Natural Born Shamans - A Spiritual Toolkit for Life covers all aspects of performing spiritual or shamanic work with children and young people. It is aimed at anyone who has an interest in young people and their spiritual journey, and covers all age groups from “in utero” until age 18+. The book explains what shamanic parenting is and describes ways of doing spirit-led work, even with both unborn babies and spirit children (after miscarriage, abortion or early death). It also provides 30 “tried and tested” session plans for people looking for inspiration and “where to start”. Imelda Almqvist is a shamanic teacher and painter based in London, UK. She teaches courses in shamanism and sacred art internationally. Natural Born Shamans – A Spiritual Toolkit for Life Using Shamanism Creatively with Young People of all Ages By Imelda Almqvist John Hunt Publishing Ltd Copyright © 2015 Imelda Almqvist All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-78535-368-0 Contents Dedication, Foreword by Sandra Ingerman, Preface, Introduction: Why am I Writing this Book?, Part I: Chapters 0-15, Chapter 0 or Surface Zero: The Shaman Mother's Spiritual Survival Kit for Kids, Chapter 1: What is Shamanic Parenting?, Chapter 2: The Shaman's Map, Chapter 3: Shamanic Work with Children: The Most Common Fears and Prejudices, Chapter 4: The Age of Reason: Parental Consent for all Forms of Shamanic Work, Chapter 5: The Before Life and Spirit Children, Chapter 6: Natural Born Shamans, Chapter 7: Those Who Were Children Before Us: Our Ancestors, Chapter 8: Shamanic Healing Work with Children, Chapter 9: Using Shamanism to Access the Unique Gifts of Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), Chapter 10: Spiritual Warriors with Water Pistols: Healing Narratives and the Mythology of Fear and Conflict, Chapter 11: Mudlarks of the Human Soul, Chapter 12: Not Bad, Not Sad, Not Mad ... Shame and Shamanism, Chapter 13: Learning about Violence or Learning to be Violent?, Chapter 14: No Mission is Impossible! Youth Seminar on Violence in Films and Games, Chapter 15: Things that Have a Positive Impact on Young People, Part II: Thirty-two Session Plans, Brief Introduction to Part II, Help! Where To Start?!, Session Plan 1: The Great Cosmic Egg, Session Plan 2: Meeting my PA! – Session about Power Animals, Session Plan 3: A Shamanic Toolkit for Bullying, Session Plan 4: The Ones Who Came Before Us: Our Ancestors, Session Plan 5: Meet the Monster! – Shadow Work, Session Plan 6: Animal Healing: Invite a Specialist!, Session Plan 7: Dream Theatre: Working with Dreams and Mining Nightmares for Treasure, Session Plan 8: Heartbeat of the Universe: All About Drumming!, Session Plan 9: The Weather is Always Perfect: Dancing with the Storm!, Session Plan 10: Public Speaking = Shamanic Secret Agent and Warrior of the Light, Session Plan 11: Shamans and Super Heroes, Session Plan 12: Body Image, Self Esteem and the Sacred Clown, Session Plan 13: Coyote Crystals and Mythic Memory, Session Plan 14: The Knowing Field: Exploring Family Constellations Work, Session Plan 15: Here Be Dragons! Geomancy and Dragon Lines, Session Plan 16: Message in a Bottle, Session Plan 17: Omen Walk, Session Plan 18: Shamanic Divination, Session Plan 19: The Night Sky, Session Plan 20: Lunacy and Luna-See, Session Plan 21: Talking to Plant Spirits: A Session in the Herb Garden, Session Plan 22: Mild Pyromania, Session Plan 23: Masks, Session Plan 24: The Spirits of Courage and Resilience, Session Plan 25: Psychopomps and Psychopaths! Field Trip to Local Cemetery, Session Plan 26: Digging to Australia: Introducing a Safe Way for Children to do Shamanic Healing Work, Session Plan 27: The Spirit of Music: Shamanic Jamming, Session Plan 28: The Hero's Journey: Creative Writing, Session Plan 29: Finding the Gift in Adversity, Session Plan 30: I Am Sorry, Please Forgive Me: Hawaiian H'oponopono, Session Plan 31: Peer Mediation and Conflict Resolution: Arriving at a Win-Win Situation, Session Plan 32: Humpty Dumpty: A Toolkit for Transition, Part III: Rites of Passage, Section 1: Hosting Initiation Ceremonies, Section 2: Vision Quest and Wilding Young People In Nature, Section 3: Personalised Ceremonies for Times of Transition, Section 4: Ourobouros: The Serpent Bites Her Own Tail, Open Letter to Paediatricians, Acknowledgments, From the Author, Contact Page and Other Creations by the Same Author, CHAPTER 1 Chapter 0 or Surface Zero: The Shaman Mother's Spiritual Survival Kit for Kids This chapter is based on a blog I wrote in January 2014 because my eldest son had received a death threat while standing in the dinner queue at school and our youngest son was experiencing issues with bullying and humiliating power games in the school playground. Recently someone told me that so-called survival bags are now being handed out to homeless people. When we go camping most of us bring an insane amount of equipment. Ima