Shamanism: Spiritual Growth, Healing, Consciousness

Book excerpt: • Marketing activity is focused on visibility in-store and online • Pre-publication mailings to special interest media, national and regional magazines, • Major focus on gift, travel, tourist sector • Mailings and promotion to Museums and galleries and local exhibitions. Shamanism is a spiritual practice that has persisted since ancient times in Siberian, Mongolian, Indian, Native American, South American, Australian and other cultures around the world. Originally shamanism developed from our tribal ancestors’ ways of exploring and working with the universal forces of the spirit worlds and interacting with them to achieve healing and balance for their communities and its members, reaching a higher state of consciousness and remarkable spiritual knowledge and skills in the process. Today, people from any walk of life can choose to follow a shamanic path to open up their life to natural healing,expansion of consciousness and personal growth. This new book is divided into two parts: first learn what shamanism is – discover the origins, background, cosmology and practices of historical shamanism, as well as the forms contemporary shamanism can take, from pure traditional uninterrupted practices to non-indigenous and urban practitioners and teachers. The world-view of shamanism is explained, along with how the spirit world is seen as existing in three tiers (lower, upper and middle), all of which have their own spirit allies (power animals, guides and teachers, and nature spirits), and the four directions of the wheel of life. Key practices such as the shamanic journey, ceremony and ritual, trance dancing, dreaming, plant medicines and working with nature energies are also described. Then, in the second part of the book, you will be introduced to the first steps in your own shamanic path: the basics of how to start; altars and daily ceremonies; exercises for connecting with your spirit guides, ancestors and nature; and transformative and healing journeys.