Linda Star Wolf

Linda Star Wolf is first and foremost a shamanic free spirit, dedicated to living and teaching shamanic consciousness in every day life. Star Wolf has spent her life walking the path of direct experience and staying open to her own inner healer and the dynamic spiral path of ever-renewing transformation. Her rich and colorful life has been blessed by numerous mystical and magical synchronicities and spiritual teachings. These shamanic transmissions continue to unfold and inspire her as she passionately shares with others. She has been gifted since birth with the eyes to see and the ears to hear the messages from the unseen worlds. Her life thus far has been spent learning how to embody these shamanic gifts so as to heal her own life and support others to do the same. Many years ago, Star Wolf heard these words, “the purpose of the magic wand that is being handed to you is to cast a spell of hope upon the world.” These words continue to inspire her life and her planetary work on a daily basis.

Star Wolf has been a shamanic-psycho-spiritual midwife and guiding light in thousands of people’s lives for more than 25 years. She has facilitated healing and transformational journeys in a wide variety of arenas, including hundreds of workshops across the US and abroad. She has worked with mental health centers, addiction treatment facilities, women’s circles, a variety of breathwork groups and in Shamanic Minister trainings. She is a nationally certified Addictions Counselor, a Shamanic Minister, a Shamanic Breathwork ™ Reiki Master and also holds a Doctorate of Ministry in Shamanic-Psycho-Spiritual Studies. Star Wolf has written numerous articles and appeared on a wide variety of radio talk shows.

Star Wolf is the creator of the Shamanic Breathwork Process ™, a highly transformative shamanic-pyscho-spiritual tool which integrates ancient wisdom and shamanic methods with dynamic processing techniques and a cutting-edge consciousness to assist people in awakening their own inner shamanic spirit. With her husband, Brad Collins, Star Wolf is the founder and Co-Director of Venus Rising Institute for Shamanic Healing Arts, a 501 c (3) non-profit spiritual organization dedicated to bringing this unique work into the world. Venus Rising’s commitment is to shape-shift old outworn paradigms into the new shamanic consciousness currently emerging upon our planet.

Star Wolf received her name from her adopted Seneca Wolf Clan Grandmother Twylah Nitsch, who passed at the ripe old age of 94 on August 21, 2007. On this day Star Wolf received a special gift from her beloved teacher as she passed from this earthly plane. She was awakened at 4:00 am by a voice that began to transmit the energies of the Blue Star Mysteries, a transmission which continues to the present time. The Blue Star Mysteries are a powerful guiding force for Star Wolf, reminding her of her true lineage. The Blue Star energy has been weaving its magic through her life for as long as she can remember.

In 2003 Star Wolf and Brad moved from Fairfax, CA, outside of the Bay Area, to the magical blue mountains of western North Carolina, an hour west of Asheville. Together they co-created the Isis Cove Community and Retreat Center, a group of kindred spirits, shamanic in nature, who enjoy living and creating in community. Brad and Star Wolf and their Aquarian Shamanic soul friends continue to imagine and dream into “being” a better world for the next seven generations, and beyond, by awakening their own inner Shaman and sharing their experience, strength and hope with those they serve.

Her book, "Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt: Awakening the Healing Power of the Heart", co-authored with Nicki Scully, was published by Inner Traditions in May, 2007. Star Wolf channeled and co-wrote, also with Nicki Scully, an oracle deck and companion book, "The Anubis Oracle: A Journey into the Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt", published by Inner Traditions in September, 2008. She is currently working on a new book about the Shamanic Breathwork™ Process and is co-authoring, with Ruby Falconer, a book on Shamanic Egyptian Astrology. Both books will be released late in 2009.

To learn more about Venus Rising Institute for Shamanic Healing Arts, The Shamanic Breathwork™ Process, The Shamanic Ministers’ Global Network, Wise Wolf Councils, Shamanic Egyptian Mysteries, the upcoming Blue Star University, S.H.I.P. (Shamanic Healing Initiatory Process) and many other life-changing shamanic programs, workshops and retreats, please visit: www.shamanicbreathwork.org. For a free on-line reading from The Anubis Oracle, visit: www.anubisoracle.com.

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Aquarian Shaman - Shamanism for a New Age

People often ask, “What makes the work you do at the Venus Rising Institute for Shamanic Healing Arts shamanic? Isn’t a shaman an indigenous medicine man or woman? Doesn’t shamanism involve the use of mind altering psychoactive plant medicines? Isn’t it necessary to journey to a remote rain forest or village in the mountains of South America?” People wonder how the work we do – which involves breathwork, music, art creation and deep process work – could be called shamanic?

In traditional shamanism the Shaman is sometimes referred to as the Wounded Healer - one who has survived a number of trials and initiations, sometimes even near death experiences, and has returned to share the teachings, healing and wisdom gained from those experiences with their people or village. Someone who has learned to shape shift his or her reality by moving from one form to another. One who is intimately connected to the elements, the cycles of change, the spirit world, the earth, and knows that we are all multidimensional beings and that we exist simultaneously on many planes and levels of existence.

The shamanic healer is compelled to heal his/ her self and to help others to heal as well, be it on a physical, mental, emotional or spiritual plane. They know that all healing has its origins in the spiritual realms and that without divine intervention true healing does not occur.

The Shaman uses chants, prayers, musical instruments such as drums and rattles, dancing, singing, smudging and other types of ritual to create a ceremonial setting and an altered state. In these highly charged states of non ordinary consciousness healing takes place that is definitely beyond the brain, or ordinary consciousness as we know it.

Sometimes a shaman is called a “spirit lawyer.” They may find themselves bargaining and working with the spirit guides of another in order for parts of a soul to be returned. At other times the shaman may need to perform an extraction and assist an individual in releasing some form of negativity trapped in their energy field.

All this is associated with traditional shamanism. All this we do in our healing and training programs at the Venus Rising Institute for Shamanic Healing Arts.

During the late 60’s and early 70’s I experimented regularly with hallucinogenic substances. I often had incredible other worldly journeys rich with profound realizations and new spiritual awareness. These experiences made me want to be a better person. They contributed to my already open mind, deepening my sense of connection to humanity and my awareness of the oneness of all things. At the same time, these “trips” did nothing to alleviate my growing drug and alcohol dependency, nor did they improve my significant relationships or create any kind of stability in my chaotic life. I was aware of old belief systems and negative behaviors more than ever but felt powerless to make lasting changes.


These hallucinogenic journeys that I and many of my generation pursued were inherently shamanic. While they were powerful and certainly increased my awareness of the true nature of reality, they basically remained in the transpersonal realm and were difficult to integrate back into everyday living.

In the 80’s and early 90’s I studied Holotrophic and Integrative Breathwork and discovered that it is possible to create an altered state – to take a “trip” - without the use of a mind-altering substance. I learned that healing can take place during non-ordinary states of consciousness. At the same time, I studied with a Cherokee teacher and with Wolf Clan Grandmother Twylah Nitsch and learned some of the rituals and tools of the traditional shaman.

When I found breathwork and simultaneously learned soul return and other shamanic techniques I discovered the solution to the hallucinogenic dilemma that I and so many of my generation experienced. I learned that it is possible to experience deep altered states through the breath and other rituals that did not take me so far out of my own psyche that the experience became irrelevant upon my return to this plane. I learned how to travel between the worlds soberly and safely. And I began to heal many of my old wounds – emotional, psychological and psychic – and I released long-held addictions. I discovered that this healing can continue in the days and weeks after the journey if it is psychologically grounded back into normal life through an integrative process.

I have spent the last 10 years blending breathwork process work with powerful shamanic rituals and techniques that evoke higher states of consciousness, where true healing can occur. The result of this work is the Venus Rising Institute for Shamanic Healing Arts and the Shamanic Breathwork ™ Process. Our emphasis is on assisting others on a psychic journey supported by ritual, music, dancing and art. Our facilitators are trained in the shamanic techniques of soul retrieval and extraction and utilize them to assist the journeyer in their process. These are some of the tools of the traditional Shaman – and they are our tools as well. Included in our process is the sharing of the journey with others in the Shamanic Breathwork ™ Process Group, which assists in the integration of the journey into everyday life.

Our facilitators have journeyed themselves many times and have confronted their own wounds and addictions – dying to their old selves and awakening anew. They – like traditional shamans - have learned to shape shift their own reality. They too are intimately connected to the elements, the spirit world and the earth, and they understand the cycles of change. Through the training they’ve received at Venus Rising they are prepared to bring their understanding of the healing process back to those they work with.

We at Venus Rising are not doing traditional therapy nor traditional shamanism … although what we are doing is highly therapeutic and truly shamanic in the very best sense of the word. We are bringing shamanism into the new age, adapting it to the needs of our present time and offering it to the world as an extremely effective form of emotional, psychological and psychic healing. We are the Aquarian Shamans, and through our work we offer those who come to our workshops and intensives the opportunity to “Awaken the Shaman Within.” This is truly Shamanism for a New Age.

copyright Linda Star Wolf, 2006

Venus Rising Institute for Shamanic Healing Arts
PO Box 486, Sylva, NC 28779
828-631-2305 ~ venusrising@shamanicbreathwork.org ~ www.shamanicbreathwork.org

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