Shamanism and Paganism

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.

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.

· 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.

· 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?

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.

Drawing on both her Native American (Hopi) heritage and her Norwegian upbringing, renowned mystic and intuitive healer, Sonja Grace, shares original wisdom tales, received through her heart and soul, to take you on a journey into the magic of Raven and Bear and the healing power of Earth Medicine.

A guide to shamanic practices for those seeking to develop psychic powers. • Contains 19 practical exercises based on shamanic practices from around the world. • Includes 47-minute CD of shamanic drumming to induce meditative states of deeper awareness. • Written by the author of Earth Medicine and The Medicine Way.

Twilight Language of the Nagual recounts the author's experiences under the tutelage of don Juan Matus, the Toltec shaman who mentored Carlos Castaneda, and the sorceress dona Celestina.

With the growing consensus that global warming is a fact, comes the realisation that the increasingly violent weather we are experiencing is its chief manifestation. Each storm, each flood, each blizzard seems to break 100-year-old records for both intensity and damage. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases may be too little, too late.

We no longer have the luxury of learning only from the past. Visionary Shamanism explains how to learn from the future, via the imaginal cells of the energy field, and receive guidance from the ...

Banned after promising research in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, the use of psychedelics as therapeutic catalysts is now being rediscovered at prestigious medical schools, such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, NYU and UCLA.

In the Amazon, shamans do not talk in terms of hallucinogens but of tools for communicating with other life-forms. Ayahuasca, for example, is first and foremost a means of breaking down the barrier that separates humans from other species, allowing us to communicate with them.

Toward the end of his fifties, Christopher Gray took, for the first time in years, a 100-microgram acid trip. So extraordinary, and to his surprise so enjoyable, were the effects that he began to take the same dose in the same way - quietly and on his own - once every two to three weeks.

In search of something to restore his spiritual connection to life after his release from captivity as a political prisoner in Brazil, Alex Polari de Alverga had a transformative encounter with Padrinho Sebastiao Mota de Mela, one of the two revered founders of Santo Daime.

· Explores the shamanic use of healing songs, psychoactive plants and vision quests at the heart of the Odyssey and the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien · Examines odysseus's encounters with plant divinities, altered consciousness, animal shapeshifting and sacred topography - all concepts vital to shamanism · Reveals how the Odyssey emerged precisely at the rupture ...

· Shows how peyote and other visionary plants do not distort reality but gloriously unveil it, pulling the mind out of its cosmic slumber and revealing our unity with all life · Explains the necessity when working with peyote to remain the master of one's mind and consciously work on oneself · Examines how modern society's revulsion to sacramental plants and other ...

· Includes interviews with practising San Pedro shamans on their rituals, cactus preparations and teachings on how San Pedro heals the mind and body · Contains accounts from people who have been healed by San Pedro · Includes chapters by Eve Bruce and David Luke on San Pedro's effects on psychic abilities and its similarities to and differences from ...

As acknowledged in every history of modern Paganism, the articles, poetry, art, and letters published in Green Egg over the past four decades informed, inspired, and shaped the emerging Pagan ...