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The Himalayan kingdom of Nepal may be the only culture in the world where both shamanic and tantric techniques are still alive and in full practice today. The result of eighteen years of field research, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas presents for the first time a comprehensive overview of shamanism that is based on the knowledge and experience of the different tribes from that region. Included are original statements from the various ethnic groups and 135 color thangkas, which act as visual guides to the specific practices of the tantric tradition. In addition to the thangkas, the book is lavishly illustrated with numerous photos of different shamanic healing ceremonies, ritual objects, and culturally significant plants that have never been published before. The book also contains a wealth of original recipes, smoking mixtures, scientific tables, charts, and descriptions of more than 20 plants whose psychoactive properties and uses by shamans have never before been researched or documented.
605 color and black-and-white illustrations, including 135 color thangkas.
Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, Christian Ratsch, Claudia Muller-Ebeling, Surendra Bahadur Shahi, Inner Traditions, Hardcover, September 2002, $49.95
Christian Ratsch, Ph.D., is a world-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist who specializes in the shamanic uses of plants. He is the author of Marijuana Medicine and coauthor of Plants of the Gods, Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, Witchcraft Medicine, and The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants. He lives in Hamburg, Germany, and lectures around the world. Claudia Muller-Ebeling, Ph.D., is an art historian and anthropologist and coauthor, with Christian Ratsch, of Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas, Witchcraft Medicine, and Pagan Christmas. She lives in Hamburg, Germany.
Surendra Bahadur Shahi was born in Kathmandu into a Newari family of the Shahi caste and is an accomplished thangka painter. He speaks 10 different languages and has a thorough knowledge of the Buddhist and Hindu religion and mythology and the cultural customs of the Newari people.
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