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www.shamansociety.org 37 spirit helpers and our collaboration with them which is our best tool for dealing with the issues of the ego and the shamanic ego. In the next three chapters of this first section of the book The Art of Dying The Art of Healing and The Art of Shapeshifting Poncelet looks at these three aspects of shamanic practice through the lens of authentic being and impeccabil- ity. In The Art of Healing he shares with us his own journey through working with what he referred to as my birth and re- death experiencethat is a diagnosis of possible lung cancer and all the questions and doubts this brought up for him. Were the spirits helping himor testing him Was this an initia- tion And finally do the spirits really exist He also shares how he worked shamanically with his life situation in the time leading up to the operation right to the moment he was being rolled into the operating room. He shares with us many things he learned about healing as a result of this experience perhaps the most important be- ing that healing is all about transformation it is a return to authenticity. The second part of the book Shamanism in the Twenty-First Century moves the reader into applied shamanism. The first two chapters deal with shaman- ism in family daily and profes- sional life and again he brings the concepts of authenticity and impeccability the foundations of ethics into focus. True to his credo that shamanic practice is something that must go on 247 Poncelet outlines numer- ous guidelines for incorporating shamanism into what many experience to be the battlefield of the family or the wasteland of nine-to-five. Practicing shamanically in todays work environ- ments requires dailysometimes hourlywork awareness and attention.We tend to be asleep and forget to do our shamanic practice when we are at work we forget that spirits are all around us and that everything is sacred and interrelated. Remembering the spiritual dimension in everything is perhaps the real challenge in bringing shamanism into professional life. He suggests among other things journeying to the spirits of the organization or the work environment and even journeying to the authentic being of a colleague. Throughout the book especially with his journey sugges- tions Poncelet is clear about the ethical boundaries the shaman must recognize. For example before journeying to the spirit of an organization he asks for permission to do the work from the spirits usually my own spirits guides and the spirit Im journey- ing to. I always start with something like If it is appropriate in light of the greater harmony of the whole I would like to request Respect is a quality he values highly. Some of the most unusual aspects of The Shaman Within are the chapters dealing with shamanism and scientific discovery time and the birth of the Universe. Of course this is normal fare for a shamanic physicist but not something one expects to find in a book about shamanism. But in three mind-bending chapters Poncelet takes us beyond the edge of the cosmos to creation in a way that shamanic practitioners can easily follow and appreciate. And appropriately he calls us back to Earth in the final two chapters which deal with heal- ing the world and its communities and healing our relationship with Nature. For me these very grounded yet poetic chapters provide much encouragement and many guidelines for everyone who has ever thought I want to heal the Earth. As Poncelet incisively points out The transfor- mation must begin with us and ultimately depends on changing our attitude toward and relationship with the natural environment. This is because humans are an inte- gral part of nature a human is after all an animal. No separation Since Michael Harners ground- breaking The Way of the Shaman there have been quite a few books about the practice of modern shamanism. The Shaman Within is one of the best. Claude Poncelet is generous with his thoughts insights and experience. There is an inviting warmth openness and compassion in his style. But because it is so packed it is not a quick easy read. The book is for studying. Thirteen chapters one for each moon perhapsthat feels about right. Hopefully it will help you as it has me to see your own shamanic path with fresh eyes and come to deeper insights of where you are going where you have been and most important Poncelet would say where you are. I look forward to his next book. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jonathan Horwitz is European Editor of A Journal of Contemporary Shamanism. He has been studying and working with shamanism since 1972 and teaching since 1986. He is co-founder and director of the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies and lives in the woods in Sweden.