Shamanism and Paganism

A metaphysical instruction manual on the role of dreaming in the Toltec tradition • Describes the energy body, its modes of perception, and how it produces dreaming • Provides an outline of the dream gates showing how they correspond to the chakras • Includes detailed instructions for awakening dreaming potential and for exercising and expanding the dreaming body--what to expe

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. Through a unique blend of anthropological research, shamanic

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. Through clinical trials to assess their use, entheogens have been found to ease anxiety in the dying, interrupt the hold of addictive drugs, cure post-traumatic stress disorder and treat

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. A potent synthesis of Christianity and indigenous Amazonian practices of enthnogen use, mediumship and healing, the Santo Dai

As acknowledged in every history of modern Paganism, the articles, poetry, art and letters published in Green Egg magazine over the past four decades informed, inspired and shaped the emerging Pagan community into the fastest-growing religious movement in the English-speaking world. This richly illustrated anthology of favourite writings and artwork from those legendary issues opens a window into

When Rima Morrell first went to Hawai‘i as a young anthropology student from Cambridge University, she was surprised to find a lighter brighter world where trees talked to her in ancient temples and magic regularly happened. She found the system of ancient Hawaiian wisdom known as Huna, a system that teaches us how to focus the light of our own being to make magic. Following her Higher Self-

The Mysteries of Mithraspresents a revival of the magical practices and initiatory system of Mithraism, the ancient Roman mystery religion that was immensely popular in the Roman Legions from the late second century B.C. until A.D. 400 and was taken to every corner of the Roman Empire. As the last pagan state religion in Europe, it was the most important competitor to early Christianity and heavil

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. The introduction of plant-centred shamanism into the Western world in the 1970s was literally the meeting of two entirely

Thousands of years ago the immortals, known as the Shining Ones, shipwrecked on the Chinese coast. Passing their shamanic practices - such as ecstatic flight and how to find power animals and spirit guides - on to the indigenous people, they, also, taught them the wisdom of the Medicine Wheel. From the Taoist Medicine Wheel came the principles of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, the Eight Forces,

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 THE ACID DIARIES, Gray details his experimentation with LSD over a period of three years and shares the start

· 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 between modern and primal conscio

The Moon's ever-changing phases offer a way to deepen our understanding of our natal Moon sign as well as the Moon's day-to-day influence on our emotional tides. Through its 8 phases and its wandering dance through each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac - from the Infant's Moon (the New Moon in Aries) to the Storyteller's Moon (the Full Moon in Gemini) to the Prophet's Moon (the waning Balsamic Moon i

· 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 consciousness expanders is deeply

When composer and Bard College music professor, Margaret De Wys, learned she had breast cancer, the diagnosis shattered her comfortable life. Seized by fear, crushed by existential loneliness, she couldn't respond when her loved ones reached out to her. To everyone's concern, the illness propelled her away from her family and deep into the Amazon to work with Carlos, a charismatic Shuar shaman and

· Explains how to build relationships with Earth, Sun, Moon, Plants, Animals, Water, Fire, Craft, Air and the Ancestors through 83 practical exercises· Explores the role of altered states in spirit work· Outlines the ancient cultural rules and taboos to avoid spiritual debt or offence We are all surrounded by spirits. Many people feel called to work with them, but few know where to begin. Enjoined

· 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 ayahuascaSan Pedro, the legendary cactus of vision

In Animal Magic, unlock the magical powers, guidance, and protections offered by animals while calling on mystical animal energy with magic, spells, and meditations to strengthen your craft.

Experiential journalist Rak Razam sets out to document the thriving business of 21st-century hallucinogenic shamanism starting with a trip to the annual Amazonian Shaman Conference in Iquitos, Peru, where he meets a motley crew of "spiritual tourists," rogue scientists, black magicians, and indigenous and Western healers and guides, all in town to partake of the ritual--and the medicine--of ayahua

Lynn V. Andrews takes the reader with her as she goes on inward journeys with the help of the Sisterhood of the Shields, and relates the stories of others. Join her as she is initiated into the Sisterhood and creates her own shield, which will show her the nature of her spiritual path (Spirit Woman). Follow her to the Yucatan, where the medicine wheel leads her, and she is faced with the terrif