There was once a time, before the last ice age, when people lived with a profound sense of belonging to the natural world. Then something happened that forced upon the human mind an evolutionary contraction of consciousness and dislocation from Earth's embrace. In this book, Barry Cottrell reveals a healing process of transformation within the human psyche which is giving birth to a new Earth consciousness and the restoration of our lost sense of home. The Way Beond The Shaman takes the reader on an epic journey back to the origins of shamanism deep within the last ice age. After penetrating the very roots of shamanism, the book offers a powerful vision of consciousness evolving into the future, transformed by the life-giving spirit of shamanism. A profound transformation of human consciousness is seen to be taking place today, a realignment of mind and body, so that Earth's spirit may once again be perceived - and directly, not only by seers and shamans, but by all. The elegant simplicity of the book's radical central thesis is that you don't have to conduct elaborate rituals or engage in strenuous inner journeys to contact or perceive Earth's spirit. It is right there, in the deep celebratory awareness of the dignity and power of our own physical bodies as aspects and expressions of Earth. Awakening to the spirit of shamanism is an experience accessible to anyone willing to allow the transformative power and elemental physicality of Earth's spirit into their lives.