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38 A Journal of Contemporary Shamanism VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2 FALL 2013 R E V I E W Michael Harner Writes His Testament by Jrgen I. Eriksson Michael Harners book The Way of the Shaman 1980 opened a new dimension in the lives of many Western- ers. The ground was already prepared by Carlos Castanedas writings about his experiences with his master don Juan Matus in Mexico. But in contrast to Castaneda Harner wrote a manual a systematic description of how shamans can work hands-on. I remember how I almost feverishly turned the pages of The Way of the Shaman and felt an intractable desire to start drumming and journeying into the other worlds. The fact that Michael Harner himself came to Sweden and gave a basic work- shop in shamanism in the summer of 1983 was like a gift from Dreamtime. The impetus of this workshop was far-reaching drumming groups were formed and a lot of soul journeying and ecstatic dancing was being performed. The Way of the Shaman was translated into Swedish and I had the privilege of writing the preface where I stated To those who want to try the way of the shaman Michael Harners book is indispensable. I wouldnt make such a statement on Harners new book Cave and Cosmos Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality 2013. Rather I would say that it might be indispensable to transcend and go beyond Harners version of shamanism if you really want to deeply root your shamanic way in Mother Earth. I am deeply indebted to Michael Harner not only for the workshop in 1983 but above all for two pieces of advice on my own shamanic work he advised me to go North in order to learn from Saami healers and shamans and he had the good idea of how I should find a teacher in non-ordinary reality who could teach me the essence of the old Nordic runes. But this cannot stop me from being downright critical of Cave and Cosmos. To me it is a boring read partly due to the long and detailed stories from Westerners mostly white middle class Americans about what they have experienced when journeying into the dimension that is called the upper world or heaven in core shamanism. I guess that Harners point is that reading those accounts will demonstrate that Westerners can have similar experiences as traditional shamans but then it would have been enough with just a few journeying reports. After all one of Harners main theses is that we all experience different things and that the meaning of the experiences only can be fully understood by the individual doing the journey. Another question that follows and that Harner doesnt address is if you really can compare what an Inuit shaman-to-be experienced naked and alone in a snow hut after fasting for a couple of weeks to what a Westerner experiences during half an hour lying in a cozy and warm room with sonic driving sounds in the earphones. Are the experiences really of the same dimension Doesnt the Inuit shaman have a point when he claims that wisdom only comes through suffer- ing and loneliness I remember how Harner in 1983 frenetically took notes of what people in the workshop told about their journeys explain- ing that he was working on a cosmological cartography. After 30 years we have part of this mapping in Cave and Cosmos - but it is hardly a coherent map of non-ordinary reality since all maps of non-ordinary reality are individual and no one can draw a universal one. Some of the books drawings by Harners disciples describing the different levels of heavens remind me of the Swedish theologian and Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg and his book Heaven and Hell from 1758 In Latin De Caelo et Ejus Mirabilibus et de inferno ex Auditis et Visis Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen. Is Harner trying to establish a new religion He himself rejects such an idea. According to him core shamanism is no religion since it is based on what each individual can experience. You dont believe what other people tell you not even Harner instead you find out for yourself by directly experiencing how things are. That sounds good and is also a traditional shamanic standpoint but core shamanism has been developed into its own brand of shamanism. This is quite obvious if you compare Cave and Cosmos to The Way of the Shaman which really was a general introduction to some of the methods that traditional shamans use. Core shamanism has now been cleansed from most of the cultural and traditional features that you will find in old shamanism and turned into a modern Western individu- ally designed kind of shamanism. According to Harner this culture free kind of shamanism is what best suits Westerners. This might be so especially for those Americans who have lost contact with their own Europe- an indigenous traditions and havent found any creative way to connect to the land of Turtle Island. But there is a danger that this culture free kind of shamanism will be decoupled from