"The Shamanic Drum" eBook Sale

Read an eBook Week is March 4 - 10. Talking Drum Publications is participating in the event by offering 50% off our eBook The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming. Click on the preceding link and enter the coupon code REW50 prior to completing your checkout to receive a 50% discount. Coupon expires 03/10/2012. Book description: Shamanic drumming is an ancient approach that uses rhythm to promote healing and self-expression. Trained as a ceremonial drummer in the Mongolian shamanic tradition, Michael Drake 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. Whether you are an accomplished percussionist or a total beginner, this user-friendly book will help you harness the power of drumming.

Siberian Shamanism and the Western Imagination

Information on Siberian shamanism is sparse and often filled with cultural biases. In Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination, historian Ronald Hutton sifts through first-hand accounts and scholarly studies in order to present the reader with a comprehensive work representing the entire body of research on Siberian shamanism. From what he's able to derive from various sources is that traditional shamanic practices can be reduced to three essentials: there must be identifying ritual dress, such as a robe or animal skin; the shaman must use a supportive musical instrument, usually a drum or rattle; and the shamanic performance must be public. Shamans is a prized work for scholars in Siberian shamanism, folklore, and cultural studies.

"In Search of Traditional Shamans"

Susan Grimaldi, M.Ed., Field Associate for the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and John Lawrence, Ph.D. videographer and photographer, recently undertook an expedition seeking Daur Shamans in northern Inner Mongolia, China, and to the Tsaatan nomadic reindeer herders in the East Taiga of northern Mongolia. In both places, they observed shamans working and witnessed their ceremonies, interviewed and filmed them. Here is Susan’s report: "In Search of Traditional Shamans"

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.

Transfigurations: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey

Every once in a great while an artist emerges who does more than simply reflect the social trends of the time. Such an artist is able to transcend established thinking and help us redefine ourselves and our world. Today, a growing number of art critics, philosophers, and spiritual seekers believe that they have found that vision in the art of Alex Grey. Transfigurations, the follow-up to Grey’s Sacred Mirrors--one of the most successful art books of the 1990s--includes all of Grey’s major works completed in the following decade. His portrayals of human beings blend anatomical exactitude with visionary depictions of universal life energy. Grey’s striking artwork leads us on the soul’s journey from material world encasement to recovery of the divinely illuminated core.