Damaris Chrystal

“Damaris is the kind of teacher who works and moves beyond any kind of standard or traditional criteria. It’s not enough to say that you, as a student, will do a great deal of learning. It’s more accurate to say that you will change the way you think, feel and move in the universe. It’s like that. It’s that level of teaching. I am profoundly grateful for what I have received through her guidance, wisdom, and friendship. In short, if you want to understand something better, read a book. If. you want to set your reality ablaze, I present Damaris.”
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“Knowing and working with Damaris has been one of the most important and pivotal experiences of my entire life. I literally could not have fully discovered, understood and embodied my spiritual calling in this lifetime without her healing work, support, and guidance. As a scholar and long-time practitioner of multiple spiritual modalities, I’ve encountered many spiritual teachers and healers; Damaris stands apart. She understands and navigates the spirit world with tremendous sensitivity, awareness, beauty, commitment, depth, and knowledge. She’s loving and compassionate, and able to maintain deep intimacy as a healer and teacher, while also telling important truths when needed. She’s brave and powerful, soft and funny, caring and strong, creative and intelligent, and just brilliant and shining on so, so many levels. She understands that the deepest mysteries can be felt, explored, and engaged intelligently and effectively, while accepting that they can never fully be understood. She is a true medicine woman in the most profound sense, including all of the spirit power and sacrifices that her calling entails; a rarity exceedingly necessary, though too often undervalued, in these times that are both perilous and full of opportunity. If you feel called to engage with the multidimensional magic that is shamanism, let Damaris be your healer and your guide.”

“My experience with Damaris was an experience I will not forget. I am not a novice in the healing arts and have practiced myself for over 30 years in various forms, so I am not easily impressed. I have seen and experienced a lot.

I came to Damaris with deep pain and grief after the death of my very close and beloved brother. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I had a feeling it would be good. It was much better than that. She was so loving, patient and real. Truly, it is rare to find someone deep in themselves to the point that they can focus solely on another and bring spirit into presence for true divine healing. My body reorganized for over a week and I felt very new at the end of it all. I was and am amazed at her level of training and selflessness. She is a gift to our world—from the truth of my being.”

“Masterfully aware and so open-hearted in such a vulnerable way, Damaris immediately puts you at ease. There are few people I’ve known who are so genuinely kind and caring about another human being. I’ve had the honor of working with Damaris for fifteen years and she’s been an incredible guide along my life path.

Shamanic work comes so naturally for Damaris that I’ve never had a second thought that her life’s work should be anything else. It is innate in her to a degree that I’ve never experienced elsewhere. Damaris has an amazing capacity to create a welcoming, safe, healing space for anyone in her presence. She has the ability to step aside and open to helping spirits on your behalf. Ego aside, she opens a space of pureness, allowing information to flow freely from the benevolent ones who are there to help you.

There’s never been an emotion, thought, physical issue or trauma that I have ever had concern in sharing with Damaris. She understands just about every aspect of pain one could experience. Her grace and presence during difficult times is something I cherish because she is truly there for you. I believe that’s why helping spirits are so forthcoming to her. They know truth. They know when someone is real, compassionate, open-hearted and working in the best interest of another.

If you’re thinking about a session with Damaris I encourage you to simply introduce yourself. You will quickly realize just how safe you are and how much opportunity there is to heal within. I call these opportunities miracles. Give yourself the gift of miracles. ”

“When experiencing pain or grief, we can have incredibly raw emotions that few people understand or are comfortable witnessing in us. Our good friends and family are sometimes so uncomfortable with strong emotional states that they often abandon us after a few days of support, mumbling banalities like “it’s time to move on,” and “just let it go.” But our feelings don’t evaporate in a few days. Where do we turn when all our coping mechanisms fail us and we despair of ever feeling whole and happy again?

If you are seeking a safe and beautiful space for exploration, expression, and transcendence of your life’s painful experiences, I can think of no other person more skilled and willing to help with that experience than Damaris. As a nurse specializing in the integration of alternative healing with Western medicine, I am familiar with dozens of healing modalities and have had the pleasure of knowing many gifted healers. Damaris’ integrity, authenticity and skills are beyond measure. She is a blessing to all living things and I whole-heartedly recommend her services.”

“I met Damaris a year after my mother’s death at a shamanic workshop, and we unexpectedly continued to engage in our shamanic interests together, becoming peers and friends. At one point I was called to write a book and stalled my own shamanic explorations, but Damaris and I continued in a collegial, supportive friendship. My mother’s death also prompted my interest in ancestral healing through another modality, Family Constellations. After publishing my book, my involvement with FC deepened. Several months into the FC Circle, a specific experience made it clear that I needed more awareness, protection and oversight in my efforts. After sharing my perceptions with Damaris, we both agreed that resuming my shamanic training was appropriate and she became my mentor

What has it been like to resume my shamanic studies 4 years after quitting to write my book with this teacher, both a friend and once peer student?....breathtaking and awe inspiring. We’ve been working together for over a year and I know partnering with Damaris is the reason why there have been so many changes. I’ve shed so much, making way for the new. Much of shamanic training is one’s own healing and deeper connection with their guides/ helping spirits: the two are intrinsically bound. Besides creating a stronger foundation for ancestral healing, working with Damaris has confirmed again and again what my purpose is: that of a Psychopomp and lineage healer. From the field Damaris provides of incisive inquiry, detailed tracking and deeply embodied relational practices to the Earth and spirit realm, my access to my guides has grown increasingly permeable and spontaneous. Over time I’m able to see clearly just how refined and exact the guidance is that Damaris gives, even if it’s obscured yet very moving in the present moment. She is always acting in accordance with what her helping spirits suggest and man are they ever on point!I have been so amazed to engage this work consistently with Damaris over a long amount of time for there have been instances where I haven’t understood the reason for some of the suggestions that the helping spirits, through Damaris, have made, even though they have always been fascinating and emotionally moving in the moment. But over the course of time it has absolutely stunned me to perceive just what they were designing all along and the great interconnected beauty and complexity of it all. How do they do that?? I never know when new understandings might manifest.

For me, my regards for my Helping Spirits is emotional. As my healing has progressed, I am having to trust them as I still my mind. Seeking the crack within my stories, rationalizations, expectations, brings me to the portal of images and clarity. An intuitive awareness arises as I cull through my mental hodgepodge...and I know when I’ve received what my guides are bringing to me. Then arises amazement, gratitude, joy and recovery of deeper bedrock.

What more, exactly, does Damaris bring to our partnership? She is meticulous. She listens carefully and deeply. She always plans, consults with her guides before any teaching but is able to spin on a dime if the situation requires. Her ability to “hear” and sense what is needed at any point creates the deepest student experience if the student is ready and committed. As with any partnership, the investment of both participants determines the outcome level. If you are wanting to move into a novel perspective about establishing/re-establishing your instinctual connection to Life, Nature and the Creatrix, then you will not find a more powerful, creative and generous mentor than Damaris Chrystal. ”

“I’m a long-term Buddhist, Reiki master and also shamanic practitioner and I know from all my experience that Damaris is a stellar practitioner. She combines innate intuition with compassion and loving-kindness. I have always felt completely at ease during my sessions with her, and I attribute this to her deep connection to and trust in her helping spirits.

I’ve had an number of sessions over the past few years and my experiences have ranged from subtle to profound and always effective. I remember one session in particular which involved a depossession, releasing a heavy and energy-draining presence from my being. Although I was living my life somewhat normally (despite wanting to live under my bed,) it was as if I was just going through the motions. My shoulders had become stooped, my head bent down and my face seemed grey, drawn and tired. After the session I felt like a new person, as if a weight had literally been lifted from my shoulders. I felt such a sense of deep relief and rejuvenation—myself again. In fact, friends even commented that I seemed years younger than the last time they saw me.

I highly recommend working with Damaris for anyone going through a difficult time, or simply wishing to connect in real ways with the unseen world. She offers insight and healing and a session with her is truly a rewarding experience. ”

“The biggest change I was initially aware of after working with Damaris was that my hands didn’t tremor anymore. This is something I’ve dealt with for years and it just... stopped overnight.
She gave me back my hands and I’ve wept with joy and amazement. I’m an artist as well as a veterinarian and had already grieved and accepted the loss of my fine dexterity as permanent. Looking down at my hands and seeing them lie still with no effort... I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank her enough for the joy, relief and comfort that brings me.

Since working with her I’ve experienced increased episodes of happiness, of feeling lighter, more clear, and dramatically more accepting of everything in life. When we first worked together it was like water had gone through me and cleansed my entire body/soul/spirit inside and out. One thought that helped me stay afloat during this process is that another human being was willing to go into the spirit realm to help me. Words can’t convey what she did for me but down to my very soul I am joyous to have met her. She changed my life. I didn’t know what to expect from shamanic work and even though I’ve continued to experience bouts of deep emotional pain, they are in decline, not constant like before, and the people closest to me and I have all seen an immense positive shift in me.

Everyday I’ve woken up feeling different and have to get to know myself all over again. I’ve found new parts of me that went into hiding years ago - like the part of me that loves to draw. And Damaris was right - the things that helped the most with overwhelming emotional states and thoughts for me personally was art. I sang, I danced, and I colored with markers. I was born left hand dominant but was forced to exclusively use my right hand like tons of other kids. But I did the free association exercises her guidance suggested about alternating between my right and left hand and writing backwards with my left hand, which brought up really deeply repressed memories and buried feelings from my past. It’s hard facing them but also empowering. I am very relieved and happy to report that my love of drawing is back online full force! It feels good to be creative again! Her work changed me in a way I never even could have imagined was possible. There’s still much work to be done, but she unlocked my creative drive which has been stuck for years.

I’m also finally able to grieve a lifetime of ancestral trauma including an extremely painful period in my life and it is helping tremendously with PTSD symptoms. The panic attacks are finally subsiding and just about all gone. Since I’ve been seeing her I’m about 99.9% sure my internal world is being rebuilt from the ground up. I have never felt so calm and confident in my spirituality. I’ve let go of a ton of beliefs that were holding me back. I’ve experienced profoundly deep feelings of connection with a greater whole. It was like my whole body was filled with a rainbow shooting star that was exploding with light. I feel like I have a strong, permanent, physical connection with the “whole.” As someone who has lived my entire life feeling alone, isolated, and completely cut off from the rest of the world and planet - this has been profoundly healing. I don’t need to constantly seek love and acceptance from others - I can finally create my own love for myself from within that I am happy to share with others. This has allowed me to let go of massive amounts of pain from my past. All those times I thought I was alone have been replaced with the calm understanding that nature and ancestral spirits were watching out for me; even rooting for me to do well. I was never abandoned and I always have been and always will be loved.

Damaris showed me that magic is real. There is goodness in the world. I still have moments with stress and anxiety but every day my coping mechanisms are getting better.
She is a beautiful light in the world and shines so brightly. I’m deeply grateful for the immense amount of time and effort she’s put into her training, her life and her own spiritual journey.


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“Working with Damaris is a privilege. She has truly earned to be named Shaman. Her connection to Mother Earth and its inhabitants is profound and the breadth and depth of her skills is truly impressive. Damaris’s sincere concern and love for all informs her teaching. She approaches her mentoring with her students with unwavering patience and compassion. And, she affords the space needed for personal, spiritual growth while also providing the tutelage and understanding feedback that cultivates her student’s own shamanic skills. My gratitude for having found Damaris is immense.”

“I first met Damaris when a friend invited me to a ceremony being held at Damaris’ house. Not being familiar with shamanism in any form and coming from a Christian foundation I had no idea what to expect. Being introduced to Damaris for the first time I could immediately feel her radiant light, love and acceptance without judgment. Shortly thereafter I contacted her to see if she would teach me more about shamanism as well as use her healing practice to help me acknowledge and heal many areas of life I had struggled with for a long time. She graciously agreed and so we began our journey.

In her presence I always feel loved, accepted and listened to with no feelings of judgment. She meets me right where I am at the moment and with the helping spirits helps to heal any wounds I may have or answer any question no matter how trivial or repetitive. During our time together Damaris is both healer and teacher.

In working with Damaris I have developed a much deeper connection to Spirit and am able to move beyond the thoughts in my head of how I think life should be and accept and appreciate how life is. My gratitude for all life— whether human, animal, plant, rock, water and even material things—is magnified. I can focus now on living my life from my heart center and speak and live more in love. The peace this has brought to my life is the most freeing thing I have ever experienced. I focus on love, life and gratitude and depend on the leading of God and my Helping Spirits for support now rather than believing I have to go it alone.

The biggest impact working with her has had on my life is that I am now able to recognize, acknowledge, and actually embrace my true God-given gifts and use them to help others. ”

“The night after I met Damaris in 2015 I had a vivid dream where she was sitting next to me and teaching me something very important. Since then I have participated in over six of her multi-day shamanic trainings as well as numerous journey circles, completed her one-year “Time Spirits and the Ancestral Weave” course, and received many hours of mentorship in my personal practice. And now I am signed up for her 2-year training!

Over the years, Damaris has not only become a trusted mentor and teacher, but also a supportive friend, wise elder, cherished mother, and hilarious sister. Tending her relationships in the spirit realm with the same love, compassion, and loyalty she has tended her relationship with me creates a powerful and safe container for her students to re-connect to self, community, nature, and the spirit realm and to responsively meet the unspeakable pain and beauty of being alive. When Damaris takes someone on as a student she becomes a committed ally in their healing and learning with a willingness to share her full and real self.

As a teacher, she stands in the mystery and honors the subtlety and nuance of the spirit realm with a deep moral and ethical awareness and commitment. Navigating power dynamics with integrity, if presented with power given to her by a student, she does not take it as her own, but encourages and supports them in recognizing and re-claiming it over time. Weaving words with rich texture and feeling, she shares knowledge, deeply embodied. And inspirited in her instruction, she tracks her students and adapts to what is most needed in each moment. Dancing between the ordinary and non-ordinary her teaching style requires her students have a commitment to integrating their spiritual healing and skills into their life and ultimately a readiness for transformation.

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“I have to be honest and say that while I’ve been aware of shamanic healing since the 1990’s—being a healing arts practitioner myself— I have not sought it out until recently, after being referred to Damaris by someone I trust. My reason was that I feel a strong connection to Jesus Christ and I perceived that “shamans” did not. UNTIL I met Damaris! There was no doubt the minute I met her and felt the abundance of love that radiates from her heart through her lovely, soft healing eyes, that the presence of Jesus Christ was very much with her and us. I felt an immediate safety and trust. Damaris conveys the journey information in a delicate, grounded and loving manner that can be received and understood. My experience provided healing on many levels; including spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. What Damaris provided was more than worth the wait!!!”

“When you ask Damaris Chrystal to consult the spirit world for you, chances are she’ll come back with much more than a one-sentence response. She’ll return with a whole world that you may have been unaware of, but which will seem strangely familiar and genuinely comforting. Damaris’ connection with non-ordinary reality is rich and vivid and lavishly detailed, but she is no New Age space cadet. She’s smart, funny and warm, and her groundedness will put even the most skeptical spiritual inquirer at ease.”

“Damaris is intuitive, open-hearted and kind and she greets all beings with love and respect. She honors all of life including the animals and land and she honors the dying process and death. Damaris is gifted in her knowing of what is needed in each moment: what needs to be spoken, what needs to be silent; what needs to be created, what needs to be shed; and in knowing what is being born and what is dying. To have Damaris holding my hand and working on my behalf when I am in a tender and vulnerable place is to feel comfort deep in my soul.”