Way of the Circle Centre –

imagine what we can achieve together as an empowered community.

Way of the Circle Centre –

imagine what we can achieve together as an empowered community.

Way of the Circle Centre –

imagine what we can achieve together as an empowered community.

What happened to Shamanism Canada & Canadian Centre for Shamanic Studies?

Since 1996, we have offered a variety of basic & advanced shamanic workshops and trainings, nature adventures, and healing retreats, as “Shamanism Canada”, and later the “Canadian Centre for Shamanic Studies”. We’ve hosted experiences with medicine people, peace-makers, and wisdom-keepers from Finland, South Africa, Peru, Tibet, and more.

We are now the Way of the Circle Centre:

Shamanic practice is a valued element of our centre’s roots – and in 2018 we embraced the opportunity to evolve our expression in a way that would help our language to become even more universal and limitless. We are based in Canada, where colonization continues to affect the First Nations people who are the rightful stewards of this land, whose power, language, traditions and spiritual practices were taken away in living memory. We don’t wish to perpetuate old systems of oppression or appropriate the culture or practices of First Nations communities – and the umbrella use of the Tungusic Siberian word ‘Shaman’ was defined by colonizers.

The language and methodology we share is that of the Way of the Circle, a strong and flexible framework for collective leadership that inspired our updated name, the Way of the Circle Centre. Connecting with nature, the heart, and the circle, within this framework we continue to:

  • Connect deeply with our inner wisdom and natural senses to find answers through listening to our daytime and nighttime dreams.
  • Return to our roots through our natural surroundings, reflecting what we experience in nature to co-create inspired ceremony that is authentic to ourselves.
  • Follow the thread of intention & inspiration to create the lives and experiences we are dreaming of.
  • Communicate with the the spirits of the seasons, the elements, the nature beings, and many others that are seen or unseen.
  • Explore transformational tools and shared practices such as sound baths, chi gong, yoga, sound healing, and more.

Our circle community is comprised of a diverse group of heart-centered individuals from a variety of cultural and spiritual backgrounds, including some First Nations members. Through our collective leadership practice, circle members are welcome to share their authentic personal practices with the group.

Many Westerners also lost our ancestral heart-centered, nature-based, circle practices. This is a story many of us carry in our bloodlines rather than in recent memory like the First Nations people. From the ancient Mediterranean world, to the Norse, Irish & Scottish, Polynesian, Mayan and Aztec peoples, and others, we all have traditions and forms of connection that have been lost to colonization. If you feel a strong calling to reclaim your heart-centered, nature-based spiritual practices, but don’t know where to begin, our circle programming may be for you.

Learn More about our spiritual retreats:

Cultivating Community

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The Heart-centred Path

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Some words from our guests :

“I felt so very humbled by this time together. We came as strangers and left as soul sisters and brothers, each from different parts of a symbolic forest.We sang, we played instruments, we connected with the trees and Mother Earth, we sweat together and swam together.  We lay together and trusted that the mycelium underneath would help to decompose what no longer served our spirit. We soared in this new longing for more. We continue to connect with the magic inside of us and look forward to our return to the Edge – a place that brought us to a breath-taking view of ourselves and the knowing that we can always return.”

– Bina Mittal

“It is hard to describe in words how much I love the Edge. Feeling beyond grateful for an experience filled with awe and wonder. Far more fulfilling than a week down south and has restored my childhood love of the winter! Every person, place and thing at the Edge contributed to an experience that left me replenished, whole and happier than I had been in months… Staff at the Edge helped me figure out how to help myself. Leaving me able to replenish myself in my regular crazy and hectic life!”

– Joanne Hofinger

“Awesome stay, the food is top notch, the location and accommodations are amazing, the people warm and fantastic. I would highly recommend Northern edge to anyone looking to get away, just breathe it all in.”

– Debbie Hope

“Nature has a way of creating a deep play for young ones, but also for adults too. At the Edge, I was able to dream, create, and become mindful at the moment, leading by my heart centre. My heart had been broken, my sense of identity lost. Coming to the circle, an ancient community practice, at the Edge, helped me understand what my new normal would become.“

– Jennifer Casement Buttineau

We’re working on fresh materials that reflect our updated language. In the meantime, the essence of the program is still reflected in this 2011 video: