Customer Reviews

Journeying : Where Shamanism and Psychology Meet

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have ever been curious about shamanism and the process of journeying, this book is for you. If you have never heard of shamanism and the process of journeying, this book is the place to start.

Dr. Gagan has written a powerful book exploring the worlds of shamanism and psychology and the bridges between them. The shamanic tradition dates back at least 30,000 years. Like psychology, its intent is to heal and alleviate suffering. Unlike psychology, shamanism focuses on the soul of the individual. Its primary method is through the process of journeying.

As Dr. Gagan explains, the shamanic journey is a process of archetypal reconnection. During journeying, the imagery that springs from the unconscious connects us to nature and the natural order of the universe. The journey itself acts as an alchemical container where we can come to know these images. We journey "in repsonse to a source of healing that appears to beckon from outside ourselves. We connect to this source not through the aid of some guru or cleric, but rather under the power of our own intent." Through the author's eyes, the process is dynamically self-empowering.

The book analyzes in depth many case studies where we can see the art of journeying at work. Dr. Gagan's comprehensive experience in both psychology and shamanism show clearly. She is a master on this topic.

Journeying is an exciting and powerful work with profound implications for those invested in integrative medicine and healing. The word integrative comes from the latin word "integratus" which means to form or blend into a whole; to unite with something else. Dr. Gagan unites or brings together the 30,000 year old shamanic tradition of healing with the field of psychology. The function of psychology, according to Dr. Gagan, is "to study behavior and mental processes and apply the resulting knowledge to the human condition". While taking different routes, shamanism and psychology seek to alleviate suffering in communities of people. Although the book is titled: "Journeying: Where Shamanism and Psychology Meet, I feel the book is really about holistic healing.

Allopathic medicine has been primarily concerned with healing the body, the field of psychology has been focused on healing the mental and emotional pain of persons. The shamanic healer is concerned not only with a person's symptoms and pain, but also a person's entire beingness experienced within the context of one's environment and circumstances. Dr. Gagan posits that shamanic healing integrates healing the body, the mind and the spirit. Shamanic forms of healing are about soul care and healing of the spirit. When we experience "pain" in our spirit or soul, it also sooner or later affects us mentally and physically. Therefore healing, to be effective, must be holistic. Shamanic forms of healing and journeying work at assessing and responding to the mind, body and spirit needs.

Dr. Gagan has written a prophetic book on the nature of healing and how modern medicine, psychology and one of the oldest forms of healing (shamanism) can be integrated to heal our overstressed and immune suppressed society. The form of healing is within ourselves and the process is dynamically self-empowering. Dr. Gagan's extensive clinical practice as a psychologist and expertise in shamanism is integrated in a revolutionary new yet traditional form of healing the human person. This is a five star book and a must for persons who are interested or in need of holistic healing.

I don't have to write a wordy essay to sum up what this book is
and what it did for me. Over the last fifteen years I have accumulated
a virtual library of material on shamanism and psychology. All I
needed was three books, this being one of them.I wish and hope a
multitude will read and use the material in this book. Thank you
Jeannette Gagan. P.S. The other two books are, The Way of The Shaman by Michael Harner, and The Vision Seeker by John Lame Deer.

Having experienced the shamanic path directly and then going back for a degree in psychology I found this a good book for helping the psychological community understand the shamanic path of direct experience. Too many people who are facing a spiritual opening (possibly shamanic) are medicated out of the experience because of the professional's limited viewpoint of the shamanic experience and/or the fear of the unknown.

I caution that the shamanic path cannot be catagorized or analyzed, it is fluid and changing; it is chaotic in nature-if you don't know "the way". I suggest that if you are a professional go out and journey for yourself, explore the path, draw your own conclusions.

What happens when you combine the studies of psychology and shamanism? Are the two practices divergent...or are there some commonalties? Author, teacher, licensed psychologist and student of shamanism Jeannette Gagan answers with a resounding "yes" in her brilliant book, Journeying.

Dr. Gagan has crafted her book to lead the reader, in a logical order and with easy-to-understand language, through the nature and history of both fields. Then we learn some of the approaches of understanding and healing.

In chapters 3 and 4, Journeying gets down to it...the place where shamanism and psychology intersect, the mending of emotional wounding. Inadequate bonding, neglect, abuse, aggression, anger and violence are some of the conditions we learn about, and the healing brought to bear.

In the final pages, Journeying offers the bridge that brings shamanism and psychology together...that reflects the bond between the alchemy of shamanic healing and the science of psychology. "Shamanic cultures, I found, understand the debilitating effects of trauma and strive to restore wholeness to distressed individuals" writes Dr. Gagan. And, after all, isn't that a prime purpose of psychology, too?

This reviewer is no psychologist nor shaman, but can see and feel the logic and rightness of grand ideas when expressed in a well-written book. Indicative of that is, "Shamans search for lost pieces of soul and return them to members of their community. Psychologists investigate the workings of the mind and strive to validate their methodological approaches. Shamanism has soul to give to psychology. Psychology has science to give to shamanism".

Journeying has insight, love, learning and practical experience to give us. Thank you, Jeannette Gagan, for making the connection!

As a trained psychologist, Jeanette M. Gagan, writes lucidly about the her own personal spiritual journey to wholeness through shamanic practice. By comparing apples (the shaman's fruit of choice) and oranges (the psychologist's fruit of choice), Dr. Gagan succeeds in answering the following questions:

1. How does the shamanic tradition bring such potent healing power to wounds incurred in the earliest months of life? and
2. Could journeying provide a release valve for the violence so rampant in our world?

By contrasting the two traditions historically, Dr. Gagan, underscores the slices of each fruit that can be shared. Central to finding common ground are the notions of altered states of consciousness, imagery, and the Jungian alchemical processes to healing.

Throughout her story Dr. Gagan weaves in carefully chosen vignettes from her clients' journeying, and explains how these experiences transcend verbal therapy and succeed in achieving transformation.

--A very convincing and readable book.

I think this book will give comfort to those in the psychological community who want to explore a non-clinical pathway. Shamanism is a method for obtaining spiritual insights that are non-linear in nature. It is creative. It is challenging. For me this book attempts to structure shamanism psychologically, and that is not what the shamanic pathway is about, it limits the potential of the Work. To the seasoned journeyier this is not the book to read.

If you are a psychologist who wants to expand your practice by "doing" shamanism without doing your own personal work so you can make more money- please take another path. If you want to explore this pathway of direct experience with the G-d of your understanding and are willing to leave your clinical training at the door, take off your psychological mask then come journey . . . and buy Michael Harner or Sandra Ingerman's book.

'Journeying' combines the oldest healing tradition with present-day psychology. The book provides a dynamic, vital model for healing and psychological growth for anyone interested in self-improvement. The information is highly understandable at the meeting point of shamanic animal symbolism, including the psychotherapeutic experience of altered states of consciousness-'journeying,' and psychology.

Gagan has written a book from a psychologists perspective on the benefits of the shamanic journey. She gives un-necessariy historical essay-type background to basic psychological theories such as attachment, and discusses how psychology and shamanism both come from the same intention, to heal. However the book doesn't really go into depth on the shamanic journey at all, there is no methodology given, no map, no exercises. I was disappointed with this book as it claimed to "marry shamanism and psychology" yet nothing new in this area was offered, no tecnhiques, no examples of how she handled specific cases. She described what is already known as the shamanic counselling process, renamed it "Shamanic Psychotherapeutics", yet did not say how a psychotherapist could add to the shamanic counselling experience. She says that psychology has science to offer shamanism, yet she doesnt not elaborate on this idea. Overall its a book where a classically trained psychologist discovers shamanism and shares her new wisdom with the world. In her blurb on the back she says she is a student of shamanism, which in itself is telling. This book is an introduction to the concept of a shamanic journey to people who come from psychology backgrounds but unfortunatly, it does not do what it claims to do on the cover, which is to give a "daring and pioneering template for healing". You'd be better off reading Harner or Ingerman for a more practical approach.

Jeannette Gagan is a psychologist, who while dealing with her divorce discovered Shamanism, and over the years has come to recognize Shamanism's value as a psychological healing system. She takes an agnostic approach to the reality of Shamanic visions, at times leaning to them being internally generated and other times believing there is something at work beyond the individual, but either way, they are healing. The book starts with "This is neither a self-help nor a how-to book" and it is true, this book isn't a how-to on Shamanism with a psychological twist, and it isn't how to use Shamanism as a self-help tool to deal with your problems. What the book is though, is a serious and intellectual look at Shamanism as a tool for mental wellness, largely focusing around power animals, and soul retrieval. It helps to be familiar with psychology and the counselling process to make use of the book, but I don't believe it would be necessary. There is a lot of focus on the traumas that can arise in earlier childhood (before the age of four) and examples and theory on how Shamanic journeying can help heal the wounds of childhood, as well as any other point in your life. The book talks about Journeying as a method to safely explore, and express pain, emotions, and wounds, and how psychology and shamanism are working toward the same goal, but from different angles. An intriguing read for those interested in either or both of those fields.