video:
Lindsey Swope and Jan talk about working with spirits of nature. 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/live/TvFJd525d8o?si=OFEDCbsdvuQGNxe7

Audio:
Interview with Jan about working with Spirits of Nature. (Starts at 5 minute mark) 2020.

“In sessions with Jan, I have been able to access concerns that I knew were bothering me, but had had difficulty working with. Jan’s confidence in energy work makes it possible to work on a very deep level, and to rely on the process.  He is genuinely a healer.” — Theresa Nuccio

I’ve been following a shamanic path for the last 30 years with an emphasis on personal healing and working with spirits of nature. I have worked in 4 health clinics that specialized in diagnosing and treating chronic illnesses. I was wrestling with my own health issues. While I was working at health clinics, I was studying hypnotherapy, reiki, Barbara Brennan energy work, herbalism, somatic trauma work and pretty much anything I could get my hands on.

And in the end, I became the healer that I needed when I was disabled. I found shamanic healing work to have surprisingly practical and grounded results.

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In 2015, I was diagnosed with a debilitating illness after many years of being sick. The medical treatment would be arduous. I wanted to address the root causes to this illness, so I studied with spiritists in Brazil and participated in ayahuasca ceremonies. From my experiences here, it became clear that I needed to go back and get a solid foundational training in shamanism.

I completed a 3 year training program with Michelle McKinney in Seattle, and I went to be the instructor’s assistant and completing advanced studies. I learned the discipline, spiritual hygiene, how to set up a solid container, vetting, and developing better relationships with spirit helpers. I have trained in soul retrieval, curse unraveling, thought form unraveling, de-possession, extraction work, house and space clearing, ancestor work and mediumship.

I’ve been one of the main organizers for the Fairy & Human Relations Congress (for the last 20 years), which is an event in the North Cascades which is organized around the question “How do we work with the intelligences of nature”. This gathering goes very deep.

I’ve taught at Fairy Congress, Plants enChant (which is where herbalism meets shamanism), NW Herbal Fair and at Breitenbush Hotsprings

I have taught shamanic navigation, lead plant ceremonies, taught weather shamanism and plant communication, have lead vision quests and done Reiki attunements. I lead shamanic activism groups for healing trauma, psychopomp, and working with weather.

I am grateful to those I studied with: Michelle McKinney, Betsy Bergstrom, Shoshana Avree, Janine Ellison, Nan Moss and John Lawrence.