𓁧 Wandering Stars

My name is Shane Clayton, and I established Wandering Stars as a meeting place and consulting portal for those interested in accessing alternative and ancient methods of Healing, Self Knowledge, and Empowerment. 

Located at my cottage home at the Dragonfly Healing & Learning Center compound in bucolic Butte Valley, California, Wandering Stars was formally initiated on the New Moon in Libra, 8:18 p.m. October 8, 2018. 
 

The Lunar/Zodiacal and Numerological energies of that moment served as the core and foundation to begin forging a balanced center to create a Sacred Space, or Sangha, from which like-minded others could gather, exchange information and ideas, teach and learn together, and generate good works in the collective.

Since then we have become a loose-knit but close circle of a few dozen regular friends, both locally and over seas, who have shared in the Vibratory Current set in motion here at Wandering Stars on 10/8/18.

In particular, I must introduce three of my closest associates:

Alexandra Kriz and husband Jesse Spallina, who started the Phoenix Nest Community Project in 2021, the first psychedelic Ketamine therapy clinic in the Northstate. Due to family necessity, they had to move to Texas temporarily and closed the clinic, but are back in Butte County now developing their new property in Forest Ranch which will become a sort of "Phoenix Nest Rising," and we will be hosting certain Wandering Stars Events there together in the future.

Heather Sanzone, who owns the Dragonfly property, and fully supports my work and gatherings here as Wandering Stars. A non-profit spirituality-based members-only school for children, herDragonfly Healing & Learning Center is slated for opening to onsite classes here later in 2025.

All three independent organizations - Dragonfly, Wandering Stars, and Phoenix Nest share a common purpose as Spirit-based Community-building Healing and Learning Centers. Most especially, together we three seek a wider outreach to serve others on our collective Sacred Sojourney upon the personal path to Self-Remembrance, Health, and Inner Peace.
 

The Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hunh, explains it well:
 

“A sangha is a community of friends practicing the dharma together in order to bring about and to maintain awareness. The essence of a sangha is awareness, understanding, acceptance, harmony and love. When you do not see these in a community, it is not a true sangha, and you should have the courage to say so. But when you find these elements are present in a community, you know that you have the happiness and fortune of being in a real sangha.
 

The trees, water, air, birds, and so on can all be members of our sangha. A beautiful walking path may be part of our sangha. A good cushion can be also.
 

If we see a group of people living mindfully, capable of smiling, of loving, we gain confidence in our future.
 

In my tradition we learn that as individuals we cannot do much. That is why taking refuge in the sangha, taking refuge in the community, is a very strong and important practice. When I say, “I take refuge in the sangha,” it does not mean that I want to express my devotion. No. It’s not a question of devotion; it’s a question of practice. Without being in a sangha, without being supported by a group of friends who are motivated by the same ideal and practice, we cannot go far.
 

If we do not have a supportive sangha, we may not be getting the kind of support we need for our practice, that we need to nourish our bodhichitta (the strong desire to cultivate love and understanding in ourselves). Sometimes we call it “beginner’s mind.” The mind of a beginner is always very beautiful, very strong. In a good and healthy sangha, there is encouragement for our beginner’s mind, for our bodhichitta. So the sangha is the soil and we are the seed. No matter how beautiful, how vigorous our seed is, if the soil does not provide us with vitality, our seed will die.”

… and so, like the planting and tending of a garden, regular gatherings at Wandering Stars will almost always be scheduled in conjunction with Lunar and Solar cycles. Meetings will take the form of information sharing, presentations, open discussions, guided meditations, feasts, music, sound baths, and simple ceremonies or observations. These may also be accompanied with the use of certain power plant sacraments including Egyptian Blue 'Lotus' (Nympahaea caerulea), Cannabis spp. and Salvia divinorum, which are legal in the State of California.
 

“An Appointment With Power”
 

The word ‘planets’ comes from the ancient Greek word πλανήτης (planētēs) meaning “wanderer”, and the Greek word for “star” is ἀστήρ (astēr) - and so ἀστήρ πλανήτης (astēr planētēs), means “wandering stars,” and that was what the Greeks called the Planets. They appear as bright stars, but they don't twinkle, and their paths deviated or "wandered" relative to the “fixed” stars, which appear to wheel overhead at night.

The life counseling services, ceremonies, and events offered here at Wandering Stars are all Astrologically based or timed according to the movement of the Sun, Moon, and Planets across the backdrop of the Stars of the Zodiac, so the name seemed like a good fit. 

I use both Tropical and Sidereal methods of Astrological calculations to develop highly specific Natal and Progressed Horoscopes for both intuitive personal counseling as well as for the Astronomical timing of events, gatherings, meditations, ceremony, and entheogenic divination/theurgy. 

Upon request, I offer a personal printed Astrological Chart with interpretations of one's Natal (birth) Horoscope at no charge as a basis for establishing one-on-one individual life counseling and wellness advocacy. Depending on each individual, these may expand into methods of shamanic healing guidance - tailored to each individual’s ever-blooming Self Realization - the Remembrance of their own True Will.

The ancient Egyptians had a word for such a Remembrance - Sekhau! Therein lies our access to Personal Power.

Nuit, the Egyptian goddess of the Milky Way galaxy, announces in the first four verses of the Book of Law:

"Had! The Manifestation of Nuit.
The unveiling of the company of heaven.
Every man and every woman is a star.
Every number is infinite; there is no difference."

Again, the name Wandering Stars seems appropriate for the loose-knit community of men and women such as we are.
 

Indeed, each individual has a uniquely complex birth chart or Natal Horoscope - with Inner, Stellar, Planetary and Lunar influences above and beyond the single (yet still major) Sun Sign of popular astrology.

Each Horoscope shows aspects of the Will, the Personality, Emotions, Intellect, Intuition, Passions, Ideals and Limitations, Creativity, Imagination and Regeneration. These correspond to the influence that a respective Planet may have - depending on its placement in the Stellar signs of the Zodiac and the Earthly Houses - revealing inherent talents and gifts as well as personal limitations and challenges facing each individual in their particular Life Wave.
 

I have found through nearly a half century of experience, study, practice and initiations, that Astrology is the perfect doorway for any earnest seeker to come to know their own pure Will - that which the Hindus and Buddhists call Dharma, the Ptolemaic Egyptians/Greeks called Thelema, and what the earliest Gnostic Judaeo/Christians called Gnosis.

Inscribed over the Portico to the Temple of the Oracle of Delphi were the words “Gnothi Seauton” or Know Thyself, the prime directive of Thelema; that is, to Know, and Do, one’s divine Will. Truly, Astrology is a most valuable key to Self-Knowledge or Gnosis, and has always held an integral position in the various world "Mystery Traditions" handed down Mouth to Ear for many millennia, in many ways functionally predating the written history of humanity itself.
 

I utilize certain elements of various of these Traditions, both Eastern and Western, of which my friends and students will inevitably become aware of in our exchanges. These include the Ancient Kemetic (Egyptian); the Western Esoteric Traditions (such as Hermeticism, Qabalah, Gnosticism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, and Thelema); the Eastern Traditions (Tantra and Vedanta Buddhism, Hinduism and Yoga, Asian Taoism and I Ching); and most especially Meso-American Nagualism a-la Carlos Castaneda, the Mazatecan Teonanacatl Shamans, and the Amazonian Ayahuasceros.

That's a mouthful, for sure; but an earnest attempt has been made to distill the simplest and most accessible techniques from these.
 

In addition to fairly regular scheduled meetings and personal consultations, Wandering Stars will also be offering a cycle of Basic Astrology classes, should there be enough interest to do so, to empower you individually with the ability to cast Horoscopes for yourself and others, learning the language of astrological symbolism and thereby developing of your own natural intuition in the process. Classes in Qabalah and Tarot as well as Eastern Elemental Tattwas, Chakras, and Kundalini energy work will also be part of the subjects addressed at our Portico Meetings.
 

All meetings are free of charge by RSVP, with honorariums gratefully accepted. Events may have a "ticket price" depending on the guest artists, healers, and/or speakers. Feasts are almost always “pot-luck” with a theme. Since this is not a commercial business, there are no set fees for first time personal one-on-one counsel either, being on the honorarium basis as well. I do not have a "client list." Ours is a more personal relationship as trusted friends. Offer as you see fit.

In particular, the work here is focused on utilizing various healing practices, including aromatherapy and psychedelic therapies, that have been clinically proven to assist people in dealing with depression, anxiety, trauma, substance addictions/withdrawals, and other health issues which are a barrier to one's personal well-being and self-realization. The unfortunate byproduct of these is troubled relationships with others, and so we seek to cultivate a sense of community here in order to learn from and guide each other in developing healthy open relationships.

While most of the methods utilized at Wandering Stars are derived from various ancient world spiritual Traditions, there is absolutely no singular exclusive "religious" doctrine preached here - all are welcome, no matter what your beliefs are. Wandering Stars and our associates have seen proven results when applying these healing practices with everyone who earnestly partakes in them.

Wandering Stars is the culminating focus of my life-long spiritual journey - one that began “way back when” in the Summer of Love of 1967. Like so many of the “boomer” generation, my introduction to transcendental meditation, alternative spirituality, and mystical experience came via the popular “hippie” counter-culture movement and the attendant use of psychedelics - particularly LSD and Psilocybin mushrooms, and of course Cannabis. (You can read my truncated story at Why Egypt? Part One.)

My introduction to the shamanic use of psychedelics as entheogens to induce mystical experiences in “vision quests” came first via Carlos Castaneda and his series of books during these early years - writings that are still relevant to my work over 50 years later. This led me to research and experiment with authentic Mesoamerican shamanic psychedelic traditions including that of the Southwest US Mescaleros with peyote, the South American Ayahuasceros with DMT, and the Mazateca of Oaxaca and Salvia divinorum, who also introduced the Western world to psychedelics via their Teonanacatl - the "Flesh of the Gods" - psilocybin mushrooms in 1956. The entheogenic practices of "New World" indigenous cultures cross over in so many ways, and their common “abstract core” teachings are the primary influence on the vision quest ceremonies held here at Wandering Stars.

My personal Kemetic or ancient Egyptian initiation occured a decade later during an extraordinary visit to the touring Tutankhamun exhibit in Seattle in March of 1978. Then later in 1993, I encountered a trinity of Egyptian divinities (Neteru) I was previously unfamiliar with through my involvement with a group called Ordo Sanctus Gnosis in Sacramento. This Egyptian connection culminated for me on the Spring Equinox morning of 2018 - forty years to the month after my initial Tutankhamun experience - a sunrise observance directly overlooking the Great Sphinx, with the Pyramids serving as gargantuan backdrops and the canine godform Anubis right there at my side.

The Sphinx was ingeniously constructed to align perfectly facing the Equinox sunrises, making this a most auspicious event, intentionally timed on my part. Immediately after that, I was allowed to enter the Great Pyramid alone, and after ascending the Grand Gallery and ducking through the passage into the King’s Chamber, I spent nearly an hour by myself sitting with my back to the East wall facing the red granite sarcophagus in the West. It was then that an overpowering mystical experience swept over me - a transmission seemingly triggered by my vocal vibration of AUM which resonated through the empty granite-walled space. Some folks call these experiences “downloads”, and they wouldn’t be far off the mark.