Can ancient spiritual practices help us meet today’s challenges? This informative interview opens on a personal note as Susan Mokelke shares the story of her journey to shamanism. From there, the conversation explores many of the questions people most often ask about shamanism, including the role of songs and drumming, children’s relationships with their power animals, shamanic healing in nature, and the innate ability of all people, through training and practice, to access the realms of the compassionate helping spirits.
Susan Mokelke, J.D., is President of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies (FSS), founded by Michael Harner, where she has dedicated her work to teaching core shamanism and helping people cultivate direct spiritual experience for healing, guidance, and personal transformation. Her own journey began with a successful career as a lawyer before a profound search for meaning and purpose led her to the practice and teaching of shamanism.
For decades, Susan has worked with the compassionate helping spirits to explore how shamanic wisdom can be applied to healing individuals, communities, and the natural world. Her current focus is developing practical approaches that bring spiritual insight into ordinary reality to address the persistent challenges facing humanity and our precious Earth. Through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, she teaches the experiential workshops Shamanism for Inspired Local & Global Change and Shamanism & Personal Transformation.
Susan believes that the true purpose of shamanic practice is not enlightenment for its own sake, but becoming more effective, compassionate human beings. As she says, “Enlightenment is not the goal. The goal is to be more effective people. When we transform ourselves, the whole world advances.”
