Deborah Hanekamp’s Followers (1)

Deborah Hanekamp

Born

The United States

Website

https://www.mamamedicine.com/

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My birth chart tells me I am a Scorpio sun, Cancer Moon and Leo Rising.

I am American-born, and a DNA test tells me I descend from mostly Irish, then a travelers blend of (in order of percentage) Sicilian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Scandinavian, North African and West Asian, the rest of what shows up is in negligible traces.

I was raised in New England as a cult level strict evangelical northern baptist, this is very purposeful because it is where I was first introduced to Ritual Baths and where I heard Jesus’s message of the power of love which deeply resonated with me. The rest of the religion made no sense to me, the people were so wound up, tucked in and depressed, women were shamed, even as a child could clearly see that my My birth chart tells me I am a Scorpio sun, Cancer Moon and Leo Rising.

I am American-born, and a DNA test tells me I descend from mostly Irish, then a travelers blend of (in order of percentage) Sicilian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Scandinavian, North African and West Asian, the rest of what shows up is in negligible traces.

I was raised in New England as a cult level strict evangelical northern baptist, this is very purposeful because it is where I was first introduced to Ritual Baths and where I heard Jesus’s message of the power of love which deeply resonated with me. The rest of the religion made no sense to me, the people were so wound up, tucked in and depressed, women were shamed, even as a child could clearly see that my church was misinterpreting Jesus’s message. When I was twelve and my family fell apart, I moved away from that religion and reached more toward my spirituality in a mystical and undefined way.

Because there was no university for what I wanted to study I had to find my own way. In my teens I began practicing zen meditation, studied and taught Hatha Yoga and Ayurveda with a wild and powerful woman named Ifat, I traveled back and forth to Thailand where I studied sound, crystal and energy healing with a beautiful woman named Ella. By the time I was 24 I had already built up a solid following for my work and opened up my first brick and mortar business where I facilitated Medicine Readings, Moon Ceremonies and taught Yoga and Reiki.

I had the honor of finding myself in an eight year Vegetalismo (plant medicine) apprenticeship going back and forth from New York to the Peruvian Amazon within what is called Mestizo Shamanism. I spoke ok Spanish and had two consecutive teachers who spoke pretty decent English, one light, one shadow, who out of respect for their privacy and safety I do not name. My first teacher told me that the line is called Mestizo (mixed) because during the Spanish Inquisition the tribes were forbidden in horrible ways from speaking their language and engaging in their practices, later when it felt somewhat safer, they collaborated what was left of their languages with Spanish and Quechua, a language from an entirely different part of the country in the Andes. This is how their beautiful Icaros (healing songs) were formed. They resiliently, reclaimed, reformed and recreated a culture now known as Mestizo. Icaros carry a very powerful healing vibration when you have dieted (spent time fasting for 10 days to three months) with the plant you are singing to. When you come for a Medicine Reading Ceremony I sometimes tell you about some of the plants I dieted with. As they become more and more integrated into my energy field I sing Icaros less and less. These beautiful songs and healing baths are the only elements from that entire eight years that I keep with me because I know the plants and the plants know me deeply and singing to and bathing in nature is simply how I learned how to heal and what heals me.

Before awareness around cultural appropriation was more widely acknowledged, I started becoming very sensitive to the harm it can cause during my apprenticeship as during that eight year span of time Ayahuasca went from being virtually unknown to very popular. I recognized that even though I had this rare, extremely authentic experience, this wasn’t my culture and it just didn’t feel right to offer what wasn’t mine. I realized I didn’t want to give people something from outside of themselves to heal, I wanted to help them find the Medicine within, the power of love. While I felt so adopted and embraced by the jungle and her people with great respect I chose to not to pursue the Vegetalista path. I also thought a lot about the example I set to others who look up to me and I didn’t want to set an example of using what isn’t one’s own true essence of Medicine for healing. I want to be a beacon of cultural appreciation. Traveling to foriegn lands or even just diffe ...more

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Deborah Hanekamp’s books

Average rating: 4.12 · 91 ratings · 10 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Ritual Baths: Be Your Own Healer 4.12 avg rating — 91 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rituels de bains 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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