Shamanism for Beginners: Walking With the World's Healers of Earth and Sky

by James Endredy

Healers and visionaries, food-finders and rainmakers―as intermediaries between the physical and spirit worlds, shamans have served a vital role in indigenous cultures for more than 40,000 years. The timeless wisdom of the shaman also holds relevance for the challenges we face today. James Endredy explores shamanic paths from around the globe and discusses the tools, rituals, and beliefs that are common to most traditions. You'll discover how shamans are chosen and initiated, and how they establish a relationship with power animals, ancestors, and other inhabitants of the spirit realm. Along with many stories from his own experiences, Endredy shares insights from other scholars in the field, including Mircea Eliade, Michael Harner, and Holger Kalweit, and from indigenous shamans throughout history. Shamanism for Beginners concludes with a thoughtful, empowering look at how shamanic practices can help restore balance and peace to our lives and the earth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

James Endredy is a practicing shaman of Hungarian descent who learned his craft from formal initiations with the peyote shamans of Mexico and through 30 years of living with and learning from shamanic cultures in North and South America. He is actively involved in preserving historic alchemy texts as well as the world’s indigenous cultures and sacred sites. The award-winning author of several books, including Advanced Shamanism, Teachings of the Peyote Shamans, Ecoshamanism, and Earthwalks for Body and Spirit, he lives in California.

Reviews

[Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shamans are probably the least understood group under the umbrella term I'll call "New Age" (meaning wiccans, pagans, psychics, shamans,etc.) I say this because people are skeptical of psychics, hateful/fearful of witches (pagans, Wiccans, etc.) But it seems like the only thing people know about shamans is from TV. Let's see: probably Native American, feathers, burn sage and stuff, do drugs and enter trance-like states in which they commune with spirits.

First of all, some of this stuff is false, and there is so much more to shamanism. It is a very interesting belief system (I won't call it a religion since some people feel it is and others don't). Shamanic sects exist all around the world, and they are all very different.

This isn't a great introduction to shamanism and it is actually pretty boring. I found it organized very poorly, there is seemingly no structure. The author does not present a diverse look at shamans around the world, he mostly focuses on one part of the world (South America, so if you're into that, the book talks about it a lot). A lot of it felt like a memoir and the author himself has only studied shamansm, I don't think he is an actual shaman. He gets off topic pretty frequently. Like one time, he starts talking about how he had sex with a native woman while visiting a shaman. What?

So I wouldn't call this a beginner's shamanism book. It is more of a book about shamanism and various perspectives on shamanic practices. Pretty disappointing, I have to say.

[Mdg2810 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instructif et accessible!

[David Schumacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to learn about shamanism this book is a great place start. It goes over most of the knowledge available but it doesnt go too deep to leave room to go over everything. The author also has a lot of personal accounts and stories throughout the book which are really interesting. If your not new to shamanism its still a great book but most of it you probably already know.

[Kathleen O'Neal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was pleasurable to read but I felt it could have been so much more given the richness of the topic. In particular I felt that the focus was too narrowly cast on Shamanism in this one tribe that the author had personal experience with when a broader viewpoint would have been helpful.

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm actually pretty surprised. Not usually a huge fan of the "for beginners" books that this publisher does but given this book flew off the shelf at me, not once, but twice, I bought it.

This is a decent book and this is coming from someone who has been labeled as a shaman by many, many shamans from several different cultures. I've already read several shaman books (like Way of the Shaman) and I still learned some new things.

I think my favourite comment was when he stressed how basically curious shamans are. They want to learn everything about everything if they can. You never see that included in any definition. As someone with as many degrees as I have I can appreciate it.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started in a strong and engaging manner. Then... wait... why is the author telling us about sexy time he had with a cohorts sister?

It's that new age, self centered aspect that keeps this book from being useful. The author states something then regales us with how special he was to experience or do something. Or how unique and powerful his experiences are.

Practical guidance is not to be found here. Only some basic terms and a lot of the authors opinion and experiences with them and how they affect him

[Becs Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good guide, but quite a lot of information to remember, will warrant several re-visits

[Mark Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

a book which made more sense coming into my life at the point that it did, rather than trying to read it before having any introductory experiences of my own

[Holly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Protected by evil

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. The author gives the proper definition of Shamanism and what Shamans really are. He discusses several different belief systems as healers are usually specific to their tribe. I devoured this book and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in tribal healers.

[Celina Vipond · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very useful. Written in an easy-to-read style, while still being very informative. I feel that this is a perfect "beginners" book, and I am glad I started my journey with it.