"The writers of From Shaman to Scientist take the approach that there is no such thing as the supernatural, only things we don't yet understand. The ghost experience is examined through case studies; forms and functions ghost hunters have taken throughout history; key historical figures and their influence on the research of ghostly phenomena: ghost hunting in the twenty-first century, including the exploding trend of Internet ghost-hunting organizations; and the advances in the theory and technology of the parapsychology field. For those who are skeptical about the reality of ghosts but want to understand how so many individuals claim to have anomalous experiences, this collection reviews the data, offers insight into logical explanations, and discusses why this is - and has been for centuries - such an important and intriguing issue."--BOOK JACKET.

Kim Stanley Robinson, the New York Times bestselling author of science fiction masterworks such as the Mars trilogy and 2312, has, on many occasions, imagined our future. Now, in Shaman, he brings our past to life as never before. There is Thorn, a shaman himself. He lives to pass down his wisdom and his stories -- to teach those who would follow in his footsteps. There is Heather, the healer who, in many ways, holds the clan together. There is Elga, an outsider and the bringer of change. And then there is Loon, the next shaman, who is determined to find his own path. But in a world so treacherous, that journey is never simple -- and where it may lead is never certain. Shaman is a powerful, thrilling and heartbreaking story of one young man's journey into adulthood -- and an awe-inspiring vision of how we lived thirty thousand years ago.

A practical guide to understanding and awakening the human energy body • Shows how the energy body forms our reality from the infinite possibilities presented by our thoughts, feelings, and those around us • Illustrates the anatomy of the energy body, including its connections to the nervous system, chakras, and meridians • Provides step-by-step exercises to awaken the energy body, expand awareness, and begin consciously creating your own reality At a time when consciousness and other aspects of our energetic anatomy are finding their way into modern science, Kenneth Smith blends traditional shamanism with cutting-edge research in bioenergetics and neuroscience to offer this user’s guide to the energy body--explaining what it is, what its capabilities are, and how to harness it as a vehicle for higher consciousness and heightened awareness. For more than 5,000 years, shamans of the Toltec tradition have worked with the energy body, learning its structure and perceptual capacities as well as mapping it as an objective, measurable part of our anatomy. Drawing from his decades-long involvement in this tradition and his work in the field of bioenergetics, Smith explains how the energy body shapes our perceptions, determines our state of consciousness, and forms our reality from the infinite possibilities presented by our thoughts, feelings, and those around us. Illustrating our energetic anatomy and its connections to the nervous system, chakras, and meridians, he provides step-by-step exercises to awaken the energy body, expand awareness, and begin consciously creating your own reality.

THE SCIENCE OF SHAMANISM provides a synthesis of realms of knowledge that hitherto were either blinded out from human consciousness or that were seen from a disparaging perspective that is in turn the result of mental and emotional fragmentation. Shamanism, perennial science traditions and modern science have been relegated to different cognitive and experiential realms; they were seemingly different topics, while in reality, they belong systemically together. The need for this book is evident in a time where an intuitive and integrative approach to life and living is more and more replaced by academia and scientific 'authorities', and where people begin to build awareness of their multiple fragmentations. The study is destined to broaden the reader's awareness for apprehending a network of hidden connections that is spanning the whole gamut of human experience, once one honestly approaches living systems with a mindset that is as much as possible free of conceptual conditioning and intellectual assumptions and projections. The book is designed to show that at the basis of shamanism, there is not myth and mythology, but empirical and logical behavior that approaches nature without preconceptions, and an open inquisitive mind. The reason why most people are at pains with the shamanic quest is that they are not critical enough in the face of conformity pressure and the general solidifying framework of modern consumer culture that models citizens instead of accepting them as they are – in their full humanity. The study outlines the shamanic science paradigm, which is empirical and holistic, and then presents and discusses the author's personal experiences, as first-person accounts, of mind-opening shamanic experiences. Further, the book outlines the person of the warrior-scientist, the shaman, his or her roles, and the scientific nature of their proceedings. The author revealed his own shamanic quest, a twenty-five years of unusual, disturbing, intriguing and revelatory cognitive experiences that he went through with an open mind and a curious heart. He then presents research done since twenty years on shamanic cultures to find eight specific dynamic patterns of living that characterize their living continuum, and that are the pillars of their peaceful and nature-loving kind of life. The primary audience of the book is academic in the sense that some deeper understanding of scientific research, the scientific method, and scientific, non-moralistic thinking is needed. The secondary audience is a larger lay public who is interested in converging paradigms and intersecting knowledge traditions, especially the cognitive dimension of shamanic experience when it is really seen without cultural prejudice and from an empirical point of view. The author comes up with an integrative vision; in this sense, he goes beyond mere science and reveals to be a visionary.

Noted scientist and kayak adventurer undertakes a journey of spiritual healing Jon Turk has kayaked around Cape Horn and paddled across the Pacific Ocean to retrace the voyages of ancient people. But, the strangest trip he ever took was the journey he made as a man of science into the realm of the spiritual. In a remote Siberian village, Turk met an elderly Koryak shaman named Moolynaut who invoked the help of a Spirit Raven to mend his fractured pelvis. When the healing was complete, he was able to walk without pain. Turk, finding no rational explanation, sought understanding by traversing the frozen tundra where Moolynaut was born, camping with bands of reindeer herders, and recording stories of their lives and spirituality. Framed by high adventure across the vast and forbidding Siberian landscape, The Raven’s Gift creates a vision of natural and spiritual realms interwoven by one man’s awakening.

A research scientist’s fascinating study of plant communication reveals how we “have been misunderstanding plants, and ourselves, for all of history” (The Paris Review). “A compelling story of discovery . . . [that] will change the way you see the world”—for fans of The Hidden Life of Trees (Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass) In this “phytobiography”—a collection of stories written in partnership with a plant—research scientist Monica Gagliano shares genuine first-hand accounts from her research into plant communication and cognition. By transcending the view of plants as the objects of scientific materialism, Gagliano encourages us to rethink plants as people—beings with subjectivity, consciousness, and volition, and hence having the capacity for their own perspectives and voices. The book draws on up-close-and-personal encounters with the plants themselves, as well as plant shamans, indigenous elders, and mystics from around the world and integrates these experiences with an incredible research journey and the groundbreaking scientific discoveries that emerged from it. Gagliano has published numerous peer-reviewed scientific papers on how plants have a Pavlov-like response to stimuli and can learn, remember, and communicate to neighboring plants. She has pioneered the brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics, for the first time experimentally demonstrating that plants emit their own 'voices' and, moreover, detect and respond to the sounds of their environments. By demonstrating experimentally that learning is not the exclusive province of animals, Gagliano has re-ignited the discourse on plant subjectivity and ethical and legal standing. This is the story of how she made those discoveries and how the plants helped her along the way.