Explore how a middle-class kid from Lowell, MA, survived a shy, skinny existence on "the path" to becoming a modern shaman. No, not the old-style wild-chanting, spell-casting, shape-shifting shaman.

A modern shaman has spent decades immersed in Native American lore, pushes self-awareness and altered states of consciousness to the highest level. Must face numerous near-death experiences: near-drowning, near-suicide, death-threats, and forced to play chicken with a semi-truck while on a motorcycle at 100mph.

With no fear. There are many quirky and humorous moments.

Exciting trips across Europe. Discussion of key topics.

Is there free will? Does God exist? The meaning of life? The author's shaman-mentor greets him with four, wild wolf-dogs. Bestows a "power bundle" and a white eagle feather.

Discussion of the shaman desiring a return to the womb, the "adoration of the female," the spiritual aspect of love-making (the "sacred marriage"). His mentor bestows the title of "Shaman.

" At 70, discovers his grandmother was an Abenaki Indian. The author weaves personal accounts related to the Kennedy Inauguration, Assassination, Vietnam War, and the Kent State Massacre.

Expeiences cover the death of an infant brother, pet pig he helped eat, beloved pet dog crushed to death, threat of a trip down an elevator shaft, occur in just the first six years. A first-time love, a betrayal, failed suicide.

The work is sprinkled with the author's published poems/stories. A meeting with Robert Frost, performance with Buffy Sainte-Marie, sleep-over at Emily Dickinson's grave.

Book's theme? Never surrender to assumed failure. Try the impossible, as the Native American title suggests.

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