“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” ~ Carl Jung
This past weekend I held a full-day retreat in the shamanic ceremony with sacred medicine for such a willing and vulnerable group of people. The theme of the day was: ready or not, here we come. Whether they wanted to or not, the underworld of hidden wounds were brought out of the shadows and into the light.
Myth, Symbol & Medicine
Throughout the ceremony, as music played, and a slowed down time stickied the room, there were very clear messengers that the journey into the underworld was afoot.
Swarms of flies entered the ceremony space. Fire ants burst through the balcony into the fire pit. And a golden scarab, an age-old Egyptian symbol of death and rebirth, settled near the Buddha on the altar.
Throughout the journey, the participants were invited to use a shamanic map to explore their core wounding.
To do this, they had to enter the Chamber of Wounds and the Chamber of Contracts, where their deepest shadows hid along with the long forgotten agreements their soul had made to perpetuate these wounds into the present.
In the Chamber of Grace, they were invited to witness the part of their soul that had been abandoned in order for the wound to take control.
And finally, in the Chamber of Gifts, there was an opportunity to retrieve the gift/lesson from the wounding. Like an earthworm emerging from the compost, a new relationship could now be formed with the pain. The pain now was able to transcend the personal layer and into the transpersonal.
The Law of Entrainment and Collective Healing
When we gather as a group, and fully claim the pain stories that have been suppressed deep in our hearts, we are resurrected knowing that these stories do not belong solely to ourselves, but that they belong to the condition of being human.
Through this realization, the shared understanding of our suffering becomes the pathway towards liberation and peace.
In physics, the law of entrainment states that when separate systems fall into rhythm with each other, their vibrations naturally synchronize. Similar to when pendulum clocks swinging at different rates are placed next to each other; they will eventually start swinging at the same rate. In psychology, the principle of co-regulation works in the same way; just as in the example of a child getting calm from a more emotionally stable adult.
In this past ceremony, the raw grief or anger that anyone felt at any given point in time was not only felt for the person experiencing it. The personal wound became the collective medicine.
Healing can start off as a private journey. However, healing is ultimately about how we develop our ability to relate to others more harmoniously. When we can openly share within a group field, the impact of the healing work grows exponentially.
We Are Not Alone: The Collective Quandary of Our Suffering
The group arrived from different walks of life, cultures and life stories, yet what emerged was deeply, universally human.
How do we move through the weight of deep betrayal and to forgive the unforgivable?
How do we make the challenging choice of leaving behind loved ones knowing that they will hurt, yet in time, trusting that they will heal on their own without your help.
How do we relinquish the role the unsustainable martyr who carries the weight of everyone else’s problems instead of taking care of themselves first?
How do we find the courage to use our voice to ask for what we need and want out of life, so we don’t shrivel away in the despair of wasting our precious potential?
How do we let go of generations of pain and suffering and summon our self-worth into the forefront of our being?
The answer is simple, we must experience the storm of the pain fully, and patiently wait for the a new dawn to appear. No amount of analysis will save you from your pain.
The Retrograde Sky as Our Witness
Interestingly enough, when I look at the astrology post-ceremony, it accurately reflects the themes that have come through.
Uranus is retrograde in Gemini (breaking the silence to express the Truth no matter how damning it is).
Neptune is currently retrograde in Pisces (dissolving illusions around buried secrets).
Saturn is retrograde in Pisces (old contracts needing release) and Pluto in Aquarius (emerging from the death of the old self).
On top of that, we recently entered a Mercury retrograde in both Sagittarius and Scorpio, which is a further reflection of articulating the repressed secrets hidden within We are in the throes of the Scorpion and the Scarab.
This is the perfect time to dig deep and face the hidden truths that are revealing themselves anyway.
What was consciously or unconsciously bottled up demands release. And if you are not actively releasing what demands release, guess what… ready or not, here we go.
The body remembers what the mind cannot hold. It’s going to come out anyway.
So isn’t it better to dig it out yourself, than let it be ripped out of you?
I’ve heard so many stories recently of “healthy” people who eat all the right foods and don’t smoke or drink, yet they are still undergoing challenging illnesses.
Many people are using healthy routines to establish discipline, but unfortunately in doing so, they are also trying to use them to bury their emotions
There is no way out of this, but through the tunnel of true feeling. Stop analysing your pain, and let it course through you.
The murmurs within the body are not random. They are signals and the portals through which we step into embodiment of our soul’s truth.
The Shadow’s Call
If you’re experiencing some level of injustice, betrayal, shame, indecision, suppressed silence or inexplicable fear, you don’t have to go it alone.
You can join others who are on the path of howling from the wound.
If reading this resonates in your bones, it is very likely, you are carrying a wound in your body.
The collective field of ceremony, witnessing, and safe space is medicine. The flies, the scarab, and the creatures of the underworld are guardians of resurrection.
- Nov 23 – Shamanic Breathwork Journey with Live Cello (click here)
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May 28, 2026 – June 4, 2026 Bhutan Awaken Spirit Retreat (click here) Early bird -$500 USD sign up before Dec 1, 2026 and get a 90 min free Human Design Soul Coaching Session for yourself, relationship, or business)
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- 1:1 Shamanic Expansion Mentorship (apply here)
“The underworld isn’t a place of punishment — it is the womb of truth. You descend not to suffer, but to remember who you were before the pain.”
Scorpio Kisses,
Johnson Chong