Entering the Circle: Ancient Secrets of Siberian Wisdom Discovered by a Russian Psychiatrist [Paperback]

Olga Kharitidi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 1997

Olga Kharitidi's debut book is a remarkable account of her spiritual adventure in snowbound Siberia. Joining an ailing friend on a spontaneous trip to the Atai Mountains, Dr. Kharitidi is taken into apprenticeship by a native Shaman who guides her through bizarre, magical, and often terrifying experiences that open her eyes to a wellspring of deeper learning. On the road to Belovedia, a fabled civilization of highly evolved beings, she encounters revolutionary mystical teachings while discovering ancient secrets of magic and healing. At once a modern odyssey and a timeless dreamscape, Entering the Circle is an inspiring story of personal growth and an insightful work about the limitless potential of human spirit.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The term "shaman" is Russian and, until recently, was applied only to members of the indigenous tribes of Siberia and Central Asia by such scholars as Mircea Eliade. This exciting autobiography cum spiritual adventure by a Soviet psychiatrist is the first popular account of initiation into those tribes' ancient and mysterious traditions. Kharitidi writes (with no translator) in the slightly stilted English of a native Russian-speaker, an effect that highlights the fantastic nature of her encounters. From the grim state hospital where patients are fed only gruel to the isolated Altai Mountains, Kharitidi is inexorably led to Umai, a female shaman who passes her power to Kharitidi on her death and who continues to instruct her from the spirit world. The author's involvement with shamanism is fraught with danger, for in the Soviet Union, interest in the occult can lead to psychiatric commitment. But Kharitidi manages secretly to incorporate her new powers into her practice at the hospital. During her trance voyages, she visits Belovodia, more commonly known in the West by its Tibetan name of Shambhala, where a parallel human race with advanced spiritual knowledge hints at a radical new future for humanity. Others are also discovering Belovodia, Kharitidi learns, particularly a Soviet physicist researching the nature of time. Whether one swallows this whole, with salt or not at all, there's no doubt that with its classic New Age elements?the skeptical protagonist turned believer, exotic locales and esoteric knowledge, suspense and synchronicity?this is a great read that should sell briskly. Drawings, not seen by PW. $75,000 ad/promo; BOMC, QPB and One Spirit selections; film rights to North Tower Films; translation rights sold in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

A sort of autobiographical adventure, this book describes Kharitidi's mystical experiences in the Altai Mountains in Siberia. When a friend asked her to come along and observe a healing ceremony there, the perceptions of the Soviet-trained psychiatrist suddenly and drastically changed. Kharitidi's whole belief system was shaken with the help of Umai the shaman/teacher, whose wisdom is imparted through dreams. The author set out to broaden the base of this knowledge and met a prestigious physicist who also experiments with time/space studies and filled in some of the gaps in Kharitidi's knowledge. Now committed to sharing her new-found understanding, Kharitidi has moved to New Mexico and lectures all over the world. This BOMC selection is backed by a heavy marketing campaign sure to draw attention and belongs in libraries where Deepak Chopra's works are popular.?Lisa S. Wise, Broome Cty. P.L., Birmingham, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (August 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062514172
• ISBN-13: 978-0062514172
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #655,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My own limited opinion, February 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Entering the Circle: Ancient Secrets of Siberian Wisdom Discovered by a Russian Psychiatrist (Paperback)

I am by no means a shaman, and I don't want to get caught in a debate over the authenticity of this book, but I can make a few comments that might be helpful. I had the opportunity to hear the author interviewed on the radio. I taped the interview and listened to it several times, both before and after I read the book. One thing that is not in doubt is that this woman is highly intelligent, articulate, and unaffected. She is an MD and also a psychiatrist, and whether you think much of those fields or not, a manipulative fool she is not. She was much more intelligent than the woman who was interviewing her. She was also completely spontaneous and candid about her experiences. Please note also that she remarks in the beginning of her book that she condensed her experience for the sake of better story flow. Also note that Umai did (does?) speak Russian. I found this book way way more believable than Castenada (and of more value!) but the final word on what is 'real' and 'not real' in the human experience will have to come from someone else.

50 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Comments by a Siberian Shaman, July 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Entering the Circle: Ancient Secrets of Siberian Wisdom Discovered by a Russian Psychiatrist (Paperback)

I give my opinion as a shaman trained in Buryat Mongolian shamanic traditions. While Ms. Kharitidi's book is the first popular book in the English language that handles the topic of Siberian shamanism, it is nevertheless not a true reflection of Siberian shamanic beliefs. The Altai share almost identical shamanic beliefs and customs with the Buryats and I found very little in this book that was familiar. I did find a lot of ideas drawn from contemporary Russian mysticism, which has nothing in common with Siberian shamanism. If one reads carefully one realizes that the author's contact with the shamaness Umai (I question this name because it is the name of the Siberian womb goddess and not a name given to human babies) is very limited--less that 24 hours--and they were unable to communicate because they had no language in common. The writer's supposed apprenticeship to the shaman is based on a series of dreams, not that I as a shaman discount the value of dreams, but this nevertheless seems to be a rather shaky basis on which to base her teachings. If you want to read a book that presents authentic Siberian shamanic beliefs and practices try Riding Windhorses by Sarangerel. You will learn very little about real Siberian shamanism if you read Dr. Kharitidi's book.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entering the Circle: a journey well worth taking, September 10, 2008

By 

William Courson "William Courson" (Montclair, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Entering the Circle: Ancient Secrets of Siberian Wisdom Discovered by a Russian Psychiatrist (Paperback)

Olga Kharitidi is a Russian physician and psychiatrist now residing in the USA. She was born in Siberia and worked for some years in a Novosibirsk psychiatric hospital. She has traveled in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Siberia in search of secrets of healing, long the property of isolated, ethnic enclaves which she believes can have a global impact on mental and physical well-being. Dr. Kharatidi first encountered such hidden knowledge of healing in a seemingly chance encounter with a `kam' (shaman) in the Altai, a mountainous region of Siberia that increasingly appears to be the source of many of the world's mystical traditions.

Northern Asia, particularly Siberia is regarded as the 'locus classicus' of shamanism. It is inhabited by many strikingly different ethnic groups and many of its Uralic, Altaic, and Paleosiberian peoples observe shamanistic practices even in modern times and many classical ethnographic sources of "shamanism" have been recorded among Siberian peoples. According to historical research, many civilizations had begun their migrations across our Earth from this area. Human settlements dating back as far as 300,000 years - long before the remotest thought of recorded history - have been found there. Legends say that this region, called "the navel of the Earth" is energetically connected with outer space, the name of the chief goddess of the region being the Altaic word for the star system known to us as the Pleiades.

Coterminous with the land of Altai there exists according to legend the realm of Belovodia - the blessed land - a fabled Shamballa-like civilization of highly spiritually evolved beings devoted to guiding the planet's destiny; apparently however one can see the entrance to Belovodia only whilst in a modified state of consciousness as it is said to lie in a different dimension. And one can visit only at the express invitation of Belovodia's enlightened inhabitants.

The orthodox, materialistic views of health, and indeed of reality, so long inculcated by her upbringing, education and work in the then-USSR were challenged by her serendipitous experiences with the living traditions she met in snowbound Siberia, meeting people and undergoing experiences that reinforced her sense of an ancient and hidden knowledge of healing, that it might be possible to bring out into the open, if it could be done in the right way. Of the nature of trauma as transformation and development, she writes, 'Ancient cultures understood that human life is a journey with inherent transitions that are innately traumatic, and need to be managed.

Dr. Kharitidi's debut book, "Entering the Circle," is a remarkable account of her spiritual adventure over the course of a few days and the long process of her integrating the transformative experiences she underwent into her life and work.

Joining an ailing friend on a spontaneous trip to the Atai Mountains, Dr. Kharitidi is taken into apprenticeship by Umai, a native Shaman who guides her through a series of (to her) bizarre, magical, and often terrifying experiences that open her eyes to a wellspring of deeper learning and another facet of reality. On the road to Belovodia, she encounters revolutionary mystical teachings while discovering ancient secrets of magic and healing, even of the conquest of physical death, that had been the exclusive property and practice of a lineage of shamans. Returning to her life as an urban professional, the author finds some of her experiences in the Altai confirmed as fact by a physicist friend deeply involved in quantum research.

At once a modern odyssey and a timeless dreamscape, "Entering the Circle" is an inspiring story of personal growth and an insightful work about the limitless potential of human spirit.

Olga Kharitidi is a gifted storyteller. She invites the reader to taste, smell, hear and see the Landscape and people of another time and dimension.