"Shamanic Journeys Through Daghestan"

In his book, Shamanic Journeys Through Daghestan, gifted storyteller Michael Berman brings to life the shamanic traditions and folk tales of the tribal clans of Daghestan, an isolated mountainous region of Russia to the North of the Caucasus Mountains along the west shore of the Caspian Sea. These 32 distinct ethnic groups, each with its own language, culture, customs, and arts, are now connected through Islam, but their ancient stories and oral traditions reveal their shamanic roots. Quests, journeys, spirit helpers and shape-shifting are common motifs within what Bergman terms "shamanic stories." Bergman argues for the introduction of a distinct genre in academia - shamanic story - that has either been based on or inspired by a shamanic journey, or one that contains a number of the elements typical of such a journey. Shamanic stories bring people directly into immediate encounters with spiritual forces, integrating healing at physical and spiritual levels. This process allows them to connect with the power of the universe, to externalize their own knowledge, and to internalize their answers. Furthermore, through the use of narrative, shamans are able to provide their clients with a language, by means of which unexpressed, and otherwise inexpressible, trance states can be expressed.