Shamans of the World: Extraordinary First-Person Accounts of Healings, Mysteries, and Miracles

I can't begin to imagine the amount of time, effort, work, and patience that was required to put this piece together. The field work alone must have been as daunting a task as ever there was. Consider: a stranger in a strange land asking indigenous people to talk candidly and explicitly about their most sacred of institutions - Their God Stories. Yet the medicine people discussed herein did just that and with great equanimity, poise and a palpable exuberance. It's funny as well as ironic (and sad!) that we in the "civilized world" can't even broach the subject of God or spirituality in public without fear of some sort of acrimonious reprisal, yet these dear subjects invited us proudly and boldly into their world. Although I certainly enjoyed this work, it wasn't exactly what I expected. I thought it might take a more personal and less anthropological approach and treat the reader to some first hand, eye witness accounts of actual healings, miracles and other poorly understood (by us "civilized" folk) supernormal phenomena. As it is, a fine stand alone educational read, 4 stars!!

"Shamans of the World" gives us the ancient reminder that there are those among us that have a different listening. Not just between the lines but between the worlds. We are here and continue to serve this way of healing the root causes of dis-ease. Healing the Spirit so the other bodies can follow....

I work professionally in Healing Arts and I love to study about them. This book provided a first hand account from healers representing a variety of cultures. They went into detail about what they experience when they go into the healing state - the place where they receive information. While each account was very different, there were overlapping similarities that were extremely interesting. Almost all of the healers place high importance on their ancestors. Most inspiring was the sincere way they deeply care about people (all people) and their own calling of being a healer. I strongly recommend this book to bodyworkers, energyworkers, medical qigong therapists, and anyone interested in seeking a healer for medicine on a spiritual level.

Left unspoiled by the outside world, cultures develop their own belief systems and medicine. Knowledgeably compiled and expertly edited by Nancy Color, "Shamans of the World: Extraordinary First-Person Accounts of Healings, Mysteries, and Miracles" offers an inherently fascinating look at folk religions around the world. Their methods of healing and recovery, while typically different from traditional western medicine, have proven effective and solid, and "Shamans of the World" seeks to explain them thoroughly, along with the culture and tradition that comes with each of them. Values that all of humanity can cherish makes "Shamans of the World" a highly recommended spirituality and culture read, as well as a seminal contribution to the growing body of Shamanic literature for academic and community library Metaphysical Studies collections.