#respectthekoran – an appology from Sweden

As a Swedish citizen, I want to express my most humblest apologies to the Muslim community for the burning of the Koran in my country. I would never do such a thing and neither would most Swedish people. I hope you can forgive us for not handling the group who are doing this in a better way.

I also strongly urge the Swedish government to apologize clearly and humbly, as well as to act firmly and swiftly to stop the small minority who are burning the Koran in our country.

It’s one thing to have a debate on religion and people are allowed to have their opinion. It’s a whole other thing to burn a book which is not only considered as holy, but is also a basis for the law of many countries. Imagine if a group in a country somewhere would burn the Swedish law book, Sveriges Rikes Lag. We would be equally upset and have the right to be so.

I want to express one thing, which might be difficult to hear for some people, with the hope of achieving a greater understanding for what is going on. It’s NOT an excuse for the act of burning the Koran! That is truly despicable.

But, I want to express that I do understand that some people feel threatened by the large group of new, Swedish citizens who are believers in Islam. It’s just human emotions. Sweden has experienced a large flow of refugees from the Muslim world in a very short time period. Integration and getting used to one another takes more time than we have had. Some people are feeling overrun etc, and I guess that this lies behind some of what it going on right now.

But the majority of Swedish people do not at all agree with the burning of the Koran. Many of us are also happy to welcome people from all over the world to our country, and doing our best to make our special situation work for everyone involved. I hope that our government takes responsibility and show this to the world, today! That we open a dialogue, as well with other countries as within our own. It’s obvious that we need it!

Becoming a shamana

I have become a shamana. All of a sudden in January, my good friend and spiritual teacher A. told me that he now sees me that way. It felt like a great honor and touched me deeply.

My sense of myself has changed. My consciousness is constantly changing with it. And my inner child is extremely happy to finally have a title for what I’ve really, in a sense, been able to do all my life. At the same time, I am proud of 25 years of disciplined study and practice in shamanism and spirituality in general.

Lifelong practice

Actually, I have practiced much longer than that, ever since I came to this world at least… For example, as a child, I used to stare into a bright point or a candle until I disappeared into complete stillness and lost track of the world around me. Later in life, I learned that this is a well known meditation technique from Asia.

I was born in Stockholm, Sweden on the 11th of January in 1977. I have been what is called spiritual since then. A part of this has meant seeing and experiencing much love, compassion and beauty, but also an awareness of the pain and struggles of the world, in away which differs from that of most people.

Being a shaman or shamana

I can for example see and/or communicate with beings from other dimensions. Very early in life I also observed how even loving, amazing people around me abused and sometimes attacked one another energetically. I remember strongly how I as a young child promised never to act like that.

And now I am officially a shamana (a feminine shaman), authenticated by a respected teacher. I do not work with medicinal plants – I have other ways of sharing changes of coinscousness. I also have two diplomas in Reiki, knowledge of various forms of healing, Feng Shui, tantra, tarot, magic, witchcraft (good) and I love sharing wisdom and inspiration through transformative storytelling. Furthermore I developed a coaching method aimed at empowerment and specialized in organizational development using spiritual tools, amongst other things.

I’m actually really proud of myself and I look forward to sharing even more of my gifts with the world. Holding cermonies, giving sessions full of compassion, care and magic, organizing workshops. I have done this for years already, but I will focus even more on it now.

My inner child is so happy and content about this development. My entire being is. It’s a time for celebration!

Deep into holding a Cacao Ceremony at Gathering the Tribe
on the 6th of July this year. Photo by amazing Sofie Selling.

Occupy the Present

With this, I sincerely want to start a new Occupy movement, simply with the goal of Occupying the Present. Like many, I believe that we urgently should slow down our destruction of the planet. I also feel that we would benefit from calmness in a longer time span than the Occupy “Now” allowed. “The present” is a longer time span than “the now”, at least it feels like this to me. Thus, Occupy the Present is my suggestion as a focus phrase for people to rally behind.

I urge us all to be present in ourselves and stop our conflicts, take care of our home, Earth, and to end poverty as well as the widespread abuse of all living things on this planet.

In the sign I created for this purpose, there is a little math exercise. I spelt it wrongly, “excersize” – but in a way it fits, simply since part of the answer has to do with size in a sense. Anyhow, the exercise is a combination of physics, math and mathematical philosophy. It’s marked with a green pen, but related to the red phrase “Occupy the Present”. One point of the exercise has already been defined to 4,89 by one person who I met.

The whole solution is however still a secret, only known to me – or do you know it as well? Please contact me via mail or comment below and tell me your answer and/or part/interpretation of the answer.