Latest / Random Heathen Ramblings / Random Heathen Ramblings: S5, EP30 - Healing From The Past (feat. Beaver Emmer)

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Random Heathen Ramblings: S5, EP30 - Healing From The Past (feat. Beaver Emmer) · Random Heathen Ramblings

• 0:03
  Hello everyone and welcome to the Random Heathen Ramblings
• 0:05
  podcast. We discuss all sorts of things
• 0:08
  Germanic Heathenry related. My name is Jesse and I'm your
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  the fall of 2020 and is a mix of appellation and Nordic folk with
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  dark ambient storytelling. Zeb has recently taken Skogamore
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  In addition to creating and performing his music, Zeb is
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  All right, folks, hope you're all doing well.
• 2:18
  Thanks for coming back on the show.
• 2:20
  For those of you just I'm just going to, you know, jump right
• 2:22
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• 2:28
  If you're watching this on the, on the, on, on Patreon and, and
• 2:35
  stuff you're going to notice there's, you know, at least from
• 2:38
  what I'm seeing here, there's, there's, there's a definite
• 2:40
  decline in the video quality. So I apologize for that.
• 2:48
  Basically what is happened is my, my better computer, the one
• 2:54
  that I use to, you know, get onto this site and, and, and
• 2:59
  record all my stuff on is a much more powerful machine than the
• 3:02
  one that I'm using currently. That one, the better one is, is
• 3:08
  out of Commission for the moment.
• 3:09
  I hope to get it, you know, back to to sorts within, you know, a
• 3:13
  week or so. I need it obviously.
• 3:19
  So I apologize in advance for the the decreased quality of
• 3:25
  what you're watching here. But hopefully for those
• 3:27
  listening, anything that comes through on the audio platforms
• 3:33
  is not, as you know, it's not as bad.
• 3:38
  It should still hopefully sound as good.
• 3:41
  It is what it is. We're going to run with it this
• 3:43
  week and just make the best of it.
• 3:45
  So thanks for sticking around and and showing your support
• 3:48
  while we kind of experience these things.
• 3:52
  We're going to be bringing on a guest here shortly who is a
• 3:56
  fellow that I learned about through one of the Facebook and
• 4:02
  Patrick Walsh's Facebook group, the Highland Mental Health
• 4:05
  Spiritual Community. And this fella is also a patron
• 4:09
  on my Patreon site. So thank you so much, Beaver
• 4:13
  Beaver Emmer. So he's going to be coming on
• 4:15
  here and talking to us about the healing aspects of his
• 4:19
  experience going to a Highland ritual and then the experience
• 4:23
  of a medicine or or sorry, a not medicine.
• 4:28
  What is it Meditation workshop that one of the members of
• 4:31
  Highland conducted, I think it was Nicholas Shipper who
• 4:36
  facilitated this. So he's going to be coming on
• 4:39
  here and talking with us today about that experience and giving
• 4:42
  us some insight as to what it meant and and what the
• 4:45
  experience was like. So in the meantime, while you're
• 4:48
  listening or after this, check the description area below and
• 4:52
  the show notes area if you're just listening for all the ways
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  that you can support the show for this, visit me on Facebook,
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  Twitter, Instagram, follow me along on any of those social
• 5:00
  sites. Subscribe to the YouTube channel
• 5:02
  if you want to just catch clips and reels of things from the
• 5:04
  show. You can also become a patron on
• 5:07
  Patreon for the full video experience, which is again,
• 5:09
  mostly better than what we have here today on this episode.
• 5:13
  So there's also merchandise that you can buy on spring.
• 5:17
  Just check out the link tree link that's posted down there
• 5:19
  and we will or or you will be directed to all the ways that
• 5:24
  you can help support this show and and what I do here.
• 5:27
  So without further ado, let's go ahead and welcome in Beaver to
• 5:32
  talk about the healing aspects of the high lung ritual and the
• 5:37
  post show meditation workshop that he was able to be a part
• 5:41
  of. Let's get into it.
• 5:45
  There we go. All right, folks, we're here
• 5:47
  joined on the Random Heathen Rambling's podcast with my guest
• 5:50
  today goes by Beaver. Great name, great animal, and
• 5:57
  I'm sure there's a story behind that.
• 5:58
  But Beaver is joining us here today for the first time on the
• 6:02
  show to talk about some things pertaining to high lung and a,
• 6:07
  a, a meditation ceremony that he was given a chance to be a part
• 6:10
  of after the fact. So welcome to the show, Beaver.
• 6:13
  First of all, thanks for being here.
• 6:15
  Thank you. Awesome.
• 6:18
  Yeah. So Beaver there is.
• 6:21
  Is there a story to that? Like how you got that that
• 6:23
  nickname you don't mind me asking?
• 6:26
  Yeah, I was got it back in 7th grade.
• 6:31
  There was a farm just outside of town that I used to live in now.
• 6:36
  Just a short little shit back then and the old man there then
• 6:43
  think I would really be able to do a whole lot, whatnot.
• 6:48
  And as time progressed shortly after, I essentially proved them
• 6:55
  wrong and became one of his best workers he's had there.
• 7:00
  And he's the one that gave me the nickname because I was such
• 7:04
  a hard worker. Oh, OK, yeah, I didn't know if
• 7:09
  it was like, you know, you, you got into to to damn work or
• 7:12
  something, you know, like anything like that.
• 7:15
  But Beavers are man, they are, they are, they are stout,
• 7:18
  industrious creatures. So seems seems quite fitting for
• 7:23
  a hard working guy you know. Yeah, I always try to be a hard
• 7:29
  worker and just try to do what I can.
• 7:34
  That's it man. So we all try to do, you know,
• 7:37
  do the best we can and, and are are you?
• 7:39
  Would you consider yourself heathen, you know, North
• 7:44
  heathen, dramatic heathen or, or do you not really have a label
• 7:47
  or anything that you put to your beliefs?
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  Because I know a lot of folks that come on this show do have a
• 7:52
  particular thing that they, you know, prefer to be referred to
• 7:56
  as in their beliefs. Is there such a thing for that
• 7:59
  for you or not really? Yeah, I'm actually a noise
• 8:03
  heathen. I'll actually all stand to a
• 8:08
  Kindred up here in Wisconsin, the Iron Wolves.
• 8:13
  Oh nice, they're kind of bud. They're kind of a sub kindred to
• 8:20
  walls of the North and we actually just alliance with like
• 8:27
  three other kindreds and it's been a lot.
• 8:34
  And you said you're in Wisconsin.
• 8:36
  Yep, nice is pretty. Is there a pretty good heathen
• 8:42
  presence up in your area? Yeah, I think there's like 3
• 8:49
  separate kindreds around Wisconsin.
• 8:54
  There's one that came from Indiana.
• 8:58
  There's another one that no one showed up from that kindred but
• 9:04
  they were looking at whole thing though man to the Alliance as
• 9:08
  well. Interesting, how long have you
• 9:12
  been a heathen? Well, practicing I'd say on for
• 9:25
  six months. Been kind of looking into it
• 9:31
  more since I found Hire Long and the other bands and I started
• 9:38
  The Last Kingdom. OK.
• 9:42
  It was actually because that show that I was looking for more
• 9:47
  types of music genres. Yeah.
• 9:52
  That's when I found out about Hilong and started spreading out
• 9:58
  towards my family, the ones that were interested at least.
• 10:06
  You said you said you've been practicing heathen for just
• 10:08
  about six months. Was that right?
• 10:10
  Did I hear that right? Yeah, they go like four to six
• 10:14
  months. OK, so relatively, relatively
• 10:18
  new that's wild that you already found a kindred in your area to
• 10:23
  to the line with and you know, because I know a lot of folks
• 10:26
  struggle to find a place with other heathens, especially when
• 10:31
  they're first starting out it they don't think of it like
• 10:34
  that. They think of it as more of a
• 10:35
  more like solitary path. But I, I, I, I do think that it
• 10:40
  is important for heathens to find other heathens to be around
• 10:44
  and do heathen things with. So good for you.
• 10:47
  I hope, I hope that you continue to find what you're looking for
• 10:50
  in this path and that the the the kindred that you're a part
• 10:53
  of helps you along that way. And so far it's been awesome and
• 11:00
  I only found out about this kindred when I started my new
• 11:04
  job that I work with my yawl. That's pretty cool.
• 11:11
  You get a lot, you get, you get to spend a lot of time with
• 11:14
  them, obviously, if they're at the same place that you work.
• 11:19
  Yeah, we're on with each other and all that fun stuff.
• 11:26
  And you said you found Heathenry through the The Last Kingdom
• 11:32
  series on on television? Yeah.
• 11:34
  Yeah, it's when I got started digging in and all that.
• 11:40
  Cool. Did you have a path before that
• 11:43
  you were on that you know made it easy to get into Heathenry or
• 11:49
  were you like, do you, do you want, do you care to talk a
• 11:52
  little bit about your background that, that prior to Heathenry?
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  Did it, did it make the transition easy, difficult or
• 11:59
  anything like that? For me it was easy because for a
• 12:05
  while I was just more spiritual and growing up I got searched
• 12:15
  around between. I was baptized in Saint Paul
• 12:20
  Lutheran Church and got searched around to Saint Mary's Catholic
• 12:26
  and Christian stuff without a Christian camp helping out there
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  and. Yeah.
• 12:39
  It was I mean I just figured a bad I thought I fed in but I was
• 12:46
  also feeling myself being I guess hateful towards religions
• 12:55
  and stuff like working and that. But I think when I moved out and
• 13:07
  in with my mother and kind of started thinking for myself
• 13:11
  more, just kind of started realizing it wasn't really what
• 13:19
  I was into. Yeah, there's got to be more
• 13:26
  spiritual and more in the Mother Earth in there and.
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  So do you OK, gotcha. Yeah.
• 13:42
  So yeah. So more like nature based
• 13:44
  feelings and and yeah, you say you know the more spiritual
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  aspects without so much of an established religious
• 13:51
  perspective on things, right. Yeah.
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  Yeah. So then, so then, yeah, finding
• 13:59
  Heathenry probably was, was really like a smooth transition
• 14:02
  for you because so much about Heathenry does involve, you
• 14:07
  know, individual cultic practices or individual
• 14:10
  spiritualities. And so you can, you can keep all
• 14:13
  of that, you know, you can, you don't have to like discard or
• 14:16
  throw anything away. You just incorporate it and it
• 14:19
  becomes part of your, of your, of your Heathenry at that point,
• 14:23
  right? Yeah, and being grounded with
• 14:27
  Mother Nature and as it's equal benefits to the human body and
• 14:35
  honoring wildlife and there's people in general.
• 14:45
  Now you obviously we're, we're gonna be talking today with you
• 14:48
  about a, a, a recent workshop meditation or, or ceremony that
• 14:56
  you were a part of at a high lung ritual.
• 14:59
  And you know, Patrick Walsh from the high lung group, you got to
• 15:03
  meet him and at, at one of the last high lung ceremonies at Red
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  Rocks. And you've been to both US Red
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  Rocks events, correct? Yep.
• 15:16
  OK, so you found, do you remember how you were introduced
• 15:21
  to high lung? Like what, what was the thing
• 15:23
  that you discovered that got you into them 'cause it's
• 15:28
  interesting that you've only been heathen for like the last
• 15:30
  four to six months. But you, you've been to a
• 15:33
  Highland show back, you know, several years ago.
• 15:35
  And I've, I've often noticed that, you know, not all heathens
• 15:39
  like high lung and, but, but many heathens go to high lung
• 15:43
  shows that they're almost like a in, you know, one in the same
• 15:47
  route many times. So anyway, first question was,
• 15:50
  do you remember what it was that that introduced you to Highland
• 15:53
  back then or before? Yeah, it was actually part about
• 15:58
  Facebook group about heathenry and paganism and that.
• 16:04
  And after watching The Last Kingdom for a while, I posted on
• 16:09
  there asking about other songs in that around the same genre
• 16:18
  and that. And that's where I fought in
• 16:21
  Highland and started watching videos and that and practically
• 16:27
  instantly fell in love with them.
• 16:33
  Shortly after a couple weeks or so I saw that they were having a
• 16:43
  ritual and red rocks and told my sister about it and both got
• 16:50
  tickets and drove down there. From Wisconsin You drove from
• 16:55
  Wisconsin to Colorado. Yep.
• 16:58
  How long have a drive? 1617 hours, we're at the stops.
• 17:06
  Dang. And we drove through the night.
• 17:13
  Yeah, that's a heck of a drive. Yeah, my, actually you have to
• 17:18
  make it again come October for Wardroona.
• 17:23
  Yeah, yeah. Wardroona is coming to.
• 17:27
  I was, I was, you know, I was almost, I was almost gonna go to
• 17:32
  that. But I started looking at the
• 17:38
  ticket prices and I'm like, man, you know, I just don't see
• 17:45
  myself get naked. I got so much going on in
• 17:47
  October. Anyway, I'm still recovering
• 17:50
  financially recovering from the, the high lung ritual that I went
• 17:54
  to in Huntsville, AL, which isn't far from me.
• 17:57
  But the seats and the ticket prices and stuff were
• 18:00
  outrageous. No regrets.
• 18:03
  But man, I was like, dude, I I'd love to see Wardruna.
• 18:07
  And I like Red Rocks is such a beautiful arena.
• 18:10
  Like it's such a beautiful venue for for performers like Wardruna
• 18:14
  and High Lung and, and all these really theatrical type groups
• 18:20
  and stuff that do these things. So hope you have a good time
• 18:24
  with that. Have you seen Wardruna before as
• 18:26
  well? Or would this or would this be
• 18:27
  your first? I saw them once before in
• 18:32
  Minnesota. Nice.
• 18:35
  Very cool actually. Went went there by myself and
• 18:41
  out of a fluke I actually got to stand for the whole thing, which
• 18:46
  I actually like cuz but stuff like that in highland I can't
• 18:51
  sit still. Me either me either I, I my when
• 18:57
  I first saw Highland, like we were, we were in the front row
• 19:01
  seats and then in front of us were was like the orchestra pit
• 19:05
  area, you know, and it wasn't it was a decent sized venue.
• 19:08
  Nothing, nothing like the size of Red Rocks, but still, it had
• 19:12
  that sort of like amphitheater type seating where everything
• 19:16
  got, you know, the seats. They didn't just go straight
• 19:19
  back. They went up and back, right.
• 19:22
  But in the front rows where we were sitting, it's it's pretty
• 19:26
  flat. And like, soon as they came on
• 19:29
  and start opening, opening the ritual and stuff, like when they
• 19:34
  start playing in, in, in, in Maidan or in Maidan, whatever,
• 19:39
  the, the, the 1:00 where they're reciting all of the elder
• 19:41
  Futhark runes, that what they usually with, I guess then I'm
• 19:46
  like, I stood up and I'm clapping, you know, moving
• 19:48
  around. And then like, eventually at one
• 19:50
  point, like somebody tapped me from behind and it's like, I'm
• 19:52
  sorry. Do you mind?
• 19:53
  Would you mind sitting down, please?
• 19:54
  I'm having a hard time seeing. And I'm like, oh, sorry.
• 19:57
  And I didn't mean to be like disrespectful.
• 19:58
  I just assumed that me and like everybody else, like me was was
• 20:03
  standing up, but there were still people sitting down.
• 20:05
  For the whole thing. And I'm like, how could you sit
• 20:07
  for this? Like if that's how you enjoy the
• 20:09
  show, then fine. But how can you possibly just
• 20:11
  sit still for this type of a performance, right in the
• 20:16
  ceremony, the ritual, the whole thing.
• 20:18
  But I'm the same way. It's hard for me to sit down
• 20:21
  first of all, or sit still watching them perform and what
• 20:27
  they do. And that was my first experience
• 20:31
  with Highland. It was, it was amazing.
• 20:38
  So that's cool. Yeah.
• 20:38
  In Minnesota for you I'm sure is is that's that's way closer than
• 20:43
  than driving 1617 hours to Colorado, you know?
• 20:48
  As about a four hour drive. That's much more doable, yeah.
• 20:53
  Yeah, I drove there, saw them and then drove back home.
• 21:00
  Yeah. I've done, I've done plenty of
• 21:03
  shows or you know, I've gone to plenty of shows, not, you know,
• 21:06
  like this, this type of music, but I've gone to plenty of other
• 21:09
  concerts within a four to five hour drive and turned around and
• 21:15
  just come back the same night. Makes for a long day, long
• 21:18
  night, but it saves you money and it's like part of the part
• 21:22
  of the exciting experience of it all.
• 21:28
  So let's go, let's go back to the let's go back to I think it
• 21:32
  was 2021 when the the first Red Rock show, right?
• 21:38
  Yep, 2021. Yeah.
• 21:40
  Patrick still to this day, I don't know if you talk to him
• 21:42
  much, but like he's still reminisces and, and, and talks
• 21:47
  about that experience as being like the best high lung
• 21:50
  experience he's ever had. And he's gone to different
• 21:54
  rituals in different locations. I think he's gone to the, I
• 21:57
  think he went to the one in Chicago.
• 22:01
  He's went to one, the Chesterfield one just just
• 22:04
  recently. I think it was last year, last
• 22:06
  end of end of last year, they came through.
• 22:09
  And then of course they did the the other Red Rock show just
• 22:12
  recently. So back in, in 2021.
• 22:16
  Like, tell us a little bit about what it was like seeing them for
• 22:20
  the first time after listening to them, watching their music
• 22:25
  videos or whatever, and listening to them.
• 22:28
  Tell us what it was like to experience Highland for the
• 22:32
  first time, and what made you want to continue to see them
• 22:35
  thereafter. Well, part of what got me is
• 22:42
  just the general welcomeness of everyone that was there and and
• 22:51
  seeing them in videos were just not nearly the same as seeing
• 22:56
  them live. And for me too, that one was the
• 23:02
  best feelings I've had with them as well.
• 23:05
  And I've been to several different events as well,
• 23:13
  Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina as it was beyond
• 23:24
  amazing and I didn't really know what to expect when I went
• 23:31
  there. At the time, I still wasn't
• 23:36
  really talking to a whole lot of people that was involved with I
• 23:43
  that. And I also really enjoyed when
• 23:50
  the Indian tribes came on to plus the stage.
• 23:54
  Yes, yes. I love that aspect of it, of it
• 24:00
  as well. Really paying homage and respect
• 24:04
  to, you know, the local spirit, the local indigenous people and
• 24:10
  involving them in the ceremonies.
• 24:12
  I thought, like, that's a really beautiful and inclusive gesture,
• 24:15
  right? Yeah, definitely.
• 24:18
  And like you're saying, to pay homage to the people that were
• 24:25
  here first before the rest of us came way back.
• 24:29
  When, Yeah, those First Nations, you know.
• 24:35
  Yeah, which I actually found out my ancestors were part of the
• 24:40
  first settlers of Wisconsin. Very cool.
• 24:46
  So you've been you've been in Wisconsin your whole life.
• 24:52
  Pretty much my whole life. I was born in Arizona.
• 24:57
  No one there. When I was like one or two is
• 25:00
  when my family moved up to Wisconsin for better work
• 25:06
  opportunities and then up here and.
• 25:13
  Nice. Do you ever go back to Arizona
• 25:14
  for anything, or not really? We've been talking about it, me
• 25:21
  and my brother. Do we still have family down
• 25:24
  there? But between making time for high
• 25:30
  along and yeah, doing mothers and finances of late.
• 25:36
  Oh yeah, yeah, that's cool. That would.
• 25:39
  That would be an extremely long way to try and drive.
• 25:44
  Yeah, yeah, I think man from I I've done, I used to.
• 25:48
  I used to go, one of my old jobs for years was prisoner
• 25:55
  extradition. So I would drive all over the
• 25:57
  country picking people out, dropping people off at
• 25:59
  different, you know, jails or sheriff's offices or prisons or
• 26:03
  whatever it was, you know, and I remember one time driving
• 26:08
  straight from Nashville, TN to Flagstaff, AZ, it was a 22 hour
• 26:15
  drive without the stop. So all total it.
• 26:19
  We probably probably was, you know, around 2425 hours, but we
• 26:24
  didn't because it was me and one other guy.
• 26:26
  We were delivering a new transport vehicle to a group of
• 26:31
  a team that had broken down in Flagstaff.
• 26:35
  So we needed to bring them a new vehicle.
• 26:39
  So me and another guy just took naps and switched out driving.
• 26:43
  I think I probably drove all all total.
• 26:46
  I probably drove about 17 or 18 hours of that 24 to 25.
• 26:52
  Like he drove a little bit. He was, he was like a mechanic,
• 26:54
  you know, and he was used to having a more regular sleep
• 26:59
  cycle. I had been working on the road
• 27:02
  for years. So I could, you know, I could
• 27:04
  drive at that time, you know, I could do a five or six hours
• 27:07
  straight without even thinking about it, you know what I'm
• 27:13
  saying? So for to me, you know, and then
• 27:16
  take like a two hour nap or whatever, 3 hour nap, get back
• 27:19
  up and do another six or seven hours if I had to.
• 27:24
  So like I would be laying there trying to take a nap and it's,
• 27:26
  you know, two, 2:00 in the morning, we're rolling through
• 27:28
  Texas and he's driving and I'm trying to sleep.
• 27:32
  And next thing I know, I feel the van doing like that, hitting
• 27:34
  the rumble strips on the on the Interstate.
• 27:38
  He's like jerking it back. I'm like, dude, I'm trying to
• 27:42
  sleep over here. Can you stay awake?
• 27:46
  Oh, man, I'm, I'm struggling, man.
• 27:47
  I'm just having a hard time. I'm like, yeah, clearly.
• 27:50
  Tell you what, let me drive through the night.
• 27:53
  You go asleep and then you can drive come daylight because
• 27:55
  it's, you know, if you're not used to it and you're driving at
• 27:58
  night, it can put you to sleep like it, especially on those
• 28:01
  long stretches of Rd. I'm like, I'm like, Nah, man,
• 28:05
  you, you will switch out. You go ahead and you take a nap.
• 28:08
  I'm I'm awake enough to get us through the night.
• 28:11
  And, and then I think it was around 7-8 in the morning, he
• 28:14
  took over. And at that point we had about
• 28:17
  four or five hours left of the trip.
• 28:20
  So after like two or three hours of driving, he's like, hey man,
• 28:25
  you ready to take over? I'm like, whatever, man, sure.
• 28:29
  You know, And he took another nap and I'm like, I'm over here
• 28:33
  like operating on maybe three hours of sleep, if that.
• 28:38
  And I did, I did like, you know, 171718 hours probably of, of, of
• 28:43
  driving. I got to Flagstaff, gave the van
• 28:46
  to the guys and I'm like, I'm checking into a hotel and I, I
• 28:49
  crashed. I just, I passed out.
• 28:52
  It's it's a hell of a drive. So I got, I got to think that
• 28:57
  from Wisconsin to, to, to Arizona would be probably
• 29:01
  somewhere around the same 20 some odd hours of, of, of
• 29:06
  driving if you're going to just take a straight shot.
• 29:11
  Oh yeah, have. You met.
• 29:17
  Have I met what? Hannah Kaufman.
• 29:23
  Not in person. I haven't seen, you know, some
• 29:27
  like comments or whatever exchanged comments online, but
• 29:31
  you said I've only been to the one ceremony in in Huntsville,
• 29:34
  AL and I didn't, I didn't stay long enough to go to like an
• 29:39
  after party or or stick around long enough to try to meet any
• 29:42
  of the of the members. I hear she's really nice though.
• 29:49
  Oh yeah, she's extremely nice. Yeah.
• 29:53
  End up driving from Florida to Colorado in 21.
• 30:00
  That was like a 24 hour driver so and he did it all by
• 30:06
  yourself. She had there, she took one main
• 30:13
  on halfway through it further on.
• 30:15
  But yeah, we kept checking in with her to make sure she was
• 30:21
  doing all the right. Yeah, oh wait, so Hannah had to
• 30:24
  drive from Florida to to to Red Rocks for the show?
• 30:28
  Yeah. Wow, that's crazy.
• 30:32
  Yeah, I guess I didn't realize how sort of spread out and, you
• 30:36
  know, dispersed some of the different members and all that
• 30:39
  are. But people come from all
• 30:46
  distances. I'm sure there's there's there
• 30:48
  was people that came to the Red Rocks thing from.
• 30:50
  I actually spoke to a guy. He was on the show.
• 30:54
  He was on this podcast earlier this year, I think because,
• 30:58
  because Red Rocks was in. When was it April?
• 31:03
  The Red Rocks show this year was like April or something like
• 31:05
  that. Yeah, so the guy that I talked
• 31:09
  to that went to that show, he lives in Hawaii and he came to
• 31:17
  the Red Rock show from Hawaii. I'm like, that is crazy, man,
• 31:25
  that you're going to fly that far.
• 31:28
  He's like, well, I got to, you know, I guess so I said, I told,
• 31:34
  I told, I said to everybody on the show, I'm like, listen, guys
• 31:36
  and gals out here, if you're complaining about having to go,
• 31:38
  you know, five hours, six hours, 10 hours, whatever, to drive to
• 31:43
  red rocks to see high lung and you're and and you think that
• 31:45
  that's a drag. I said, check out this guy who's
• 31:48
  flying across the ocean, you know, and then driving and then,
• 31:53
  you know, and just everything just just to see him.
• 31:56
  I said I think he wins the this round of, of dedication kind of
• 31:59
  thing, you know? Yeah, definitely.
• 32:04
  But I, I remember, you know, seeing Highland for my first
• 32:10
  time there in Huntsville, It I've been to, I don't know how
• 32:16
  many dozens or hundreds of concerts, you know, where I've
• 32:19
  sat or I've stood and I've watched a performance on a stage
• 32:23
  and they're always fun, you know, for different reasons.
• 32:26
  And they're enjoyable and, and stuff.
• 32:28
  But the thing that stood out to me most about a high lung event
• 32:33
  was the the ceremonious ritual nature of it.
• 32:37
  It feels more like a, there's a reason they call them a ritual.
• 32:42
  You know, it's not to be, it's not to like play off of, you
• 32:47
  know, the aesthetic or or whatever.
• 32:48
  Like it. It really felt like a ritual,
• 32:51
  and it is a ritual, but it felt. Healing.
• 32:56
  Yes, yes, absolutely healing, you know, and I, I felt so, so
• 33:02
  much, you know, so good and so healed and so whole after the,
• 33:09
  after the ceremony, it didn't feel like I had just been to a
• 33:12
  concert, you know what I mean? It felt like I had been, well, I
• 33:19
  was, I, I went to a ritual. Was that what it was like for
• 33:22
  you as well? Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 33:29
  Yeah, it was South Carolina when I first got to be right up by
• 33:35
  the stage, and me and my brother had to drive back home right
• 33:42
  after, and I was still on a high off of that.
• 33:50
  Like I took a whole bunch of caffeine and it kind of helped
• 33:55
  me get to the first part of the drive back home.
• 34:03
  But yeah, back at Red Rocks in 21, weren't sure what to expect
• 34:11
  with, weren't sure if I would be sitting or standing and end up
• 34:16
  getting a pad to sit on because I did a little research and saw
• 34:21
  that there was going to be concrete or wooden.
• 34:26
  These would be on, wanted to be a little bit comfortable.
• 34:30
  And we all stirred up and connected hands for the opening
• 34:37
  ceremony and stayed standing the whole way through.
• 34:43
  And another person's dog actually used my pad as a place
• 34:49
  to lay on during the ritual. Wow.
• 34:56
  So somebody brought their own. Somebody brought their pet with
• 34:58
  them. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 35:01
  There's dog there and real friendly dog.
• 35:04
  And at one point I'd look back and just saw him laying on the
• 35:09
  pad and it was pretty awesome. Yeah, how many shows, How many
• 35:20
  Highland rituals have you gone to since Red Rocks?
• 35:28
  Next one would have been in Georgia and North Carolina and
• 35:34
  South Carolina and went to the one in Milwaukee just before
• 35:41
  Colorado. Wow, so it's pretty much
• 35:46
  everyone that they've gone every every tour that they've hit here
• 35:50
  in the States you've you've made sounds like you made it to
• 35:53
  pretty much all of them. Yeah, and actually made a trip
• 35:58
  out of it and but the most point was able to meet up with my
• 36:03
  tribe that I first met back at Bear Creek Campground in
• 36:09
  Colorado. Sweet.
• 36:18
  What was the most like? If you had to, if you had to, if
• 36:22
  there was a moment of the the the 2021 Red Rocks ceremony, is
• 36:29
  there a moment that particularly stands out in your mind about
• 36:33
  that whole experience? Was there one thing or one
• 36:36
  period of time, one moment of that ritual that really stands
• 36:43
  out to you? We're on the ritual part.
• 36:52
  I would have been doing trust. Isn't that the, isn't that the
• 36:58
  one where they they, they like tie her up and with the spear?
• 37:03
  Yep. Yes, yeah, that was powerful,
• 37:06
  man. Yeah, Hannah gave the best
• 37:10
  explanation as the the meaning behind that, but it's
• 37:16
  essentially a willing sacrifice. It formed and then it's nine
• 37:24
  different, I think, like gifts or something bestowed on her for
• 37:34
  giving a sacrifice. Yeah, yeah, that was a powerful
• 37:41
  part of the ritual, man, more I think than just seeing that,
• 37:47
  that it was, you know, like being a willing sacrifice, the
• 37:49
  self sacrifice aspect of it. But then seeing that life being
• 37:55
  resurrected, you know, being her being brought back to life and
• 38:00
  joining the ranks of of those around her and all like that.
• 38:03
  That was such a, such a moving ritual for me.
• 38:10
  Of course, I didn't see it at Red Rocks, but just seeing it
• 38:13
  performed live, you know, you can watch it on a screen, you
• 38:15
  can watch it on a YouTube video and, and be like, yeah, that's
• 38:19
  neat. But man, there's nothing you
• 38:22
  can't. And it's almost like what I say
• 38:24
  for people who have come into Heathenry that haven't
• 38:30
  experienced things with other heathens in person, but they've
• 38:33
  only done things or they've only talked to people like long
• 38:35
  distance over virtual means, you know, like on a messenger app or
• 38:41
  on a Zoom call or something. You really can't get the full
• 38:47
  experience unless you're there in person with each other.
• 38:51
  You know, you can't, you can't feel the exchange of energy
• 38:57
  during ritual over a screen. And same thing with the music,
• 39:02
  right? Like you can watch a performance
• 39:03
  on a video and be like, wow, that's really neat and that's
• 39:07
  really cool. But it's nothing like being
• 39:11
  there with everybody else in that space and feeling the
• 39:17
  energy that's being shared between the audience and the,
• 39:21
  you know, the members on stage and, and just all of that.
• 39:24
  It's it's. You can't, you can't replicate
• 39:27
  it over long distance like that. No, it's not at all between the
• 39:32
  energy and the spirits that decide to come play and.
• 39:36
  Yeah. Yeah, I was.
• 39:41
  So I think that, oh, we're sorry, are we going to say
• 39:44
  something else? Yeah, Say, we went back the next
• 39:49
  day to kind of feel how much of the energy was still emitting
• 39:54
  off the stage and there's already another band getting
• 40:01
  started starting up and that we still walked around and.
• 40:08
  Met up with Simran, she did all the paintings and that and we
• 40:18
  end up having to go back because one of our tribe members left
• 40:24
  his camera and stuff there. And while we were waiting for
• 40:30
  him to go get that we actually found a joint laying on the
• 40:38
  sidewalk close entrance that we walked in and it was never
• 40:46
  smoked on her, nothing. They end up taking it back to
• 40:51
  the campfire that night and passed it around.
• 40:58
  This was in Colorado, right? The red rocks?
• 41:02
  That makes sense. That sounds like a real Colorado
• 41:06
  thing to do. Find a joint on the sidewalk,
• 41:10
  bring it back to the camp and share it with everybody?
• 41:12
  Hell yeah. Yeah, just some that we were
• 41:16
  meant to find. Yeah, yeah.
• 41:18
  I mean, could have been found by anybody, right?
• 41:21
  Yeah, they happen to have been there, and Khalid had to go back
• 41:27
  to it. There's camera and equipment,
• 41:31
  but she was actually renting because all the stuff that he
• 41:35
  had actually got stolen. That's terrible.
• 41:42
  I hate to hear that. And.
• 41:44
  Someone broke into his car and stolen.
• 41:49
  That was shortly before he left out with Anna and another friend
• 41:56
  and came to Colorado. Gotcha.
• 42:03
  Well, cool, man. We're gonna get into something
• 42:05
  here in just a minute. We have we're, we're, we're
• 42:08
  running a, a couple of things here for an upcoming spiritual
• 42:11
  men's retreat called Fire on the Mountain.
• 42:13
  So we're gonna, we're gonna take about a, a minute and a half to
• 42:16
  hear some sponsorship stuff. But then after that, I'd like to
• 42:21
  talk about the the meditation ceremony that you got to be a
• 42:24
  part of, I guess, in Red Rocks with Nicholas Shipper.
• 42:29
  Yep. After that.
• 42:30
  So we're going to hear a couple of words from Fire on the
• 42:33
  Mountain sponsors and then when we come back, we're going to
• 42:35
  talk about that. So don't go anywhere folks.
• 42:39
  We'll be right back. Fire on the Mountain, an annual
• 42:42
  men's spiritual Fire on the Mountain, an annual Fire on the
• 42:47
  Mountain, an annual men's spiritual retreat and leadership
• 42:51
  summit, is sponsored in part by Ravenwood Meadery, located at
• 42:55
  the historic Low Mill Arts and Entertainment building in
• 42:58
  Huntsville, AL. Ravenwood is North Alabama's
• 43:02
  first and only meadery that is 100% woman owned and operated.
• 43:08
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• 43:15
  has been around for millennia. Follow them on Facebook to stay
• 43:19
  informed of their business hours and events and visit
• 43:22
  theirwebsite@ravenwoodmeadery.com. Thank you to Ravenwood Meadery
• 43:27
  for helping sponsor Fire on the Mountain.
• 43:34
  Fire on the Mountain, an annual men's spiritual retreat and
• 43:38
  leadership summit, is sponsored in part by the Norse Fox
• 43:42
  Creations. The Norse Fox Creations is a
• 43:45
  small business that prides themselves in crafting Viking
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  them for Commission work at theenos.foxcreations@gmail.com.
• 44:22
  Thank you to the Norse Fox Creations for helping sponsor
• 44:25
  Fire on the Mountain. All right, all right, folks,
• 44:35
  we're back. Thank you again to all the
• 44:38
  sponsors for the 4th Annual Fire on the Mountain Men's Spiritual
• 44:44
  Retreat and Leadership Summit, happening again this year in
• 44:49
  October 24th through 27th in the Blue Ridge Mountains in
• 44:53
  Appalachia. So do be sure to check out
• 44:57
  Skogamore, Ravenwood, Meterie, and the Norse Fox creations.
• 45:02
  More details about them are going to be LinkedIn, the
• 45:06
  podcast show notes, as well as the video description of this
• 45:08
  podcast for all of you folks on Patreon, One of which is right
• 45:14
  here with us today. We're here with Beaver, who is
• 45:17
  talking with us about his long and running experiences with
• 45:22
  Hilung and the healing that comes from that.
• 45:26
  So Speaking of healing Beaver, you had you had you had.
• 45:31
  You were given the chance to partake of a meditative or
• 45:36
  meditation ceremony with one of the members of Hilung, Nicholas
• 45:39
  Schipper at the Red Rocks event in Was it the 2021 ritual or was
• 45:46
  it this year's ritual? No, it was this year's ritual.
• 45:50
  OK. So what was that?
• 45:53
  What was that like? What was that all about?
• 45:55
  Can you give us some some background and detail of what it
• 45:58
  was that you were got to be a part of there?
• 46:02
  Yeah, well, he actually calls it a one-on-one moo shook session.
• 46:08
  There is essentially a guided meditation, but if the person
• 46:14
  and if he feels that it's proper, he'll use the happy
• 46:21
  tobacco doing the meditation as well.
• 46:30
  And there was a couple things he had us doing in preparation for
• 46:36
  that kind of helped prep the mind and the spirit in that He
• 46:43
  had us reading a couple books and kind of doing some
• 46:47
  meditation and I guess like in a reflection as the how we're
• 46:55
  feeling and keeping the eagle in check, which he talks about a
• 47:01
  lot. Was the so the the Rappe?
• 47:12
  Could you could you tell for the folks that are listening and and
• 47:15
  that watch this that don't know what that is?
• 47:18
  You said that he offers that as an option for the for the
• 47:22
  Mooshuk meditation, right It or is it or is it like a mandatory
• 47:27
  part of the the experience? No, it's optional that the
• 47:32
  person themselves want to try it, and if Nicholas deems that
• 47:40
  it's right, use it because he'll do a hour long radio chat with
• 47:52
  you shortly before it. They'll be talking with you and
• 47:57
  trying to make sure everything's proper on what he actually wants
• 48:00
  to do during the meditation. Wow.
• 48:06
  So this is, this is very interactive with with Nicholas,
• 48:09
  right? He makes it a point of really
• 48:13
  being responsible with the attendees for this, it sounds
• 48:17
  like. Yeah, yeah, as he doesn't want
• 48:21
  to disrespect that. It was blessed by his Mama back
• 48:26
  in Ecuador which she gave him permission that they actually
• 48:32
  used the hoppy. That was only fitting that you
• 48:36
  actually make sure that the the drainage situation itself is
• 48:43
  proper for the use of it. Could you, could you elaborate
• 48:51
  to people what it is that you're talking about with that?
• 48:55
  I know like some people refer to it as like shamanic snuff or
• 48:58
  shamanic tobacco or medicinal tobacco, but would you care to
• 49:03
  elaborate or talk more about it from from your understanding and
• 49:06
  your knowledge of the experience?
• 49:10
  Yeah, I think from what I heard it right, that's sacred Indian
• 49:18
  tobacco and I haven't gone in too much to it and I may be or.
• 49:34
  Do you do you, do you smoke it? Like what's how, how is it
• 49:38
  absorbed or administered or like what's the what's the whole
• 49:41
  thing like? He actually the device that kind
• 49:47
  of looks like a porn almost, but he puts a little bit on the end.
• 49:54
  It's real narrow on one end, a little bit wider dressing off
• 50:00
  the blow on it with your mouth and you'll put some in the
• 50:05
  smaller end and you'll stick it up inside the nostril and you'll
• 50:11
  blow it into your nasal cavity. And you'll do both sides between
• 50:19
  one to four times depending on what he sees fit to do so.
• 50:27
  And during that time, well, he'll tell you beforehand not to
• 50:31
  breathe through your nose, but through your mouth and not to
• 50:37
  try and swallow it out then, because it can wreak havoc on
• 50:45
  the stomach if you swallow too much of it.
• 50:48
  They can get potent. There's kind of, they have a
• 50:54
  tissue leaned forward and just kind of let it ooze out and onto
• 50:59
  the earth. They also had us with no shoes
• 51:05
  on and grounded to the earth, and any tissue that we wiped up
• 51:14
  the remaining harpy from, we actually returned it back to the
• 51:19
  earth. There's another sign backed by
• 51:25
  the herb and Mother Earth. Oh, wow.
• 51:32
  So it's, it's, yeah, it's a tobacco product, obviously.
• 51:37
  And, and it's, it's administered by the person through the
• 51:43
  recipient's nasal passages. And obviously you're gonna,
• 51:47
  you're gonna inhale. You inhale the smoke when it
• 51:54
  when it's breathed into you or when it's inserted into your
• 51:57
  like that or. It's not a smoke, it's in a real
• 52:01
  fine powder. Powder.
• 52:03
  Sorry. Yeah, Like, yeah, I don't know
• 52:06
  what I was thinking. Yeah.
• 52:07
  It's like a snuff, right? Kind of like that.
• 52:11
  But Nicholas was the one administering it.
• 52:18
  OK. Then burn a little bit in the
• 52:22
  nasal cavity at first, yeah. And it goes away and.
• 52:30
  How long is it? How long does the burning last?
• 52:36
  Only for a minute or so after he's done with each round.
• 52:44
  It went away fairly quick. And what would you, what would
• 52:50
  you describe the effects of it like what does it, what does it
• 52:54
  make you feel like after you ingest it?
• 53:00
  Or how did it make you feel? Oh, it wasn't ingested.
• 53:06
  Actually, it stayed up in a nasal cavity.
• 53:09
  You weren't. Yeah.
• 53:13
  Breathe it into your lungs or anything, but it made me very
• 53:20
  grounded. The only thing that there's
• 53:26
  become closes and I actually take a gum here, smoke some
• 53:31
  weed. So would you say that it kind of
• 53:38
  relaxes you, kind of puts you in a in a much calmer state or, or,
• 53:43
  or is it anything that is psychoactive, hallucinogenic,
• 53:48
  anything like that that you that you experience?
• 53:52
  It's not hallucinogenic like mushrooms can be, but it makes
• 53:58
  you very relaxed and essentially grounded, you know?
• 54:09
  I imagine it's can be different depending on each person.
• 54:14
  Yeah. Be it spiritually and what other
• 54:19
  stuff they might have tried in that.
• 54:24
  Right. Yeah, I'm sure that there's a
• 54:26
  reason for Nicholas and and any administrator of the substance
• 54:30
  right to want to talk to the recipient, ask questions and get
• 54:35
  to make sure that what you know there is going on for them isn't
• 54:40
  going to be like there's not going to be some sort of adverse
• 54:44
  reaction or effect from the rape during that session.
• 54:50
  And and did the did the meditation what you said it was
• 54:54
  called mushuk, one of the mushuk.
• 54:57
  What he calls it. OK, what else happens like and
• 55:03
  and at what point did the rape get administered?
• 55:06
  Was it at the beginning, in the middle?
• 55:07
  Towards the end. 1st we got the shoes off to be gaunted and he
• 55:19
  had his whole mat laid out with all of his stuff, his horns and
• 55:28
  drum and old shaker instrument. There was with acorns in that.
• 55:38
  And he was checked up with how I was doing.
• 55:42
  And I've been progressing with what we've talked through and
• 55:47
  everything and make sure that I was all right with accepting the
• 55:55
  harpy and with, I'm saying it, we felt that it was proper to
• 56:03
  administer it and kind of went through kind of the steps that
• 56:11
  we should be going through once it's diminished dude, and kind
• 56:18
  of what to do after and everything.
• 56:22
  And no, it fit the first part that he did.
• 56:35
  There was some stuff that he crushed up and there was, you
• 56:39
  know, pot, it was smoking and stain some stuff around it.
• 56:50
  Like I want to say is to kind of clear the air and the land and
• 56:57
  spirits and everything kind of the cleanse the area like before
• 57:05
  you do a bloat. Oh so like smudging or or
• 57:10
  something like similar to that, basically like a like burning
• 57:13
  ink sense or a resin to to bless the area?
• 57:16
  Is that what you're trying to say?
• 57:19
  Yeah. You know, that's, I want to say
• 57:21
  that's what that part was for. Then he administered the top A.
• 57:31
  That. We would turn around was we only
• 57:35
  had the one road that we were laying on and wanted the puppy
• 57:41
  and whatever else would come out, draw directly on the ground
• 57:45
  and not on that. And he would alternate between
• 57:52
  his drum and the different whistles and thought that he had
• 58:00
  and it really brought me back to it.
• 58:04
  It might be like to be, you know, Indian tribe, Yeah.
• 58:12
  So having thoughts around that. Thoughts around Avatar the movie
• 58:21
  if you're anyone who's seen it? Yeah, I loved certain parts of
• 58:29
  that movie too, with like how their hair would intertwine with
• 58:33
  the the trees and they would share in that that life and and
• 58:39
  and all that. I love that part.
• 58:41
  Of that movie, yeah. Yeah.
• 58:44
  And we're also right next to a river.
• 58:49
  And also got thinking about the 2nd movie and Don Cord.
• 58:59
  I haven't seen the second one yet.
• 59:02
  It's a good. Yeah, it's pretty good.
• 59:05
  And the song chord at first there was really getting me in
• 59:11
  the feels. But even if I watched a movie
• 59:16
  yet, it'll get me in the feels watching there 'cause at some
• 59:21
  points it can be happy, but in some cases it can be quite sad.
• 59:30
  Yeah, hits on all the nerves, huh?
• 59:32
  Hits tugs on the heartstrings a bit.
• 59:35
  Most definitely. Yeah, But yeah.
• 59:41
  And how And how long does the how long does the Mushuk
• 59:45
  ceremony last? I believe it was an hour long,
• 59:53
  the happy then going on for like another 30 minutes or so.
• 1:00:03
  We once we we're done, it was like take it slow getting up and
• 1:00:09
  walking. It was just so grounded and in
• 1:00:15
  the moment and. Were there were there any other
• 1:00:21
  people that were also partaking along with you?
• 1:00:28
  It actually so happened it was my brother that had the second
• 1:00:33
  spot that he had. OK.
• 1:00:37
  So he only use it, he only does it with one or two people at a
• 1:00:42
  time, right? If he's on a tour and does it,
• 1:00:49
  he'll do 2 spots, but if he's off tour, I believe he said
• 1:00:55
  he'll do up to three to four. Yeah, so very small, very small
• 1:01:02
  crowd. Very very small group.
• 1:01:05
  Yeah, as he's not trying to do it for a profit.
• 1:01:09
  It's something that he likes to do and just essentially trying
• 1:01:15
  to help people find their inner strength, essentially.
• 1:01:24
  Is that what it did for you? Like can you, can you describe
• 1:01:29
  the effects of like the psychoactive effects, I mean
• 1:01:32
  like the, the mental effects of the ceremony, like after having
• 1:01:36
  gone through it and coming out of it?
• 1:01:40
  Can you explain a bit more about like the emotional sides of
• 1:01:43
  things? You know how you felt afterwards
• 1:01:48
  as opposed to how you felt beforehand?
• 1:01:52
  Well, even before that was when we were talking with him and he
• 1:01:58
  was giving us the stuff to do before we got to that point.
• 1:02:05
  It was getting me to be more present in my thinking and
• 1:02:13
  everyday life because I tend to think more in the future now and
• 1:02:23
  before it would have been more in the past because I don't talk
• 1:02:30
  to many people about it. But I haven't had it easy past
• 1:02:34
  and I know I ain't the only one and but not as terrible as some
• 1:02:42
  people have had it either. But it's helped me to become
• 1:02:47
  more present and more aware of my inner ego and where my
• 1:02:55
  thoughts can tend to take me. And sometimes the thoughts are
• 1:03:03
  pretty deep where I'm actually feeling the feelings and
• 1:03:08
  emotions from it and before it. I'll just get lost in those.
• 1:03:16
  But we're starting to work with him and everything.
• 1:03:21
  I've got to be more present. Yeah, just ongoing stuff to work
• 1:03:31
  on. Yeah, yeah, you know, you're
• 1:03:34
  right. We're all, we're all going
• 1:03:36
  through stuff. You know, every one of us is, is
• 1:03:39
  experiencing life in different ways.
• 1:03:41
  And our past has definitely played a role in how we are in
• 1:03:50
  the present. You know, it's kind of what has
• 1:03:54
  shaped us into the beings that we are presently.
• 1:03:58
  And for a lot of people, I think their past is something that
• 1:04:04
  they feel defines them now. You know, like it, it's, it's,
• 1:04:12
  it's who they are. It's not who they were.
• 1:04:15
  I think a lot of people can get caught up in that feeling that,
• 1:04:19
  you know, the past is, is, is the past for a reason.
• 1:04:25
  And I know it can be really tough for people that,
• 1:04:28
  especially if they have had a, a, a rough past or traumatic
• 1:04:31
  past or, you know, thing to, to, to, to work through those
• 1:04:37
  moments and to work through those feelings.
• 1:04:41
  You know, I, I recently had a chance to go on a, a weekend
• 1:04:49
  long retreat, same, same location as we, you know, for
• 1:04:56
  the the listeners. And so fire on the mountain
• 1:04:57
  every year in Appalachia. I went out back in June to the
• 1:05:03
  same location where fire on the mountain is held for a weekend
• 1:05:07
  long retreat called and it was called Red Ghost Camp Red Ghost.
• 1:05:13
  And it was intended to be a retreat for working through
• 1:05:22
  emotional hang ups, past traumas, things that have, you
• 1:05:28
  know, plagued us or, or, or haunted us, which is why it was
• 1:05:34
  called Red ghost haunted us in a way to, to, to in, in, in like
• 1:05:39
  that haunting of that thing stopping us from growth and, and
• 1:05:43
  kind of keeping us from moving forward and advancing because
• 1:05:45
  we're stuck or, or on, on this past thing or, or that, you
• 1:05:51
  know, were haunted by these feelings.
• 1:05:53
  And it was intended to bring them up to the surface to and
• 1:05:57
  then address them, right? Not forget about them, not like,
• 1:06:00
  oh, let's put it, let's put it away.
• 1:06:02
  It's no, let's confront these things.
• 1:06:05
  Let's address it. Let's bring it to the surface
• 1:06:07
  and then let's Vanquish them. You know, let's, let's do the
• 1:06:10
  necessary inner work with spirit work to get over this trauma, to
• 1:06:18
  pass this or or not, you know, to to to learn how to deal with
• 1:06:21
  it and to learn how to process it in a healthy way.
• 1:06:26
  And it sounds like from what you were describing that the moose
• 1:06:30
  shook ceremony, the meditation, the vape, that like all of these
• 1:06:36
  things combined really helped bring you into a state or into a
• 1:06:40
  mindset of doing that sort of thing, right?
• 1:06:43
  Addressing them in the present and then not being so influenced
• 1:06:47
  by the past, right? The past is the past.
• 1:06:49
  It happened, but it's not who I am now kind of thing.
• 1:06:53
  Does that would that be an accurate depiction as I'm as I'm
• 1:06:57
  understanding it of what you went through?
• 1:07:00
  Yeah, it was actually put me through the drumming part that
• 1:07:06
  Chipper is doing. I actually forgave my uncle and
• 1:07:12
  cousin for what happened to me, for my own sanity.
• 1:07:21
  Not that I'll I would forget what happened, but for my own
• 1:07:27
  sanity and own sake and to move on.
• 1:07:32
  That was the first time that I actually told myself that I
• 1:07:37
  forgave them. Wow man, I bet that had to be
• 1:07:43
  really liberating for you. Like it?
• 1:07:46
  Like you were freed of this imprisonment in a way.
• 1:07:54
  Yeah, it was definitely freeing. And there's.
• 1:07:58
  So much. Oh, go.
• 1:08:01
  Ahead, Chipper actually gave me one of the acorns off of his
• 1:08:09
  shaker instrument because during the meditation it actually fell
• 1:08:15
  off. He said that was the first time
• 1:08:20
  he had one actually fall off during a session and he was
• 1:08:29
  quite happy on all the energy and stuff that he felt coming
• 1:08:35
  off during the meditation. And he actually gave me the
• 1:08:42
  acorn that fell off. Oh wow, what a tremendous gift,
• 1:08:50
  huh, from somebody that that is, is so in tune with their
• 1:08:55
  spirituality and so in tune that they want to help others like
• 1:09:00
  that. You know it.
• 1:09:03
  That's a blessing that the world has people like him willing to
• 1:09:08
  go out and do the work for others and help others like
• 1:09:13
  that. Yeah.
• 1:09:16
  I actually now get the chance to go to Ecuador for his six day
• 1:09:22
  retreat. You are.
• 1:09:26
  Yeah, for his plant Plant Medicine healing retreat on
• 1:09:32
  February 3rd. Dude, that's exciting.
• 1:09:37
  I bet you're thrilled, huh? Six day long.
• 1:09:41
  Wow, that'll. Be the first time out of the
• 1:09:45
  country and possible the first time flying.
• 1:09:51
  Yeah, 'cause you can't really. I mean, well, I guess you could
• 1:09:56
  like theoretically it's possible, I think to drive to
• 1:09:58
  Ecuador, I guess if you like, but that would be crazy.
• 1:10:03
  But yeah, flying into Ecuador and then being on a six day long
• 1:10:09
  plant medicine retreat. Wow, that's amazing.
• 1:10:15
  And he hosts these like so they're invitation only, I sound
• 1:10:19
  it sounds like, or they're Invitational or, or can you go
• 1:10:23
  somewhere out for something like that?
• 1:10:24
  Do you know? There's a application thing that
• 1:10:29
  you got to fill out. They also want to make sure
• 1:10:33
  they're getting the right people with the right purpose.
• 1:10:37
  Yeah. That can actually handle the
• 1:10:41
  medicine that they'll be providing.
• 1:10:45
  Right, yeah, that's that's a that's a lot of what Fire on the
• 1:10:52
  Mountain is about, too. It's a, it is a men's retreat,
• 1:10:57
  but it's a spiritual healing retreat and plant medicine
• 1:11:01
  isn't, you know, part of the whole thing.
• 1:11:02
  And we, we're, we're, we're getting at a point with the
• 1:11:06
  retreat each year. Now this is again, our 4th year
• 1:11:09
  doing it where it's starting to get attention, it's garnering
• 1:11:14
  interest and we want to make it, you know, accessible and, and
• 1:11:20
  bid again for the right reasons and for the, and with the right
• 1:11:22
  people. And going through that whole
• 1:11:26
  process, you know, getting an application out there, asking
• 1:11:29
  the right questions, vetting the applicants and all of that is,
• 1:11:32
  is extremely important in this type of work, in this type of
• 1:11:38
  service, you know. Yeah, most definitely.
• 1:11:44
  There's still, I think a lot of stigma maybe around this type of
• 1:11:50
  healing, you know what I mean? Like they're still the world's
• 1:11:54
  is is still a, a pretty backwards thinking sort of place
• 1:11:59
  and in many cases and in many ways, you know what I mean?
• 1:12:02
  Like, yeah, people can get ready.
• 1:12:07
  People can get pretty sketchy with with with stuff like this
• 1:12:11
  if you're not careful. So I think to be given, first of
• 1:12:16
  all, if you found out about it, went through the application and
• 1:12:19
  then, you know, applications can be approved or rejected.
• 1:12:24
  You know, it's just like any application, you put it in for a
• 1:12:26
  job. Just because you put the
• 1:12:29
  application in doesn't guarantee you a spot at the company that
• 1:12:32
  you applied a job for. Same thing with these types of
• 1:12:36
  events, right? So the fact if you know, you
• 1:12:39
  want the application process and then you get an invitation to,
• 1:12:43
  to come to the event because your application was approved,
• 1:12:46
  then congratulations, right, Great job for you to kind of
• 1:12:50
  been, you know, selected for that elite and prestigious spot
• 1:12:56
  to go out there to. And you know, that's where he's
• 1:12:58
  from as he's Ecuadorian, right? Family is his family is
• 1:13:04
  Ecuadorian, you know, so to be invited to someone's home, home
• 1:13:09
  state, home country, homeland, and, you know, be partake in
• 1:13:13
  something so, so meaningful and so sacred.
• 1:13:17
  That's, that's special. Man, that's really cool.
• 1:13:21
  As right now he actually lives there in Mexico, in the thinking
• 1:13:29
  of little community out in the forest.
• 1:13:34
  But it. Does come from Ecuador and where
• 1:13:39
  family's from he was UK. For a while, yeah.
• 1:13:47
  Then possibly found his new and have a home in Mexico not.
• 1:13:53
  Nice, That's so cool, man. You know, I don't know what the
• 1:13:59
  what the privacy contingents are and, and all that, but if the
• 1:14:04
  the opportunity presents itself next year after you go and if
• 1:14:09
  it's allowed and if you can talk about the experience and you
• 1:14:12
  want to come back on this show, I'll just, you know, open invite
• 1:14:16
  for you, man, if you are able to talk about it again, I don't
• 1:14:20
  know. Sometimes things like this are,
• 1:14:22
  are, you know, meant to be kept private for a good reason.
• 1:14:26
  And I would never want to infringe on that privacy or, or,
• 1:14:29
  or look to get stuff that is meant to be kept in a closed
• 1:14:34
  circle environment. So with that in mind, if the
• 1:14:38
  opportunity does present itself and you'd ever want to come back
• 1:14:41
  and talk about the experience, you'd be welcome to come here
• 1:14:43
  and talk with me about it. I'd love to hear it.
• 1:14:46
  I think others do. Yeah, I would have to talk with
• 1:14:52
  Shipper and other the other shamans.
• 1:14:56
  Right. Because and there being a shaman
• 1:15:02
  doing the medicine work and chipper or the life coach,
• 1:15:10
  that's country's main focus right now is being more of a
• 1:15:13
  life coach. It's great.
• 1:15:19
  He has his four pillars that he calls OP that he works with and
• 1:15:27
  people that want to work with him.
• 1:15:29
  He will work through that system and I hope guide him through
• 1:15:35
  everything and talk with him and whatnot.
• 1:15:41
  Heck yeah, yeah. And I'm sure there's, I mean,
• 1:15:44
  I'll, I'll, I'll be posting thing in the, in our and the
• 1:15:48
  podcast show notes for the listeners.
• 1:15:50
  You know who we're talking about, what he's doing, his
• 1:15:53
  work. I'm sure he's got a website or
• 1:15:56
  social media that, you know, you guys can go and check out to
• 1:15:59
  learn more about what it is that we're doing.
• 1:16:01
  But obviously it's, it's all based around healing, you know,
• 1:16:06
  and we all need healing at some point, sometimes more, sometimes
• 1:16:13
  less, but at some point we all need that healing.
• 1:16:17
  And I am 100% all for, you know, plant medicine, holistic
• 1:16:25
  healing, nature healing, right? Whatever, whatever can be
• 1:16:31
  administered that comes from the earth where we come from as
• 1:16:34
  well, by and large. And I know there's a there, you
• 1:16:40
  know, everything has a purpose and there's, there's, there's a
• 1:16:43
  reason why people need what they need.
• 1:16:46
  But, you know, for by and large, I, I really hate the
• 1:16:49
  Pharmaceutical industry for what they've done to humanity.
• 1:16:55
  You know what I mean? Like, sure, there's been some
• 1:16:57
  good that's come from, you know, synthetic drugs, but, but I
• 1:17:03
  mean, I, I feel like we wouldn't be at a point of needing these
• 1:17:06
  things had we not strayed so far from where we come from.
• 1:17:12
  What is what we are as, you know, as, as a, as a human
• 1:17:15
  species and, and as the living creatures that we are.
• 1:17:19
  And we share space and with, with other living creatures.
• 1:17:21
  You know, we've, we've, we've come so far away from our
• 1:17:24
  natural selves that, you know, the, the, the unnatural
• 1:17:28
  synthetic things have been, have become so prevalent.
• 1:17:33
  And I just, I hate what the Pharmaceutical industry has
• 1:17:35
  become, you know, that it's, instead of looking for the
• 1:17:39
  actual healing, it's well, let's give you this pill, let's give
• 1:17:42
  you this drug, whatever to just mask what the real problem is.
• 1:17:49
  And then and then and then it creates another problem in the
• 1:17:52
  in the process, you know? Yeah, they don't even look for
• 1:17:56
  the root problem anymore. There's diagnosis to prescribe a
• 1:18:02
  pill and send you out the door. Yeah, you know, and that's not
• 1:18:07
  help, that's not really helping people.
• 1:18:10
  You know, again, it's putting a Band-Aid on it, stopping the
• 1:18:14
  bleeding kind of thing for the moment.
• 1:18:15
  But it doesn't, it doesn't address the real root cause.
• 1:18:19
  And that's what I love about what folks like shippers are
• 1:18:22
  doing. And you know, what Fire on the
• 1:18:24
  Mountain is meant to for a men's retreat and what not.
• 1:18:27
  Like there's, there's work being done in, in various communities
• 1:18:31
  out here that I see now that are realizing the importance of, you
• 1:18:37
  know, this type of medicine, this type of healing.
• 1:18:41
  Obviously, you know, shippering involves music as well.
• 1:18:44
  So there's rhythm and there there's healing and rhythm.
• 1:18:49
  There's all of that type of thing to be, you know,
• 1:18:52
  considered as well. But I just love seeing more of
• 1:18:57
  that and I and I support that more than anything that, you
• 1:19:02
  know, the Pharmaceutical industry can provide.
• 1:19:06
  Again, not to say that there's nothing that you know, that
• 1:19:08
  there aren't things about it and, and in it that have been
• 1:19:12
  beneficial and, and can help people.
• 1:19:15
  But you know, why did we have to get to this point for that to be
• 1:19:18
  the thing that works right, is what I'm saying?
• 1:19:22
  Yeah, we just lost our connection to nature.
• 1:19:25
  It is just the main point. Yeah, now I've been having, I've
• 1:19:34
  had, I've had a great conversation with you about all
• 1:19:37
  this and I appreciate you wanting to come on here to to
• 1:19:43
  enlighten us. It sounds like anybody who gets
• 1:19:45
  the chance to experience this wherever obviously, you know,
• 1:19:48
  Hyland is, is on tour now they're they're all over the
• 1:19:51
  world, but but they're, you know, hitting certain key
• 1:19:55
  markets right now, I think. And so if this podcast gets out
• 1:19:58
  and wherever it is, you know, if you're in the area.
• 1:20:02
  That Highland is coming through, Nicholas is offering workshops
• 1:20:06
  or whatever. Would you recommend people to
• 1:20:08
  take take advantage of what he's offering?
• 1:20:12
  If if if if they can. Yeah, they're between the Moo
• 1:20:16
  Shook and even those drumming circles that you all know, Rich,
• 1:20:25
  I think I saw with those. You have to bring your own drum
• 1:20:30
  with that. Well, it's just finding the
• 1:20:34
  rhythm and dealing with connecting with other people and
• 1:20:39
  the rhythms and all that. They've seen videos with that
• 1:20:44
  and definitely too with the Mushiuk.
• 1:20:48
  It was worth the experience. So it sounds like you would
• 1:20:54
  recommend it or would recommend type of thing?
• 1:20:58
  Yeah, yeah, definitely sounds like that.
• 1:21:02
  With. What's that again?
• 1:21:06
  That is awesome to work with. Oh, yeah.
• 1:21:11
  Well, that's a plus. You know, I mean, obviously
• 1:21:13
  somebody who's wanting to do this for the reasons they're
• 1:21:15
  doing it, it would, it would, it would shock me to to hear that
• 1:21:19
  they're difficult to work with. And so that's, that's a plus.
• 1:21:23
  That's good. And you'll be able to tell if
• 1:21:27
  someone's doing it because they actually truly love that process
• 1:21:32
  and there's someone that's trying to do it just for cash or
• 1:21:35
  the attention. Oh yeah, yeah, the real, the
• 1:21:40
  real ones, the genuine ones, it they're easy to spot.
• 1:21:45
  And the fake and charlatans are are easy to spot too.
• 1:21:50
  You're gonna know real people when you encounter real people,
• 1:21:53
  genuine hearts, folks out here just trying to, like you say,
• 1:21:58
  make a buck or or whatever are they're out there for sure.
• 1:22:03
  I mean, they're, they're, they're definitely out there
• 1:22:06
  fortunately, but they definitely can.
• 1:22:09
  They they, they set themselves out pretty easily for the most
• 1:22:13
  part. So anything else you wanted to
• 1:22:17
  go over Beaver that we didn't cover on from your experience
• 1:22:21
  that you wanted to come on here to talk about or maybe think you
• 1:22:23
  covered everything? All right, I think there was
• 1:22:31
  pretty much everything. It was very emotional time too.
• 1:22:37
  With High along. They actually didn't want to
• 1:22:41
  leave there. And on the morning of that, I
• 1:22:46
  actually had to leave. I actually broke down in tears,
• 1:22:50
  'cause I just did not want to leave that atmosphere.
• 1:22:54
  And there's all the people that were there.
• 1:22:59
  Yeah, I definitely can relate, if not necessarily with high
• 1:23:04
  lung type things, but just I, I know what it's like to be in the
• 1:23:10
  shared company of like minded people and then have that
• 1:23:16
  experience, have a period of time that it lasts, you know,
• 1:23:21
  whether it's a retreat or a, a, a, a, a ritual or whatever, you
• 1:23:25
  know, So you go, you do the thing and then you separate from
• 1:23:30
  everybody physically and, and go back to your respective normal,
• 1:23:34
  quote UN quote normal lives that that separation can be, you
• 1:23:40
  know, can be pretty tough sometimes, you know, and very
• 1:23:44
  emotional. I I, I can definitely relate to
• 1:23:46
  that. And, and one thing I like to
• 1:23:50
  think about during those moments, right, is, you know,
• 1:23:55
  this is just a moment. This is a, this is a temporary
• 1:23:57
  thing. We'll be back, you know, we'll
• 1:23:59
  see each other again. And then I also remember
• 1:24:03
  everything that I learned from that moment, everything that was
• 1:24:06
  given to me, the gifts that I received through the ceremonies
• 1:24:10
  or through the conversations, you know, all of that stuff that
• 1:24:15
  I got to be a part of were gifts and leaving and going back to my
• 1:24:21
  normal life. I, I take those gifts with me
• 1:24:25
  and then I share those gifts with the right people.
• 1:24:29
  So. Yeah.
• 1:24:31
  You know, I, I feel like it's the same thing, you know, like
• 1:24:34
  you went, you've had an experience, you've had multiple
• 1:24:36
  experiences, you've had, you've probably had experiences that
• 1:24:40
  other people who you know, are, would, would, would give their
• 1:24:45
  left, not for, you know what I mean, to have an experience like
• 1:24:48
  that. They, they would probably feel
• 1:24:49
  like, man, if I could just have that experience.
• 1:24:51
  So you were given so many gifts of, of the moment of the
• 1:24:56
  experiences, and then you now have gotten the chance and the
• 1:24:59
  opportunity to share those gifts with others, right?
• 1:25:02
  What have you learned? Well, you can help others with
• 1:25:04
  maybe perhaps like it's, that's the beauty of it, you know what
• 1:25:08
  I mean? So I, I definitely relate to
• 1:25:10
  what you're saying about being emotional when it comes time to
• 1:25:13
  leave. There's something to be feel
• 1:25:17
  like there's, there's also a feeling of eagerness and, and
• 1:25:20
  empowering feeling empowered after such events to then go
• 1:25:26
  forth and sort of be that inspiration and that, that light
• 1:25:31
  for others, right? Live our lives and do what we've
• 1:25:33
  got to do for ourselves. But then don't be stingy about
• 1:25:35
  it. Share the wealth, share the
• 1:25:37
  gifts that we've been given. I think that's the biggest, the
• 1:25:42
  biggest and probably most important thing about these
• 1:25:45
  experiences. You know, yes, we get it in the
• 1:25:47
  moment, but the moment lives on in different ways, you know?
• 1:25:53
  And after the first one, when I got back in at work, I was more
• 1:26:00
  or less lost for a while. That's when I also found a noise
• 1:26:06
  mentality podcast now that talking to Hannah more 'cause
• 1:26:17
  she was actually part of my tribe at that point now, and I
• 1:26:21
  actually call her my sister now. Yeah, we are.
• 1:26:27
  For being just that close to me and just able to speak and talk
• 1:26:35
  to her about what's on my mind and what I'm going through and
• 1:26:39
  whatnot, that's OK. But my person to go to on I need
• 1:26:47
  mental help or whatnot. Everybody needs that man, like
• 1:26:56
  everybody needs their person that they can feel comfortable
• 1:26:59
  going to and kind of bearing their yourselves to right
• 1:27:04
  offloading a bit, letting their hair down.
• 1:27:07
  Everybody needs that. And that's what that's what a
• 1:27:09
  tribe is there for. I think is, is to uphold,
• 1:27:13
  uplift, support, share in these experiences, sharing these
• 1:27:18
  moments right when you know, when 1 member suffers and all
• 1:27:22
  the members suffer, when one member is joyful, all the
• 1:27:24
  members are joyful. There's this shared sense of
• 1:27:28
  everything. You know, you need me for
• 1:27:31
  something, I'm there for you. And again, we've, we've as a, as
• 1:27:38
  a whole, humanity has has gotten so far away from that man.
• 1:27:44
  You know, everybody's kind of up there doing their own thing and
• 1:27:46
  living their own life and, and forgetting the importance of
• 1:27:51
  what it means to have a tribe. Doesn't have to be big, you
• 1:27:55
  know, but just your people, the people you can rely on, who can
• 1:27:58
  rely on you, you know, and, and that's what that's what I love
• 1:28:05
  about heathenry, but also just what high lung has really helped
• 1:28:11
  to cultivate and enforce again, with people is, you know, you
• 1:28:14
  don't have to be heathen to get into this mentality about it.
• 1:28:16
  It's, it's, it's more about the spirituality, it's more about
• 1:28:19
  the real essence of it all. But it definitely fits into a
• 1:28:23
  heathen worldview or some heathens worldviews.
• 1:28:27
  And I love what what they've been able to do and help with,
• 1:28:32
  you know, people getting that, of taking that approach to
• 1:28:37
  things, you know? Yeah, I'm all stabbed.
• 1:28:41
  Yeah, well, man, I had a really great time.
• 1:28:45
  I think this is about time for us to wrap it up.
• 1:28:48
  Again, thank you so very much for for coming on here and
• 1:28:52
  sharing more about the the Moushuk, the Rappe ceremony,
• 1:28:57
  this the everything that you've gotten a chance to experience.
• 1:29:00
  I wish you all the best of luck going forward with everything
• 1:29:03
  that you deal with just day-to-day.
• 1:29:06
  Hopefully that everything you've experienced helps with
• 1:29:08
  everything. And I, I wish you all the luck
• 1:29:10
  with that. And yeah, just thank you again
• 1:29:13
  for for being willing to come on here and and share a bit of your
• 1:29:16
  life with the rest of the world. And thank you for having me.
• 1:29:21
  Oh. Man, it's my pleasure.
• 1:29:23
  Anytime you want to come back, you know you got my contact
• 1:29:26
  info. If something comes up that you
• 1:29:28
  want to talk about that you think would be good for a show,
• 1:29:31
  just again, let me know. Shoot me an e-mail, We'll we'll
• 1:29:33
  figure something out. Will do.
• 1:29:37
  Very cool. Stay on for just a minute after
• 1:29:40
  I get everybody else here listening, watching, signed off
• 1:29:42
  on. I'll touch base with you in just
• 1:29:44
  a moment, so don't go anywhere. But for everybody else who is
• 1:29:48
  here listening and watching, hope you enjoyed the show today.
• 1:29:50
  If you did, let us know down in the comments if you have the
• 1:29:54
  comment ability. I know Spotify now does.
• 1:29:56
  But if you're listening elsewhere on other audio
• 1:29:59
  platforms, give the show a like, upvote it, download it, do
• 1:30:02
  whatever thing that you're listening to it on calls for and
• 1:30:07
  and and some form of support. It's greatly appreciated.
• 1:30:09
  Check the show notes for all the ways that you can support
• 1:30:12
  Midgard musings in the podcast. As you know, our production
• 1:30:15
  here, anything that you see down there in terms of our sponsors
• 1:30:20
  for Fire on the Mountain this year, check them out, follow
• 1:30:23
  them, support them in any way that you can.
• 1:30:27
  And thank you again to Beaver for being my guest this week.
• 1:30:29
  It's been a lot of fun and I had a great time chatting with you.
• 1:30:33
  Thank you. Hell yeah, man.
• 1:30:36
  And thank you for being a patron on Patreon too, man.
• 1:30:38
  This is one of the few times that I get a patron from Patreon
• 1:30:42
  on the show. All of the folks that are
• 1:30:44
  patrons, I, I greatly appreciate you.
• 1:30:46
  You're the, the grease behind the wheels that keep this engine
• 1:30:50
  moving and it's smooth and great and I appreciate that.
• 1:30:54
  So thank you for that level of support.
• 1:30:57
  So yeah, everybody, thank you so much again for your ongoing and
• 1:31:01
  constant support and hope you enjoyed the show.
• 1:31:04
  Until we talk to each other again, may the gods continue to
• 1:31:06
  notice you.