Joan Levergood brings over 18 years of experience as a Reiki Master and Shamanic Practitioner, working extensively with both people and animals at Helping Spirits. Her journey began within an animal shelter clinic, where she utilized her shamanic skills alongside dedicated veterinary teams, witnessing profound miracles and the transformative impact of Reiki and shamanic support even in seemingly hopeless situations. From foundational studies with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies to advanced techniques with renowned mentors like Tom Cowan, Betsy Bergstrom, and Sandra Ingerman, Joan has honed her expertise, providing healing to clients nationwide since 2004. MysticMag has the pleasure of chatting with Joan.
You’ve transitioned from being a lead behaviorist at the Tree House Humane Society to a shaman and Reiki master. How has your experience with animals and their energy informed or enriched your understanding and practice of shamanic and Reiki healing methodologies?
Being a shamanic practitioner today directly results from my work in animal rescue. I am a trained artist and worked in corporate business for many years before working at the shelter. I was volunteering at the Cat Shelter when many staff members left the shelter clinic, and I began to work there part-time. Time passed, hundreds of kittens were fostered, I learned to do behavior counseling, and I gained many veterinary nursing skills.
In the shelter clinic, we tried to save every animal we could. Our veterinarians and staff were excellent and saved many lives. Some cases were so severe it was clear that we could use some extra help. I decided to study animal communication to give these problematic cases an extra chance at surviving. Through this training, I was introduced to Reiki and Shamanic journeying. Animal communication helped me understand how the cats saw things, but communicating with them did not heal their physical or mental traumas.
I became attuned as a Reiki Master and began basic studies in Shamanic Practice with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. I was very fortunate during this time to discover someone in a nearby state who was sponsoring some of the top shamanic teachers of the era to present advanced workshops near where I live. My goal was always to help the cats survive and be comfortable. As I worked my newfound Reiki and shamanic skills on more challenging medical cases, It was clear that both had their place in my work.
Working with animals, you’ve utilized Reiki and shamanic practices. How do these modalities translate when supporting animals’ well-being, and could you highlight an instance where these methods were particularly impactful in aiding an animal’s healing or behavior?
We were working with animals who were often very frightened, sometimes with life-threatening illnesses or injuries. Sharing Reiki sent from a discreet distance was a miracle for these poor, stressed-out cats. Observing their body language, we could see their pupils get smaller as they relaxed. Creating a field of pure Reiki energy was often all I could do in an emergency as the vets administered life-saving veterinary care. When I could send Reiki long distance, someone might contact me at home to send Reiki to a particularly sick cat. I used Reiki to help remove the effects of anesthesia and as an aid for recovery after surgery. My coworkers once reported minute changes in the vital signs of a cat on a surgical monitor when I was working on them.
My work in the veterinary clinic at the shelter made me realize the vast possibilities when I did Shamanic work. This way of working appealed to me because when I did a shamanic journey, I was acting as a go-between with helping spirits who would do the healing work. My simple understanding of shamanic work was that once I had one trusted helping spirit, that spirit could call in other spirits that could help in a particular situation. One very sick cat with a suspected tumor behind his eye lived a good, long life after helping spirits adept at weaving and unweaving things stepped forward. As time went on, these helping spirits joined my shamanic team as I continued to study with some of the foremost shamanic teachers of the time.
What I learned from my work with animals informs most aspects of my work as a Reiki and Shamanic practitioner. When I did behavior consultations, I realized that what I needed to hear to provide sound advice usually came through the person telling me their story. I have found it to be the same when I work with a shamanic client. The story’s telling seems to lay out the pathway my helping spirits can follow to help the client.
Your practice combines both shamanic techniques and Reiki. How do these modalities complement each other in aiding physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and what led you to integrate these specific practices into your healing work?
My clients usually request either a Reiki session or a Shamanic session. I like to keep them as separate offerings within my practice. As the channeling of life force energy, Reiki works to improve most issues, but I find it particularly helpful to support physical healing. That beautiful Reiki energy knows where it needs to go and what it needs to do to help that client. In Shamanic sessions, I am journeying with my drum to non-ordinary realities and asking my helping spirits for help in a specific situation. What can happen in a shamanic journey, such as soul retrieval, untangling ancestral patterns, or helping the dead, doesn’t or can’t happen in the same way by giving a Reiki treatment because the helping spirits are doing the healing or instructing me on how to do it. My helping spirits sometimes suggest that a client would benefit from a Reiki treatment in addition to what they did in the journey.
Could you share an experience where shamanic work or Reiki has notably transformed or supported someone’s journey towards healing or well-being? How do these practices uniquely contribute to the process of resolving issues or aligning energies?
Some clients have a sudden improvement of a longer-term problem after only one visit. One client reported to me that after our first session, they no longer felt the chronic pain in their leg, which had been there for over a year. I often help people entangled in relationships or situations they want to change or have unhealthy behaviors with loved ones. I am surprised how often these clients report something happening immediately after such a session. Finding a text or the person we called whom we had just worked to establish a healthier boundary. For other clients, their healing is incremental. We work in layers with an overall goal or work on what arises for us in life. Gradually creating change for themselves in a long-term situation. One client was plagued by negative self-talk as well as very dark emotional energy and medical problems, which resulted in hospitalization after helping suffering ancestral spirits to cross back to the creator and create appropriate boundaries with the dead. He could move forward without the darkness and negativity that had never belonged to him. His medical condition improved as well.
The upcoming workshop focuses on “Clearing Energy for Optimum Balance.” Could you elaborate on the importance of this practice and how individuals can benefit from learning to sense, connect, and clear energies in and around themselves?
Clearing Energy for Optimum Balance was a hybrid class that I taught in December of 2023 through the Infinity Foundation. In the class, I shared practices that help people more fully connect to their spirit by strengthening their connection to the creator energy of the universe and the earth energy of our beautiful planet. I included some simple practices to help remove unwanted energies and quickly reset ourselves to perfect neutrality. Being neutral and connected allows us to feel which energies are ours and clear away what never belonged to us in the first place. You can check my website, www.helpingspirits.net, for information about upcoming classes I will offer in 2024.
If you would like to find out more about Joan Levergood, please visit https://www.helpingspirits.net/
