Shaman MD is a compelling story of a journey into one of the last refuges of human and planetary mystery. This is a journey not for the weak of heart. The risks can be life changing, or life threatening. Hiking along the high jungle deep into the Amazon forests of Ecuador with Jaguar, Anaconda, and hundreds of species of poisonous snake hidden from sight, is not always something many in our domesticated culture would care to risk. Or high in the Andes entering into poisonous fume producing caves seeking knowledge and power.
Bruce's story unfolds as autobiography on the plains of Africa where she grew up in a family not afraid to march to its own beat by abandoning the comforts of western culture. With great courage, Bruce, tells her own story as a fifteen year old girl getting pregnant and choosing to keep her baby. The astonishing story unfolds in her return to America by entering college and then medical school followed by completing a surgical residency no other women had achieved to that point.
The story eventually takes her into the world of indigenous healing and cross cultural norms on many different continents working with elders, shamans, sangomas, and sages. The story underscores the personal transformation she finds in these simple and honest communities still honoring our Earth Mother and those who remain conversant with her language.
As someone who has walked this same path, I can only attest to its power to transform lives. The question, of course, can you let go of your cultural inhibitions, to enter into another way of knowing?
This is a great book, by a modern visionary. My only regret is that Bruce has not written another book.