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Shamanic Witch: Spiritual Practice Rooted in the Earth and Other Realms | 
 enlarge | Author: Gail Wood
Creator: Kristin Madden
Publisher: Weiser Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $9.25
You Save: $7.70 (45%)
New (35) Used (8) from $9.16
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 568163
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 157863430X
Dewey Decimal Number: 291
EAN: 9781578634309
ASIN: 157863430X
Publication Date: November 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Shamanic practice seeks healing and wisdom from realms that overlap the everyday world. The use of plant and animal medicines, vision quests, trance work, and ceremonies to heal one s self and others are the foundations of shamanism. So too, Wicca and witchcraft use the magic and medicine of plants, animals, and other realms. By learning to incorporate the practices of shamanism, the witch can enhance his or her natural abilities as healer and creator of positive change.
The Shamanic Witch outlines the many similarities between the art of shamanism and the craft of the Witch and explores how the overlapping of these two traditions can be used to enhance one's practice. Where witchcraft brings the belief and religion, Shamanism brings the skills. Sections include: Understanding the World of the shaman, Creatures and Spirits of Other Realms, Developing a Shamanic Practice, The Toolkit of the Shamanic Practitioner, The Realms of the Witch, and Melding Worlds: Becoming the Witch-Shaman.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Inspirational October 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I loved this book, and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to deepen their spirituality as a witch/pagan practitioner. The author is clear, inspirational and allows for different experience, which can be sorely lacking with other writers and teachers. I had a basic feeling about the differences between shamanic and witchy practices, but I now feel that I have a better understanding of each, and am motivated to blend shamanic work into my own.
My favorite parts involved reading about the author's personal experiences, and it was easy to enjoy her friendly and encouraging style.
While I understand the previous review's criticism about repetition, I have no problem with that, since I usually just skip it. If it doesn't apply, I don't need it, but there are many who *do* need that type of structure, so I also understand the author creating it that way.
Might I also recommend the author's two other books: "The Wild God" and "Rituals of the Dark Moon."
 A gem of a book, with some unfortunate flaws... October 15, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I wish that I could give this book 5 stars. It's opening poem "In All the Empty Places" is beautiful and moving. When I read it, I had really high hopes for this book. The first half of the book addresses core shamanism, or neo-shamanistic practice--I found it to be a little shallow in its explorations and I don't think it went beyond most introductory books on the topic. The gem I found in this section of the book was the author's discussion of the various ways people experience trance journeys. She talks about how some people are very visual, some auditory while others are sensual and makes the point that no one way is better than the others and we shouldn't feel inferior if our way is different from those around us. The thing that touched me personally was when she wrote about how experiencing a journey in a way we don't expect can be spirit's way of letting us experience through a different sense. I am an visual artist, and I have always been disappointed that I don't "see" well during journeys. The wisdom of Gail Wood has made me realize that this is a blessing, not a curse, and opportunity to experience things differently.
The second half of the book is where the author really shines. It describes ways that a Witch can blend core shamanism with Witchcraft to become a shamanic witch. Wood makes the assumption that the reader is already a practicing witch and doesn't bore us with the basics. My problem with this half of the book is that there is too much repetitious filler. Ms. Wood gives a ritual script that includes directions and words for creating sacred space, altar devotion, cleansing and purifying the circle, casting the circle, centering and grounding, calling the quarters, Calling the deities, Farewell to the deities and dismissing the Quarters. The same exact words and descriptions are used for every single ritual described in the book. You would think that it would suffice to give the ritual directions once and then give just the body of the ritual in subsequent descriptions, but the book repeats the same words and directions over and over for each ritual--after a while I got pretty bored and would skip over it, but I think the book would have been much better had the repetitions been edited out. It's a waste of paper.
All in all, i recommend this book, I just wish i could have given it five stars.
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