Sacred Encounters: Shamanism and Magical Journeys of the Spirit

_The author starts this excellent book off with the difference between the true shaman and the shaman-who-is-not. The former is characterized by access to visionary realms of consciousness, the latter by the theatrics of deception. A true shaman travels to the other worlds (both higher and lower) to bargain or battle for the good of others, or the good of all. _I greatly admired the author's earlier book _The Shaman and the Magician_ in which he made a compelling case for a legitimate connection between traditional shamanism and western magical practices. In that book he demonstrated that the "rising in the planes" and path working of the western magus is of a similar nature, if not originally rooted in, the shaman's journey. This current book restates and expands upon that theme. _Part One of this work is entitled Pathways in Magic. It is one of the best, straight forward, and comprehensive descriptions of traditional shamanism. Many traditions are touched upon: North America, Mexico, South America, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia, Eastern Asia and the Orient, etc. He captures the underlying cosmology, symbolism, ritual, and guides. You find yourself beginning to enter upon the unique mind-set of the shaman. In this first section he also covers hallucinogenic plants (which he holds are by no means essential to shamanic practice.) Since he includes tobacco in the pharmacopoeia (and I do like an occasional pipe) I will withhold further comment. _Part Two brings in the mythology and symbolism of western magic. Here, from the start, we are shown that the Axis Mundi of the Magus, and the Cosmic Tree of the shaman, are one in the same. We are introduced to the basic principles of Kabbalah, as well as, the high ceremonial magic of the Golden Dawn. Between the two, you can see the hermetic, gnostic, yogic fusion behind the traditions. Then he adds such other offshoots as the Enochian system (Dee), the Magic of Atavistic Resurgence (Spare), D.O.M.E. Meditation (Steinbrecher), etc. _Part Three concentrates on the vision quest. This is a highly personal account of the author's own experiences. The technique favored is that of visionary magic centered on Kabbalistic Tree of Life and Tarot symbolism. However, there is an entire section devoted to Michael Harner's famous workshop technique. _All-in-all I find this book an effective and refreshing refutation of the narrow-minded idea that the fusion of too many spiritual traditions is, somehow, no traditional at all. Anyone who holds to such a view knows nothing of the history spiritual and magical traditions in the East, or in the esoteric West. There is a common perennial wisdom that connects all true esoteric traditions of worth down through out the ages and throughout the world. _The appendix gives an extensive section on music for magical visualization. It also includes a brief section of shamanic and magical organizations (though I have always found the true shaman's path to be necessarily solita