prayer sticks

"the central rite of shamanic initiation is preceded by some form of overpowering shock to conscious identity ....the archetypal pattern of the shamanic initiation combines a descent to the underworld with an ascent to heaven. throughout the world shamans function fundamentally the same way, serving as guardians of the psyche and ecological equilibrium of the worlds, as masters of spirits, as supernatural curers...able to transend the human condition and pass freely back and forth through the different cosmological planes.

the ancient way is so powerful and taps so deeply one's usual cultural belief systems and assumptions about reality are essentially irrelevant."

'initiation and adolescence' from

'the circle of life'