Biography

Harriet R. McMahon, Ph.D., founder of Creative Growth and Healing (formally of the Maryland Shamanic Center) is a Shamanic Practitioner who has been practicing energy medicine for over 25 years. She has studied the energy medicine traditions of a variety of shamanic cultures and has been initiated by some of the most respected spiritual teachers in Peru to practice the healing arts of the Medicine people of the Andes. She is an ordained minister and holds a Ph.D. in Pastoral Counseling.

Harriet has studied with the Inner Guidance Psychotherapy Center where she earned her certifications in Hypnotherapy and Regression Therapy. She is also a certified Childbirth Educator, Reiki Master and Life Coach. Harriet is available for individual healing sessions as well as workshops and training programs. She facilitates expeditions and retreats and is also available for distant healing sessions.

Harriet writes:

Growing up I was raised in Judaism and I remember as a child sitting in the synagogue staring at the eternal flame that burned on the altar. I would watch the flickers of light and the energy that would surround the flame totally mesmerized by it and not understanding (in a conscious way) what I was looking at.   As I became an adult I explored Christianity and attended seminary where I received a degree in Theology. I did not feel like a religious person and truly didn’t want to be connected to just one religion. After leaving the seminary and church I began working in the world of technology.

After working in the world of computers and technology for many years I began to feel a restlessness that I could not explain. The word Shaman would echo in my head and appear in books or articles I would be reading. I had no idea what it meant but I knew something was up. I injured my shoulder climbing into a jeep and my personal trainer at the gym referred me to a Massage Therapist. I went to see her and was totally amazed at the healing that I experienced. What should have taken six weeks to heal took about two weeks. She and I became friends and I shared with her about this word Shaman that continued to appear to me. I also wanted to understand energy after experiencing the healing work from my friend. She directed me to my first class on Core Shamanism and I was hooked. I remember shortly thereafter I was traveling with my husband. He looked at me and said, “I know that this is your path and it will take you to apprentice with teachers far away”. I just shrugged it off but years later the journey accelerated and my trips to Peru became many.

Throughout the years, I have studied many cultures of shamanism.   When a close associate suggested I take a class in Andean Shamanism, which was being offered locally, I enrolled and became “hooked”. I began studying with several teachers here in the United States and then my travels to Peru to work directly with the Medicine People began. Shamanism is such an exquisite and complete body of knowledge and a cosmology that can be easily integrated into our own cosmology in the United States.   It affects the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of an individual and brings one into a deep and sweet relationship with one’s self, Spirit and Mother Earth. My mission is to continue traveling to Peru to learn from these amazing people and bring their knowledge and healing traditions back home for people to learn. This work has taken me through such an amazing journey of healing, joy and self-discovery as well as realizing the true beauty in everything that I encounter.