A Lesson from the Tiger — Working with an Animal Spirit Guide — Steel Dragon describes how a tiger's direct gaze at a zoo became a working relationship with his tiger spirit guide, and how the tiger's lesson — that confidence need not show as aggression — resolved a real social difficulty.
A Vision of Halloween in the World Above — Bob Thomson's brief visionary encounter with Lady Death on Halloween — the Great Banshee as shapeshifter, crow, and skeleton, with a fondness for Irish beer.
An Enchanted Wood in Dorset — A Visit to a Power Place — A first-hand account by British practitioner AL D of visiting a spiritually charged ancient hill-fort wood in Dorset, England — sensing land spirits in the twisted ancient beeches and reading the impressions of an ancient massacre. Posted to alt.religion.shamanism in January 2006.
Another Mysterious Wood — Ancient Stones and a Rune — Al D's account of a solo walk to a second woodland with no birdsong — inexplicably snapped trees, freshly-placed boulders, ancient standing stones, and a rune stone of Odin discovered in a rock niche.
Between Two Worlds — A Meditation Breakthrough — Al D's account of a meditation breakthrough in which his bedroom and a river in his childhood village became simultaneously present, raising the question of which reality was the real one — and how he found safety in a channel of divine light.
Developing Connection with the Enchanted Wood — AL D's second major essay on the Dorset enchanted wood — how the spirit of the place followed him home, severed a romantic obsession, and became a daily source of restoration and power.
Flight — A Journey Through the Golden Caves — Bosco describes a shamanic journey through portal, golden-plated caverns, and an underground village to receive an oblique answer from its leader.
Getting into an Altered State — A Practical Guide from Experience — Sandy Dollar's personal guide to entering altered states for shamanic journeying, drawn from her own practice — from dripping downspouts in the Sumas Mountains to alarm clock ticks to drumming tapes — with notes on spirit types from Harner and a reading list.
Introduction to alt.religion.shamanism — A scholarly introduction to the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.shamanism — its community of international practitioners, principal contributors, and the archive of shamanic practice writing it produced between 2003 and 2008.
Introduction to Shamanism — alt.religion.shamanism FAQ — The community FAQ for alt.religion.shamanism, covering definitions, cosmology, spirit types, and initiation. Written by Joseph Bearwalker Wilson with community contributions.
Kundalini Awakening — A First-Hand Warning — Sandy Dollar describes her spontaneous kundalini awakening twenty years prior: the physical symptoms, the sleepless nights, the whole-body fire, the surges of awareness — and the single piece of advice that matters most.
Living in Harmony — Balance Between Higher and Lower Self — tamara reflects on how alt.religion.shamanism taught her to replace sin-based Christianity with a shamanic understanding of balance — embracing both creative and destructive forces, higher and lower self, as the living architecture of the world.
Living Symbols — Ruins and Memories at Lake Þingvallavatn — An Icelander's encounter with the layered history of the Þingvellir landscape: ruins whispering in the wind, a commemorative cross, the hill of a Viking-age murder, and the baptismal spring of Iceland's Christianization.
Long Time Abiding — A shaman's account of being attacked by hostile spiritual entities after a major shamanistic event, being counseled to 'abide,' and the slow process of enduring spiritual siege.
My Introduction to Shamanism — Bosco describes the midnight encounter that introduced him to shamanism — the three men who tested him, the dog sent to attack, and the Lioness who came from behind him to intercept it.
Notes on Andean Shamanism — The Qero Paqo Tradition — Two posts by Nita Byrd, a fourth-level Andean priest initiated under Juan Nunez del Prado, sharing practitioner knowledge of the Inka paqo tradition: cosmology, the mesa, Chumpi stones, the Hatun Karpay, and the Qero people of Peru.
Plant Spirits, Rock Spirits, and Journeying into Objects — Sandy Dollar's account of working with plant, mineral, and animal spirit helpers — including the technique of journeying into objects (iron ore, quartz crystal, maple leaf) — and her reflections on previous incarnations as the source of spirit guides.
Power Spots and Orishas — A Personal Theory — Al D connects his experiences with the Dorset enchanted wood to the concept of power spots in shamanic literature, and to the Candomblé tradition's account of orishas as guardians of personal power places.
Respect versus Embrace — Keeping the Balance — Tamara, a ten-year practitioner on alt.religion.shamanism, returns after a hiatus to pass on the old-timers' warning about the difference between respecting spirits and losing yourself to them.
Shaman Journey to Meet Mother Earth — Sandy Dollar's final shamanic journey — a meditation-trance descent to the Earth's iron core, where she encounters Mother Earth as a wounded, suffering figure and receives a call to stewardship.
Shamanic Calling — An Explanation in Traditional Chinese Medicine Terms — A speculative framework by Nick Argall interpreting shamanic vocation, journeying, and calling-symptoms through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine — specifically the Hun (ethereal soul) and its relationship to the Liver organ-system.
Shamanism from a Swedish Point of View — A three-part essay by Swedish practitioner K-ET tracing shamanic traditions from prehistoric hunter-gatherers through rock carvings, Norse seithr, medieval witchcraft, and modern spiritualism — posted to alt.religion.shamanism in 2005.
Speak to the River — A Conversation at Mt. Hecla — An Icelander's first attempt to commune with a river spirit near the volcano Mt. Hecla, discovering a two-sided river — soft and motherly on the upstream face, furious and wild below — and recognising a twelve-year love.
Spirit Keys and the Wizards' Annual Fair — Navigation in the Shamanic Multiverse — Bob Thomson reflects on two competing theories of shamanic navigation: the common guideless approach and the more esoteric idea of gates, gatekeepers, and spiritual passports — drawing on his own experience receiving a small golden key during a journey and using it to access a gathering his companion named the Wizards' Annual Fair.
Spiritual Embrace — A poem by K-ET about mystical devotion to a spirit-beloved and the social cost of living between worlds.
The Cookie — Spirit Helpers in Everyday Life — Bosco shares how his spirit helper Otter developed a taste for Mrs. Fields cookies and taught him to restore his relationship with Crow through small offerings.
The Dark Night of the Soul — A Shaman's View — FLORA on the recurring cycles of darkness and renewal in shamanic life — grounded wisdom from a practitioner who has walked through multiple crucibles.
The Gift of Limitations — On Focus and Intent — bosco reflects on focus and intent as rare spiritual gifts that most people are mercifully without — and why their absence is a form of protection, for the self and for everyone else.
The Job Interview — A Shamanic Calling — bosco imagines the interview he must have undergone as a very young child, when spirit beings reviewed his qualifications and offered him a 'life job' he was too young to understand but could not refuse.
The Last of Its Kind — 5th Journey to the Lower World — Sandy Dollar's fifth lower-world journey: a renewal of a damaged spirit-landscape, a pansy flower that speaks of extinction, and the acquisition of a tiger as spirit animal.
The Toothed Fish — A Journey from Old Notes — Bosco revisits decade-old notes about clearing spirit obstacles in the form of toothed fish, recognizing he instinctively did real shamanic work before he had any name for it.
The Water Journey — Nearly Trapped in the Lower World — A practitioner of part Cherokee descent describes a shamanic journey where she transformed into water and nearly dissolved into a creek, unable to pull herself back together — a vivid personal account that challenges Michael Harner's teaching that journeys are inherently safe. Posted to alt.religion.shamanism in January 2006.
Thrown Out of a Journey — An Encounter at the Border — Bosco is violently expelled from a shamanic journey after entering uncharted upper-world spaces and catching a glimpse of an unknown woman; the thread discusses doppelgangers and transit zones for the dead.
Trekking the Net — Notes on Commercial Shamanism — bosco's sharp critique of credential-based and commercial shamanism, defending experiential knowledge and core practice against claims of purchased authority.
Two Encounters with Plant Spirits — Sally Short describes two shamanic journeys in which plants speak: singing blue tulips who give directions, and a solitary pansy who announces its own extinction and hers.
Visions with Dragons — A Shaman's Apprentice Journal — Four vision journals by a French shaman apprentice documenting the encounter, training, and bonding with a dragon spirit guide in the World Above, including a witness account of a companion's dismemberment.