From first-hand experience, the author tells of daily life among the Hopi Indians in Northern Arizona--their beliefs, rituals and Catcina (Kachina) ceremonies. The interaction and conflict between the Anglo and Indian cultures are presented from the viewpoint of the Hopi family. Robert Boissiere, born in Paris, France, came to the United States after World War II. A member of the French army, he was imprisoned in a Nazi prison camp from which he managed to escape and join a group of Basques in the Pyrenees. After moving to California, Boissiere found himself on an artistic and spiritual pilgrimage to the Hopi villages. There he was adopted by a Hopi family and became a participant in their cultural life. "The Hopi Way" is based on his experiences living as a Hopi. He is also the author of "Po Pai Mo," also from Sunstone Press.

Frances Henry's book explores various African religions as part of a cultural system, relevant to national identity in the island of Trinidad The book deals with the dynamic doctrinal and ideological changes that have taken place within the religions, and documents both the legislative and social acceptance of African religion today. This study is an important documentation of contemporary history and religious debate. It analyzes the process by which marginalized religions move toward the mainstream and the various internal and external tensions such movements engender. It makes a particularly strong contribution in its discussions of ritual authenticity. The work is based on a three-year period of fieldwork in Trinidad. Of interest to students and scholars interested in Caribbean Studies, especially African-oriented studies.

Those who teach courses in Native American religious traditions know the difficulty of finding quality books that deal in concise yet reliable fashion with a number of tribal traditions and are suitable for use in the classroom. In this volume, Lawrence Sullivan seeks to help fill this lacuna.

Taking place in the heart of the Huichol homeland in western Mexico, this book offers a rare in-depth look at the inner workings of Huichol shamanism, which is permeated with the use of the sacred peyote cactus. Outsiders are almost never allowed access to Huichol sacred sites and ceremonies; however, James Endredy, after years of friendship with Huichol families, earned the privilege nearly by accident. Swayed by persistent pleading, he agreed to take another gringo into the mountains to one of the Huichols' ceremonial centres, and they were both caught. After trial and punishment, Endredy was invited to stay within the sacred lands for the festivities he had illegally intruded upon and found his initiation into the Huichol shamanic tradition had begun. Sharing his intimate conversations and journeys with the shaman he calls "Peyote Jesus," the author explains how Huichol belief revolves around the five sacred directions, the five sacred sites, and the five points of attention. As Peyote Jesus explains, the five points of attention refer to dividing your awareness yet staying focused on your inner self. This is not a normal state of consciousness for most people, yet when we maintain these points of attention, we discover our true essence and move closer to God. Endredy undergoes dozens of spiritual journeys with peyote as he makes the pilgrimages to the five sacred Huichol sites with Peyote Jesus. He is shocked by his vision of the Virgin Mary while under peyote's guidance and learns of the deep relationship--strictly on Huichol terms--between their cosmology, Gnosticism, and Christianity, especially Jesus Christ. Providing an inside look at the major ceremonies and peyote rituals of the Huichol, this unexpectedly powerful book reveals the key tenants of the Huichol worldview, their beliefs in the afterlife, and their spiritual work on behalf of all of humanity.

This enthnographic study describes and analyzes the ritual cycle celebrated by Zulu kinship groups at birth, maturity, marriage, sickness and death as understood and interpreted by the Zulus themselves. The Zulu world view emerges as a logical and coherent system of thought, expressed primariliy through rites, rituals and symbols Axel-Ivar Berglund spent his childhood in Zululand as the son of Swedish missionaries serving there.