Hummingbird Medicine

Hummingbird energy is beautiful, magical, and loving, enabling a deep connection to our soul’s calling. Hummingbirds are called Siwar Q’enti in Quechuan. Traditionally, hummingbird feathers are attached to love ceremonies. Their iridescent wings hover and move at the speed of light, helping the little bird to move up, down, and even backwards. These tiny creatures fly from Brazil to Canada each year and need a huge amount of nectar to survive. They don’t worry about where they’re going to get this nectar from but just have trust and an inner conviction that all will be well.

This medicine helps me to find the right songs and stories for my workshops. It helps my word be filled with light nectar or Sami and to follow the courage of my convictions. When the hummingbird arrives it means it is time for ACTION!  It signifies a CALL TO ADVENTURE and a move out of the head and into the centre of one’s will – one’s SOLAR PLEXUS. We stop procrastinating when we have to take a LEAP OF FAITH.

Alberto Villoldo says in ‘Shaman, Healer, Sage’  ‘ Once touched by the energies of this archetype, we are propelled on our own epic journey that eventually leads us back to our source, where our spirit was spawned, in that ancestral fields of flowers, we can drink deeply from the nectar of our lives’.

Hummingbird and Creativity

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”  Kurt Vonnegut,

This energy empowers me to connect more strongly to my soul’s essence through creativity, storytelling, poetry and myth, even drama. Creative blocks can often be connected to an ancestral root. Once we are aware of this, we can release the emotional or physical blocks holding us back. Then we can move forward clearly and creatively.

As an artist, when I use the energy of a hummingbird, I can switch off to the outside world. Through shamanic drumming, I sip the nectar of my creative voice with my inner ears and eyes. Hummingbird medicine is represented by the theta waves of the brain. This is where I daydream out of the window whilst washing the dishes – or rise to a challenge, even though I have no idea how I will manifest it on a physical level.

Allow yourself the freedom to express yourself through art, music, sculpture, or dance, and allow those aspects of your true self to really shine and be integrated.  When we engage in creative practice, we receive inspiration and well-being on so many levels.

Working with Hummingbird Medicine and Creativity as a Shamanic Practice.

I work a lot with blocked creatives in my shamanic practice, it’s a fascinating process!  Clients are often held back on an ancestral level – possibly feeling that they’re ‘not allowed’ or ‘not good enough’ to create what they want to in the world.  There are patterns to be released here and blocks to let go of.  Whatever you do, hopefully, you feel inspired by doing the work you love.  If you’re not doing what you love, then make small manageable steps towards your dreams. When you work with passion in your life, the universe will step in and support you in your endeavours and try and make things easier for you.

Shadow work also can help us to be more discerning with our energies, seeing where we leak or give away energy instead of using it for our own creativity. In order to be creative we need to be organised and look after ourselves, nurturing ourselves with natural foods. Listen to your body and develop body awareness.

Soul retrieval can also help us to reclaim those parts of ourselves that are lost through trauma or illness, also past lives. When we do this, we have more energy available for our creative lives.

Keeping a dream diary or journal has also helped me through difficult times in my life. What issues are arising that need to be looked at? What synchronicity is happening?  Any chance meetings or strange dreams?  Write them down and ask for guidance from your unseen helpers in order to move forward.

Experiential Hummingbird

Hummingbird has helped me to organise a trip to Peru with my friends from The Four Winds Society and go. I left my (then) young family behind for three weeks! Also, in Canada, as I worked on a textile installation in a flowery meadow, I was lucky enough to be regularly visited by hummingbirds on our site.

On a day-to-day basis, I use hummingbirds to help me tune into my creativity or enjoy the arts, as well as serve great spirit. This medicine helps me to find the right songs and stories to touch and open up my student’s hearts. It helps my words be filled with light and to follow the courage of my intuition, even when I can’t see where I’m being taken.

In my next post, I will be talking about hummingbird and ceremony – how you can weave this easily into your daily practice.