Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans

Wonderful and well researched, a great companion to exploring the area.

Contains some useful observations and some interesting ethnographic material. Worth the read.

I found this book very interesting. I never knew that much about the Shamans.

Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans belongs in social science and Native American collections alike, examining the lives of the desert shamans of the West and providing important keys to understanding their daily experiences, perspectives and rituals.Old Magic is no singular production: it uses the folklore of a dozen tribes as it builds a diverse picture of the shaman's world, from dreamscape and tribal interactions to desert and mountain landscapes and their influence upon the overall approach of desert shaman ceremonies.Color photos of these landscapes, along with photos of relics and early recorded shaman imagery, pair with discussions that blend history and folklore with an analysis of the spiritual belief systems of the shaman.It would have been all too easy to tailor Old Magic to reach new age audiences alone, but Clapp's focus on documenting the desert shaman's unique approach to nature and human concerns, and the role his environment played in his perspectives, makes for a lively history that will also reach general-interest readers with an interest in Native American culture.

“Nicholas Clapp has just published a remarkably fine book, OLD MAGIC, LIVES OF THE DESERT SHAMANS, a study of shamanism and its relationship to rock art. The photographs are beautiful and the text is amazing. His analysis of shamanic behavior in the desert southwest, especially among the Cahuilla, and his interpretation of petroglyphs is the best I’ve read.” --Guy Mount, co-author of NOT FOR INNOCENT EARS: Spiritual Traditions of a Desert Cahuilla Medicine Woman.