Always the journeyer, Steve Wall crosses yet another boundary in Shadowcatchers. Crowning his fifteen-year quest to seek out Native American elders throughout the Americas, he once again takes us on an adventure deep within their cultures, including poignant meetings with the Cherokee, Onondaga, Mohawk, Seneca, Lumbee, and Lakota nations, and for the first time encountering elders of the Kickapoo, Kuna, Brunca, Guaymi, Cabecar, Aztec, and Bribri in his intense search for their healers. Along the way he confronts numerous wise men and women: tribal leaders, healers, high priests, and sorcerers from these thirteen tribes. Gaining their trust, they take him into their homes and allow him to record the ancient stories and myths of their peoples. In time, he is permitted to participate in a healing ceremony, and discovers that this powerful ancient ritual has a great effect on him as well as on the one afflicted. Quite unexpectedly he has to face the Mountain of Death - as much a pinnacle within himself as a very real physical peak.Shadowcatchers is the inspiring story of a journalistic odyssey that took on a life of its own. Searching for the essence of Native American spirituality, Wall experiences a dynamic transformation. He is forced to examine his own beliefs concerning life and death, the afterworld, spirits, and God. With his search nearing an end, he seeks out one last elder in northern Mexico. This man, Leandis, an aging curandero, tells him, "You know about shadows! You take pictures with that little black box of yours. That's like catching shadows. That's what l do. I'm sort of a shadowcatcher, too. You do it with your camera, I catch them in my soul." Recalling his own personal passage, Wall reports, "I had finally caught the ultimate shadow, and it was me." Read Less