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.
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