Evelyn C. Rysdyk, co-founder of Spirit Passages

From Creative Director to Shamanic Guide — A Journey Into Power and Purpose
 

Earlier in my career I was a Senior Art Director in New York’s fast-paced advertising world. But despite the accolades and outward success, something was missing. I felt a persistent inner unrest — a quiet knowing that life held deeper meaning than the one I was living. 

Answering that call led me to what I now call an “Unrest Cure” — It led me to creating my own soul nourishing freelance business and ultimately, to the ancient spiritual path of shamanism.

In the 1980s, I began my shamanic journey after reading Michael Harner’s work and teaching myself to journey with a frame drum. A decade later, I trained directly with Harner and eventually with Sandra Ingerman. Alongside my partner Allie, I undertook a three-year intensive and continued learning from indigenous shamans around the world — including Puma Quispe Singona of Peru, the late Grandfather Misha Duvan of the Ulchi people, Tuvan shaman AiChurek, and Nepalese jhankri Bhola Banstola.

Over the years, our work has supported thousands of individuals in reconnecting with their most vibrant, creative, and purposeful selves. We’ve taught in person across North America and now reach people globally through online offerings — a joy that continues to surprise and inspire us.

Allie and I have the privilege of working with a wide spectrum of individuals: executives in finance, leaders in the supermarket industry, university professors, attorneys, medical professionals (including physicians and psychiatrists), local and federal legislators, and innovative entrepreneurs. Each came seeking something beyond achievement — a deeper alignment, a renewed sense of meaning, or the clarity to lead from a place of wisdom rather than stress.

That same desire to bridge worlds led us to co-found an integrative medical center that brought together physicians, energy healers, naturopaths, mental health professionals, and complementary practitioners. We served on its steering committee, worked with patients, and spoke at its international conferences.

To reach those without a local shamanic guide, I began writing — six books so far, with more on the way. Writing has become another way to walk beside others on this journey toward healing, wholeness, and impact.

My work is for those who are successful by conventional standards, yet deeply sense there is more. If you’re a woman who leads with purpose and wants to live and lead with greater clarity, depth, and spiritual power — I welcome you.

C. Allie Knowlton, 
Co-founder of Spirit Passages

From Pastor to Psychotherapist to Shamanic Guide — Bringing a Lifetime of Compassion

As a native Mainer, I had a connection to the woods and river near my home that fed my soul in a profound way. Since I was raised in a Christian context, upon graduating high school, I knew I was called to become a minister and was accepted at Bangor Theological Seminary. My trips to the library were loudly announced as, back then, the library was in the men’s dorm! While in Seminary, I served rural churches as both a student pastor and pastoral counselor. Later on, I served the same churches while I was a single mother.

I went back to school for a master’s degree in clinical social work. I spent many years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a specific focus on spiritual/energetic sensitivities, family systems and abuse. From there I moved into shamanism and shamanic healing. I worked for over a decade in a Mental Health Center after which I opened my own private practice.

Still later, I found that traditional mental health counseling, while beneficial, had its limits. In working with severely traumatized people, there was always a nagging sense that “something was still missing.” In my own health crisis, I was guided to learn the shamanic journey process and soon after, I was sitting with Evelyn in a three-year program on shamanism and shamanic healing.

Along with Evelyn, I am a co-founder of Spirit Passages and the Spirit Passages Academy. Together, we have offered in-person workshops and training programs across the United States, and Canada. Along with teaching, we have also worked with individual clients for over thirty years. In expanding our work online, our shamanic students and clients now stretch across the globe. Those we have supported have in turn enriched not only their own lives, but those in their communities through their own talents enhanced by shamanic journeying.

In being a part of our integrative health center, we not only supported the health and well-being of our patients, but we also taught the other founders how to journey! Expansive thinking was in great abundance within those walls!

Since I was a small child, I have always held the belief that we are all connected to the earth, the cosmos and to one another. When we finally believe this, we can step into a higher version of ourselves. That higher nature would allow us to see the surface differences that divide us, as an incredibly powerful tapestry of talent, experience, and unique genius. Our family of distant cousins numbers over 8.2 billion. Imagine if even half of us, stepped more deeply into that profound connectedness. I’m certain we could heal each other, the planet and support all life to rebound in its magnificent diversity.

One of my great joys is the fact I am the mother of two, the grandmother of two and great grandmother of four and counting. My dream for them is the world that I can only now feel in journeys. Toward that end, I shared my personal exploration of awakening to the larger possibilities we humans have. That book, Exploring Your Multidimensional Self, A Shamanic Perspective can be found as an e-book on Amazon