Customer Reviews

The Celtic Shaman: A Handbook (Earth Quest)

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This is a wonderful book for beginners, with enough accurate research to satisfy advanced students and purists. People drawn to Celtic practices, particularly Shamanism instead of Wiccan traditions, will find this book a valuable addition to any Pagan/religious library.

John Matthews is a gifted wordsmith, and he has written many books. However, what he writes is not handed down from any Celtic tradition. He has taken Michael Harner's core shamanism and, in place of North American Indian images, Matthews has substituted a variety of unrelated motifs and images from Welsh, Irish, and Arthurian tales. For example, Matthews substitutes the "crane bag" of Mannanan Mac Lir (an Irish figure) for the medicine bag that Harner adopted from various indigenous peoples. There is no evidence that Irish religious figures ever had "crane bags," and the symbol is not found in any other Celtic tradition. Yet on Matthews goes, mixing images and symbols from various eras and traditions, ignoring their integrity and twisting them to suit his purposes. Almost any meditative technique will produce certain results, and you may find that Matthews' techniques (in this book and others) work for you. However, what you will be using is an adaptation of Harner's core shamanism, not anything passed down from Celts of any tradition. You might as well read Harner's book _The Way of the Shaman_ or take a course from him and substitute whatever symbols appeal to you. For accurate examination of shamanic elements and behaviors in various Celtic traditions, see L.E. Jones' _Druid, Shaman, Priest_.

John Matthews is an important New Age writer on Celtic and Arthurian topics, and has written some valuable books on Celtic 'Shamanism'. Unfortunately, this book is essentially a reworking of Michael Harner's 'core shamnism', dressed up in some Celtic motifs. While that approach may be useful for beginning students, it shouldn't be mistaken for actual Celtic practice.

Matthews offers a concise introduction into the realm of Celtic traditions. This book is especially useful, not only to those who are new to the "old religions", but also to those who are looking for a more solitary approach. My only problem with the text is the generally phallocentric viewpoint of the material, and those who endeavor to read this title should take that into consideration.

For those called to or interested in a Celtic path, Harner's "The Way of the Shaman": is useful in a broad sense, but basically useless in the specific, as it ignores almost totally the Indo-European traditions. This books fills that information gap, and does much more as well.

More scholarly than some of the other books on the subject, but still very practical, it provides a good mix of information and exploration. The only major problem is in the early exercises; Matthews emphasizes their importance, but the instructions to do them are very vague, making this book a little more difficult for the beginner to enter into; nonetheless. it is still where to begin..