Shamans, healers, and medicine men

Kalweit's panoramic view of religious practitioners from societies located on several continents is essentially a less diligent version of Eliade's classic work on shamanism. Readers are not encouraged to appreciate profound differences between shamans whose part-time performances are limited to hunting/gathering societies and healers or religious practitioners associated with more "complex" societies. Instead, tantalizing fragments of arcane philosophy from diverse sources are woven together in a tapestry that will fire the imaginations of New Age seekers looking for ways to enter the magical world that orthodox religions seem unable to evoke. Most academics will be jolted by the author's polemic attack on conventional scholarship and his concomitant appeal for parapsychological research on altered states of consciousness. Not recommended for college use. J. C. Fikes; Institute for Investigation of Inter-Cultural Issues

In relating the practices of primal healing within world cultures, Kalweit emphasizes the need for modern science to look to primordial stages to understand the ``paralogical, paradoxical processes of life.'' The book, originally published in German in 1987, does not show the reader how to become a shaman but gives accounts of initiations into altered states of consciousness, which made an individual a healer. Healers develop their unique talents through a variety of inner journeys, some of which include fasting, meditations, and/or lightning. Through the knowledge transferred during inner journeys, shamans are able to heal. Kalweit relates the need for the physiological and biochemical study of visionary experience and the possibility of using archaic practices as healing therapy for modern humanity. For scholarly collections.-- L. Kriz, Sioux City P.L., Ia. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.