Stone Age Wisdom: The Healing Principles of Shamanism - Softcover

Tom Crockett

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592330142 ISBN 13: 9781592330140

Publisher: Fair Winds Pr, 2003

Synopsis

Stone Age Wisdom: The Healing Principles of Shamanism is a book about finding a more balanced way to live based on the wisdom of our Stone Age shamanic ancestors. It examines the worldview of our hunter/gatherer ancestors—the worldview out of which shamanism and shamanic practices evolved. But, it is also a book about living an energetically balanced life today. This "shamanic" worldview is something we have forgotten. It is a way of being in the world that honors the sacred nature of the living force that moves through us and through everything around us. It can be expressed through five principles that offer the promise of renewal and guidance in our lives and our spiritual practices.

These principles are that:

Everything is Alive.
Everything has its own spirit or energetic signature. From this principle we learn to observe and pay attention to everything around us. We strive to see things as they are and learn their true nature. To explore the experience of energetic observation we practice the shaman’s art of vision-shifting.

Everything is Conscious.
Everything has its own form of conscious awareness. From this principle we learn to be present and to enter into true dialogue with the unseen forces around us. We actively engage spirit and energetic forms. To alter our consciousness and attune to spirit we practice the shamanic art of journeying.

Everything is Dynamic.
It is the nature of things to move, change and transform. The shaman knows that where there is movement, there is health. Where energy cannot move there is illness. From this principle we learn to be flexible. We learn to sense the movement of energy and when it is blocked. We adapt the shamanic practice of shape-shifting to learn to move energies not by mastering them but by merging with them.

Everything is Connected.
Everything exists in relationship to everything else. From this principle we learn to be respectful and we come to understand sacred reciprocity and the healing power of relationship. To restore balance and harmony to our relationships we practice ceremony and ritual.

Everything Responds.
The universe responds to our most sacred intentions. From this principle we learn to be clear and to engage the world with embodied prayer. We serve the unseen world by bringing beauty into the seen world. Bridging the waking and dreaming worlds is the art of dream-weaving.

Stone Age Wisdom isn’t simply another manual of shamanic techniques or one person’s story of his shamanic experiences. This is not a guide to Native American spiritual beliefs or an attempt to appropriate elements of other cultures. The author is respectful of these cultures, but is most interested in the emerging practice of Integral Shamanism. This is not a guide to becoming a "Shaman." No book can do that. A "Shaman" is a title bestowed on an individual by the community he or she serves. It is a guide to becoming a "shaman." A "shaman" is one who lives a life aligned to the Stone Age Wisdom principles of shamanism—respecting the unseen world, honoring the sacred nature of life, and living in balance.

The practical exercises contained in this book include:

1. Contemporary Shamanic Dreamwork:
Using the Stone Age Wisdom principles to understand and open to the wisdom of your own dreams.

2. Vision-Shifting:
Developing the ability to see energetically and sense the true living nature of the world around us.

3. Journeying:
Altering our consciousness and experiencing ecstatic oneness to enter into dialogue with the conscious, but unseen world.

4. Shape-Shifting:
Practicing the art of change and learning to move energy.

5. Conducting Ritual:
Mediating between the seen and the unseen worlds.

6. Dream-Weaving:
Directing will and intention through embodied prayer and creative action.

We all know what it feels like to live out of balance, but what does it mean to live in balance, and how do we find it? These are the questions that Stone Age Wisdom: The Healing Principles of Shamanism strives to answer.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Crockett is a writer, teacher, and shamanic counselor. Tom maintains a private shamanic spiritual counseling practice in Newport News, Virginia. He has developed and adapted a form of integral shamanic practice synthesized from the traditions he has studied and based on the principles of ecstasy and healing service. This unique blend of ancient shamanic traditions, Tantric philosophy, and Taoist energetics is designed to help both men and women open to their highest calling. Tom teaches workshops and apprenticeship programs with an emphasis on the contemporary roles of the shamanic practitioner.

Tom Crockett is an ordained minister in both the Universal Life Church and the Circle of the Sacred Earth. He has worked with indigenous healers in Mexico and North America and has studied and practiced shamanism for fifteen years. Tom is also the author of The Artist Inside: A Spiritual Guide to Cultivating Your Creative Self (Broadway Books, 2000) and Turtle Island Dreaming, (Warner Books, 2000).

From the Inside Flap

"In this remarkable book, Tom Crockett takes his reader through a shamanic journey, but he does not teach the traditional shaman s forms of practice. Instead, he describes the evolution of urban shamanism, and how ancient wisdom traditions can be used in contemporary practices. Especially useful are the exercises, ceremonies, and rituals that Crocket prescribes for his readers; especially fascinating are his chapters on dreams and visions. But readers need to heed this warning: your belief systems may never be the same again!"

Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., co-author of Extraordinary Dreams and How to Work with Them and co-editor of Varieties of Anomalous Experience

"Reading Stone Age Wisdom is like following a wise and skillful hunter deep into the forest of dream, art, and sacred healing. This is the world of the shaman, which Tom Crockett shows is as relevant for today s urban environment as it was for our ancient ancestors. Here is a superb program for shamanic training and on-going practice that will nurture personal healing, inspire creativity, and create much-needed community service."

Tom Cowan, author of Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice for Everyday Life and Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit

"Tom Crockett has what shamanic cultures call the strong eye: an ability to see clearly and deeply into the workings of the soul. Guided by a beautiful relationship with his own spirits, he has translated this gift into a rare learning tool. It is rare to find a book which combines such a delicate balance of technical know-how and love for the craft of shamanism. This book is truly a song to the path of healing which will inspire seekers on their own path of discovery."

Alex Stark, internationally recognized consultant and teacher of Feng Shui, oriental geomancy, astrology, and shamanism

"Stone Age Wisdom offers spiritual guidance and pragmatic how to exercises for any reader interested in leading an enriched life. The profound, yet simple wisdom passed down through the ages and Tom Crockett's fluent writing style make this books lessons both accessible and enjoyable."

Richard Whiteley, author of The Corporate Shaman

"Tom Crockett s rendering of contemporary shamanism is not only well written, it is eminently useful one of the most practical manuals of shamanism available anywhere. The five stones of shamanism he provides lay a solid foundation upon which to build your shamanic practice and to transform your life. Stone Age Wisdom is a gem, shining in its applicability to modern life and sparkling with insight gleaned from shamanic traditions."

Joan Parisi Wilcox, author of Keepers of the Ancient Knowledge: The Mystical World of the Q ero Indians of Peru and the forthcoming The Healing and Visionary Powers of Ayahuasca.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fair Winds Pr
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1592330142
• ISBN 13: 9781592330140
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288