The Shaman's Doorway: Opening Imagination to Power and Myth

Rather than focusing on shamanism as such, Larsen writes about the 'doorway,' which he identifies as the mythic imagination. Much of the book will will be familiar to those who have read the likes of Joseph Campbell, M. Eliade and C. G. Jung. The part I found most helpful is on Eastern religious practices. With an Indian teacher Larsen did yoga and meditation for three and a half hours each day. He expected to have more energy, but found he had less. When he had psychic upheavals his teacher could not help him. Larsen observes that Eastern teachings usually say how hard it is to subdue the 'monkey' mind. The mind is a living entity that does not wish to be eliminated. Larsen notes that Westerners are 'eternal seekers of experience: adventurers, not renouncers.' He also questions techniques of sensory deprivation, for they can lead to anxiety, delusions and compulsive fantasies. Paths that deny the self and the world, and espouse nothingness, are life denying. Larsen is in favour of working with the psyche, not obliterating it. Westerners who have tried Eastern practices and found them wanting will gain from Larsen's ideas.

This book is useful for creative artists- especially performers who write their own material. It gives concrete and practical information to those looking for alternative methods of sourcing material that is both personal and universal. I use it as a textbook and recommend it frequently.

Having read it some time ago, it is with extreme pleasure that I make use of this oportunity to review such a broad-spanning, extensively researched book. I recommend it to all of those which have interests in the subject of Shamanism or as an, extremely enticing and didactic, first book on the matter. I have to thank Stephen Larsen for enabling me to write that, if properly undertaken, "The Shaman's Doorway: Opening Imagination to Power and Myth" may become a traveled personal path, bringing its' reader to the gateway of a spiritual tomorrow.