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Hey everyone!

I am back in MI and about to hit the road!  Today I am packing up the car, doing laundry, and taking a borrowed dremmel (thanks Kiel!) to the sign that I have been working on when I am able to find time.  Here is a little re-cap of my journey:

I flew out of the Flint/Bishop airport on the 4th.  This is a very small airport and has often been a place for me to fly out of cheaply, since it is a small airport and not used very much (compared to Detroit.)  I find that traveling by air has become more enjoyable lately since I converse more with people in the ports.  I love seeing the variety of culture walking about in the terminals.  On the way out I met a kid who was taking off on an airplane for the first time to work on wind turbines.  For a kid who never traveled much out of his small town he was very friendly and talkative to strangers (being me.) 

Generally, I'll fly into San Francisco airport and take the Caltrain to the Mission/Noe Valley districts where I stay with my wonderful friend Artemis.  This time, instead of going straight to her house, I walked to the restaurant "Rosamunde" to join up with her and some friends.  Every time I walked through the Mission district I thought to myself "Gee, that looks like a cool place to hang out."  It turns out I was right!  The restaurant is owned by one of her close friends.  I was treated to a veil, leek, and onion dog with fries.  The whole night there were catchy hip-hop/rap tunes that were really delightful to have in the background.

There is a tradition of mine where I wake up in the morning and walk along to the Noe Valley Bakery and buy scones and fresh baked bread, followed by a coffee or espresso down the street.  Most of the time I chow down on the scones before I even find a place to sit. ;)  I happened about this place several years ago walking around and exploring the busy streets of SF.  If you have never been to SF and you want to go, I highly recommend it. 

The program I was involved in takes place at IONS (Institute of Noetic Sciences.)  This retreat center rests just north of Olompali state park.  Here we are greeted by beautiful hills containing pockets of wooded lands.  I especially love the trees.  You will have big limbs grow up and out, paralleling the ground and running back into the hill.  They are great for walking on and climbing.  The lizards lazily laying about, soaking up the sun.  Deer grazing with their little ones.  Turkeys roaming about in big groups.  California vultures (I forget their real name) swooping about looking for food.  All of these animals were out in the open and nearly everywhere you walked.  It is quite an amazing place.  This is the last year that the FSS is hosting their program at that center.   

Our group consisted of 34 people (including our teacher and two assistants.)  Most of the people are from CA...but we do have an international group.  Next on the list is Canada.  Then we have Europe, SE Asia, Australia, and South America (nearly every continent!)  Out of all the people I am the only one that is under 30.  In fact, I happen to be the youngest person in the entire history of the FSS.  This happens nearly everywhere I go.  It is quite funny...although I am realizing more and more how beneficial work like this is and I really want to bring it to younger people.  Most of the people there are at least fifty years of age or older. 

The program revolves around advanced initiatory methodologies that help one to gain a glimpse into phenomenal realities.  For people who are really in love with science and find it hard to accept spirituality as real...this practice may be for you.  It is a "do it yourself, see for yourself" spirituality.  There is not much of a theology built around it, although many cultural mythologies and cosmologies tend to have basic maps, spirits, and stories based on ones relationships to acquiring knowledge and receiving healing from spirits.  Although you can certainly journey into these realms on your own without the help of a teacher, it is best to have someone with a lot of experience to help guide you through the experiences and to understand them correctly.

Michael Harner has done a lot of experimentation with the initiatory practices and has found it best to introduce people in successive stages.  This is quite appropriate and is often seen in wisdom traditions in general.  This is because, without a proper foundation, you can find yourself taking in too much power too soon.  This can actually result in extreme power loss instead of helping one to gain personal power.  So as much as many of you would like to poke around and learn some of the deeper aspects of shamanic practice through talking to me, do not be surprised if I steer you towards learning the foundations of journeying, coming to future ceremonies, and receiving personal healing work.  One of the ways you can learn a lot about shamanism is by coming to a ceremony.  Another is receiving personal healing.  I will probably post a thing or two about personal shamanic sessions in the following weeks.  I feel as if I should add a small disclaimer saying that I will not be teaching any of the initiatory practices that the foundation has taught. 

While I was in the program, I had a friend of mine throw out a contact.  She wanted to introduce me to a friend of hers that just moved to SF.  I love meeting up with people, and fortunately I could squeeze in some time to hang out before I left for the airport.  It was a short but sweet meet-up.  We walked around the Mission district, ate some Mexican food, and laid out in the sun at a very popular park.  We ended up being in the middle of a group of kids playing Frisbee.

Lastly, I met three folks on the small plane ride back to Flint.  It was quite enjoyable and we talked a lot about international travel, since one of them just came back from Jamaica.  He carried with him a beat up box and bag containing wooden sculptures brought back from his travels.  I was naturally curious to see them. ;)

News of the tour!  I have found more places to provide ceremony in Ontario.  Right now I have two in Barrie.  Coming up I will have two more locations...one being in Hamilton and the other being in Ottawa.  This packs up much of the first leg of my journey.  Stay tuned to hear about the events of this upcoming week!

Also, friend me on facebook (the link can be found under contacts on my personal website) to see pictures of my travels.  I have not posted anything yet though. 

Cheers!
Justin