Review-Witchcraft and the Shamanic Journey

Title: Witchcraft and the Shamanic Journey
Author: Kenneth Johnson
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
ISBN: 1-56718-379-4
Pages (incl. back matter): 262
Release Date: Second Edition 1998

I requested this book to review as a tie-in with my articles on shamanism (see Shaman's Path 1-4). Although not specifically directed at healing, I have found this book to give a fairly thorough depiction of shamanism practices from several cultures.

Kenneth Johnson takes the reader through the vast expanses of time, exposing various shamanic cultures from India to Egypt, Mayan to Native American. Every culture at some point in history has had methods of contacting the spirit realm, whether it be for healing practices, guaranteeing a bountiful harvest, or providing counselling and spiritual guidance. Mr. Johnson has covered pretty much any question that could arise - What is a shaman? How does a shaman journey into other realms? Were shamans male or female?

As I read through the book, I found I became more interested in the correlation between modern pagan/witchcraft practices and those used by shamans in ancient times. It seems to me that Mr. Johnson holds the belief that witches and shamans are essentially one and the same - just under different names or "titles." I grant this much - many of the shamanic journey practices described in the book are very similar to the pathworking rituals and exercises used by modern witches.

At the end of the book, Mr. Johnson describes a gathering of hundreds of Native Americans in South Dakota in 1890. These peoples had come from far and wide, to dance the Ghost Dance. Medicine men began the ceremony, chanting and dancing throughout the teepees set up, eventually arriving at the center pole. There, the ritual began in earnest, with at least one hundred shamans taking part. They danced and circled and chanted, reaching a state of ecstasy, where they could then speak to the spirits of their dead. It is described much better in the book, very vivid - almost as if one were actually there!

Here's a taste of what you will find between the covers. (mid-paragraph 2, pg. 40)

"Scholars acknowledge that Odin is one of the most genuinely shamanic figures in European mythology. He suffers a dramatic initiatory torment on the World Tree which is chronicled in an old Norse poem entitled Havanal ("The Song of the High One"):

I know I hung
on the windswept Tree,
through nine days and nights.
I was stuck with a spear
and given to Odin,
myself given to myself….

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