Firmly
rooted in the wisdom of past generations, Corby Ingold stands in the intersection
of indigenous cultures and modern technological society with a perception
that embraces and unites seemingly chaotic diversity, an intuitive healer
with a variety of talents and interests. Corby has the confidence of someone
who has found his path in life and is striding forward on a journey that
ties together ecology, tradition, relationships, and transformation.
Corby has spent a lifetime studying and practicing healing traditions and techniques from many lands and many epochs that promote wellness of the mind, body, and spirit. His formal training in massage and hypnotherapy has provided a framework for the information and techniques he has gleaned from ancient indigenous traditions and from nature itself. His ability to combine mainstream and alternative healing methods allows him to impart a greater sense of relatedness with oneself, with other people, and with the planet.
Respect - for all creation and for the dynamic spirit behind it - is one of Corby's basic tenets, whether he is having a casual conversation or conducting an ancient ritual. Another important trait is his sense of humor, which surfaces when he senses that he or other people are taking themselves too seriously.
Growing up in the 1950s on the edge of Seattle’s suburban expansion into the surrounding wilderness, Corby chose to avoid the lock-step conformity of contemporary society and spent much of his childhood and teenage years exploring the forest. Along with this intense love of nature came a deep-seated fascination with mythology, fairy tales, world religion and poetry. At the age of 11, when other kids were trading baseball cards, Corby discovered Hatha yoga and meditation. As a teen, he wrote poetry and learned to play the guitar. His lifelong interest in folk music began to blossom at this time, and he became aware of ancient European earth religions like Wicca and Druidism.
This led to a trip to Ireland and Scotland at the age of 20. "I traveled on foot with a backpack. All up and down Western Ireland and Scotland I visited sacred sites-places connected to the sidhe (pronounced "shee") or otherworld people, what we usually call fairies - and to sites connected with the poet Yeats." Making his base camp in the Connemara Gaeltacht, he learned a great deal about fairies, magic, and traditional music from the old people who were his hosts and neighbors, people who, according to Corby, "still carried on a strong, unbroken tradition in the early 1970s."
In an age of sound bytes, click images, and instant remedies - where topics like shamanism receive glib treatment in the pages of Time magazine - Corby's commitment to a ten-year long apprenticeship with Native American healer Johnny Moses is even more remarkable. Corby was initiated into the Si Si Wiss (Sacred Breath) Medicine tradition, a spiritual healing practice indigenous to the Northwest coast. Corby's study with Johnny Moses began with learning songs. "This certainly resonated with the traditional British and Irish ballad singing I'd been connected with. I found out that for Native Americans, singing was also a way of life. But these songs were a little different, usually songs to call or honor specific spirits of nature."
Poised at a major crossroads of Native American and native European cultures, of ancient traditions and modern technology, of individual transformation and global vision, Corby Ingold continues his personal journey, and generously shares his tales, his maps, and his guideposts along the way.