Wizard of the Four Winds: A Shaman's Story

Wizard of the Four Winds: A Shaman’s Story is the text that introduced the outside world to shamanic healing in northern Peru. The story of don Eduardo Calderón (who was elevated to almost legendary status as a result of Sharon’s research), this book inspired a generation of academics and shamanic seekers alike. Back, finally and by popular demand, this long-awaited and completely revised second edition presents a detailed discussion of Sharon’s own experiences as the curandero’s apprentice as well as summaries of more than 40 years of scholarship (including Sharon’s own extensive work) into the lives and healing arts of other Peruvian shamanic practitioners. More than 70 pages of updated appendices compare and contrast the ritual symbolism of don Eduardo Calderón’s mesa with shamanic tools and practices found throughout ancient and modern Mesoamerica and South America. Wizard of the Four Winds: a Shaman’s Story is, now more than ever, an indispensable tool for any serious student of Peruvian shamanism!

Douglas Sharon, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist (UCLA) and shamanism scholar who has directed both the University of California/Berkeley's Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the San Diego Museum of Man. He has conducted more than 40 years of field research and published on pre-Columbian and modern shamanic practices in Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Bolivia. His ethnographic film entitled "Eduardo the Healer" is widely utilized in university-level anthropology courses and has won awards at the American, Modern Language, and John Muir Medical film festivals. Currently, Dr. Sharon directs projects in cultural anthropology and lectures internationally on the integration of traditional healing practices with modern public health systems.