and the Universe. For us connecting with our inner Spirit is not just a simple choice. It is instead a healing necessity. To be deprived of it leads many, IMHO, to lose their well being if not their sanity. The drug companies might not be interested in such a simple answer as meditating, being creative, changing ones diet and exercising for health, however that answer is within us. I believe Spirit sources the Center of the Universe. That Center is always accessible if we decide to focus and ask for its guidance and healing energy.

This is my journey. I hope it can act as a guide to help some to find their own healing path too. In many ways this healing path and others like it are becoming a growing part of the Way to heal Gaia or the World Self.

Nevertheless, it is always important to consult your doctor before beginning anything new that could possibly cause stress to your health.

I hope you find these writings here of interest, and enjoy the recipes as well as some of my visual art and poems.

Good healing to you!

Sincerely,

Bea Garth