A specific shamanic initiation allowed governing elite or medicine men to communicate with nature deities.

Banned by evangelic oppression as a satanic witchcraft, the shamanic ritual became a secret cult or disappeared.
It was only briefly mentioned in indian chronicles, unwilling to draw attention of the powerful Inquisition.

His predominance over pre-Columbian art is now gradually admitted, along with such concepts as :
- the animal-Guardian Spirit, met through dreams or trances,
- the spiritual travel experienced by the flying Shadow Soul,
- the Vision Serpent embodied by the Feathered Serpent guide.

This series upon Aztec, Maya, Inca and Toltec shamanism aim to faithfully summarize the available literature and information about ancien prehispanic rituals rituals (in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala…).
Contemporary testimonies of surviving shamanism in the Amazon rainforest will also help to understand old concepts.

This second book of the series is devoted to the non-animal spirits appearing in pre-Columbian art (sculpture or paintings), like dwarfs for exemple.
These supernatural spirits also depends on plants consumed, and on his own animal-Guardian Spirit.
On maya bas-reliefs, governors are sometimes depicted facing a supernatural monster head, symbolizing the entrance to the Underworld.

The author :

Traveller specialized in native American languages (Quechua, Maya, Nahuatl) and native American civilizations (Peru and Mexico), Noah Saint-Just regularly hold conferences and seminars about pre-columbians, on such themes as calendar, writing, history or religion.

He is graduated from the "Langues'O" (National French Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations), one of France's Grands Etablissements.

Writing in french, english or spanish, he published 2 english ebook about Mexican shamanism.

For more information, please email pacha.xochitl@gmail.com or visit :

http://www.facebook.com/391851750972017 (Quetzal NSJ Editions page)

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1000046816669235 (N Saint-Just personal page, mostly in french)