My name is Kristel Belinets. In shamanic practice I carry the name Tanaa Oyun Kam.

But before all names and titles I am a person who has walked the path she shares with others.

The path that led here

I did not begin as a shaman. I began with my hands.

In 2005 I started doing massage and slowly discovered that the body speaks. It holds on to what the mind has long forgotten. It remembers tensions that words do not remember. I learned to listen to what the soul says through the body: where it holds on, where it needs relief, what lies behind it.

From there the path led into philosophy. My master’s thesis explored virtue friendship between a human being and artificial intelligence, and once again that work reminded me that our whole attitude towards the world decides how we perceive it. It was while working with the subject of artificial intelligence that my novel began to take shape, “KiRKi”.

I have never known in advance why the path turns one way or another, but once I take the step, I understand very quickly that the guidance has been deeply right and in accord with the soul.

In 2022 I was planning to submit a doctoral proposal and continue studying, but my body would not allow it. The energy did not move there, and in great confusion about what would come next, I took my rucksack and went hiking alone on Hiiumaa. With every step I came closer to my own soul. When I returned, I said the final YES to the shamanic journey that had begun two years earlier, and devoted myself to my true path.

Today I work in the Spirit of Wolf tradition, using old methods to meet the obstacles of the present day and to bring the energies of the elements into balance. Within this tradition I study and practise under the guidance of a living teacher, whose support lets this work ripen in me. Read more about Spirit of Wolf →

The wounded healer

I do not heal from perfection. I am healing myself, and that is exactly what makes me who I am.

I have walked my own spiral: water, fire, air. I have been in the place where the old skin no longer fits and the new one is not there yet. I have let something burn away so that something truer could come home. And I have come back, with words. A book, a tea ceremony, the language of the soul: these are the words after the fire.

That is why I know what it means when you no longer recognise yourself in your own story. I have been there myself.

What I do

Shamanic practice, massage, tea ceremonies, writing, these are all different paths towards the same aim: to help you come closer to a more balanced, truer self.

I create spaces where the meeting with yourself can happen exactly as the moment and the person need it, quietly, deeply and honestly.

I do not give ready-made solutions or quick answers. I do not hurry you past your pain. I am the hand that is offered when you are looking for the way back to yourself, but the path itself is yours.

Joy and contentment in the soul are my checkpoints that I am on the right path.

Published elsewhere

A shaman’s solstice — Tähenduse teejuhid, Postimees