Book Club

SHAMANISM, PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE It is an axiom of modern psychotherapy, that who we are is to a large extent shaped by our parents and by our upbringing. It is a cause-and-effect relationship that you can spend years exploring in therapy....

My Father’s Daughter A story of family and belonging by Hannah Pool -review by Stephen Kearney “They’re all going to Bangladeshi families”, asserted my Dublin born neighbour as we gazed down on the mini-estate of social housing under construction from the vantage...

THINGS ARE A LOT BETTER THAN THEY ARE MADE OUT TO BE I've spent my whole adult life living under an apocalyptic, pessimistic narrative about the future of the world, which has only intensified in recent years. It seems that humans are hard-wired to take more note of...

PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH Here is a great interview about current psychedelic research, using psilocybin, at John Hopkins University in the US. It is remarkable that it is happening at all, after decades of being demonised. One of the strengths of the academic approach is...

Post-Tribal Shamanism: A New Look at the Old Ways by Kenn Day It is well written and presents a perspective of Shamanism and Shamanistic techniques for the Western world; not part of a traditional tribal community. The book is a good introduction to Kenn's techniques...

  We are in the midst of a climate panic, fuelled by the media and by politicians, rather than by the science. Global warming is real, but it ain't Armageddon. Did you know that there aren't more wildfires and flooding, just more houses in the way? That polar...

28th May MYSTERIOUS CONDITIONS I deal daily in mysterious conditions – ongoing physical and other soul body conditions that continue to entangle the subject. These invariably have physical symptoms, but do not yield to ordinary medical treatment. In the past many of...

THE BATTLE AGAINST 'TERMINATION' Louise Erdrich writes on Native American themes, and is of Ojibwe descent. She is one of my favourite novelists. She combines the nitty gritty of daily life on the reservation, with a closeness to her characters, endless original...

Normal People by Sally Rooney review by Stephen Kearney   How do we get to hear about a new publication, film or television series?  There’s probably a thousand and one answers but for the most part, at least in my case, the first awareness just seems to appear...