Books About Shamanism from Michelle Hawk in Portland, Oregon

People often ask me for recommendations of books about Shamanism, so I thought I would share a roundup of my favorites with you.

… just kidding! I don’t have any favorite books *about* Shamanism. Here’s why:

Books *about* Shamanism are most often written from either an academic perspective (anthropological analysis, descriptions and observations of practices), or a how-to perspective (step by step instructions of how to “do” a Shamanic practice). In both cases, there is usually a strong flavor of intellectualizing, logicking, as well as a degree of separation that places the reader in the role of observer or recipe-follower.

Reading a book *about* Shamanism is like reading a book about how to learn to ride a bike. Maybe you would learn some interesting history and background about bikes and study the theory of physics. But it would be kind of useless to you in the practicality of actually riding a bike.

Reading a book about Shamanism might be intellectually interesting, but it’s kind of useless to you in practicality.

Shamanism as a practice is all about relationship. It’s about immediacy, intimacy and immersion.

Shamanism is an animistic practice (the belief that all things are alive and connected through that universal aliveness) and a mediumistic practice (active communication and relationship with the spiritual forces all around us).

A book can’t teach you about being in relationship with the life force in all things. A book won’t prepare you for what it feels like to connect with powerful spirits. You must experience those things directly to truly know and understand.

While I don’t have any favorite books *about* Shamanism, I do have some other recommendations:

When I was a child, my favorite books were all folktales about talking animals, magical plants, sacred springs of healing water, elemental spirits and deities. I loved stories where a young person went on some kind of journey or quest, and met wise allies to guide them on their path. The humans in these stories who showed disrespect or disregard for the wisdom of nature always suffered the consequences, and those humans who listened and respected the Earth and her children were supported.

I read creation myths such as How Raven Stole the Sun and the legend of Quetzalcoatl. I read stories of gods and goddesses from around the world, these personified forces of nature with magical powers and unique wisdoms. I read fictional stories set in our world about young people who lived closely in nature, such as Julie of the Wolves and My Side of the Mountain.

Stories and folktales like this help us access our own mythopoetic consciousness. They help us enter into the liminal spaces through imagination, beyond the confines of logic. They help us readily accept a reality where animals talk and the unseen realms are very real. They teach us about principles of respect, right relation, and honoring the laws and wisdom of Earth and non-human consciousness. They teach us energetic dynamics of creation and destruction, destiny and sovereignty, agreements and contracts, death and rebirth, wounding and healing, wisdom, initiation and actualization.

These are all Shamanic principles.

This is the traditional style of wisdom transmission: storytelling and direct experience. Receiving wisdom teachings through stories invites us to imagine ourselves as the protagonist, to see ourselves in the myth, and opens the door to our subconscious wisdom and connection. And direct experience and contact with the mysteries is how we anchor that wisdom into our embodied consciousness.

So instead of reading books *about* Shamanism, I always invite people to go out in nature. Talk to the trees. Allow yourself to daydream and imagine. Read animistic folktales. And if you really want more information related to Shamanism and related topics, check out my podcast, Shaman Sister Sessions. There are currently 138 episodes full of great stuff. Find it on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

And of course, if you’re interested in exploring Shamanism through receiving healing work or developing your own Shamanic practice, please reach out to me and we can talk about what kind of support is right for you: >>>Book a call with me here.

Do you have favorite books about Shamanism, or animistic folktales or stories? Comment and let me know!

Why do I practice Shamanism?

Why do I practice Shamanism?

(And why you may want to, if you are called to it.)

I don’t practice Shamanism for my clients. I practice it first and foremost for Life.

I practice Shamanism because I love Life. By that I don’t only mean my life specifically, I mean capital-L Life itself. I love that Life exists.

I love that consciousness has manifested in the incarnate. I love that so many different bioforms have evolved over millennia to cooperate and live in concert with each other. I love that plants eat sunlight and trees sing to each other through the mycelial network. I love that elephant matriarchs remember for decades where to find water and pass this knowledge down to their daughters and granddaughters. I love the song of the red-winged blackbird. I love that hawthorn thorns eventually grow into branches, and what starts out as sharp and protective evolves into a flowering wand that bears abundant fruit.

I love that Life exists, and I am so grateful that I get to be a part of it.

I practice Shamanism to be awake in my life, to celebrate Life and to collaborate with this grand symphony of aliveness all around me every day.

I practice Shamanism as a student and steward of Life. I study the cycles. I study the darkness, hibernation and death. I study decay, rotting logs, and bones left after a cougar kill and scavenging coyotes. I study the explosion of budding flowers, eagles flirting, squirrels fortifying their nests. I study the rise and fall of the river. I study the movement of the stars and the planets, and the pattern of wheeling vultures.

I study Life so that I may collaborate with it, move in alignment with the flow of creation and be a harmonious contribution to something so, so much bigger than me: Spirit. The Great Unknowable. Thou. Life.

By studying Life, we learn its flow and rhythm. We learn what expands and supports and generates Life, and what contracts or restricts it. We learn to feel and collaborate with this flow of Life in our bodies, our health, our relationships, our daily experience. Healing and growth is the study and practice of Life-generating worldview and behaviors, and of course that offers a huge personal benefit to us.

But that’s only a tiny fraction of the whole. And the longer I practice Shamanism (now over 20 years), the more I feel absolutely certain that it’s not about us and our personal experience at all.

Something beautiful comes from de-centering the self. This inherently goes against all of the conditioning and foundation of modern, western culture (especially in the US) which is based on individualism and, to be brutally honest, this weird fetishization of selfishness. My rights. Look out for #1. Selfies. If it’s not on social media, it didn’t happen. Endless navel-gazing and pathologizing and self-diagnosing and therapizing and making it all about me, me, me.

How lonely. How small. How inherently blind.

But what happens when we de-center ourselves? What happens when we truly embrace that if I am sovereign, it means that all beings are sovereign? What happens when we remember that if I am a unique and special expression of consciousness, it means that all beings are unique and special expressions of consciousness? What happens when we believe that if I am devoted to cultivating life in myself, it means I am devoted to cultivating life for all beings? What happens when we make our Earthwalk into a prayer of gratitude and generosity to Life?

How connected we become. How expansive. How loving.

De-centering the Self helps us remember that consciousness is living itself through us. Life is living through us, just as it is living through all things. It helps us to take responsibility for what we are personally accountable for and to surrender burdens that do not belong to us. It helps us to be generous. It helps us to remember that we belong. You belong to Life, and Life loves you.

I practice Shamanism because I love Life, and I love that I get to be a part of Life, but even more than that, I want Life to thrive. I want so deeply with every part of my being to devote every day to honoring and advocating for the sovereignty of all beings. I am so excited to live in this world and cultivate relationships with forms of Life–people, plants, animals, mountains, elements–so that I can know Spirit in as many ways as possible. I practice Shamanism because I know truly that by devoting myself to Life, and collaborating with Life, and studying Life, it benefits me, and everyone around me, and all beings on Earth, and the Earth herself.

I practice Shamanism because it is the best way I know how to love myself, and you, and Thou, Life.

I cannot give you your why. I cannot make you fall in love with Life. I cannot give you the key that will make you excited to wake up every day and participate in this gorgeous symphony. That is for you to discover, if you haven’t already.

But I can help you learn how to listen. I can teach you Shamanic practices. I can guide you through Shamanic journeys, mediumship cultivation and help you connect with the spirits. I can give you the best tools that I know of to study Life, to awaken to your animistic consciousness and mediumistic gifts, to honor the spirits, to connect with something bigger than yourself.

Are you called to Shamanism?

Have you experienced a Shamanic awakening, but aren’t sure where or how to begin developing your practice?

Do you already have a Shamanic practice but are looking for deeper support, personal mentorship or healing work?

Get Support:

>>>Book a call with me to talk about your journey with Shamanism and what type of support is right for you!