occult

As a trained psychologist, Jeanette M. Gagan, writes lucidly about the her own personal spiritual journey to wholeness through shamanic practice. By comparing apples (the shaman's fruit of choice) and oranges (the psychologist's fruit of choice), Dr. Gagan succeeds in answering the following questions:

1. How does the shamanic tradition bring such potent healing power to wounds incurred in the earliest months of life? and
2. Could journeying provide a release valve for the violence so rampant in our world?

By contrasting the two traditions historically, Dr. Gagan, underscores the slices of each fruit that can be shared. Central to finding common ground are the notions of altered states of consciousness, imagery, and the Jungian alchemical processes to healing.

Throughout her story Dr. Gagan weaves in carefully chosen vignettes from her clients' journeying, and explains how these experiences transcend verbal therapy and succeed in achieving transformation.

--A very convincing and readable book.

Having experienced the shamanic path directly and then going back for a degree in psychology I found this a good book for helping the psychological community understand the shamanic path of direct experience. Too many people who are facing a spiritual opening (possibly shamanic) are medicated out of the experience because of the professional's limited viewpoint of the shamanic experience and/or the fear of the unknown.

I caution that the shamanic path cannot be catagorized or analyzed, it is fluid and changing; it is chaotic in nature-if you don't know "the way". I suggest that if you are a professional go out and journey for yourself, explore the path, draw your own conclusions.

'Journeying' combines the oldest healing tradition with present-day psychology. The book provides a dynamic, vital model for healing and psychological growth for anyone interested in self-improvement. The information is highly understandable at the meeting point of shamanic animal symbolism, including the psychotherapeutic experience of altered states of consciousness-'journeying,' and psychology.