Interview with Shannon Silvermoon, local artist, Spiritual coach and healer
Shannon: Growing up I moved a lot as a child and attended 13 different schools in 12 years. I felt very isolated and alone and took some comfort in drawing and just being with myself feeling my feelings. I never really felt like I had a place that felt like home until I moved to Nelson other than my family homestead in Ontario and Ireland where my ancestors originated from. I love to travel and have been to many countries including Israel, Jordan, Thailand, Cambodia, Ireland, Scotland and every country in Central America.
Gaia: How did you get started on your healing journey? What prompted you to go inwards and ‘do the work’?
Shannon: Growing up in a difficult family dynamic & atmosphere, I acted out a lot as a child and young adult. I became a teenage single mom and had to do everything on my own. When my son grew up he began to act out as well and had done something that was heartbreaking and tore the family apart. We were both alienated from the family and the pain was so devastating. Along with my father's death shortly afterwards, I knew I needed help desperately during my breakdown. I started with regular counseling and continued to investigate every healing modality possible. If there is a healing modality out there I have likely done it.
Gaia: Why did you decide to offer healing service to others? Where did the inspiration come from to assist others in their healing journey?
Shannon: After over 12 years of doing my own healing path I slowly began digging myself out of depression and the victim mentality I clung to growing up. I realized that I was entirely responsible for my own thoughts and beliefs. After healing and learning from my mentors and counselors, I began learning how to heal myself. I wanted to give that gift to others so they could feel as free as I had felt by owning my own S*%t and doing the steps. I learned a lot of tricks and tips along the way, and I love seeing others connect to love and joy that returns to true selves.
Gaia: Besides your literal offerings… what do you feel you offer as a healer to other people? (From a personal standpoint).
Shannon: One of the most powerful modalities that worked for me was inner child and parts work. I learned to connect with the lost, lonely and abandoned parts of myself. Rather than looking to all of the external things that are empty and do not fill our needs like booze, drugs, work, relationships, shopping I realized that I had to be the parent that I never had. Once I embodied that role I felt more fulfilled. I have learned to facilitate healing offerings of this kind of approach to others in a safe, non-judgemental, loving and nurturing space. Whether that is in person or on line it is very effective as I guide my clients into meditation and hypnosis in the comfort of my space or their own.
Gaia: Tell us more about your healing work. How you got started, the traditions you studied from or education you pursued.
Shannon: Learning from my inner child work mentor, I found many tips and tricks. Afterwards I trained in NLP (Neurolinguistic Programing) hypnosis training, Spiritual coaching courses and I am currently training in a new method called Iopt that is a form of resonating with your parts similar to Family Constellation work but with your own psyche and intentions.
Gaia: You offer what you call ‘Empowerment Sessions’ what do these sessions look like?
Shannon: Every session is different and with a free consultation we discuss what the client wants and needs and what would be the most effective modality for that individual. Most sessions do involve meditation or some form of an inner connection. Some clients may not feel comfortable with a hypnosis session which would connect them deeply with their inner child. Some may want a more interactive hands on approach which I may suggest using a method called automatic writing or painting. Another modality can be with Parts Work. By setting an intention and having myself or objects resonate with their intention. If the client is not yet ready to dive deep into their psyche we can start by setting goals, dreams, and raising vibrational frequencies through discussing how they would like to grow in their life and ways that I can support, nurture and hold them accountable with thought provoking homework to complete.
Gaia: What have you learned from working with others on their healing journey?
Shannon: I have learned that everyone is perfect where they are at now and are ready for whatever they are ready for to heal in their own time. So often we have that friend or family member that we see and think “Gawd if only they could see what they are doing with their life! If only they would stop doing X or Y they would be happy” But we have all been that person as well and one day the light bulb turns on and we just GET IT. But no amount of nagging from your best friend or your mother would have done it, in fact it may have annoyed you until something happens or you are ready for that new thing that makes it click. I may see the deeper wounds or what they may need to do to change but it is ultimately up to the individual and how much investment, courage and curiosity they have in themselves to do the work will it eventually click. There are also many layers to what we can see as well and if they can at least see the first layer that is a blessed start.
Gaia: What do you believe your mission is on the Earth?
Shannon: I believe that my mission is to help others heal from their pain, traumas from our own past and intergenerational trauma and to believe in themselves. We are powerful beings capable of anything. Its our beliefs that hold us back to being the greatness that we are. I want to untangle the thoughts that we are not enough, or are too much so that we can express our gifts in this world. Then we can have a world that works for everyone, with enough room for everyone, so that we can love each other without greed, jealousy, fear or lack.
Gaia: We have recently started carrying your beautiful cards. My personal favourites are ‘Jabowalkie’ & ‘Foxy Moon’. Where does the inspiration come from for your art? What kinds of mediums do you use to create your paintings?
Shannon: I like to play and experiment with different mediums but mostly I work with Acrylic or water color. My inspiration comes from my own spiritual experiences through my healing journey experiences. Also I have been fascinated by the moon since I was a toddler and am an avid follower of the cycle, I find it to be influential in my moods. I also love wild animals and their spiritual medicine meaning to their personalities
Gaia: What is your sun sign and do you feel you relate to it? If you know what your moon and ascendant signs are, do you feel like they reflect in your personality?
Shannon: I laugh inside when people ask this as I can just hear some people go ohhhh…. when I tell them my signs. I am a Taurus Sun sign and a Taurus Moon sign with a Leo ascendant so even though I can appear to be out in the spotlight and social it can take a toll on me as my Taurus energy is strong. I am very grounded which I believe really helps me in my guided healing practice with my clients and I am told that I have a very earthy motherly energy in sessions. I do have to work on my stubborn side but when I have made up my mind I am firm and stand by my word. I also love comfort and do most of my computer work at home in my very warm and cozy bed with a warm cup of coffee or tea.
Gaia: Are there any other personal spiritual practices you have? Do you mind sharing about them?
Shannon: I love to meditate and journal. I try to meditate every day even if its only for 5-10 mins but I strive for at least a half an hour. There is no one way that I do it, sometimes its breathing in the car to calm my anxiety for a few mins, other times its putting on my headphones and listening to a guided meditation and other times if I can’t sleep or need clarity I will listen to some bilateral beats. Journaling is something I have done since I was 13 as recommended by a family counselor. At the time it was to write out my aggression and frustrations, it continued that way for most of my life but now I use if to record my dreams- I love dream interpretation, and for my gratitude and affirmations. Journaling also helps to work out problems in my current situation before I confront others in an overly emotional way, this helps me defuse it.
Gaia: Are there any spiritual philosophies, beliefs or paths you are drawn to that you would like to learn more about?
Shannon: I love learning about different philosophies beliefs and religions, I take what resonates with me and leave the rest. I really gravitated to the Centre for Spiritual living when I was living in Kelowna and when I took their classes and workshops outside of their regular Sunday service I really learned a lot and grew immensely. They follow the teachings of Ernest Holmes who wrote the Science of Mind in the 1920’s. Ernest incorporated many of the basic principles of the Bible, the Quaran, teachings of the Buddha, Krishna and Muhammad and extracted the messages of love, unity and all is One in, through and as God. Then he took the law of physics and the power of the mind showing the science of how our thoughts affect our mind, body and spirit decades before it was acceptable to believe this. Lastly he incorporated philosophers like Emerson and Thurow who like him wrote about the power of our mind and God. This changed my life.
Gaia: How do you think you have grown as a person in the last year?
Shannon: Wow, this is a big question. I have grown in so many ways personally. I have learned to become more confident in myself, to feel into my body and know what it wants and needs - even though I don’t always listen. I have learned to speak up for myself more and stand up for what I believe in even if it means loosing people or even jobs. I am listening to my intuition more knowing that a gut feeling can lead you to great opportunities or risk loosing things because it does not serve me anymore. Once I let go the Universe/God/Source will fill it with something greater once the slate is clean.
Gaia: What is one thing you would like to grow about yourself in 2022?
Shannon: I see myself growing into a bigger more badass version of myself. Trusting myself and others more, believing that I am supported by my friends, community and the Universe. I see myself growing my businesses with clients and many sales exponentially everyday. More confidence and relaxing into being “seen” and working smarter, not harder.
Gaia: Tell us about more about the readings you offer and other products or services you offer?
Shannon: I’ve talked a lot about my coaching and guided healing services so I will expand on my art. I love to create and grow as an artist. I offer original art, prints, cards and even love to create costumes. I use recycled and upcycled materials to make festival belts with skirts and purses as well as fancy crowns, antler headpieces and fairy ears and wands.
Gaia: Where can we find more information about accessing your products and services?
Shannon: Anyone can reach me on Facebook or Instagram under Shannon Silvermoon. I can also be contacted through email at ShannonSilvermoon@gmail.com. If you would like to learn more about my Spiritual Coaching, Inner Child or Parts work please check out my website at www.Silvermoon-Coaching.com
Gaia: What would be in your shopping bag at Gaia Rising?
Shannon: Ohhhh almost everything… but if I had to choose the three things I would for sure have is a new deck of oracle cards, a fancy journal, and a Goddess statue!
Kari Johansen's Gaia Update: Empath focused content
Kari Johansen's Bi-Weekly Gaia Update
I’d like to offer a series of supportive, perspective broadening & ideally, guiding, contributions for you through Gaia’s newsletter. This series, focusing on Empaths, the ‘Empath’ in all of us, Healing & Growth, will unfold with each entry…
From personal experience, being an Empath kinda… sucks! Oddly, I wouldn’t trade it for anything though.
When I was a kid, I was called "sensitive" a lot, it was always said with a negative tone. Funny enough, they head no clue just how sensitive I was. I could see and feel things others couldn't, that was clear to me at a very young age.
Based on the lack of interest or sympathy for my “sensitive” nature, I learned that sharing my perspective didn’t help my sense of belonging. For e.g. when I tried to tell my mom about seeing, hearing, feeling ‘stuff’ in my room at night, she barked back, "what are you telling me! You're crazy!?"
I was ten. That was enough for my abilities to ‘shut off’ for several years, it was strange how they seemed to do so on their own. I took this as push to change, so I did my best to ignore my abilities if or when they showed up.
I was just a kid, I know now that ignorance was a form of lying to myself. I betrayed myself, in order to be who society & the people around me expected me to be.
Betraying your Self is the worst kind of betrayal.
My abilities began to sneak back in by my late teens. First shown to me through synchronicities, then dreaming the future in astonishing detail. The door finally re-opened with full acceptance & curiosity when I began studying Conscious Dreaming at 18. The point of no return was the day I was shown the book “Messages in Water” [Dr. Emoto, 1999]. The images spoke to me an undeniable Truth that, yes, I could feel, but what was more was the relief! Someone was proving (at least to me) that everything else I felt was not only okay, but worth acknowledging.
Like all Empaths, I’ve been one my whole life. What matters most is when we begin to acknowledge and honor our unique abilities. My first Empathic experience in this life was as a baby. It was an emotional trauma I carried with me until I was in my late thirties. This is an example as to why Spiritual & Energetic Healing is an important part of an Empath’s Well-being, AND why we need to learn (once able) how to protect ourselves Energetically, both inside and out. But one cannot do either without first, fully acknowledging & accepting their true nature.
… In what I’ve briefly shared here there are 3 Emotional traumas (with my mom, myself, as a baby) – and I wasn’t aiming to write about them! (These have nothing on the more significant trauma’s I went through, nor are they to be compared to your own or what others have endured). My point is this; for the Empath in all of us, Emotional trauma is common and it’s a given. We’re taught to dismiss them, “grow thicker skin”, “get over it”, etc. But Emotional trauma is the most common root of illness. As one teacher of my teachers and mentor says, “illness takes root in our emotional blind spot”. That blind spot occurs when we ignore, band-aid, or ‘self-medicate’ an Emotion that was not honored in the moment – be that moment last week, 10 years ago, as an infant, or, in a past life. Problems can arise in some of the simplest ways, for example; A parent lies to as child, the child feels the lie, senses the truths in the situation, has responding Emotions to both the truths and the lie, neither of which the child is ‘allowed’ to honor… This (very simplified example) seeds resentment or a lack of self-trust, or both. Over years becoming stronger to shape parts of character, like anger, anxiety, and inability to Trust others. Unaddressed, physical illnesses manifest, like allergies, arthritis, compulsive disorders.
I often say, life is a continual process of Healing & Growth and that Healing & Growth go hand-in-hand. These points are even more applicable to Empaths in order to be strong and ideally, Thriving in every way. I learned this by mistake. Starting with my personal journey to heal Physical ailments and chronic issues, then, Mental and Emotional struggles, traumas and PTSD. All were Energetic and Spiritual at the core and inevitably, once one thing is healed there is always another just around the corner.
Healing is a process and Growth is the progress. Healing doesn’t mean there is something “wrong” with you, it means you’re on a path of discovery – willing to Grow… accepting you “don’t know what you don’t know” – even about yourself.
As my education and personal healing path in the Natural Healing Arts has unfolded over the past 24 years, a pattern has emerged. I call it the 7 Stages of Healing & Growth, and I guide many of my clients through them. For this newsletter series, I’d like to take a small journey through the Seven Stages with you. I won’t be able to go into detail in these articles of course, but at a high-level I’ll aim to provide a mechanism for personal transformation, at least in a small way.
Let’s get the ball rolling today with a couple of internal questions… It may be helpful to jot down your answers in a notebook and use the same book as the series unfolds.
Note: this is an exercise of total honesty with Self, and it is for you & only you:
- Ask yourself (without judgement): When have I betrayed myself in a significant way? (i.e. lied to or ignored a part of my true Self)
- What was my positive reason (at that time) for doing this? [e.g. to fit-in, feel loved, feel accepted]
- How has this played a roll in my life? Does it still? … (if not, go back to #1 & search, with curiosity, for something more significant. There IS something. Be 100% honest with yourself)
I look forward to this little journey unfolding over the coming months! And please remember, I’m always here to help. I can be contacted for questions via my website &/or session booking:
My Best To You
Kari
