Customer Reviews

The Way of the Shaman

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

In this book one gets a series of exercises which guide one to accomplish such tasks as "finding one's power animal", "spirit extraction" and so on. TWS has a lot to recommend it and since the good stuff has been pointed out in other reviews, i myself will ignore it here. Harner has, almost single handedly, ushered in the era of "neo-shamanism". As i understand it, the basic idea behind neoshamism is to find a way to enter the "altered state of consciousness (ASC)" without having to use medicine plants. These plants are illegal, may be diffult to prepare correctly and are altogether too unpleasant to deal with. So, in comes the drum. And the rattle. The premise is that, somehow, using the same utensils as, say, Siberian shamans, one is going to enter the same ASC. Nothing could be further from truth. In the absence of the mythological and spiritual context, the neoshamanic drums and rattles are toys for children.

The "shamanic" methods described in TWS were developed by Harner 30 years ago and have not changed one iota since then. All his imagination, creativity and inspiration seems to have vanished into thin air once he left UC Berkeley and now this guy keeps selling the same old stuff decade after decade. Academically! Seriously! Businesslike! TWS is Harner's Nicean Council - it has frozen his tracks.

The Way of Shaman gives us an aseptic, soul-less and (for me) ultimately boring way into the spirit world. Well, what *is* a shaman anyway? Is the mestizo in Iquitous peddling his ayahuasca a shaman? Is someone who finished her coursework at "The Foundation for Shamanic Studies" a shaman? For me, a shaman is someone whose task is to care for Life and whose role is to connect individual strands of consciousness to the large, universal and delicious Life consciousness. A good shaman is aware of the great Mystery and of the fact, that we are just players in it and why not go for the ride for the beauty of it. The (traditional) shaman is also plugged into the spiritual and mythic universe of his/her society and therefore connected to this mystery. We have lost this connection and are looking for it - (neo)shamanism, if it is to survive, will have to provide it somehow, somewhere. Right now, i think it is failing - one traditional Lakota lodge is worth ten courses taken at the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. In order to find one's power animal in the traditional society one does not just lie on the floo and daydream with the drum. Usually, much legwork is done and a lot of sweat/tears are shed; it can be dangereous and it takes a lot of patience, courage and ingenuity - all qualities necessary for serious work in ASC. One brings in the ancestors and the spirit world with reverence and respect. Harner ignores all this (most important stuff) and this is why this book is ultimately unsatisfying.

This book, recommended by a friend, was my initiation into the world of shamanism. I think Harner gives a great overall description of what shamanism is and where it comes from. There's no mystical, magical ramblings. It's very straighforward and based upon the research Michael Harner did personally as an anthropologist. He's taken the mystery out of shamanism, and presents it more as a science, or methodology.

I think it's sad that almost all the negative reviews of this book seem to be coming from angry or resentful "native" people who seem to have more of a personal issue with Harner than an objective opinion of this specific book. The claim that Harner is trying to create everyday shamans is a crock. He clearly does not present anything to lead the reader to this conclusion. From my understanding, he presents a method for the modern-day person to explore shamanism, incorporating traditions from many different parts of the world. Shamanism is not exclusive to, nor are the rights owned by, Native Americans. The core of this approach seems to be derived in large part from Siberian tradition. Either way, it's interesting to me that two negative reviewers both used the term "suburbanites" as a derogatory term aimed at those who study shamanism without being the blood descendant of a sacred medicine man or something. I don't know where this bitterness comes from, but it is in no way a fair assessment of the book we're supposed to be reviewing.

It seems to me that every single one of us is "indigenous". Unless some of you are from another planet...(which wouldn't surprise me in the least.) We should try to remember that spirituality belongs to no one.

p.s. This is a great book!

There will be people who are thrilled to read this book and other people who will be disappointed that Mr. Harner does not present shamanism is it traditional form and does not expect us to endure the training of traditional shamans. Fair enough. I would just like to point out that teachers of every tradition or lineage that has either come from The East or is trying to be revived in current Western society has had to accomodate itself to the lack of a context that enables people to follow the traditional training. Whether it's Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Hindu, or Sufi lineages, or even Christian monastic practice, all have had to adjust to the fact that our scientific, materialistic rationalism makes it very difficult to
find support for individuals, especially those with families, or who are not independently wealthy to pursue "the Old Ways." I'm just not as fussy as I used to be. That purity business was just my own fantasy. I applaud anyone with the persistence of Michael Harner to keep plugging away and just planting seeds into the minds of people of the reality of other forms of consciousness. Why don't we wait until we grow up as a culture before we insist on "purity" which is too often just another way of saying "my way is the best."

When I first read this book I thought that it was the greatest thing I had ever found. Not only did it describe experiences that I thought were unique to myself, but I found that there was actually a name for such things- shamanism. I had never even heard the name before. Yet, I knew exactly what was being described.

That's just it, though, this book's importance to me was in its validation of the path that I had already traveled- alone. When I see people claiming that they are shamans, or "neo-shamans", based on reading a few books or attending a workshop or two, I can only shake my head. I mean, I see nothing wrong with such things, no more than I see anything wrong with dabblers in Wicca, it is just that I don't personally believe that it is shamanism. I don't say this out of arrogance, self-righteousness, or a sense of superiority- it is just that I have found that the transition involved in crossing over to the spirit world is absolutely life shattering and soul transforming. There is a good chance that it may kill you. Actually, in a sense, it does kill you, for to be a shaman means to die and be reborn. It is not the sort of thing that a bored yuppy can do on a weekend to demonstrate his "spiritual sensitivity."

Personally, I think shamans are either born, or they result from a certain type of near death experience. As much as I respect Native American medicine people, I do not think that they have any sort of inside track or "secret knowlege." Their advantage lies in being outside of the artificial hell of the modern world- and perhaps in having more of an "opportunity" to hit bottom and reflect on it. They also have open minds- they KNOW the realities of spirits and of a world beyond. These are the advantages of any outsider....

The Way of the Shaman is a good introduction to the teachings of Michael Harner, and a good introduction to shamanism in general.

I'm posting a review of this book, years after he inscribed a copy of this book to me, because of some of the ridiculous, negative comments some reviewers have written. Please be aware that, "Michael Harner received his anthropology Ph.D. in 1963 from the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught at various institutions, including UC Berkeley, Columbia University, Yale University, and the Graduate Faculty of the New School in New York, where he was chair of the anthropology department. He also served as co-chair of the anthropology section of the New York Academy of Sciences." Do people who trash his work think these credentials were made up? Do those critics think Harner made up the bases of those credentials?

Michael Harner is the most unguru of gurus I've ever met. To questions of, "How do I . . . What does this mean . . . Can I . . . I am I any good at this" or anything else you might ask, his only response, every time is "Go ask your power animal!!!" If you want to lean on him, or put him on a pedestal, he's not the guy for you.

In the "Way of the Shaman" (or in one of his workshops) he tells of how he started out life as an altar boy and almost immediately became an atheist. As an anthropologist studying shamanism in the jungles of South America, he pestered the shamans so much about what journeying was like, they told him to do a journey himself. Not only did he remember the journey, unusual it itself, he told his story to the nearest Americans he could find, a pair of fundamentalist Christians, "a cut above the average" missionary. They pointed out that his journey paralleled the Book of Revelations in the Bible. (Subsequently, subversive that Michael is, he was happy to report that those Fundamentalists are now shamans.)

One of the most useful distinctions he teaches is that shamans are aware that the world is divided into ordinary and non-ordinary reality. A shaman walks between these worlds. Our mainstream American culture is firmly rooted in ordinary reality. Those who dwell only in the world of non-ordinary reality might be living full-time in a lunatic asylum. Both worlds exist, whether or not we believe in them.

To further clarify his work, in a conversation we had a couple of years ago, Michael reiterated that he teaches shamanic techniques for divination and healing ONLY! He certainly does not do sweat lodges or anything like that.

As for those who criticize him for taking money. Well, renting or maintaining space takes money. Feeding people takes money. He also points out that shamans are hardly uncompensated for their services in traditional communities. How could they not be? If they are working as shamans, journeying between worlds, they can't be doing other kinds of work, such as bringing home the bacon, figuratively or literally, or weatherproofing whatever dwelling they live in. Shamans have the expenses of living in ordinary reality, too. It just so happens that in our culture, money is usually the medium of exchange.

For those who complain that Michael promises shamanism in return for a week end and fees, go to his website and read the material on it. Is he promising or guaranteeing that people will become shamans in that time? Or is he offering people the introduction to shamanism? As far as bringing shamanism to suburbia: If someone does not introduce shamanism to suburbanites, how else will it reach them?

Some of us have experiences that do not fit into an ordinary-reality paradigm. We have experiences that have no validity in suburbia or any other geographic locality in the United States. A talent for walking in non-ordinary reality is simply not a recognized gift in these here United States. If you are one of those people, it can be enormously reassuring when someone, such as Michael, validates that, yeah, there are ways of looking at the world other than what your mainstream society teaches you, that perhaps, you are not nuts, but merely a walker between worlds without knowing it. Not only are there different ways of looking at the world, there are different worlds.

For those native shamans, try to place this book in context. It was published decades ago, well before a lot of stuff was available on shamanism. It was also written for those with little or no knowledge of shamanism. Your experiences and strengths may be different. Also, if you yourself are a working shaman, you probably live in a culture where your niche in life is recognized and supported, both physically and spiritually. You do not have to be introduced to the idea and reality of shamanism because your culture lives it.

One of the things that Michael pointed out in one of his workshops is that as societies become more "civilized", shamans are the first to go. They are replaced by priests because power structures demand to be spiritually legitimized. People in power need need priests to validate their actions, to say, not in so many words, "Yeah, God is on my side!" Kings and princes do NOT need some shaman piping up, "Well God didn't say that on MY journey!"

Try to give Michael the benefit of the doubt: Try not to approach this book with the notion that he is a charlatan, or a rip-off artist. Remember, he started out life as an altar boy, then as an educator, not a shaman. In this book, he in introducing shamanism to mainstream Western Cultures, that had no knowledge of it, or context in which to place shamanism. Remember, too, that bridging different cultures in ordinary reality is a different kind of walking between worlds.

As far as I can tell, Michael Harner is responsible for creating the new age phenomenon of Neo-Shamanism. This book was the first of its kind, and although many books on the subject litter the bookstore shelves these days, Harner's is by far the best of the ones I've read and perused.

Most of the complaints by reviewers here are concerned with Harner "stealing" the traditions from other cultures and/or "corrupting" these traditions. Ignoring the obvious flaw in thinking regarding "theft" of cultural or spiritual traditions, I think this is exactly where Harner excels over the others. Rather than turning out some new-age fluff that pretends to adhere painstakingly to any particular tradition, Harner cuts to the viscera of the real phenomenon of Shamanism.

Although there are specific exercises and methods in this book, the fact that they don't rigidly conform to any one tradition is what makes it great. It is rather like the approach of Chaos Magick, which doesn't rely on precise traditional incantations, sigils, etc, to perform magick. Instead, the idea is that this power is latent within us, and is basically archetypal within the framework of the psyche.

In cultures with Shamanism, every once in a while a shaman is born; they are discovered to be "special" (in a way specific to that culture) and/or predisposed to this sort of thing. Even though the modern Western world doesn't have any significant "place" for these sorts of individuals, they are still are born into our society. I like to call them (us) the weirdoes. These are latent shamans or mystics. Books like Harner's just might be a key to helping us "weirdoes" find our "place".

Harner's work has been eclipsed by many authentic ethnical and tribal sources. The reading here is very dated. What he presents is a stripped down version (antiseptic) of some techniques for journeying. But Harner's philosophy is pretty locked into what drum-beat rhythms work and this is simply not true, not required to do shamanic journeys. You will get a very slanted almost confined view. And that is the antithesis to shamanism in general.

Shamanism is best accessed, especially for the beginner, within some cultural context and Harner has cleansed his techniques away from their cultures. Even his views (and his disciples Ingerman) on soul retrieval are still changing due to lack of root within cultural context.

If you are new to shamanism then start instead with The Book of the Shaman by Nicholas Wood. If you are into some healing aspects then goto Shaman, Healer, Sage by Villoldo or Woman who glows in the dark by Elena Avila.