Feel Like a Shaman

I haven't done this since I was a freshman in college back in '70 and stayed up all night to read Catch 22.   A couple of days ago  I ordered a copy of John and Sharon Franklin's book, Gift of the Jaguar, from Amazon and it arrived yesterday.  I flipped through the book after opening the package and then set it next to my bed to read once the boys were in bed.  I got started at about 11:00 last night and couldn't put the book down . . . I loved every page and read it cover-to-cover, finally closing the book at about 3:00 this morning.  John and Sharon weave a wonderful and engaging tale; but its more than that.  It will give you insight into the formation of an Andean shaman.

I have been making trips to Bolivia and Peru since 1971 when my benevolent draft board gave me a two-year deferment to run a Spanish language adult literacy program in the highlands of Bolivia.  I know both countries better than most gringos.  And, I have read way too many books that claim to be framed in the Andes by authors who have never been there and get the culture, the people and the geography all wrong.  This book is an exception; it gets everything right.

If you want to know what it is like to become an Andean curandero (shaman) then this an entertaining and realistic novel.  For example page 86 recounts the blessing of a newborn child.  Change the words spoken in the book from English to Quechua and it reads like ceremonies that I have observed on the Altiplano.  It brought tears of rememberence to my eyes.

I shared my daily invocation with you in an earlier blog.  The pachamama  invocation on page 117 mirrors the spirit of a short-form invocation that I learned from one of my Bolivian teachers 15 years ago who would touch the earth and say something like:  "Pachamama (mother earth) bone of our bone and Spirit of our Spirit, may we walk in harmony with all creation." (from page 117).

I highly recommend this book.  The message is profound and the tale is engaging.  I have placed a link to the book on the resource page on my web site.  It is a great read.