Book Reviews, Book Lover Resources, Advice for Writers and Publishers
SHAMANIC HEALING
October 2017
Itzhak Beery is an internationally recognized shamanic healer and teacher. He was initiated into the Circle of 24 Yachaks by his Quechua teacher in Ecuador and by Amazonian Kanamari Page. The founder of ShamanPortal.org and co-founder of the New York Shamanic Circle, he is on the faculty of New York Open Center and Kripalu. In "Shamanic Healing: Traditional Medicine for the Modern World" he draws upon his years of experience and expertise to create a story-based guide to the techniques of shamanic healing. "Shamanic Healing": Details indigenous medicine tools and soul healing techniques, including diagnosis and energy cleansing with plants, stones, fire, flower essences, and sound; Offers protection and self-defense techniques for confronting negative energies such as spirit attachment and possession; Shares healing stories that each address a specific condition, such as panic attacks, PTSD, depression, cancer, chronic pain, grief, and relationship problems. Exceptional, comprehensive, informative, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Shamanic Healing" is an extraordinary and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Metaphysical Studies collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in shamanism that "Shamanic Healing" is also available in a digital book format.
October 2017
Itzhak Beery is an internationally recognized shamanic healer and teacher. He was initiated into the Circle of 24 Yachaks by his Quechua teacher in Ecuador and by Amazonian Kanamari Page. The founder of ShamanPortal.org and co-founder of the New York Shamanic Circle, he is on the faculty of New York Open Center and Kripalu. In "Shamanic Healing: Traditional Medicine for the Modern World" he draws upon his years of experience and expertise to create a story-based guide to the techniques of shamanic healing. "Shamanic Healing": Details indigenous medicine tools and soul healing techniques, including diagnosis and energy cleansing with plants, stones, fire, flower essences, and sound; Offers protection and self-defense techniques for confronting negative energies such as spirit attachment and possession; Shares healing stories that each address a specific condition, such as panic attacks, PTSD, depression, cancer, chronic pain, grief, and relationship problems. Exceptional, comprehensive, informative, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Shamanic Healing" is an extraordinary and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Metaphysical Studies collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in shamanism that "Shamanic Healing" is also available in a digital book format.
Shamanic Healing
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Another excellent offering from Itzhak Beery Shamanic Healing is, as its sub title states, “Traditional Medicine for the Modern World”; providing a fascinating look into the indigenous shamanic traditions Beery learned from his teachers, with an approach appropriate to modern life.
Beery introduces his book with a section contrasting two health systems, shamanic healing and Western medicine; explaining how the two can work together for a better, more holistic approach to wellness. In Chapter 1, Beery tells the story of his personal journey and introduces his teachers including Don José Joaquin Pineda, an Ecuadorian Yachak and Shoré, a Kanamari Pagé from the Brazilian Amazon.
Chapter 2 discusses shamanism and shamanic healing, giving examples from various indigenous traditions. This is followed by a chapter giving clear step- by-step instructions on a wide variety of healing techniques and ceremonies.
The last chapter contains 30 personal inspirational client healing stories. The detail of indigenous tools and techniques makes particularly informative reading. Beery shares practices which include the use of plants, stones, fire, rum, eggs, flower essences and sound as well as protection and self-defense techniques for confronting negative energies, such as spirit attachment and possession. Highly recommended as an interesting and compelling read as well as a source of practices for personal healing or use with clients.
Reviews Itzhak Beery. Shamanic Healing.
Destiny Books (June 2017). ISBN: 978-1620553763
Beery introduces his book with a section contrasting two health systems, shamanic healing and Western medicine; explaining how the two can work together for a better, more holistic approach to wellness. In Chapter 1, Beery tells the story of his personal journey and introduces his teachers including Don José Joaquin Pineda, an Ecuadorian Yachak and Shoré, a Kanamari Pagé from the Brazilian Amazon.
Chapter 2 discusses shamanism and shamanic healing, giving examples from various indigenous traditions. This is followed by a chapter giving clear step- by-step instructions on a wide variety of healing techniques and ceremonies.
The last chapter contains 30 personal inspirational client healing stories. The detail of indigenous tools and techniques makes particularly informative reading. Beery shares practices which include the use of plants, stones, fire, rum, eggs, flower essences and sound as well as protection and self-defense techniques for confronting negative energies, such as spirit attachment and possession. Highly recommended as an interesting and compelling read as well as a source of practices for personal healing or use with clients.
Reviews Itzhak Beery. Shamanic Healing.
Destiny Books (June 2017). ISBN: 978-1620553763
SHAMANIC HEALING
REVIEW - Summer 2017
Shamanic Healing – Traditional Medicine for the Modern World, Itzhak Beery, Destiny Books, Rochester, VT, 2017, 226pp, $16.95.
As I began reading Shamanic Healing, I was stunned by the statistics. “the third leading cause of death in America is hospitals … mistakes and infections in hospital care [contribute] to the deaths of…between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year … if you live to be eighty-five years old you will have a 50 percent chance of having diagnosable Alzheimer’s … one in forty children is diagnosed with autism … Fifty-nine percent of all Americans…are taking prescription drugs daily…15 percent of all Americans take five drugs or more each day … 10 percent of Americans are depressed and 18 percent suffer from anxiety.”
To the contrary, when Dr. Alberto Villoldo, a medical anthropologist, searched the rain forest of central Peru to find “the next big cure for cancer or dementia” for a Swiss pharmaceutical giant, he found no incidence of cancer, heart disease, or dementia. Western medicine is a “sick-based model, profit-minded assembly line, speed-dating-like, impersonal” system that uses medicine “by trial-and-error methods.” Some treatments simply mask symptoms, and some medications cause toxic side effects that require more medication. As one doctor said, Western medicine “is treating the smoke and not the fire.”
Western doctors won’t ask “Where you are from, your emotional state, your lifestyle, your social and cultural beliefs, or what you eat…” They weren’t taught that the body is more than one symptom.
Shamanic medicine “sees the sick person as a whole complex environment and makes an effort to reinstate the person's overall health.” We need to balance Western medicine with Shamanic methods. As Brazilian shaman Ipupiara explained: “Calming and balancing the physical and emotional bodies creates less opposition for the medicine, which allows it to work better.” This is called integrative medicine.
One thing Shamans do is tell stories, and Beery tells his story very well. I was so engrossed that I didn’t realize how much time had passed as I read. Shamanic Healing is broken into four sections: 1) Beery’s journey and those who guided him; 2) What Is Shamanic Healing; 3) Healing Teachings, Ceremonies, and Techniques; 4) Healing Stories.
Beery’s journey is interesting, and meeting his teachers seemed somehow preordained.
An Ecuadorian shaman told Beery that “…the three most important principles of shamanic healing [are]: (1) be in balance with yourself, (2) be in balance with your family and community, (3) be in balance with Mother Earth … It is all about being in balance.” Simple, yet complex. I encourage you to pay close attention to this section of the book, as it explains where blocks to balance may come from and diagnosing and removing them so your energy once again flows freely.
In Part 3, Beery explains what a healing might entail, though each one is individual and geared to the client. He then goes over tips for self-healing.
Part 4 contains healing stories that are riveting. Although shamanic healing does not assign labels, the stories are organized into Western categories. It’s interesting how clients be-come their disease, as in “I am schizophrenic” rather than, “I am in an imbalanced state and want to change.”
Shamanic Healing – Traditional Medicine for the Modern World is an easy to read, easy to understand the book. I have recommended it to a few people who have an imbalance in their lives and are finding no solutions in Western medicine. I have also begun using some of the self-healing techniques.
Thanks to Destiny Books for sending this book for review, and thanks to Psychic-Magic for selecting me to review it.
- M. Lenahan
REVIEW - Summer 2017
Shamanic Healing – Traditional Medicine for the Modern World, Itzhak Beery, Destiny Books, Rochester, VT, 2017, 226pp, $16.95.
As I began reading Shamanic Healing, I was stunned by the statistics. “the third leading cause of death in America is hospitals … mistakes and infections in hospital care [contribute] to the deaths of…between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year … if you live to be eighty-five years old you will have a 50 percent chance of having diagnosable Alzheimer’s … one in forty children is diagnosed with autism … Fifty-nine percent of all Americans…are taking prescription drugs daily…15 percent of all Americans take five drugs or more each day … 10 percent of Americans are depressed and 18 percent suffer from anxiety.”
To the contrary, when Dr. Alberto Villoldo, a medical anthropologist, searched the rain forest of central Peru to find “the next big cure for cancer or dementia” for a Swiss pharmaceutical giant, he found no incidence of cancer, heart disease, or dementia. Western medicine is a “sick-based model, profit-minded assembly line, speed-dating-like, impersonal” system that uses medicine “by trial-and-error methods.” Some treatments simply mask symptoms, and some medications cause toxic side effects that require more medication. As one doctor said, Western medicine “is treating the smoke and not the fire.”
Western doctors won’t ask “Where you are from, your emotional state, your lifestyle, your social and cultural beliefs, or what you eat…” They weren’t taught that the body is more than one symptom.
Shamanic medicine “sees the sick person as a whole complex environment and makes an effort to reinstate the person's overall health.” We need to balance Western medicine with Shamanic methods. As Brazilian shaman Ipupiara explained: “Calming and balancing the physical and emotional bodies creates less opposition for the medicine, which allows it to work better.” This is called integrative medicine.
One thing Shamans do is tell stories, and Beery tells his story very well. I was so engrossed that I didn’t realize how much time had passed as I read. Shamanic Healing is broken into four sections: 1) Beery’s journey and those who guided him; 2) What Is Shamanic Healing; 3) Healing Teachings, Ceremonies, and Techniques; 4) Healing Stories.
Beery’s journey is interesting, and meeting his teachers seemed somehow preordained.
An Ecuadorian shaman told Beery that “…the three most important principles of shamanic healing [are]: (1) be in balance with yourself, (2) be in balance with your family and community, (3) be in balance with Mother Earth … It is all about being in balance.” Simple, yet complex. I encourage you to pay close attention to this section of the book, as it explains where blocks to balance may come from and diagnosing and removing them so your energy once again flows freely.
In Part 3, Beery explains what a healing might entail, though each one is individual and geared to the client. He then goes over tips for self-healing.
Part 4 contains healing stories that are riveting. Although shamanic healing does not assign labels, the stories are organized into Western categories. It’s interesting how clients be-come their disease, as in “I am schizophrenic” rather than, “I am in an imbalanced state and want to change.”
Shamanic Healing – Traditional Medicine for the Modern World is an easy to read, easy to understand the book. I have recommended it to a few people who have an imbalance in their lives and are finding no solutions in Western medicine. I have also begun using some of the self-healing techniques.
Thanks to Destiny Books for sending this book for review, and thanks to Psychic-Magic for selecting me to review it.
- M. Lenahan
Review of Shamanic Healing: Traditional Medicine for the Modern World by Itzhak Beery
Itzhak Beery’s Shamanic Healing is a doorway into another world.
As someone who comes from a particular spiritual lineage, it was fascinating for me to gain entree into a different tradition. There was much kinship. We are speaking of spirit, after all! Yet shamanism is spirit filtered through a different lens. This is powerful cosmic connection, as felt and developed over centuries by indigenous Native American and South American cultures.
Author Beery’s shares his Shamanic journey. You are there with him during each meeting, each test and adventure.
I particularly enjoyed his description of a contest of strength with one of his Shamanic mentors. It was a battle for him rather than against him which drew a strength from him that he did not know he possessed. This and other stories feel magical, mysterious, special, otherworldly.
Equally fascinating is Beery’s description of the tools of shamanism. The sugarcane rum, candle, eggs, sticks and flowers are all implements of every day life, imbued with a spiritual purpose. Despite the simplicity of the tools, Shamanism offers healing on a profound level. Often it is used as a last resort, after all other resources have failed. As such, it proves to have many answers still elusive to modern science and medicine.
The final chapter of the book is dedicated to clients’ stories. One of the most moving was of a young woman who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She lived at home with her mother. She heard voices and feared to go out alone.
Beery explains, “In contrast to Western medicine, traditional shamanic healing is not necessarily about curing someone’s symptoms or manifestations of illness. Rather, it sees the sick person as a whole complex environment and makes an effort to reinstate the person’s overall health.” He continues, “The Quechua strongly believe that all physical, mental, and spiritual problems are essentially the results of an imbalance in our energy bodies.”
Beery reframed the young woman’s ‘disorder’ as a talent.
Unlike Western medicine, Beery didn’t ‘pathologize’ or try to ‘fix’ this client. Instead, he gave her the tools she needed to accept and master her sensitivity. He explained it as a gift akin to his own psychic and energetic sensitivity. Within a few sessions she had blossomed into a different version of herself. She was newly confident and able to navigate the world.
As a healer myself, I know the power of reframing our so-called liabilities as gifts. I applauded this young woman’s transformation, and the many other empowering stories shared in the book. Equally moving were the many stories of soul retrieval. The shamanic approach to the inner child and trauma is profound. I can see myself adopting one of Beery’s prescriptions in my own work with clients. (Hint: it involves a doll. You’ll have to read the book!)
Other parts of the book felt more foreign to my experience. Some of the stories were pretty wild – possession, evil spirits, the red fox and the snake come to mind. Again, you’ll just have to read the book!
Shamanism is to be celebrated as a valuable answer to much of what ails us and what we lack in this modern culture.
I highly recommend this journey into shamanism. It is a rare treat, indeed, as most shamans eschew writing about their art. They believe that shamanism is something that changes in response to the client in front of them. While shamanism has a rich tradition, yet it remains improvisational, unpredictable and surprising. It is a living thing, many traditional shamans feel, not to be captured and pinned down in a book. As an outsider from another culture who was invited in, Beery provides an ideal outsider/insider’s guide to this mysterious and colorful world.
As someone who comes from a particular spiritual lineage, it was fascinating for me to gain entree into a different tradition. There was much kinship. We are speaking of spirit, after all! Yet shamanism is spirit filtered through a different lens. This is powerful cosmic connection, as felt and developed over centuries by indigenous Native American and South American cultures.
Author Beery’s shares his Shamanic journey. You are there with him during each meeting, each test and adventure.
I particularly enjoyed his description of a contest of strength with one of his Shamanic mentors. It was a battle for him rather than against him which drew a strength from him that he did not know he possessed. This and other stories feel magical, mysterious, special, otherworldly.
Equally fascinating is Beery’s description of the tools of shamanism. The sugarcane rum, candle, eggs, sticks and flowers are all implements of every day life, imbued with a spiritual purpose. Despite the simplicity of the tools, Shamanism offers healing on a profound level. Often it is used as a last resort, after all other resources have failed. As such, it proves to have many answers still elusive to modern science and medicine.
The final chapter of the book is dedicated to clients’ stories. One of the most moving was of a young woman who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She lived at home with her mother. She heard voices and feared to go out alone.
Beery explains, “In contrast to Western medicine, traditional shamanic healing is not necessarily about curing someone’s symptoms or manifestations of illness. Rather, it sees the sick person as a whole complex environment and makes an effort to reinstate the person’s overall health.” He continues, “The Quechua strongly believe that all physical, mental, and spiritual problems are essentially the results of an imbalance in our energy bodies.”
Beery reframed the young woman’s ‘disorder’ as a talent.
Unlike Western medicine, Beery didn’t ‘pathologize’ or try to ‘fix’ this client. Instead, he gave her the tools she needed to accept and master her sensitivity. He explained it as a gift akin to his own psychic and energetic sensitivity. Within a few sessions she had blossomed into a different version of herself. She was newly confident and able to navigate the world.
As a healer myself, I know the power of reframing our so-called liabilities as gifts. I applauded this young woman’s transformation, and the many other empowering stories shared in the book. Equally moving were the many stories of soul retrieval. The shamanic approach to the inner child and trauma is profound. I can see myself adopting one of Beery’s prescriptions in my own work with clients. (Hint: it involves a doll. You’ll have to read the book!)
Other parts of the book felt more foreign to my experience. Some of the stories were pretty wild – possession, evil spirits, the red fox and the snake come to mind. Again, you’ll just have to read the book!
Shamanism is to be celebrated as a valuable answer to much of what ails us and what we lack in this modern culture.
I highly recommend this journey into shamanism. It is a rare treat, indeed, as most shamans eschew writing about their art. They believe that shamanism is something that changes in response to the client in front of them. While shamanism has a rich tradition, yet it remains improvisational, unpredictable and surprising. It is a living thing, many traditional shamans feel, not to be captured and pinned down in a book. As an outsider from another culture who was invited in, Beery provides an ideal outsider/insider’s guide to this mysterious and colorful world.
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Shamanic Healing by Itzhak Beery
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Shamans and Shamanism has always caught my interest from childhood seeing many of the rituals, speaking in tongues, different musical instruments for different rituals, offerings in Manipur (India). It’s interesting to see more and more people in the western world learning, practicing and talking about this. You will find many participating in the drum and sunrise ritual in a park right in New York City. I picked up Itzhak Beery’s book Shamanic Healing and flipped the pages with fascination as he shared about the rituals, smokes, candles, herbs, stories of his healing sessions.
I started looking up on Itzhak Beery as I was midway in the book. I learned that he is from Israel, currently based in New York. He started being a skeptic and yet being very drawn to Shamans and Shamanism. He was initiated by his Quechua teacher in Ecuador and into the healing tradition of his Amazonian Kanamari paje teacher and has been practicing for 20 years now. On a personal note, it’s really sad to learn that he had removed his cancer via a surgery in Nov 2010 but it came back again after 6 years. He shared the emphasis in integrating traditional medicine for cure and shamanism for healing.
I watched videos of his demonstration of a guided drumming shamanic journey using power animal spirit to connect to the different level of energy to the universe. His spiritual work focuses on connecting to nature and helping others of finding life purpose and understand life’s lessons healing them in the process. It’s interesting to read about the transformation and different experiences after the different shamanic journey and techniques.
I see that he also wrote two books The Gift of Shamanism and Shamanic Transformations other than the book Shamanic Healing which I read. I plan to read the others too. You can find them in Amazon.
https://findingthevoices.com/2018/03/04/itzhakbeery/
I started looking up on Itzhak Beery as I was midway in the book. I learned that he is from Israel, currently based in New York. He started being a skeptic and yet being very drawn to Shamans and Shamanism. He was initiated by his Quechua teacher in Ecuador and into the healing tradition of his Amazonian Kanamari paje teacher and has been practicing for 20 years now. On a personal note, it’s really sad to learn that he had removed his cancer via a surgery in Nov 2010 but it came back again after 6 years. He shared the emphasis in integrating traditional medicine for cure and shamanism for healing.
I watched videos of his demonstration of a guided drumming shamanic journey using power animal spirit to connect to the different level of energy to the universe. His spiritual work focuses on connecting to nature and helping others of finding life purpose and understand life’s lessons healing them in the process. It’s interesting to read about the transformation and different experiences after the different shamanic journey and techniques.
I see that he also wrote two books The Gift of Shamanism and Shamanic Transformations other than the book Shamanic Healing which I read. I plan to read the others too. You can find them in Amazon.
https://findingthevoices.com/2018/03/04/itzhakbeery/
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Book Review:
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In this outstanding new book on Shamanic Healing, the author Itzhak Beery takes us upon his fantastic and deeply personal journey into the heart of South American traditional medicine and importantly shows us how we can incorporate this into our increasingly disconnected modern world. Drawing upon his over twenty years of experience including being initiated into the Circle of Twenty Four Yachaks by his Quechua teacher in Ecuador and into the healing tradition of his Amazonian Kanamari Pajé (shaman) teacher in Brazil, the author is uniquely qualified to bring the message of traditional Shamanic Healing to the greater modern world in this truly excellent book.
In the introduction to this book the author expertly explains the urgent need for the ancient traditional healing methodologies like Shamanism to supplement and be offered in tandem with our modern western medicine, to create a truly holistic and integrated healing approach. All too often western medicine attempts to treat the symptoms of disease without getting to the root causes (which are often psychological) and that is where traditional methods like Shamanism come to the fore. By being able to diagnose the root cause and not just the disease, the traditional Shaman is needed now more than ever in our ever more stressful and insane modern way of life.
Following on from this the author takes us back to where it all began for him on the Shamanic path, right through his over twenty years of experience living and working with his teachers in both Ecuador and Brazil in what is a fascinating tale of healing and understanding. Delving into the many and varied aspects of these traditional healing methodologies, Itzhak Beery shows us from personal experience an
entirely different way of seeing the world and our place in it, from a perspective that the modern world left behind long ago, much to our detriment.
Chapter 2 explains for the reader just what exactly Shamanic Healing is from the perspective of the South American knowledge and healing systems, who can become a shaman and just what it takes if you have been called upon this path. Importantly the author delves into some the darker areas of Shamanism that is often ignored by western writers such as evil spirits and possession, including
personal tales of encountering the dark side of Shamanism.
Chapter 3 outlines step by step instructions on numerous healing methods, ceremonies and techniques, including diagnostic and divinatory readings, much needed protection techniques and additional healing methods to aid the modern Shaman in their work. Whilst this will never replace actually being there and learning first hand from our traditional elders, it gives the reader an understanding of the forces at work and how to safely conduct oneself in the mystical realm of the Shaman.
Finally with chapter 4 the author presents thirty true and inspiring healing stories, including heart-warming tales of people utilizing Shamanic Healing to overcome everything from panic attacks, PTSD, depression and anxiety to cancer, chronic pain and much more. Whilst the modern western medicine systems continue to ignore more traditional healing techniques such as Shamanic Healing, people from all over the world are finding the answers to their dis-ease in these traditional healing methods, because they work. They have worked for millennia and are perhaps even more important today in our profoundly sick society. If you’re interested in the Shamanic path, and or a more holistic approach to healing, Itzhak Beery’s Shamanic Healing; Traditional Medicine for the Modern World is a must read.
About the author:
BRETT LOTHIAN is an Australian researcher and writer, professional arborist and ethnobotanist. He is the author of the Tricho Serious Ethnobotany blog (http://trichoseriousethnobotany.blogspot.com.au) and the creator of the San Pedro / Trichocereus Appreciation group, the Peyote Appreciation group, and the Ethnobotany Appreciation group on Facebook
In the introduction to this book the author expertly explains the urgent need for the ancient traditional healing methodologies like Shamanism to supplement and be offered in tandem with our modern western medicine, to create a truly holistic and integrated healing approach. All too often western medicine attempts to treat the symptoms of disease without getting to the root causes (which are often psychological) and that is where traditional methods like Shamanism come to the fore. By being able to diagnose the root cause and not just the disease, the traditional Shaman is needed now more than ever in our ever more stressful and insane modern way of life.
Following on from this the author takes us back to where it all began for him on the Shamanic path, right through his over twenty years of experience living and working with his teachers in both Ecuador and Brazil in what is a fascinating tale of healing and understanding. Delving into the many and varied aspects of these traditional healing methodologies, Itzhak Beery shows us from personal experience an
entirely different way of seeing the world and our place in it, from a perspective that the modern world left behind long ago, much to our detriment.
Chapter 2 explains for the reader just what exactly Shamanic Healing is from the perspective of the South American knowledge and healing systems, who can become a shaman and just what it takes if you have been called upon this path. Importantly the author delves into some the darker areas of Shamanism that is often ignored by western writers such as evil spirits and possession, including
personal tales of encountering the dark side of Shamanism.
Chapter 3 outlines step by step instructions on numerous healing methods, ceremonies and techniques, including diagnostic and divinatory readings, much needed protection techniques and additional healing methods to aid the modern Shaman in their work. Whilst this will never replace actually being there and learning first hand from our traditional elders, it gives the reader an understanding of the forces at work and how to safely conduct oneself in the mystical realm of the Shaman.
Finally with chapter 4 the author presents thirty true and inspiring healing stories, including heart-warming tales of people utilizing Shamanic Healing to overcome everything from panic attacks, PTSD, depression and anxiety to cancer, chronic pain and much more. Whilst the modern western medicine systems continue to ignore more traditional healing techniques such as Shamanic Healing, people from all over the world are finding the answers to their dis-ease in these traditional healing methods, because they work. They have worked for millennia and are perhaps even more important today in our profoundly sick society. If you’re interested in the Shamanic path, and or a more holistic approach to healing, Itzhak Beery’s Shamanic Healing; Traditional Medicine for the Modern World is a must read.
About the author:
BRETT LOTHIAN is an Australian researcher and writer, professional arborist and ethnobotanist. He is the author of the Tricho Serious Ethnobotany blog (http://trichoseriousethnobotany.blogspot.com.au) and the creator of the San Pedro / Trichocereus Appreciation group, the Peyote Appreciation group, and the Ethnobotany Appreciation group on Facebook
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Book Review – Shamanic Healing: Traditional Medicine for a Modern World by Itzhak Beery
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Shamanic Healing: Traditional Medicine for a Modern World is a great introduction to the power and scope of traditional medicine techniques from cultures that stand outside of Western medicine. Itzhak Beery opens the book, his third, with a compelling chapter on the need to integrate the wisdom and personal approach of shamanic healing wisdom with the benefits of Western medicine.
He then takes the reader on his personal journey to shamanism, starting with his first workshops with Michael Harner and John Perkins, both of whom were instrumental in popularizing cross-cultural shamanic practices and sponsoring indigenous teachers and shamans. Beery’s stories of the education and testing he received from his two primary teachers, Don Jose Joaquin Diaz Pineda, an Ecuadoran yachak, and Ipupiara Makunaiman (Bernardo Peixoto, Ph.D), a Brazilian paje, are wonderful.
I also had the privilege of studying with Ipupiara and felt him alive again in Beery’s tales, especially in Ipu’s statement: “You are all shamans, every one of you! Don’t think that just because someone wears feathers on his head…that he is more powerful than you are.” Beery describes the different healing work done by specific “types” of shamans in his traditions and the difference in practice between those who work toward healing and balance and those who work with what some consider “darker” techniques, like cursing and hexing. In the section, “Who Can Become a Shaman,” he discusses the intuitive gifts that each of us possesses but also emphasizes the training, integrity and commitment necessary to reach a place where one is able to use those gifts in service to others. Beery devotes a chapter to explaining shamanic healing, how it is used, the forces with which he aligns and the conditions he has encountered in clients.
He also provides a chapter on healing teachings, ceremonies and techniques, including la limpia (a powerful purification ceremony), egg and flower cleansing and divinations and working with trago (sugarcane alcohol), the drum, rocks, sound and elements. The book closes with a lengthy chapter of healing stories from Beery’s clients, whose names and genders have been change to protect their privacy. In their own words, the clients describe their experiences during Beery’s healing work and the shift in their conditions, outlook and circumstances following the sessions. The stories are powerful and I am certain they will pique your interest in learning more about shamanism if you have not already taken the plunge.
The book is an excellent read; I especially enjoyed Beery’s stories of his experiences with his teachers, told with humor, affection and great respect. Beery makes a compelling case for integrating a shamanic emphasis on living a life in balance with the world around us as a path to good health with mainstream medicine’s acute lifesaving techniques. As he says, “ The Quechua strongly believe that all physical, mental and spiritual problems are essentially the results of an imbalance in our energy bodies.”
While we currently must consider factors like novel coronavirus in staying healthy and bolstering our life force, we can see how our failure to live in balance with the energy systems of the natural world may have allowed this virus to “jump” and spread around the world. Beery’s descriptions of the healing techniques and ceremonies he uses are a great resource. It’s possible to use this section as a tutorial to begin a simple practice of your own. The techniques may seem simple, but when mastered, are quite powerful! This is good, solid book for someone interested in exploring shamanic healing and practice written by a teacher with experience and integrity.
He then takes the reader on his personal journey to shamanism, starting with his first workshops with Michael Harner and John Perkins, both of whom were instrumental in popularizing cross-cultural shamanic practices and sponsoring indigenous teachers and shamans. Beery’s stories of the education and testing he received from his two primary teachers, Don Jose Joaquin Diaz Pineda, an Ecuadoran yachak, and Ipupiara Makunaiman (Bernardo Peixoto, Ph.D), a Brazilian paje, are wonderful.
I also had the privilege of studying with Ipupiara and felt him alive again in Beery’s tales, especially in Ipu’s statement: “You are all shamans, every one of you! Don’t think that just because someone wears feathers on his head…that he is more powerful than you are.” Beery describes the different healing work done by specific “types” of shamans in his traditions and the difference in practice between those who work toward healing and balance and those who work with what some consider “darker” techniques, like cursing and hexing. In the section, “Who Can Become a Shaman,” he discusses the intuitive gifts that each of us possesses but also emphasizes the training, integrity and commitment necessary to reach a place where one is able to use those gifts in service to others. Beery devotes a chapter to explaining shamanic healing, how it is used, the forces with which he aligns and the conditions he has encountered in clients.
He also provides a chapter on healing teachings, ceremonies and techniques, including la limpia (a powerful purification ceremony), egg and flower cleansing and divinations and working with trago (sugarcane alcohol), the drum, rocks, sound and elements. The book closes with a lengthy chapter of healing stories from Beery’s clients, whose names and genders have been change to protect their privacy. In their own words, the clients describe their experiences during Beery’s healing work and the shift in their conditions, outlook and circumstances following the sessions. The stories are powerful and I am certain they will pique your interest in learning more about shamanism if you have not already taken the plunge.
The book is an excellent read; I especially enjoyed Beery’s stories of his experiences with his teachers, told with humor, affection and great respect. Beery makes a compelling case for integrating a shamanic emphasis on living a life in balance with the world around us as a path to good health with mainstream medicine’s acute lifesaving techniques. As he says, “ The Quechua strongly believe that all physical, mental and spiritual problems are essentially the results of an imbalance in our energy bodies.”
While we currently must consider factors like novel coronavirus in staying healthy and bolstering our life force, we can see how our failure to live in balance with the energy systems of the natural world may have allowed this virus to “jump” and spread around the world. Beery’s descriptions of the healing techniques and ceremonies he uses are a great resource. It’s possible to use this section as a tutorial to begin a simple practice of your own. The techniques may seem simple, but when mastered, are quite powerful! This is good, solid book for someone interested in exploring shamanic healing and practice written by a teacher with experience and integrity.