Shaman Tracks

The Way of the Shaman Basic

Castaneda, Carlos             A Separate Reality   

*Cloutier, David                    Spirit, Spirit Shaman Song

Cowan, Tom                            Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice for Daily Life /Fire in the Head /Pocket Guide to Shamanism

Eliade, Mircea                        Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy   

Farmer, Steven                      Earth Magic

*Halifax, Joan                        Shaman, The Wounded Healer/ Shamanic Voices

*Harner, Michael                    The Way of the Shaman / Hallucinogens and Shamanism / The Jivaro/Cave and Cosmos

*Hutton, Ronald                   Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination

King, Serge Kahili                 Kahuna Healing / Urban Shaman 

Mason, Bernard                    How to Make Drums, Tom-toms and Rattles   

Narby, Jeremy, & Francis Huxley, Ed.   Shamans Through Time/The Cosmic Serpent

General Shamanism 

Farmer, Steven                      Earth Magic: Ancient Shamanic Wisdom for Healing...

Harner, Sandra                      Ema's Odyssey

*Humphrey, Caroline         Shamans and Elders

*Lyon, William S.                  Spirit Talkers

Perkins, John                          Shape Shifting 

*Plotkin, Mark J.                    Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice 

Prechtel, Martin                    Secrets of the Talking Jaguar 

Russell, Dick                          My Mysterious Son: A Life-Changing Passage Between Schizophrenia and Shamanism

Sarangerel                               Chosen by the Spirits/Riding Windhorses 

Some, Malidoma Patrice  Of Water and the Spirit/The Healing Wisdom of Africa 

Speck, Frank G.                    Naskapi: The Savage Hunters of the Labrador Peninsula

*Turner, Kevin                        Sky Shamans of Mongolia: Meetings with Remarkable Healers 

Wright, Robin                         Mysteries of the Jaguar Shamans of the Northwest Amazon

Various Animal Interpretive Systems

NOTE: These are included only as a place to begin understanding the nature of helping animal spirits. Journey to your helpers, study their relations in ordinary reality, support conservation efforts on their behalf in ordinary reality. Do not rely on the "take" of others to the exclusion of your own experience.

Andrews, Ted                          Animal Speak / Animal Wise 

Carr-Gomm, Philip & Stephanie                The Druid Animal Oracle

Gray, Miranda                        Beasts of Albion

Hartman, Lew                        Wolf Song Cards

Sams, Jamie                           Medicine Cards

Saunders, Nicholas            Animal Spirits

Steiger, Brad                           Totems, The Transformative Power of Your Personal Animal Totem

Creativity

Sandra Harner, Shamanism and Creativity, Shamanism, Fall/Winter 1999, Vol. 12, No. 2,  https://www.shamanism.org/shamanism-and-creativity/

Barber, E. J.                             Women's Work, The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, Society in Early Times 

Bohm, David                          On Creativity, Routledge 1998 

*Cameron, Julia                    The Writer's Life/The Artist's Way 

Edwards, Betty                      Drawing on the Artist Within 

Lonsdale, Steven                 Animals and the Origins of Dance 

Bradbury, Ray                        Zen in the Art of Writing, Essays on Creativity 

Sark                                            A Creative Companion, How to free your creative spirit 

Slonim Aronie, Nancy        Writing from the Heart 

Ueland, Brenda                     If You Want to Write

Death

“Death is our eternal companion …. It is always to our left, an arm’s length behind us… Death is the only wise adviser that we have…Whenever you feel…that everything is going wrong and you’re about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you are wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, ‘I haven’t touched you yet.’” – Don Juan to Carlos Castaneda, Journey to Ixtlan, pgs. 33-34 

“You are not locked in that body of yours…remember you are the ethereal heavens…”   From the Ethereal Heavens, Stephen K. Hayes, The Cold Moon: Wisdom from the Ninja Village 

“…our death is ever present…a loving messenger who reminds us of the priceless potential of all our days…” Cutting the Air, Stephen K. Hayes, The Cold Moon 

Amatuzio, Janis                    Forever Ours             

*Blackman, Sushila            Graceful Exits             

Dass, Ram & Paul Gorman               How Can I Help?         

Kowalewski, David              Death Walkers           

Levine, Stephen                    Who Dies?                 

Markides, Kyriacos              Inner River  (pp. 123 - 171) 

Newton, Michael                  Journey of Souls         

Sogyal Rinpoche                  The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying   (pp. 173 - 186) 

Swedenborg, Emanuel      Heaven and Hell         

Todd, Andrew                         Journey of the Heart   

Tucker, Jim                               Life Before Life           

*Shades, 2000 (This is a mini-series. With Dervla Kirwan, Sally Hurst, Hannah Bridges, Stephen Tompkinson. Meeting as "shades" after their unexpected deaths, Mark and Maeve team up to try influencing the world they can't seem to leave.) 

"Midwifing Death: An Alternative Method of Working with Death and Dying," Shaman's Drum, Mid-Fall, 1988, pp. 17 - 22. Nanci Shandera, Ph.D. 

"The Darkness of God: A Personal Report on Consciousness Transformation Encounter with Death, “Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 2, Spring 1988, pp. 105 - 122. John Wren-Lewis 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP33xF11wOQ Robert Moore talks about training regarding NDEs.

Divination

Bird, Christopher                 The Divining Hand   Enid Hoffman           

Grace, Raymon                     Techniques That Work for Me (for his use of the pendulum) 

Maury, Eugene                      Exorcism (for his use of the pendulum and charts)   

McMoneagle, Josep            Remote Viewing Secrets (pp. 184 - 191 pendulum and scrying) 

Speck, Frank                          Naskapi

Huna: A Beginner's Guide (Chapter 5, pp. 209 - 212, pendulum)

Dreamwork

Arden, Harvey                        Dreamkeepers                           

Barasch, Marc Ian               Healing Dreams                         

Domhoff, G. William          "Senoi Dream Theory: Myth, Scientific Method, and the Dreamwork Movement”,  http://psych.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/senoi.html

Elkin, A.P.                                 Aboriginal Men of High Degree       

Graham, Laura R.                 Performing Dreams     

Perkins, John                          The World is as You Dream It       

Roseman, Marina                Healing Sounds from the Malaysian Rainforest   

Wolf, Fred Alan                      The Dreaming Universe               

Extraction

Sandra Ingerman                 How to Heal Toxic Thoughts

Shaman Healer - Pomo Shaman (1963) Anthropology Documentary (youtube.com)

Soul Retrieval/Soul Restoration

Eliade, Mircea                        Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (use index for multiple examples)

Harner, Michael                    The Jivaro (Chapter IV)

Harner, Michael, Ed.           Hallucinogens and Shamanism (Chapter 7)

*Ingerman, Sandra              Soul Retrieval/Welcome Home

Katz, Richard                          Boiling Energy (pg. 86)

Modi, Shakuntala                 Remarkable Healings (Introduction, Chapter VI)

Spiro, Melford                        Burmese Supernaturalism

Stutley, Margaret                  Introduction to Shamanism

Waya, Ai Gvhdi                      Soul Recovery and Extraction

Spirits of Nature

Your relationships with all things are personal. So while there are texts that others have compiled suggesting uses, meanings and interactions, life is ever changing. Learn the Ordinary Reality aspects of beings and the compositional benefits and banes. Respect your own experiences of the Non-ordinary avoiding discounting your experiences. Always perform due diligence in working with ordinary reality plant ingestion. Wisdom comes with discernment.

Abram, David                         Spell of the Sensuous

Adams, Douglas                   Last Chance to See     

Andrews, Ted                          Nature-Speak/Enchantment of the Faerie Realms     

Bjornerud, Marcia                Reading the Rocks   

*Buhner, Stephen                The Secret Teachings of Plants     

Charing, Howard & Ross Heaven  Plant Spirit Shamanism     

Chatwin, Bruce                     The Songlines     

Classen, Constance, David Howes & Anthony Synnot             Aroma: The cultural history of smell   

*Cowan, Eliot                         Plant Spirit Medicine 

Cunningham, Scott             Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs     

*Foster, Charles                   Being the Beast 

Foxwood, Orion                    The Faery Teachings/The Tree of Enchantment     

Gurudas                                   Flower Essences and Vibrational Healing   

Heinrich, Bernd                    Mind of the Raven

Heyerdahl, Thor                    Green Was the Earth on the Seventh Day     

Lamb, F. Bruce                      Wizard of the Upper Amazon 

Mabey, Richard                     The New Age Herbalist   

*Macdonald, Helen            H is for Hawk

McGaa, Ed “Eagleman”    Mother Earth Spirituality/Native Wisdom     

Montgomery, Sy                    The Soul of an Octopus/Journey of the Pink Dolphin

Peterson                                   Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs   

Plotkin, Mark                          Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice/Medicine Quest     

*Pogacnik, Marko                Nature Spirits and Elemental Beings     

Sagan, Carl                             Pale Blue Dot     

*Silvana, Laura                      Plant Spirit Journey 

Smith, Homer                        Kamongo or, The Lungfish and the Padre     

Thwaites, Thomas               GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday From Being Human

Wohlleben, Peter                 The Hidden Life of Trees

Spirit Mate

Bacigalupo, Ana Mariella Shamans of the Foye Tree   

Dowman, Keith                     Sky Dancer: The Secret Life and Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel 

Leloup, Jean-Yves                The Gospel of Philip 

*Matthews, Caitlín              In Search of Woman's Passionate Soul   

Ravenhill, Philip L.               Dreams and Reverie: Images of Otherworld Mates among the Baule, West Africa 

*Robinson & Robinson      Shamanism & the Spirit Mate   

Films:  Down to Earth, Portrait of Jennie, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir

Depossession/Spirit Releasement

*Baldwin, William J.            Healing Lost Souls/Spirit Releasement Therapy       

*Chaplin, Annabel               The Bright Light of Death     

*Fiore, Dr. Edith                     The Unquiet Dead/Encounters (Chapters 12, 13)                 

Fortune, Dion                         Psychic Self-Defense   

*Kardec, Allan                       The Spirits’ Book/The Mediums’ Book         

Lewis, I. M.                              Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession 3rd Edition   

Markides, Kyriacos              The Magus of Strovolos/ Homage to the Sun   

*Matthews, Caitlín              Psychic Shield: The Personal Handbook of Psychic Protection

Modi, Dr. Sakuntala            Remarkable Healings                 

Nicola, Rev. John J.              Diabolical Possession and Exorcism   

Peck, M. Scott                        People of the Lie 

Sagan, Samuel                      Entity Possession           

Spiro, Melford                        Burmese Supernaturalism   

Summer Rain, Mary            Phantoms Afoot; Journeys into the Night     

Wickland, Carl A.                 Thirty Years Among the Dead         

Films:

       Black Orpheus; Macumba, Trance and Spirit Healing   

Rites of Rebirth       

Reading regarding Labyrinths

Artress, Lauren                      Walking a Sacred Path                     

Curry, Helen                           The Way of the Labyrinth 

Lonegren, Sig                         Labyrinths: Ancient Myths & Modern Uses     

Matthews, W. H.                   Mazes & Labyrinths: Their History & Development     

Reading regarding Rites of Passage and Ritual

Eliade, Mircea                        Rites and Symbols of Initiation     

Somé, Malidoma Patrice  The Healing Wisdom of Africa

van Gennep, Arnold            The Rites of Passage 

                      Web sites re: Labyrinths

                  www.labyrinthos.net

                  www.labyrinthsociety.org

                  www.waterlabyrinths.com 

Ancestors     

Buenaflor, Erika                    Veneration Rites of Curanderismo

Cowan, Tom                            Shamanism: As a Spiritual Practice for Daily Life (Chapter 8)

Doumbia, Adama & Naomi            The Way of the Elders

*Foor, Daniel                          Ancestral Medicine

Foxwood, Orion                    The Faery Teachings (Chapter 7)

Grimassi, Raven                   The Cauldron of Memory 

MacEowen, Frank                The Spiral of Memory and Belonging (Chapter 12)

Metzner, Ralph                      The Well of Remembrance 

*Kowalewski, David            Dances with Ancestors

Ruland, Jeanne & Shantidevi    Ancestral Healing for Your Spiritual and Genetic Families

The Ghost Dance

Eaton, Evelyn                         I Send A Voice (pgs. 149 - 154)

Howells, William                  The Heathens (pgs. 259 - 272)

Kalweit, Holger                     Dreamtime & Inner Space (pgs. 36 - 38)

Laubin, Reginald & Gladys         Indian Dances of North America (pgs. 52 - 71)

Magneson, James                Ghost Dancing

Mary Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes        Lakota Woman (pgs. 144 - 153)

Miller, David                            Ghost Dance 

*Mooney, James                   The Ghost-Dance Religion and Wounded Knee

Spencer, Robert F. and Jesse Jennings, ed.     The Native Americans (pgs. 509 - 511) 

Journeys to the Impossible

Boyd, Doug                             Rolling Thunder

Braden, Gregg                        The Spontaneous Healing of Belief

Castaneda, Carlos             A Separate Reality

*Francis, Anne                      Voices from Home: An Inner Journey                                   

Lyons, William S.                  Spirit Talkers

*Michael, Todd                      The Twelve Conditions of a Miracle: The Miracle Worker's Handbook 

*Perkins, John                        Shape Shifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation 

Somé, Malidoma Patrice   The Healing Wisdom of Africa  (Chapter 1) 

Crystals 

We'd  like to begin with confirmation that some shamans use crystals. Michael Harner in The Way of the Shaman even talks about how crystals are often included in medicine bundles. At the end of his chapter on Power Practice, he talks about methods for cleaning a crystal and waking up its power. Boas in his discussion of Kwakiutl shamans recounts how crystals were thrown into a man to make him a shaman. And one group of Australian aborigines believe that a shaman’s insides are made of crystal. 

A book we'd like to recommend for learning how to commune with crystals is that of Laura Silvana called Plant Spirit Journey. While Silvana focuses on plants, the same technique can be used with crystals. The chapter called Preparing for the Journey has several steps useful in making the connection. Of course, you may always journey to find the spirits of the crystals or perhaps a spirit expert in crystals.

Calverley, Roger                   The Language of Crystals

Gurudas                                   Gem Elixirs and Vibrational Healing, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

Hall, Cally                                Gem Stones: The Visual Guide to more than 130 gemstone varieties (a gemologist’s handbook)

Katz, Michael                         Gemisphere Luminary

Morningstar, Rose               A Course in Crystals

Sardello, Robert                    Steps on the Stone Path: Working with Crystals and Minerals as a Spiritual Practice

Troyer, Patricia                       Crystal Personalities: A Quick Reference to Special Forms of Quartz

Normally, we include only books we have personally read on our list. In the case of crystals, we are adding a few titles from students who have worked with crystals for many years. These are below.  

Conway, D. J.                          Laying on of Stones

Croxson, Roger C.                Teach Yourself Crystal Healing

Dolfyn                                        Crystal Wisdom

Hall, Judy                                 101 Power Crystals, The Crystal Bible 1, 2, & 3, Earth Blessings

Lilly, Simon                              The Complete Illustrated Guide to Crystal Healing 

Lilly, Sue                                   Crystal Decoder

Raphell, Katrina                    Crystal Enlightenment, The Crystalline Transmission, Crystal Healing

Others we wouldn’t want you to miss…

Aswynn, Freya                       Northern Mysteries & Magick

Brunner, Christian F.           Mountain Magic: Celtic Shamanism in the Austrian Alps

Foxwood, Orion                    The Candle and the Crossroads

Greene, Brian                         The Elegant Universe

*Hutton, Ronald                   The Triumph of the Moon

MacLeod, Sharon Paice   Celtic Myth and Religion

Matthews, John                     The Celtic Shaman   

Paxson, Diana L.                  Taking Up the Runes

Ruiz Family                              The Fifth Agreement/The Four Agreements/The Five Levels of Attachment

Rysdyk, Evelyn & Bhola Nath Banstola   The Nepalese Shamanic Path

Taylor, Rogan P.                     The Death and Resurrection Show

Vitebsky, Piers                       The Reindeer People

Wilby, Emma    Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic

Wilcox, Joan Parisi              Keepers of the Ancient Knowledge: The Mystical World of the Q'ero