Dr. Gagan has crafted her book to lead the reader, in a logical order and with easy-to-understand language, through the nature and history of both fields. Then we learn some of the approaches of understanding and healing.
In chapters 3 and 4, Journeying gets down to it...the place where shamanism and psychology intersect, the mending of emotional wounding. Inadequate bonding, neglect, abuse, aggression, anger and violence are some of the conditions we learn about, and the healing brought to bear.
In the final pages, Journeying offers the bridge that brings shamanism and psychology together...that reflects the bond between the alchemy of shamanic healing and the science of psychology. "Shamanic cultures, I found, understand the debilitating effects of trauma and strive to restore wholeness to distressed individuals" writes Dr. Gagan. And, after all, isn't that a prime purpose of psychology, too?
This reviewer is no psychologist nor shaman, but can see and feel the logic and rightness of grand ideas when expressed in a well-written book. Indicative of that is, "Shamans search for lost pieces of soul and return them to members of their community. Psychologists investigate the workings of the mind and strive to validate their methodological approaches. Shamanism has soul to give to psychology. Psychology has science to give to shamanism".
Journeying has insight, love, learning and practical experience to give us. Thank you, Jeannette Gagan, for making the connection!
1. How does the shamanic tradition bring such potent healing power to wounds incurred in the earliest months of life? and2. Could journeying provide a release valve for the violence so rampant in our world?
By contrasting the two traditions historically, Dr. Gagan, underscores the slices of each fruit that can be shared. Central to finding common ground are the notions of altered states of consciousness, imagery, and the Jungian alchemical processes to healing.
Throughout her story Dr. Gagan weaves in carefully chosen vignettes from her clients' journeying, and explains how these experiences transcend verbal therapy and succeed in achieving transformation.
--A very convincing and readable book.
I caution that the shamanic path cannot be catagorized or analyzed, it is fluid and changing; it is chaotic in nature-if you don't know "the way". I suggest that if you are a professional go out and journey for yourself, explore the path, draw your own conclusions.
Journeying is the term used to describe a shaman's movement into an altered state of consciousness to obtain healing information. Psychology, like shamanism, works to alleviate human suffering and makes use of altered states in a variety of ways including guided imagery and hypnosis. Shamanism, the oldest healing tradition known to humankind, springs from natural, intuitive, and spiritual sources. Psychology, a relative newcomer on the Western scene, relies on logic and science.
In bringing these two healing disciplines together, the author illustrates how variations on the practice of journeying strengthens the psychological process. The true heart of this book rests in the application of journeying to the healing of emotional wounds--wounds that occur when parents are unable to sufficiently bond with their infants. In such healing journeys shamanic power animals and spirit helpers provide nurturing not previously experienced, softening edges of neediness and desperation that sometimes feed adolescent and adult aggression.
Journeying beats a fast-paced path to the alchemy of psychological transformation in words easily understood by practitioners and lay persons alike.