Saying Yes to A Mystery
There are moments in life when you realize you weren’t just studying something — you were becoming it.
My first Level One training with LightSong School of 21st Century Shamanism and Energy Medicine, and Jan Engle Smith, was not ordinary. None of my studies ever felt ordinary. From the beginning, something in me knew: this is home, “this is the way” (to quote Mandelorium)
On the first day of class, Jan shared that she had unexpectedly brought healing tools she normally didn’t travel with, including her eagle feather, because Spirit told her to. By the second day, she could see I was carrying something intrusive in my field. During lunch, she cleared a possessive spirit for me on the spot. Her eyes glowed indigo, and she told me it was Isis. I got chills.
That moment changed everything.
I didn’t fully understand what I was stepping into when I signed up for Level Two. I just kept saying yes. Yes to every training. Yes to every advanced class. Yes to every initiation I would receive through my journeys.
Three years in, I realized the curriculum was training me to be a practitioner. And that I was excelling at it. Everything made eerie sense to me, and I was a natural.
By that point, I had unknowingly completed most of what was required for Practitioner Certification. I continued into the advanced studies and earn a bachelor’s degree in shamanism. To complete that degree, I committed to four years of leadership with the Vision Quest.
Leadership felt natural. I first supported the North while serving on the East team. The following year, I was asked to step fully into North leadership and help run the Vision Quest.
Then COVID happened.
The school shut down in-person gatherings, and we were faced with an impossible question: could a week-long Vision Quest be translated into a virtual space?
Yes! So I got to work.
What emerged was unexpectedly powerful — proof that ceremony and transformation are not limited by geography. Spirit moves across distance. Across screens. Across the globe.
Soon after, I was invited to join the Council of the school. At the same time, there were conversations about retirement and transition. I accelerated my studies, determined to complete my bachelor’s degree — even though I had nearly finished the master’s track.
One thing became clear during all those years: I was learning while experiencing. I took meticulous notes. I showed up everywhere I could. It felt as if I were becoming a living archive — a databank for these teachings.
During advanced studies and my journeys to Isis, initiations began unfolding. I didn’t share them with anyone. Not metaphorical ones. Direct experiences. Taking me to the brink of my sanity at times.
By 2022, as the school began closing its doors, I launched my first course: Sacred Sovereignty.
In 2024, former students began asking if I would teach Soul Retrieval and help them complete parts of their training. I brought this to my teachers. I journeyed. I listened. And started to teach soul retrieval.
That same year, I realized I wasn’t just expanding curriculum with my next course...
I was building an online school of spiritual mastery.
A month later, the word Mystery dropped in front of it.
Mystery School.
When that word arrived, I felt a surge of energy — not ambition, not ego — but invitation. A calling. A remembering.
I didn’t say yes immediately. There was personal transformation required of me first. Initiatory energies don’t just apply to students. They refine the teacher as well.
But eventually, fully and consciously, I said yes. And I started sharing it within my inner circles.
And I knew one thing clearly:
I cannot — and do not want to — do this alone.
Why the Mystery School Exists
The Mystery School is important to me because I believe deeply that human beings deserve to experience their own brilliance and wholeness.
That is sovereignty.
Not control.
Not hierarchy.
Not performance.
Wholeness.
This school is about restoring the lost pieces of our spiritual heritage — the parts that teach discernment, energetic literacy, spiritual safety, and direct relationship with Spirit.
It is about empowering individuals to stand in their own authority.
And yes — my vision is large.
I see this school becoming international. I see it becoming well-respected. I see it offering a model of training that is rigorous, ethical, initiatory, and deeply honoring our human life as much as our transcendent spirit.
But vision alone isn’t enough.
It takes community.
It takes collaboration.
It takes integrity.
And it takes people willing to commit to anchoring in and tending to the container with me.
My Role Within It
As the access point for the teachings, I feel honored to serve as the vessel through which this mystery school takes form. It is a privilege to steward something that feels bigger than me.
I am a visionary by nature. I think futuristically. I see the long arc — and I can also come down quickly into the present moment to work with what’s actually in front of us.
I am strategic. Flexible. Quick to pivot when new information arrives. I care deeply about integrity and collaboration. I am committed to empowering others rather than creating dependence.
And I care profoundly about self-development, my own and everyone’s within this field of the mystery school.
If You Are Walking With Us
As a student, teacher, or council member…
Saying yes to a Mystery School is not small.
There may be initiatory energies that arise for you.
There may be personal transformation.
There may be moments that stretch you.
As the school grows, the energetic container will grow. And so will we.
With deep gratitude, I acknowledge those who walked before me.
To my teachers and mentors:
Jan Engle Smith
Karen Hefner
Pamela Rico
To those who helped carry shamanic practice into the Western world:
Michael Harner
Sandra Ingerman
Betsy Bergstrom
Paul Gohst Horse, Terry Kempt, Melody Allen
To my Indigenous ancestors of Creek Nation.
To my European ancestors of German and English lineage.
To those who have walked these lands before me.
To the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde and to all First Nations peoples whose presence and stewardship continue.
My gratitude runs deep. Without you, I would not be here.
I stand here because of your teachings, your endurance, your devotion, and your wisdom.
May I honor what you carried by evolving it with integrity, humility, and care.
Thank you.