Stone Age Wisdom: The Healing Principles of Shamanism
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Stone Age Wisdom: The Healing Principles of Shamanism is a book about finding a more balanced way to live based on the wisdom of our Stone Age shamanic ancestors. It examines the worldview of our hunter/gatherer ancestors-the worldview out of which shamanism and shamanic practices evolved. But, it is also a book about living an energetically balanced life today. This "shamanic" worldview is something we have forgotten. It is a way of being in the world that honors the sacred nature of the living force that moves through us and through everything around us. It can be expressed through five principles that offer the promise of renewal and guidance in our lives and our spiritual practices.
These principles are that:
Everything is Alive.
Everything has its own spirit or energetic signature. From this principle we learn to observe and pay attention to everything around us. We strive to see things as they are and learn their true nature. To explore the experience of energetic observation we practice the shaman's art of vision-shifting.
Everything is Conscious.
Everything has its own form of conscious awareness. From this principle we learn to be present and to enter into true dialogue with the unseen forces around us. We actively engage spirit and energetic forms. To alter our consciousness and attune to spirit we practice the shamanic art of journeying.
Everything is Dynamic.
It is the nature of things to move, change and transform. The shaman knows that where there is movement, there is health. Where energy cannot move there is illness. From this principle we learn to be flexible. We learn to sense the movement of energy and when it is blocked. We adapt the shamanic practice of shape-shifting to learn to move energies not by mastering them but by merging with them.
Everything is Connected.
Everything exists in relationship to everything else. From this principle we learn to be respectful and we come to understand sacred reciprocity and the healing power of relationship. To restore balance and harmony to our relationships we practice ceremony and ritual.
Everything Responds.
The universe responds to our most sacred intentions. From this principle we learn to be clear and to engage the world with embodied prayer. We serve the unseen world by bringing beauty into the seen world. Bridging the waking and dreaming worlds is the art of dream-weaving.
Stone Age Wisdom isn't simply another manual of shamanic techniques or one person's story of his shamanic experiences. This is not a guide to Native American spiritual beliefs or an attempt to appropriate elements of other cultures. The author is respectful of these cultures, but is most interested in the emerging practice of Integral Shamanism. This is not a guide to becoming a "Shaman." No book can do that. A "Shaman" is a title bestowed on an individual by the community he or she serves. It is a guide to becoming a "shaman." A "shaman" is one who lives a life aligned to the Stone Age Wisdom principles of shamanism-respecting the unseen world, honoring the sacred nature of life, and living in balance.
The practical exercises contained in this book include:
1. Contemporary Shamanic Dreamwork:
Using the Stone Age Wisdom principles to understand and open to the wisdom of your own dreams.
2. Vision-Shifting:
Developing the ability to see energetically and sense the true living nature of the world around us.
3. Journeying:
Altering our consciousness and experiencing ecstatic oneness to enter into dialogue with the conscious, but unseen world.
4. Shape-Shifting:
Practicing the art of change and learning to move energy.
5. Conducting Ritual:
Mediating between the seen and the unseen worlds.
6. Dream-Weaving:
Directing will and intention through embodied prayer and creative action.
We all know what it feels like to live out of balance, but what does it mean to live in balance, and how do we find it? These are the questions that Stone Age Wisdom: The Healing Principles of Shamanism strives to answer.
From the Author
Integral Shamanism is an urban contemporary expression of an ancient wisdom tradition. It is the shamanism of here and now. The shaman goes where healing is needed and it seems to me that if we have any hope of returning to a balanced relationship with the unseen world, we cannot do it by simply escaping to exotic and pristine locations. We must do the work where it is most needed. While we can learn much from traditional shamans and indigenous cultures, our practice is here. We must be open to what works-what moves ourselves and others toward wholeness and balance. Healing ourselves and healing others around us through ecstatic awareness is the work of the urban contemporary shaman.
Stone Age Wisdom: The Healing Principles of Shamanism
Stone Age Wisdom: The Healing Principles of Shamanism,Tom Crockett,Fair Winds Press,1592330142,Alternate Spirituality,Body, Mind & Spirit,New Age,Shamanism,Spirituality - Shamanism,Spirituality
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