Books: Breaking Open the Head

Excerpt: Welcome to Breaking Open the Head a companion website for my book, which includes a cultural history of psychedelic use, philosophical and critical perspectives on shamanism, and my personal explorations, ranging from transcedent to terrifying...

Excerpt: "Shamanism is a technology for exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness in order to accomplish specific purposes: healing, divination, and communication with the spirit realm. The characteristics of shamanism were defined by the religious historian Mircea Eliade: "special relations with 'spirits,' ecstatic capacities permitting of magical flight, ascent to the sky, descent to the underworld, mastery over fire, etc." Shamanism can also involve magical transformation of humans into animals, prophetic dreams, and interaction with the souls of the dead.

"The belief system of shamanism posits, besides the dimensions of space and time that are tangible to us, other dimensions, accessible through heightened consciousness or trance. These other dimensions, which pass through every human being, are often represented by the Axis Mundi, or World Tree, with roots reaching down into the lower domains of ghosts and spirits, and branches stretching up towards the gods.