Product Description
Walt Whitman: Shamanism, Spiritual Democracy, and the World Soul begins with a dream that sent the author, Steven B. Herrmann, on a journey to analyze the "shamanic structures" of the collective unconscious that are present in the poetry and prose of America's greatest bard, Walt Whitman.From a contemporary, analytical psychological point of view, Herrmann demonstrates how Whitman speaks to age-old sociopolitical and religious questions that are highly relevant to our world today. The book discusses topics including:• Whitman's Emergence as a World-Liberating Figure• The Three Stages of American Democracy• Bi-Erotic Marriage• Whitman's Religious VisionBased on extensive research into the roots of the American mythos, this book will be essential reading for literary, political, religious, and psychological studies.Steven B. Herrmann is a Jungian writer and psychotherapist and lives with his wife in the hills of Oakland, California. Publisher's Web site: http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/WaltWhitman-Shamanism.html ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Who Knew?
Who knew?

In the middle of the 19th century, Walt Whitman burst full blown onto the world stage singing the body electric in poetic cadences never before heard, knowing of nothing but miracles, celebrating the spirituality of erotic sex, celebrating his Self--the Self,injecting joyous vivacity into the American experiment, and capturing the wonder of thoughtful human beings throughout the planet.In his remarkable new book, Walt Whitman,Shamanism, Spiritual Democracy, and the World Soul, Steven Herrmann makes it clear that the phenomenon of Walt Whitman is not only a relevant but a potent metaphor for the fulfillment of human beings in the first decade of the 21th century.Herrmann defines Whitman and his influence on us all with a thoroughness as has not been seen before. The Whitman unearthed in this book tapped intothe bedrock spiritual underpinning of ordinary reality.Walt Whitman,Shamanism, Spiritual Democracy, and the World Soul shows how fundamentally Whitman's voice continues to inform every strand of the web of 21st century life.

What an oeuvre!Herrmann's book is so inclusive and exhaustive that it will surely be a source book for anyone approaching Whitman from any discipline, be it quantum physics, psychology, literary criticism, religion, philosophy, the biology of sex-or the eating of plums at the farmers' market.

But I picture another reader.She is a college sophomore-with Herman Hesse and Joseph Campbell and maybe some Henry Miller and Friedrich Nietzche stacked up on her desk.She is not bent on a career; she is following her bliss; she is opening windows to her soul. She is part of the hidden remnant of any college-students and faculty and staff-who know the difference between a career and a vocation. Walt Whitman, Shamanism, Spiritual Democracy, and the World Soul connects the ideas of the Hesses, the Campbells, the Millers, the Nietzches, the Einsteins, the Jungs, and brings those ideas together in one coherent whole.What a splendid addition to that college student's small library.

And I see a gay man, the lesbian, reading this book and realizing their place in the world, and I see the Puritan opening his shirt to the spring thunder and lightning, celebrating the body in all its drives and ecstasy, and I see the staid philosopher and the physicist in his lab forgetting to go home for dinner.I celebrate my Self! they all sing out.I celebrate what I am.For while Steven Herrmann's book is likely to become a standard source book for sober academicians and anyone trying to understand what we are, what this world is,it drives home an awareness more personal and essential: the individuation of each human being-and thereby all being-ness.There is something wonderful going on in the world, a numinosity, a golden glow. That, in the end, as Steven Herrmann demonstrates, is what an understanding of Walt Whitman means to packets of quantum energy journeying day by day through the 21st century-the symbolic life, the encompassing of opposites, the embodiment of miracles.

Kudos from Matthew Fox
Kudos to Steven Herrmann and Walt Whitman: A Review of "Walt Whitman: Shamanism, Spiritual Democracy, and the World Soul" (2010) by Steven B. Herrmann.Published by Eloquent Books, Durham, Connecticut, ISBN 978-1-60911-699-6.

By Matthew Fox

Thanks to Walt Whitman and to Carl Jung and to William Everson, mentors to the author whose in-depth probing of Whitman's work unveils a treasure house of profound building blocks toward forging a post-modern spirituality.Just as Whitman has been credited with re-inventing poetry through free verse, so with this study we get a feel for how authentically he also accomplished a reinvention of religion.He and Herrmann are to be praised.As Whitman put it, "The people, especially the young men and women of America, must begin to learn that religion, (like poetry), is something far, far different from what they supposed.It is indeed too important to the power and perpetuity of the new world to be consign'd any longer to the churches, old or new, Catholic or Protestant--Saint this, or Saint that.It must be consign'd henceforth to democracy en masse, and to literature.It must enter into the poems of the nation.It must make the nation."(p. 264)

Whitman's spiritual genius breaks out everywhere in this profound study.Consider his position on spiritual democracy that is so inclusive of women's wisdom and experience."Democracy, in silence, biding its time, ponders its own ideals, not in literature and art only--not of men only, but of women.The idea of the women of America, (extricated from this daze, this fossil and unhealthy air which hangs about the word lady,)develop'd, raised to become robust equals, workers, and, it may be, even practical and political deciders with the men--greater than man, we may admit, through their divine maternity, as always their towering, emblematical attribute--but great, at any rate, as man, in all departments." (230)These words written multiple decades before women even had the right to vote!
Consider his position on deep ecumenism--and how it begins with the lower chakras ("throbbings") in dance, where all shamanism begins, with our connection to the earth, and is cosmic because it embraces "all the voices of the universe."

I hear the dance music of all nations...bathing me in bliss.
Give me to hold all sounds, (I madly struggling to cry,)
Fill me with all the voices of the universe,
Endow me with their throbbings, Natures also,
The tempests, waters, winds, operas and chants, marches and dances,
Utter, pour in, for I would take them all! (p. 231)

Consider his 150 year ahead-of-his-time inclusion of same-sex marriage as part of spiritual democracy.And consider his call for a truly cosmic and universal creation-based "spiritual democracy."All his songs resonate with the labor groans of an emerging post-denominational, ecumenical, eco-based and justice-based spirituality yearning to be born in our time.

To entertain the themes that emerge from this in-depth study of Walt Whitman is like standing underneath a refreshing waterfall on a hot summer day.Here are some of them: vocation; work; joy; ecstasy; sacred body; mystical sexuality; evolution of consciousness; nature--trees!; animals (green man); conscience, justice; religion's failure; Europe's failures; chant and spiritual praxis; mysticism; prophecy; evil; "vocalism," i.e., art as meditation; the return of the feminine; native American wisdom; democratizing of spirituality including ecstasy, prophecy and conscience; ecology; earth consciousness; deep ecumenism; symbolic existence, metaphor; throat chakra; drum, ecstatic dance and ritual.

As institutional religion continues to embarrass itself and lost its grip and interest and moral legitimacy with ever new revelations of hypocrisy, priestly pedophilia, hierarchical privilege and cover-up, heresy-hunting, denunciations of science, homophobia, sexism, power addictions, fear, selling of cheap guilt, conniving with empire-builders and just plain boredom masquerading as worship, Whitman's invitation to an ecumenical, earth-based spirituality calls all the louder to souls hungry for solid, sane and intelligent spirituality.This book serves up many deep and tasty dishes.Wisdom food abounds.We are famished.We are ready!
Let Walt Whitman speak:

"If anything is sacred the human body is sacred." (183)
"Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me, I know nothing else but miracles." (265)
"Comradeship, uniting closer and closer not only the American States, but all nations,
and all humanity.That, O poets! Is that not the theme worth chanting, striving for?
Why not fix your verses henceforth to the gauge of the round globe?The whole race...
contributed by every nation, each after its distinctive kind." (264)

Herrmann comments: "The idea of a new post-Judaic, post-Christian, post-Islamic, post-Hindu, post-Taoist, post-Buddhist religion is unique to America and the multi-culturalism that Whitman achieves in `Passage to India' and "Democratic vistas' is what makes him so unique among the poet-shamans of the world." (267) Indeed.His time has come.So has ours.This book opens needed doors for all of us.Dare we enter them?Dare we leave behind what we must to travel more lightly through these opened doors?Time will tell.And time is running out.
... Read more

Product Description
While the transition to Christianity in the Canadian Arctic occurred between the end of the eighteenth century and the 1950s, the various and complex transformations that happened during this time have not been fully understood. Using both archival material and oral testimony collected during workshops in Nunavut between 1996 and 2008, Frederic Laugrand and Jarich Oosten provide a nuanced look at Inuit religion, offering a strong counter narrative to the idea that traditional Inuit culture declined post-contact. They show that setting up a dichotomy between a past identified with traditional culture and a present involving Christianity obscures the continuity and dynamics of Inuit society, which has long borrowed and adapted 'outside' elements. They argue that both Shamanism and Christianity are continually changing in the Arctic and ideas of transformation and transition are necessary to understand both how the hunting ideology shaped Inuit Christian cosmology and how Christianity changed Inuit shamanic traditions."Inuit Shamanism and Christianity" is particularly useful in distinguishing between the influence of Anglican, Catholic, and, more recently, Pentecostal and Evangelical movements and in delineating the ways in which Shamanism still influences modern life in Inuit communities. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

a profusion of rituals to explore
I love this book and highly recommend it to any one interested in exploring and connecting with the natural world around us.This book has many rituals and celebrations to try out and approaches it all in a very user-friendly manner.The rituals use easily obtainable and available objects and tools-- no shopping around for hard to find obscure items, thereby making the exercises easy to incorporate into an every day practice.As an added bonus, the colorful illustrations, also by the author Jo Morgan Wood, are imaginative and fantastic!Again, I recommend this book for any one willing to explore themselves and their immediate surroundings in a non-technical unintimidating way.

A good intro shamanism and beautiful artwork!
A very nice primer on the subject of shamanism with wonderful illustrations by the author. There may be better written intros on this subject, but this one is DEFINITELY the best illustrated! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fasinating, bizarre, mystical and factual.A great read!
Very mystical, yet factual account of the beginning of her spiritual journey in the teachings of shamanic tradition in Siberia. Olga, guides thereader through the bizzare and mystical experiences, telling her fasinatingstory in a very personal and eloquent way.Upon reading the last page ofthis book, I turned to page one and read it again. ... Read more

Product Description
The contributors to this volume describe the many facets shamanism and depth psychology have in common: animal symbolism; recognition of the reality of the collective unconscious; and healing rituals that put therapist and patient in touch with transpersonal powers. By reintroducing the core of shamanism in contemporary form, these essays shape a powerful means of healing that combines the direct contact with the inner psyche one finds in shamanism with the self-reflection and critical awareness of modern consciousness.

The contributors' draw from experiences both inside and outside the consulting room, and with cultures that include the Lakota Sioux, and those of the Peruvian Andes and the Hawaiian Islands. The focus is on those aspects of shamanism most useful and relevant to the modern practice of depth psychology. These explorations bring the young practice of analytical psychology into perspective as part of a much more ancient heritage of shamanistic healing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great book, a must!!!!!
This is a great book. If you are a counselor, psychologist or social worker and would like to know a little bit more on how traditional healing works, here is a pretty good place to start! The book is easy to read and is accesible to anyone, regardless of past experience or cotact with the topic. For all those doing work in therapy, this book will open new venues of inquiry and hopefully will get you going to research some more. If you are looking for inspirational work for your own practice, ths book will work for you as well. The book speaks directly to our core as it accounts experiences that are easily related to our collective mind as human beings.
The more books like this one, that connect spiritual dimensions into our work as counselors, the better!

Profound experiences and insights
Being interested in both Jungian psychology and Shamanism I found this book extremely interesting. It contains a series of short chapters written by various authors that represent both diversity and expertise in their fields. While showing their knowledge in their fields the individual authors relate deeply personal experiences that are very moving and thought provoking. The order of the chapters is well thought out and each of them has an informative intro that both prepares you for what comes next and helps tie the whole book together. At the end of each chapter there is a list of references that can further help with ones research in this and related material. Although each chapter can be read individually as one's interest is sparked, I enjoyed reading the whole book in succession.

An always engrossing, sometimes harrowing compilation
This book is a compilation of essays on Shamanism and Jungian Psychology. Many diverse points of view are presented, from Christian mysticism to Native American visionary dance rituals.

The book is presented in foursections, which progress from the abstract to the concrete.

The essaysin the first section make a convincing case that Dr. Carl Jung was aWestern Shaman whose healing energies were coincident with his personalwound.

The next section, dealing with shamanic medicine, contains essayswith brilliant therapeutic case studies, interpretations of animal dreamsymbolism, a fascinating discussion of shamanic allies and examples of thehealing potential of altered states of consciousness.

The third sectiongrounds us further with essays dealing with the realities of coping withpain, cancer, surgery, death in childbirth and loss of soul. Some of theseessays were difficult reading, but worthwhile nonetheless.

The fourthsection, the most amazing of all, takes us into the physical experience ofshamanic visionary states.Essays include: shamanic practices of a NativeAmerican tradition, a visionary Big Dream in the Christian mysticaltradition, a participation in the modern counterpart of an ancientsacrificial ritual and worship of the Goddess Pele in a Hawaiian volcano.

This diverse book is a marvel, bringing together the ancient and modern,weaving them with the thread of Jungian thought and spirit. It is a worthyaddition to the library of anyone interested in Shamanism, JungianPsychology and mystical experience. ... Read more

Product Description
Shamanism has ancient roots. It stems from the beliefs of ancient hunting cultures but was adapted to fit the needs of agricultural communities where the role of the shaman integrated with that of the priest.

Native Americans believed that it was their responsibility to maintain harmony in the natural world on which they depended by performing a variety of rituals. Hunters blessed the animals they sought in the hope of their acquiescence, farmers blessed their fields and seedlings to ensure a bountiful harvest. Shamans were credited with exceptional powers to act on behalf of the community. They claimed to be capable of separating their spirits from their bodies and interceding with those spirits that controlled the many forces of nature.

This book records the author's research into the traditions and practices of shamans across North America. Illustrations include remarkable photographs of masks, effigies, and implements used by shamans that are in the National Museum of the American Indian, Field Museum of Natural History, Canadian Museum of Civilization, and Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent intro
This is a good introduction to NA 'shamanic' cultures. The book is divided into 7 chapters, devoted to semi- geographic groups with similar social organizations and spiritual practices, including the Eskimo, Subarctic, Northwest Coast, Southwest, Californian and Plains Indians. There is a lot of information in each chapter yet the info is condensed in an interesting manner for the lay reader. Included are a number of cool stories and anecdotes.In my opinion, Hunt achieves a good balance between the illustrations and the text...the depicted photos ofritual paraphernalia, shamans, landscape tell the story almost by themselves.

I recommend this book as a starting point for people who want to learn about the diversity of NA shamanic practices and beliefs practiced across different cultural, language, ethnic and geographical divisions. As expected from a book intended for a general audience, author presents his information as hard facts. I am sure experts might quibble about some of them; however, this does not detract from the usefullnes of the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Shamanism, humanity's most ancient spiritual practice, has achieved a dramatic modern resurgence. The foundations and appeal of shamanism are rooted in human nature, the psychobiology of consciousness, and archetypal structures of the brain and mind. The classic shamanic motif of death and rebirth represents the development of self through the symbolic death of the old self to permit the emergence and integration of a higher order self. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Fascinating information buried in jargon
An earlier reviewer asks the question, "Why isn't this book more widely read?" and theorizes it is too controversial. Controversy is rarely a stumbling block to finding a wide readership. Occam's razor demands a simplier answer - it is tedious reading. The topic is fascinating, Winkelman knows his stuff, and he has drawn together a wide array of research material to build his argument for a neural-psychological theory of shamanism which is combined with an economic-evolutionary theory of how it evolved and has largely disappeared, or at least been sublimated, in more complex organized cultures.

Problem is, Winkelman is addicted to academic jargon, both his own and that of his sources (He loves terms like "cross-modular integration," "polymodal information integration" "Neurogenesis," "symbolic penetration" (there's alot of penetrating going on)but especially "-mentation" neologisms - "Emotiomentation," "Paleomentation," and "Protomentation." Combine that with Winkelman's long, convoluted writing style, and at times ideas have to be forcefully extracted from the tangle of terminology and verbosity. An exemplar sentence, in which Winkelman's thought is intertwined with a source, goes as follows: "The mammalian adaptation of solution (except for monotremes and echidna) for achieving learning without a large prefrontal cortex was "off-line processing" of REM sleep, where associations of recent memories was achieved during periods of sleep. The "off-line" process processing faciliated use of the pre-frontal cortex for advanced cognitive and perceptual activities."

This is a valuable book, full of useful information and piquant theories, but it could have benefited from an editor - one without a technical background in neuroscience or bio-anthropology - who could have simply said, "Michael, this sounds really interesting but I can't make sense of it; re-read Strunk and White and simplify this paragraph"

Absolutely essential text for student of ASC and shamanism
I can do justice to this book

It is simply delicious reading

content rich and a sorely needed next step in getting to the core of what mechanism shamanism exploits to engage the integrative healing processes

Anyone whoes been looking into this subject will have seen how much crap is out there, and here on these topics.
So much of it displays faulty scholarship and poorly argued and defined writing, much of it stinks of a work half finished and published to catch a ride on a popular wave of interest. Much of it has no enduring worth. They will be the landfill and animal bedding of the future
You can spend $100 on a few of these or you can get quality in this book. This book will be in the libraries of the future and will surely influence tommorrows visionaries
The density of quality in the book should make it as heavy as lead and yet it is held up by the poetic and fluid integration of winkelmanns' brilliant literary ability

so why isnt it more widely read, even recommended as a text?

I asked this of a proffessional scholar and they responded it was too controversial

Winkelmann?!! what are you trying to do? train shamans? ... Read more

Product Description
Offering advice on the application of simple shamanic principles to daily life, this book sets out to show how they can be learned by anyone, regardless of creed or religion. It describes how, through practical exercises, readers can explore their inner space, journeying between the everyday world and the spiritual realm of the shaman, and how to harness creative imagination and innate healing powers, and find one's spirit voice and true destiny. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

grounded-in-groundlessness compassionate reliable authentic
and though she warmly mentiones harner and ingerman, i think she does a better job at helping the reader...why? because she DOES come from a "tradition" or trajectory (albeit, celt-britain) and not from a clinic. she successfully balances the practices as a hybrid-"core" shamanism...true, for some this book may still seem "light" but then shamanism isn't about tripping out and hanging in a drum circle with didgeridoos etc. such is cool...but we are talking about life (cosmic and comic) and she brings in compassion...that we are not just collecting allies etc...journeying isn't for everyday...(though perhaps yes if you allot a time, are in rehab?!) etc...but in general, this book provides a balance to the--hopefully--complexly balanced person...this goes right along with pema chodron's own focus on the deep wisdom of the sad heart. from there, you can journey/sit and do what you must for yourself and thus do ALOT more for others, earth and back to yourself. 4 stars because nothing is perfect. but yes, i can keep myself open to the neo-shamanic movement...but with respectful suspicion. let "them" help "those" who may need it...perhaps harner and co. are unknowing tricksters...i don't know!! namaste ah HO!!

A Practical Reanimation of Animistic Practice
Singing The Soul Back Home is a refreshing and approachable introduction to shamanism for people who have not encountered the practices and cosmologies of 'walking between the worlds.' What is perfected in this work from cover to cover is the blend of personal account (Caitlin's own childhood), with a thorough yet heartful introduction to shamanic cosmology. Fleshed out with plenty of practices and "permissions" for people to approach a revisioning of how they perceive the world around them, Singing the Soul Back Home does exactly what its title suggests. It deserves to sit alongside other works in shamanism, such as Harner's The Way of the Shaman and Tom Cowan's Shamanism As A Spiritual Practice for Daily Life.

An excellent primer on Shamanism
I really enjoyed this book.I also recommend it to my Shamanic Healing students.Though the Matthews' have a background in Celtic Shamanism, practitioners of all paths will find this book useful.This book coversall the important aspects of Shamanism from spirit helpers to soulretreival and divination.I highly recommend it! ... Read more

Product Description
Shows how African shamans have used ibogaine for hundreds of years to communicate with ancestral spirits

• Includes an interview with shaman Mallendi, initiation-master of the sacred root

• Shows that the iboga plant, and its derivative ibogaine, is an anti-addictive agent, especially for heroin

• Reveals how ibogaine has been suppressed by the DEA, the FDA, and Christian ministries

Iboga, spiritual ally of African shamans since antiquity, yields ibogaine, a powerful psychotropic substance. It is used mainly in Gabon and Cameroon in a secret, initiatory tradition called bwiti-nganza, in which physical and psychological illnesses can be rooted out and cured. Intense psychological conditioning that includes the rites of confession, contacting and honoring one’s ancestors, and construction of an in-depth psychological inventory are all part of the initiate’s encounter with this sacred root.

Like many visionary and initiatory plants, iboga is a key that gives access to other modes of being and consciousness. Despite its suppression by the FDA since the 1960s, and more recently by the DEA, researchers have shown that ibogaine provides a powerful adjunct to psychology due to its miraculous ability to break addictions--most notably to heroin. To the followers of the Bwiti religion, ibogaine is the indispensable means by which humans can truly communicate with the deepest reaches of their soul and with the spirits of their ancestors. This book details the traditions and techniques of iboga’s use by African shamans and the essential role it occupies in that community in order both to preserve this knowledge and to show how ibogaine may have an important role to play in our modern world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Cure for heroin addiction
This is an excellent book that introduces the African herb, Iboga.Iboga has been shown to be a natural way to eliminate withdrawal symptoms for heroin users that would like to give up their addiction. Anyone who is addicted to heroin or methadone or has an addicted loved one needs to read this book.

Nganga Speaks; The Voice of Iboga Expertise
Thus far Iboga: The Visionary Root of African Shamanism is the best book on the subject of Iboga to the credit of Nganga Mallendi's input. For some reason, Mallendi is the first Ngagna to inform on the subject. I only regret that Nganga Mallendi did not write the whole book.

I have read everything on the subject of Iboga since 1990. My interest in Iboga (folkloric Benzogho similarly) has to do with coming to terms with loss of a loved one. I have used Iboga w/Nganga, to mediate the forces of life & death & to soothe (not remove) the grieving process with very positive, enduring results.

New age collections strong in visionary plants and African shaman rituals will be intrigued
New age collections strong in visionary plants and African shaman rituals will be intrigued by the very specific discussions of iboga, which has been suppressed by the FDA since the 1960s and which provides the power to break addictions. The followers of the Bwiti religion know well its many attributes, which are surveyed here in an overview of the traditions, techniques and spirituality of African shamans and iboga's use in their world. ... Read more

Product Description
Shamanism: A Reader unites perspectives from disciplines including anthropology, psychology, musicology, botany to provide a unique overview of modern writing on shamanism. From grassroots political writing to classical ethnographies, and imaginative narratives to detailed case studies, the 25 articles and short extracts presented here cover topics including gender, initiation, hallucinogenic consciousness and political protest. Juxtaposing the traditional practices of indigenous peoples with their new and often radically urban reinterpretations, experts including Michael Harner, Milhàly Hoppàl, Majorie M Balzer and Piers Vitebsky raise questions about constructions of shamanism, its efficacy, its use and misuse as a cultural symbol, and its real nature. ... Read more

Product Description
The literature on shamanism and related topics is extensive, but has in general been biased toward curing and trance; the political and historical significance of shamanic activities has been largely neglected. The contributors to Shamanism, History, and the State--distinguished anthropologists and historians from England, Australia, and France--show that shamanism is not static and stable, but always changing as a result of political dynamics and historical processes.
Contributors are Tamsyn Barton, Sysan Bayly, Mary Beard, Maurice Bloch, Peter Gow, Roberte N. Hamayon, Stephen Hugh-Jones, Caroline Humphrey, and Nicholas Thomas.
"The importance of this collection lies in the painstaking, many-sided ways in which it shows 'shamanism' to be a multifarious and continuously changing 'dialogue' or interaction with specific, local contexts. . . . Thus, rather than tackling the issue in principle, this collection tries to demonstrate through 'case studies' just how different 'shamanism' becomes if seen through a lens sensitive to history and the influence of institutions, such as the state, which seem far removed from it. I think the demonstrations add up to an impressive force." --Michael Taussig
"This new, ably edited volume provides . . . chapters that are rich in historic detail and that provide insights into general cultural processes and social interactions." --Historian
Nicholas Thomas is Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow, Department of Prehistory and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra. He is the author of Out of Time: History and Evolution in Anthropological Discourse. Caroline Humphrey, author of Karl Marx Collective: Economy, Society and Religion in a Siberian Collective Farm, is Fellow of King's College and Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.
... Read more

Product Description
This title shows that, just as the Qabalah is linked to magical practices, so too is the I Ching. It explains the cultural tools of Eastern magical traditions, provides basic rituals, and discusses the gods, ritual instruments, and magical workings involved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Red Dragon, Yellow Horse
This is not a traditional commentary on Taoism. The title should make that clear enough. It's a book about common practices of meditation, magic, concentration, and ritual that run through Taoist practice, ritual shamanism, and what we might simply term general Asian magical practice(i.e., things that have a "magical" flavor to us nowadays, but back then were probably lumped into everyday ritual, healing, alchemy, meditation, etc.) All of these systems have common elements and have influenced each other greatly. It also obviously focuses on the I-Ching as a tool of illumination and awakening rather than a simple divinatory oracle we might consult to find out whether to buy chicken or beef for dinner tonight. This is not the main focus of this text however, and it spends more time outlining the very unique, interesting, and useful practices employed by Taoist alchemists, Onmyojin, and other masters of old.

If you want endless commentary on the I-Ching, don't buy this book. If you want some sort of manual about the root practices of Taoist masters via indigenous Asian shamanism, don't buy this book. If you're seeking to change your own pathwork by adding uniqueness, craft, style, and to employuseful tools and techniques to awaken or change your perception, buy and devour this book. I have read no other text that got me thinking so far outside the box of my normal work. Most of the methods and techniques outlined in the text will not necessarily be new to, say, Western magicians, but the difference is in the details; we certainly banish in Western magic, and we certainly invoke godforms or angels or relevant beings for banishment and protection, but it never occurred to me to actually become the god himself and chain and slay my own demons while in the throes of his obsession; we certainly form symbols and sigils in Wesetern magic, but it never occurred to me to draw them in nontoxic ink on edible rice paper and consume them in a ritual act of becoming one with the energy of said sigil.

This book is about the practical application of magical techniques and how to apply them to personal pathwork. It includes information about the ritual sword, central to Asian cultural mindset and somewhat similar to the ritual wand in Western magic, the creation talismans, the ritual fan, a unique form of banishing, the setting up of stone warriors for protection, the use of the Kuji-in and Kuji-kiri, and much, much more. It is a rich synthesis of these cultures' spiritual practices and a highly recommended addition to the library of any student of esoterism.

To all the aformentioned reviewers
I have not read this book but the aforementioned complaints make no sense to me.
Ninjutsu and Taoism(which is a form of shamanism) Started in Tibet/China.
While being seperate paths, they originated of one source thus I can see connections just from my own research.

Just a comment
I haven't read the book but I am about to buy it so this isn't a review it's just a comment on the other reviews.

I don't know exactly how the writing linked Taoism and Ninjutsu as I haven't read the book. I just wanted to say this isn't the first time I have heard of this.

It was in one of either of these two books I can't remember which (I would bet on the first):

Mind Manipulation
The Ninja - Steven Hayes

They discuss the development of alot of the psychoogical aspects from the Taoist 5 elements and there was a reference to some "5 element ninjas." There was even a Japanese word for them.

I remember this clearly coz at the time I was doing XIng Yi Luihe a Taoist art with the 5 elements at its heart. Also the 5 element ninja idea sounded cool.

I am not concluding anything...just offering a bit of info in passing.

PS. My rating was just to try and not mess up the rating by others.

Thelemic Taoism? .....interesting but not accurate.
If you're into Thelema, Aliester Crowley, The Golden Dawn, OTO, or similar topics, this may be a book for you. If, on the other hand, you want I book on Taoism, I would recommend any other but this one.

With the core topic about Taoism and the I ching, the author has wrapped them in a veil of Neo-Paganism and other-Asian practices. This book reads as a compilation of texts that others have previously written, with introductions into chapters quoting Aliester Crowley's text. If you are into Eastern philosophy and thinking, you'll easily discern that this book is not written with the type of focus or commitment to preserve that Asian flavor (some Asian practices blended with neo-pagan practices and presented as western thought).

The material presented herein is spread to thin and over to great of subject matter to have any solid foundation as a book on Taoism. Simply, the material presented is inaccurate.

The exercises he gives within this books pages are Shamanic at best (not Asian or Taoist) and a lot of detail is left out about these things he has decided to include.

The mis-use of mudras and associated practices demonstrates this sort of hodge podge approach, as does the using the "Assuming the form of Fudo" for everything....... Fudo is Japanese Buddhism, Taoism is Chinese Taoism. Also, Fudo's attributes are mis-represented in this text as is the symbolism that is associated with him (for example, his sword in this text is not drawn with the symbolic Vajra handle, nor is the definition of the weighted rope, held by Fudo, accurate). The "Diamond Thunderbolt" Mudra (which is Japanese Buddhist) is mis-used, and, the specific practices associated with its use are not included. I could go on.

If you are looking for good books on Taoism, please refer to books written by an actual Taoist Priest. I would recommend:
Taoism and the rite of cosmic renewal by Michael Saso
Blue Dragon White Tiger by Michael Saso

...... and interestingly, Fudo isn't mentioned in these text, nor is Aliester Crowley. ... Read more

Product Description
All archaic landscape lines are, in essence, spirit lines. Within us all we hold a blueprint of this spiritual earth and of the ancient shamanic power of magical flight. If we could only find the wellsprings of the psyche and translate these timeless patterns from our minds to the physical earth, then we too could learn to experience the reality behind the straight line mystery. Once again, we would allow the spiritual earth to lead the way in our personal growth and transformation. We need to bring this out-of-body state from its cultural exile and give it the much greater attention it deserves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Real Story of the Ley Lines
This review is based on the copy of the book I own, first published in 1993. Ley lines are generally considered to be lines of energy in the earth by those interested in earth mysteries or geomancy (this latter term actually being a misnomer that has become entrenched in popular use). In "Shamanism and the Mystery Lines: Ley Lines, Spirit Paths, Shape-Shifting & Out-of-body Travel," Paul Devereux takes a hard look at this idea, and finds that there are major problems with this idea. Devereux has paid his dues in this field, having been involved in the "earth mysteries" field for several decades and having written many books and articles on the subject; he is no neophyte. He is not a skeptic by any means, in the Randi/CSICOP mold, but he tries to be intellectually honest about the evidence or lack thereof in these fringe subjects. Devereux has examined the idea that ley lines reflect lines of mysterious "earth energies" stretching across the landscape, and believes that the evidence does not support that idea.

"Part One: The History" covers "The Rise of a Heresy" (how the idea of ley lines were transformed in popular western thought, from a simple alignment of archaeological sites and geographic features into an elaborate grid or web of "energies" that have no empirical basis), "Other Lines of Enquiry" (various types of European sites -cursuses, reaves, stone rows- with geographic focus), and "The Amerindian Legacy" (the various kinds of "earth lines" found across the Americas, from California and the Southwest (Anasazi and Chaco etc.), to South America (the Kogi of Colombia and the Nazca lines of Peru, and Bolivia and Chile).

"Part Two: The Mystery" covers how these lines were conceived WITHIN THE CULTURES THAT ACTUALLY MADE THEM, rather than the western interpretations that came up with the idea of earth energies. Part Two's chapters include "The King and the Land,"which looks at the identification of the king with the land (as in Arthurian tales, the king IS the land), shamans, Indo-European clues, king and country, and the king's power; "Spirit Lines" which shows that it is alignment of sites that matters, not some so-called energy lines, and how this idea interacts with Celtic fairy paths and the Chinese feng shui; and "Trance, Dance and Magic Plants" which focuses on how these alignments of sites relate to techniques of ecstasy in shamanic flight or OBEs (Out of the Body Experiences), the significant of location, mystery lights or earth lights, plants with hallucinogenic properties that were used to stimulate shamanic flight/OBEs, the evidence from rock art (pictographs and petroglyphs), and symbolism of form and meaning.

The last chapter in Part Two is called "The Lines of the Lone Wild Gander" really is where Devereux lays out his ideas of how archaeological alignments of various types and from different regions of the world are all reflective, physical marks made by the cultures that recognize and ritualize the shamanic flight and ritual movements between sacred sites on the landscape. In this chapter he looks at the shamanic landscape, flight of the shaman (or flight in the dream state or in the trance state), the Old and New Worlds, shamanic land markings, the evolution of the line of magical flight, and landscape or mindscape. Some of the most illuminating sources come from the Kogi Indians of Colombia, who speak of the alternate REAL world of Alunna which reflects in the world we call "real." This is where alternative philosophies kick in; our physical world is a pale reflection of reality, the reality of the source reality where consciousness is the focus of being.

As Devereux states in his Epilogue (p. 220): "Landscape lines, leys, alignments, are traces. They are variously-evolved features that had their origins in the ecsomatic experience at the heart of shamanism. They may have become, conceptually, lines of power, then energy; they may have become physical tracks, ritual pathways, avenues of the dead or whatever, but they are in essence simply traces of an effect of the human centralnervous system transferred to the land. That effect, as we have discussed, is the remarkable ability of the human mind to roam experientially, if not actually, beyond the body."

There are many other works that elaborate this idea, from the contested ideas in the works of Carlos Castaneda, to more solid anthropological approaches in Timothy Knab's "War of Witches" and in "From the Heart of the World." This book is an essential piece of the puzzle that includes shamanism, dream states including lucid dreaming, etc. The particular significance of this book is in providing a link between the psychosomatic work of psychological and anthropological research that is human-centered, and the environmental work of deep ecology, archaeology, and sacred geography. There is a lot further to go in this area, but this book helps fit the pieces together. ... Read more

Product Description
The focus of this work is Muism, which is Korean shamanism. Mudangs, Korea's unique religious shamans, preside at kut and at other religious ceremoneies, which are based on the folk culture of Muism. Muism serves as an important resource for research into Korean religion, ideology, history, literature, music, stories and the other vital elements of its civilization. ... Read more

Product Description
This moving and transformative road trip traces the growing friendship of a modern shaman and his companion as they explore the seductive world of synchronicity and spirits. Set amidst the backdrop of ancient European sacred monuments, the self revealing narrative invites the reader to join in the spontaneous adventures of a modern shaman, spiced with practical exercises at the end of each chapter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

A journey worth taking...
In this engaging book, Kenn Day reminds us that for shamans to serve as healers, it is important to bring them into the present moment and recognize their role as real people doing what is natural to them. He says, "[T]he shaman is a naturally occurring phenomenon, arising when the individual or community has need of the talents they have to offer" (12).I think this beautifully captures the essence of the shaman's path in our contemporary society, and it set the tone for my journey into Kenn Day's riveting book.As he writes, Kenn seems very aware of the unity underlying the multitude of maps we follow--even beyond the maps of the shamans--and this spoke to me on a deep level.So many parts of my life, from as early as five years old, were brought into clearer light and healing integration as I found myself resonating with Kenn's descriptions of initiation and exploration.I'm sure this will be the experience of many readers who pick up his book.

Dance of Stones is the best kind of shamanic book, a journey story
Recently Kenn day sent me a copy of Dance of Stones to review. I am very happy we connected around this engaging and effective introduction to modern shamanic practices.

In narrative chapters Kenn Day describes traveling through Europe, exploring new connections--with Soli, a woman he met at a magick workshop they both found disappointing, and with the spirits of the places and situations they adventure into as their roadtrip winds along.

Instead of following ordinary reality maps, they head towards the next, nearest intersection of synchronicity and serendipity.

Of course their inner journeys are progressing and intertwining along the way. Kenn shows Soli shamanic practices that bring her, suddenly, to the termination of her job and, eventually, to the beginning of a really fulfilling, even more successful career. Soli's journey leads Kenn to a new stone circle vision and a future shamanic mission.

In Deepening chapters amid the thickening plot, Kenn offers his interpretation of contemporary western shamanism (that incorporates eastern spirituality teachings and practices, also).

Kenn's writing is clear and he presents ideas simply yet entertainingly.

"Dance of Stones" was, for me, a teaching by example of "how to write a shamanic book" - as a suspenseful, multi-level story of an adventurous journey along outer and inner edges.

The Book In Your Bag This Summer
This is the kind of book that you're sad to finish.Kenn Day shares a tale of life and its subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) transformations that happen along the way.There is no heavy-handed stage magic here.This is the gentle urging of energy that transforms as surely as waves transform the shoreline.It is, in short, authentic.And that is exactly what makes it a thoroughly satisfying and entertaining journey.

You see yourself in the characters.You see people you know in the characters.You see them change in both profound and subtle ways.The backdrop of the ancient sites they visit gives a solidity to the story that keeps in mind the fact that so many people have made this same journey before us.They have left markers along the way, tools, and an ancient tradition that some few people still practice today.

This book presents shamanism in a way that I celebrate--not through ego, but with open hands and heart,and a profound simplicity.

Open and clear
I find Kenn Day's writing to be open and clear.In the process of telling a fairly simple story he managed to convey a great deal about his beliefs and practices and left me with intriguing questions.Too much of the metaphysical literature is based on giving simple answers.For myself if I want answers I'll seek a church.Spiritual growth is about better and better questions and Kenn inspires those with his writing and teaching.

A Great Introduction to Post-Tribal Shamanism
I started reading this book in the car on my way to my very first workshop with Kenn. It's a wonderful tale of an actual journey that mirrors a spiritual journey that takes place at the same time. This is a book that can help you get closer to some of the answers you seek and may send you in a whole new direction in your life. If you are ready to connect with something deeper, something eternal, something that modern society seems to deny this book may just be what you are looking for to begin your new journey of self discovery and healing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent study, but only for specialists
Becoming Half Hidden is a fascinating study of Inuit shamanism, with astrong focus on psychological elements. It is very much an academic textand will be a difficult read for anyone without a strong background inpsychology and perhaps also philosophy or theology. Elements of the studyof folklore and mythology seem rather deemphasized. Merkur treats hissubjects with a reasonable amount of respect, unlike some of the scholarswhose work he quotes. All in all, this is no doubt an important academicwork, but even well-educated nonspecialist readers will find itunapproachable. ... Read more

Product Description
Throughout history, the shaman has been an important figure in many cultures, including most Native American tribes, the Ainu of Japan, The Northern Aranda of Australia, and much of pre-Roman Europe. The shaman state is one involving special insight and magical powers. In Shamanism for Everyone, Gini Graham Scott shows you how to gain shamanistic wisdom safely and easily, and how to use it in your daily life. Her techniques include rituals, "seeing" into other realities, working with the forces of nature, mental projection, and much more. ... Read more

Product Description
A practical guide to understanding and enhancing the functionality of the human energy body

• Shows how the energy body and its interactions are the principal determinant of all we see, feel, think, or otherwise perceive

• Details strategic skills to manage the infinite alternate realities available to the energy body

Each of us inhabits an energy body whose interactions are the principal determinant of all we see, feel, think, or otherwise perceive. Even as modern science is establishing the uncertainty of physical matter, it is asserting the reality of our existence as interconnecting quantum energy fields. For over 5,000 years, shamans of the Toltec tradition have studied and worked with the energy body, learning to recognize and understand its structure and perceptual capacities as well as mapping it as an objective, measurable part of our anatomy. In Awakening the Energy Body, Kenneth Smith’s thorough grounding in the Toltec tradition allows him to bring forth an instructive overview for non-Toltec adherents of the latent possibilities available to the energy body and how to bring awareness and objective form to it.

Using evidence from the emerging scientific discipline of bioenergetics, which studies the flow and exchange of energy, Smith shows that conscious awareness not only creates our reality but enhances the functionality of the human energy body, allowing it to navigate the myriad realities of our world. He offers a specific set of strategies to manage the energy body in ways that are beneficial to both material existence and spiritual development. He also discusses the ethical considerations of developing consciousness and how one can quicken personal evolution in order to live a full and complete life, while revealing where the worlds of ancient tradition and modern science meet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

clear and concise
Very clear and concise.An interweaving of modern disciplines with Toltec tradition.I enjoyed his chapter on reflection and projection.It provides a clear foundation for being able to see one's projections onto oneself, others and the world at large.

excellent and in-depth
Kenneth Smith presents the Toltec energetic philosophy in an accessible way without sacrificing depth.For me energetic training is the next important paradigm in human evolution and personal growth.I highly recommend Awakening the Energy Body.

Uses science from bioenergetics to study the ebb and flow of body energy
Both psychology and new age libraries will find much of interest in AWAKENING THE ENERGY BODY: FROM SHAMANISM TO BIOENERGETICS. It uses science from bioenergetics to study the ebb and flow of body energy and draws important connections between psychology and physical matter, and uses the author's Toltec tradition studies to reinforce the possibilities involved in body energy understanding.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Awakening the Energy Body
Change is so much more than an instantaneous surface reconstruction. Real change is deeper and far more complex. Moreover, as the new change is integrated into the system, it becomes permanently ingrained.

Awakening the Energy Body is based upon Toltec traditions as presented in the author's other works on Toltec philosophy. Above all, imagination and becoming open to new possibilities are key to growth. However, once new ideas are introduced they have to be actualized through a process of orientation, training, craftsmanship, artistry, and mastery.

Awakening the Energy Body is quite an in-depth dense book. It is definitely not a Sunday afternoon read. Still the information is enlightening and well worth the effort. ... Read more

Product Description
Shamanism has always been of great interest to anthropologists. More recently it has been "discovered" by westerners, especially New Age followers. This book breaks new ground byexamining pristine shamanism in Greenland, among people contacted late by Western missionaries and settlers. On the basis of material only available in Danish, and presented herein English for the first time, the author questions Mircea Eliade's well-known definition of the shaman as the master of ecstasy and suggests that his role has to be seen as that of a master of spirits.The ambivalent nature of the shaman and the spirit world in the tough Arctic environment is then contrasted with the more benign attitude to shamanism in the New Age movement. After presenting descriptions of their organizations and accounts by participants, the author critically analyses the role of neo-shamanic courses and concludes that it is doubtful to consider what isoffered as shamanism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Dave Hanson's Review Says It Well
After reading Dave Hanson's review, I found I had little to offer that wasn't already covered other than to add two more stars. This book covers, through extensive research, what so many traditionals have been saying for years: there is little similarity between real shamanism and neoshamanistic practices offered by the followers of Harnerism.

True shamanism is neither pretty nor fun. It is a path that one is forced upon by the spirits and ancestors, not one that a person seeks for fame and fortune. It involves deadly encounters with spiritual beings that some do not survive. It requires a shattering, not just of the psyche, but of the very soul of the shaman.

Enough said. This book will give you an opportunity to acquaint yourself with real shamanism and its difference from the likes of Harnerism. This is not intended to be a criticism of Harnerism, but to intend that such is not shamanism.

Contributes to a serious discussion of shamanism.
This book has two parts. First, it is a description of the beliefs and activities of shamans in Greenland beginning in the 1700's, as reported by missionaries and anthropologists. Secondly it is a description of contemporary neoshamanic activity, particularly in shamanic trainingworkshops conducted by one teacher in Europe. Jakobsen poses a criticaldistinction between the spiritual worlds of indigenous shamans in Greenlandand that of contemporary new age shamans, and concludes that new ageshamanism should not be called shamanism at all. Rather, it should betermed "shamanic behavior."

For serious students of shamanismwho have read extensively in the anthropological literature, thisdifference in the beliefs of indigenous and contemporary shamans is notnew. Harner's sanitizing of shamanism altered the student/spiritrelationship from one of fear, awe and mediation of forces outside ofthemselves, to one of consorting with one's benevolent teachers andhelpers. It is apparent that the reduction of the "fear factor"in shamanism has attracted more workshop attendees.

Jakobsen, unlikeneoshamans, reminds us that the spirits of the Greenland shamans did notemanate from their psyche, were not projections of self, did not reside ina collective unconscious. There were no seeds of imaginal shamanism. Today,the neoshaman creates the spirits, thereby imposing order and morality onan otherwise fearsome universe. I heard a respected teacher in the Harnercadre tell a group of beginners that they would have to "teach yourpower animals how to behave." Such a notion would shock an indigenousshaman.

The origins of imaginal, neoshamanism don't lie in shamanism atall, but rest on the foundation set in the humanistic psychology and humanpotential movement that emerged at Esalen in the sixties. Harner andCastaneda reap the benefits of the movement. In a framework where all isseen in terms of humanistic psychology, neoshamans master the spirits bynot inviting the dangerous ones to the party. Touching upon the origins ofneoshamanism would have helped this book. Jakobsen says "here they areand this is what they are doing," but she doesn't say"why."

Jakobsen's reports of her experiences in neoshamanicworkshops are good samples of both the rituals and the anecdotal accountsof the participants. The descriptions of the workshops and people in themwas all too familiar. She is fair in her reporting. It is interesting thatthe course leader with whom she studied the most, refused to allow the useof his name. Coercive harmony dominates neoshamanic training.

Jakobsen'sbook is a valuable addition to a discussion of shamanism. It asks us toconsider where we place ourselves in the cosmos. Perhaps it will stimulatemore examinations of the many aspects of the neoshamanic movement. Morelikely it will be seen by neoshamans as negative and critical. ... Read more