Runic John

   A British Heathen neo-shamanic practitioner and the author of The Book of Seidr: The Native English and Northern European Shamanic Tradition (2004) whose shamanic work with runes earned him this nickname. Ethnographic records of John’s shamanic practices, including journeying to the nine other worlds of the Yggdrasill world tree and healing work at alternative festivals are presented in Robert Wallis’s book Shamans/Neo-Shamans (2003). Wallis argues that unlike those neo-shamans who decontextualize and psychologize indigenous practices and focus on individual empowerment, Runic John’s work is more readily comparable with traditional shamanisms, as it is embedded in a specific tradition and involves direct encounters with spirits John perceives as “real” rather than aspects of self, as well as the healing of those clients who request his services.