Further Resources

Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation - Sandra Ingerman MA, Hank Wesselman Ph.D. 2010


Further Resources

Books

Cowan, Tom. Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1993.

Cowan, Tom. Pocket Guide to Shamanism. The Crossing Press, 1997.

Cowan, Tom. Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice for Daily Life. The Crossing Press, 1996.

Cowan, Tom. Yearning for the Wind: Celtic Reflections on Soul and Nature Novato, CA: New World Library, 2003.

Ingerman, Sandra. A Fall to Grace. Moon Tree Rising Productions, 1997.

Ingerman, Sandra. How to Heal Toxic Thoughts. Sterling, 2007.

Ingerman, Sandra. How to Thrive in Changing Times, 2010.

Ingerman, Sandra. Medicine for the Earth.New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001.

Ingerman, Sandra. The Shamanic Journey: A Beginner’s Guide. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2004, 2006. Contains expanded explanations about journeying plus a drumming CD.

Ingerman, Sandra. Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self. San Francisco: Harper SanFrancisco, 1991.

Ingerman, Sandra. Welcome Home: Following Your Soul’s Journey Home. San Francisco: Harper SanFrancisco, 1993.

Stevens, José Luis. Praying with Power: How to Use Ancient Shamanic Techniques to Gain Maximum Spiritual Benefit and Extraordinary Results Through Prayer. London: Watkins Publishing, 2005.

Stevens, José Luis. Secrets of Shamanism: Tapping the Spirit Power Within You. New York: Avon Books, 1988.

Stevens, José Luis. Transforming Your Dragons: How to Turn Fear Patterns Into Personal Power Rochester, VT: Watkins-Bear and Company, 1994.

Villoldo, Alberto. Courageous Dreaming. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2008.

Villoldo, Alberto. Dance of the Four Winds. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1994.

Villoldo, Alberto. The Four Insights. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2007. Villoldo, Alberto. Mending the Past and Healing the Future with Soul Retrieval. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2006.

Villoldo, Alberto. Shaman, Healer, Sage: How to Heal Yourself and Others with the Energy Medicine of the Americas. New York: Harmony, 2000.

Villoldo, Alberto. Yoga, Power, and Spirit. Carlsbad: CA: Hay House, 2007.

Wesselman, Hank. The Journey to the Sacred Garden: A Guide to Traveling in the Spiritual Realms. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House 2003. Book with CD.

Wesselman, Hank (with Raquel Abreu). Little Ruth Reddingford and the Wolf. Bellevue, WA: Illumination Arts, 2004. A book for children.

Wesselman, Hank with Jill Kuykendall. Spirit Medicine: Healing in the Sacred Realms. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2004. Book with CD.

Wesselman, Hank Spiritwalker trilogy: an overview on how a mainstream scientist became a mystic and a shaman.

Wesselman, Hank. Spiritwalker: Messages from the Future. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

Wesselman, Hank. Medicinemaker: Mystic Encounters on the Shaman’s Path. New York: Bantam Books, 1998.

Wesselman, Hank. Visionseeker: Shared Wisdom from the Place of Refuge. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2001.

Audio

Ingerman, Sandra. The Beginner’s Guide to Shamanic Journeying. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2003.

Ingerman, Sandra. Miracles for the Earth. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2004. Sandra’s audio program includes a guided visualization for transfiguration with toning.

Ingerman, Sandra. Shamanic Meditations. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2010.

Ingerman, Sandra. Soul Journeys. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2010.

Ingerman, Sandra. The Soul Retrieval Journey. Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2004. This audio lecture on CD discusses illness from a shamanic perspective.

Wesselman, Hank with Jill Kuykendall. The Spiritwalker Teachings: Journeys for the Modern Mystic. Captain Cook, HI: Shared Wisdom, 2008. This six-CD audio program, with accompanying booklet, is available from sharedwisdom.com.

Video

Listen with Your Heart: Sandra Ingerman on Shamanism, Healing, and Nature produced and filmed by Victor Demko (thecenterforhealingarts.com), 2008.

Websites

Tom Cowan: riverdrum.com has Tom’s teaching schedule, recommended books on shamanism, Celtic shamanism, and Celtic spirituality, descriptions of Tom’s books, and an archive of his essays on various topics called “River Currents.”

Carol Proudfoot-Edgar: shamanicvisions.com. On this website, Carol includes articles she has written describing specific healing methods involved in the practice of Bear Medicine.

Sandra Ingerman: sandraingerman.com. On this website, Sandra includes articles she has written on all her work, including “Soul Retrieval” and “An Abstract on Shamanism,” which include a discussion about the diagnosis of emotional and physical illness from a shamanic perspective. You can also read her monthly column, “The Transmutation” here.

Shamanic Teachers: shamanicteachers.com includes a list of international shamanic teachers and practitioners who have trained with Sandra Ingerman.

José Stevens: the powerpath.com includes many of José free articles about shamanism (as well as e-books) are located on this site.

Alberto Villoldo: the fourwinds.com. This site includes information on Alberto’s Healing the Light Body School as well as his expeditions to Peru.

Hank Wesselman: sharedwisdom.com is the website of Hank Wesselman, PhD, and Jill Kuykendall, RPT. In addition to their ongoing teaching schedule of workshops, travel events, and presentations, Hank writes a free monthly column and a newsletter updated regularly with articles, blogs, and anthropological knowledge, and visitors can also learn about Jill’s work with Soul Retrieval.

About Shamanic Practitioners

Shamanic healing is a spiritual method of healing that deals with the spiritual aspect of illness. There are some common causes of illness in the shaman’s worldview. A person may have lost his or her power, causing depression, chronic illness, or a series of misfortunes. In this case, the shaman journeys to restore that person’s lost power.

Or, a person may have lost part of their soul or essence, causing soul loss, which sometimes occurs during emotional or physical trauma such as accidents, surgery, abuse, war, natural disasters, divorce, or death of a loved one. Soul loss can result in dissociation, post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, illness, immune deficiency problems, addictions, unending grief, or coma. Soul loss can prevent us from creating healthy relationships and the life we truly wish to live. It is the role of the shaman to track down the parts that have fled and been lost due to trauma by performing a soul-retrieval ceremony.

Another cause of illness from a shamanic perspective would be spiritual blockages or negative energies a client has taken on due to the loss of his or her power or soul. These spiritual blockages also cause illness, usually in a localized area of the body. It is the role of the shaman to extract and remove these harmful energies from the body.

A shaman heals both the living and the deceased. In healing those who died, the shaman performs a psychopomp ceremony to help those who have died cross over to a comfortable and peaceful place. The ceremony may also include clearing a person, home, or land of spirits that are in a state of unrest.

Because shamanic healing deals with the spiritual aspect of illness, there is no way to predict the results that will manifest emotionally or physically. Shamanic healing does not replace the need for traditional psychological and medical treatment.

There are different ways that practitioners work. One way is for the shamanic practitioner to only provide spiritual healing and follow-up treatments if necessary. Another option: after the healing work, the client continues with the shamanic practitioner on the process of integration.

The purpose of continuing the work would be to find ways to restore balance and harmony in your life and create a positive present and future for yourself through the use of spiritual practices and ceremonies. Life without passion and meaning can result in despair. With shamanic practices, you can explore how to create a meaningful life. Examples of the type of work that shamanic practitioners can help with are included in my second book, Welcome Home, and have to do with what I call “life after healing.”

Some people feel they have their own support systems in psychotherapy and with other spiritual practices; they do not feel they need such follow-up work with a shamanic practitioner.

It is important that you find what you need to support the shamanic healing work that has been done. The practitioners on this list can supply support if you need it.

Guidelines for Finding a Practitioner

1. On the website list, go to the state where you live and find someone you can see in person. Long-distance work can be done with shamanic healing; however, I find the best results occur when the client sees the practitioner in person, unless there is a critical situation that prevents the client from traveling.

2. Talk to the practitioners near you and choose a person you feel comfortable working with.

3. Find a practitioner who is flexible in their fees.

4. Make sure the practitioner is accessible and does follow-up work if you need it.

It is important to understand that the shamanic practitioner works in partnership with his/her helping spirits, which do the diagnosis and advise on what healing ceremony should be done.

Today, in a psychologically sophisticated culture, many clients show up telling shamanic practitioners what healing work needs to be done. This is not how shamanic healing works. The shamanic practitioner listens to the problem the client presents and then consults with his or her healing spirits for the spiritual diagnosis and the proper healing method.

Also, please understand that all shamanic practitioners have different styles of working. A good shamanic practitioner follows the directions of their helping spirits, who know what is best for the client.

A message from Sandra Ingerman about finding a shamanic practitioner:

One of my visions has to been to seed local communities with well-trained shamanic teachers and practitioners. My vision is also to create an alliance of international teachers and practitioners who cooperate and collaborate together. In this regard, I created a website, shamanicteachers.com, which lists an alliance of teachers and practitioners I have trained.

From the website, here is some information about finding a shamanic practitioner that you might find helpful:

Please note: shamanicteachers.com is limited to shamanic teachers and practitioners who have trained with me. I invite you to visit the websites of the other contributors; they also have their own training programs and work with clients.

If you would like to find a circle of people in your community who practice journeywork together, please visit shamanicteachers.com and click on “drumming circles.” Alternatively, you can visit shamaniccircles.org.

About The Society for Shamanic Practitioners

The Society for Shamanic Practitioners has members throughout the world. The Society is focused on the here and now and is interested in documenting how shamanism is changing and how it is being used as it interfaces with the twenty-first-century world.

We are an alliance of people deeply committed to the reemergence of shamanic practices that promote healthy individuals and communities.

To keep up with the changing times, the Society of Shamanic Practitioners:

• Creates an alliance of diverse shamanic practitioners, which functions as a circle of peers.

• Gathers and disseminates knowledge about shamanic practice.

• Promotes the importance of personal responsibility in doing the inner work necessary to live and practice with integrity.

• Focuses resources and shamanic energies to bring healing and unity to the world.

• Provides a forum for sharing ideas about integrating shamanic practice into contemporary society, clinical practice, institutions, and efforts to heal the earth.

• Encourages a dynamic exchange around how people use spiritual practice.

• Creates grassroots communities that support each other.

• Supports education through an annual conference, regional gatherings, and small focused retreats.

• Maintains a repository of stories and clinical case studies of successful shamanic interventions.

• Facilitates research evaluating the outcome of shamanic healing.

For more information, please visit shamansociety.org.