Circle of Shaman: Healing through Ecstasy, Rhythm, and Myth

Circle of Shaman focuses on the shamanic flight of ecstasy-the core experience that distinguishes shamanism from other spiritual and healing practices-and how it enables the psyche to heal itself of dysfunctional patterns, allowing the Self to evolve. Based on her own experiences, Karen Berggren explores the development of rhythmic empathy to engage the ecstatic experience. Through this power the shaman seeks to maintain the community's connection between the ordinary world and the realm of the sacred. By healing themselves of dysfunctional, outworn, or egocentric patterns and beliefs shamans provide the model for the greater community to heal and transform itself. Integration of the ecstatic experience into modern culture is crucial to humanity's continued survival and unfolding destiny as partner with the earth.

Karen brought up so many subtle nuances that I and many other Shamans encountered that it was almost as if she knew me in my youth.

However; Karen honestly admits on pages 111, 120, and 158 about using Marijuana and other "psychotropic sacraments".

I am NOT a proponent of using ANY psychotropic substance (Datura, DMT, Hayascua, LSD, Peyote, or in her case Marijuana). It IS true that halucinogenics will open the doorway to the visionary experience, but IMHO the would-be Shaman loses any control over the visionary experience, and a Shaman without control over the experience is IMHO a worthless Shaman.

I am a firm believer in the philosophy that drugs are not necessary (never were necessary for me). I personaly feel that it is an insult (interpret the word sin if you prefer) to yourself and your Creator to add unnecessary toxins to your body.

I love Frank Foolscrow's reply when somoene asked him if he used peyote. His reply was "No I do not need drugs. Wakan Tanka (The name he used for the Great Spirit) can take me higher than any drug."

I encourage questions and comments about my reviews; Two Bears.

Wah doh Ogedoda (We give thanks Great Spirit)


inspiring, motivating, encouraging, life affirming   April 26, 1999
jack(fudge@julianne.freeserve.co.uk (north yorkshire, england)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

blessings, thank you for your inspiration gifted to others through your work, journeys and ecstatic love. Your book jumped off a shelf and into my life, having read half of it i embarked on my own shamanic journey and experienced the ecstacy for myself. It had me in tears on many occasions and has helped me to come to terms with my life experiences which i know look upon as lessons. from which i've learnt the skill of healing and now walk between the worlds. karen, may your journeys always be fulfilling and may the goddess always smile upon you. blessed be.


Best book I've read this year - and it works.   August 26, 1998
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

What an amazing book. It deals with subjects that, until now, I had not contemplated contemplating. It was not only informative but a fun book to read. I enjoyed reading it because the stories were real, because they were told in a warm and friendly way and because they opened my eyes to new and profound possibilities.

Since reading this book two excellent things have happened to me. I contacted the author and found her to be as genuine and caring as the book implied. Secondly, I have been following its guidance and found it to work.

This is an excellent book. It is friendly and educational. It is good to read and it works. What more can one ask for?


Circle of Shaman is an invitation to the ecstatic dance.   June 12, 1998
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

Oh so pleasant! Circle of Shaman is like mead wine for the spirit. It drenches the minds eye with sweet images of the mystical experiences found in everyday life. If we only will open to them. Karen Berggren's story is an intoxicating adventure in the borderlands where the mundane and mythic worlds embrace.

Books on shamanism run the gamut from one's steeped in academic objectivity to those engulfed in spiritual narcissism and personal grandiosity. Circle of Shaman differentiates itself from these by being a heartfelt personal encounter that connects its knowledge with respected psychological and anthropological treatises. One is not required to accept that these events happened in some distant land the reader will likely never see, nor that the experiences are the result of some special quality possessed by the author. The occurrences remain plausible yet filled with wonder.

Berggren has noticed that in a universe whose existence is vibration, new states of being can be accessed by allowing ourselves to resonate with it in non-habitual ways. Knowledge specific to various states of being can thus be captured through entraining (resonating) to new rhythms. Entrainment provides a way to communicate across the thresholds separating the worlds of body, emotion, mind, and spirit. Our language is filled with metaphors for this experience like, "two hearts beating as one," or the Beach Boys "picking up good vibrations." We all know its there.

Circle of Shaman is a comfort to anyone struggling through their own "shamanic initiation," or any of the crises related to a spiritual emergence. Besides authenticating the experiences for those who have had them, Circle of Shaman is a delicious invitation for everyone to simply join in the dance.

Carlisle Bergquist

Vantage Quest