Synopses & Reviews
Bradford Keeney, Ph.D., is distinguished scholar of cultural studies for the Ringing Rocks Foundation, which leads expeditions throughout the world to study cultural healing practices, and a cultural anthropologist at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California. He is the author of Shaking Out the Spirits, Aesthetics of Change,and Everyday Souland is editor of the Profiles of Healingseries. “Keeney’s vision is leading the vanguard in defining and articulating the territory between psychology and spirit.”Eric Utne, founder of <>i > The UTNE Reader <>/i > “The most striking example of the products, cures, and philosophies being offered that have their origins in practices of primitive cultures is from Bradford Keeney.”<>i > TIME <>/i > magazine Bradford Keeney details his initiation into the shamanic tradition of the Kalahari Bushmen. He had learned of the Kalahari andquot;trance dance,andquot; wherein the dancers' bodies shake uncontrollably during healing ceremonies, and was drawn to this tradition with hopes that it might explain his own ecstatic andquot;shaking,andquot; which he had first experienced at the age of 19. Keeney danced with Bushmen shamans for more than a dozen years in communities throughout Botswana and Namibia. Through his rediscovery of the andquot;rope to Godandquot; in a Bushman shaman dream, he offers accounts of his shamanic world travels and the secrets of the soul he learned along the way.Bradford Keeney details his initiation into the shamanic tradition of the Kalahari Bushmen. He was drawn to this tradition, wherein dancers' bodies shake uncontrollably during healing ceremonies, with hopes that it might explain his own ecstatic andquot;shaking,andquot; which he first experienced at the age of 19. Keeney went on to dance with the Bushmen for more than a dozen years.Bushman Shaman
Awakening the Spirit Through Ecstatic Dance
Acknowledgments
1--The Big Love
2--Rapture in Missouri
3--Turning Lines into Circles
4--Starting Over
5--Meeting the Bushmen
6--Shooting the Arrows of Love
7--Surviving the Ordeals of Spirit
8--Among the Zulu
9--Guiding Kalahari Star
10--Working the Spirit
11--Kalahari Homecoming
12--Initiation Night
13--Caribbean Spirit Traveling
14--Stinging Truth
15--Tested in Bali
16--This Little Light of Mine
17--Ropes to God
18--The Gods Are Crazy
19--Trickster Shaman
20--Mending the Strings
21--Circles of Love
22--Seen by the Original Ones
23--Say Amen, Somebody
Afterword
Bibliography
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Subject -- Shamanism/Spirituality
“Brad Keeney may be the closest we have to a genuine American shaman. In Bushman Shaman,he shares his remarkable adventures into the psyche and his equally remarkable sensibility as an explorer of the human spirit. Fascinating.”
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence
“Bradford Keeney invites us to go beyond modernity to the oldest culture on Earth to find true magic and power. May those who take this journey with him surrender to their own ecstatic dance, and in so doing, find their way back home.”
Malidoma Patrice Som, author of
The Healing Wisdom of Africaand Of Water and the Spirit
In Bushman Shaman,Bradford Keeney details his initiation into the shamanic tradition of the Kalahari Bushmen, regarded by some scholars as the oldest living culture on Earth. Keeney sought out the Bushmen while in South Africa as a visiting professor of psychotherapy. He had known of the Kalahari “trance dance,”wherein the dancers’bodies shake uncontrollably as part of the healing ceremony. Keeney was drawn to this tradition in the hope that it might explain and provide a forum for his own ecstatic “shaking,”which he had first experienced at the age of 19 and had tried to suppress and hide throughout his adult life.
For more than a dozen years Keeney danced with Bushman shamans in communities throughout Botswana and Namibia, until finally becoming fully initiated into their healing and spiritual ways. He offers readers accounts of his shamanic world travels and the secrets of the soul he learned along the way, including his discovery of the “rope to God”in a Bushman shaman dream. In Bushman Shaman,Keeney also reveals his work with shamans from Japan, Bali, the Caribbean, and North and South America, providing new understandings of other forms of shamanic spiritual expression and integrating the practices of all these traditions into a sacred circle of one truth.
BRADFORD KEENEY, Ph.D., is distinguished scholar of cultural studies for the Ringing Rocks Foundation, which leads expeditions throughout the world to study cultural healing practices, and a cultural anthropologist at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California. He is the author of Shaking Out the Spirits, Aesthetics of Change,and Everyday Souland is editor of the Profiles of Healingseries.
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Review
“Keeney’s vision is leading the vanguard in defining and articulating the territory between psychology and spirit.”
Review
“Keeney’s vision is leading the vanguard in defining and articulating the territory between psychology and spirit.”
Review
“The most striking example of the products, cures, and philosophies being offered that have their origins in practices of primitive cultures is from Bradford Keeney.”
Review
“Brad Keeney may be the closest we have to a genuine American shaman. In Bushman Shaman, he shares his remarkable adventures into the psyche and his equally remarkable sensibility as an explorer of the human spirit. Fascinating.”
Review
“Bradford Keeney invites us to go beyond modernity to the oldest culture on Earth to find true magic and power. May those who take this journey with him surrender to their own ecstatic dance, and in so doing, find their way back home.”
Review
“There is no question in the minds of the Bushman healers that Keeney's strength and purposes are coterminous with theirs. I know this from talking myself with some of the Kalahari shamans who danced with him. They affirmed his power as a healer and their enjoyment of dancing with him. . . . He knows whereof he writes, having traveled ‘ropes to God’ himself for much of his life, in many places in addition to the Kalahari.”
Review
“Probably the most important book in the fields of healing and indigenous spirituality that's been published for many years. Keeney weaves together diverse threads of shamanic wisdom with deceptive ease--easy only because he became a shaman and lived the story on behalf of all of us. Anyone truly interested in the age-old questions of ‘What is God’ and ‘Why are we here?’ should read this book.”
Review
“Bushman Shaman is a pleasure to read and will be of great interest to people studying psychotherapy or trance-dance healing.”
Synopsis
The author’s journey to becoming a Bushman shaman and healer and how this tradition relates to shamanic practices around the world
• Explores the Bushmen’s ecstatic shaking and dancing practices
• Written by the first non-Bushman to become fully initiated into their healing and spiritual ways
In Bushman Shaman, Bradford Keeney details his initiation into the shamanic tradition of the Kalahari Bushmen, regarded by some scholars as the oldest living culture on earth. Keeney sought out the Bushmen while in South Africa as a visiting professor of psychotherapy. He had known of the Kalahari “trance dance,” wherein the dancers’ bodies shake uncontrollably as part of the healing ceremony. Keeney was drawn to this tradition in the hope that it might explain and provide a forum for his own ecstatic “shaking,” which he had first experienced at the age of 19 and had tried to suppress and hide throughout his adult life.
For more than a dozen years Keeney danced with Bushmen shamans in communities throughout Botswana and Namibia, until finally becoming fully initiated into their doctoring and spiritual ways. Through his rediscovery of the “rope to God” in a Bushman shaman dream, he offers readers accounts of his shamanic world travels and the secrets of the soul he learned along the way. In Bushman Shaman Keeney also reveals his work with shamans from Japan, Tibet, Bali, Thailand, Australia, and North and South America, providing new understandings of other forms of shamanic spiritual expression and integrating the practices of all these traditions into a sacred circle of one truth.
Synopsis
The author's journey to becoming a Bushman shaman and healer and how this tradition relates to shamanic practices around the world
Explores the Bushmen's ecstatic shaking and dancing practices
Written by the first non-Bushman to become fully initiated into their healing and spiritual ways
In Bushman Shaman, Bradford Keeney details his initiation into the shamanic tradition of the Kalahari Bushmen, regarded by some scholars as the oldest living culture on earth. Keeney sought out the Bushmen while in South Africa as a visiting professor of psychotherapy. He had known of the Kalahari trance dance
Synopsis
The authors journey to becoming a Bushman shaman and healer and how this tradition relates to shamanic practices around the world
• Explores the Bushmens ecstatic shaking and dancing practices
• Written by the first non-Bushman to become fully initiated into their healing and spiritual ways
In Bushman Shaman, Bradford Keeney details his initiation into the shamanic tradition of the Kalahari Bushmen, regarded by some scholars as the oldest living culture on earth. Keeney sought out the Bushmen while in South Africa as a visiting professor of psychotherapy. He had known of the Kalahari “trance dance,” wherein the dancers bodies shake uncontrollably as part of the healing ceremony. Keeney was drawn to this tradition in the hope that it might explain and provide a forum for his own ecstatic “shaking,” which he had first experienced at the age of 19 and had tried to suppress and hide throughout his adult life.
For more than a dozen years Keeney danced with Bushmen shamans in communities throughout Botswana and Namibia, until finally becoming fully initiated into their doctoring and spiritual ways. Through his rediscovery of the “rope to God” in a Bushman shaman dream, he offers readers accounts of his shamanic world travels and the secrets of the soul he learned along the way. In Bushman Shaman Keeney also reveals his work with shamans from Japan, Tibet, Bali, Thailand, Australia, and North and South America, providing new understandings of other forms of shamanic spiritual expression and integrating the practices of all these traditions into a sacred circle of one truth.
About the Author
Professor Bradford Keeney, PhD, is an internationally renowned scholar, author, and therapist. He is presently Hanna Spyker Eminent Scholars Chair in Education and Director, Institute for Creative Transformation and Virtual Pedagogy, University of Louisiana, Monroe, and President, Louisiana Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.
As a fieldworker, Keeney has been called "the Marco Polo of psychology and an anthropologist of the spirit" by the editors of Utne Reader. As the author of over thirty-one books, Keeney presently is practicing and teaching what he has learned from the arts and sciences across diverse cultural traditions to help individuals, couples, and families transform their challenges and suffering into growth and more meaningful lives.
Apart from his work with the Kalahari Bushmen, he has served distinguished careers that span and connect the disciplines of social cybernetics, anthropology, and therapy. He has extensively researched and published information about various healing traditions around the world.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1--The Big Love
2--Rapture in Missouri
3--Turning Lines into Circles
4--Starting Over
5--Meeting the Bushmen
6--Shooting the Arrows of Love
7--Surviving the Ordeals of Spirit
8--Among the Zulu
9--Guiding Kalahari Star
10--Working the Spirit
11--Kalahari Homecoming
12--Initiation Night
13--Caribbean Spirit Traveling
14--Stinging Truth
15--Tested in Bali
16--This Little Light of Mine
17--Ropes to God
18--The Gods Are Crazy
19--Trickster Shaman
20--Mending the Strings
21--Circles of Love
22--Seen by the Original Ones
23--Say Amen, Somebody
Afterword
Bibliography