Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xvi, 349 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

1. Shamanism was not only humankind's first spiritual and healing practice, it was originally the domain of women. This is the claim of Barbara Tedlock's provocative and myth-shattering book. Reinterpreting generations of scholarship, Tedlock-herself an expert in dreamwork, divination, and healing-explains how and why the role of women in shamanism was misinterpreted and suppressed, and offers a dazzling array of evidence, from prehistoric African rock art to modern Mongolian ceremonies, for women's shamanic powers. Tedlock combines firsthand accounts of her own training among the Maya of Guatemala with the rich record of women warriors and hunters, spiritual guides, and prophets from many cultures and times. Probing the practices that distinguish female shamanism from the much better known male traditions, she reveals: -- The key role of body wisdom and women's eroticism in shamanic trance and ecstasy -- The female forms of dream witnessing, vision questing, and use of hallucinogenic drugs -- Shamanic midwifery and the spiritual powers released in childbirth and monthly female cycles -- Shamanic symbolism in weaving and other feminine arts -- Gender shifting and male-female partnership in shamanic practice. Filled with illuminating stories and illustrations, The Woman in the Shaman's Body restores women to their essential place in the history of spirituality and celebrates their continuing role in the worldwide resurgence of shamanism today.

Subject

1. Shamanism
2. Women shamans
3. Women healers
4. Women
5. Shamanism
6. Women
7. shamanism
8. shamans
9. healers
10. women (female humans)
11. Women healers
12. Women shamans
13. Sjamanisme
14. Genezing
15. Vrouwen

Contents

1. Reclaiming History -- Old Wisdom -- Healing and the Seekers of Knowledge: What Shamans Do -- Handprints on a Cave Wall: Women Shamans in Prehistory -- Summoning Whales, Serpents, and Bears: Women Shamans in History -- The Disappearing Act: How Female Shamanism Was Eclipsed -- Shamanic Traditions in Action -- The Mystical Union: Eroticism, Ecstasy, and Trance -- Riding the Wind Horse: A Shamanic Performance -- Crossroads Between Worlds: The Power of Dreaming -- The Dolphin Wore Diamonds: Following the Path of Dreams -- Song of the Coneflower: Herbalism and Plant Power -- The Flowery Dream: The Shamanic Use of Psychedelics -- The Female Cycle: Menstruation, Birth, and Creation -- Butterflies in the Moonlight: Blood Magic -- The Sacred, the Dangerous, and the Forbidden: Menstrual Taboos as Feminine Power -- Calling Forth the Spirits: Birth, Ritual, and the Midwife's Art -- Tied to the Fabric of the Sky: Weavers and Celestial Goddesses -- Lightning in the Shadows: A Midnight Healing Seance -- The Power of Gender and Shamanic Revitalization -- Uniting Separate Realms: Gender Shifting in Shamanism -- Brave Acts and Visions: Women Warriors and Prophets -- Rekindling the Flame: Shamanic Revitalization and Reconstruction.

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-330) and index.