Renee Baribeau, The Practical Shaman, is an award winning author, oracle guide, mentor and podcast host based in the California desert and on Whidbey Island. She teaches practical shamanism: journeying, working with the Winds and building a living relationship with nature, in ways that fit into ordinary life. Her website sums up her approach in four words: nature as your life coach.
Her path
Renee says her path began in an unlikely place, a fire walk led by a Catholic nun. She walked across the coals that night knowing there was more to this world than she had been taught, and she has been following that thread ever since.
She has trained for more than two decades with teachers from many traditions, and she is open that she is not Indigenous and does not claim any tribal lineage. After about twenty years of study, she says, she began receiving teachings directly from the Winds, and learning to work with each Wind became the heart of her practice. That is the foundation of WindWork, the system she teaches today.
“The winds don’t stop, but you can learn to read them.”
Renee Baribeau, from her website
Her classes are grounded and open to beginners. She does not ask anyone to adopt a belief system, and she encourages students to trust their own experience and discernment.
What she offers
- WindWork courses and circles. On demand courses, monthly journey circles and seasonal gatherings through windwork.org, all about learning to work with change rather than against it.
- Oracle card readings. Soul Card Readings with her own Wind Walker’s Wisdom Oracle deck, for clarity and practical guidance through life’s winds of change.
- Coaching. Level Up Soul Coaching for people ready to embrace change and step into a new chapter.
- Walking journeys. Wind Walkabouts and pilgrimages along sacred paths, trails and coastlines, inspired by the principles of Walking Wisdom.
- Talks and workshops. Keynotes and workshops in person and online. She has led programs for The Shift Network and Omega Institute.
- Consulting. Brand strategy, marketing and project leadership for retreats, events, publishing and mission driven work.
The Wind Walker’s Wisdom Oracle
Renee’s oracle is a 64 card shamanic deck with a 104 page guidebook, now in its second edition and winner of the 2025 COVR Visionary Award. Its cards draw on wind spirits and deities from dozens of cultures around the world, and it is read through her own four direction compass of Mind, Emotions, Body and Spirit. The deck began as wind names written on slips of paper and drawn from a bowl at her workshops.
See the deck and try a reading on her Wind Walker’s Wisdom Oracle page.
Books and podcasts
Renee is the Hay House author of Winds of Spirit, winner of the 2018 Nautilus Award, and of A Pilgrim’s Guide to Walking Wisdom: 11:11 Insights. Her next book, The Practical Shaman: Timeless Tools That Work in Modern Life, is coming from Destiny Books in spring 2027.
For more than eight years she has cohosted The Shamans Cave podcast with shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman, and she also hosts The Practical Shaman podcast. Find both on her Podcasts page or on YouTube.
Connect with Renee
Explore her work, readings and books at thepracticalshaman.com, take a course at windwork.org, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
If you love stories about light, courage and finding your people, take a peek at The Starseed Chronicles, our animated series and game from Infused Lights: The Starseed Chronicles.
With love, Infused Lights. This spotlight is part of the Infused Lights Light Network, a free directory of friends doing light filled work. Photos courtesy of Renee Baribeau (thepracticalshaman.com), used with credit and a link back to their site.
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