Michael Harner
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Michael James Harner (April 27, 1929 – February 3, 2018) was an anthropologist, educator and author. His 1980 book, ''The Way of the Shaman: a Guide to Power and Healing,''Harner, Michael (1980) ''The Way of the Shaman''. San Francisco: Harper & Row. Third edition, 1990. has been foundational in the development and popularization of Core Shamanism as a path of personal development for adherents of
neoshamanism Neoshamanism refers to new forms of shamanism. It usually means shamanism practiced by Western people as a type of New Age spirituality, without a connection to traditional shamanic societies. It is sometimes also used for modern shamanic rituals a ...
.Noel, Daniel C. (1997) ''Soul Of Shamanism: Western Fantasies, Imaginal Realities.'' Continuum. He also founded the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.


Career

Harner was born in Washington, D.C. in 1929. He initially worked in the field of archaeology, including studying the Lower Colorado River area.E.g., Kroeber, A.L., and Michael J. Harner. (1955) "Mohave Pottery", ''Anthropological Records'', Berkeley: University of California. As a graduate student in 1956-57 he undertook field research on the culture of the Jívaro (Shuar) people of the Ecuadorian Amazon and began to pursue a career as an
ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
. His doctoral dissertation, "Machetes, Shotguns, and Society: An Inquiry into the Social Impact of Technological Change among the Jivaro Indians" (U California-Berkeley 1963), became the basis for his book, ''The Jívaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls''.Harner, Michael J. (1972) ''The Jívaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls.'' New York: Natural History Press. Second edition 1984, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. In 1960-61 he experimented with the Amazonian plant medicine
ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...
with the Conibo people of the Peruvian Amazon, which he wrote about in the articles "The Sound of Rushing Water" (1968)Harner, Michael J. (1968) "The Sound of Rushing Water." ''Natural History'' 77(6). and "The Role of Hallucinogenic Plants in European Witchcraft" (1973).Harner, Michael J., ed. and contributor (1973) ''Hallucinogens and Shamanism''. New York and London: Oxford University Press. Harner returned to the Jívaro in 1964, 1969, and 1973 where he learned the use of the entheogen ''maikua'' (''Datura brugmansia''). In 1966, having taught at UC-Berkeley and served as associate director of the Lowie Museum of Anthropology, Harner became a visiting professor at
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
and
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and in 1970 joined the graduate faculty of The New School for Social Research in New York City. He co-chaired the Anthropology Section of the New York Academy of Sciences.Haviland, William A., Harald E. L. Prins, Bunny McBride and Dana Walrath (2013). Anthropologists of Note: Michael J. Harner. ''Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge'' (14th ed., p. 307). Belmont: Wadsworth. . In 1983, Harner founded the Center for Shamanic Studies, which is today known as the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. In 1987 Harner left academia to devote himself full-time to the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. Walsh and Grob note in their book, ''Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics'', "Michael Harner is widely acknowledged as the world's foremost authority on shamanism and has had an enormous influence on both the academic and lay worlds.... What Yogananda did for
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
and D. T. Suzuki did for Zen, Michael Harner has done for shamanism, namely bring the tradition and its richness to Western awareness."Walsh, Roger, and Charles S. Grob, eds. (2005) ''Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics'', pp. 159, 160. State University of New York Press. Albany. He died on February 3, 2018 at the age of 88.


Development of Core Shamanism

After traveling to the Amazon where he ingested the hallucinogen
ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...
, Harner began experimenting with monotonous drumming. In the early 1970s he started giving training workshops to small groups in Connecticut. In 1979 he founded the Center for Shamanic Studies in
Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...
. In 1980, Harner published ''The Way of the Shaman: a Guide to Power and Healing.'' Students in the United States and Europe began to take his classes in what he was now calling "
core shamanism Neoshamanism refers to new forms of shamanism. It usually means shamanism practiced by Western people as a type of New Age spirituality, without a connection to traditional shamanic societies. It is sometimes also used for modern shamanic rituals a ...
" (as differenced from traditional, Evenk
shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...
, or other indigenous and historical practices that have been referred to as "shamanism" in anthropological texts). Anthropologist Joan Townsend has distinguished Harner's core shamanism from
neoshamanism Neoshamanism refers to new forms of shamanism. It usually means shamanism practiced by Western people as a type of New Age spirituality, without a connection to traditional shamanic societies. It is sometimes also used for modern shamanic rituals a ...
.Townsend, Joan B. (2004) "Individualist Religious Movements: Core and Neo-shamanism" ''Anthropology of Consciousness'' vol. 15(1), pp. 1-9. However, most authors in the field, especially Harner's critics, consider Harner's core shamanism to be the primary influence on, and foundation of, the Neoshamanic movement.Hobson, G. "The Rise of the White Shaman as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism." in: Hobson, Gary, ed. ''The Remembered Earth''. Albuquerque, NM: Red Earth Press; 1978: 100-108.Aldred, Lisa, " Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality" in: ''The American Indian Quarterly'' issn.24.3 (2000) pp.329-352. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men
" Terry Macy and Daniel Hart, ''Native Voices'', Indigenous Documentary Film at the University of Washington
Harner later integrated his Center for Shamanic Studies into the nonprofit Foundation for Shamanic Studies. The Foundation received financial support primarily from the Core Shamanism courses and workshops he taught, supplemented by private donations. From the early 1980s onward, he invited a few of his students to join an international faculty to reach an ever-wider market. In 1987, Harner resigned his professorship to devote himself full-time to the work of the foundation.Harner, Michael (2005) "The History and Work of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies", ''Shamanism'' 18: 1&2, p. 5. He largely ceased publishing, except for occasional articles in the publication "Shamanism."Harner, Michael, and Sandra Harner (2000) "Core Practices in the Shamanic Treatment of Illness". ''Shamanism'' 13 (1&2), pp. 19-30.Harner, Michael (2010) "A Core Shamanic Theory of Dreams." ''Shamanism'' 23, pp. 2-4.


See also

*
Hank Wesselman Henry Barnard Wesselman (1941-2021) was an American anthropologist known primarily for his ''Spiritwalker'' trilogy of spiritual memoirs. In them, he claims to have been in contact with "Nainoa", an ethnic native Hawaiian, Hawaiian kahuna (shaman) ...


Bibliography

*Harner, Michael, ''Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality'' (North Atlantic Books 2013) *Harner, Michael (ed,), ''Hallucinogens and Shamanism'' (Oxford University Press 1973) *Harner, Michael, ''The Jívaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls'' (University of California Press 1972) *Harner, Michael, ''The Way of the Shaman'' (HarperOne 1990) Orig. 1980 *Harner, Michael, and Meyer, Alfred, ''Cannibal''. New York: Morrow, 1979. (a novel on Aztecs) *Harner, Michael
"The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice."
pp. 46–51. ''Natural History'', Vol.86 (no.4), April 1977. *Haviland, William A., Harald E. L. Prins, Bunny McBride and Dana Walrath, "Anthropologist of Note: Michael J. Harner" ''Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge'' (14th ed.) (Wadsworth 2013)


References


External links


Michael Harner's Foundation for Shamanic Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harner, Michael 1929 births 2018 deaths American anthropologists Neoshamanism Exorcism Spiritual warfare American animists American archaeologists People from Washington, D.C.