Tales Of A Shaman In The Making

After years of walking around with a heavy heart and a longing for something sacred, Amber, a woman in her twenties, living in a big city, gets initiated in the path of the Shaman. With no clue of what she was getting herself into, she undergoes powerful andean rituals, awakens her psychic and mediumship abilities, and discovers that her mission here on Earth is far greater than she couldve ever dreamed of. She discovers this mission has been unfolding over many lifetimes and in this life, she is expected to complete it. Obstacles present themselves, dark energies try to stop her and the awakening of her consciousness becomes inevitable as she understands even the most difficult circumstances in our lives, are there for a reason.

The fascinating account of a pioneering ethnobotanist’s travels in the Amazon—at once a gripping adventure story, a passionate argument for conservationism, and an investigation into the healing power of plants, by the author of The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know For thousands of years, healers have used plants to cure illness. Aspirin, the world's most widely used drug, is based on compounds originally extracted from the bark of a willow tree, and more than a quarter of medicines found on pharmacy shelves contain plant compounds. Now Western medicine, faced with health crises such as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, has begun to look to the healing plants used by indigenous peoples to develop powerful new medicines. Nowhere is the search more promising than in the Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest, home to a quarter of all botanical species on this planet—as well as hundreds of Indian tribes whose medicinal plants have never been studied by Western scientists. In Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, ethnobotanist Mark J. Plotkin recounts his travels and studies with some of the most powerful Amazonian shamans, who taught him the plant lore their tribes have spent thousands of years gleaning from the rain forest. For more than a decade, Dr. Plotkin raced against time to harvest and record new plants before the rain forests' fragile ecosystems succumb to overdevelopment—and before the Indians abandon their own culture and learning for the seductive appeal of Western material culture. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice relates nine of the author's quests, taking the reader along on a wild odyssey as he participates in healing rituals; discovers the secret of curare, the lethal arrow poison that kills in minutes; tries the hallucinogenic snuff epena that enables the Indians to speak with their spirit world; and earns the respect and fellowship of the mysterious shamans as he proves that he shares both their endurance and their reverence for the rain forest.

Adventure, anthropology, and science converge in one man's quest among the rain forest shamans for ancient medicines that may hold the cure to today's devastating diseases. Vividly clarifies what destruction of the region's plant species may ultimately cost humanity.

This story is a blend of accounts recorded at the turn of the last century in three of the once numerous dialects of the Haida language. I have combined elements from these accounts into a newly constructed whole. Be cautioned that these images are interpretations informed by my own cultural composition and life experiences. This is a contemporary rendering of a worldview first expressed in different times and probably for different reasons...

"For thousands of years, healers have used plants to cure illness. Aspirin, the world's most widely used drug, is based on compounds originally extracted from the bark of a willow tree, and more than a quarter of medicines found on pharmacy shelves contain plant compounds. Now Western medicine, faced with health crises such as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, has begun to look to the healing plants used by indigenous peoples to develop powerful new medicines. Nowhere is the search more promising than in the Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest, home to a quarter of all botanical species on this planet - as well as hundreds of Indian tribes whose medicinal plants have never been studied by Western scientists. In Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, ethnobotanist Mark J. Plotkin recounts his travels and studies with some of the most powerful Amazonian shamans, who taught him the plant lore their tribes have spent thousands of years gleaning from the rain forest. For more than a decade, Dr. Plotkin has raced against time to harvest and record new plants before the rain forests' fragile ecosystems succumb to overdevelopment - and before the Indians abandon their own culture and learning for the seductive appeal of Western material culture. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice relates nine of the author's quests, taking the reader along on a wild odyssey as he participates in healing rituals; discovers the secret of curare, the lethal arrow poison that kills in minutes; tries the hallucinogenic snuff epena that enables the Indians to speak with their spirit world; and earns the respect and fellowship of the mysterious shamans as he proves that he shares both their endurance and their reverence for the rain forest. Mark Plotkin combines the Darwinian spirit of the great writer-explorers of the nineteenth century - curious, discursive, and rigorously scientific - with a very modern concern for the erosion of our environment and the vanishing culture of native peoples."--Publisher description.

Tony Wells has problems. He's discovered the man he thought was his father isn't. The man who was teaching him the ways of the Indians was. He had sex in his teens, and it's been one-night stands every since. . . except now . . . there's Julie. Was it love or just hot sex? And then there's the whole shaman thing. He was constantly discovering powers, strange powers. Things like creating fire in the palm of his hand, healing people, seeing in the dark, and visions, and entering people's minds. It was when he entered Julie's mind that he got the shock of a lifetime. A tale of fiction that is evidently based on experience. A sensational, page-turning, gripping read. A review from a previous version: The Making Of A Shaman, a novel, written by Dr. Norman Wilson, is one of the best reads I have had in a very long time. I have read Norman's books before and found them to be more of a leaning about Shamanism, which were very helpful and I have learned a lot. This book, however, was written so well and down to earth that I had a hard time putting it down. It had a very interesting story line. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

This classic on shamanism pioneered the modern shamanic renaissance. It is the foremost resource and reference on shamanism. Now, with a new introduction and a guide to current resources, anthropologist Michael Harner provides the definitive handbook on practical shamanism – what it is, where it came from, how you can participate. "Wonderful, fascinating… Harner really knows what he's talking about." CARLOS CASTANEDA "An intimate and practical guide to the art of shamanic healing and the technology of the sacred. Michael Harner is not just an anthropologist who has studied shamanism; he is an authentic white shaman." STANILAV GROF, author of 'The Adventure Of Self Discovery' "Harner has impeccable credentials, both as an academic and as a practising shaman. Without doubt (since the recent death of Mircea Eliade) the world's leading authority on shamanism." NEVILL DRURY, author of 'The Elements of Shamanism' Michael Harner, Ph.D., has practised shamanism and shamanic healing for more than a quarter of a century. He is the founder and director of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Sometimes even shamans get cranky. That was baby Wolverine’s misfortune—to be cursed by an out-of-sorts shaman frustrated by his own babydaughter’s incessant crying. Not only has shaman Paaliaq forbidden the future marriage of Wolverine to Breath, Paaliaq’s beautiful but teary baby girl, he has cursed Wolverine, banishing him when he becomes a young man. And even when acontrite Paaliaq later revokes the curse, the shaman’s even crankier magicanimal will not. Now Wolverine finds himself stranded on a barren island, lockedin a life-or-death struggle to return to his home, his family and a very special young girl. Michael Kusugak, consummate storyteller and bestselling author, conjures up an Inuit tale of adventure, perseverance and first-time love shot through with humanity and humour. This is a story perfect for its pre-teen and ’tween audience, where even the strong and the mighty have bad days, the bully gets his due and a dream can come true.