How to Save Earth from Ecological Disaster

In his book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, Daniel Pinchbeck developed the hypothesis that we are undergoing a transition to a new realization of consciousness, which will be embodied by a new fundamental paradigm that takes into account what Carl Jung called "the reality of the psyche," which is to recognize that its contents have a living reality, along with new social, political, and economic systems that mesh with this realization. Pinchbeck sees the rapid evolution of technology as an expression of this unfolding of consciousness. The acceleration of planetary crises can either incite a planetary awakening and a shift into a regenerative planetary culture based on sustainable principles, or a destruction of human civilization in its current form, and perhaps extinction for our species.

In his new book, How Soon Is Now: From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation, Pinchbeck outlines a vision for a mass social movement that will address the ecological mega-crisis that is threatening the future of life on earth. Drawing on extensive research, Pinchbeck presents a compelling argument for the need for change on a global basis. The central thesis is that humanity has unconsciously self-willed ecological catastrophe to bring about a transcendence of our current condition. Covering everything from energy and agriculture, to culture, politics, media and ideology, How Soon Is Now? is ultimately about the nature of the human soul and the future of our current world.

The Power of Communitas

Edith Turner offers an excerpt from the preface of her book, Communitas: The Anthropology of Collective Joy. In the excerpt, she recounts an incident while doing fieldwork among whale hunters in Alaska when a moment of "collective effervescence" was generated by the community in an effort to influence environmental conditions to better support their whale hunting activities. When anthropological research enters a culture for the purposes of fieldwork, it may exist as a strange seed inside the womb of that culture. It grows and strains against its flesh, producing something entirely new—a combination of that culture’s own truth, and the gift of a vision of what that society is really like. This book describes scenes where light dawns for all kinds of groups, times, and places, where people stumble on “the best time they’ve ever had” – the time of communitas, unexpected and extraordinary. Read more.

Shamanism and Entheogens

While the use of mind-altering drugs is prohibited in many religions, other traditions around the world have long celebrated their spiritual and medicinal benefits. Entheogens used in a religious or spiritual context, include psychedelics such as peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, and ayahuasca, and the substances often supplement practices geared toward achieving transcendence. Further, many believe entheogens foster communication with the spirit world and help heal addiction, trauma, and depression. A growing interest in entheogens is evident in several books coming from religion and spirituality publishers in the coming year. Shamanic teachers Hank Wesselman and José Luis Stevens are among the authors coming out with new books. Check out a few titles that explore the intersection of drugs and spiritual development here.

"Tending the Soul with Healing Ritual"

Tending the Soul with Healing Ritual by Gay Wolff, Ph.D. is a guidebook for those wishing to develop their intuitive senses and learn to tap into the healing power of personal ritual. Part 1 talks about why we need ritual and what it involves. Part 2 provides a menu of personal rituals with detailed instructions. According to the author, "Ritual takes us beyond the psychological. It is a process of thinning the veils between the dimensions of the material world and those luminous realms lying within and beyond oneself. In Ritual, the ordinary becomes extraordinary, certainty becomes mystery, and potentialities become real possibilities!" I highly recommended this insightful book to anyone seeking to awaken and engage the blueprint of the soul. The Rituals will guide your soul work to help you engage at an energetic level, where you can access the power to change and heal. The passionate expression of our soul's purpose is precisely the medicine the earth needs at this time.

Drums: The Rhythm of Life

Drums are the most essential and widespread instrument in the history of human culture; its pulsing heartbeat is the rhythm of life. Rhythm and resonance order the natural world. Dissonance and disharmony arise only when we limit our capacity to resonate totally and completely with the rhythm of life. The origin of the word rhythm is Greek meaning "to flow." We can learn to flow with the rhythm of life by simply learning to feel the beat, pulse, or groove while drumming. When drummers feel this rhythmic flow, especially at a slower, steady beat, they can shift into a state of deep relaxation and expanded awareness. It is a way of bringing the essential self into accord with the flow of a dynamic, interrelated universe, helping us feel connected rather than isolated and estranged.

To learn more about drums and the rhythm they create in life, look inside A History of Religion in 5 1/2 Objects by religion scholar S. Brent Plate. In this beautifully written book, Plate explores how five everyday objects--stones, incense, drums, crosses, and bread--are intricately connected to spirituality. Plate analyzes the deep-rooted similarities in how these objects, connected to the five senses, have been used among different religions, and across history. It's truly a great joy to read.

"Shamanic Transformations"

I am a contributing writer for the new book "Shamanic Transformations: True Stories of the Moment of Awakening." It is a collection of inspiring accounts from contemporary shamans about their first moments of spiritual epiphany. Contributing writers include Sandra Ingerman, Hank Wesselman, John Perkins, Alberto Villoldo, Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Tom Cowan, Linda Star Wolf, and others. My contribution is "The Calling," which is an excerpt from my book "Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits." How does one receive the "call" to enter onto the shamanic path? What causes some people to change their safe, uneventful, and ordinary lives and start on a spiritual search? To learn more, look inside "Shamanic Transformations." To read the entire excerpt of "The Calling," click here.

"The Gift of Shamanism"

Itzhak Beery is an internationally recognized shamanic healer, teacher, and founder of ShamanPortal.org. In his newly released book, The Gift of Shamanism: Visionary Power, Ayahuasca Dreams, and Journeys to Other Realms, Beery recounts his journey from a skeptical New York advertising executive to a gifted shamanic practitioner and teacher. Through engaging stories from his own shamanic experiences, Beery connects emotionally with the reader and guides them indirectly into the shamanic ways of "seeing" (our sixth sense or intuition), which he believes is an important part of our ability to survive.

As Beery explains it, "I'm now convinced that we human beings are truly living in multidimensional realities and that as humans we have the ability to perceive knowledge, images, and information otherwise hidden from our ordinary senses by shifting from the earthly plane into a shamanic state of higher vibrational consciousness. I believe that this is the key to humans' survival for hundreds of thousands of years."

Distilling years of experience as a shamanic practitioner, Beery details his shamanic way of seeing to diagnose spiritual, emotional, and physical ailments. According to Beery, seeing is not linear or logical. It communicates to us in symbols, through poetry and idioms, and in body language, colors, shapes, smells, and bodily sensations. Deep within each and every one of us lie dormant visionary powers waiting to be realized and freed from the confines of our fears, habits, and cultural taboos. Being in touch with our seeing can help us also chart new paths not only for our own life, but for society as a whole. Seeing helps us sustain and preserve the soul of humanity, shapeshifting us, from fear-based attitudes to a life-affirming sense of hope.

Through his riveting stories of visions that manifested in reality, Beery reveals that we all have dormant visionary powers waiting to be realized. This capacity to bring knowledge and healing from alternative realities and parallel dimensions is "the gift of shamanism." It is a gift that all we humans share and oddly enough it is what makes us good survivors on this planet. By embracing this gift, we can actualize our shamanic potential to change ourselves and the world around us. All you have to do is open a portal, trust your intuition, and trust the spirits to guide you. I highly recommend that you read this insightful book and apply its teachings to your life. Beery's forthcoming book, Shamanic Transformations, featuring stories (including my own story) by notable contemporary shamanic practitioners, will be released in September 2015.

Top 10 Books on Shamanism

This is a list of the ten books that most influenced my path of shamanism. I have read many other informative books, but these are the books that most resonated with me on my shamanic path of learning and fulfillment. Shamanism offers a valid and effective path back to our soul and its purpose for being here. By engaging life from a shamanic perspective, we rediscover our core values and deep loves, find others who share them, and recommit our lives to living from what has heart and meaning. Listed in order of year of publication, my top 10 books are:

1. The Way of the Shaman: A Guide to Power and Healing (1980) by Michael Harner. Founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Harner blazed the trail for the worldwide revival of shamanism and shamanic drumming with his 1980 seminal classic. This informative guide to core shamanic practice set me on a new course in life. From this guide, I learned to hone my skills of shamanic journeying. Harner teaches core shamanism, the universal and common methods of the shaman to enter "non-ordinary reality" for problem solving and healing. Particular emphasis is on the classic shamanic journey; one of the most remarkable visionary methods used by humankind to access inner wisdom and guidance by the teachers within. Learning to journey is the first step in becoming a shamanic practitioner.

2. Secrets of Shamanism: Tapping the Spirit Power Within You (1988) by Jose Luis Stevens. This was among the first books I read about shamanism. It is a useful introductory guide to personal shamanic practice. It is very easy to read and has lots of information. I keep a copy of this on my bookshelf for reference and recommend it to anyone interested in learning core shamanic techniques.

3. Urban Shaman (1990) by Serge Kahili King, Ph.D. Dr. King is the author of many works on Huna and Hawaiian shamanism. He has a doctorate in psychology and was trained in shamanism by the Kahili family of Kauai. Today he teaches people how to use shamanic healing techniques and uses his knowledge of Huna to help others discover their own creative power. Huna refers to a way of life, a way of being, that brings healing to the self and to the world at large. Uniquely suited for use in today's world, Hawaiian shamanism follows the way of the adventurer, which produces change through love and cooperation -- in contrast to the widely known way of the warrior, which emphasizes solitary quests and conquest by power.

4. The Spirit Of Shamanism (1990) by Roger N. Walsh, Ph.D. This scholarly text is a great addition to any library. Dr. Walsh offers an exciting look at the variety of shamanic practices and its basis in sound psychological principles from a thoroughly Western perspective. The timeless wealth of spiritual insights available through shamanic techniques are shown to the modern, non-tribal student.

5. Being and Vibration (1993) by Joseph Rael and Mary Marlow. Of the many books I have read on sound healing, none resonated with me more than Rael's beautiful treatise on vibration. Highly respected Ute healer and visionary Rael teaches that the nature of all existence is vibration. From human breath and heartbeat to the pulsating energies of subatomic particles, to expansion and contraction of stars and of the universe itself, there is pulsation-vibration inherent in all that exists. Rael's teachings show how we may experience spiritual reality in its totality through drumming, chanting, and vision quests. The book includes practical instructions and visualizations around breath, chant, and sound.

6. The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens and the I Ching (1994) by Terence and Dennis McKenna. This is a thoroughly revised edition of the much-sought-after early (1975) work by the McKenna brothers that looks at shamanism, altered states of consciousness, and the organic unity of the King Wen sequence of the I Ching. I discovered this visionary book while researching my 1997 book, I Ching: The Tao of Drumming. I was fascinated by Terence McKenna's theory that the King Wen sequence of the 64 hexagrams represents a wave model of time. I spent hours trying to decipher the complexities of the "Time Wave Theory" in order to write about it in my own book. Simply put, the King Wen sequence is a symbolic blueprint of the unfolding continuum of time in which events and situations recur on many different scales of duration. Each hexagram represents a unique yet integral wave cycle within the continuum. Many reputable scientists and physicists have embraced it. It has broken the barriers between esoteric philosophy and pragmatism.

7. Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternate Reality Workbook (1995) by Belinda Gore. Anthropologist Felicitas Goodman discovered that specific yoga-like poses recur in the art and artifacts of world cultures, even societies widely separated by time and space. Goodman's hypothesis, therefore, was that these postures represented coded instructions on how to produce consistent trance-like effects. Goodman researched and explored ritual body postures as a means to achieve a bodily induced trance experience. She discovered that people who assume these body postures report strikingly similar trance experiences irrespective of their worldview or belief systems. With clear instructions and illustrations, Belinda Gore, one of Dr. Goodman's prominent students, demonstrates these shamanic postures and how to work with them. There are different postures that facilitate divination, shapeshifting, spirit journeys, and more.

8. Riding Windhorses: A Journey into the Heart of Mongolian Shamanism (2000) by Sarangerel Odigon. The first book written about Mongolian and Siberian shamanism by a shaman trained in that tradition. This is a great introduction to Mongolian and Siberian shamanic beliefs and practices. Sarangerel was an American of Mongolian descent. As an adult she returned to live in the place of her ancestors and studied Mongolian shamanism for many years. She was the author of two books on Tengerism (Mongolian shamanism). Both of her books are in my top 10.

9. Chosen by the Spirits: Following Your Shamanic Calling (2001) by Sarangerel Odigon. In her second book, Sarangerel delves more deeply into the personal relationship between the shamanic student and his or her spirit family. She recounts her own journey into Mongolian shamanism and provides the serious student with practical advice and hands-on techniques for recognizing and acknowledging a shamanic calling, welcoming and embodying the spirits, journeying to the spirit world, and healing both people and places. Sarangerel traveled across the globe passing on the teachings of her people to all who wanted to learn them. Sadly, in 2006 she passed into spirit.

10. Shamanism: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing (2010) by Michael Winkelman. Winkelman is one of the world's foremost scholars on shamanism. His groundbreaking book contains cross-cultural examinations of the nature of shamanism, biological perspectives on alterations of consciousness, mechanisms of shamanic healing, as well as the evolutionary origins of shamanism. It presents the shamanic paradigm within a biopsychosocial framework for explaining successful human evolution through group rituals. According to Winkelman, shamanism is rooted in innate functions of the brain, mind, and consciousness. As Winkelman puts it, "The cross-cultural manifestations of basic experiences related to shamanism (e.g., soul flight, death-and-rebirth, animal identities) illustrates that these practices are not strictly cultural but are structured by underlying, biologically inherent structures. These are neurobiological structures of knowing that provide the universal aspects of the human brain/mind." This book is a must read for any serious student of shamanism.

 

Affiliate disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Ecstatic Trance Postures

I highly recommend incorporating ecstatic trance postures into your shamanic practice. Some of my most profound journey experiences have taken place while holding shamanic postures. Anthropologist Felicitas Goodman discovered that specific yoga-like poses recur in the art and artifacts of world cultures, even societies widely separated by time and space. Goodman's hypothesis, therefore, was that these postures represented coded instructions on how to produce consistent trance-like effects. Goodman researched and explored ritual body postures as a means to achieve a bodily induced trance experience. Her studies led her to many countries, and to trying out these body positions practically with hundreds of participants worldwide. She discovered that people who assume these body postures report strikingly similar trance experiences irrespective of their worldview or belief systems.

These postures produce a common effect, according to Goodman, because they all share one thing in common: the human body, the basic structure and functioning of which has remained unchanged since the time of our most ancient ancestors. The nervous and endocrine systems are, in fact, all much the same as they were 30,000 years ago, a fact which enables contemporary urban dwellers to enter non-ordinary reality as effectively, and through the same neural doorways, as shamans throughout history. You can access, energize, and integrate your creative and intuitive potential. Combined with shamanic drumming, the postures engender a profound change in consciousness, leading to new insights into healing, inner development and soul purpose. In her book, Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences, Goodman describes different postures that facilitate divination, healing, spirit journeys and more. In my next post, I will introduce you to my favorite trance posture.

Goodman identified several prerequisites for a successful trance posture experience, many of which will be familiar to you from your standard shamanic journey:

1. Preparing oneself spiritually, mentally and physically;
2. Establishing a sacred space with intention and respect;
3. Quieting the mind through meditation and breathing practices;
4. Inducing a trance state with a repetitive rhythm on a drum or rattle;
5. Holding a specific trance posture for at least 15 minutes.

What you will experience

Ecstatic trance is not always what many people anticipate it to be, and sometimes there may be doubt that anything at all takes place. There are, however, some key indicators that confirm a transcendent state of consciousness. Once you enter a trance state, the rhythm or sound of the drum tends to change. The drumbeat may appear to speed up or slow down while the sound may grow louder, softer or disappear. You may experience a change in body temperature, feel energy flowing through your body, or find yourself twitching, swaying or rocking.

It is not uncommon to hear sounds or voices. You may even smell specific aromas. You may see colorful patterns, symbolic images or dreamlike visions. Some people may find that they have a highly developed inner vision, whereas others may rely more on an inner voice of insight or an inner feeling of certainty. Be prepared to experience ecstatic trance with any of your senses. The key is to observe whatever happens without trying to analyze the experience.

Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide

I am pleased to announce the publication of the Kindle eBook edition of my new drum guide. The paperback will be available in a few weeks. This book is the culmination of twenty-five years of shamanic circling. Since 1989, I have been involved in facilitating shamanic drumming circles and hands-on experiential workshops nationwide. Many of the participants in my seminars were inspired to start or join drumming circles in their communities. Over the years, a number of these shamanic practitioners have shared the specific challenges and issues their circles experienced. This ongoing networking with other practitioners evolved into the Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide. This comprehensive manual provides guidelines for creating, facilitating and sustaining shamanic drumming circles.

A shamanic drumming circle is essentially a modern adaptation to an ancient form of cultural expression attributed to indigenous shamanic peoples. In indigenous cultures, the term "drum circle" would not be used. Rather, the term "ceremonial drumming" or "drumming rite" would be more accurate. 

The shamanic drumming circle is the most powerful way I know to connect with the spirit and oneness of everything. Everything has a rhythm, and that rhythm is circular. Drum circles provide the opportunity for people of like mind to unite for the attainment of a shared objective. There is power in drumming alone, but that power recombines and multiplies on many simultaneous levels in a group of drummers. The drums draw individual energies together, unifying them into a consolidated force that can be channeled toward the circle's intended goal. Look inside my new book here. View the YouTube book trailer here.

"Awaken the Inner Shaman"

Dr. José Luis Stevens, a psychotherapist and leading shamanic teacher, has published a new book, Awaken the Inner Shaman: A Guide to the Power Path of the Heart. According to Dr. Stevens, "the inner shaman is the wise one within each one of us....shamanically speaking, it's the one that's plugged into spirit." In this practical and informative guide, Dr. Stevens describes the human heart as the best place to access the inner shaman. The heart is a portal to the greater wisdom and knowing within -- and stepping into the power and responsibility we possess to shape and serve our world. In Awaken the Inner Shaman, Dr. Stevens challenges us to reclaim our lost power to heal, see truly, and fulfill our purpose in life. As Dr. Stevens writes: "The Inner Shaman, suppressed and ignored for centuries, can be discovered in the most obvious place possible -- within your own heart."

I also recommend Dr. Stevens's informative book Secrets of Shamanism: Tapping the Spirit Power Within You (1988), which was among the first books I read about shamanism. It is a useful introductory guide to personal shamanic practice. It is very easy to read and has lots of information. I keep a copy of this on my bookshelf for reference and recommend it to anyone interested in learning core shamanic techniques.

Shamanism Without Borders

Shamanism Without Borders is an emerging movement initiated by the Society for Shamanic Practitioners to effectively respond to the world's natural disasters and crises. Even if we can't physically travel to a disaster site, shamanism allows us to work remotely to alleviate suffering. Shamanism literally has no borders except the ones we construct for ourselves. The SSP has now produced a handbook titled, Shamanism Without Borders: A Guide to Shamanic Tending for Trauma and Disasters. In this manual, experienced practitioners explain techniques and principles used by shamans throughout time to deal with trauma and disasters and how these practices are still applied today. The guidebook is just that -- a guidebook, not a blueprint, nor a set of rules and regulations. Every disaster is unique and requires the right action for its uniqueness. The book is simply a collection of philosophies and possibilities that can be a foundation for others to do similar work. The book urges readers to "read between the lines and listen between the words for Spirit to speak and comment."

Chosen by the Spirits

Buryat shamaness Sarangerel wrote Chosen by the Spirits: Following Your Shamanic Calling as a guide for both the beginning shaman and the advanced practitioner. Although raised in the United States, she was drawn to the shamanic tradition, and in 1991 returned to her ancestral homeland in the Tunken region of southern Siberia to study with traditional Buryat shamans. Her first book, Riding Windhorses, provided an introduction to the shamanic world of Siberia. In Chosen by the Spirits, Sarangerel recounts her own journey into shamanic practice and provides the serious student with practical advice and hands-on techniques for recognizing and acknowledging a shamanic calling, welcoming and embodying the spirits, journeying to the spirit world, and healing both people and places. Highly recommended!

"Not Quite Shamans"

In Not Quite Shamans, Morten Axel Pedersen explores how shamanism serves to fill the spiritual void left by the collapse of socialism in Mongolia. Pedersen conducted his ethnographic fieldwork in Northern Mongolia's remote Shishged Valley among Darhads, who are famous for having the most "authentic" shamans. When Pedersen arrived to conduct his research in the late 1990s, however, he found a paradox: the homeland of shamanism, where shamans persevered even through the harshest persecution during socialism, was now barren. Instead of shamans, the place was full of böö shig or böörhuu individuals (shaman-like or sort-of-a-shaman-but-not-quite). These are almost exclusively young men who ought to be shamans but are unable to become them because of lack of accessible "authentic" teachers and insufficient resources to obtain shamanic paraphernalia that are necessary for appeasing and controlling the spirits -- the traits of trained shamans. 

Unable to learn how to subdue the spirits and so choose when to become possessed and when not, these young men remained permanently stuck as what Pedersen calls "not-quite-shamans." Pedersen illustrates how the daily lives of Darhads are affected by these "not-quite-shamans," whose undirected energies erupted in unpredictable, frightening bouts of violence and drunkenness. His main argument is that the lack of shamans does not make the Darhad life any less shamanic. Quite the contrary, without shamans, shamanism thrives and seeps through every pore of the moral, cultural, and natural lives in Shishged. Pedersen details how, for many Darhads, the postsocialist state itself has become shamanic in nature. 

"For scholars of shamanism, Pedersen, by demonstrating that it is not always the shamans who carry the practice to the new generations but the entire community, reveals some nuances behind shamanic resiliency around the world…" 

 - Review by Manduhai Buyandelger in American Anthropologist, Volume 115, Issue 1. 

Visions of Sound

The most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the musical instruments of Native people in Northeastern North America, Visions of Sound focuses on interpretations by elders and consultants from Iroquois, Wabanati, Innuat, and Anishnabek communities. The authors have listened carefully to what they have said and have had the respect and sensitivity to never lose sight of Native instruments as bi-directional conduits linking all spheres within a spiritually-centered world; a world from which instruments emerge and return conceptually, functionally and physically. What makes the book so very powerful is the sense that its authors have moved beyond documentation of this discovery to link scholarly engagement itself with such a world. Visions of Sound is an important book for all ethnomusicologists and students of Native American culture as well as general readers interested in Native mythology and spirituality.

The Shamanic Drum by Michael Drake - Book Trailer

Shamanic drumming is a form of repetitive rhythmic drumming. Its purpose is to induce ecstatic trance states in order to access innate wisdom and guidance. The essence of shamanism is the experience of direct revelation from within. Shamanism is about remembering, exploring and developing the true self. Shamanic practice heightens the ability of perception and enables you to see into the deeper realms of the self. Once connected with your inner self, you can find help, healing and a continual source of guidance. To practice shamanism is to reconnect with your deepest core values and your highest vision of who you are and why you are here.

Drawing from 30 years of shamanic practice and teaching, Michael presents the first practical guide to applying this ancient healing art to our modern lives. Through a series of simple exercises and lessons, he teaches the basic shamanic methods of drumming. The focus is on creating sacred space, journeying, power practice, power animals, drum circles and the therapeutic effects of drumming. There are no prerequisites to learning shamanic drumming. Whether you are an accomplished percussionist or a total beginner, this user-friendly book will help you harness the power of drumming.

 

The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming Reviews:

"This book is a valuable, well-researched, and well-written treatment of all aspects of shamanic drumming. The author weaves together both ancient and modern lore, from oral shamanic chants to modern physics and biology, along with personal experiences to illuminate the practice of sacred drumming. Included are step-by-step exercises, analysis of different beats and tempos, and chapters on cosmology, journeying, power practice, and healing the earth. Recommended to anyone seeking to connect deeply with the drum as a tool for personal, interpersonal, or group spiritual and healing work."

--Nowick Gray, Alternative Culture Magazine

"A clear and practical work."

--Julia Cameron, author of The Vein of Gold and The Artist's Way

"Apprenticeship would be the ideal way to learn shamanic drumming, however most of us will never be fortunate enough to have this experience. This book is definitely the next best thing."
  --Lisa DiPlacido, review editor for Friend's Review

Kerouac in Ecstasy: Shamanic Expression in Writing

One of the influential books that I read in my youth was The Dharma Bums, a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. Kerouac’s semi-fictional accounts of hiking and hitchhiking through the West inspired me to embark on my own footloose adventures. In his latest book, Kerouac in Ecstasy: Shamanic Expression in the Writings, Thomas R. Bierowski explores Kerouac’s writing as ecstatic technique. As Bierowski puts it, "One of the duties of the archaic shaman was to retrieve lost souls and bring them back for the psychic good of the tribe. At the height of his artistic powers, Kerouac renders all of his Beat heroes in order to provide his readers with the possibility of communing, as he has, with these great souls."

Shamanism and Grief

Sandra Ingerman, author of Awakening to the Spirit World, offers insight into moving through stages of grief in a recent article, "How to Deal With Grief." Her approach to coping with grief could be applied not just to the loss of loved one, but to distress following any life transition. As Ingerman puts it, “Every change in life is some form of death which leads to an ending that can create a state of grief for us as something familiar dies. We might change jobs, move, get divorced, experience a change in how we feel as we age, a life threatening illness or the death of a loved one. Death is not an end, rather it is a new beginning. And the experience of grief is important for our growth and evolution." Read more.

"The Last of the Shor Shamans"

The Last of the Shor Shamans focuses on the fundamentals of Shor shamanism from interviews with the few remaining authentic shamans from the Shor Mountain region of Siberia. The authors Alexander Arbachakov and Luba Arbachakov are themselves indigenous Shors, which only substantiates their study even more. The book provides details surrounding shamanic practice, spirit communication, and shamanic drumming. It examines how the shamanic drum is constructed, how it is played, and the role it plays in shamanic ceremony. In short, the reader gains insight into the meanings behind every component of the drum and performance methodologies. This much needed book may be the only way the vanishing indigenous Shor people are remembered. It is a prized work for scholars in Siberian shamanism, folklore, and cultural studies.

"The Beauty of the Primitive"

The Beauty of the Primitive explores how shamanism, an obscure word introduced by the eighteenth-century German explorers of Siberia, entered Western humanities and social sciences, and has now become a powerful idiom used by nature and pagan communities to situate their spiritual quests and anti-modernity sentiments. The major characters of The Beauty of the Primitive are past and present Western scholars, writers, explorers, and spiritual seekers with a variety of views on shamanism. Moving from Enlightenment and Romantic writers and Russian exile ethnographers to the anthropology of Franz Boas to Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda, Znamenski details how the shamanism idiom was gradually transplanted from Siberia to the Native American scene and beyond. 

 

He also looks into the circumstances that prompted scholars and writers at first to marginalize shamanism as a mental disorder and then to recast it as high spiritual wisdom in the 1960s and the 1970s. Linking the growing interest in shamanism to the rise of anti-modernism in Western culture and intellectual life, Znamenski examines the role that anthropology, psychology, environmentalism, and Native Americana have played in the emergence of neo-shamanism. He discusses the sources that inspire Western neo-shamans and seeks to explain why lately many of these spiritual seekers have increasingly moved away from non-Western tradition to European folklore. A work of intellectual discovery, The Beauty of the Primitive shows how scholars, writers, and spiritual seekers shape their writings and experiences to suit contemporary cultural, ideological, and spiritual needs. With its interdisciplinary approach and engaging style, it promises to be the definitive account of this neglected strand of intellectual history.