Inspiring accounts from renowned contemporary working shamans about their first moments of spiritual epiphany

• With contributions by Sandra Ingerman, Hank Wesselman, John Perkins, Alberto Villoldo, Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Tom Cowan, Lynn Andrews, Linda Star Wolf, and others

• Also includes shamanic awakening experiences from those with unique shamanic paths--teachers, mothers, social workers, academics, and even rappers

How does one receive the “call” to enter onto the shamanic path? What causes some people to change their safe, uneventful, and ordinary lives and start on a spiritual search? For many it is a singular instant, a flash when the mystical reveals itself and the person is drawn into the world of shamanic power. For a few, it is a more gradual awakening, filled with numinous events that build upon one another until the calling of the shamanic path can no longer be ignored.

In this book of remarkable stories, we learn firsthand about the many different forms of the “aha” moment of shamanic awakening, whether they arise from ceremony, near-death experiences, dream messages, or entheogenic substances. We travel alongside Sandra Ingerman, Hank Wesselman, John Perkins, Alberto Villoldo, Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Tom Cowan, Lynn Andrews, Linda Star Wolf, and other well-known shamanic practitioners as they begin their transformations into the prominent shamans we know them as. We experience the real-life shamanic epiphanies of those with unique shamanic paths--teachers, mothers, social workers, academics, healers, and even rappers who have all experienced a moment in time in which they were awakened and the shamanic path showed itself to them.

As each of these unique and beautiful stories of unexpected realization, insight, and inspiration unfolds, we see how these single moments--usually entirely unexpected--are able to transform the individual’s life, clearing their vision and allowing a new consciousness to emerge. As a whole, this collection paints a breathtaking portrait of the intricacies of the shamanic path and the paradigm shift of which we all are part.

No one is sure why Wolverine and the villainous Viper are tying the knot, and Sabretooth gains a new advantage that makes him unstoppable.

Nella canzone di Aengus l'errante, William B. Yeats canta il 'fuoco nella testa' che caratterizza l'esperienza visionaria. Qui Tom Cowan esamina questo tema in uno studio interculturale dai toni poetici sullo sciamanismo e sull'immaginazione celtica, analizzando i miti, i racconti, gli antichi poeti e narratori celtici e descrivendo le tecniche usate dagli sciamani per accedere all'altra realtà.

Lo sciamanismo si inserisce in una visione della vita che considera l'uomo come parte di una rete di rapporti con l'ambiente. Queste relazioni gli consentono di prendere dalla natura, ma gli impongono anche di restituire e, soprattutto, gli vietano di distruggerla. Se questo era importante per le culture primitive, che avevano un impatto ben limitato sull'ambiente, per noi uomini moderni è addirittura vitale.

Witchcraft, an ancient and controversial subject, is examined in depth by a practicing witch, and the secret lore that has branded such magical people as 'evil' for centuries is revealed

Shows how synchronicity (the phenomenon of meaningful coincidences) occurs in and enriches ordinary life; provides the key for each individual to interpret the synchronistic events in his or her life; and gives fresh insight into those relationships, dreams, and flashes of perception that touch and transform our lives.