My shamanic initiation began according to Sakha tradition by ettetii, a process where the Sakha shamans say the spirits begin destroying the body. I knew the moment it began because I was outside, felt a burning sensation on my arm and looked down to see white finger marks. As if someone had grabbed me. The marks did not go away, and lasted long enough for me to go show my mom. I was 17.

I remember feeling like I was descending into something but wasn't sure what. Before it happened, I remember telling the universe I was ready for my path to get more "interesting." It did.

My body began to disintegrate. No doctor, naturopath or test or treatment could help. Although young, some part of me knew this was something spiritual. Over time, I also began experiencing bouts of various mental illnesses along with my body playing out all sorts of strange ailments with no cause and no cure. 

I had what could be called an awakening in my early 20s where I realized I was different because I was in tune. I was aware. I started learning about spirituality and right away found shamanism which grabbed all of me immediately. I became obsessed. 

In my early life, I experienced immense trauma, suffering, and hardship after hardship which I pulled myself through using my faith in spirit. I never believed I was cursed, bad, or that any of this was by chance - I could feel it all guided and for a purpose and I never gave up on that knowing no matter how dark things got. Over time, I cultivated a relationship with Spirit, Earth, Animals and Plants that nowadays feels incredible, rich and deep, and that I trust to help me through anything. 

In my 20s and early 30s I began discovering my Sakha ancestry which had been suppressed and erased in my maternal line. Family identities had been changed to Greek, but the magic, and all of the trauma from the colonization of my Sakha ancestors, came with me - and I walked with it all without full awareness for years. Through my own healing journey, and with the help of Indigenous Mohawk Elders and ceremonies in Canada, I managed to bring up my true roots from within my bones and unlock my true path and purpose.

Sakha shamans do not use medicines to "go into" the spirit world. We are integrated in both because of the sufferings we experience. Because we have to be in deep relationship with Spirit or we do not survive what we go through, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. The Sakha way causes a deep integration of the Shaman’s medicines so that the Shaman has grounded, incredibly, the medicines into the Earth and human experience.  

For me, my shamanic practice is all internal and self-led. I always tell people, you can’t explain what shamanism is, there are no words, only experiences, and often, only experiences that are between yourself and Spirit. You must live it, breathe it, walk it, be it, and find it from the inside out. I have mostly cultivated my shamanic practice within myself and in my solo life, however I have also trained with Mohawk Elders from Six Nations of the Grand River, with an Ecuadorian Shaman, with a Ukrainian Shaman, and in the shamanic Wisdom Circle teachings offered by Horse Spirit Connections in Ontario.