Shamanism's Relevance Today
with Leslie Conton
Thursday, November 18, 2010 7:00-9:00pm
$5-$10 Donation recommended
How can contemporary shamanic practitioners, as conscious change agents, use our shamanic knowledge and skills, individually and collaboratively, to help create the world we want to live in?
Shamanism is an ancient earth-based spiritual practice indigenous to all inhabited continents on earth. By means of an introduction, we will briefly discuss the typical roles and characteristics of traditional shamans worldwide, and then focus on the question: Of what relevance are these ancient practices in contemporary society? What is the relevance of shamanic healing to western healthcare? How do modern shamanic practitioners help others?
Leslie Conton, Ph.D, is a cultural/transpersonal anthropologist and a professor of anthropology at Fairhaven College, Western Washington University. She is also a faculty member and field associate for the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. She began her experiential study and initial seven year apprenticeship in Shamanism in 1977. Fieldwork with traditional healers and Shamans took her to Papua New Guinea several times, beginning in 1974, to Australia in 1988 and Northern China and Inner Mongolia in 1995. In 1996 she worked in Nepal where she observed and interviewed shamans if many traditions and began a Shamanic initiatory process with a female shaman of the Tamang tradition. Leslie's experiential fieldwork also includes work with shamans and other healers from several West Coast Native American traditions.
NEW LOCATION: Fairhaven Public Library, Fireside Room (this room is on the ground floor and has its own entrance outside under the front stairs on the right or south side...and is completely accessible!) There is a parking lot on the north side.
