Customer Reviews

Path of the Mystic

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I would recommend this book for anyone interested the native American medicine path in particular, and metaphysics in general. The writer shares a selection of her personal experiences, each illustrating an aspect of the life of a working shaman. One of the underlying themes is how to learn from guides and fellow-beings in all their forms, including humans, animals, insects, trees, stones, forces of nature such as thunderstorms, and even unseen intelligences. She provides valuable tips on how we can to contact our animal spirit guides. Emphasizing that we should not over idealize people who teach us, she points out that we all possess human flaws. Many seekers seem all too eager to give away their personal power.

One of the most dramatic incidents she recounts is a potentially fatal encounter with a jaguar in Brazil, giving her access to jaguar medicine. (You have to sympathize with her long suffering husband, when she insists on communing with this dangerous animal in the wild!) Nothing in nature is too frightening or too humble for a shaman to learn from e.g. she also explains lessons from apparently insignificant or annoying creatures like ants. Also impressive is her shamanistic work with the dying and berieved, facilitating a peaceful passing for them and their families.

If the book had been longer and more clearly structured, I would have rated it 5 stars. However, I find Ai's writing to be much more down to earth and less ego-inspired than many other books on shamanism. Her work deserves more attention.