Customer Reviews

Illumination: The Shamans Way of Healing

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Hello!

I was VERY impressed with this book! I have been practicing Shamanism for almost 10 years now and have read and studied a number of books on the subject, Dr. Villoldo presents some interesting and new concepts for healing that really hit home for me, along with ceremonies to clear out old energies and patterns. I am in the process of reading it a second time!

Jackie - Arvada, CO

I love Alberto Villoldo's work and have read much of what he has written. I also practice the Process of Illumination as taught in his school.

Sadly, this book is NOT about his Process of Illumination, the fantastic technique he "brought back" and/or synthesized from his travels in the Andes; it's about Initiation; The Shaman's Way of Healing Self. Wish I'd known this when I bought it. I thought I was buying a more detailed explanation of Illumination, silly me.

The editing is at times atrocious: "Like Mark Antony, even ordinary people sometimes risk everything they once valued to follow love, succeed in a career, or in be good parents." ?? what? (page 6, paragraph 2)

Punctuation is not always complete or balanced: ending quotations and parentheses are left off occasionally.

Although a relatively good read for what it is, I feel duped.

I'm sorry. I really wanted to like this book. Waited in anticipation for it's arrival. But alas I see that the book has twisted and turned away from it's title to something else conveying somewhat incomplete understanding of many spiritual fields.

First, the title of the book is 'Illumination: The Shamans Way of Healing'. You would think that the central topic of this book would be about helping to enter into illumination. To envision yourself surrounded with light, becoming the light, in order to clear obscurations, and thus bring about healing. Nope, not what this book is about. This book, over and over, every chapter, is about *Initiation*. Friends, *initiation* and *illumination* are not always the same thing.

From the introduction Alberto gets himself into trouble in the brief few moments that he actually does talk about illumination. In this case he mistakenly equates illumination to many states of consciouness including Samadhi. Folks, the deeper states of Samadhi are not palaces of light or standing in front of the Sun. They are more like the heart sutra where you have this incredible immense sense of being. But there is no sound, no form, no light, only undifferentiated being. Many times the author attempts to pass himself as an authority on Hindu beliefs and passes incorrect information. Certainly Hinduism embraces Peace as he states. But central to Hinduism is the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna compels Arjuna to enter battle with his relatives in a holy war (against the ego). So Hinduism embraces the dharma of right action. The eight-fold path of Buddhism shares it's core principles with the Hindu approach as elucidated by Patanjali and others. But what right action is depends on the situation.

In my mind the mystic is someone who can create within and around themselves the states of light (aka illumination) so that they transform their reality by infusing it with the essence of light and life. This book does not do that at all. And this is REALLY disappointing coming from Alberto because he is the one who previously announced the South American's shamans message of the coming of ***Homo Luminous*** on the planet. Yep, was not someone else but Alberto himself who bore this message. This book, especially with this title of Illumination, should have been a training manual on entering states of Illumination in order to transform yourself into Homo Luminous. But entering the luminous state is barely mentioned in this book a handful of times and then only in passing.

Many times in the book the author shows that he is fixated on using the concept of demons. Whether there are just personal demons or literal spirits does not matter. This emphasis on demons lends a heavy trip from Christian themes which are often overplayed. The author also gets himself into tenuous ground, or dare I say trouble, attempting to formulate a distinction between feelings and emotion. To him feelings are good and emotions are bad. You would not get very far trying to pass this argument off in psychology, shamanic, or mystical circles. In this book the emotions often become the haunt of the demons so there is great distraction throughout the book dealing with the authors terminology and biases.

(You also get a fair guilt trip through the rest of Christianity and it's 'seven deadly sins'. What happened to teaching the 'Inka' ways? And then the author in another book is passing off a translation of Patanjali the 'shaman' (oxymoron)? Alberto, what are you really teaching? It's looking more and more like just other New Age stuff?)

Even within the topic on initiation the author repeatedly approaches the subject as if it were an ordeal. Yes, some initiations are ordeals (like a divorce). But do not think every initiation has to involved some kind of terror or suffering. An initiation could be watching a butterfly on the wind and have some internal 'piece' that you have struggled with suddenly become clear and healed. Intitations can be very subtle. And then there are initiations such as in energy healing or other esoteric orders where the teachers touch and/or breath are used to convey the unspoken energetic qualities of the school or lineage. All these nuances I am talking about are glossed over into a more common clinical view of initiation. Wait a sec, wasn't this book supposed to be about illumiination? ;-)

Rather than being a book on the mystical process, of which initiation is but a part, this book has become a self-help text more in the spirit of a common purveyor of the genre such as Wayne Dryer than anything you will get from any mystic or shaman. Completely and absolutely this book is about Initiation, not Illumination. For this the title is overtly misleading. So rather than being a book of high potential this becomes another self help text, slightly above average, that those new to the spiritual path might glean some information from. I appreciate the author very much. But I am concerned that he knows a core of the Andean work very well and gets into trouble at times trying to branch out.

If you were looking for a book describing the process and types of *initiation* here is a much better place to start The Seven Initiations of the Spiritual Path

If you are new to the spiritual path and want a really good book to get you started on not just reading about this but doing it then a very good book to start with is Awakening: A Sufi Experience. In that book the author will guide you into meditations of your authentic light-self.

If you wanted to know more about aboriginal approaches into *initiation* then this book is a really outstanding view at the Nahautl/Toltec perspective Burning Water. As it turns out the Nahautl people shared alot with the Egyptians in the development of the soul. And really any initiation is concerned with the maturation of the soul and the ego. This view was somewhat in this book but was covered over the by dramas from the inner demons and all the emotion trips going on.

If you are really looking for some solid information on life of a mystic and *illumination* then you really should read a good book like The Sufi Message: Way of Illumination v. 1.

I would also assume that beyond the Sufi practices of illumination the author is unfamiliar with the transformation ceremonies of Joseph Rael (aka Beautiful Painted Arrow). These ceremonies are very much like classical initiations but with a structure which is not threatening and which most anyone can do. Joseph uses ceremony with fasting and dancing in a way which produces highly transformational outcomes in the person doing the ceremony. He is also the visionary creator of the Peace Chambers on the planet. His book on sound is a masterpiece Sound: Native Teachings and Visionary Art of Joseph Rael. The best of Joseph's books to start with, if you can find a copy at a reasonable price, is Being and Vibration. I have been reading through this book for years and keep finding new information. Sound is Joseph's opus and a very deep and thorough.

When we look deeply into ourselves and realize, accept responsibility for, transcend our inner demons, we find what is really important in life. We realize that we are a part Infinity experiencing itself through its many forms. We go through many initiations within our lives, and with these come growth, but with growth must also come the change, and that can mean the death of certain parts of ourselves that no longer serve us. Like shedding an old skin, or pruning dead leaves from a plant, we prune off paths that are unhealthy as we grow out of them. Failing to realize and or go through these initiations can lead to more drastic forms of wake up calls such as disease and loss of things we hold dear.
When we go through our path of initiation and illumination we become impeccable and aware. Spirit is always calling us to our path in life and this is what brings us the most joy, when we are in communion with the Great Mother Earth and Great Father Sky we become reconnected with our universal parents and not attached to the social games we play with each other that can lead us into states of confusion.
This book provides a map for healing parts of our lives that we may overlook or that we have become bias towards on our path. As we play out the old archetypal dramas of our pasts and older wounds we constantly live in a place of confusion, playing the roles of either the perpetrator, victim, or rescuer, contributing to our own dis-empowerment. This confusion causes us to not be aware of our true nature and purpose here. We must learn to grow out of these old dramas and see what is really important in life; Being 'Right', or being Peace? Being our superficial selves, or our True and Infinite nature? Do we have the courage for self realization of which Spirit calls?

I am a student of Alberto's Healing the Light Body School, so I am biased. His teachings and his school have changed my life. That being said I found this book to be a wonderful introduction to shamanism from the perspective of a person without exposure to shamanism or energy healing. When I first started my journey into shamanism I struggled with the concepts of myth and mythic journeys. This book presents content in a way that people who have been living in the average American world can embrace.

Alberto is a master of simplicity and explaining it well. Shamanism is a just another name for what existed for millennia's as the folklore medicine and wisdom. Our forefathers did take care of themselves long before modern medicine entered the stage, and it is wonderful to know that some of their wisdom has survived, so we are able to be benefited by it.
Good Work Alberto!

I had been a student of a very wise old professor at the University of Chicago named Mircea Eliade in the 1870's, who had written the acknowledged Masterwork of Scholasatic Shamanism (called "Shamanism"). When it came time to write a thesis I used ideas from Eliade and noted Chicago Anthropologist Victor Turner's classic "The Ritual Process," which dealt extensively with tribal initiations, particularly from childhood to sdulthood.

My thesis, which dealt extensively with initiatory efforts in the counter/youth culture.of that time which the author would see as incomplete initiations because a lot of it was based on non sacred use of psychedelic drugs; like in the then very popular books by Carlos Castaneda about the sorcerer Don Juan and "the Yagui way of knowledge" which were ideals that were aspired to but never really reached mainly because of the hedonism that permeated that age.

The reason I mention Eliade and Turner (and my own less evolved work) is that Villodo's work is somewhat a synthesis of their work transposed into a modern message of hope in a world careening out of control. Villodo feels, like with the counter culture of the 60's and 70's, that most initiations (e, g, adulthood, marriage, parenthood,death) are shallow and incomplete.

Look at a typical coming of age movie which is mostly about externals like cars, infatuation, maybe drugs,and sports. These are indicative of arrested spiritual/shamanic development. According to the author in many cases we are adult children, who are unstable and incomplete, and, at the core, very unhappy and angry.

In order to reach true personal development we must go through deep personal symbolic processes. To this end, Villodo likes to refer to Carl Jung's alchemical allegory of going beyond ego consciousness to true individuation as an example of authentic, and totally complete, spiritual transformation.


Villodo spends a lot of time writing about the seven deadly sin of Christianity: Pride,Greed,Envy,Lust,Sloth,Anger,Gluttony.
He sees these "sins" as blocking spiritually meaningful initiations, and his background as clinical psychologist (no longer
practicing adds depth and credibility to his argument. However Shamanism, in Villodo's, view is not only for the archetypal spiritual "medicine man.," but is possible, at least in my interpretation, too anyone who fallows the initiatory spiritual
path, which is a fairly unique vision of shamanism, in particular, and spiritual traditions in particular.


Villodo's recommendation is that we take bold initiatory and transformative action to fully develop, overcome the scourge of the seven deadly sins and "essentially" save the world as they save themselves. But at the same time we should be very patient in this process and let go of the fear and compulsiveness that characterizes our age and trust that development will come if we wait and patiently, and let truth, love and beauty unfold. As poet T. S. Eliot wrote in transcendent, and very spiritual masterpiece "The Four Quartets: "we must be still and still moving" to achieve spiritual rebirth in the span of one, or many, lifetimes.

This is a very idealistic message, but beautifully crafted and inspirational. It may seem like a bit of a dream, but it may be a dream that needs to come true before it might be too late. And although highly critical of modernity, and post modernity, it offers a captivating, and engrossing, vision of authentic self realization.

Each book Villoldo writes is amazing. This one is quite inspiring. Helps to put everything into perspective, particularly if you're still stuck in your life after going through a lot of healing work and you are still suffering. This book will bring up some "Ah-huhs" for you and enable you to see your life's patterns from a different perspective. What the author does so well is make this information accessible and understandable to those of us who do not have a background in therapy or psychology. Most of all, this book will appeal to your creative side if you like to do ceremony.

Alberto Villoldo strikes gold once again in this book where he discusses the spiritual evolution of human beings. It is definitely a must read!

A person on a spiritual path will need this book for guidance - it is wonderful