We know intuitively that spiritual intelligence exists, but it is often harder to understand how this intelligence develops, how it can be shaped, and how it can be used to improve our lives and those of others. Indigenous people have always recognized this intelligence, and have created ways of nurturing spiritual abilities. The exemplary practitioners of these abilities are called shamans, medicine men and women, curanderas and curanderos. This book is a dialogue across the great divide of science and spirit, describing the education of shamanic abilities within the Native American tradition. Letters to the Medicine Man can be seen as a culmination of Barbara Kerr's 20 years of exploration of extraordinary talent, as described in her previous books, Smart Girls: A Handbook for Counseling Gifted and Talented, and her recent Smart Boys: Talent, Manhood, and the Search for Meaning. John McAlister, a gifted storyteller, writes as well as teaches, and provides valuable lessons for all of those who nurture the intellects and spirits of young people.
