Michael Harner - Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality

What Yogananda did for Hinduism and D. T. Suzuki did for Zen, Michael Harner has done for shamanismnamely, bring the tradition and its richness to Western awareness. Michael Harner is widely acknowledged as the worlds foremost authority on experiential and practical shamanism, and has had an enormous influence on both the academic and lay worlds.

from Higher Wisdom, by Roger Walsh and Charles S. Grob

Wonderful, fascinating. Harner really knows what hes talking about.

Carlos Castaneda

An intimate and practical guide to the art of shamanic healing and the technology of the sacred. Michael Harner is not just an anthropologist who has studied shamanism; he is an authentic white shaman.

Stanislav Grof, author of The Adventure of Self Discovery

Harner has impeccable credentials, both as an academic and as a practicing shaman. Without doubt (since the recent death of Mircea Eliade) the worlds leading authority on shamanism.

Nevill Drury, author of The Elements of Shamanism

Michael Harners Related Books

The Way of the Shaman

Hallucinogens and Shamanism

The Jvaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls

Copyright 2013 by the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Inc. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review or short quotation, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Published by
North Atlantic Books
P.O. Box 12327
Berkeley, California 94712

Cover collage by Claudia Smelser. Cave photo ollirg/Shutterstock.com. The nebula is from a Hubble image of a small region within M17, also known as Omega or Swan Nebula; it was obtained from NASAs John Glenn Image Gallery.
Cover design by Claudia Smelser

Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality is sponsored by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are to develop an educational and cross-cultural perspective linking various scientific, social, and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities, and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body, and nature.

North Atlantic Books publications are available through most bookstores. For further information, visit our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com or call 800-733-3000.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: The following information is intended for general information purposes only. Individuals should always see their health care provider before administering any suggestions made in this book. Any application of the material set forth in the following pages is at the readers discretion and is his or her sole responsibility.

Information on the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, a nonprofit incorporated public 501(c)(3) charitable and educational organization, may be found at its website: www.shamanism.org.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harner, Michael J.
Cave and cosmos : shamanic encounters with another reality / by Michael Harner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ).
eISBN: 978-1-58394-564-3
1. Shamanism. 2. Spirits. I. Title.
BF1999.H37517 2013
201.44dc23
2012022873

v3.1

To My Wife,
Sandra Harner,
a Rose Constant and True

To My Children

And to All Those Who Have Worked to Save the Ancient Knowledge

All royalties from this book go to the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, a nonprofit, incorporated public (501)(c)(3) charitable and educational organization dedicated to the preservation, study, and transmission of shamanic knowledge for the welfare of the planet and its inhabitants.

The shamanic way of healing presented in this book should not be considered as an exclusive method of confronting medical problems. It should be viewed as an adjunct to orthodox medical or psychological treatment, unless contrary medical advice is given.

First, I wish to express my gratitude to the thousands of students who contributed shamanic-ascension and other kinds of experiences to the archives of the Shamanic Knowledge Conservatory (SKC) of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. This book would have been impossible without their help. I especially thank those whose experiences were drawn from the SKC archives in recent years for the Celestia Study.

A lifetime of acknowledgments almost book length in themselves is due to the multitude of persons and peoples who helped me on the long path to Cave and Cosmos. To be practical, however, I reluctantly restrict myself now to expressing my thanks for assistance received by the Foundation primarily during the last half-decade or so for various purposes, including staffing, indigenous assistance, the SKC, and work on this book.

Of immense importance has been the generous help of my longtime friends and supporters Dr. Baron A.M.F. and Dr. Melinda C. Maxfield (the Maxfield Foundation), without whom this book would not have been possible. Equally important has been the generosity of Betsy Gordon, Dr. Angeles Arrien, and the foundations carrying their names. I gratefully thank them. I thank also the members of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for their steadfast support, donation of time, and wise counsel. In recent years they have included Dr. Maxfield, Robert Lee Morris, Dr. Frances E. Vaughan, Ralph M. Field, Heather Burch, and Dr. Jeffrey David Ehrenreich, besides the three officers of the Foundation: Susan Mokelke, Sandra Harner, and me.

Other major supporters of the Foundation and its work during these years include Bokara Legendre and the Tara Fund, Elizabeth Marshall, Edgar Brown, Della Clark, Don Ensslin, the Estate of Margaret Cohan, the Fetzer Institute, the Frank Pace Jr. Foundation, Alicia L. Gates, the John Fetzer Memorial Trust, Susan Mokelke, Robert Lee Morris, Claudia Kuntze, the Shared Vision Charitable Foundation, the Sterling Fund, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, John and Jessica Schairer, the Seattle Foundation, and the Flow Fund Circle. Numerous otherstoo many to list herealso helped through their donations, their support as faculty members or as members of the Circle of the Foundation, or in other capacities. I thank them all with deep gratitude.

Two remarkable persons in particular must also be recognized. One is the Foundations vice president, Sandra Harnermy wife, adviser, editor, cheerleader, critic, and partner in our shamanic adventures for half a centurywho has supported and participated in this endeavor with a patience and modesty I have long admired. This book would not exist without her. The other is Susan Mokelke, whose electronic sophistication, generosity, creativity, and tireless work as executive director of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies have been essential to give me time to complete the book. She also assisted with the numerous details involved in its final preparation for publication.

I give my immense thanks to Noelle Burch, who for years has done the vital work of at least two persons at the headquarters of the Foundation with remarkable efficiency and grace. Over a span of years, former research associate Gizelle Rhyon Berry did excellent and essential work organizing the archives of the SKC for the Mapping of Nonordinary Reality (MONOR) project. Coleen Judson for a time was able to follow up her work. I also thank Louis G. Leeburg, James Harner, and Carolyn Fee for their efforts on behalf of the Foundation.