The Reluctant Shaman: A Woman's First Encounters with the Unseen Spirits of the Earth

by Kay Cordell Whitaker

Book Overview

This is Kay Whitaker's spellbinding account of her "reluctant" apprenticeship to Domano and Chea Hetaka, two charismatic shamans from the Amazon Basin who come to teach her -- a young homemaker -- to be a Kala Keh nah seh, a builder of webs of balance," and to hand down the ancient wisdom of their people. In spite of her doubts and fears, Whitaker finds the balance and harmony she was destined to know.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062509438
• ISBN13: 9780062509437
• Release Date: December 1991
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Discovery

I came upon Reluctant Shaman in a used bookstore. I was skeptical at first, having read many books on similar topics and been extremely disapointed. I am a discerning consumer, particularly of material in this subject area, but I kept being drawn to the book, so I took a chance. And what a wonderful discovery it turned out to be!! Kay Whitaker's writing is straight forward, honest and engaging. It is easy to empathize with her hesitation and confusion when she is approached by the Hetakas. And her struggles with the changes and challenges of her spiritual journey felt so completely real, it was like talking with a friend. As I got further into the book, the material got more and more dynamic and powerful. I began to feel that I was actually being influenced by the same powers that were working on and through Kay. Her writing became an amazing tool for enlightenment and awakening. I also was awed by the resonance I felt with my own experiences of focussed, intensive training over the last 15 years. Reluctant Shaman is a gift for which I'm deeply grateful. I intend to recommend it to all my students!

Finding the joy that is you

I have been an avid reader of new age books for nearly twenty years and have devoured a countless number of books over this time. But of all those books never have I been so personally touched or inspired nor has a book ever had such an incredible and profound impact on me in the way A Reluctant Shaman has. This book brought everything I have read, learnt, thought and believed together. When I first read it, something clicked and a light literally went on, not just inside my mind, but in my heart and spirit. I cannot tell you how much I love this book. Over the years I have treasured and re-read it many times over. I would recommend this book to everyone. Even if it doesn't touch you the same way it did me, you will be overwhelmed by the sense of love, purpose and the knowledge you will gain from it. This is a book about waking up to who and what we truly are. Most of us spend our lives in an almost zombie-like state just going through the motions that we think is life, yet there is so much more behind us and this life that we are living. This book truly awakens you to that reality. Its about letting go of the masks we live behind and the ordinariness of the everyday life and waking up to a world where everything has purpose and is truly joyous and magical. If you want a book that not only inspires you but helps you find the magic in life, then this is it. If you want a book that helps you know who you really are and what you are capable of becoming, then I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

The most incredible book about Finding and Living Your Song

The most incredible book about Finding and Living Your Song, Living Your True Beingness!I happen to not only know Ms. Whitaker but also to have studied with her for almost a decade. The Reluctant Shaman together with her forthcoming book Sacred Link are the only two books I ever wanted to read more than once. In fact her work is so incredible I am still rereading her books.For two_bears, the previous reviewer of this book, to assume that Domano spiked Ms. Whitaker's coffee with a psychotropic substance is not only presumptuous but also preposterous, arrogant, incompetent and, contrary to what two_bears wants to make us believe, not in the least observant. Kay Cordell Whitaker, the author of this incredible work had to make a commitment to never ever consume any kind of hallucinogenic, psychotropic or other mind-altering substances such as alcohol for the rest of her life before Domano and Chea would even agree to teach her and if two_bears would actually read what he bashes he could read that right in the book. Mind altering substances never were part of their training and are in no way part of Ms. Whitaker's teachings. So much for his trained eye, or might it be blind?I checked two_bears list of reviews and bio and he starts most of his many negative reviews with either "I despise writing negative reviews" or "Here I go again" and than in the prejudice manner of many of his colleges, he writes about things he has no idea about. Just because he doesn't understand chapter 3, or the entire book for that matter, doesn't mean it's a bad book.Two_bears states that he carries a pipe made out of catlinite no less. I happen to carry a pipe made of the same stone, and I happened to have been in and around native ceremonies for many years. What I often hear from these people is, just because we are different and the white culture doesn't understand us, doesn't mean we are bad! So perhaps Mr. two_bears ought to refresh himself with tribal belief; just because The Reluctant Shaman is different from most of what he is reading and he doesn't have a clue of what the author is writing about, doesn't mean it's a bad book. I also happen to have gone through the ceremony of meeting Death and Destiny - the one that two_bears' blind eye cannot see for what it truly is and has mistaken it for a drug experience - and it was among the most life altering experiences I have ever encountered and nothing that I have experienced with North American Native ceremony, or any other tradition for that matter, comes even remotely close.It might puff up Mr. two_bears' ego to have the power to strike down on other peoples who do incredible work in their field, but it only confirms my experience and suspicion with far too many pipe carriers - if that's what he truly is - that many of them carry arrogance and prejudice right along with their pipe and that arrogance and prejudice matches or even outranks that of the white culture any day.The commitment of Ms. Whitaker to her teachers a

Be Enchanted. It's fun.

I was very lucky. I read The Reluctant Shaman from little yellow pieces of notepaper a bit at a time as I typed it into manuscript form. At my request, Kay paid me for this service [over paid?] by giving me the ceremonies she had been given as described in her books. I was honored to be among her first few 'students' as she began to practice teaching her craft. But the book -- proof reading my work was difficult as I was constantly dragged back into the vicarious reality of the writing. This experience changed my perspective of the universe as well as my day-to-day application of spiritual principles. And reading both The Reluctant Shaman and Sacred Link [The sequel, self published] again and again has more deeply inspired me on my own individual path. Kay starts out the story just as it started into her life; at the edge of the cliff over the Pacific Ocean during a wild storm. Hahaha. What could make it more dramatic if it were happening to you? Bit by bit the journey of what truly happened to her unfolds. The reader is told the struggles Kay has with overcoming her cultural issues about these very foreign ideas, then hears stories as told by Domano or Chea and then hears a description of her experiences in the Sacred Ceremonies. I love Domano's stories. Like all good parables they come to mind when needed giving a helping hand for the more difficult steps in life.One interviewer said she was unable to understand why Kay was fighting her fears for so long. Remember, these things were happening in the mid 70s and there wasn't much in public knowledge about New Age stuff -- this is so Earthy! And Kay started out a very, VERY, conventional woman with two kids to raise by herself. It would be well to remember, too, that the Hetakas are not an ordinary couple who teach ideas, but are Shaman quite capable of shifting reality to enhance the experience. As I recall, Carlos Castaneda was slow in getting over his terror, too. What I experienced with the same ceremonies were far different because Cordell was my "guide", not the Hetakas. And if you have good vicarious skills, you won't be just reading a good story. You could, as I did, make a major shift in your comprehension of the World In Balance or Katasee, as it is said. And it's not even my major path but the experiences brought a greater clarity to what is mine to do. I may have worked with Kay and eventually become a close friend, but that is not the reason I'm writing this. The material stands well on its own, not for its literary value for there are far better writers out there, but for the whole experience, the environment that is created for the reader to become more. For those for whom this work is intended, you will quickly feel the mastery of the message. Be enchanted. It's fun.

Initiation of a present-day shaman

This book recounts the first steps in the making of a modern-day shaman. It appears to be the honest account of a woman trying to make sense of experiences that are not comprehensible to most people living in our present society. As such it is very useful to those wanting to know about shamanism and to those who contemplate traveling this path. I highly recommend it!