Online Videos of Women Shamans and Curanderas

Pomo Shaman This film is a real cultural treasure: the great Pomo holy woman Essie Parrish performing a healing ritual in the Roundhouse, the ritual space of her people in northern California. She knew that this would preserve this precious heritage, after generations of missionary inroads on Pomo culture.

"I believe in Creation. From the beginning in my dreams and in my visions, it was showing to me how the world was created. My way of doctoring is about creation."

"Without the water, we couldn't live... everything fails without the water." Prophecy!

Her title was Yomta, which means "Song," and she carried not only the chants but the ceremonies, the spiritual heritage, the healing ways of the "Indian doctors." The music is so sacred and beautiful, her movement so real and and true and reverent. What a profound legacy. Her teaching is full of wisdom and spirit. She was a healer, and even now, as an ancestor, she is healing. She was one of the greats.

Woman Shaman Introduction, by Max Dashu

Khorchin Woman Shaman in Mongolia (the man is her assistant). They make reverence to the directions and chant beautiful traditional invocations, dance, drum, and toward the end, she performs a divination using her hand cymbals.

Maria Sabina: Mujer Espiritu (Spirit Woman) video on the great Mazatec curandera of Huautla, Oaxaca, southern Mexico. This is not the famous movie made by Gordon Wasson, who was studying the ritual use of psilocybin mushrooms. I wasn't able to find a version of it online, only this much later one made when she was old, ill, worn, and still poor. Her life had not been easy, as she explains in the film. But she still has those eyes, that spirit. Read selected translations for this eight-part film.

Women of Spirit in African Rock Art A work-in-progress by Max Dashu showing ancient images of shamans, dancers, and healers in the Sahara, Zimbabwe and South Africa. If you aren't able to play this, you may need a