Shamanism.. books, info?

[eclectic_reflection]

Can anyone please point me in the direction of some books with high quality information about shamanism? Or does anyone have any experience with shamanism or know anything about it?

 

[Al Dimentiz]

The god remembering, llyn roberts

Soul retrieval, Sandra ingerman

Medicine for the earth, Sandra ingerman

Fool's crow, wisdom and power, Thomas mails

Shapeshifting, John perkins

The world is as you dream it, John Perkins

The way of the shaman, Michael garner

Singing the soul back home, Caitlin Matthews

Shamanic Guide to death and dying, Kristin madden

Boom of shamanic healing, Kristin madden

Shamanic reiki - Llyn Roberts

The woman in a shaman's body, reclaiming the feminine in religion and medicine, barbara tedlock

 

[Agave]

Singing to the Plants - Steven Beyer

Ayahuasca in the Blood - Peter Gorman

The Journey to the Sacred Garden - Hank Wesselman

Awakening to the Spirit World - Sandra Ingerman, Hank Wesselman

Plant Spirit Medicine - Tom Cowan

Being and Vibration - Joseph Rael

The Visionary - Kurt Wilt (about Joseph Rael and his teachings. Not much about pshycoactive plants but some really useful earth based mystical practices from a true native american shaman.

 

[eclectic_reflection]

Thanks for the book ideas, but does anyone actually have any personal experience with shamanism? I think that would be interesting to read.

 

[bassmethod]

If you want to hear testimonials per say, hopefully these will help you:

Michael J. Harner - The Way of the Shaman

Ayahuasca Shamans

C. Michael Smith - What Is Shamanism Now?

As far as full documentaries on the subject, try these:

Shamans of the Amazon

Яндекс — поиск по видео

Результаты поиска по запросу "видео" в Яндексе

video.yandex.ru

Shamanism: Other Worlds

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6808151452846172277

I'm not that tech-savy, so I'm not quite sure how to embed these videos on here but I
hope you find them useful just the same. There are also a lot of works by Terence McKenna
and many other popular speakers in the psychedelic community who talk a great deal on the
subject. You can probably find more about them in the "Files" section of the Nexus website.

 

[psyco_nomad]

where is one I have the way of the shaman is also very good (better i'd say) but I don't have it on the computer.

 

[psyco_nomad]

here is the second Phil Hine shamanism book... and what do you know I found The Way of The Shaman on one of my exteral hard drives



*EDIT - Couldn't get The Way of The Shaman to upload. sorry
Maybe I'll try again some other time

 

[ShamanicYogi]

The way of the shaman, Michael garner

Essential

There are also a lot of works by Terence McKenna
and many other popular speakers in the psychedelic community who talk a great deal on the
subject. You can probably find more about them in the "Files" section of the Nexus website.

Thank you for the quality links on shamanism.

The Hollow Bone: A Field Guide to Shamanism
Shaman, Healer, Sage: How to Heal Yourself and Others with the Energy Medicine of the Americas
Secrets of Shamanism: Tapping the Spirit Power Within You
Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism
Sacred Drumming – Steven Ash
Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul
Creating Healing Relationships: Professional Standards for Energy Therapy Practitioners
LSD Psychotherapy – 123-129, 136-149, 245-301
Food of the Gods – Terence McKenna

 

[fractaloctopus]

If you're interested in the history of shamanism, I would highly recommend both of these books:

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy - Mircea Eliade

Pretty much the standard when it comes to traditional shamanism across multiple cultures and time periods. My one gripe about it is that Eliade summarily dismisses any shamanism that incorporates drugs as being "decadent" and essentially only pseudo-shamanism: "“Intoxication is a mechanical and corrupt method of reproducing “ecstasy,” being “carried out by oneself”; it tries to imitate a model that is earlier and that belongs to another plane of reference.” To just outright dismiss this aspect of shamanism really shows either an extreme cultural/societal bias or a mind-boggling naivety on Eliade's part. Possibly even both.

Hallucinogens and Shamanism - Michael J. Harner

Harner's Hallucinogens and Shamanism makes for a near-perfect companion to Eliade. He covers the use of hallucinogens by various cultures, even devoting a chapter to European witchcraft.

 

[ShamanicYogi]

If you're interested in the history of shamanism, I would highly recommend both of these books:

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy - Mircea Eliade

Pretty much the standard when it comes to traditional shamanism across multiple cultures and time periods. My one gripe about it is that Eliade summarily dismisses any shamanism that incorporates drugs as being "decadent" and essentially only pseudo-shamanism: "“Intoxication is a mechanical and corrupt method of reproducing “ecstasy,” being “carried out by oneself”; it tries to imitate a model that is earlier and that belongs to another plane of reference.” To just outright dismiss this aspect of shamanism really shows either an extreme cultural/societal bias or a mind-boggling naivety on Eliade's part. Possibly even both.

Yes, those are words of an inexperienced and biased person. (There are connections among Mircea Eliade and the far right and nationalism.) The ayahuasca and similar entheogenic ceremonies are often misunderstood, especially by Western scholarly people who were not born out of an indigenous culture. A Western author as such has no room to make a statement as such. Yet, no need to judge the man's limited understanding of the world.

Hallucinogens and Shamanism - Michael J. Harner

Harner's Hallucinogens and Shamanism makes for a near-perfect companion to Eliade. He covers the use of hallucinogens by various cultures, even devoting a chapter to European witchcraft.

I am reading Harner's The Way of the Shaman now. I am curious to know why he chooses the word hallucinogens, as say to entheogen or psychedelic. Shamans know that the entheogenic experience does not produce hallucinations per se; in a shamanic state of consciousness, we are able to experience and interpret other frequencies that we are unable to perceive during an ordinary state of consciousness. While experiencing a shamanic state of consciousness, we are experiencing realities that we are unable to tap into without a shamanic induction into that state. McKenna and Strassman sometimes use the word, hallucinogen. I am skeptical when I hear it used though.

Deliriants produce hallucinations; psychedelics and entheogens are doorways into higher dimensions of reality.

In the book, does he talk about deliriants and dissociatives?

 

[Bdevall158]

singing to the plants by Stephan Beyer is a great book about mestizo shamanism in peru very thouroughly expains all aspects of their tools ad pratices

 

[fractaloctopus]

Yes, those are words of an inexperienced and biased person. (There are connections among Mircea Eliade and the far right and nationalism.) The ayahuasca and similar entheogenic ceremonies are often misunderstood, especially by Western scholarly people who were not born out of an indigenous culture. A Western author as such has no room to make a statement as such. Yet, no need to judge the man's limited understanding of the world.

I would say his bias is more grounded in politics than inexperience. Plus it was first published in 1951 so the worldly knowledge of certain shamanic techniques would have not been known at that time.

I am reading Harner's The Way of the Shaman now. I am curious to know why he chooses the word hallucinogens, as say to entheogen or psychedelic. Shamans know that the entheogenic experience does not produce hallucinations per se; in a shamanic state of consciousness, we are able to experience and interpret other frequencies that we are unable to perceive during an ordinary state of consciousness. While experiencing a shamanic state of consciousness, we are experiencing realities that we are unable to tap into without a shamanic induction into that state. McKenna and Strassman sometimes use the word, hallucinogen. I am skeptical when I hear it used though.

Deliriants produce hallucinations; psychedelics and entheogens are doorways into higher dimensions of reality.

In the book, does he talk about deliriants and dissociatives?

Hallucinogens and Shamanism was written in 1972. The term entheogen didn't even exist at that time. I would assume that Harner chose not to use "psychedelic" due to the negative associations of Leary and his cohorts.

Along with the expected writings on ayahuasca, peyote, and mushrooms, he does go into the use of various tropane containing plants by European witches, namely deadly nightshade, henbane, mandrake, thorn apple, and belladonna. Personally I found this chapter the most interesting as I hadn't read about witches much previously. For example, the image of a witch riding a broomstick? It comes from them rubbing a stick with an ointment of these various plants, then "riding" the stick (with no undergarments of course) thus putting the ointment in direct contact with a rather sensitive, moist area of flesh.

 

[Cognitive Heart]

Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon Basin and Beyond:

"This book presents the encounter between Amazonian and modern worlds through the account of the recent phenomenon of expansion of shamanistic rituals based on the consumption of ayahuasca." —Renato Sztutman, Professor of Anthropology, University of São Paulo

 

[Mustelid]

The Once Unknonwn Familiar - Timothy Roderick

http://www.amazon.com/The-Once-Unknown-Familiar-Shamanic/dp/0875424392