Shamanism Volume III: Animal Medicine Powers – Dolfyn

March 19, 2007 at 4:12 pm (Animal Magic, Native American cultures, Paleopagan Cultures, Shamanism)

Shamanism Volume III: Animal Medicine Powers
Dolfyn
Earthspirit, 1992
30 pages

This little booklet of 30 pages was published way back in 1992, before the current glut of totem animal dictionaries settled itself into the market. It’s a precursor to Shamanic WIsdom II, which was a full sized book that Dolfyn wrote a couple of years later with Swimming Wolf.

The Good: The author’s interpretations of various totemic qualities are largely based on actual animal behaviors. They’re quite innovative, and it’s rare for me to say that about Yet Another Totem Animal Dictionary. There’s also a wide variety of animals, not just the Big Impressive North American Mammals and Birds. And the author is very ecologically-minded, talking about why it’s important to give back to the Nature we take from and supporting a balance.

The Bad: Lots of typos and spelling errors, which drove me nuts as I was reading. Also, it’s pretty white-light. I was reading the entry on Dolphin: “People who swim with Dolphins in the wild often report great emotional healing from Dolphin’s unconditional love” (p. 13). Funny how no one ever mentions how dolphins are also known to commit rape, both on other dolphins and, according to unsubstantiated rumors, human beings. Not that it necessarily has much bearing on totemism, but dolphins have been particularly romanticized by the New Age.

The Ugly: Very, very wannabe Native. Any animal-magic related book with “Medicine” in the title should raise warning flags. The author constantly refers to how “the tribes” or “Native American Indians” did X or believed Y. And, of course, there’s absolutely no bibliography, let alone in-text citations, showing where the author got the information.

Still, if you can overlook the bad and the ugly, the good is, well, pretty good. I’m hanging onto this to take to my totemism classes (along with a slew of other totem dictionaries) for people to use post-meditation to get some initial research on the animals they talked to.

Three and three quarters pawprints out of five.

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Animal Totem Astrology – Debbie Burns

March 19, 2007 at 9:34 am (Animal Magic, astrology, Books I Didn't Care Much For, Native American cultures, New Age, Paleopagan Cultures)

Animal Totem Astrology
Debbie Burns
Lansdowne, 2001
~78 pages

The concept for this book was really neat; the execution, on the other hand, fell far short of full potential. This was an attempt at a totemic zodiac, a combination of neopagan totemic qualities and traditional Western astrology, mixed in (supposedly) with some indigenous beliefs about the animals associated with certian birth months (though the source material pretty much confirms a basis in plastic shamanism.

The author explains the animals associated with each month (conveniently, they correspond to the twelve Western zodiac signs). She also brings in seasonal and time-of-day correspondences to try to show the qualities of people according to when they were born, all based on totemic qualities mixed with common astrological information.

Unfortunately, what could have been a really neat idea fell flat. I would love to see someone work with totem animals in association with Western astrology to create a new system–but I’d like to see it done in more depth. I highly doubt that what was described here is traditional to any tribe,a dn i think the author would have been much better off starting from scratch, studying both astrology and modern totemism, and then creating her own system based on these two areas of spirituality. Instead, she draws from some of the worst offenders of plastic shamanism, including Sun Bear and Jamie Sams, and perpetuates a whole bunch of drek. Her bibliography is barely over a dozen books, and almost all of them are New Age treatments of indigenous topics. She presents the whole thing as genuine “Native American” spirituality, in the grand tradition of her predecessors, and the whole thing ends up a train wreck.

I’m giving it an extra half of a pawprint, just because I like the concept (as long as it’s presented as a new system). But other than that, meh.

One and a half pawprints.
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King, Warrior, Magician, Lover – Robert Moore & Douglas Gilette

March 15, 2007 at 10:45 am (Men's Mysteries, Psychology)

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine
Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette
HarperSanFrancisco, 1991
192 pages

This is an absolutely spectacular answer to a lot of societal gender issues–not the only answer, mind you, but an excellent tool to have in your self-development arsenal. This includes women, too (I’ll get to that in a minute).

The four archetypes in the title are covered both in adult and juvenile versions, in brief in the first chapter, and then the mature archetypes get an entire chapter dedicated to each. Both the positive, healthy aspects, and the Shadow aspects, are covered. The language is wonderfully easy on the eyes, conversational without losing content.

As I read, I found myself recognizing a lot of the traits of these archetypes in people I knew–and myself. I strongly urge everyone, not just men, to snag a copy of this. It’s not just so that women can finally “understand men”. It’s because this is also a map to the Animus, that within women which is male, and which is often lost track of. I found myself nodding in recognition at both Boy and Man traits of various archetypes that I found to be familiar within myself, and this has definitely given me more to chew on.

And, in the very back of the book there are several meditations that basically amount to what magicians know as pathworking and invocation for readers to use to work with their own archetypal selves. This is very much a valuable tool, and I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten more mention in the pagan community since I’ve heard grumbling now and then that paganism is too female-centric. This book has been out since 1990, and I think it would go a long way in helping not only pagan men, but (as I said before) people in general understand *human* psychology better.

I also like that it places responsibility at the foot of certain threads of feminism for some of the more recent anti-male sentiments in society, particularly that which blames all men for all the problems women have while vehemently denying that men actually have problems, thanks to their male “privilege”. My own approach to feminism had always been similar to Action Girl – Girl-positive and female-friendly — never anti-boy. While I think the work is far from being over, I’m less of a feminist these days and more of an “everyone-ist”. If we’re going to really bring equality into reality in any capacity, we have to extend that equality to everyone, not just women. I’ve talked to enough men who aren’t exactly happy with the bad conditioning and pigeonholes they get stuck into, and I believe that rather than trying to place the blame for the way things are in the hands of one sex or another, it needs to be directed at the culture in general that breeds insecurity. As the authors pointed out, patriarchy isn’t caused by masculine energy in general–it’s caused by immature masculine energy that is not only anti-female, but anti-mature male as well. This book is an excellent tool for deprogramming the destructive, immature masculine and helping to promote the healthy, creative masculine.

Okay, off my soapbox now….

For the bad parts–the authors refer to sadomasochism as “perversion” and male humiliation of women. Um, no. Ignore this part. It’s one of the few parts that does date the book. Also, I really wish they’d gone into more detail on how to work with the archetypes, instead of a couple of paragraphs at the end of each chapter. There are books for at least three of the four archetypes on their own, but they’re out of print and very expensive to get ahold of.

But, in short, really, really, really good book, recommended to anyone.

Five pawprints out of five.

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Animal Spirit Guides – Steven D. Farmer

March 15, 2007 at 10:42 am (Animal Magic)

Animal Spirit Guides: An Easy-to-Use Handbook for Identifying and Understanding Your Power Animals and Animal Spirit Helpers
Steven D. Farmer
Hay House, 2006

Just another totem animal dictionary.

I’d read Farmer’s Power Animals a few months back, and given it high ratings because despite it being a totem animal dictionary for the most part, it really was a creative format. This is the followup, written by Farmer because people asked him about animals he hadn’t mentioned in the first book. It’s good, not great.

Okay, I know other readers justify that this isn’t a rip-off of Ted Andrews’ Animal-Speak because it has animals that the older book doesn’t. Okay, fair enough–I was happy to see, among others, Dragon and Lobster. I’ve seen mythical animals elsewhere, but not that commonly, and just seeing Lobster made my evening! But if I were to have someone choose between buying this book plus Power Animals, or buying Andrews’ Animal-Speak and Animal-Wise, I’d say “Well, do you want your animal definitions in great detail, or not so much detail?” Where Andrews spends paragraphs on each animal, Farmer gives a little bit of info on what to do if an animal comes into your life, and what to do if it’s your power animal.

But it’s still just another totem animal dictionary. This book doesn’t really have much in it beyond Farmer’s interpretations of what the animals mean–he tries to justify its uniqueness by saying that he went to the animals themselves, but the thing is, totem animals give us each personalized messages. This is why the dictionaries are limited in their usefulness–no matter how well written, you’re still getting the author’s interpretation of the animal’s traits. And the material in Power Animals is pretty much the standard how-to-work-with-totems/etc. fare that you find in Andrews and other authors’ works.

That being said, this isn’t a bad book. It’s just a different approach to the usual material. I do commend it for having Lobster in there, and for having another unique format, but in the end there’s really nothing here that makes it stand out from the dozen-plus animal totem dictionaries out on the market.

Three and three quarters pawprints out of five.

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Earth Angels – Doreen Virtue

March 15, 2007 at 10:35 am (Angels, Books I Didn't Care Much For, New Age, Otherkin)

Earth Angels: A Pocket Guide for Incarnated Angels, Elementals, Starpeople, Walk-Ins, and Wizards
Doreen Virtue
Hay House, 2002
176 pages

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I picked this book up. I’d heard it was something kind of like Otherkin, but not using that term. I was a little leery when I saw that the author was a very popular, angels-are-all-sweetness-and-light New Age icon, but decided to give it a try anyway.

Talk about Otherkin Lite.

“Earth Angels” are basically people who are reincarnated “elementals” (read: therianthropes, elves and fae Otherkin), angels (read: angelkin), starpeople (read: aliens), Wise Ones (read: people who worked magic in a past life) and walk-ins. Okay, that’s not so very different from what a lot of Otherkin believe.

However, it’s how she explains the phenomenon of people who were not human in other lives that ruins the book for me. First off, the way you determine what type of “Earth Angel” you are is basically a 30-question “Are you like this? How about this?” quiz that would fit in perfectly on Quizilla–samples of questions are whether you’re overweight, if you dye your hair, if you’re of Celtic ancestry, whether you’re good at handling money or not, if you practice Reiki, or believe in magic. Supposedly these things tell you what type of Earth Angel you are (never mind that pretty much everything she asks about are things that are common among garden-variety humans, too).

Then, her information about each group is not only based on stereotyped behavior and belief patterns that are common among everyday humans as well as ‘kin, but it’s really, really, really white-light and saccharine. For example, she says that all incarnated elementals are major environmentalists, always happy (but prone to mood swings), and “physically robust”. And as far as the whole Wise Ones thing goes, a lot of it plays right into the Atlantean thing–the whole “Oh, magic isn’t for regular people–anyone who works magic must be at a higher vibrational level than everyone else!” thing as well as the Burning Times persecution complex. All walk-ins, on the other hand, supposedly walked in because they have some mission to fulfill.

And speaking of missions, according to this book, all Earth Angels are here for the purpose of Saving the World!

I don’t doubt that the author ran into a lot of people who, were they in the Otherkin community, would be considered Otherkin. However, this book shows a distinct lack of skepticism and self-questioning, things that are common in the Otherkin community. Instead, it tells readers exactly what they want to hear–“You love nature, so you must be an Incarnated Elemental!” or “You love helping people and often find yourself in codependent relationships–you must be an Incarnated Angel!” While the end of each chapter on specific types of Earth Angels does have some tips on how to counteract the negative aspects of being whatever you are, it’s assumed that by answering the spiffy little quiz at the beginning that you are an Earth Angel–there’s nothing on questioning yourself further, only how to fulfill your God-given mission!

If you think being other than human is a great way to feel special, feel free to pick this up. Otherwise, save your money.

One pawprint out of five.

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The Power of Animals – Brian Morris

March 15, 2007 at 10:32 am (Animal Magic, Anthropology, Paleopagan Cultures)

The Power of Animals: An Ethnography
Brian Morris
Berg Publishers, 2000
288 pages

Brian Morris spent a number of years living among the indigenous people of Malawi in southeast Africa. His focus in this, and a companion volume that I’ll be reading soon, “Animals and Ancestors: An Ethnography”, is the relationship between the various cultures in Malawi, and the native fauna. “The Power of Animals” specifically focuses on relatively more mundane aspects, such as the hunt and other everyday interactions with animals, as well as touching on moeity in relation to animal-symbolized clans.

The book is divided up into four primary chapters. The first goes into great detail about the basic social structure common in Malawi cultures, and describes its matrilineal nature. Central to this structure is the sedentary village-based lifestyle that primarily involves women, children, and elders, and the mature men who are considered outsiders, and who may have several families in several villages among whom they divide their time. This segues into the next chapter which goes into greater detail on hunting traditions. Not only are older traditions covered, but the changes wrought by European invasion and the rise of capitolism, as well as the overhunting of wildlife by European hunters and the ivory trade in general, are examined as well. Folk classifications make up the third chapter. The taxonomy of animals in Malawi is quite different from Eurocentric taxonomy, and the differences in relationship between humans and animals is made quite clear per culture in this respect. Finally, there’s a chapter dealing specifically with the attitudes the Malawi tribes have towards animals, based upon the research done in the previous three chapters.

This is an incredible look at one particular set of cultures’ views towards animals, and nature in general. The difference in worldview between these people, and people in post-industrial countries, is at times astounding. Reading this also reminded me of the detachment that American culture has from nature in general. For instance, Morris pinpointed the erroneous argument that meat-eating, and the pleasure derived thereof, is primarily a Caucasian corruption, by exploring the eagerness to procure meat that the people around him studied. Additionally, Morris is careful to point out that his research was done in the field, while digging mice up or otherwise participating in day to day activities with his “subhects of study”, and his close relationship shows in his work, which lacks the detachment, Eurocentricism and condescension often found on anthropological work.

The writing is quite academic, and those who aren’t used to this style of writing may take a bit to get used to it. However, it is far from being a dry read, and once I got into the rhythm of Morris’ writing style I really enjoyed myself. I will say there are a number of typos and grammatical errors, but content-wise this book is excellent.

This truly is a wonderful look at a very complex series of human-animal attitudes. I’m looking forward to reading “Animals and Ancestors” to see what the rest of his research on this says.

Five pawprints out of five.

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Exploring Shamanism – Hillary S. Webb

March 15, 2007 at 10:28 am (Shamanism)

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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Meditations With Animals – Gerald Hausman

March 15, 2007 at 10:25 am (Animal Magic, Meditation, Native American cultures, Paleopagan Cultures)

Meditations With Animals: A Native American Bestiary
Gerald Hausman
Bear & Company, 1986
144 pages

This is a unique little book; part of it is traditional Native American chants and stories from various tribes, taken from interviews for The Bureau of Ethnology Reports. However, the author also provides his own meditations on these tales. The meditations are mindful of the ecological disasters that are destroying the world, piece by piece, as well as humanity’s increasing detachment from Nature, and the importance of renewing that relationship before it’s too late.

The book is divided up by region–tribes of the plains, of the Pacific coastline, the woodlands, etc. Interspersed among the meditations and stories are piece of information about the tribes themselves. It is a sensitive conveyance of tribal lore without being New-Age-crystally (with the exception of one tiny mention of the Natchez being a possible remnant of the Atlanteans, though the mention of it is rather ambiguous, more of a “By the way” kind of thing).

This is a good book for opening up your mind a bit more to the idea of all things being interconnected, particularly in regards to other animals. While occasionally it romanticizes the lives of various tribes, it lacks the “Hey! Look! We’re really Indians!” feel of writers like Brooke Medicine Eagle. I would also recommend the idea of using some of the chants and meditations in here for personal totemic work and animal magic in general.

Four pawprints out of five.

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Magical Ritual Methods – William G. Gray

March 14, 2007 at 9:15 am (Magical Theory)

Magical Ritual Methods
William G. Gray
Samuel Weiser, Inc. 1980
301 pages

I’d been hearing hype about this author for quite some time, particularly from my husband (who has historically had excellent taste in occult works). So I finally sat down and read Magical Ritual Methods, which was suggested to me as an excellent introduction to Gray. It took me several weeks, but I got through it–and what a great read it was!

I’ve been practicing magic (primarily from a neopagan/neoshamanic viewpoint, with a healthy dose of Chaos magic) for a little over a decade at this point. It’s hard to classify this book, because although it goes through the basics of magic, it does so in an incredibly thorough manner. This is by far the best explanation of the mechanics of magic I’ve read–why and how it works, from the connections to the Inner World, to the psychological implications, and so forth. Rather than passing magic off as solely the result of symbols (as is so popular in postmodern magical styles), Gray allows for the independent existence of entities, focusing on the creation of links to them through the internal self.

I can definitely see the groundwork of Chaos magic in this text. Rather than dogmatically adhering to a particular paradigm, Gray explains that what’s important about the symbols used is that they are relevant to the individual magician. He boils magical ritual practices and tools down to the very bare bones, and shows us their inner workings–which really are nowhere near as complex as one might think (or fear). He teaches with both authority and humor, and this makes it an excellent instructional text.

The writing style is a little older than most of what’s available today; I had to read the book in increments and give it time to digest. It’s not impossible, though–I got plenty out of it so long as I took it slow and gave it time to sink in, and after I got used to the style I was fine. However, for those raised on modern writing styles and content depth, the text may be a bit difficult. My basic understanding of magic is part of what helped me to grasp the concepts described here, and I know I wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much out of it had I read it a decade ago when I was just getting started. So I’m not sure whether I’d recommend this as a beginner’s book or not. It depends on the individual; some may have no problem diving right in, while others may want to wait until they’ve read a few simpler texts to give them the very basic context of magical practice.

I only have a couple of small complaints, primarily dealing with a bit of dogma. Gray seems to be under the impression that ritual magic is a superior form of the art, and occasionally makes disparaging remarks about more “primitive” forms of magic. While I can see his point, for instance, that certain styles of magic are less efficient, and that dedicated ritual practice has refined the techniques, I don’t think that less formal styles are to be discarded entirely. In fact, I intend to take the lessons in this book and use them to refine my own practices, combining ideas from this with my own neoshamanic/etc. work. I also disagree with his dualistic approach, particularly in the very last chapter where he expounds on the differences between Cosmos and Chaos and brings up the old White vs. Black magician/lodge thing. Granted, he handles it in a MUCH less sensationalistic manner, and he makes some very, very good points about the current destructive nature that humanity as a whole has adopted. However, the White/Black connotations may interfere in some minds with the actual message–that magic can be used to evolve humanity to a higher point, help us get past the wars and pettiness and cruelty that are so commonly demonstrated.

This has definitely joined an elite shelf of my favorite books, and I believe it’s going to be one that will be in my most-recommended list when people ask for suggestions.

Five enthusiastic pawprints out of five.

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The Banshee by Patricia Lysaght

March 9, 2007 at 3:27 pm (Anthropology, Celtic spirituality and studies, Cryptozoology/Paranormal, Mythology, Paleopagan Cultures)

The Banshee: The Irish Death Messenger
Patricia Lysaght
Roberts Rinheardt, 1997
433 pages

It’s been a few months since I read this, but the information stands out in my mind more than most books do. I’d been talking about it recently, so i decided to go ahead and do my official review of it.

This is by far the most comprehensive, scholarly exploration of Irish banshee lore out there. Tired of fantasy fiction featuring male banshees, and confusion between banshees and other denizens of the Otherworld? This book sets the record straight.

The author draws a lot of her information from two sets of surveys about banshee lore; one is from the turn of the 20th century, and the other is from the 1970s. The surveys targeted regular, everyday people across Ireland in numerous counties, and Lysaght is careful to show the distribution of the respondents. Lysaght herself is concerned less with what mythology books have to say, and more what the common person in the country fo the banshee’s origin believed via oral tradition.

There’s also a lot of discussion as to what the banshee actually is (dead relative, faery woman, etc.) as well as her appearance. Her behavior is also scrutinized, as is the comb that is sometimes featured in anecdotes about her, and whether she is seen, heard or both. And there’s a good talk about the origins of the word bean-sidhe, “faery woman”, and the connotations thereof.

Lysaght has been absolutely meticulous in her research. Primary sources are a definite plus, and her bibliography is quite solid. Her writing style is excellent, too–rather than being bored by dry academic writing, I found myself drawn into her quest to find more information about this enigmatic member of mythology.

Five pawprints out of five.

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