This interesting book is apparently the second in a planned series of eight under the overall title of "Eight Paths of Magic". It explores the role of the shaman, from the perspective of British Shamanism, something that appealed to me. Some would argue that Druidry is another name for British Shamanism and so much of this book's contents will, I think, be of interest to British Druids.
The book begins rather abruptly with a discussion of "What is a Shaman?" - I felt that an introduction to the book would have been useful here. The author provides clear explanations and discussion, defining shamanism as:
"A magical/religious practice during which the shaman enters a trance state in order to enter a realm of non-ordinary reality beyond everyday consciousness in order to encounter spirits".
The author adds that:
"Everything the shaman learns comes through personal experience and not through received teaching, though elder shamans may oversee the process of his initiation".
This emphasis echoes my own experiences of learning on the druidic path, where a teacher (Bobcat) has been invaluable in provoking and pointing the way, but where understanding has been gained through my own practice.
There are eight chapters overall. Throughout, the author provides examples, stories, and myths from the British or European traditions, something I found refreshing in a book about Shamanism.
The author is quite uncompromising, even sharp, in places. In chapter two, for example, she is critical of the superficiality that can be encountered amongst what she calls "neo-shamans", who have (she states):
"A tendency to loot other nation's religions, cherry-picking odds and ends of disconnected knowledge from a variety of traditional cultures. The more distant and exotic the places they are stolen from the better, because he seems to think that they must be purer and truer, closer to some imagined primordial shamanism unchanged since the dawn of time".
Anna Franklin discusses shamanic methods such as the use of trance, gateways, and shape-shifting and discusses fairies and spirit helpers. The two longest chapters discuss animal powers and plant allies and I felt that this were the ones that I would probably find the most useful to return to, as they contain long descriptions of their qualities, drawing upon stories and myths from a wide range of sources. I felt impressed by the author's range of knowledge!
"The Path of the Shaman" is clearly and readably written with some lovely illustrations. My only real quibble (apart from the lack of an introduction) was the lack of a "further reading" section and of an index. I'd have liked to have been told a bit more about the author and her background as well. Overall, an interesting and potentially useful book for those on the druidic path.
