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136 of 144 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Shamanism defined in an understandable way, March 29, 2000
This review is from: The Way of the Shaman (Paperback)
Mr. Harner has taken a misunderstood and often misinterpreted subject and has written a very good book for those who have little to no experience with cultural shamanism. He has extensive experience with native shamen and tells of his adventures in a way that allows the reader to grasp the ecstatic methods of these priests. His is not the sum of all knowledge on shamanism and it can be seen as a condensed version, but this is still a very good book to begin with. His techniques are good enough to allow one to develop a shamanic connection from within themselves and their own culture. This book is NOT a rip-off of native practices. No one culture can claim to be the first shamen, everyone's ancestors practiced it at some point. For those who wish to journey, this book will guide you to your path and from there, you can fly.
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296 of 332 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Read it if you must-but take it from where it comes., July 15, 2006
This review is from: The Way of the Shaman (Paperback)
I have been teaching Shamanic workshops, and practicing Shamanic healing for many years ( never charging a penny for my services).
I have been enraged by Harner"s book, and his money making workshops since I 1st read his book. I am an indigeneous person to the US but that is not how or why, I became a Shaman. All cultures, from all over the planet have had Shaman, who unfortunately dissapeared
for a reason I don't know. Shamans do not need outside stimuli to journey into Spirit World. It is used as an aid to help people relax so they can achieve a trance like state and let go of their fear of the unknown. ( One does not have to be A SHAMAN journey ).
The definition of a Shaman is " One who walks between the worlds
( or realities), an experienced Shaman can do this while doing something else. Harner, in this book makes a lot of statements concerning evil you might meet on a journey, such as beware of spiders
and insects. I have journeyed many hundreds of times and have never been harmed by any being I encountered, how could I be? I am in Spirit World, Spirit is not going to harm you no matter what form you see. I have NEVER used a mind altering substance to journey, some, especially the South American Shaman do, and again not all. Not all Shaman are alike, we do different tasks
assigned to us by Spirit. I do hands on healing, others do soul retrieval and so on. I know I'm jumping around I feel like I have so much to tell you. Here are my last 3 comments: after I had read this book by Harner I asked the Shaman I had apprenticed with for 4 years about the spider and insect and fanged being warnings he gives and her reply was simply: " Who is Michael Harner to limit Spirit". # 2, Shamanism never was, and is not now a Religion. Thirdly, don't believe something because it's in a book, research it to find what is real.
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148 of 170 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A misleading book, May 29, 2003
This review is from: The Way of the Shaman (Paperback)
I think Harner's error is not that much in that he takes shamanic work out of native context, but that he puts people at danger by making them believe his sanitized teflon-wrapped package. If this is all day-dreaming - then it's no big deal, why can't suburbanites spend some time reconnecting with their subconsciousness? If, on the other hand, we take this stuff for real - if there is an energy body, if there are worlds into which the energy body travels during the "altered states of consciousness", then the Harnerian method is not only irresponsible, it is downright dangereous. It takes decades to train an indigenous shaman precisely because these passageways into the astral and beyond are so tricky, its inhabitants so unpredictable and our mind so untrained and incapable of distinguishing between what is personal and what is impersonal. Any would-be "shaman" working out of his own personal space, or "subconsciousness" is asking for trouble. I have, as the years go by, started to look at the Harner Enterprise (which he runs together with his wife) as a tremendous money-making machine. It is all rather shameless and it is perhaps no wonder that Harner himself is not being taken seriously anymore. If you want to be a shaman, go into nature, pray to God, talk to your allies and ask them to send across your path a true teacher who will be devoted to your progress into this amazing Mystery. God ALWAYS answers when the plea comes from a pure, humble heart. I think the Harners lost that innocence necessary for contacting the spirit world in a wholesome and beneficial manner. Moreover, they have apparently never been trained in understanding the energy body and how it works during ASCs. That's why this book is unconvincing, unreliable and potentially dangereous.
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