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Turning inside out the traditional view of David as a beloved king and gentle author of the Psalms, India Edghill's well-written debut novel Queenmaker paints a dark picture of the lauded biblical hero as seen through the eyes of his first wife, Michal. David's silver-tongued way with words captures Michal's heart, but her marriage to him is soon annulled by her half-mad father, King Saul. She's packed off to marry the widowed farmer Phaltiel, whom Michal soon learns to love. When David gains the throne of Israel and sends for Michal, she discovers that David has become a king who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Through courage and wit, Michal must carve out a new life as the queen and wife of a man she now despises. Edghill isn't afraid to change biblical narrative to suit her story, and paints David as a selfish, grasping leader whose feet of clay are all too evident in this tale. Those who like their biblical narrative served straight up and their heroes untarnished may be disturbed by this reassessment; those who like a good story and a new spin on biblical champions, however, will enjoy this unvarnished look at one of Judaism's and Christianity's most lauded personalities. --Cindy Crosby
Book Description
For over forty years, Michal lived and reigned in David's court. She was the beautiful and proud daughter of King Saul and the prize David would risk his kingdom to win. Behind the palace doors, beneath the burning sun of the desert, or fleeing from Absalom's warriors, Michal was at the center of court intrigues. Queenmaker introduces in unforgettable detail the characters of one of the greatest periods in Biblical history-their public deeds and private thoughts-and gives us the court of the kings as only a woman could see it.
Customer Reviews:
Very good read.......2007-08-13
This book was a very good read for me, in fact I finished it in 2 days! It was so interesting that it was hard to put down. If you enjoyed The Red Tent, you'll also enjoy this one.
SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED "THE KINGMAKER".......2007-07-18
With an abundance of historical and biblical fact, a bit of speculation and a dash of supposition, India Edghill has created an exciting and admirable character in Michal, daughter of Saul (Israel's first King)
and first wife of David. We are introduced to Michal first as the naïve farmer's daughter who, through a prophetic event, realizes every young girls dream when she becomes a princess. She meets David, the handsome, charismatic young Shepard and slayer of giants (a man who her father views as a threat to his reign) and is besotted. She becomes David's wife and takes her first steps into a life fraught with equal measures of hope and despair, love and hate, jealousy and intrigue.
Caught up a series of events beyond her control, Michal makes the best of every bad situation. The David of Edghill's narrative is not the loving, kind warrior King we were introduced to in Sunday School, but a greedy, ruthless, conniving politician as well as an egotistical and demanding husband.
Survival on the throne of Israel is a major achievement, since the palace is a political hotbed of danger and dirty dealings. We watch as Michal slowly transforms into a strong, shrewd and perceptive Queen ........ an observer of human nature and a schemer of sorts who does her best to manipulate each situation then patiently waits for her opportunity to capitalizes on the outcome.
Rather than seeing a teenaged Bathsheba as a threat, she befriends the young girl. Later, when Bathsheba gives birth to Solomen, Michal is instrumental in his development offering her guidance and counsel and is ultimately the "Shepard" who guides the future King.
This is an epic novel about a determined, proud and resilient woman of destiny who would have done well even in today's competitive society. Michal is without doubt "The Ultimate Survivor".
Remeber, this is fiction.......2006-11-10
To read this for purely entertainment I loved it.
I wanted to keep reading and wanted to know what was next.
But I don't know much about the biblical facts. But the book bashed King David and Queen Michal had a mind of her own, very independent. I don't really think that biblically that she would of. She would have been thrown to the wolves .if she contradicted the court. But, if you read this. Read it for the entertainment value and then get your tanank out.
King David was too big for his britches many woman loved him and he had gold coming out of his ears. He had other kill for him at least 4 that are named in the book. He had many wives and comcubines. including Batsheva. But he really loved Michal. But Michal grew bitter of him. She had no love for him but just went through the motions.
King David saw Batsheva and had Batsheva's husband sent in battle knowing full well he would be killed. Since Batsheva was pregnant he could explain this away having him killed. The king was then free to marry batsheva and having a son. Michal became very found of Batsheva when she came into the kingdom, and took them under her wing.
Michal, became found of Batsheva and her son ,Solomon who would become the next king. Michal thought of Soloman as her son. As she was barren and would not have any children.
King David will never build the great temple for Hashem it will have to wait til Solomon becomes king.
Queen Michal never asked anything from king David only 2 things to help Batsheva when whe was pregnant. And for Solomon to be the next king. Very interesting ending a bit contrived. This book was never rushed. Well paced through out. I would give this 5 stars for the entertainment value only. I did love the writting, based on other biblical fiction I have read this was written like the bible very poetic.
Another Compelling Page Turner---Different Take on Familiar Biblical Stories.......2006-08-13
*****
This book was another one of those page-turners that kept me up for most of 24 hours to read. It is a novel told from the point-of-view of Michal, David's first wife. It is about Michal, about Biblical times, and hugely about David---for David is "The Queenmaker". Michal became his Queen. Although it takes place in Biblical times, it is not a Christian novel; it is rather a revealing novel, an alternative novel, and a novel that empowers women.
To those readers who are unfamiliar with Michal and David---they are written about in the Bible in the books of I Samuel, II Samuel, and I Kings primarily, but elsewhere too. It is really fun to read the Biblical stories and then read "The Queenmaker". Our American culture has taught us that David is a huge hero and "a man after God's own heart"...however, when you read India Edghill's version of Bible events, it gives you an alternative take on King David. Her view actually makes more sense than does the Biblical view, and probably was more likely to have really occurred. It's sort of what you might come to if you really thought about the Bible before you were taught what was true about it and what you HAD to believe (if you've been raised in a church).
What would we think of a man who married a woman, slept with her on her wedding night, took off in fear for his life the next morning, not to be seen from or heard from again by her for 10 years. Michal is forced to marry a farmer husband who she comes to love and they live happily together for almost 10 years. Then David returns, with other wives and concubines, and decides he wants Michal too. So he rips her from her environment and brings her to be his wife along with all of his other women. This is only the beginning. It gets worse. David's acts are mostly incredibly selfish, often cruel, frequently against Jewish law, and yet because he simply professes his love for Yahweh albeit with very little outward evidence of this love, he was revered as a hero, and is still looked up to today as a hero by many.
"The Queenmaker" brings all of this to life, as well as the time and country, the Jewish culture, and more. Michal grows wiser and learns how to survive by her wits and how to find love.
If you are open to different takes on Biblical stories, you'll like this book. It's not a Christian novel in the typical sense at all. However, I think that open-minded Christians would love it because it would make them think, and think hard about why they believe what they do.
*****
Queenmaker Brings Old Testament into 21st Century! .......2006-02-25
As you read Queenmaker, you are aware that the people are living in a much different time. However, the attitudes, the clamor for power, the "way the world turns" has not changed, even though our ways of life differ. Most readers do not live in situations where there are many other wives, concubines, servants, etc. Nor is our world so small. However, the human complexities and frailties are the same.
The writing style is most enjoyable; it moves the stories along rapidly, and keeps the reader involved.
Product Description
Hardback
Book Description
In the summer of 1942, six months after the American entry into the Second World War, the Canadian Army authorized the movement of nearly seven hundred soldiers to the United States for training as part of the First Special Service Force. From that summer until disbandment, Canadian and American soldiers served in a completely integrated military formation, a "North American" force that was without parallel in the history of either nation - even though the Force often proved a frustrating exercise in military cooperation.From the Aleutian Islands to the wartorn hills of Italy, from the Anzio Beachhead to the liberation of Rome and the invasion of Southern France, the First Special Service Force distinguished itself in combat and is today remembered as a proudly shared inheritance of two North American nations.
We Move Only Forward presents the history of the Force from a Canadian perspective, focusing on the efforts taken in Ottawa, Washington and overseas to maintain a Canadian presence in the Force. This book traces the course of a complicated relationship between the First Special Service Force and those military bureaucracies. Set against a background of success in the field, difficulties arising from cooperation between unequal partners led to a gradual erosion of the unit's elite character, ending in December 1944, when the Force was disbanded and the Canadian element was quietly withdrawn.
Average customer rating:
- Not Free SF Reader
- Gripping
- Wow, a challenging book to review.
- Perhaps wonderful M. M. Smith's best novel
- Mystified
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Only Forward
Michael Marshall Smith
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Adventure
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
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One of Us
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Spares
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The Upright Man
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Blood of Angels
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Straw Men
ASIN: 0553579703
Release Date: 2000-09-05 |
Book Description
Only a handful of authors write with such startling originality that the uniqueness of their vision has become synonymous with their name. In Spares and One of Us, Michael Marshall Smith has earned that distinction. In this unsettling, suspenseful, and wildly imaginative novel he's written a tale that from page one hurtles us....
Only Forward
Call him Stark. If you have to. If you're lucky, you won't call him at all. Because if you do, it means you've got trouble. Big trouble. And the problem is that before Stark is done fixing something, a whole lot of other things usually get broken. Like laws and lives--and anyone who gets in the way. It's that attitude that's earned him his latest assignment: finding a missing VIP named Fell Alkland. The authorities believe Alkland has been kidnapped. Stark doesn't. He hasn't stayed alive this long without learning the basics of survival in a world hurtling straight to hell: Things are always more complicated than they seem. And when a job seems too easy, that's when something really ugly is about to happen. For Fell Alkland is about to become Stark's worst nightmare, a nightmare where anything can happen at any time--where friends can become enemies in a heartbeat and your most secret fear a soul-screaming reality. And the worst of it is that for this nightmare you don't even have to be asleep.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-24
Stark is a troubleshooter who has a specialty in recovery of things that people can't find. In this case he is tasked to find a scientist.
However, it is not that simple, really, the City he lives in is very bizarre, indeed, with different parts being completely different and having completely different rules. As in rules of reality, more Cynosure or Wonderland than just the bad neighborhood or slum type of thing.
Didn't quite work for me, but is not bad.
Gripping.......2007-01-10
The first thing a reader should know about this creation is that its not what it seems.
And what it seems to be, at first, is a light adventure through a future world filled with intresting gadgets, and intresting ways of life.
Something, though, just doesnt seem right.
Without giving away any parts of this beautiful story, i'll just tell you this: at some point, everything will change, as bigger things will surface, and everything will become much darker, much more serious, and this book will take a sharp turn towards the fantasy gener.
I'm giving this a 10\10(and its the only book to get that from me), highly recommended.
Wow, a challenging book to review........2006-08-22
What a fascinating book.
I'm giving this one a good review because I thought that elements of only forward were greater than the sum of it's parts. As a collective, the novel really doesn't hold together all that well but when you examine it's finer pieces there are some really beautiful things at play here.
I picked up Only Forward because I am presently going back and reading all the Philip K Dick award winners. For those of you who don't know, the award is given each year for the best annual sci-fi novel that did not receive a hard cover publication. Dick never received a hardcover publication in his lifetime which was why the award was created. I've read some phenomenal books as a result, including one of my favorites 'Altered Carbon' by Richard K Morgan. Altered Carbon is brutal, hard-boiled, and very conventional cyberpunk and I think that when Michael Marshall Smith gave some of the readers who left bad reviews here a taste of something similar they fully expected him to run in that direction.
Instead, at almost exactly the halfway point, Only Forward slips right off the deep end. All of the conventional worlds and detail that Smith has established are eliminated and it's almost as though we start completely from scratch again. It's quite a leap of faith he makes with his readers to expect them to come along for the ride and I have to admit I found the next 75 or so pages to be a little bit of drudgery.
Eventually he started to reel me back in with characters and backstory that I found extremely compelling. Perhaps I was in just the right mood for it but the ending was a perfect pitch of sadness and satisfaction, despite the fact that (due to the unreliable narrator) Smith jammed a TON of exposition into the last 50 pages.
So I suppose I was finally able to suspend my disbelief enough to let the themes play out and just come along for the ride, though I can understand enough why some readers just couldn't. Upon reflection I found that the sci-fi aspects of the book were actually pretty conventional and cliche, almost satirically so. It's the plunge and what follows after which was really unique and satisfying.
There is a lot here that DOESN'T work though. While I found the Douglass Adams-y aspects of the writing entertaining (the bug finder made me laugh out loud), eventually they just dissapear and also it just DIDN'T fit together with the brutal and hard boiled aspects of the first half. To go from humorous jokes about the main characters shirt to women defecating on each other (an isolated element here but still) was just too much of a stretch for me. Also some of the material suffers because Smith just attempts to do too many things at once and it becomes unclear exactly WHAT he's shooting for. If the cyperpunk-ish city is meant as sci-fi than aspects of it (the cat city) need a clearer explanation for their existence than what he gives. If the incidental to what he was really trying to accomplish than (in my own limited opinion of course) he shouldn't have spent SO much time establishing it's rules.
If this all sounds vague and unclear than you have some idea of what it was like to read the second half of the novel.
Either way I found each of the individual elements of the story interesting individually even if they weren't cohesive. There were moments that I found Michael Marshall Smith actually managed capture horror in a way that you're conventional blood drenechd "horror" novels can only stab at (pun intended.) There are nightmares here that left me a little sick and uneasy as though they'd been my own. Parts of it are really funny. And some of it is really exciting. If you can get past the fact that it is inconsistent and just take the story as it evolves you may just have a good time.
Perhaps wonderful M. M. Smith's best novel.......2005-12-08
A few comments inspired by the below reviewer who seems to think of himself as an expert of sociology (by the way, M. M. Smith studied social sciences, so it may be that he's actually an expert, or, in this case, the expert)...
One of the neighbourhoods is indeed controlled by gangs, or the huge central area of it is, but it is illogical to say that something is controlled and chaotic at the same time. Moreover, as Stark clearly narrates in the book, the leading gang of the neighbourhood is so strong that when other gangs come to its area with their tanks and whatnot they hide their weapons and observe the speed limit.
And "the isolated neighbourhood" is not, in fact, isolated: only the main population living in it is, which, also, is clearly mentioned in the novel.
As for the Jeamland... Well, it's an essential part of the story. But if the reader is very literal-minded, he won't get it, nor, consequently, the entire story.
As an interesting side note: another fantastic UK writer, M. John Harrison, thinks very highly of Only Forward (google "harrison top 10").
Mystified.......2005-09-10
The Library Journal describes ONLY FORWARD as an "...sf action thriller in a color-coded near future, where independent neighborhoods vie for dominance in a dangerous and deadly high-tech world." Well, I actually read ONLY FORWARD and, while there are neighborhoods that are very distinctive, there wasn't much vying for dominance going on, nor is this what I would call a "thriller". It was mostly a live-and-let-live arrangement among the neighborhoods, and any excitement generated in the first part of the book was dissipated in the vapid second part.
The neighborhoods are all featured primarily in the first part of ONLY FORWARD, wherein Stark (the main character) tries to locate and bring home missing technologist Fell Alkland. This part of the book is mildly amusing, but suffers from a degree of predictability. Moreover, the neighborhood concept suffers from a lack of internal consistency, which makes it hard to take seriously. One, for example, is controlled by gangs and completely chaotic, with killings and destruction the order of the day. The trouble with such a "neighborhood" is that it would be reduced to an uninhabitable pile of rubble within a very short time. Another "neighborhood" exists in total isolation; walled off from its neighbors and keeping its citizens in total ignorance of the existence of an outside world. Hard to figure how this is managed when it becomes clear that the neighborhood is (surprise) not self-sufficient and must trade with other neighborhoods to maintain itself. Inconsistencies such as these are common in the first half of the book.
The latter part of ONLY FORWARD throws the unsuspecting reader into Jeamland. Jeamland is a fanciful dreamworld; a surreal vision conjured up out of thin air that, like a dream, has no internal consistency. Indeed, the Jeamland environment shifts with the slippery ease of an oil-slick on the surface of a running stream. There's a lot of action here, but it isn't particularly compelling because the prevailing reality changes at the whim of certain characters and it's hard to accept that one character can be harmed by another character's dream.
Some folks apparently really like this book. It's even won awards. Not in my Jeamland, however (in my Jeamland, I just won the Lotto and I'm off to Sacramento to claim my prize). I confess that I'm mystified as to what folks see in it. Someone wrote about ONLY FORWARD that "...the story blazes with visionary intensity." Well, there may be some intensity (if you can get past the absurdity), but there's nothing visionary about it. Very little of what it contains could possibly occur in any imaginable reality. In fact, this isn't science fiction at all. It's fantasy of the most extreme sort. Even Tolkien's fantasy world is internally consistent and functions by some recognizable rules. Little of that exists here; none in Jeamland.
"Properly warned ye be, says I." The first part of ONLY FORWARD was far-fetched and predictable, but worth three stars in my book. I found the Jeamland part more mind-numbing than mind-bending, though. If surrealism is your cup of tea, go for it. At least you've been warned about what you're getting into. But, if your reading tastes are anything like mine, this is a two star book. You're on your own.
Book Description
This work, written in rhyme, sails to the depths of my soul and unfurls my mind. It is the absurd realities that have caught my eye, twisted into theories neatly conveyed through symbolic verse. Examined within are the obvious thoughts-relentlessly overlooked-that are carelessly accepted elements of life. They are deliberately transformed, however, into explanations for the not so apparent. The beauty of expression, in such poetic abstract, is to entirely lay one's self on the line without the perplexing emotion that accompanies everything: fear. The fear that surrounds all that is imagined, believed and/or executed ironically does not influence the publication of this poetry. I, at last, have no fear of being judged on the reflection and interpretation of my words, for there can be no concrete understanding. The ability to fully comprehend another is as intangible as the dream of utter perfection; although these pursuits are respectably desirable, attainment of them would lead only to an unwanted end and consequently to boredom. As a quest to gain limited understanding of the human mind, of the everlasting fear with which we all reside, and to provide an outlook perhaps not previously attended to, I sincerely give to you my compilation of attempted expression.
Average customer rating:
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Only Forward
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739413929 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Chief Executive (U.S.), published by Chief Executive Publishing on July 1, 2004. The length of the article is 2163 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Flex forward: Flextronics' Michael Marks says that outsourcing can only get much, much bigger.(Global)
Author: Justin Doebele
Publication:
Chief Executive (U.S.) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2004
Publisher: Chief Executive Publishing
Issue: 200
Page: 34(4)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Customer Reviews:
Generous of Spirit.......2007-09-24
Oh, how I enjoyed this read. Other than being in the same room with all these wonderful souls and holding one on one discussions; this is the next best experience. I am very grateful to Hillary Webb for her commitment to bring this forward. The discussions are personal and honest. This book reaffirmed my own path and invited me to step fully into my Shaman heart.
Peak Into the Shamanic World.......2007-04-09
If you are interested in shamans and shamanic ideas you will find a lot to like in this book. Shamans are, after all, people. And don't we find most people intriguing by their very individuality? The shamans in this book are indeed quite individual. Some are serious (the world may well be ending soon), some are funny (the spirits didn't like me because when I did the fire ritual I got blisters on my feet). Some are full of odd ideas (to get psychic powers, give up sex), some are full of truth (you can't be a good shaman unless you stay humble). And some are full of themselves (I think and I find and I view and I feel that I do it better than anyone). These are not direct quotes, BTW, but paraphrased statements because I did not wish to disrespect by name and remove someone's dignity in public. Every shaman in the book is quite capable of doing that for themselves. But while some tried, few succeeded.
There was something worthwhile in each chapter. I learned more about human nature and certainly learned more about what is thought of as Westerm shamanism in this interview overview. Hillary Webb does a fair job with her questions and allows some of the best hearts in the country to express their wisdom to the reader. I would unhesitantly recommend to an interested party they buy this book.
Diverse viewpoints from respected teachers and famous figures.......2005-09-13
Webb has assembled and participated in some illuminating and inspiring interviews with a number of influential shamanic practitioners, teachers and writers who for the most part seem to resonate a great deal of integrity, intelligence and compassion. There isn't "shop talk" or "how-to" material, but rather some indispensible background, theory and context for each shaman's practices, with lots of insight into the humanness and particularity of each individual--each shaman's personality and sense of humor are given space to reveal themselves. This book is an excellent reference to consult if one is considering studying with one or more of these teachers (most of whom I've seen on workshop schedules all around the country, I myself have taken workshops from a number of the shamans included here). The shamans in this book reflect to my mind pretty accurately the assortment of well-known teachers a person now living in the United States--particularly, a person with access to the usual workshop venues--can study with and purchase books by. The shamans here are from all over the world, all of them involved with different indigenous cultures, but I think it is important to note, this selection of shamans is one of shamans who have chosen to teach very publicly, especially here in the United States. I'm just making this distinction because while I can even personally vouch for the integrity and validity of a number of these practitioners, and am glad they are putting themselves out there as public figures by teaching and writing, I would also like to remind readers that there are many fine practitioners and teachers who aren't on the workshop circuit, and/or even eschew a public persona. I personally think there's room for both ways of being in the world (and more), no value judgement intended in this distinction, but I just think especially in our consumerist society it's good to remind ourselves that quality does not necessarily require the imprimatur of "officially" being recognized as something by having written a book or cooperated with institutions.
A great practice for skeptical thinking skills.......2005-08-15
I picked up this book thinking it was a modern-day counterpart of the excellent "Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives" by Joan Halifax. But while Halifax interviewed or referenced the words of "traditional" shamans, many maintaining a life in their indigenous tribal settings, Webb chose to interview "contemporary" shamans who have all brought their teachings to Western consumers.
I recommend Webb's book as a wonderful overview of the current "shamanic" market out there today. It presents, in nicely packaged chunks, interviews with two dozen people who have dedicated themselves to sharing modern-day "shamanic" healing practices and philosophies to pretty much anybody who is willing to take the time to listen (although, in some cases, you'll need to bring a wad of cash as well).
Notice I put "shamanic" in quotes, because some of the people interviewed by Webb can only be called a "shaman" by using modern-day pop terminology, and only a few appear to have gone through any of the traditional grueling rituals and (often painful) rites associated with the type of shamanism often portrayed in Halifax's book (and Mircea Eliade's ground-breaking work on the subject as well). Nonetheless, pretty much everybody in Webb's book meets Eliade's definition of a shaman, i.e. "in which a spiritual leader traveled to an upper or lower world through a controlled state of ecstasy (trance) and conversed with spirits in those other worlds for the benefit of the community (or individuals within the community)", so I'm willing to give Webb and her subjects the benefit of the doubt in that respect.
That being said, readers of Webb's book would be well advised to take a healthy dash of salt with them as they peruse the words of the 24 modern-day shamans she interviews.
I said Webb presents a wonderful overview of the current shamanic market, and I mean it in that she gives a very good look into what's out there, both good and bad. Webb seems to see herself as the journalistic explorer, foraging through the jungles of spirituality to find hidden wellsprings of spiritual knowledge. And, as such, she doesn't seem to ever cast the eyes of doubt upon any of her subjects, instead presenting all of them as equally valid sources of divine truth.
In short, Webb leaves the validation of her sources as an exercise to the reader. And, like many exercises, I found this one to be quite stimulating and beneficial, although tiring at times.
Some of the interviews in this book are real gems. For example, I found the ideas of Gabrielle Roth to be quite inspiring, the views and advice of Tom Cowan to be very insightful, and the anecdotes of Malidoma Patrice Some' to be very intriguing. Several other people interviewed by Webb presented truly memorable ways of thinking that I find myself repeatedly turning back to for enjoyable reference.
Yet mixed in between the established, respected modern-day shamanic practicioners are interviews people of very dubious backgrounds. Some, like the infamous Brooke "Medicine Eagle" Edwards, are considered by indigenous people to be among the most exploitive frauds out there today. Others, such as "Bee Shaman" Simon Buxton, are entertaining to read but offer no basis of reference that anything they say is anything more than a glorious work of fiction.
I finished the book quite glad to have read it, even if I wasn't always certain of the validity of the people Webb was quoting. In the cases where I found myself doubting the integrity of one of Webb's sources, I had to ask myself why I felt that way, and to search inside to understand what it was that I felt was spiritually rubbing me the wrong way. Likewise, I also made sure I questioned myself when I found a writer I particular agreed with to make sure I was accepting their views because they made sense, and not just because of their charismatic verbal abilities.
Webb should be applauded for her effort. And even if a particular basis for ritual presented by one of her sources isn't historically sound, that doesn't mean it isn't spiritually valid. As Tom Cowan told Webb, "Every shaman has an idiosyncratic way of practicing. Even if you are in a strong tradition and are trained by elders in that tradition, you end up practicing in your own unique way. ... [T]he power you get comes from the spirits." Only you can judge for yourself whether a particular path, no matter how modern or traditionally based, is the one that's right for your life's journey. Having a good selection to choose from, to me, can only help the process - as long as you make your choice in a well thought-out manner.
Enjoy!
fascinating meetings with modern shamans living in the west.......2004-12-16
i found this book quite fascinating. it is uplifting to read the views of many different practitioners of this archaic art.
i study shamanism in norway with sami shaman ailo gaup, and think it is an excellent practice to reach the deeper, inner self, the authentic and big Heart, while at the same time emphazising the importance of healing nature and to "be an agent" for mother earth. this is a way to direct experience of ones true nature and the sacred. this is a way opposite of fundamentalism and fanatism, "us and them". this is religious experience without the dogma of organized religion. i strongly recommend anyone with philosophical inclinations to look into shamanism, and to find a compassionate and wise shamanic teacher!
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- Taste of Reality
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Books Index
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Wisdom's Daughter : A Novel of Solomon and Sheba
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