From Introduction:
In caves and huts hidden in the intractable depths of time, the shaman utters her mesmerizing chants and dances tirelessly around the fire, armed with rattles and prayers. She is a primordial healer, a proto-sorcerer, and an adherent to the myriad gods and spirits of the earth. Looking inward she cultivates her inner eye, allowing her mind and spirit to open up the doors of perception to the hollow lands, the hidden reality outside reality where the spirits and fey reside, the world from which she claims all knowledge and power. Not many are honored by the calling, but those who are absolutely cannot refuse it. The lure of the spirit world draws the shaman like a moth to the flickering campfire flames. It is infinitely unknowable and inscrutable, yet the shaman’s heart and soul somehow manage to successfully navigate the convoluted by-ways of its landscape to make sense out of it and bring her just a little bit closer to true understanding. Opening herself to the hollow lands isn’t easy, however; she must rely on self-induced ritual ecstasy to elevate her spirit to the point where she can pierce the membrane separating the two worlds and open a clear channel to the spirit world.