Dear Friends,

If you ever get a chance to cruise up the Inside Passage from Seattle to Alaska, Mark and I highly recommend it. Our ship was the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Sea. It is a bit large for our taste, but comfortable and with decent food. Cruising at 19 knots allows passengers to watch the days lengthen as you sail north, and then shrink again as you return.

Besides getting to hang out with great teachers such as Denise Linn, Lynn Andrews and many others on our Spirit of Alaska Conference, the highlight of the cruise was when our ship sailed up a narrow fjord to within a few hundred feet of a giant glacier. We couldn't get any closer because of the many icebergs of all shapes and sizes, and every hue of blue you could imagine. There was a spectacularly explosive calving while the captain expertly maneuvered the ship so that we could spend a few hours studying the phenomenon of the glacier, its surrounding cliffs, and the many seals with babies perched on the bergs.

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BCAnother highlight for me was Victoria, BC and the fabulous Butchart Gardens, which lived up to my expectations. I thought it would be a great place to do a healing ceremony, so we found a knoll near some beautiful totem poles and circled up. Just as we started the visualization to co-create the new world (from the journey I did at the Chichi Nitza pyramid conference, winter solstice, 2012), loudspeakers blared the sound check for the evening's fireworks musical entertainment. At first I was so taken aback I didn't think we could do it, but we had to keep going, and it became magical yet filled with hilarity as the music seemed to crest and slow according to the words of the journey, and we realized that we needn't take ourselves too seriously in order to make the magic work…

After strolling through the exquisite gardens, we went for High Tea at the Empress Palace Hotel, a gorgeous Victorian landmark with great tea and delicious delicacies, including the sumptuous strawberries that completed our ceremonial journey.

If you ever get to Skagway, visit the museum, very interesting! It has a gift shop that beats the tourist traps downtown.

I turned 72 on the day we disembarked and headed for home, sated from our cruise and equally from our visit with our grandchildren for a couple of days on our way to the cruise.

Next stop Fare Thee Well to the Grateful Dead tonight in California. What a long strange trip it's been, and I look forward to seeing old friends and hearing great music, although it's never been quite the same without Jerry. My daughter tells me that Phish's lead guitarist, Trey, will make a replacement worth hearing, so I expect my cheeks to be hurting from grinning like the good old days…

Nicki at Altared Space, OCF 2014

Oregon Country Fair

The only event that has ever compared to the Dead for me is the Oregon Country Fair, which is happening July 10-12, and in which I will be participating in the Opening ceremony Friday, giving a talk and initiation and demonstration on Personal and Planetary Alchemical Healing on Saturday at 2pm, and of course participating at Altared Space when I can. I'm out of breath just thinking about it all, and the summer has just begun.

Altared Space is growing and changing and will have many features that are new and exciting. This year completes the five elements altars, and we will keep a sacred fire going all weekend. Hopefully there will be more space for Altared Healings and advice, and there are other exciting rearrangements now that we have enlarged to include the space on the river side. Please come spend some magical, sacred time with us during the weekend. Our meditation space is a great place to unwind from the intensity of the Fair.

Personal and Planetary Alchemical Healing Intensive Retreat

August 12-18, Eugene, Oregon

With grand kids coming from New York right after the Fair, I decided to put off my yearly Personal and Planetary Alchemical Healing Intensive until August 12-18, ending on Mark and my quarter century anniversary. This retreat will be sprinkled with guest appearances from other Alchemical Healing teachers, Indigo Rønlov, Jeya Aerenson and Dea Lisk.

We are inviting anyone who needs healing to join us for demonstrations and practice work, so if you live close enough to Eugene or know anyone else who does and who needs healing, please let us know what your needs are and when you are available, and we will try to fit you in. If there are enough, we will do a healing clinic on the 17th. (All demonstrations and practice by appointment only)

This class is open to beginners as well as advanced and professional healing practitioners, and will cover the most important initiations from the entire body of work as well as lots of practice time so that regardless of what level you come in on, you will be comfortable to include Alchemical Healing in your medicine bag of healing tools.

Our text books are Alchemical Healing, A Guide to Spiritual, Physical and Transformational Medicine, Power Animal Meditations, and Planetary Healing, Spirit Medicine for Global Transformation (Co-authored with my husband, Mark Hallert.) It is important to have read Alchemical Healing, although we will be working with all three. If you are coming to class and want to buy the trilogy, let us know when you register and we will cover the shipping if you buy them from us (to anywhere in the states only) and include a 10% discount.

Learn more about Alchemical Healing here… Online Registration here…

Egypt

There is one place for a man and perhaps a room for a couple on the October tour to Egypt with Sandra Corcoran and Indigo Rønlov: Shamanic Egyptian Alchemy in the Cauldron of Possibilities You can sign up for further details and an application here…

Our December tour is full, so the next chance is April 21 to May 5, 2016 with Normandi Ellis and Indigo Rønlov. It will be unique and transformative. After almost two decades of teaching the Egyptian Mysteries and leading tours with Normandi, and all the work that Indigo has done studying, teaching, and assisting me, I wish I could go because it will be all new and filled with the unique magic of Egypt and its glorious pantheon.

My new book in collaboration with Normandi, The Union of Isis and Thoth, Magic and Initiatory Practices of Ancient Egypt will be going to the typsetters next week, and will be ready for distribution in late November. Check out Normandi's contributions to my site, www.ShamanicJourneys.com as well as her site and Face Book page, and Indigo's as well. Then contact us here for details and to request an application for their tour.

Luke and Mark play Ping-Pong. Click to see videoBlue after ballet recitalWileyPlease pray for peace throughout the world and here at home. It's a very strange time, with lots of chaos and weird communications as well as violence almost everywhere. Sometimes I feel like I live in a magical bubble of beauty and peace, and I wish that for everyone.

Grandkids

Meanwhile, I'll close with a few recent photos and videos of some of our grandkids. We visited Elizabeth and Ben on our way to the cruise and took them a ping pong set. The video of Luke, who is five, shows how much he learned after about an hour. In the photo of Blue, who just turned four, she had just finished her ballet recital and was accepting her accolades like the little queen she is. The photo of our newest, Wiley, is a month or two old, but I've been having trouble with my photos and it's the only one I have. I was there to receive him when he returned home from his birth, and I can't wait to see him. The most descriptive words I've heard are “chill,” “sweet,” and growing so fast that they are already having a difficult time carrying him! Life is good, as they and the three others are all happy, healthy, and being brought up well!!! What more can we ask for?

Last words of advice: Think of five new things to be grateful for when you go to sleep at night and again when you wake up each morning.

Blessings and love to you all,
Nicki Scully