Book 3

The Way of the Shaman

by Michael Harner

I know a bit about Shamanism already, but I wanted to read this for a few reasons. If someone was looking for an introductory book about Shamanism, I used to recommend this one a lot because I'd heard such great things about it. I figured I'd finally take the time to read it now because I thought it might compliment Fire in the Head, though it was my original intention to read this book before that one. Also because it's been on my "To Read" list for a while now. 

So I feel it's important to note that this is the copy I'm reading and it was printed in 1986. The updated version looks a lot different now, and because of that I can't help but wonder if he's gone and added a few notes here and there. It could just be that the font in the current version is larger, which I know it is, but I'm curious if it's got anything "new" in it. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that the version you'd be reading likely looks much different than this one.

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Update on April 2
So far I haven't read much, just the introduction and "chapter 1". These chapters are just Harner telling about his first Shamanic experiences while taking ayahuasca (a drink made from vines and leaves from a specific plant) and maikua. There's really not much I can comment on here except that it was easy and enjoyable to read.

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Update on April 8
The chapter starts out with some information on Shamanism and what it is, then he goes on to describe a simple journey that one can do, and then he gives examples of what some of his students' experienced during their first journeys while using the same method he described.

I thought it was really interesting that before the term "Shaman" was being widely used, some people referred to "persons in a great variety of non-Western cultures" as "witch", among other things.

I'm seeing a lot of similarities to Buddhism, for some reason. To me, it seems as though Buddhists and Shamans have very similar goals and arrive at them in very similar ways, but the techniques are a bit different - the Shamanic Journey compared to the Buddhist meditation. There was actually a term that got mentioned "Shamanic enlightenment", that sort of drove this home. It refers to "the literal ability to lighten the darkness, to see in that darkness what others cannot perceive". He also says that the "concentric circles of a mandala often resemble the ribbed aspect that The Tunnel frequently presents". Here, he is referring to the passageway that takes you from what he calls "Ordinary State of Consciousness" to the "Shamanic State of Consciousness" during a journey.

It's all very interesting to me.

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Update on April 28
Oh wow, it's been a lot longer than I thought since I updated this...oopsie!

I just finished this book today, and my overall impressions of it are: This is a fantastic book to read if you're curious about Shamanism and what to know more about what it is and it's main practices. If you've already got a bit of an understanding of Shamanism, it may not be the most informative book for you, but you might get something from the experiences he relates and the techniques he outlines.

I'm not sure if this is a book I would go out and purchase for myself, but having said that, I'm glad I took the time to read it.

Feel free to skip the rest of this update if you're not overly interested in more specific aspects of what I read between April 13 unto tonight.

Early on in the book the chapters go from a kind of an informative section, to a practical technique section, and then on to student experiences with the techniques. I think getting to hear stories of what other people encountered is encouraging to someone starting out, and also helps to give them validation as to what they're experiencing. For that reason, I think this book is very well laid out, and reads petty easily.

I found it interesting that there are so many similarities in the methods and assumptions that Shamans have, despite how widely separated many of the cultures are geographically. I also found a neat divinatory practice in chapter 3 that uses a rock similar to free-association. I may end up looking into that a bit further. The majority of this chapter, as well as what is in chapter 4, I found very straight-forward and self-explanatory though, so I don't really have much to say about other than that.

In the later chapters he talks more specifically about the 'healing' techniques that are used by Shamans in doing involved retrial journeys for spirit animals or soul retrieval. These are techniques that I'm sure would be fabulous, but are way too advanced for me, and are definitely beyond the scope of something I would ever hope to accomplish. That being said, he does outline them in enough detail that with practice and in the right environment, I think that one could have great success with them.


I found the "synchronicity" section of the book to be really neat. I always think it's cool when people can describe a similar place, person, or thing without having consulted one another about the matter perviously, but both saw it in a 'vision'. I think it gives credibility and validity to the people that believe and practice what they do, when stuff like that happens. In this section he also mentions the "spirit canoe" practice of the "Coast Salish Indians of Western Washington State", which is also intriguing to me.

There were a few other things from these later sections that struck a cord with me as well, namely the "big dreams", and quartz crystal passages. I drew many parallels from these sections to Wiccan thoughts/practices, and I find it kind of awesome how many parallels I'm finding in these books to things I can relate to in my own practice. For example, he says that you should only "use your guardian's power to help another person - not your own - and always send it to their power animal only, because it acts as a sort of filter for them. This is to help protect yourself from anything you might intentionally or unintentionally pick up from them. I think that this practice should be used more often for "healings" because quite often the person trying to help will also end up falling ill in some way, not having taken the proper precautions to protect themselves from whatever it is they're dealing with.

I often have really weird, vivid, involved dreams, and so that's why the "big dreams" section stuck out for me. A big dream is one that is "repeated several times in the same basic way on different nights, or is a one-time dream that is so vivid it's like being awake". These dreams are usually communications from your guardian spirit or power animal, according to Harner. I know I have a lot of similar themed dreams, so I found it interesting that instead of trying to find a hidden meaning behind these dreams, the messages should be more direct. I also re-visit the same places in my dreams - like, say, the downtown area of my city. It's very different place from what it is in actuality, but just about every time I'm "downtown" in my dreams, it's the same place, or a newer or older version of that same place. I think it's pretty cool.

Anyway, that's about it from me about The Way of the Shaman. It's a great book, but maybe more for a curious beginner than for someone a bit more familiar with Shamanism. That being said, I will certainly take a few things away with me from this book, and I did enjoy reading it. Hope that's been helpful to you!