![AstroShamanism and Spiritual Awakening - Benjamin Bernstein](https://www.mysticmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/MysticMag-Benjamin-Bernstein.png.webp)
“AstroShaman” Benjamin Bernstein gives MysticMag insight into his incredible work with his clients. He uses astrology, shamanism, life coaching, and more to help them.
Benjamin recently published his first book: Instant Divine Assistance: Your Complete Guide to Fast and Easy Spiritual Awakening, Healing, and More. It hit #1 in 11 categories during its first week on Amazon, and had 35+ reviews (all 5-star) as of mid-October 2022.
He also hosts two podcasts. He’s created 600+ episodes of the award-winning This Week in Astrology podcast. He recently started a second podcast called Awaken, Heal, and Thrive! It lets listeners learn fast and easy tools for awakening, healing, and more, gain wisdom from enlightening guests, and enjoy Benjamin’s ayahuasca stories.
Benjamin also runs “Awakening Plus,” an online membership that helps its members awaken, heal, and thrive! (When does this man sleep?)
How has your life adventure led you to where you are today?
At the age of 41, over 20 years ago, I decided I couldn’t live the corporate life anymore. So, I left behind 20 years of sales jobs in Oklahoma to pursue my life purpose in Asheville, North Carolina. At the time, I thought that was to follow my dream of being a professional singer/songwriter.
I wasn’t able to make a living at this. Not even close! But, since I was passionately following my life purpose, synchronicity helped me out. My life evolved in extraordinary ways. Now I wear a lot of hats, including astrologer, shamanic healer, life coach, podcaster, author … the list goes on. My life has turned out so much better than I’d planned!
In your experience, is there common ground between astrology, shamanic healing and life coaching?
Yes. I’ve done over 10,000 astrology, shamanic healing, and life coaching sessions. When I do Astrology+ with a client, I can integrate any of my modalities into their session as needed.
Astrology is an incredibly accurate map of soul purpose. If you know how to interpret someone’s chart, it clearly shows the flavor of what they came to do in this incarnation. The moving planets (transits) show which areas of life are being stimulated now. I use astrology to help people gain mental clarity.
But understanding a problem doesn’t necessarily solve it. That’s where shamanism can help. Is someone being held back by a wound or trauma? If so, I can use shamanic healing to bring about the healing they need.
During shamanic work, I always have clients use my IDA Invocations. These let them call on their own higher self for help. And they can keep using the IDA Invocations to call in their own embodied awakening and healing afterward. My Instant Divine Assistance book covers many ways these invocations can positively transform a person’s life.
A traditional life coach only uses skillful questioning, but I go well beyond that. My approach can include all the metaphysical things I do, which gives my coachees faster and more efficient results.
As my coachees move toward their goals, this inevitably flushes up the wounds and traumas impeding them. The obstacle is the way! When this happens, I use whatever modalities will best help them, including shamanism, astrology, and the IDA Invocations. I also often use Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS).
What is Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) exactly and how would you describe ‘subpersonalities’ ?
First, a disclaimer: I’m not certified by the official IFS organization and don’t speak for them. But I completed an intensive four-month IFS training and have facilitated many sessions. Those I work on tell me that my IFS-inspired work has helped them a lot.
In a nutshell, IFS says we have one Self (which I would call our higher self) and many parts (subpersonalities). Some of these are healthy and high-functioning, while others create problems because they’re traumatized and wounded.
IFS lets us go as Self to a wounded part (subpersonality), unburden it, and reintegrate it into the internal family within each of us. I’ve done 45-minute sessions which cleared major traumas that had oppressed clients for decades!
As a shamanic healer, I think IFS is shamanic soul retrieval dressed up as psychology. I used to do soul retrieval in a more traditional shamanic way. But now I use IFS instead, because it’s more fast and efficient.
How do you work with your clients as an AstroShaman, and what type of healing or transformation takes place generally?
Each session is customized for the client’s current needs. Over the years, I’ve cultivated several fast and effective modalities. For example, I can usually take a person, even someone who’s never meditated before, and use an IDA Invocation to guide them into embodied awakening in five or ten minutes. In this state, it’s peaceful and effortless, and there’s no mental chatter or challenging emotion. When merged with the higher self in their physical body, they can experience the euphoric consciousness of their higher self firsthand.
If a client books an Astrology+ session, we usually start with astrology. Then we’ll spontaneously incorporate awakening or healing modalities if needed.
The transformation clients experience can include insight, healing, awakening, and more. I’ve received hundreds of 5-star client reviews, saying how working with me has positively transformed their lives.
What is the key to spiritual awakening?
There are numerous ways of achieving spiritual awakening out there, some of which I’ve practiced. After 45 years on the spiritual path, what I now prefer is simply asking my higher self to merge with me by using the IDA Embodied Awakening Invocation. This has also worked for thousands of my clients, and the members of my “Awakening Plus” online membership. With this Embodied Awakening Invocation, you can receive, in seconds, an awakening that you may have been struggling for years to get through ego effort.
I don’t believe an ego can awaken itself. But if you ask your higher self to awaken you, it can flush away whatever’s blocking your awakening. I haven’t experienced spiritual awakening as one-and-done. It happens incrementally, with each awakening more amazing than the previous one.
I’m awake enough to help many people, and I also know people who are more awakened than me. However awake you are, chances are that it can always go deeper!
You can learn the essential IDA Invocations for awakening and healing in Benjamin’s free mini-course, “Instant Divine Assistance: Your Free Guide to Fast and Easy Awakening and Healing.” Check out his #1 bestselling book on Amazon, Instant Divine Assistance: Your Complete Guide to Fast and Easy Spiritual Awakening, Healing, and More.
Information on his online membership is at AwakeningPlus.com. And you can learn about everything else he does at his main site, AstroShaman.com.