Mike Williams, Ph.D.

Ever since I was a child, the ancient world filled me with wonder. Here were people who lived thousands of years ago but left remains that I could visit, literally walking in their footsteps. As I got a little older, I wanted to know more: what these people talked about; what they thought; and, most of all, what they believed in. I was a child for whom the supernatural was near enough to touch and, at some level, I knew that those who had lived in the past felt the same.

My childlike enthusiasm for the past never waned and eventually, my love of archaeology became too much and I resigned from my job and enrolled at the University of Reading, first for an MA and then for a PhD in archaeology. The child really had birthed the man.

Whilst I was undertaking my degrees, I worked through the grades of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD), the largest modern Druid order in the world. I also trained in shamanism and learnt traditional ways to heal people, by extracting the spirit of an illness, or by restoring souls to people who had lost them through trauma. This training led me to places such as Siberia and Lapland where I sat at the feet of indigenous shamans and learnt all they had to offer. Over time, however, my two worlds converged and my archaeology and my shamanism merged into one. My archaeological research was all about shamanism and my shamanic practice was all about archaeology.

I received my PhD and OBOD invited me to become a tutor, first for the Bard and the for the Ovate grades, sharing something of my experience with those who are new to the path. I also began to write books, from both an archaeological and shamanic perspective. In truth, however, they are really two sides to the same coin: my archaeology books set out the evidence for prehistoric shamanism and how it affected people’s lives and my shamanic books show how we can still follow this path today, drawing on the wisdom of our ancient forbears. I do hope you enjoy them.

"Williams leaves no archaeological stone unturned to set the record straight, one and for all, that European culture and spiritual life, starting with our Ice Age ancestors, has been primarily, predominantly, and profoundly shamanistic." Caduceus Magazine

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