Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans - Softcover

Clapp, Nicholas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1941384056 ISBN 13: 9781941384053

Publisher: Sunbelt Publications, 2015

Synopsis

For a thousand generations, desert shamans of the far West sought order in the stars and in the mysteries and wonder of their grand, if unforgiving landscape. When summoned, they doctored the stricken, be they stoic elders or frightened little children. They conjured rains. Taking leave of reality, they rode whirlwinds and soared in magical flight. They epitomized a native American ability to relate to the land in ways beyond a Western way of thinking. They're gone now. But there remain telling accounts of how, day-to-day, they lived: how omens foretold a shaman's destiny, how he learned his craft, how he could exercise his power for both good and evil. How a shaman could travel to the land of the dead and (hopefully) return. Drawing on the lore of a dozen tribes, Old Magic conjures the year-to-year life of a shaman - a life of service to his people, a life fraught with torment and danger, a life often taking a man or woman to the edge of madness.

About this title

About the Author

Documentary filmmaker and author Nicholas Clapp has explored, filmed, and written about the deserts of the world. He has won over seventy major awards for his documentary work. As an author, his distinguished previous publications include: The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands, Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen, Who Killed Chester Pray?: A Death Valley Mystery, Gold & Silver in the Mojave: Images of a Last Frontier. His latest book, Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans, fulfills a lifetime interest in archaeology and anthropology. He lived with the Zapotecs of southern Mexico (which earned him a Brown University scholarship), participated in the excavation of the Great Temple of Petra in Jordan, and was leader of a team that discovered the lost city of Ubar in the Sultanate of Oman.

Review

Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans belongs in social science and Native American collections alike, examining the lives of the desert shamans of the West and providing important keys to understanding their daily experiences, perspectives and rituals. Old Magic is no singular production: it uses the folklore of a dozen tribes as it builds a diverse picture of the shaman's world, from dream-scape and tribal interactions to desert and mountain landscapes and their influence upon the overall approach of desert shaman ceremonies. Color photos of these landscapes, along with photos of relics and early recorded shaman imagery, pair with discussions that blend history and folklore with an analysis of the spiritual belief systems of the shaman. It would have been all too easy to tailor Old Magic to reach new age audiences alone, but Clapp's focus on documenting the desert shaman's unique approach to nature and human concerns, and the role his environment played in his perspectives, makes for a lively history that will also reach general-interest readers with an interest in Native American culture. --Midwest Book Review - California Bookwatch midwestbookreview.com/calbw/jul_15.htm#IndependentPublishers

Old Magic - Lives of The Desert Shamans, is a well researched, well written social science, anthropological and historical book. It tells the story of the lives of the desert Shamans, their culture, their beliefs in the spirits, their customs, their traditions, and how Shamans exercised their powers for both good and evil. After reading this book I came away with the understanding that the Shamans were a complex group of Native Americans who stuck to their customs, who loved painting on rocks, and showcasing their arts wherever it can be etched. The book is fraught with pictures of various types of rock art, or petroglyphs (rock etchings) it also has geoglyph or rock-scrape. Mr. Clapp is very descriptive when he writes about certain customs of the Shamans. For example, in explaining the ritual of boy's initiation, he is quite detailed, and well researched. He writes, ..."the boys were confined and prepared for the initiation, they knelt before a mortar and drank the portion of the kikisulem - the dry root was powerful, potent and fast acting, the initiates staggered one by one and crumpled to the ground, foamed at the mouth, might murmur or shriek as animals which was a good sign because an animal spirit helper was mighty. The author continues by stating that the boys will sink into a stupor, it was believed, in which they would glimpse what the future had for them and they will become men." Wow! what a vivid description; one can actually visualize certain aspects of the initiation. This form of ritual may seem harsh to some, however, this was the norm, which was quite acceptable and welcoming in the Desert Cahuilla ceremonials. This book is a valuable source of reference material for Social Science as well as Native American Studies. Nicholas Clapp gives his readers a very detailed and comprehensive study of the lives of the Desert Shamans. He did so in a sequential and factual manner. I thought the visuals of rock art, the mountains, deserts, sunsets etc. were quite appealing, and the photography was both awesome and superb. I enjoyed reading Old Magic - Lives of The Desert Shamans. It's a book that should be in every school's library, and should be required reading for high school Social Studies students. The Lives of The Desert Shamans is a history lesson that needs to be told and we all need to hear it. --East County Magazine - Jacqueline Carr 2/18/2015 DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC? eastcountymagazine.org/print/17761 2/3

Edition details

• Publisher: Sunbelt Publications
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1941384056
• ISBN 13: 9781941384053
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 209