I've recently finished reading both of Daniel Pinchbeck's books on shamanic studies; This was one of my primary introductions to the full world of Shamanic practices throughout the world. I dove into the subject after experimenting with some entheogens and realizing that there is more here than just hallucinations. I knew instantly that I was not hallucinating. The experience lead me to an interest in shamanism, and then on to Daniel's books.

[size="-1"][/size]Breaking Open the Head - This is an incredible journey, even for those who are already experienced in Shamanic topics. For those who know nothing of the subject, or who would like a primer, this book is equally suited to you as well. The author shares genuine experiences about his explorations into this world of knowledge, and visits with some of the various tribes around the world where he engages in their rituals. These experiences that he writes about helped me to understand my own uninitiated and unsupervised explorations into the spirit world. By the end of the book I had comfortably acknowledged the reality of "spirits" that may seem like fungi or plants to us on this material plane, but upon ingestion or invocation grant their spiritual power to the shaman. Daniel explores such Entheogens as Iboga and Ayahuasca, detailing his thoughts and experiences for us to draw our conclusions from. This book was a great read for me, and lead me to instantly move on to his next release :

2012 - The Return of Quetzacoatl - Not as much a book about Shamanism in general as his previous work, but a wonderful read. Daniel's research into the topics he writes about is incredible - In this book he sums up and compares theories from Shamans and Shamanic believers in the 2012 Mayan end date, Occult philosophers, alchemists and theosophists ( all topics that inter-relate ). There is extensive talk about "spirits" and other dimensions, hidden worlds, and the reality of reality. Less a book about Entheogenic use in shamanic rituals, and more towards our Western interpretation (masculine & scientific) of the Shamans' understanding of our reality: How modern man sees the prophesies and visions of those cultures that divine their knowledge from the Spirit world (feminine).

I continue to find the 2012 date interesting. The alignment with the Galactic Center, or Dark Star as I like to call it, IS in every way an important incident in Astrology. I implore everyone to really consider what it means to change our alignment with this ancient celestial body (place?). It is on this day, and at this moment, when we will experience a world wide shift in consciousness; many believe we will "change frequency" or develop (realize) another CHAKRA. I concur with those ideas. When the world tilts on that day, and the gravitational (and other energy) forces that pull on us change on that day we will indeed become different. Our spiritual bodies will change. This was predicted/spoke of in many ancient Occult, Alchemy, and Theosophical texts as well: That there will be a time in our (human kind) future where we will have to reunite our dualistic reality. The sacred marriage of opposites: Feminine to Masculine; Science and Religion, must merge to complete us and move us on to another level of reality. Life will go on, but we will change, and the stories of our lives will evolve into the new paradigms for this phase of our spiritual development.

I highly reccommend both titles, especially to those interested in Shamanism topics and the like. I'm now moving on to, The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall. It's over 600 pages, so don't expect a total review any time soon.
If anyone else has read these books, or something similiar, please share !

- "He who by progress has grown from the darkness; lifted himself from the night into light, free is he made of the Halls of Amenti, FREE of the Flower of Life. Guided he then by Wisdom and Knowledge, passes from Men to the Masters of Life" -Thoth's Emerald Tablets.

Hi Tosh,

I don't have much to say about books on shamanism, I've read nothing but a few Castaneda books. There was a time I did read everything I could find from the internet, but not much of it was of any real use. I've taken some online classes here and found them really helpful, they are taught as a shamanic act and it makes things really interesting I've had the tendency to be a brainy type, but the more I pursue the shamanic the more I want to act directly. That's not to say I have anything against reading.

As you are here, you must have already found the ShamansCave website and I encourage you to read through the huge amount of information presented there. I think it's a great site and in the articles and conversations Niteshad manages to give a pretty good view of how things look from his tradition's perspective. It's very direct and simple in some ways, so rather than dancing until you drop on the floor drooling or ingesting substances, the practices focus on learning to know and move your own energy.

I hope you find here what you are looking for, whether you feel driven to pursue a shamanic path or are just interested in gaining a broader perspective on shamanism or life in general.

Ok, this got a bit off topic, but here's a few links to the site you might find interesting:
Articles on contemporary shamanism
The recapitulation is all about healing the self
Stories from the journey among other things, shamans are also story-tellers

-k

Dunno about this, exactly... I tried a few of my own little unsupervised experiments with the fungus, etc, 'allies', and don't particularly recommend it. As Niteshad mentioned in one of his article on the allies, they use you (and lie too.)

See also: allies

I've been taking the dreaming class this session, and much prefer the insights I gain from accessing my own dreaming energy.

I like proactive work, and really haven't read much about this sort of thing. I prefer to exprience shamanism in an active sense, because it helps me understand my reality. Then again, I probably come from a shamanic tradition that was cut off somehow, or forced underground. I used to be very 'up in my head' about it, reading all sorts of treatises and anthopoligical texts about it, but all it did was to make me feel weird again, because my experience of the world is more closely aligned with the shamanic than I was comfortable with at the time.

I'm already different, but that's a bit beside the point.... I've been reading a bit about 2012 myself, and am concerned about the possibilities of a 'shift' being less about creating some sort of 'enlightened' species out of humans, than I am that it may create pysical planetary disturbances many of us won't be prepared to deal with. Also, I'm not about to sit around and wait for some sort of change to happen; I'm taking classes with Niteshad to make SURE it does.

My life, the way it was somewhat over a year ago, needed change and transformation IMMEDIATELY. Besides, an earth change leading to a spiritual change in me isn't 'taking charge of my life' or working on my own spiritual 'stuff'; it's waiting for a force outside myself to do it for me.

Much love,
Sue

Dont sell yourself short. You had the courage to accept the pressure from that force and start to change.


Can you post something about you ally experiences?


Best wishes,

Matt

I find Pinchbeck to be self-indulgent and uninteresting. The guy is an epitome of a hipster who is taking a bunch of drugs and believes the drug-taking makes him into an authority on shamanism.

He's become a big star in neo-psychedelic circles; basically, he distracts people who don't know any better, from genuine self-exploration.

I think the guy is clueless.

Hi all, the new forums are looking great

I'm very interested in all of these 2012 ideas flying around. And there are a lot of them. Tosh, have you listened to or read anything by Terrence McKenna? What he talks about sounds very similar to the author you are talking about, though I haven't personally read anything by Pinchbeck.

I still feel that 2012 has personal relevance to me, but I'm still unsure as to what. Niteshad encouraged me to see for myself, though I haven't been able to yet.

I tend to agree with the ideas of planetary consciousness shifts. That's how it feels to me, though I must admit it also causes me a lot of anxiety, so there's stuff there I need to work on. However, if there is some sort of shift in consciousness, people are going to need to know what the hell is going on and what they are supposed to do with all of this new energy.

That could be where we come in

I saw 2017 as the significant date. I would be interested to know if other people have looked for the date and what they have seen.

Jekyll

I haven't seen anything about 2017, although I feel that for me personally, 2012 will hold great significance. I'll research 2017 and let you know what I find out.

Greetings,

Guess this is as good a time as any to jump in and babble a bit.

A few years back, Niteshad told us something that didn't make much sense to me at the time: "The more you see, the less you can talk about it." I thought that was an odd thing to say, since it seemed to me the more you saw, the more you'd have to talk about... Then things changed.

As a natural seer, I'd always had dreams, visions, intuitive shifts. But like everything else about this path, I was undisciplined and ignorant of the process. When things did change, I began to see that the future is not cast in stone; it is not linear. Instead, it is very fluid, ever changing. Just because I saw something didn't mean that would be the outcome. What I saw was only the most likely event to occur, based on the direction energy was moving at that moment. When I began to see the possibility of multiple outcomes, all the different connections, all the different energies related to those outcomes, then I understood Niteshad's words.

In the short term, its easy to make predictions. But looking into the future further removed from the moment, all we can really say for sure is that the greatest energy is pushing in this direction, or that direction. Most of us are aware (whether we're consciously aware or not) that there will be some massive, significant changes ahead. But no matter where you are in time, you can say that with certainty.

If you want to read about the 2012 prophesies, that's pretty much contained in "The Hopi Prophesies". That relates to the Mayan, and many other Native American cultural prophesies. As you know, the Mayans devised one of the most accurate calendars known to date. People of the past lived with different cultural mindsets of course, but I've never believed they were any less intelligent or resourceful than modern people. In many ways, they were much wiser.

The Mayans had their own creation myths, legends, oral history. Enough to "see" that the world had gone through some cataclysmic events - extinctions, massive natural changes like rising sea levels, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, huge storm systems... Remember that the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene was still within the reach of oral history, which is why the flood myth is found worldwide. Western minds get lost in linear thinking; the Eastern mind embraces a cyclical mindset. If you take the two and merge them, what you end up with is a spiral. ... Imagine. So being intelligent astute people, the Mayan shamans could see patterns emerge. And since they had that wonderful calendar right there to work with, they applied their knowledge to their foresight and predicted that such major changes would occur during this period of time, that the 4th world would end, and the 5th world would begin around 2012.

So look around you. What do you see happening? Hint: It's so embroiled in world politics that we still don't have the real story, as far as the facts go. Our planet is changing. Whether we play the blame game and point fingers as the waters rise, or learn how to adapt to the changing climate, is up to each of us as individuals. The shaman lives in the moment, watching energy shifts and directions, and adapting to the flow. Don't believe that what you see today will be the same as what you may see next week. Don't be disappointed.
- Rose

Well I don't think I'm a natural anything But that seems to make sense to me. At least as much as it can without any experience, hehe.



Over the last few years, I've begun to feel...something shifting inside me. I can't quite put it into words yet or really describe what's going on. But something big is moving and it definately has an intent. I also look around the world and I can feel big changes going on right now. Again I can't really put it into words, but there seems to be something there. Perhaps its just anxiety and I'm just projecting my feelings onto the world, but that's the way it seems now.



To paraphrase Terrence McKenna: "The planetary womb has reached its finite limit and we as a species have begun our descent down the birth canal. Nine times in the last few million years the polar ice caps have melted, driving human civilisations before them. Those people didn't fuck up. Why then should we? We are the inheritors of millions of years worth of evolution and how well we do decides how well the experiment of life on earth does."

At any rate, it doesn't seem like a coincidence to me that I am experiencing these changes now and that I'll hit the ripe old age of 30 merely weeks before the supposed end of time. But then again, maybe I'm just crazy

Hello ALL ! It is a pleasure to see so many people here exchanging ideas on this level.

For the record, I'm a HUGE Terrence Mckenna fan. I've read his site as I have this one, from cover to cover !

kurahnu: I have read some of the Castaneda books as well, and recommend them as an introduction for the Western mind: it helps to have it all presented in that format sometimes I think. I've watched a few of my friends and companions become Shamans/Seers lately, and paid attention to what books or religions helped them to make sense of what they were seeing. For me it Shamanism, for my Loving Wife it's the Sylvia Browne version of it all. Whichever books you use it's all the same universe that were looking at. The author's spin on it all is just part of the literary entertainment !!

Sue: I'm well aware that Spirit can be helpers as well as TRICKSTERS. I have read almost all of Niteshad's site; that's why I'm here!
Cuckatoo:
"I find Pinchbeck to be self-indulgent and uninteresting. The guy is an epitome of a hipster who is taking a bunch of drugs and believes the drug-taking makes him into an authority on shamanism.

He's become a big star in neo-psychedelic circles; basically, he distracts people who don't know any better, from genuine self-exploration.

I think the guy is clueless. "

He was just the right person to go through those experiences and convey the honest interpretation of what he was going through to me: a 32 year old American who grew up with hippie parents and a shelf full of Wicca books. I think he's a good fit for a lot of people who need just that sort of introduction. When I picked up his book, I too was clueless! Full of knowledge, and wanting to believe, but clueless. Daniel introduced me to the word "shamanism," and he did it by showing me first hand experiences from around the world. I liked it.

Jekyll: When you say that you "saw 2017 as the siginifigant date." Do you mean you went forward in time to look? I am interested in that...

"The more you see, the less you can talk about it." Words to remember as you explore the Spirit World !!!! Indeed, most of what I take back when I use entheogens to explore the other side is lost in translation when I come back to reality here on "Earth." The more I see, the less I even TRY to talk about with my friends !!! : ) Niteshad is very wise.

Rose: I really appreciated your addition to the forum, and your reflections on the 2012 date. You are a Wise Soul, and I look up to you. I think 2012 is just another day in the marble game of the universe that God is playing, and that somehow makes our little worlds go round and round. Important things have always happend on these types of galactic alignments all throughout the "known" history. History, when compared with Astrological charts, will prove to you that the planets affect us in very direct ways. That is why the ancients gave us the astrological charts, calendars, and prophesies that they did. I've been exploring a lot of what the internet has to offer in Magick studies for some time now, and have come to love this site because of Niteshad's teachings. I can honestly tell you that all of the Magick, Wicca, Paganism, Taoist/Persian/European Alchemy that is out there is all talking about the same principles that we are learning HERE. Shamans are more to the point about it, and less about all the ceremony and ritual of Craft work. All that symbology isn't really necessary when you learn to communicate effectively with your higher self, i.e. dust off your link with INTENT. I prefer Shamanism to all of these teachings because of it's effectivness in teaching me how to SEE; I'm a natural KNOWER, not a SEER, and seeing energy has always been something I've desired deep down inside, to give my beliefs a visual confimation. I have always wanted to see chakras, and see the aurora, and see Magick energy moving around when I cast a spell. The exercises I learned on this site helped me to start seeing, and to understand how I was preventing myself from seeing (and why). I'm in the midst of recapitulating now. (LOTS of stuff for me to go through, too !) For me, the entheogenic experience has helped, for others I would not reccommend it. Don't do anything you're not sure about. It pushed me up against my fears, and I was comfortable with that. Others would not like the experience. I experiment with it because it it prevalent in every Shamanic culture around the world, and I'm exploring Shamanism. I am not afraid of the Teonacoatl and Salvia spirits because deep deep down inside I know that we are all ONE; I am one with the mushroom that makes me see these things, and the cheeseburger I ate for lunch, and the keyboard at my fingers. I am an expression of the same life force as that mushroom. It's all the "blanket" : one big life force feeding on and recreating itself. *See Ibn Arabi the Sufi prophet.

I hope I responded to everyone. I really like the lively conversation ! Peace to you all !

"Live, and master the Journey" -

I've seen that too, Tosh. Different stars and planets affecting human energy in ways the astrologers describe them. Oh, and some of my best friends are Wiccans. I too explored all those avenues, and found them lacking. They're about ceremony, ritual, and the belief that there are energies "above" humans, that are wiser, stronger, better... Why? Is it because humans are fear-based, you think? It is because we need to believe there's something more powerful than we are, in order to push our intent into the world? From my position, there are lots of things more powerful than I. A grizzly bear, for instance. I certainly wouldn't go poke one with a stick, then invoke some deity to save me... I mean... Geeze.



You're talking with the blue jeans and t-shirt shaman types. Very practical folks. I think the best explanation was Niteshad's words: If someone is there in front of you and needs help right now, are you going to wait for the right phase of the moon? Are you going to gather herbs and oils and various tools, while the person gets sicker? Or are you going to use your energy without any of those crutches and help the person?



Wanted to address this since your first post on the subject, but sat on my hands. I guess that's the cyberspace version of biting one's tongue. Anyway, way back when I was immortal (young), I too experimented with hallucinogens - natural and unnatural (mushrooms and LSD). They open up parts of your subconscious/unconscious mind to see things that are real and not real. Always I ended up knowing the answers to everything I wanted to know and saw all the connections I've now learned to see without the aid of drugs. While it seemed at the time that I could access knowledge unavailable to me in this reality, in retrospect, it simply removed barriers placed in my mind by enculturation, socialization, education. Since I've studied with others, under Niteshad, I've learned to do the same thing without artifical stimulation. The mushrooms, etc. that have been used by shamans throughout time were shortcuts to the same place we learn to go here. But we do it without any outside (chemical) aid.

Think about taking some classes offered through the site, Tosh. If you go through even the first tier, and do the work of course, you will find you have no more use for chemical enhancements of the experience.
Hugs,
Rose

No kidding, Rose! I can get so many more places now than when I took 'chemical enhancments'. (And it's one heck of a lot less expensive too!)

Much love,
Sue

"have no more use for chemical enhancements of the experience"
Communion with the plant/mushroom spirits is the purpose of travelling to the other world through the help of entheogens. Otherwise I DO IT on my own, without the training wheels. I'm interested in what these wise spirits are here to teach me! It's like saying, "I'm not going to the mall alone, I'm going to go with my friend, who practically LIVES in the mall to SHOW ME AROUND!" I'm not one to have "bad trips" though, as I've been a meditator for almost twenty years; I have a calm mind, and welcome the "change" that inhabits me during these ceremonies. I suspect I might have been Incan in a rescent past life, as I also have a deep love of xocolatl (chocolate!) as well.

"Think about taking some classes offered through the site" Already thought about it. SPIRALS: Learning to Live Intentionally June 15th. I'll move up from there; I've pretty much read the rest of the shamanscave website. (for awhile I was at a job where I pretty much just read the internet all day, and I came here !)

"At any rate, it doesn't seem like a coincidence to me that I am experiencing these changes now and that I'll hit the ripe old age of 30 merely weeks before the supposed end of time. But then again, maybe I'm just crazy "

You're not crazy, we are all noticing the change. I have been searching for answers about this for awhile, and I believe that it really is a natural shift from one way of being, to another: Now most of us do not see auroras, we do not see into other worlds, and time is a completely linear experience; BUT as the days get closer to the day of the shift, we are PROGRESSING naturally towards being AWARE, all of us, all the time, of the REALITY of reality. I notice the people around me in the office becoming aware of deja vu, and pyschic moments in their day. Many describe moments of seeing another persons aurora, energy, or a passing spirit. My wife is becoming aware of her "sight," and she isn't into shamanism at all. She frequently, and accurately, describes peoples energy to me in visual terms: asking what a grey spikey aurora means, or what the "spinning discs" behind someone is.

Just go with it!

"If someone is there in front of you and needs help right now, are you going to wait for the right phase of the moon? Are you going to gather herbs and oils and various tools, while the person gets sicker? Or are you going to use your energy without any of those crutches and help the person?"

You got the WRONG impression of me. If someone is in need of help, I help them in the way that I am supposed to; if time is a factor, then the healing obviously cannot be a slow process, but somethings will only heal slowly, and are best healed using "high powers." I understand the semiotics of the craft are a communication tool for MYSELF: I've been studying this for awhile myself, from just about every tradition that's been translated into English. I don't poke bears with sticks, either. That's rude, and I wouldn't want to be poked with a stick. As for things "more powerful" than myself, the first one I can think of is the river near my apartment. It is more powerful than I, as is the water it connects to! You must have been talking about gods, and angels, and spirits that the spells of Pagans and Wiccans call upon for their "power." Well, I do belive in fairies, and gods and angels, don't you? Aren't these the inhabitants of our neiboring dimensions, and the invisible inhabitants of our own dimension? And don't they have "power" over us, through the working of their own intent to affect our subtle energy bodies?


It's really interesting in here! I like you guys/girls ! Please keep up the conversation!

Hello to all here,
if I may add my limited understanding to this incredible conversation?
The fact that we are affected by electromagnetic forces is almost common knowledge. As a planet, our north and south "poles" have, historically, "switched places" approximately every 300,000 years (give or take a millenium). Geological evidence suggests that the last time this cyclical happening occured was 700,00 years ago. We are long over due. There have been studies that indicate this transformation is now under way. Since the early 1950's scientists have been tracking magnetic anomalies around the globe and have come to the conclusion that this "shift" is in full swing, with huge "pockets" of opposing magnetism found. ie: south magnetic fields found in the northern hemisphere.
This "switch" in polarity could be interesting! If it does nothing else, perhaps our water will swirl in the opposite direction! My thought is, we are in for a bit of a bumpy ride.
What boggles my mind is that we humans take this all so personally. This Earth may be our mother but we are behaving more like parasites than children!
This leads me to thinking about cycles. Being Celtic I tend to be fond of cycles and spirals and tales that come back 'round on themselves! I have often been asked if I believe in an afterlife or reincarnation. If I think the person's motive in asking is for the purpose of being argumentative, I tell them the following:
So, here we sit upon this circular planet that spins, creating cycles and seasons, and moves in a somewhat circular fashion around a star that is circular, in a galaxy of basically circular stars that spin in, basically, circles with, (in true Carl Sagan fashion), billions and billions of other basically circular entities...yet, somehow, we are to believe we are linear?
Well, just some early morning thoughts.

Hi, to all,
just an afterthought re: "tales that come back round on themselves" (or "tail" if you're looking at an ouroboros!....)
has anyone else ever looked at "The Wizard of OZ" as a tale of shamanic journeying? (maybe it's just my Celtic mind!)

Even a circle is linear if you're looking at a small enough point on it

Is not the force that is pulling/keeping the object around the center linear?

QUOTE (Xney @ May 24 2007, 07:59 PM)

Even a circle is linear if you're looking at a small enough point on it

Greetings, Xney,
absolutely!
All the more reason why I try and keep an open mind and look for the "bigger" picture!

QUOTE (Tom @ May 25 2007, 07:56 AM)

Is not the force that is pulling/keeping the object around the center linear?

Greetings, Tom,
Let me ponder that one for a while. I think I may need an example.

The moon going around the earth

I started a new thread, so as not to drag this one way off the topic of books: ally experiences

Some of the books I've been reading (or at least attempting to read) which I feel help me understand contemporary shamanism are:

In Search of Shrodinger's Cat, by John Gribbin

Time Travel in Einstein's Universe, by J. Richard Gott

The Elegant Universe, & Fabric of the Cosmos, by Brian Green

Vibrational Medicine, by Richard Gerber

Illusions, by Richard Bach--- well, I generally don't read 'non-fiction' books more than once--- but I've read Illusions over and over again. (I love going outside and working with the clouds, to see if they will deign to form the shapes I ask them to, via intent.)

Much love,
Sue

QUOTE (suedinym @ May 26 2007, 12:25 AM)

Some of the books I've been reading (or at least attempting to read) which I feel help me understand contemporary shamanism are:

In Search of Shrodinger's Cat, by John Gribbin

Time Travel in Einstein's Universe, by J. Richard Gott

The Elegant Universe, & Fabric of the Cosmos, by Brian Green

Vibrational Medicine, by Richard Gerber

Illusions, by Richard Bach--- well, I generally don't read 'non-fiction' books more than once--- but I've read Illusions over and over again. (I love going outside and working with the clouds, to see if they will deign to form the shapes I ask them to, via intent.)

Much love,
Sue

Greetings, Sue,
I haven't read "Vibrational Medicine" but the others are great books! I really enjoy Brian Green. Richard Bach has a book titled "One". Have you ever read it?
I'm currently reading "The Never-ending Days of Being Dead", by Marcus Chown, a British author.
Three other interesting titles I've gotten into are Graham Hancock's "Supernatural :meetings with the ancient teachers of mankind", "Rational Mysticism: spirituality meets science in the search for enlightenment" by John Horgan and "Stone Age Wisdom:the healing principles of shamanism" by Tom Crockett.
Lots there connecting what was once known to what we believe we are discovering!

Tom I think that is a GREAT observation !! It is clear from viewing telescopes and microscopes that everything in our reality seems to like the spiral design, from the galaxies and universe, down to DNA. My personal favorite, which a Shaman told me about, is the stream of smoke rising from something like incense: which seems to naturally rise in a circling pattern that spirals out as it goes up, as if the particles of smoke were being pulled as we are, by the spiralling forces around us!

The forces BETWEEN those particles, however, would be linear lines. The Web of Indra, or Eagle's Emanations, is probably the visual equavalent here; the lines of energy that run directly from each of us to the next. These are straight lines, but the end points of the lines are moving along these great spirals!

I've always thought that, if there is a purpose to everything then God probably hid it in the stars; that is, if we looked at the way the universe moved and behaved, we could understand our purpose in the machine. I compare everything I know about religion to what cosmologist tell us of the movement of the universal bodies; from this I derive metaphor, and in that metaphor have I found the echoes of every great religion throughout time. But, Tom, this is the first time I've ever heard it, or thought of it, the way you just mentioned.....

Everything moves in spirals, but the forces which connect them are linear. Perhaps in that metaphor is the understanding of our illusion of linear time! Well, just a thought!

Hi all and welcome to the forum. If I can add one that I am reading that is of interest to me is ' The Catalyst of Power - The Assemblage Point of Man' by Don Whale. Its relative to the studies of shamanism and the shifts that may occur during ingestion of hallucinagines, sickness, depression and all. I probably should open up a thread on Assemblage point on that one. But if I could add that oddity of why does the water spiral one way above the equator and another below the equator? Uh?

Not sure if its true but I remeber hearing that one at one time. Alright, just thought I'd chime in.

"Shaman, Healer, Sage," by Alberto Villoldo, is what I'm reading now. It's a GREAT introduction to a lot of concepts that we deal with, and an awesome companion for South American Shamanism studies.
Tanau I think you would be interested in, "The Secret Teachings of ALL AGES" by Manly P. Hall. It's not specifically Shamanism, but it does go from Alpha to Omega in terms of world religions, and the progression of the human speicies.
My next book will be, "The YOGA of Power:Tantra, Shakti, and the Secret Way", Julius Evola.

Greetings, All,
Tom, I hate to admit it, because as shaman we are not strangers to the inbetween places, but I had not thought about the forces between in those terms! It makes great sense. Thank you for that!
Tosh, I think you might be onto something there, with the metaphor of linear time.

{{All,}}

Sometimes we run across books that aren't 'in' the genre that we are speaking of, however they somehow seem to embody the messages we seek to hear in spite of this. Subtle and incredibly moving - not from an emotional viewpoint, but from a perceptual viewpoint - I highly recommend Doris Lessing's Shikasta: Re, Colonised Planet 5 (George Sherban Emissary). Beware forming an impression from reviews -- one perspective will see a sci-fi novel, another social commentary, another religious importance, etc. Of course its all of these and more. One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is that it is one of those masterfully written so that the meaning unfolds beautifully in relation to your experiential perspective. Shamanic or not? If you read it let me know what you think.

http://www.amazon.com/Shikasta-Colonised-P...y/dp/0394749774


Anima

I picked up a copy of "MEDICINEMAKER" by Hank Wesselman for $2 at my local library book store. I'm almost done with it, and I think it's a good read. Has anyone else read this, or his other book?

Looks like no one has posted here in ages. Hope you see this, Tosh.


Yah, I have read all of Hank's work. I love his trilogy. I recommend reading SPIRITWALKER and VISIONSEEKER as well. I am re-reading SPIRITWALKER right now.

For anyone curious about him, his website is: www.sharedwisdom.com/

Anyone else out there read Hank's stuff?

Actually, some of my favourites are fiction too: 'Lullaby', 'Invisible Monsters' and 'Diary', by Chuck Palahniuk.

sue

Anyone out there read DANCE OF THE FOUR WINDS by Alberto Villoldo?

What about the Tao of Pooh books?

Olga Kharitidi - ENTERING THE CIRCLE

"Look at yourself and the other people around you. The one and only thing everyone is doing all the time is trying to make their Self. Everyone speaks to this changing, growing being all the time, trying to shape it.
People have three main processes for doing this. They speak inside their heads about the past,, reconstructing it by changing or erasing the things that don't fit the being they are trying to create and by expanding the things that help them along. They also think of the future, imagining what they will do, how they will look, what their possessions will be, and how they will be accepted by others.
The third thing people do is what connects them with the present. Unconsciously, they are always aware of other people's perceptions of who they are and what they are doing, and they continually react to this. Some of these reactions support their sense of Self, while others tear it down. They see that some people are attracted to them and others are not. Most of the time, when they are around people who don't support their sense of Self, they experience what would be called a dislike for those people. Conversely, when they experience support of themselves from those around them, they create the feeling of liking those particular people. In this way, people combine the past, present, and future to create themselves. if you are attentive, you will find this happening in any person and any situation. Look around. You will notice many interesting examples of it.
But when you have realized all you can about this process, then you will come to the existence of the other Self, which is aware of all this and independent of it."

greetings,
wanderer

can anybody suggest a good book for a beginner?
thanks.

YEP. Way of the Shaman by Micheal Harner. Journey to the Sacred Garden by Hank Wesselman. Both are pretty good books to start with...

Good luck!

Greetings and welcome to the forum.

There are probably at least 2 books on the Shamanscave site. Most of the basic materials are there. If you have specific questions, please feel free to post. When I first found the site, I enjoyed reading the articles and some of Niteshad's 'postcards'.
Rose

Another excellent book for a beginner is URBAN SHAMAN by Serge Kahili King. I still use this book all the time, and I have been practicing for years now. Its actual 2 workshops put into book form.

Good luck to you nicorahiah,

Little Spider

"the way of the shaman" just arrived today :D im excited.
ill look into "urban shaman" and "journey to the sacred garden" both look interesting aswell.

Both of those are excellent books. If you ever feel like reading stories about shamanism, SPIRITWALKER by Hank Wesselman is a great one. In the book, Hank starts having spontaneous shamanic experiences where he is inside another man's body. It chronicles his connection with a descendant 5,000 years in the future. It reads like an adventure novel, but its all true. It is not an instructional book, however.

JOURNEY TO THE SACRED GARDEN is a how-to book about how to do journey work. It is a good jumping off point to start with, especially for those who have not been exposed to tons of shamanic knowledge.

Let us know how you like way of the shaman. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Feel free to email me personally if you don't want to post here.

Enjoy!

I've read all of his books, some more than once, but then he's one of my teachers.

Interesting thread and I am gonna search some of those books. I usually read some books when I feel I can gain some of it at the moment I need it. Most of the time throuhg my experiences I find some books where I find thinks I have discovered my own. Books are good but is also another book that most of the people are afraid to open it or have it in the bookshelve and open it when it is convenient for them. I am speaking about our own book. Ourselves. Throuhg all those years I have "dicovered" that all that knowledge written is also within us, it is part of being human. All those answers are insdie us, not only as words or as real answers but as experiences. I like books as way to get connections with other humans and find what I am looking for. Words are a human tool.


My recommandation about a book is your own book. If you starting reading it, then you discover a whole world out there, your world. It isn't easy as it seems and probably will take many many yers to go through all the pages. I am still in the first pages with my own

Just another perspective of it

Maria

The religious historian Mircea Eliade has written many good books on academic (rather than pop) shamanism. Here is a list from Wikipedia:
A History of Religious Ideas, Vol. 1 (trans. Willard R. Trask), University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1978
Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism (trans. Philip Mairet), Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1991
Myth and Reality (trans. Willard R. Trask), Harper & Row, New York, 1963
Myths, Dreams and Mysteries (trans. Philip Mairet), Harper & Row, New York, 1967
Myths, Rites, Symbols: A Mircea Eliade Reader, Vol. 2, Ed. Wendell C. Beane and William G. Doty, Harper Colophon, New York, 1976
Patterns in Comparative Religion, Sheed & Ward, New York, 1958
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2004
The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History (trans. Willard R. Trask), Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1971
"The Quest for the 'Origins' of Religion", in History of Religions 4.1 (1964), p.154-169
The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion (trans. Willard R. Trask), Harper Torchbooks, New York, 1961
 

The anthropologist and psychoanalyst, Geza Roheim, worked with the aborigines of Australia and wrote a book called “The Gates of the Dream” that detailed the use of dreams. This is the book that helped me decide to pursue a degree in anthropology.

Anything by Joseph Campbell

There is a suggested list of academic books in the Wikipedia article on Shamanism.

If you are serious about your studies, I would start with the Eliade books, most all you can buy used thru Amazon.

also

The North American Indian by Edward Curtis, a freebie at
http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/

Details shamanistic practices of N. American tribes

A free book on Nagualism by Brinton at
http://library.case.edu/digitalcase/datast...ID=brinag00.pdf

Finally, there is a good list of shamanistic books at the Amazon bookstore, both popular and academic. Go to Amazon and google the word Shamanism in the search box.

Has anyone out there read Remote Viewing by David Morehouse (I think his first book is called Psychic Warrior)? Any opinions on it?

The book states that Coordinate Remote Viewing is 'an exact scientific protocol for tapping the human power to gather information across space and time.' I found it really interesting that the military has been seriously investing time and money into studying non-ordinary reality for military tactical reasons - as they once did many many years ago.

The CIA was looking into the Remote Viewing (as well as a number of other ESP related abilities) starting in the 1950's as a means of keeping tabs on high level individuals. It was hoped, it could eventually turn into a means of Remote "Bugging". The CIA and all Military Funding for the project were officially stopped during the Reagan Administration for two reasons.

1. Suitable and substantial progress was not made to warrant continued investigation. (The official reports states the hit or miss ratio was enough to encourage initial hopes, but never rose high enough to support missions without independent confirmation. Thus the program was considered nonviable through cost effective analysis.)

2. It was decided the funding could better support national defense and interests and was re-routed to the 'Star-Wars' defense initiative.

The project has now been 'mostly' declassified and is a part of the public record (to some degree).

I think I have read something to that effect about the program being dismantled and will take your word for it. But I think the thing that is interesting to me about this is not how well it did or did not work, but the fact that the military, which I equate with extreme black-and-white, hard physical reality type thinking, would even consider engaging in something like this.

Also, what else is really interesting to me is that if you read the instructions to the techniques, they are extremely rigid in how the different actions to remote viewing are to be performed. Maybe I'm reading too much into what is simply military procedure, but it seems like they were creating and using their own ritual in to be used in a similar way that some traditional shamanic traditions do. You're supposed to time the steps to the procedure; you always write certain responses on a specific part of the paper; the coordinates you're given always end in "1" to facilitate the flow, etc. Moore even says in the book that it is important to follow the procedure exactly in order to link with the others that have come before you.

I guess I'm also wondering if people that do remote viewing are also people that will visit sites like this one.

Seven Arrows by Hyemeyohsts Storm.
http://www.hyemeyohstsstorm.com/hstorm/about.htm

Women Who run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (read the reviews)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url...with+the+wolves