Book Review

The Woman in the Shaman’s Body

Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine

By Barbara Tedlock PH,D.

There are few books as meticulously researched and written as The Woman in the Shaman’s Body.  Dr Tedlock doesn’t try to offer mere conclusions based on assumptions of woman’s place in shamanism but backs up each statement with solid research and facts.  She neatly explains the marginalising of the female shaman in history, even pointing out some of the key omissions within Mercea Eliade’s well know work Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy.

 

This is a major work which surpasses all that have gone before in clarity, ease of understanding and supported facts.  The delightful way that the author intertwines her own shamanic experiences with the academic focus of the book makes the wisdom it contains all the more engaging and readable.

 

The author successfully draws together factual evidence of distinct similarities in shamanic practice from many varied cultures around the globe.  Her own unique initiation into healing by her Grandmother and then her formal initiation into a South American shamanic system  gives her a ground level  and authoritive approach to the subject.

 

If you study shamanism - this work should be part of your library.