Pagan Book Reviews

Exploring Shamanism: Using Ancient Rites to Discover the Unlimited Healing Powers of Cosmos and Consciousness
Hillary S. Webb
New Page Books, 2003
223 pages

Okay, first I need to get this out of my system–due to whatever little miswiring there is between my eyes and my brain, there were a number of times I looked at the title of this book and read it as “Exploding Shamanism”. Which would have been an interesting book indeed 😛

That being said, I just want to say that this is an excellent book!

Now, there are a ton of books on basic shamanism out there. Some of them are really good, and some are just kind of “eh”. This is one of the former. It’s a basic guide to shamanism, but it’s one of the best books on neoshamanism I’ve seen.

First of all, the author doesn’t try to pretend she’s more-indigenous-than-thou. She’s quite straightforward about where she’s coming from and admits that she comes from primarily a postindustrial white background, though she has worked with shamans and teachers from numerous cultures. She also doesn’t use the “Okay, I’m going to tell you a story, and you try to figure out where the important parts are” format that drives me NUTS in other books.

Instead, she takes the various techniques and experiences common to most shamanic practices and makes them relevant to our day and age. Not only does she draw on the indigenous and nonindigenous cultures she has learned from, but she also incorporates other areas of study such as psychology. In fact, she has the balance between microcosm and macrocosm down perfectly, IMO.

There are a number of exercises throughout the book, too, that are aimed to let the reader put what s/he reads into practice for hirself, which is an excellent addition. The material lends itself well to personal use in general, and can be used alone or in tandem with other magical/spiritual paths. This is not a book of dogma, but rather a useful guide.

It is primarily a 101 book, but the techniques in it may be used beyond basic practices. I’d highly recommend this to anyone interested in shamanism but not sure where to start, or those who have been trying to learn but are tired of culturally-specific practices that are taken out of their original context.

Five pawprints out of five.

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Slaying the Mouse: A True Story of Healing in the Spiritual Realms
Wendy Halley
Self-published (Lulu.com)
142 pages

I ran into this author on an online forum a couple of months ago; she was talking about her new book and was looking for reviewers. Being an adventurous sort, I volunteered.

Normally I don’t read first-person accounts in narrative style; this seems to be a particularly common format among neoshamanism, popularized by authors like Carlos Castaneda and Mary Summer Rain. While I can appreciate good storytelling, when it comes to nonfiction I’m a sort of “just the facts, ma’am” kind of person. Still, it’s good to shake things up a bit, and I’m glad I got the chance to read this.

The book is apparently a first-person account written by the author about a nine-month spiritual healing experience that she performed on a young man in a coma. All of the expected neoshamanic elements are there–the spirit guides (many of whom are, unsurprisingly, from American indigenous tribes–how come no one ever has deceased Western Caucasian occultists or African shamans as spirit guides?), the highly symbolic forms of healing, the shaman calling the spirit back to the body before it loses its grip. Devotees of core shamanism will recognize familiar techniques in her writing.

The writing itself is excellent. Halley has a wonderful style, and her words flow smoothly from one chapter to the next. She’s good at conveying dialogue, and mixes it well with descriptions of action. I did not find this at all to be a boring read. The story is punctuated by what are presented as actual verbatim emails from the patient’s family, conveying his improvement during the healing process. And, like most of the first person narratives in this style, the ideas surrounding her techniques are described, though not in as much detail as in some books.

I guess my biggest quibble comes from the skeptic in me. Being more from a pagan than a New Age background, I have a tendency to question things. While I have no doubt about the sincerity of the author, and I don’t believe this is just fiction wrapped up in a nonfiction label, I was just a wee bit disappointed when I got to the end of the book and found that Jason, the patient, was “unable to speak or communicate with ease”. If Jason ever does recover enough for open communication (and it would be an excellent thing if he did) it would be telling to note whether he remembered what happened, and how he felt about someone writing a book about his illness.

Still, overall this is a really good read, regardless of how you interpret it. It’s a lovely narrative of neoshamanic mind/body/spirit practices applied to a serious illness (without suggesting that the patient be removed from traditional medical care). It will probably appeal more towards the New Age end of my readership, but anyone who enjoys the style of a lot of neoshamanic texts will enjoy this well-written, intriguing work.

Four pawprints out of five.

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