Shamanism Page "there's a great universe next door - let's go!" e.e. cummings "all of nature speaks to me - now if only i could figure out what its trying to say" laurie anderson updated on July 17, 2001

Castandeda, etc....
My own interest in Shamanism started way back in the early seventies when I was just a stupid kid in high school reading those crazy books by Carlos Castaneda. Ever since then I've had a fascination with Shamanism. This condition was further agravated by reading Starhawk's book, The Spiral Dance, in the late 80's.

Shamanism means many things to many people. Although Mircea Eliade's definition is a little too narrow, in my opinion, his seminal Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy is an excellent place to start for a serious student of the subject. But its not exactly light reading!

Of course the thing that's missing from Eliade's book is a "how-to" section. Probably the most popular "how-to" book on Shamanism is Michael Harner's The Way of the Shaman. And another really good how-to book on Shamanism is Tom Cowan's Shamanism as a Spritual Practice for Everyday Life.

Another good book is Stephen Larsen's The Shaman's Doorway. It is somewhat, but not overly, scholarly - just enough to let you know that Larsen knows what he's talking about.
Larsen's credentials, by the way, include being Joseph Campbell's official biographer. Now where would be without old Joe??
One last book plug: Tom Lowenstein's The Things That Were Said of Them. This is anthropology at its best - readable, informative, authoritative, and downright poetic.


Korean Shamanism
One thing that I am especially interested in, although I know almost nothing about it, is Korean Shamanism. I have seen several Korean Shaman's at work, and I have visited one of the most sacred places to Korean Shamans (and Korean people in general), the mountain named Kye Ryong Sahn ("Chicken Dragon Mountain" - they tell me that doesn't sound as silly in Korean as it does in English). But I digress. Anyway. Here is a brief, informative essay about Korean Shamanism. And here's another one. And here is a longer essay - I didn't read the whole thing, but it looks like it might be worth the effort some day. And here are some books on Korean religion, including shamanism - and here is a really cool looking (but expensive) book about ritual chanting of Korean Shamans. Most Korean Shamans are women (so they are often called Shamanesses) - here is one with her own web site: Cheonsang Bosal - Internet Moodang. It looks like a really cool site - but its almost all in Korean! And here is another Korean Shamanism web site (in Korean - but give it a look anyway even if you don't know Korean): mudong.com. The word "Mudong", by the way (or "Moodang" or "Mudang") is the Korean word for one type of Shaman. The different types of Shamans in Korea, and what they are called, is explained in those three essays I linked to above. And speaking of essays, here is a somewhat long, but interesting looking essay entitled Shamanistic Influences In Korean Pentecostal Christianity: An Analysis.


Serpent Mound
The serpentine graphic at the top right of this page is based on the Great Serpent Mound, in Adams County, Ohio. This is an "effigy mound" probably built by people who were part of what archeologists call the Mississippian Culture (also called "Moundbuilders", for obvious reasons). The mound is over a quarter of a mile long, and it has its own State Park. Here is another website about Mississippian culture - it is part of the Comparative Archeology Website. Serpent Mound should probably be considered the Stonehendge of North America. The Great Serpent Mound even has it's own website - which is a little on the flaky side, but there's some interesting stuff there.
By the way, there is actually some controversy concerning the dating of when Serpent Mound was built.


Lucid Dreaming
Check out Bird's Lucid Dreaming Website - it has a lot more stuff than I could ever hope to put together. Plus it has really cool (and cpu intensive!!) graphics.