Shamanism and Paganism

In this guide, Erika Buenaflor explores the animal mythologies, spirit journeying techniques, and shapeshifting practices of ancient shamanic traditions and modern-day curanderismo. She examines how indigenous Mesoamerican peoples used animals in their ceremonial healing and divination rites and explains the innate gifts and powers that different animals embody. She explores why certain animals ar

In 1971, Erica Elliott arrived on the Navajo Reservation as a newly minted schoolteacher, knowing nothing about her students or their culture. After a discouraging first week, she almost leaves in despair, unable to communicate with the children or understand cultural cues. But once she starts learning the language, the people begin to trust her, welcoming her into their homes and their hearts. As

Crystals and stones come from Mother Earth and indigenous medicine people have been using them to help and to heal for millennia. Their techniques, although simple, have proven effective through the innumerable healers who have handed down these teachings across the generations. With the permission of his elders and teachers, Luke Blue Eagle shares the therapeutic and spiritual use of crystals as

Salvia divinorum has been used since ancient times by the Mazatec shamans of Mexico for divination, vision quests and healing. Known by many names - nearly all associated with the Virgin Mary, who has come to symboliSe the spirit of salvia - this plant ally is now regarded as the most powerful natural hallucinogen. Providing the first practical guide to the shamanic, spiritual and therapeutic uses

Misfortune works in this world as living vibrant spirits - known in the Santería and Lucumí faith as Osogbo - that plague humanity but are, also, a catalyst for selfdevelopment and conscious evolution. Beginning with the story of his goddaughter's miraculous recovery from stage IV cancer, Ócha'ni Lele explains how Osogbo tries to bring us down and how if we follow the prescriptions of the Orishas

· Details the author's training and life as a curandero using ayahuasca medicine, San Pedro cactus, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms and other visionary plants · Offers first-hand accounts of miraculous healing where ayahuasca revealed the cause of the illness, including how the author healed his mother from liver cancer

Widely recognised by anthropologists as the most powerful and widespread shamanic hallucinogen, ayahuasca has been used by native Indian and mestizo shamans in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador for healing and divination for thousands of years. Made from the Amazonian vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the DMT-laden leaf of Psychotria viridis, ayahuasca is regarded as the embodiment of intelligent plant being

Psilocybin, the active ingredient found in psychedelic mushrooms, is an invaluable natural resource for spiritually revivifying the human psyche and reconnecting us to the biosphere and the vast intelligence of Nature. Interweaving the most recent scientific studies in the United States and Britain, more than 25 years of sacred mushroom exploration and behind-the-scenes details on the political wa

In this extensive study of the Christian mythology that animated Europe in the Middle Ages, author, Philippe Walter, reveals how these stories and the holiday traditions connected with them are based on long-standing pagan rituals and myths and have very little connection to the Bible. The author explains how the church fathers knowingly incorporated pagan elements into the Christian faith to ease

Each and every one of us has shamanic powers. Glimpses of them can arise at any age in the form of intuitive dreams, deja vu, spontaneous visions, and out-of-body experiences. Most people dismiss these experiences. However, by embracing these gifts, we can unlock our shamanic potential to change ourselves and the world around us. Revealing his transformation from sceptic to respected shamanic heal

Shamanic healing is making an astonishing comeback all over the modern technology-driven and consumerist world. Millions of people have felt called to integrate both ancient and modern healing systems into a new model of healthcare. But what makes shamanic healing so powerful? Why have indigenous healers kept it alive for thousands of years?Revealing his personal journey and stories from his more

Our pagan ancestors knew that every forest has brownies and fairies, every spring its lady and every river malevolent beings in its depths. They told tales of giants in the hills, dragons in the lakes, marshes swarming with will-o'-the-wisps and demons and wild folk in the mountains who enjoyed causing landslides, avalanches and floods. They both feared and respected these entities, knowing the im

· Reveals spells and workings drawn directly from surviving magical books from the 16th to 20th century preserved at the National Library in Reykjavík · Explores the history of magic in Iceland through original translations of Icelandic folktales about famous magicians and about legendary grimoires, such as the Galdrabók, the oldest and most complete book of its kind · Explains how to personalize

Combining traditional research on folklore and the Eddas with trancework and meditation techniques, Alice Karlsdottirr was able to rediscover the feminine side of the Norse pantheon and assemble working knowledge of 13 Norse goddesses for both group ritual and personal spirit work. Detailing her trancework journeys to connect with the goddesses, the author reveals the long-lost personalities and p

· Illustrated with vivid, full-colour photographs throughout · Details the many preparations and ritual objects as well as the struggles of the shamans to complete the ceremony successfully Near the radiant blue waters of Lake Baikal, in the lands where Mongolia, Siberia, and China meet, live the Buryats, an indigenous people little known to the Western world. After seventy years of religious pers

A rare in-depth look at the inner workings of Huichol shamanism· Describes the five sacred sites of the Huichol and their peyote ceremonies· Explains how the Huichol teachings of awareness, centered on the five points of attention, connect you to your true essence· Reveals the deep relationship between Huichol cosmology, Gnosticism, and Christianity, especially Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary Tak

· 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 popular entertainers How does one receive the “call” to enter onto the shamanic path? What causes some p

In a lucid dream, you “awaken” within your dream and realise you are dreaming. With this extraordinary sense of awakening comes a clear perception of the continuity of self between waking and sleeping and the ability to significantly influence what happens within the dream, giving you the opportunity to genuinely experience anything without physical or social consequences. In this way, lucid dream

After returning from a tour of duty during the war in Afghanistan, Alex Seymour needed a way to cope with the extremes he experienced as a member of the Royal Marine Commandos, losing 7 men in his unit and having his best friend critically injured by a Taliban bomb. Drawing upon his pre-deployment experiences with DMT and psilocybin mushrooms, Alex knew that entheogens could help him release his f

Shamanism is humanity's oldest spiritual tradition. In much of the Western world, the indigenous pre-Christian spiritual practices have been lost. Yet at the northern fringes of Europe, Christianity did not displace the original shamanic practices until the end of the Viking age. Remnants of Norse shamanic spirituality have survived in myths, folk traditions and written records from Iceland, provi