This week, Mystic Mag had the opportunity to interview Angie Fenske, a Shaman and Energy healer who kindly agreed to tell us a few things about her career, Energy healing, and what she loves most about her profession.
When did you first know that being a shaman was your calling and how did it come about?
As many healers, I found my path through my own healing journey. I may have known about being a shaman instinctively as a child collecting stones to hold my difficult emotions, but forgot over time and conditioning by society.
In 2002, I was working as a trauma therapist with female substance abuse clients who had experienced significant relational trauma. I began using shamanic/nature-based therapies with my clients, using stones to contain the totality of their trauma temporarily so that they could process some pieces of it.
In 2005, I experienced an event that brought forward previously denied traumatic memories from my own childhood, triggering some PTSD symptoms including being in a constant state of fight/flight/freeze, which is very hard on one’s nervous system. I realized I needed a different kind of help than what I already knew as trauma therapy interventions. I had heard the term “energy work” and remembered a friend who told me about her therapist in a neighboring town using stones and feathers in sessions. I looked that therapist up, and she referred me to an apprentice she had to try out the shamanic energy work she offered.
In ONE session my nervous system was brought back online and I was calm and able to work and be happy for about 6 months! As other issues in my life were impacted by this new knowledge, I realized I wanted to heal, and began working with the therapist, Karen Duncan, who would become my teacher and long-term mentor. In 2006 I took the classes she was offering for personal healing (based on the teachings of The Four Winds Alberto Villoldo. They were nothing short of life-changing! That is when I started on the path of Peruvian-based Shamanism and I have never looked back! I created my own Mesa, or medicine bundle of stones during those 4 retreat-based classes that year.
My mesa is my main healing tool I use in Healing Sessions, and it evolves and grows with me as I deepen my devotion to service and connection to the land. I knew when I finished my own healing work that I HAD TO share it with others!
Over the years, I apprenticed with Karen, co-teaching her classes and taking more advanced classes with her and my current teacher, Jose Luis Herrera. Once I traveled to Peru to learn directly from the Medicine People and the Mountain Spirits, my ability to serve and help others grew exponentially. I first started offering services professionally in around 2009, and then committed more fully to the path in 2015 and after returning from Peru in 2017.
What services do you offer?
I help people achieve extraordinary holistic health using energy healing, Shamanic journeys, ceremonies, my Mesa-Building Program, retreats, international transformational expeditions, coaching & consulting, nature therapy, and therapeutic guidance.
Free initial consultation of 10-15 minutes which can be booked on heal.me/angiefenske OR simply reach out via Facebook Messenger or text 417-437-4329.
Shamanic Energy Sessions: This is a 60 minute session where we will work together in sacred space to identify and release/heal themes, feelings, or patterns in your life that have you stuck. The range of issues I address varies from one being totally immobilized by their pain and symptoms to someone seeking to break through subconscious barriers to creating the life of their dreams. We can accomplish in 1-3 sessions what may take years of therapy to achieve. This can be done in person or remotely by telephone or videoconference.
Premium Private Healing Energy Session: This is a 90 minute session where we will dive deep to identify and release/heal themes, feelings, or patterns in your life that are causing you pain. This service includes everything my 60 minute Shamanic Healing Session covers, but is also like getting a free therapy session! I have 20+ years of experience as a Psychotherapist and Couples Counselor. I will listen compassionately to bring forward the parts of you that are ready for healing. Then I will utilize a variety of therapeutic and energy techniques to achieve outstanding results. This can also be done locally in person or virtually.
My Mesa-Building Retreat Program: This is a powerful, transformative journey of personal healing, ancestor work, karmic release, spiritual growth, and becoming of service. We come into balance with our true selves, our relationships, the earth, our work, and life purpose. Through ceremony and the creation of a personal mesa/medicine bag within a sacred group, students heal their woundedness: transforming traumas, losses, problems, and issues into sources of power. The personal mesa brings us into the right relationship with Mother Earth and all the elements of Spirit.
This program is a year-long, retreat-based program. It unfolds over three different 4-day retreats that are my version of the life-changing work that put me on this path. The retreats include deep experiential activities, ceremonies, some group processes, and individual work on the land.
Individual Apprenticeship: This is the Mesa-Building Program on an individualized basis. It takes 18 months and breaks down the cost to a monthly investment.
Advanced Apprenticeship: A 12-24 month certification program for those who have completed their personal healing mesa work and want to work with others.
International and Regional Expeditions: Currently I am offering an International Transformational Journey to Peru next month! Details available on my website at Https://angiefenske.com/expeditions
Various other services include day workshops on a topic of choice for your group, consulting and coaching services, individual and couples psychotherapy and therapy-based retreats, speaking engagements, and supervision for masters level social workers seeking clinical licensure.
What is shamanism, and what do shamanistic rituals look like?
In a general sense, shamanism is an ancient healing tradition originating from all of the world’s indigenous cultures that informs the world view of the shaman and encompasses a way of life. Shamans honor the connection to all of life and the land.
Ceremonies and rituals vary by tradition, but often seek to balance the elements, polarizing energies, and to mediate between our physical world and the world of spirit guides or ancestors. Shamanism is a path of service to one’s community and the world at large. Shaman’s engage in ceremonies to bring healing to people, animals, plants, communities, and families.
What can a person expect from your sessions?
We will begin by working together to identify and release/heal themes, feelings, or patterns in your life that have you stuck. The range of issues I address varies from one being totally immobilized by their pain and symptoms to someone seeking to break through subconscious barriers to creating the life of their dreams. I will open sacred space, with respect to my path and your beliefs, calling in spiritual allies to assist with the healing.
Then you will lay on a massage table, fully clothed, on your back, with a blanket if you prefer. You will be guided into a relaxed state, and then will use your breath to make an energetic imprint, onto one of my healing stones, of the feeling or pattern we have identified to be released. The stone will be placed on one of your energetic centers to do the work of removing the energies from your body and energetic field.
You will likely be guided on a journey during your session. Some people see visions or have other intuitive experiences, and some do not. Either way, the healing takes place. After the dense energy is removed, I bring in pure light from source to fill the void. I will guide you back from your journey and ask you to check in with your body.
We will talk a bit about each of our experiences. Typically, people leave these sessions feeling light, hopeful, energized. It’s good to spend some time alone or outdoors integrating the work, and I may have suggestions for you to do at home.
What is the most important detail in maintaining a relationship of mutual trust with clients?
I listen deeply and compassionately. I follow the same or higher ethics that I use as a professional clinical social worker, meaning absolute confidentiality, putting the client’s needs first during our time, and keeping up with my own healing work so that I am effective.
What do you love most about your profession?
I am most in love with my Mesa-Building Retreats because they empower people to own their own healing process and the transformations are incredible! Plus, I get to be out on the land often during those four days, and engage in ceremonies, which maintains my own emotional, physical, mental, energetic and spiritual health at the same time that I am helping others.
