You’re still working, somehow. You get up, carry on, tell yourself: “Still this project. Still this phase. Hang in there. Still pay off the house.” Just don’t move too much, everything is hanging by a thread anyway. Hang in there, you’ll be fine.

But that is self-deception

It just won’t come back. Not on its own. Not if you carry on as before. You either live and work in harmony with your soul-energetic life base or you suffer. Not because you are weak. But because your system can no longer stand the lie.

“It used to work somehow. You were younger then, you can say now. But that’s only half the truth. The energy of the world is changing. Not by chance, it’s the way things have been going for a really long time. And now you can feel it too.

No matter how “esoteric” you think it is. Reality is showing you just how “esoteric” it actually is. Suddenly this “esoteric” shows up in your wallet, in your job, in your family, in your whole life. It quite literally “cuts you off”.

There is no more gray area. No more “I can do it”. No more “I’ll stick it out for another year”. No more overplaying it, no more putting up with it. No more “I’ll drink it away”.

The old concept is dead. Only you are pretending to save it. But nothing works anymore and you know it.

The new is invisible?

The old stinks, but it’s familiar. The shit you’ve gotten used to. As a good friend once said: “even shit can be cozy and warm”. Until it gets cold. And tough.

There are people who have been sitting in their own inner misery for years and call it “stability”. A job that makes them empty (and blah blah you “need” it, don’t tell me the story about the dog, you’ve been underpaid for a long time).

A relationship that has long functioned like a calendar. A body that has been screaming for years, but they call it “stress”. “I’m not ill, I’ve got it under control with tablets”. Really? Not ill, but tablets? Just caught a cold five times a year? The cancer is “gone” and depression is for whiners?

You’ve known for a long time that this is not your life. You know it deep down in your body, not in your head. But you do what millions do: You tell yourself that it’s “still possible somehow”.

Spoiler: It does not work!

You have only numbed the truth with work, distraction, alcohol, pills, performance or spiritual patches that heal nothing.

The man who was “just tired”

He came to me and said, “I need energy. I’m just tired.” Not true. The body wasn’t tired. His life was tired.

He was 52, successful, respected and hadn’t been inside himself for 20 years. His body had pulled the plug because he was no longer prepared to carry a system that was living against him.

We didn’t “build up energy” We first removed the energy leaks, the lies, the adjustments, the dead commitments. After six months, he looked like a different person and no longer even thought about suicide.

He didn’t have “new energy”. He had his own back.

The woman who was never ill until she was

She was 45, fit as a fiddle, disciplined, functional, rational. Until suddenly she could hardly stand up. Doctors found nothing. Psychologists found nothing. She thought she was going crazy.

What had really happened? Her perception had refused to be ignored any longer. She had sensed for years that her life was a mistake, but she was too good at ignoring it. Filling her role. Very successfully, in fact.

The collapse was not an illness. It was a wake-up call.

Today she lives differently. More genuine, more honest, clearer. Not symptom-free, but FREE. The symptoms disappeared when the lie disappeared. She is still successful and even more so than before. Financially too. Especially financially. With less effort. Because she lives WITH her energy instead of against it.

The way out is dark

The reason why you’re still sitting where you are? Because the way out is invisible. And you’d have to get up first. You don’t get it served up to you “bit by bit”.

You don’t see the first step. You don’t know how to do it. You only suspect that if you don’t, you’ll break your own life. You ask me: “How are we going to work?” or “How are you going to get me ahead?”. “Tell me clearly what’s in it for me?”. And I don’t have an answer.

That scares you. It makes you insecure. Every coach tells you exactly how to do it, doesn’t he? But the shaman doesn’t say that? That scares you.

But it also sets you free. Free from expectations that only arise from your old life, from your old way of thinking.

This path is YOURS. No one has ever walked it before you. No one can tell you what it looks like. Not even me. No expectations, no “goal”, no structure.

But I know the space in which it is created. I know HOW it is created.

And that is exactly where I will accompany you. Not with methods, not with techniques, not with promises, but with real shamanic work that leads you back to your own base.

This is not “unfolding your potential”. This is “you becoming you again”.

Do you have to go that way?

No.

Of course you can stay where you are. Many people do. Until the body gives up completely. Until life forces them to. Until the price becomes so high that nothing can be saved. Or until it’s just been a big mess for a long time and then you die.

But then – please – don’t moan. Not about tiredness. Not about symptoms. Not about unhappiness. Not about pointlessness. Not about not having enough money. Don’t tell me all the things you can’t do and all the things you can’t do. I don’t want to hear it.

Because the symptoms are not the problem. They are the clue.

Does the path heal all this?

No.

The path itself doesn’t heal anything. Neither do I. YOU heal. When you are ready to live from your own base again. You live WITH your energy or you just exist.

There is no promise of a cure, no “studies”, no “data”. I am not the pharmaceutical industry.

There is only YOU and a path that emerges when you walk it. And there is me, who knows the space in which your path will emerge.

If you are ready to take the first step, I will accompany you. Not because I know what your path looks like. But because I know how to find it.

Here is the entry point: www.gerhard-zirkel.com/dein-einstieg

From a mental and emotional point of view, dementia is far more than a medical condition, more than symptoms (as is the case with all “diseases”). It is not a defect of the brain, not a mere loss of memory, not a “loss of personality”. It is a movement of the soul. Slowly, consistently and deeply.

A retreat movement

“From a mental and emotional point of view, dementia or Alzheimer’s is a withdrawal from life.”

The spirit gradually withdraws from the material world, like a stream that breaks free from its riverbed. It no longer flows where it was previously forced to flow, in routines, in responsibility, in adaptation. Instead, it seeks its own way back to that which lies beyond thought: the spiritual home.

When functioning has replaced life

Dementia often manifests itself where a person has functioned for decades. Where duty, control, reason and responsibility have shaped life, but not the living self. Where the wild, creative, free being has never really been given space.

Many of these people led a life that was outwardly “right”: they were reliable, hard-working and decent. And that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, it can be a very successful and seemingly fulfilling life. With everything you could wish for.

But inwardly, much remained unlived. Desires (which can be completely unconscious) were postponed, feelings suppressed, dreams rationalized. The soul carried all this until at some point it said: “I don’t want this anymore.”

Then the consciousness begins to unburden itself. People do not withdraw suddenly, but gradually, first from conversations, then from obligations, and finally from themselves. In this sense, forgetting is neither a failure nor a “falling ill”, but an unconscious withdrawal from a role that has been too narrow for too long.

Forgetting as an escape from the burden of decision

Deep down, dementia means: “I don’t want to have to decide anything anymore.” No more responsibility, no more expectations to fulfill, no more direction to seek.

The ego-consciousness, which has been bound to norms and control for decades, dissolves and with it the feeling of being an independent being with tasks, goals and boundaries.

People become permeable again. Although they lose their bearings, they gain freedom on a spiritual level.

But therein lies the tragedy: this withdrawal does not happen out of conscious choice, but out of exhaustion. The soul withdraws because the person has never learned in life to be free in full consciousness.

Sneaking out alive

In contrast to physical illnesses, where the soul leaves the body while the person dies, something different happens here: the body remains, but the soul slowly departs. It is as if someone leaves the room in full consciousness while their body remains seated.

Sometimes you can sense this when you look into the eyes of someone with dementia. There is something “no longer here”, but at the same time something that is deep and peaceful somewhere else.

In many traditional cultures, dementia is therefore not seen as an illness, but as a transitional phase. As a gradual gliding of the soul into another reality. The body remains as a vessel, while the spirit is already preparing for the next state.

What we see and what really happens

This process is painful for relatives. They see a person who no longer recognizes them, who is confused, who loses themselves. But what they actually see is a soul leaving a world in which it has been too overwhelmed, too narrow or too conformist for too long.

Dementia is not an act of chance. It is an inner cry for relief, expressed through the silencing of thought.

When you meet a person with dementia, you are not meeting someone who is “lost”. Rather, someone who consciously or unconsciously leaves the structure of this world because it has become too narrow for their soul. A person who no longer thinks, but “just is”.

The silent call back to life

But before this process becomes irreversible, there is a threshold. A time when the person still feels that “something is wrong”. They realize that their thoughts are no longer working, that they are withdrawing, that they are less and less present and at the same time feel a deep sense of relief.

This is the moment when change is possible. Because as long as there is awareness, you can stop the inner retreat, not through medication or memory training, but through real mental work. By seeing the person on a spiritual and emotional level, so to speak. By reconnecting with this level.

This means:

* bring back the repressed parts of the self

* connect with your own inner foundation, your own pain and your own longing

* recognize the reasons why you were never really allowed to live

* and learn to be present again

An example from my practice

A woman came to see me in her early sixties with incipient forgetfulness. Medically, everything was still “normal”. But she felt that something inside her was “stopping”. She had cared for others all her life, was reliable, hardworking and never a burden. She herself never felt this was a burden or unnatural.

It was her life and she was happy with it. She was fine, she managed everything. Raised children, grandchildren. Everything was always fine the way it was. But now she realizes that something is wrong.

The shamanic work revealed that she had unconsciously decided to “slowly disappear” because she no longer had the energy to make an effort. Deep inside her, patterns were at work that made her “function”. She had a “job” in this life from the very beginning.

She never realized this because this “job” was never really difficult for her. It always corresponded to “what you just do”. What she never really realized was that she wasn’t just this “job”. That this “job” is not everything.

She is a spiritual being who came here to earth with a whole bundle of energies, abilities, tasks, desires and her very own life path. Like every human being. But she only lived a very small part of it. This went unnoticed for a long time.

In the course of our work, she has learned to differentiate between “what you do”, her “job” so to speak, and what SHE IS. She has rediscovered parts of herself that she was never aware of. She has found her own energetic basis.

She has found herself. Which does not mean that she now regrets her life. It has been a good life so far, but she is now moving on with her full, very own life energy. Into a whole new life, a more fulfilling life. Full of joy, strength and energy. And fully conscious.

Her memory became clearer again, she began to make decisions again. But above all, she was completely “there” again.

What you can and cannot do

Dementia cannot be “cured” like the flu, and certainly not from the outside. It is not a “disease”. But you can understand why it comes, what it wants to say.

As long as the person is still “there”, be it mentally, emotionally or energetically, they can begin to stop the retreat. Not by fighting, but by becoming aware.

* Recognize where you have already withdrawn from your life. You may still be functioning, but you have long been tired inside.

* Feel what you no longer wanted to feel. The fear, the anger, the sadness, the disappointment. Everything you have suppressed binds your strength.

* Find the courage to be yourself again. Even if that means giving up control, showing yourself, becoming uncomfortable.

These steps are not intellectual, they are not based on methods or lists or active ingredients. They happen at the level of the soul. And it is there, in the depths, that all healing begins.

The return to conscious life

Dementia is not a fate that simply “happens”. It is a sign. An invitation to wake up in time before the mind decides to retreat.

If you feel that you are drifting away from yourself, from the world, from life, then now is the time to return. As long as you can still ask yourself what is happening to you, you are still there. And that is exactly where you can start: on a spiritual level, with deep, shamanic work.

Because the way back to life is not through memory, but through the heart, through feeling, through connecting to your own soul and energy base. By rediscovering the parts that you thought you had lost and that are just waiting for you to finally bring them home. Let’s walk this path together for a while: info@gerhard-zirkel.com

Diets, recipes, tables, plans … a billion-dollar industry by now.

In fact, being overweight is not a nutritional problem at all, but a silent/unconscious cry for security. One that arises completely unconsciously on a mental and emotional level and manifests itself in matter. Through too much matter.

If you want to solve this, you will have to tackle the cause, not the symptom.

Many people who are struggling with their weight believe they just need to pull themselves together. More discipline, better nutrition, a stronger will, then it would work. Another diet, buy a bike, get over it a bit, maybe book some coaching …

But deep down, they sense: “Something is wrong. It’s about something more.”

It’s about more

n my shamanic work, I repeatedly encounter people who have struggled for decades. With programs, prohibitions, control strategies. And yet nothing has changed permanently.

On the contrary: the inner pressure became greater, the self-hatred louder, the hope smaller. What you may not know is that your body is not trying to sabotage you. It is trying to protect you.

Not a sign of excess

Being overweight is not a sign of excess, but of vulnerability.

When the body puts on weight, even though we actually know what would be “right”, it shows us something that we don’t want to see: An inner need that has never been considered. Or one that has been ignored. It doesn’t even have to be your own distress.

Is the child crying? Put food in, then it’s quiet …

Perhaps there was no real security in your childhood. Maybe there was emotional coldness, constant pressure or the feeling of not really being welcome. Maybe you learned that you are only loved when you function. Or if you are as inconspicuous as possible.

All of this leaves its mark. Not just in your behavior, but deep in your nervous system, in your body structure, in the way you feel. And it is inherited, perhaps this insecurity is not even yours. What if it’s your parents’, or your grandparents’ or great-grandparents’?

At some point, the body finds a way to deal with this. It eats. It stores. It cushions. It protects.

The hunger

Hunger does not come from the stomach, but from the soul. Many people believe they are “emotional eaters”. But in truth, they are people with a deep, old deficiency that has never been seen.

A lack of support. A loving presence. Of honest affection. A hunger for recognition. For belonging. For “I’m okay the way I am.”

If this mental hunger is not satisfied, the body looks for a substitute. It reaches for what is available: Food. Not because it tastes good, but because it soothes. Because it briefly relaxes the nervous system. Because it gives you the feeling, at least for a moment: “I exist. I am allowed to be here.” … “I AM here”.

But then often comes the shame. The guilty conscience. The self-condemnation. “I didn’t make it again”. And that makes the inner lack even greater.

Discipline does not help

Discipline does not help if the problem lies deeper. Most anti-obesity programs are based on control. They rely on rules, calories, bans and training plans.

But control does not heal wounds. On the contrary, it only reinforces the feeling: “I’m wrong. I need to be in control of myself. I’m not okay the way I am.”

And this is the true core: many overweight people carry an old, silent message inside them: “I’m not okay”. They try to change, not out of love, but out of rejection.

But change that comes from rejection never leads to peace. It leads to new struggles. To new disappointments. And often to even more weight.

The body is not an opponent

The body is not an opponent, it is the wisest witness to our history. What if your body is not working against you? What if it is not sabotaging you, but wants to show you something?

In my work, I see time and again that the body remembers everything that the mind has forgotten.

The moments when you were alone. The tears you suppressed. The anger that was never allowed to come out. The conforming, the silence, the withdrawal, all for fear of no longer being loved.

These experiences are stored in the body. Not as a conscious memory, but as tension. As holding on. As armor. And sometimes: as weight.

Obesity as an expression

Being overweight is the expression of a silent longing for security. If you keep putting on weight even though you’re “doing everything right”, then perhaps it’s not about food. It’s about something deeper.

The desire to finally let go. Not in the sense of losing control, but in the sense of: “I no longer have to protect myself. I can feel safe.”

This security cannot be achieved through diets. It can only be achieved by turning inwards. By meeting the part of you that has felt alone for so long. The part that used food as comfort because there was no one else around. The part that needs the weight in order not to go under.

When this part is seen, with compassion instead of judgment, something starts to move. Very slowly. Very quietly. And very real. And then you can make peace with the struggle and the vulnerability. Wherever it originally came from.

Not in the fridge

What really fills you up is not in the fridge. You don’t need a new diet. You don’t need a better willpower either. You need connection. To yourself. To your true feelings. To your story. And to what was really missing.

You don’t get full through control, but through contact. With your body. With your soul. With your own inner truth.

In my shamanic work, I accompany people to this point. Not to take something from them. But to connect them with the part of themselves that has never really been satisfied and that still has to carry too much today for this very reason.

If you feel that your weight is telling you a story that you haven’t heard before, then you are not alone. And maybe now is the time to hear that story. Not to control it. But to give it peace.

You are not wrong

You may just have been fed in the wrong place. But it’s never too late to feed yourself in the right place. When you’re ready, write to me. I can’t take your path away from you, but I can accompany you: mail@gerhard-zirkel.com

The development of artificial intelligence is breathtaking. What was considered a futuristic vision just a few years ago is now reality: programs write poetry, talk to customers, analyze complex amounts of data in seconds and design entire cities in virtual models. Robots build houses, print furniture and perform surgical procedures with precision. In this new world, humans often seem to exist only as spectators.

Between fascination and fear

It is understandable that many people are unsettled. “What is actually left for me?”, ask not only creative minds, but also managers, craftsmen, teachers and doctors. The thought of being replaced by machines hits a raw nerve: the fear of being meaningless.

But precisely in this uncertainty lies a gateway. A way back, or rather: a way in. Because where the AI ends, the space in which you are irreplaceable begins.

What is AI and what can it really do?

AI, or artificial intelligence, is a branch of computer science that enables machines to perform tasks that originally required human intelligence. These include learning, problem solving, language comprehension and pattern recognition.

An AI like ChatGPT processes billions of data records, analyzes probabilities, combines language elements and generates meaningful responses. It recognizes patterns, but does not sense them. It evaluates, but it does not live. It cannot create anything new.

Let’s take an example: an AI system can analyze thousands of romantic poems and generate a new poem that reads “romantic”. But the AI knows no longing. No silent tears. No beating heart when you see someone you love.

She can describe grief, but she has never experienced loss.

She can explain friendship, but never feel trust.

She can express gratitude but never have been saved.

And that is the difference. And your opportunity.

The invisible dimension

We live in a world that places the visible, measurable and calculable above all else. Facts, figures, performance – these are the currencies of our time. So it’s no wonder that AI shines where these principles count.

But people don’t just live by numbers. People live from meaning.

It lives from the encounter with oneself on a deeper level. Of inner truth. Of moments when it becomes quiet and in this silence something suddenly speaks that has no voice.

Maybe you know moments like this: You’re sitting alone in the woods (or at home at the kitchen table) and suddenly you realize that your life has moved in a direction that feels empty. Or you wake up in the middle of the night and know that things can’t go on like this. This feeling is not “logical”. It is real. And it belongs to you alone.

This is the dimension that no machine can ever enter. Because it is not programmed, but sensed. Not understood, but experienced. Not made, but received.

Why AI will never reach your soul, the creator level

An AI can recognize depression, but it has never cried.

An AI can analyze spiritual texts, but it knows no longing for the big picture.

An AI can help you improve your time management, but it doesn’t know anything about being torn between duty and inner call. It doesn’t even know what time really is.

AI is brilliant, but soulless. Fast, but empty. Functional, but without essence.

You, on the other hand, are alive. Permeated by something that cannot be measured. Whether you call it soul, spirit, essence, source, spiritual-soul level or creator level, it is there. And it makes you irreplaceable.

The creation level of the universe

Everything we can see, grasp and think is on the level of matter. Our body, all its functions and also our psyche. All of this is the material level and this is also where AI operates. This is where mathematics is located, where the analysis of relationships is at home.

But this material level does not exist in “nothing”. It arises from the level behind it, from the level of pure energy, from the spiritual-soul level of the Creator.

And unlike a machine, we humans also exist on this creator level. We are spiritual beings who are at home right there. We are spiritual beings who create matter, who create our bodies, who create our entire material existence. Including all machines.

WE humans are the creators of all this

You may be familiar with this: you’re working on a text, a picture, a project and suddenly it’s flowing. You no longer think. You are flooded. You are no longer the doer of the material, you are drawing from a much deeper source.

This is not a psychological state. It is a spiritual event. It has its origin not in thinking, not in neurological processes, not in matter. But on the level behind it.

Poems that touch souls are created in this room. Solutions that were not calculated. Visions that come from another source.

And that is your true power. Because no machine can ever replace that, because YOU are the creator of the machines. A machine can never recognize its creator.

A little story:

A man came to a shaman and complained: “I have achieved everything. Money, prestige, power. But I am empty inside.”

The shaman said nothing. He handed him a drum. The man didn’t know what to do. So he began to beat. Slowly. Then faster. At some point, his expression changed. He was sweating. Wept. Sang. Fallen silent.

After hours he stood up, changed.

The shaman said: “You have felt your soul again.”

No AI in the world can do that. It can say it, sure, but it can’t DO it. Only a human can. A human who reconnects, who remembers that they themselves are the creation. Only a human can recognize the creator level because they are the creator.

Your invitation

Perhaps you are reading this text because something is awakening in you too. A quiet feeling: “There is more.” Maybe your life is fine on the outside and yet something is wrong. Maybe you are functioning, but you are no longer living.

Maybe you are also afraid. Maybe you are “sick”. Maybe you’re just “different” from the people around you. Then that’s not a mistake. It’s the call.

Not back to technology. But back to you.

To a place where you don’t analyze, but feel.

Where you don’t explain, but listen.

Where you don’t control, but receive.

No AI can follow you into this space, and no AI can bring you into this space. It lies behind matter. And it belongs to you alone.

The silent revolution

Our world does not need louder technology. It needs more alert people. People who remember that they are more than bodies and brains. More than roles and status. People who regain access to their inner voice, to the “divine” dimension within them.

These people change the world not through algorithms, but through their presence.

Not through speed, but through depth.

Not through knowledge, but through wisdom.

Conclusion: Why you are irreplaceable

AI will take over many things, but never you.

Because you are not code.

You are not a system.

You are not a product.

You are the spiritual being behind everything.

You are creative power.

You are alive.

And that’s exactly why you can beat any AI. Not with technology. But with energy. With who you are.

What can I do for you?

I can’t take the realization of the connections away from you. But I can lead you to the point where you can recognize. Where you can see who you are. Where you feel what you are. Where you take back your power over your life. For the good of all and for YOUR good.

Feel free to write to me at any time: mail@gerhard-zirkel.com

This is the official medical description of a disease that is still barely understood today. In most cases, those affected find no effective help. They are not even guaranteed sympathy. Because you can’t “see” any of it.

When deep exhaustion speaks a different language

Imagine waking up in the morning and feeling exhausted as soon as you open your eyes. Your body seems empty, your mind dull. Everything you used to find easy is now difficult. Every step becomes a challenge. It feels as if your inner light has been dimmed. As if your access to yourself has been blocked.

But it’s not depression, it’s something fundamentally different. It’s difficult to explain. You can’t “see” anything.

If this doesn’t just last for a few days, but for many months or even years, the whole thing gets a name: Chronic fatigue syndrome. But the term hardly explains anything. Your lab results are unremarkable. Doctors shrug their shoulders. And you yourself wonder what’s actually going on.

What if your exhaustion is not a mistake? Not a medical defect, but an expression of something deeper?

What if it is a wake-up call from your soul? From your being that originally came here with a purpose. Into a world that perhaps never really saw you. A society that has bent you from the start, conformed you, pressed you into shape.

Perhaps you are now at a point where there is no more bending. Your entire system is saying: stop. And that is not a failure, but an invitation to return to yourself.

Nobody can take that away from you, nobody can “diagnose” it, and there is no medication.

It’s not your fault. You can understand.

Perhaps you are now asking yourself the question: “So did I cause this myself?”, “Am I to blame?” The answer is a resounding no.

Blame is the wrong concept. It’s not about blaming anyone, including yourself. It’s about recognizing connections. At your own pace. With room for doubt, fear and hope.

You don’t have to find quick solutions. It’s not about speed. It’s about truthfulness. It’s about being willing to look. And then, at your own pace, to take new steps. One at a time.

When functioning becomes a trap

You may have learned to take responsibility. To be strong. To have your everyday life under control. Maybe even to appear perfect.

But somewhere along the way, you lost yourself. Your inner voice became quieter. Maybe it was never loud. Perhaps you internalized “functioning” so early on that you never got to know your true self.

Many people live successfully on the outside and feel a creeping emptiness on the inside. They work for others. For recognition. For an image of life that was never really their own.

And at some point the body can no longer take it. It rebels. And that feels like a deep, existential exhaustion.

The last kick over the edge

And at some point it becomes too much. This can happen gradually, but also very suddenly. Sometimes seemingly triggered by an event. An accident, an illness, a stroke of fate, a “vaccination”, something from outside.

But that is only the trigger, not the cause. Because the exhaustion was already there. You just held out for a long time. You had to persevere. There was no other way.

Your exhaustion is not a deficit, it is a call

What if this exhaustion is a message? A last attempt by your true self to bring you back?

Perhaps you have been on a path for a long time that no longer corresponds to your nature. Perhaps you have repeatedly suppressed needs, dreams or feelings. Out of a sense of duty, out of fear, out of reason.

Perhaps you have suppressed your inner knowledge, denied it. You kept silent where you should have spoken, stayed seated where you should have stood up.

But you are neither too much nor wrong. You’ve just been on a path that doesn’t nourish you for too long. Now is the time to ask yourself: Am I really living my life? Or just a role on the outside?

When life no longer makes sense and how you can find it again

Many people who suffer from chronic fatigue have lost themselves at some point. Not abruptly, but gradually. Through adaptation. Through expectations. Through an image that was never their own.

Healing begins where you stop judging yourself. Where you recognize: This exhaustion is not a sign of weakness , but of depth. Proof that something is still alive in you. That your inner being has not given up on you.

The first step: end the inner struggle

Do you know these thoughts?

“I’m too sensitive.”

“I’m doing everything wrong.”

“I’m not enough.”

These sentences are old. They come from your past, not from your truth. They gnaw at your strength. But they are not you.

And perhaps you’ve been projecting this onto the outside world for a long time:

“The world is wrong.”

“The others don’t understand anything.”

“Everything is too much.”

The first step towards change is not to do more. It is to stop fighting yourself and the world. It’s not easy, but it’s a start.

The second step: feel your inner guide again

A voice lives deep inside you. Perhaps it has become quiet. But it is still there.

Your intuition, your feeling for authenticity, for coherence. You don’t need new methods or clever concepts. What you need is you. Real. True. With everything you feel, including tiredness. You don’t need medicine, you need understanding. Your own.

Start listening to yourself. Not with your head, but with your whole being. It’s not about understanding with your mind. It’s about feeling. And about trust. In yourself. And in life.

The third step: realign your life from your innermost being

When your body goes on strike, it doesn’t want to “paralyze” you. It wants to protect you. From a path that destroys you. From a life that leaves you empty.

This exhaustion is not the end. It is the transition. The threshold to something new. Perhaps still unclear. But real. And this change does not begin with big decisions. But with small ones:

An honest no. A silent pause. A walk alone, without a destination. Less thinking, more feeling. Less conformity, more you. And at some point: a new course. One that feels right.

Trust is the silent power of your healing

Healing is not a goal. It is not a state that you have to achieve. It is a path that unfolds. Within you. You don’t have to fight anymore. You don’t have to be strong. You can be tired. And still go on. Not against you, but with you.

Perhaps slowly. Perhaps groping. But alive. And honest. If you feel that your old life no longer fits, then it’s not about trying harder. It’s about becoming still. And to meet yourself.

Your exhaustion is not a sign of failure. It is the call of your life: Come back. To yourself.

My help with this?

Often the causes lie so deep, so far back in the past, in the ancestral line, in transgenerational traumas, that you cannot get to them on your own. Too much lies above it. And you no longer have the strength.

Too many mechanisms of repression, of protection. Everything seems too confused, too little of your connection can be felt.

Then I come into play. Because I can look, I can understand, I can see how everything is connected. And guide you through the process like a mountain guide. The process that untangles everything, that creates clarity and that ultimately leads you to who YOU really are.

This is a process that requires strength and courage and takes time. But you don’t have to go it alone. Feel free to write to me at any time if you have any questions: mail@gerhard-zirkel.com

The criticism of vaccination as such is just as old as the idea of vaccination itself and it comes both from the camp of conventional medicine and from outside. But what is behind it from a spiritual and emotional perspective?

It is not only matter and conventional medicine that exist and operate within it. There are other levels that have a far greater horizon of experience but are sometimes drowned out by the clamor of gross matter. This article is about these levels.

The idea behind it is tempting

Basically, the idea of vaccination is tempting and even I say that as a tendentious critic of vaccination. You get an injection and then you are immune to a certain disease. You might think that’s a good thing. At least at first glance.

The idea of vaccination has fascinated mankind for centuries. It is based on the concept of specifically “training” the immune system to prevent serious infectious diseases. This strategy seems particularly appealing because it is preventative in nature; instead of treating a disease once it breaks out, the body is prepared so that, in the best case scenario, it does not fall ill in the first place or only develops mild symptoms.

And at first glance, this even seems to work; vaccination advocates repeatedly cite the example of smallpox, which has actually been almost eradicated.

Another argument that is often put forward is the protection of society as a whole. The theory is plausible: if you don’t contract a disease, you can’t infect anyone. And so those who cannot protect themselves are also protected. A nice game with feelings of guilt that works extremely well.

Psychologically speaking, being vaccinated gives you a sense of security. After all, you are now protected from a disease AND you are also morally high up because you are protecting others.

But is this even true from an overall perspective – i.e. beyond the limited material point of view? Or is this story flawed, even a huge fallacy?

Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, made several statements on the subject of vaccination, particularly in the context of his spiritual world view. His statements come mainly from lectures he gave between 1904 and 1924, as well as from various writings on medicine and education. Here are a few of his most important thoughts on vaccination:

1. vaccination and spiritual awareness

Steiner regarded vaccinations as an intervention in the spiritual development of human beings. He believed that although vaccines could protect against illness, they could also impair a person’s spiritual consciousness. In an often quoted lecture from 1917 (in the Complete Edition GA 177, “Spiritual Scientific Reflections on World and Life Questions”), he stated that a materialism could emerge in the future that aimed to immunize people against “spiritual susceptibility” from childhood.

2. karma and illness

Steiner saw illnesses not only as biological phenomena, but as part of a karmic development process. He argued that certain childhood illnesses such as measles or scarlet fever could contribute to a person’s mental and spiritual maturation. Vaccinations could disrupt this process and therefore also have an impact on future incarnations.

3. medicine and materialism

In several lectures (e.g. GA 314, “Spiritual Science and Medicine”), Steiner criticized the materialistic approach to medicine that was emerging at the time. He feared that an exclusively biochemical view of health and illness neglected the spiritual aspect of the human being.

What I say as a shaman

Steiner already said it back then: vaccination interferes with people’s spiritual and mental development. But how is this to be understood?

Let’s expand on this a little:

From the perspective of the great connection between matter and energy, all matter is created from life energy plus ideas. We are basically spiritual beings who create a material world and a body to incarnate in it.

The matter that we see, touch, eat and where we can hit is nothing other than very dense energy. So dense that it appears solid. But it is nevertheless energy that is in a continuous process of change.

We humans are also condensed energy and we ourselves, i.e. the spiritual being behind us, have condensed this energy and control the life that results from it.

What sounds complicated to the mind – which is also just condensed energy – becomes completely clear to anyone who has (re)established contact with the spiritual level. These connections cannot be grasped with rational thinking, they can be felt, experienced, accessible to those who can sense.

Diseases

An “illness” is always a sign that something is not right in the emotional-energetic balance, or that a developmental process is taking place that manifests itself physically and must also be lived through physically.

What happens if I deprive my body of the opportunity to do this by “vaccinating” it?

Then I either block the development process or I suppress the symptom of an imbalance. On the one hand, this is good because I don’t get the illness, but it’s also bad because this expression would have had a purpose.

Assume that something is not going according to the spiritual being that you are in your incarnation. You are developing in an unfavorable direction, you are not developing at all or you are “overlooking” parts of yourself.

Then the spiritual beingthat you are, your “higher self”, will try to communicate this to you. And it does this through physical symptoms. These can be minor things or potentially fatal illnesses. Mostly combinations of these, which build on each other until you understand what it is all about.

But what if you prevent this possibility of expression from the outset by preventing the illness? Doesn’t your higher self then have to look for another expression? Don’t you then simply fall ill with something else?

If you vaccinate against it again, this game will continue until your body no longer plays along. Because every sign that you ignore or suppress will result in a clearer sign.

Or – and perhaps this is even worse – your material existence loses its connection to the spiritual plane because you suppress any possibility of interaction.

Zombies

And then you are what the movie industry called zombies ages ago. You are an empty shell with no connection to the primordial ground of your being. Controllable by everything but yourself, your higher self.

Zombies are very practical for anyone who wants to exercise power. Because people who are no longer connected to themselves, or only in a muted way, are controllable. They can be manipulated by any form of indoctrination, they believe any lie, they even defend it.

They have to, because they no longer have access to their truth, which comes from the spiritual side. In some cases, the simplest connections no longer work, people become radicalized, fight each other and no longer recognize what is actually at stake.

Two pieces of good news

a) If you have found this article and read this far, you are not completely separated from everything, immunized or not. Then there is still a resonance within you, you still get something from the world and you are concerned with the basic connections. Not everyone is equally susceptible to vaccinations, for some they don’t work at all.

b) No matter how deep the vaccinations are in you, they can always be transformed on a spiritual level. And yes, this also applies to today’s mRNA vaccines. Here, too, matter follows energy, even if the transformation requires much more energy than conventional vaccines.

Perhaps this is the reason why so few colleagues dare to tackle the subject? But there are some who do.

Remedy

I have been offering vaccine transformations since I started working as a shaman and I have carried out hundreds of them since Corona. I transform the vaccines not on a material but on a spiritual level. This enables the body to excrete them.

This is the first step in a process, because as long as the substance is in the body as a cause and acts there, there can be no improvement in your connection to your spiritual and mental base.

Such an inoculation transformation will not solve all your problems and it will not automatically reconnect you to your energetic base. But it is the basis for this to happen.

Important

Whatever you do, whether vaccinated or not, the important thing is to recognize the connections on a spiritual and mental level. This is exactly what I mean by “access to your truth”. Your contact with the spiritual level, whether conscious or unconscious, can tell you how best to behave in the material world you have created.

You have this access, it may just be buried or muffled. You feel that you have it and you can uncover it. The decision to do so is always yours.

If you have any questions or would like my help, please write to me at any time: mail@gerhard-zirkel.com

But what if not? What if your parents were narcissistic and/or abusive towards you? Either openly, in the form of physical or sexual violence or – and this is extremely more common – in the form of conscious or unconscious emotional abuse?

Then the issue becomes highly complex and often doesn’t end well. Not for either side. This is exactly what the following article is mainly about.

Because when the burden of caregiving itself is compounded by unconscious dependencies, narcissistic behavior and mutual pressure, then the whole construct becomes dangerous to the point of the caregiver giving up on themselves.

Such dependency relationships are by no means limited to care. Often enough, parents exercise power in a much more subtle way. They make their long-grown children dance like puppets. Make them do things that they would never have done on their own. Sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously.

But there are ways out if you are prepared to start with yourself – there is no other approach anyway – and resolve the underlying patterns. Because unlike in your childhood, you are no longer at the mercy of others. It still feels like that, but it’s no longer like that. Only the old programs are still running, but programs can be changed or deleted.

Such a path is exhausting, but much less exhausting than driving your own life into self-abandonment.

Example “it’s already working”

Ines, 58 years old, single, cares for her 83-year-old mother. As always, names are fictitious, the story behind them is not.

Ines has two more siblings, but they don’t care. They have families of their own and don’t have time. More like they don’t want to, but of course they don’t say that. Ines is alone, so she has time. She can be there for her mother.

She doesn’t need full care, but she can no longer get to the shops on her own and she can no longer clean her apartment. Ines does all that. Even though she works full-time, but otherwise she has time, doesn’t she? “I can manage,” she says to herself again and again.

Her mother is not easy. She never was. She would be called “narcissistic” today, but Ines still defends her. “She never had it easy”.

Is that an excuse for the fact that she keeps calling Ines nasty names? For the fact that Ines really can’t do anything to please her? For slandering her own daughter to the neighbors, shouting at her, throwing objects at her head?

Ines ignores all that. She has to, otherwise she couldn’t care. And she has to, doesn’t she? Her mother isn’t that bad … she’s never had it easy.

Ines has always been the unloved child. Always the child that her mother beat up. Psychologically and then also physically. Even as a child, Ines could never be right, she was always wrong, always ‘at fault’. She desperately tried to finally get it right, to finally be seen, to finally be loved. She is still trying today. She doesn’t even realize it anymore, she doesn’t know any different.

And so Ines doesn’t even realize how quickly she herself is deteriorating. How bad her health is. “I’ll be fine”. Sure, she was always “fine”, somehow. But she can’t let up, what would her mother say? What would the neighbors say? Then it would be her fault. Once again. She MUST be loved at some point! She can’t, so she carries on.

She actually came to me for something completely different, her health had been failing for some time. But the issue with her mother quickly came to the fore. This toxic dependency on a person who had always treated her like dirt. From childhood onwards. This sense of responsibility, coupled with a perpetual feeling of guilt.

Ines didn’t want to see this for a long time, there was always the hope that it would stop at some point … a hope that was never fulfilled. Not until death and beyond.

Solving this huge issue was not easy – especially not the guilt issue – but in the end Ines got her zest for life back. And her health. And her mother is no worse off than before, the solution just looks completely different now.

General

This example is not ONE story, it is many stories. This topic is huge but hardly visible in society. Who talks about it? And who should you talk to about it? Most people are not even aware of it.

Especially when it’s not about obvious dependency relationships but very subtle ones. Parents who are not in need of care, but still keep their adult children “on a tight leash” against their will.

Coercing them into unhealthy behavior, belittling them, controlling and bullying them. Emotionally blackmail them. Binding them to themselves against the will and needs of their partners or children.

What worked for you as a child will still work when you are an adult. Until you actively end these patterns. This requires courage and determination and is a big step.

You may feel “guilty” and you may be misunderstood, even attacked. But only at the beginning of the process.

Feelings of guilt

Consciously or unconsciously creating feelings of guilt in other people is an extremely effective strategy for getting what you want. If you manage to convince the other person that they are to blame if you are not doing well, then you have them in the palm of your hand.

Especially if it’s a person who is dependent on you. Your child, for example. If you as a parent manage – and this is not difficult – to give your child the “job” of making you happy, then they will do everything, really EVERYTHING to achieve this.

Because it depends on you. It MUST make you happy. A direct hit for narcissistic parents. Once they’ve got this pattern down, they can do practically anything with their children without fear of consequences.

This goes as far as physically abused children who nevertheless protect the perpetrators, their parents. Often well into adulthood. This leads to people who, even as adults, even in old age, still do everything they can to live up to the expectations or presumed expectations of their parents. Even when their parents are long dead.

In extreme cases, such patterns can lead to complete self-abandonment, but in most cases they lead to a subtle, latent pattern of suffering. And without the parents ever feeling any better as a result.

Help

There are hardly any people who can help, because the causes of such dependencies lie beyond what most people can perceive, let alone solve. You have to look specifically and want to see what you see.

And then draw the consequences. That’s hard at first. But how many people die from something like that? How many people care for their parents until they die, only to realize that they are still unloved and that the pattern of dependency continues to torment them even after their parents have died? Even worse than before.

How many people ruin themselves, always hoping that they will be loved for it at some point?

Spoiler: This will never happen!

The love that you should have experienced as a child but didn’t get, you can ‘t get from the outside later on. You simply can’t. Even if your parents were to develop into angels, it wouldn’t work.

You have to get it from a completely different source and you can get it with the right guidance. But you have to go deep to do this. You have to get to the root cause, to your energetic basis, which lies much deeper than your parents. Such patterns build up over very long periods of time and pass from one generation to the next (or the next but one).

You can’t solve a pattern like this at the level at which it originated. But together we can get to the point where you can solve it. Sustainably and forever. Taking the first step is entirely up to you.

Feel free to write to me at any time if you have any questions: mail@gerhard-zirkel.com

But why am I writing this, it has nothing to do with you. Or do you also come running when someone touches your food bowl? Or throws a stick?

Nooooo! Not you! Not ever!

You are a self-responsible and consciously thinking person and, above all, you are already so far along in your development … but the topic suddenly becomes exciting anyway. Let’s take a look there.

In psychology, conditioning refers to the learning process by which a behavior is influenced by repeated associations with certain stimuli. So the dog associates the noise that the bowl makes with “now there’s food” and he comes running.

There are two main forms

Classical conditioning” (described by Ivan Pavlov) occurs when an originally neutral stimulus (e.g. a bell or the rattling of a bowl) is coupled with an unconditioned stimulus (e.g. food) so that it ultimately triggers a conditioned response (e.g. dog comes running).

Operant conditioning” (B. F. Skinner) describes learning through consequences. Behavior is encouraged by reinforcement, i.e. reward, or inhibited by punishment.

So much for brevity and superficiality. Knowing point two, we can probably all agree that we too have experienced countless conditioning in our lives.

Education and society

The whole subject of “education” basically consists of us being “taught” what we should and shouldn’t do and what happens if we don’t stick to it. In other words, operant conditioning.

We are taught from an early age how we must behave in order to be recognized (reward) or rejected (punishment) by society. Much of this is even good and correct, but there are certainly behaviors that would be very harmful for us and our environment or would certainly not lead to a good result.

But much of this turns out to be a hindrance later in life. Because we have learned outdated ways of behaving or some of it is based on irrational fears or assumptions or simply does not suit our personality.

Not everything that our parents aspired to or had to aspire to is suitable for us in our time. Not everything that would have led our parents to ruin is still harmful for us. We are only too happy to get rid of some of these conditionings because they are of no use to us or hold us back.

Normally this is not a problem, as we (unlike animals) can consciously question what we do and change our behavior.

The devil in the detail

Aaaaabut … the devil is in the detail. There are conditionings – and these are often very strong ones – that don’t come from our upbringing or our interaction with society. They go deeper.

Conditioning is passed on over an insane number of generations. Not only from parents to children, sometimes they skip a few generations or develop a life of their own over time.

And completely unconsciously. You are already born with them, no chance of recognizing this from your position, from your incarnation.

And then you work on yourself, pull yourself out of the mess, so to speak… at some point you think you’ve finally done everything. Only to suddenly find yourself right back where you started. Because although you have resolved everything that has arisen for you in this life, you have never seen this issue that has been dragging along your ancestral line for twelve generations.

Because you can’t see it at all. Not even IF you can see it. And certainly not with “everyone’s methods” from the self-help book or the NLP basic course.

Example

Lena, 38, in a “toxic relationship”. The name is made up, the story behind it is not.

Lena has been working on herself a lot for a very long time, therapies, coaching sessions etc. and she has already come a long way.

But the thing about her partnership that she can’t get out of is a mystery. Whenever she thinks she has made the leap, something happens on the outside that ruins her plans.

There is this financial dependency that she just can’t get out of. She is building up her own business and it is running well. She doesn’t earn too badly, isn’t even tied to a particular location and can live and work how and where she wants. But that only works up to a certain point and then it comes to a standstill or she is thrown back.

It’s never really her fault. You would normally call something like that a “stroke of fate”. She only ever gets to a certain point and then it feels like she has to go back to the beginning.

She falls ill, she faces unplanned expenses or legal difficulties, and so on. Then there are the emotional shackles that keep subtly preventing her from finally letting go completely. Her partner is also good at this. He doesn’t seem to have to do anything, one look is enough and she’s back to being the helpless little girl she’s always been. No matter how much she works on herself and how aware she is of it all.

She doesn’t know what else to do. Parental issues, conditioning, beliefs, everything has already been dealt with umpteen times. Therapies, coaching, books, nothing really helps in the long term. Every time she thinks she’s finally done it, she has a setback.

The causes were really deep and she never thought that she would have to go there or that she would get there.

We have gone back tens of generations in our work together, all of which is no longer visible today and no longer tangible with the mind.

A mixture that all too often develops a life of its own and comes through again and again, no matter what you do, no matter how you work on yourself, no matter how “far” you are already. A form of conditioning that has been subtly “fermenting” in the background for so long that it can no longer be recognized as such without outside help.

It took Lena a long time to overcome her pride and come to me for help. But once the issue has been resolved at grassroots level, everything else suddenly works sustainably.

Example 2

Bernd, 58, career man (name also invented, story not)

Bernd has everything you can possibly achieve. He grew up in a loving, solid family home, already upper middle class at the time. He went straight through school and university without too much trouble, was successful in sport, had lots of friends and was always healthy and fit.

Landed in the Group and had a picture-book career there. Married, two grown-up sons with whom he gets on well. But now he’s retired. Retirement. Actually the dream of many people. To retire at 58 as a wealthy person and enjoy life.

But Bernd is really struggling with it. He can’t get out of the hamster wheel. It’s almost like he’s running out of things to do. But he has the means to keep himself busy.

He even has a sailing boat. He can afford to travel the world. To finally do everything he has always dreamed of. And he does it. But not only does it not fulfill him, it really gets him down. To the point of depression and generally poor health. Something he had never experienced before.

Therapies and everything else he has tried have helped him to deal with it. But there is something else. He can feel it. Something is wrong. Something is burning in him, something wants to get out, he can’t “just” enjoy his life.

His father was like that too. He was self-employed and worked into old age. Knew nothing else. His grandfather did too. And further back, too. And that’s when the cause slowly came into view.

The whole ancestral line is a series of “builders”. People who brought their energy into the world by building something. Exclusively. With all the consequences. Most of them toiled until they had literally worked themselves to death. Some had to do that to survive, but Bernd didn’t have to.

But this age-old pattern won’t let him go. Because it’s not tangible. Because it wasn’t even clear that there was such a pattern. Until we specifically looked for it. THEN we were able to solve it.

Now he is out of this constraint. Still very active, but now in terms of leisure activities. The sailing boat is now actually being used and with a relaxed joy that was previously completely unknown to Bernd.

The path to a solution

Yes, “the way” to the solution. No one can give you a solution or solve anything for you. But you can find a solution if you finally want to get out of this time loop of repetitive actions and reactions.

For this you need someone who can go to the level of energy, the level behind matter. Someone who can see your ancestral line and its issues from the outside, so to speak, and take you there. And THEN you can also resolve these issues. Because what you can see, you can also change.

I am someone who does this for a living. But even I can’t tell you in advance what exactly this path will look like (people often ask me that). I have the ability to see what we need to do, I have a toolbox that helps us both to make this path possible for you. But you will find out what the path looks like for you when you walk it.

Even if you can’t see how you’re ever going to manage it. Even if you can’t yet see where the problem is actually supposed to be. But you can feel that there is a problem!

Sometimes you have to overcome a good dose of pride (after all, I’m already so far along / I’ve run a whole company / I’m a coach myself and already know everything) and also the fear that comes with it. But not doing it is much more exhausting in the long run than jumping over your own shadow and going for it.

What are you waiting for? Here we go … https://www.gerhard-zirkel.com/dein-einstieg/

Not all that bad? Yes and no. Sometimes it is. Because your name is an interface between you and your energy. Between who you really are and the outside world. Your name can convey your energy or it can prevent you from revealing your energy.

It can help you to be noticed. Or make people ignore you. Do you know the “Simpsons”? The animated series? There’s an episode (season 10, episode 13) in which Homer Simpson decides to change his name to “Max Power”.

And that gives him a completely different image in one fell swoop. He’s a completely different person and, whatever you think of The Simpsons, they often illustrate such relationships amazingly well.

Names in general

How did that actually come about, with the names? Today we are used to having one or more first names and a family name. It wasn’t always like that.

If you take a closer look, names have a fascinating history that tells us a lot about culture, religion and social structures. They are far more than just designations, they carry meanings, stories and sometimes even spiritual connections. Let’s take a look at how first names and surnames have evolved in German-speaking countries.

In early “Germanic” or Celtic cultures, first names often had a strong connection to nature and the spiritual world. Generally speaking, in cultures close to nature, you don’t just get any name that your parents happen to like. Your name always has a meaning and there were and are cultures in which you are given a temporary name as a child until you are given your real name when you transition into the adult world. One that suits you.

Either way, names always have a meaning, whether randomly assigned or after precise analysis.

A few examples:

Wolfgang

Meaning as much as “the walking wolf”. The name comes from Old High German, wulf = wolf and gang = gang. The wolf was a symbol of strength, protection and community. A name for a leader.

Still a common name in Germany, often in the short form “Wolf” or “Wolfi”. And that’s where it gets interesting. Compare the energies of Wolfgang with Wolfi or Wolf. All three convey very different messages.

Bertram

Meaning as much as “shining raven”. The name comes from the Old High German beraht = shining and hraban = raven. The raven is associated with wisdom and mysticism. The name is no longer so common today, but imagine the wise raven suddenly being abbreviated to “Berti” …

Hildegard

Who doesn’t know the famous Hildegard von Bingen, who would certainly have been less than enthusiastic about “Hilde” or “Hilda”. The name means something like “protection in battle” and also comes from Old High German, hiltja = battle and gard = protection.

Protective powers were often associated with natural and spiritual energies and expressed through names.

Sigmund

Meaning as much as “victorious protector”. Also comes from Old High German, sigu = victory and munt = protection. The name carries a spiritual strength, often associated with protective gods or nature spirits. A “Siggi” would perhaps be considered a little less strong, what do you think?

Alwin

Meaning as much as “the noble friend”. Also Old High German, adal = noble and wini = friend. No longer very common today, although its energy would make it quite desirable.

The name is associated with friendship and harmony, both of which are considered important values in the natural world.

Finn

Meaning as much as “white”, “pure” or “fair”. The name is quite fashionable, it comes from the old Celtic fionn = white, bright. In Celtic mythology, Finn was a hero who embodied wisdom and purity.

I’ve heard mothers call out “Finni”. Perhaps just appropriate for small children.

Lorna

A Celtic name that is more commonly found in English-speaking regions means something like “those from Lorne”, a region in Scotland. The name is intended to serve as an example of how names also originated. It is not always characteristics but sometimes simply the place of origin.

Lorne is a wild and romantic area with mountains and coastlines that serve as a source of inspiration here.

Eileen

Meaning as much as “light” or “beautiful”. Derived from the Old Irish “Eibhlin”. And stands for light as a central symbol in Celtic spirituality and annual festivals.

But it is not only natural-spiritual approaches that lead to names, the Christian tradition also takes a similar approach. See:

Hans

Means something like “God is gracious”. The name is a short form of Johannes, which comes from the Hebrew (Yochanan) and means “Yahweh is gracious”. It became very popular through the spread of Christianity in German-speaking countries.

In a broader sense, the name could refer to divine grace and thus also to the connection between man and divine creation (nature). The name was often given in a rural environment, which associates it with a down-to-earth way of life. Do you know the fairy tale “Hans in Luck”?

Peter

Meaning is “the rock”. Derived from the Greek (Petros), which means “rock” or “stone”. The name refers to the apostle Peter, whom Jesus called the “rock” of his church. It became widespread in Europe as a result of Christianization.

The “rock” symbolizes stability, constancy and connection to the earth. The name has a strong metaphorical connection to the elements of nature.

Klaus

Means “the victorious one of the people”. Klaus is the short form of Nicholas, which comes from the Greek (Nikolaos) and is made up of nikē (victory) and laos (people).

In Christian tradition, St. Nicholas is a patron saint, often associated with agricultural and maritime aspects, which indirectly links him to nature.

You see, names did not come about by chance, they reflect deeper connections. Animals, plants and elements of nature served as inspiration, as it was believed that these forces could confer protection and strength. Shamanic traditions also played a role here. Names were and are sometimes asked for in rituals or received as messages from spirits and ancestors.

With the Christianization of German-speaking countries from the early Middle Ages onwards, the naming system changed. Many traditional Germanic names gave way to Christian names such as John, Mary or Jacob, which were of biblical origin. However, old meanings often remained here too, and a mixture of pagan and Christian influences emerged.

Surnames

Now we modern people not only have first names but also surnames. Which somehow seem to derive from other sources. In any case, it is usually clear which category a name falls into.

The phenomenon of surnames is not that old. Surnames appeared in German-speaking countries around the 12th century, when population numbers increased and it became necessary to identify people more clearly. These surnames developed from five main categories:

Job titles

Names such as Müller, Schmidt or Fischer are derived from professions. Today, they tell us what an ancestor once did.

Names of origin

Names such as Schwarzwald or Bayer show where someone came from. They were particularly common in rural areas.

Properties

Character traits or external features were also used, such as small, tall or cheerful.

Animal and nature references

Ancient shamanic connections are reflected here. Names such as fox, eagle or brook are reminiscent of the proximity to nature.

Ancestry

In some cultures, the father’s name also became the child’s surname. A “McDonald”, for example, is the son of Donald. A Johansson is the son of Johann. At some point, these names were then retained as surnames, presumably for the sake of simplicity.

Binding

The introduction of surnames only became mandatory in German-speaking countries in the late Middle Ages, particularly through administrative measures such as tax collection or the land registry system. People were increasingly forced into administrative systems for the sake of better control.

Old names and modern times

In modern times, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Romantic movement led to a rediscovery of old Germanic and nature-related names. People searched for their cultural roots and wanted to preserve them in their names. Names such as Alwin, Hildegard or Armin experienced a renaissance.

Even today, there is a trend to revive old and unusual names. Some parents are inspired by nature or spiritual traditions, similar to the shamans of old. Names such as Leona (lioness), Finn (white, fair) or Mira (miracle) are not only melodious, but also carry deeper meanings.

Sometimes, however, these names serve less the development of the child and more the spiritual development of the parents. But this is not always the case, many people are very concerned with the names of their children and also remember that children will grow up at some point and want to be taken seriously.

Spiritual dimensions of names

In natural-spiritual and shamanic contexts, names are often regarded as more than mere labels. A name can be seen as a kind of key to a person’s soul. In shamanic rituals, a new name is sometimes given to mark a certain phase of life or a transformation. This name connects the bearer with certain powers or spiritual qualities.

Shamanic workers often have an assumed name in addition to their given name. This was given to them by the spirits or expresses their power.

So I go by the name “Singing Wolf”, albeit rarely in public. It was given to me many years ago on a shamanic journey and I have used it in contact with my spirits ever since.

Names are more than words

The history of names in German-speaking countries shows how strongly they are linked to cultural and spiritual development. From nature-loving origins to Christian influences and the rediscovery of old traditions. Names are a reflection of our identity and our relationship to the world.

Children sometimes give themselves a different name over really long phases and then want to be addressed as such. It is advisable to take this seriously and perhaps have a look or feel out what energy is trying to be seen.

Nicknames, abbreviations, middle names, slang and nicknames

And this is exactly where pet names and abbreviations come into play. They also have a meaning, but often one that only applies to certain phases of life or that assigns the bearer characteristics that give them a false stamp.

Let’s take Wolfgang, whose meaning we have already explained above. It may be that as a little boy he is affectionately called Wolfi. That’s fine for a boy, but what happens when little Wolfi grows up?

Does the pet name still suit him then? Or does it then reflect a completely wrong energy, perhaps even block him. Such a pet name can literally keep a person down.

Or what happens to the energy of a 36-year-old man who is still called “Schnuckel” by his mother? Does this show respect for his energy, his nature? Or does this express a conscious or unconscious wish/lack of desire on the part of the mother that is not beneficial to the son?

Then there are the second names that we often have in our culture. Sometimes it is the father’s or mother’s name that is also given. But sometimes it is also a freely chosen name.

Sometimes they are used as call names or even combined to form a double name, as in Hans-Peter or Klaus-Jürgen. Sometimes, however, they disappear into insignificance and are only used when they are absolutely necessary.

Coastal names

A very exciting field is that of stage names. Incidentally, this is closely related to the spiritual names that shamans or healers adopt. With such a name, you can create a whole new energy and bring it into the world.

This is why famous artists are often completely different people in their private lives than they are on stage. They live two lives alternately, so to speak, and express this with two different names.

If this is done consciously, it is not harmful but can create great things. For example, professional energy can be separated from private life.

What you can and should do

Take a moment and make a list. A list of your first names, your last name, all abbreviations and nicknames you have ever been given and your nicknames, if any.

And then feel deeply into the energies of these names. You can feel how they all transport very different aspects of your being to the outside world.

Compare this with the image you have of yourself. Especially if you can’t stand your own name, which is more common than you might think. Are you perhaps deliberately choosing a nickname or have you chosen your middle name as your first name?

Or have you always struggled with not having the success you’d like, but can’t embrace your full name and use a diminutive instead?

It would make sense to take a deeper look at why this is the case. If you don’t like your name or one of your names, this is an indication that you are rejecting a part of yourself and not bringing it into your life.
This is very stressful in the long run and often has causes that lie deep in your ancestral line. But this can be changed, feel free to write to me mail@gerhard-zirkel.com if you have any questions or would like to take a closer look at the topic.