KALWEIT, HOLGER

German ethnologist and psychologist who has studied shamanism inHawaii, theNorth AmericanSouthwest, Mexico, andTibet. Kalweit is the author of several books in German, as well as the founder of two psychotherapeutic methods, darkness therapy andnaturepsychotherapy, which draw on shamanic practices. In the now-classicDreamtime and Inner Space:The World ofthe Shaman(1988), Kalweit presents accounts of shamans worldwide and compares these with psychological research intoaltered statesof consciousness, proposing that shamans are “astronauts of inner space.” More recently,Shamans, Healers and Medicine Men(2000), as with other volumes by psychotherapists, presents yet another grand survey of shamans worldwide ashealersand focuses on personal relationships, arguing that shamanic healing is “not merely the alleviation of symptoms but entails atransformationof one’s relationship to life.”