The Shamanic Journey: A Practical Guide to Therapeutic Shamanism

"This book, if you let it, will take you on a journey…you will experience first-hand the healing power of shamanism, and your eyes will be opened to a world of mystery and potential that has been there all along. You don’t need any special talents or powers, just an open mind. And you will trust this new way of being because you will personally experience it. To say that this will change your life for the better is a remarkable understatement.” – from "The Shamanic Journey".Many people feel a growing disenchantment with modern life; that something fundamental is missing or ‘wrong’. Our increased material wealth is making us less happy, not more. Mental health issues are on the rise, and we face an environmental crisis. Somehow, we have lost our way. People long for a deeper sense of connection, a greater purpose, and a more sustainable and natural way of living. Yet people are often unsure as to what they can do to find this. If you are ready, the practice of shamanism holds the answers.In "The Shamanic Journey", shamanic practitioner, teacher and psychotherapist, Paul Francis, offers a shamanic apprenticeship for our times. By building upon the work of Michael Harner, author of 1980’s classic ‘The Way of the Shaman’, Francis has created a practical, ethical and experiential guide. It is a ground-breaking and stand-out book on shamanism, written for both complete beginners and for anyone already with experience. At once both practical and deeply thought-provoking, this book examines how to make shamanic practice relevant and central to our modern-day lives.For those new to the subject, the book is a grounded, easy-to-read and yet comprehensive introduction to the ancient knowledge, wisdom and practices of shamanism. In addition, it provides an easy-to-follow guide, with clearly-explained, practical exercises and suggestions about how to get started on the shamanic path.Far more than just a beginner’s guide though, the book can be eye-opening to any open-minded shamanic practitioner. As a highly practical form of spirituality, our ancestors always adapted shamanism to the times and environment in which they lived. The book explores how, as we turned away from hunter-gathering, and with the rise of agriculture, domestication and "civilisation" we largely lost our connection with shamanism. This profoundly changed us, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually, and radically altered the environment around us. Facing the challenges of our times, the book discusses how we can reclaim shamanism and, most importantly, how to make it relevant to the changed times in which we now live, and how doing this may be crucial to our very survival and return to sanity.In "The Shamanic Journey", Paul Francis draws on his wealth of knowledge and experience in shamanism, anthropology and psychotherapy. Well researched and yet written in an accessible and conversational style, he combines these three elements into a shamanic practice that is spirit-led, down-to-earth, psychologically-aware, ethical and compassionate. What emerges is a spiritual practice that is both deeply rooted in ancient wisdom, and one that we can use to heal not only ourselves, but society, and the planet.To help with your journeying, contained within this book is a password that gives you access to free shamanic drumming audios from the author’s own website.The book is the first in the "Therapeutic Shamanism" series, a thorough, step-by-step guide to shamanic practice and the first to go into such detail and depth: an apprenticeship for modern times. The series consist of guides covering the full spectrum of Therapeutic Shamanism including: Soul Retrieval; Healing Ancestral and Family Wounds; Shamanism, Death and Dying; Plant-Spirit Shamanism; Shamanic Counselling and Psychotherapy.