Shamanism is practiced all over the world, but nowhere is it more profound and fascinating than in the Upper Amazon. Mestizos in the Upper Amazon have created a unique shamanist culture that continues not only to fascinate outsiders with its brilliant visionary art but also to attract thousands of seekers each year with the promise of visionary experiences of their own, especially through the use of potent plant hallucinogens.

Steve Beyer -- scholar, adventurer, and expert on both jungle survival and plant hallucinogens -- has recently published the book Singing to the Plants, which explains just what this shamanism is about. The book, based on his work in Peru with Amazonian healers, has been called "a rare mixture of exhaustive scholarship and gripping first person account" and "brilliant as an ethnographic portrayal, encyclopedic in scope, theoretically nuanced, eminently readable and thoroughly spellbinding."

Now join Steve as he reads from and discusses his book. We will be able to learn just what happens at an ayahuasca healing ceremony, how the apprentice shaman forms a spiritual relationship with the healing plant spirits, how sorcerers inflict the harm that the shaman heals, and the ways that plants are used in healing, love magic, and sorcery. Please come with your questions about shamanism, the sacred visionary plants, and the medicine path. And please be ready to share your experiences.

The book will be available at the reading. Steve will be happy to sign your copy.

You can learn more about the book Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon (University of New Mexico Press, 2009) at its website, http://www.singingtotheplants.com/.