Customer Reviews

Gift of the Dreamtime: Awakening to the Divinity of Trauma

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This marvelous book recounts a true story of shamanic healing. A shaman's journey to make things whole uses the power of words and images. Accompanied by the drum or rattle, the shaman enters the ecstatic trance and once there receives the special message she has set out to learn. The shaman author of "Gift of the Dreamtime" recognizes this is unexplored territory for most of us. This book is unique in that it takes the reader into this magical experience of the trance. Then it provides a manual to enable the reader to experience the special healing powers of the shaman's ecstatic journey for themselves. I found the manual worked -- I got a little piece of the experience for myself!

The story transforms traumatic childhood memories of abuse into an understanding of the healing process. Gift of the Dreamtime addresses the universal cry of "Why did this happen to me?" It read like a mystery to me, as piece by piece the spiritual truth behind a childhood trauma is retrieved. In a surprise twist, the ending awakens the main character to her purpose as a shamanic healer in this world. In showing how one person used the shamanic process to make sense of and heal trauma, this book shares one of the world's oldest healing traditions in a fun and exciting story.

Even if you're not into shamanic healing, this is a fairy tale story that keeps you reading to find out what happens next.

As both a follower of the Shamanistic path and an incest survivor, I was both excited and nervous to read this book. I was worried that it would end up being another book in the "white light, fluffy bunnies" mindset, without much substance. My worries couldn't have been more wrong.

S. Kelley Harrel is so honest, so open. She tells you all of her foibles along her path, her struggle to reach the place of wisdom her guides try to show her. She tells you everything, and brings you along her journey.

She lets you in to her most sacred of places, and without preaching, without over-embellishment, she tells you exactly how it was that she found peace, resolution. This is an excellent book, whether you're a survivor or not, whether you're pagan or shamanistically minded or not. It's an honest walk through the healing process, and I'm proud to recommend this book to you.

Absolutely excellent.

You become immersed in this book from the beginning. Kelley Harrell draws you and walks you into the experience of her personal shamanic journey of her own healing. From one whimsical depiction of a goddess to an abrupt shift into a recall of childhood trauma that reveals the inner workings of the child's perception and terror, she pulls you along. You and she are going to watch this movie together.

Dialogue with her guides reveals true expression of the victim so many of us have been and have experienced in others. "Why me?" she pushes at her guides with reference to her inner child victim as the reality of her dreamtime world shifts and turns around her with the literal blinking of an eye. One soon gets that it is not the questions but her incessant ranting of the question that is slowly unraveling. Even the pain and confused complection of victimhood is not going to stand much longer in the presence and face of Love. Without explicit warnings, one can feel the undoing of her fear and pain beginning to turn in the midst of the suspense in the relationship with the perpetrator. One can feel the author's transformation and wonder at it all. And in the middle of it, in the midst of rich graphical depictions of her dreamtime worlds, she is winking at you.

Through the journey Kelley shows and demonstrates that true healing and transformation of trauma and relationships comes through the experience that all the players in our trauma are also gifts of the Divine and that Love has always been present. It is one thing to read various spiritual teachers words of this so called "Reality". It is a far better thing to experience it. Kelley takes us there.

I've been wanting to read this book for a while, and finally had the chance to sit down and do so. I'm very glad that I did; it'sd a wonderful resource that I think more people need to know about.

Harrell, a modern shamanic practitioner, offers up her story of how she used shamanic techniques to heal herself from the effects of childhood sexual abuse. She works within a first person narrative, using her words to illustrate her journeys to the Upper and Lower worlds to visit with guides and retrieve pieces of her soul. Rather than abstract descriptions of what "should" happen, she tells the story of her own experiences, both the good and the bad. A warning: while her descriptions of abuse are not incredibly graphic, they may be triggering for some people, so be prepared. There are techniques for healing in her story, but not without the price of facing the past.

I generally am not a fan of narrative shamanic texts, a common format in core shamanism/neoshamanism books. However, this one is an exception. I felt that, rather than trying to impress me with credentials and pidgin-English-speaking guides, Harrell simply wanted to offer up the solutions that helped her in the hopes of sharing healing with others. Hers is a humble story, and instead of 200 pages of ego-stroking and no meat, I got a lot of ideas for working with my own traumas; while I was never abused as a child, I've had my own traumas both as a child and an adult, and this book has planted a few seeds in my mind.

The book is not without its potential controversy. At one point Harrell writes about how one of her guides reveals that the reason she was raped was that she owed a debt from a previous life to her rapist. I know this made me look a bit askance, as I've seen New Agers take this idea to the extreme of saying that anything bad that happens to a person is caused by bad karma. However, due to the nature and quality of the book, I trust the author to be honest, and she never comes across as the least bit fanatical or off-balance.

Additionally, I would have liked to have seen more content. It seems that she mainly hit the highlights of her journey, and it's a little unclear how long it takes her to get from one section of the story to the next. Granted, she is revealing a very personal part of herself here, so it may be that she only tells what she's comfortable with. Still, I'd be curious as to some of the backstory, what happens inbetween the meetings with the various guides, and a timeline of when these journeys happened. The book as it is, though, progresses nicely, so even if she chooses to forever keep the rest under wraps, this is a worthy project.

Overall, I recommend this to those who have experienced trauma in their lives, as well as those who work with such people in a spiritual role, and want some good ideas for healing through shamanic techniques. It's not a huge how-to book, though there are some basic pieces of information at the end. Rather, it's one person's story of how she utilized these techniques to do some pretty serious healing on herself. It gives hope for those of us who sometimes feel that maybe we're not doing things right, or that perhaps there is no healing to be had.

I read this book over 4-5 separate evenings, reading a section and then spending time thinking about what I'd read over the days that followed, and I came away from the book with what I felt was the author's message, but also with a personal message of my own, which surprised me given that this book is so intensely personal in its depiction of Kelley's own journey toward true and constant Grace.

Accepting and understanding "the divinity of trauma" (a phrase I now better understand after finishing the book) is extremely difficult, going against a lot of societal expectations of a trauma victim and suggesting some very unpopular or uncomfortable ideas about what trauma is spiritually for some. Kelley expresses the learning of this lesson in a way that makes the concept less foreign, and she sheds light (quite painfully at times) on the true nature of trauma.

I loved this book. I found it to be well written, easy to understand and theraputic. The authors open and honest way of sharing her experience is sure to help fellow survivors. I am not well versed in Shamanic practices, but thru the authors words I found myself entranced by her story, her healing process and the insights she gained throughout the journey. I thank S.,Kelly Harrell for opening up her own private journey to help all to heal.

In this intimate account of childhood sexual abuse, S. Kelley Harrell shows how the deepest wounds can lead to the greatest connection with the self and the divine. Instead of simply retreating into victimhood, Kelley discovered ways of using shamanic techniques to explore her inner landscape and heal herself. These lessons now help her treat other clients who are struggling to recover from trauma. She tells her story in such a way that readers can relate, and begin to understand how their own stories can bring them in touch with their inner strength and wisdom.

Through a quirky set of coincidences I read this book last year. It led me to read more about Shamanism and incorporate some of the principles into my own mediations. Whether your interest be to expand your thought base, your own trauma or someone else's, or from a spiritual perspective I highly recommend this book!