Pagan, Shinto & Spiritual Book Reviews March 2016

Medicine for the Soul: The Complete Book of Shamanic Healing, Ross Heaven

The first thing I noticed on opening Medicine for the Soul was, on the inner cover, “The Heaven Method™” is written under the book’s title. While I’m all for shamanic healers charging for their services, when a spiritual practise is commodified to the extent that it has its own trademark, it puts me on my guard to say the least. And yes, it turns out that Medicine for the Soul is indeed a form of promotion for Ross Heaven’s shamanic healing courses, which are detailed at the beginning and the end of the book.

That being said, Heaven’s courses aren’t actually pushed as much as I thought they might be in Medicine for the Soul, which turns out to be quite a concise and useful guide to shamanism. Everything you may have ever heard of related to shamanism is covered here – animal guides, spirit quests, ayahuasca, soul cleansing, smudging and so on. Drawing from shamanic traditions throughout the world – including North American, Amazonian, Haitian and Celtic, to name a few – the book also examines other spiritual concepts, including chakras and feng shui, from a shamanic perspective. Even Shinto gets a brief mention!

I have read several books on shamanism previously, but only those with a primarily Pagan perspective. I tended to find them too vague and filled with distracting personal accounts of the authors’ own visions and shamanic journeys, so they never appealed very much to me. Medicine for the Soul, however, is mercifully precise and easy to understand, and what’s more, it’s filled to the brim with practical guides to shamanic ritual that are written with thought and clarity.

There is one major concern I do have with Medicine for the Soul, however. This book is aimed at teaching the reader how to become a shamanic healer themselves and use their skills in a professional setting to heal clients. I don’t have a problem with this as such – I think that complementary therapy does have a place alongside conventional medicine, but I would like to stress the words complementary and alongside. I don’t think any form of non-scientific medicine should be used as a substitute for conventional medicine, and that a qualified physician of scientifically-recognised medicine should always be sort first for any disorder, be it physical or mental, before trying alternatives. Unfortunately, Heaven does not seem to mention this in Medicine for the Soul – in fact, he expresses his distrust for conventional medicine on more than one occasion in the book. Shamanic healers could potentially find themselves approached by clients with serious physical or mental health issues that need conventional medical intervention, and not acknowledging this can be dangerous for both the client and the healer.

I recommend Medicine for the Soul for anyone looking for a highly readable and practical introduction to cross-cultural shamanism. For those looking to use this book as a guide for shamanic healing of other people, I strongly suggest approaching with caution and bearing in mind how crucial it is to make sure a client first seeks appropriate conventional medical treatment before undergoing alternative therapy.