Ritual Psychotherapy

My signature service. When you're ready for a ritual of specific change, rather than ongoing treatment. Generally it is best to reserve a full day. Pricing is sliding scale donation in the Vedic tradition.

This is not a service to take on lightly, and generally must be booked at least one month in advance. Every time I have done this service it has been different, and every time it has shifted something big.

Examples: 

A client comes to me and lets me know that he is suicidally depressed and prepared to die. He has a specific death date in mind. He has never spoken to anybody about his traumatic past, and wonders if it might help. We have one month until the death date. I see him twice weekly for talk sessions, and within a couple of weeks he has embraced the idea of a metaphorical ego death rather than a literal cessation of life. Together we design a ritual to transform his death date into an affirmation of new life. He hikes to the top of a mountain. He burns the suicide letters he planned to send. He sets intentions for the life to come. It worked. It is a year later, and he not only lives, but thrives.

 

Someone lets me know that she is tormented by an addiction to picking at her skin. Other people don't understand, but it is an obsession that rules her life the way that many are ruled by alcohol or drugs or sex. She picks at herself until she bleeds. She cannot stop. Sometimes, this causes complications, like infection. She is ashamed, and feels out of control. I have never worked with this particular affliction, so I let her know that my treatment will be an experiment. I charge a nominal fee for my time, and ask her to pay what she believes is fair if the addiction is completely lifted, and still lifted, a month from our session. We spend about five hours together. We drink cold-pressed juices. We talk about beauty, about self-care, about the nature of obsession. We do reiki work together, including a particular technique that is believed to lift negative energy from the body, and involves a visualization dialogue of incremental transformation. It is an affirming and witnessing process, relaxing, but inconclusive. We both have the sense that something has shifted, but we don't know how much. She travels back home, and back to her life. In one month she sends $1,200. She has not picked at her skin at all, and has adopted my suggestion of regular manicures. She cannot believe her relief. 

A client appears. They are a relative of someone who has suffered greatly, who has died and become a symbol of brutality. They have suffered just as much, abused in childhood, but still they live. They have a sort of half-life, furious at the circumstances of reality, not sure how anything could possibly change, but they are responsible for others, so they carry on. They sacrifice. Life itself has become an act of sacrifice, devoid of pleasure. Just cycles of toil and relief. I feel called to witness, to serve something that feels bigger than me. I listen to them, ask what they want, what they need. They tell me of their own visions, their own powers. They are on a healing journey that includes many modalities. We work primarily with archetypal imagery, with ancestors, spirits, possessions. This is the chief story: a protector whose anger was once necessary, like a fierce guardian angel, has overstayed their welcome and is now draining the client's life force. We ritually expel him, and replace the void left with a new skill set--the client enters the Reiki lineage and begins work as a healer. Prayers are said, rituals done. The assailant who attacked the client's relative goes to prison. The family rejoices, even as the world questions whether this is enough. 

On payment:

Healing is an energetic exchange. It is not subtle. The deep work, the heavy work, often requires a significant output on my end, both of time and physical power. And of course, as in all advanced arts, you are not paying me for the time it takes for me to heal you, but the many, many moments that got me to the point that I could help. This is shadow stuff, underworld stuff. Not for the faint of heart. I am a healer of healers, and well respected by many well beyond my years. I do not under value my time or my skills. This is non-negotiable.

And--and--and--

 

I believe deeply in restorative justice, in repayment, in reparations, in fairness. I am lucky to have a life of safety in a time when many people are a paycheck away from homelessness. To overlook this would be insanity, willful blindness. I've taken to call it "living in Narnia" and I despise it when I see it in the spiritual world. People who pretend manifestations of abundance are equally available to all are kidding themselves.

The degree to which I slide my scale at this level of magic is infinite, absolutely adjusted based upon need. 

I charge one week's working salary. (If you do seasonal work, this is calculated based on a working week.) If you are persistently unemployed, your treatment is free. If you are Jeff Bezos, I absolutely expect 1.44 billion dollars. My effort is worth no more than someone who is disabled and unable to earn in traditional, monetary ways. But my effort is also worth no less than a tech entrepreneur. This is an absolute rule, and I will not compromise on this point. It is a matter of dignity and of respect.

I have noticed that high earners have a tendency to treat somatic work, especially women's work, like hired help/chattel stuff. Think of Jeffrey Epstein and his three 'masseuses' a day. This attitude will not be tolerated in my practice. 

Documentation is not required. We have honor here. But be warned--I am witchy and divinely protected. Healing doesn't happen if you lie.