Shaman Pathways - Web of Life: Guidance for your Life Journey

by Yvonne Ryves

A new approach to using ancient ways in these contemporary and often challenging times to weave your life path.

Genres: Spirituality, Self Help, Nonfiction

83 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 11, 2013

About the author

My journey really began when I took part in my first Reiki course. Doors began to open, gifts I didn't know existed made themselves known and my life changed forever. I left mainstream work and began working as a therapist with Reiki and Australian Bush Flower Essences but my life kept shifting and I kept learning. I trained in many areas including as a past life regression therapist and my own guides began training me in shamanism. I now teach Reiki, Chios energy healing, many aspects of shamanism and self development. For some time I have been writing articles for Indie Shaman magazine, doing book reviews and the occasional blog on my own website http://www.yvonneryves.com and more recently for Moon Books as 'Shaman Corner'
http://moon-books.net/blogs/moonbooks...
Shaman Pathways Web of Life is my first book but by no means my last

Reviews

[Tony Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Web of Life’ is a wonderfully compact book filled with wisdom and a unique personal approach to your life’s journey. In this little gem, Yvonne Ryves provides clear guidance on how to create your ‘web of life’, including connecting with your teachers and guides. While presenting detailed information on medicine wheels and circles of life from a wide range of traditions, Yvonne encourages the reader to explore what is ‘right’ for them, merging the logical and creative energies to create their own personal wheel and pathways. This is an empowering approach and puts you, the reader, in charge of all that you work with on your journey.
Presented in a clear and logical format, you can work your way through the exercises in this book to end up with a comprehensive tool to seek insights into issues, and to guide you on your life’s journey. Based on the inter-connectedness of all of existence, this is a great way of approaching individual issues, or exploring your whole life’s journey. It is a fantastically energising tool to get you from where you are to where you want to go. If you are looking to create direction in your life, or seek guidance on the way, this book is a must.

[Rachel Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful little book within the Moon Books Shaman Pathways series.

Yvonne Ryves shows you how to make your own Web of Life she offers up exercises and suggestions to help you put together your own, personal and very unique Web, based on the idea of a Medicine Wheel or the Wheel of the Year – enabling you to personalise it to suit your own needs, thoughts and pathway.

Yvonne takes the reader step by step from creating sacred space, connecting with the compass directions, finding your very own teachers and ultimately weaving your own Web of Life.

Very interesting and inspiring read.

[Rachel Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful little book within the Moon Books Shaman Pathways series.

Yvonne Ryves shows you how to make your own Web of Life she offers up exercises and suggestions to help you put together your own, personal and very unique Web, based on the idea of a Medicine Wheel or the Wheel of the Year – enabling you to personalise it to suit your own needs, thoughts and pathway.

Yvonne takes the reader step by step from creating sacred space, connecting with the compass directions, finding your very own teachers and ultimately weaving your own Web of Life.

Very interesting and inspiring read.

[Nikki Shields · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is described as providing "information, guidance and exercises to help readers find ways to connect with the web of life and weave their path within it." It certainly does that, and provides much practical wisdom along the way.

The author begins with an overview of medicine wheels, illustrating how the concept of one's life fitting within a circle or wheel can be found in many spiritual traditions. She walks the reader through the reasons why creating one's own personal web of life is useful. Then comes the hands-on part, which was my favorite. The bulk of this slim volume consists of exercises for creating your own wheel, and her explanations are clear and concise.

I found the exercises easy to follow and fun to do. They helped me to clarify my thoughts on the teachers (which doesn't mean simply people you learn from, but can also be animal totems, plants, seasons, and more) that I choose to work with in my current spiritual practice. Many of the exercises are ones that you can return to again and again, finding new ways to use and update your web as you learn and grow.

Ryves has created a very well-thought-out system with lots of room for personal creativity and flexibility. She emphasizes several times throughout the book that readers should not follow her ideas step by step, but rather adapt them for one's own situation. Her emphasis is on exploration and experimentation, and on creating the web that is perfect for you. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in personal spiritual growth.

[Laura Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you feel a connection with the natural world around you but don’t know how to incorporate that feeling into your life in a tangible way? Have you encountered any number of medicine wheel or web-of-life spiritual traditions that feel familiar but aren’t exactly the right fit for you? This little book has some practical answers for you.

I was gratified to read Yvonne Ryves’ book Web of Life, part of the Shaman Pathways series by Moon Books. It offers a set of exercises for finding your own way, your own unique connection with the natural world and the spiritual world within it. Instead of prescribing a pre-fab tradition, Ms. Ryves takes the reader step by step through the process of developing their own spiritual practice that has meaning and purpose for them, from connecting with the sacred directions to contacting spirit guides or teachers. One chapter even includes instructions for creating your own set of cards to use for working with your personal web of life. This can be a daunting task to undertake all alone, but Web of Life sets the method out one piece at a time, allowing the reader to absorb the new experiences at their own pace. Ms. Ryves offers plenty of background information about worldwide traditions and modern science that incorporate the concepts of connection, circularity and webbiness. But ultimately, the path is an individual one, and this book does an excellent job of showing the way. It’s exactly the kind of book I wish I had found years ago.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this book unsure what I would think of it; I am not any sort of shamanic practitioner, per se, myself, and I am often rather skeptical of books on the topic. This one was a pleasant surprise. The author takes the approach that it is a universal truth that all things are connected on a deep level, a concept called different things in different cultures including the web of life, medicine wheel, and quantum physics' string theory - she even relates it to the Buddhist concept of enlightenment. The book explains how people have lost this sense of connection and lost an understanding of the concept through cultural and spiritual disconnection, and then offers practical ways to reconnect. The book offers numerous practical exercises for readers to try to help them create this connection from a wide array of cultural viewpoints. While I personally don't like the pan-Celtic approach used - I'd favor a more specific approach - it was nice to see the variety of other cultures mentioned. The author also includes a lot of personal anecdotes and advice throughout, which I liked. Overall if this is a concept or path that interests you than this is definitely a book you should read.

[Brendan Howlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents the idea of the medicine wheel to the user, starting from the basics and moving on to advanced ideas. What I particularly liked about it was the presentation of Native American concepts along with Celtic and other cultures. This really brought home the commonality of people's experience of this concept. As a devotee of the Celtic ways I was surprised to find out how many different cultures could interpret the 'simple' concept of North in completely different ways. The writing style was clear and flowed well and I would heartily recommend this book to all seeking a great introduction to shamanic practice