The Shaman of the Alligewi

Book excerpt: Long before any European ever set foot in North America, a young boy was about to enter manhood in his powerful tribe located in the Ohio Valley. It was 250 A.D. There was only one problem: the boy had been determined by tribal members to be the cause of bad luck. His efforts to redeem himself by participating in dangerous tribal ceremonies ultimately backfire making matters much much worse. With his very life now at stake, he is magically reborn and transformed against his will into a shamans apprentice. He starts the process of learning his new role with his new family and gradually begins to understand the magic in all of nature and in the parallel universe of the spirit world. He is acquiring the profound and crucial powers of a shaman of a mighty people; but also the humility and responsibility that comes with such power. The story is replete with descriptions of the daily activities of an early eastern woodland culture together with the native plant and wild animal interactions that often occurred to a people living in such close proximity to nature on a daily basis.