Trance, Ecstasy and Healing from Siberia to the Amazon.
The shaman occupies the key role of healer mediating between the world of the living and the world of the spirits, and is a potent figure in the increasingly important areas of alterative medicine and new religion. This book is a richly illustrated guide to the world of shamanism, both today and in the past.
Themes explored include visions, initiation rites, shamanic chants, shamanism and mental health, as well as, the shamanic use of plants and the political and social background to the shaman's work from the Stone Age to post-Communist Russia. Also covered are the links between the shaman's sense of unity in nature and the recent growth of ecological consciousness in Western societies. At the core of the book are key questions about the mysterious realities that fall outside the rationalist, scientific tradition.
Illustrations include colour photographs of modern shamanism in practice in a variety of cultures across the world, records of shamanic art and artefacts and a wealth of historic archive images, including cosmological maps and other equipment.
At the back of the book, on tinted paper, is a fascinating commentary on sources, as well as a list of useful addresses and a directory of peoples discussed in the text.
