Customer Reviews

Elemental Shaman: One Man's Journey Into the Heart of Humanity, Spirituality & Ecology

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

People will travel thousands of miles just to gain a greater understanding of the universe. "Elemental Shaman: One Man's Journey into the Heart of Humanity, Spirituality, & Ecology" is a delve into the Shamanistic traditions of four cultures and how author Omar W. Rosales embraced them for a greater understanding of the spiritual world as a whole. A worthwhile read for anyone seeking to experience spirituality through the scopes of multiple religions, "Elemental Shaman" is a top recommendation.

Omar Rosales starts this journey with a humble heart, strong spiritual guidance and adventure of a lifetime . Amazing in detailed locations and spiritual channeling,this is a book for everyone seeking peace and love .A must read. Experience the healings , the messages and the pure joy that we all must confront ourselves and just flow , Nature is calling and calling in a very big way .Let this book inspire you to start your own destiny walk .Beautiful read .Yes I said it , loved the book !!!

I received an offer from the author for a review copy of this book. Normally, I don't read a lot of non-fiction but I have always been interested in non-Western religions and spirituality. I look for books that open my mind and help me discover my own spirituality. I have read books about paganism and Buddhism but nothing specifically about Shamans, who are spiritual healers. I found this book not only to be informative but to be an inspirational story of the author's own personal journey. He travels to the southwest, Guatemala and Bhutan to meet , study and experience the work of various shamans. He first looks into shamanism to help his mother, who has become ill as the result of interactions with a co-worker. The Shaman was able to redirect the dark energy away from his mother and back to the co-worker, the original source. After law school, Rosales finds himself at loose ends and begins his quest.
I liked that Rosales provided the historical context of each place that he visited as well as his own revelations. I found some of the concepts to be quite interesting.
Native Americans shamans believe in soul retrieval, the idea that our souls and identities are comprised of of a dozen or more pieces. These pieces represent different stages i our development and our lives...In other words, our identities are comprised of the sum of our past, present, and future experiences, both good and bad.
For the shaman, the ceremony to retrieve a soul piece is an effort to bring back something that was lost, to reintegrate that part of a person's soul and make the person whole again.
This appealed to me as sometimes I feel lost and that something is missing.
Part of the problem with my own quest for spirituality is that I want to believe but the practical part of my brain won't always let me. That was how I felt about some of the stories in this book. That doesn't mean they didn't happen, but that I was not able to suspend belief enough to fully absorb some of the more supernatural aspects of the various ceremonies. But on days when my mind is more open and I am feeling lost, I will re-read parts of this book, searching for answers.
my rating 4 stars because the book was well written and informative and I can't rate what I might and might not believe of another's spiritual experience.
[...]

Elemental Shaman is a search for spirituality and the supernatural . He begins telling about his mother , who becomes sick after finding that her car was surrounded by powder mingled with drops of blood. He starts out on a quest to find the meaning and the a cure .
He meets with his first Toltec Shaman and experiences the spirit of Nino Fidencio.
I also found it very interesting when he tells the story of Maximon the patron saint of Lake Atitlan. He meets other Shamans and spirit guides, Buddhists and Buddhism. Traveling across the globe in his search for life questions.

Chapter 3, the last paragraph says: "The answers, or puzzle pieces it seemed, started to come together. I was never looking for a path. The whole time i was on a path. And not only did I need to find the healers of our age, I was also looking for a woman-a young woman with dark hair, soft eyes, a kind heart, and a beautiful soul. A woman who would be my destiny."

This is a difficult review because i don't really understand it all but i did learn something new about Shamans and spirtuality and it was very interesting. If your interested in Shamans and spiritual healings, this would be the perfect book. It is written very well with beautiful descriptions of the countries and people he visits.

Omar Rosales, Author
Elemental Shaman
Llewellyn WorldwidePublications, ISBN 978-0-7387-1501-8
Spirituality/Body, Mind, Spirit/Shamanism, 253 pages
July 2009 Review for Bookpleasures
Reviewer-Michelle Kaye Malsbury, BSBM, MM
Review
Omar Rosales, author of Elemental Shaman, is an attorney by schooling (undergraduate in anthropology from Vanderbuilt University and graduate of the University of Texas, School of Law---inside book cover) and former Marine Corp. Captain. Travel destinations in this book are wonderfully educational, absolutely awe-inspiring, and truly transit the globe. [...]

This book is divided into the four elements and four specific locations in search of them: fire, earth, water, and air. Mr. Rosales begins his journey with a Toltec Shaman, near the border of the USA and Mexico. This trip was precipitated in order that he might help his ailing mother with what appears to be some bad magic that is making her physically ill. The Toltec healer and Shaman Mr. Rosales met there used a combination of laying on hands, music, and trances. Many people had gathered for this healing help as you might expect. These methods help channel good (never bad) energy/spirits toward the ailing person to remove their ailment and provide instruction on what to do afterward. This Shaman did help Mr. Rosales mother and also told Mr. Rosales (2009, p.8-9) that he [Mr. Rosales] was on a journey that at times may not be evident nor easy, but he would be able to accomplish it if he looked inside himself.

The second healer was a Cherokee Spiritwalker -Shaman in Sedona, Arizona. His element was the earth and specialization was soul retrieval. Sedona is known to have four vortexes (Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, Airport Mesa, and Boynton Canyon) that help to conduct energy and increase paranormal sensory perception. Vortexes can be negative, positive, or neutral according to Rosales. (2009, p.52) The effects of these vortexes vary between grounded, uplifting, and calm. Native Americans, like this Spiritwalking Shaman Rosales visits in Sedona, believe that souls are comprised of many pieces and sometimes those pieces are lost or fragmented because of life's experiences. (2009, p.27) Mr. Rosales was found to have five pieces missing from his soul and this Spiritwalker-Shaman helped him to collect them and taught him to welcome those fragmented pieces back home. Here Mr. Rosales also experiences some revealing dreams that lead him on more journies.

Leg three of this journey is near water. Mr. Rosales goes to Central America [Guatemala] to find the "Madre Luna" or Mother Moon from his dreams. Here he learns the various Maya calendar, astronomy, baktuns, and how they fit into contemporary life. Mr. Rosales plans his adventures well and always seeks the guidance of a local guide. On this trip he understands how Shamans communicate via dreams and feels he has been touched by such ministrations. (2009, p.89) Mr. Rosales visits many Maya churchs, pagan markets, and finds his Mother Moon at Lake Atitlan. He makes many visits to her and she thoughtfully answers many lingering questions for him. She is also a healer and has been blessed with this gift since childhood. Mother Moon uses candles to aid her in her healing quest. These candles represent all directions [north, south, east, west] as well as depicting what each direction represents for the people she heals. (2009, p.181) She provides Mr. Rosales with much sage advice and points him in his last direction for seeking the information he wishes to understand and communicate to the rest of us.

The last portion of this journey is advice from the Buddhist Master in Bhutan and is air. Mr. Rosales has had some dreams that he made sketches from in hopes of finding the right path to learn the answers to his questions. Buddhism hinges on respect for all things large and small, the journey you make in life that should be limited to "escape from suffering" and achievement of happiness, and how Karma resonates. (2009, p.190) There are also three realms that people/spirits pass through via reincarnation. There are many symbols that are part of Buddhist rituals. Mr. Rosales visits many monasteries while in Bhutan and even gets to question the top religious leader in this land, the Manchen Lopon. Here he [Mr. Rosales] learns the four lessons in life: "life is about suffering, suffering comes from attachment, suffering can be ended, and transcendence comes from the middle or moderation." (2009, p.242) This wise man also said that "only through wisdom will humans survive." (p.245) Furthermore, "the key to peace is having inner peace, and the key to peace is love." (p.249)

I recommend this book to everyone who has wondered about our life here on earth and the hereafter. Thank you Omar Rosales for a great read!

An amazing read that takes you on an adventure through your mind and soul. Rosales takes you along with him on his journeys making you yearn to better understand and explore the world around you. Though seasoned in his own experiences, he describes and explains his finding in a way that even a novice can understand and embrace. A truly exceptional story that will make you laugh but also think deeply about yourself and the impact we have on our surrounding and they have on us.

When Omar Rosales went in search of broader spirituality, he traveled through Latin America, then on to Asia. He sampled world faiths with the eclecticism of an ethnologist on a journey of discovery. And now he puts it all together in a single book for you.

Unfortunately, much of this book has the fleeting surface quality of a Shirley McLaine tome combined with a travelogue. Rosales introduces four varieties of Shamanism with equal wide-eyed sincerity. Since they can't all be right, but Rosales presents them all uncritically, I'm left feeling like there's a whole lot more I need to know if I want to apply these ideas in my own life.

The first two sections of the book, dealing with Toltec and Cherokee traditions, treat them very lightly and fleetingly, as though Rosales didn't yet know he was writing a book and needed to take notes. And the Cherokee section is set in Arizona, an area without much of a Cherokee population. Wait, he's in Sedona, a New Age mecca where anyone can hang out a shingle and claim to be any kind of guru they want. I have a dreadful suspicion our author got rooked.

Rosales runs a tighter ship in the third and fourth sections, dealing with Maya and Buddhist traditions. He's a lot more detailed, and asks productive questions that go beyond mere tourist curiosity. He also has the insight to hire native guides to help him differentiate his Yankee expectations from what's actually there. Though he still appears to believe everything anybody tells him, his approach is more focused and scientific in these sections.

Reading this book, I couldn't help thinking Wade Davis and Maya Deren. These ethnologists are open to mystic experiences in other cultures, but they don't suspend critical judgment. Perhaps it's because they are scholars, and have to write up to high academic standards.

Rosales, by contrast, believes everything he's told with the gape-mouthed credulity of a kid at a campfire. Apart from a caveat about mixed messages on page 17, and concern about mortal limitations on 219, he appears to make no effort to distinguish spiritual truth from touristy bologna. Here's a note: it is possible to take other cultures seriously and still differentiate fact from fancy.

And what does Rosales learn from these shamanic visits? "Be the best person you can be." "Why is there so much anger in the world?" "Take care of the earth if you want the earth to take care of you." Rosales criss-crosses the world in search of truth, and returns with fortune cookies.

This book is interesting for people looking outside their own tradition for spirituality. It has some good pointers on where to begin research in beliefs, and Rosales has great panache as a travel narrator. But if you must read this book, it's on you to have the judgment and discretion to separate truth from pelf. Enjoy this book with caution.

This true story begins when the author's mother walks to her car, in a parking lot, and finds the pavement around the car circled with some sort of ash and sprinkled with blood. She steps across the line and enters her car. Shortly after this, she becomes ill. Her son is determined to find the answer to his mother's mysterious disease, where it came from, and what the ash and blood is all about.

This book captured my attention from the first paragraph and I could not put it down until the end. It is mesmerizing, mysterious, and intriguing. As soon as I began to read, I knew that I was entering into a holy adventure with the author. A stunning book.

Non-fiction at it's finest! Embark on an enlightened expedition as the author ventures through four continents not only seeking his own truth, but the truth in itself. This book has it all: life breathtakingly choreographed with love, patience, and a longing to understand. I myself was extremely captivated by the passion and desire exemplified in his quest for validity. It has encouraged me to ask more questions and seek those answers through travel and experience. Thoroughly researched, skillfully written, and well done.

This book is what everyone needs at sometime in their life. It is a book that has not only touched me but made me want to spread what it has brought to me. It takes you back to a time that you need to remember and cope with why you forgot. And helps you to move forward in your life with more direction. I don't want to call it a self-help book but rather a soul healing book. The writting was amazing and discriptive enough so that you feel you are there in the room with him. Amazing work I have recomended it and bought it for those I know will grow from it. A must read!