Shaman's Drum Issue 81

R. Donald Skillman
The Transformative Rituals of a Huachumero, a reprint of a classical ethnographic study, describes the traditional mesa (altar) and healing style of Jorge Merino Bravo, a Peruvian San Pedro ritualist.

Ross Heaven, Ph.D.
The Outsider Woman: An Interview with a San Pedro Healer, an excerpt from the book The Hummingbird’s Journey to God, explores some of the personal insights of La Gringa, a healer who works with the entheogenic cactus San Pedro and leads huachuma ceremonies.

Donna Todd
Between Heaven and Earth: Mongolian Shamans Today relates through photos and text the author’s meetings with five Mongolian shamans who have been instrumental in the revitalization of shamanic practices in Mongolia.

Rak Razam
The Way of Light: A Healing Journey with Ayahuasca documents the author’s recent visit to the Temple of the Way of Light, a new not-for-profit ayahuasca center located on the Nanay River near Iquitos, Peru, and relates accounts of several healing ceremonies provided by the center’s Shipibo curanderas (women healers).

Timothy White
A Stimulating Guide to Transpersonal Shamanisms reviews some of the intriguing insights and personal observations provided by James Endredy in his book Shamanism for Beginners: Walking with the World’s Healers of Earth and Sky.

ON THE FRONT COVER: Australian photographer Donna Todd’s photo of a Mongolian shaman’s drum reveals the shaman’s spirit mask attached to the back side of the drum.

ON THE BACK COVER: In another photo by Donna Todd, colored streamers flow through the air as the Mongolian shaman Ura plays her traditional drum and dances in trance.

FROM THE EDITORS examines some of the preventable mistakes made at the “Spiritual Warrior” sweat ceremony led by James Arthur Ray—at the Angel Valley Retreat Center near Sedona, Arizona—that resulted in the tragic deaths of three participants.

LETTERS

EARTH CIRCLES reports on the struggles of India’s Dongria Kondh tribal people to save the mountain abode of their deity, Niyam Raja, from the ravages of open-pit mining of bauxite deposits located under their homelands.

NETWORK NEWS pays tribute to Pablo Amaringo Shuna, a world-renowned ayahuasca artist who died last fall

REVIEWS offers critiques of The Psychotropic Mind: The World According to Ayahuasca, Iboga, and Shamanism by Jeremy Narby, Jan Kounen, and Vincent Ravalec; and The Horse Boy, a documentary film by Michel Orion Scott and Rupert Isaacson.

RECEIVED & NOTED lists titles and brief information on new books and other media we have recently received from publishers.

RESOURCES DIRECTORY

UNCLASSIFIEDS

SHAMAN’S DRUM ARTS GALLERY (on the inside back cover) features a painting, Variopinto de la Chacruna ("The Many Colors of Chacruna,") by the late Pablo Amaringo Shuna.

Published by Shaman's Drum and the Cross-Cultural Shamanism Network, copyright 2010. The above content is intended for the noncommercial use of shamansdrum.org users, and it may not be reproduced or sold without the written permission of the publishers:

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