Shamans, healers, those magical beings who seem to transition between the "real" world and a hidden world of power and and promise that lies just out of reach for the rest of us, make the journey there and back only with difficulty and at great peril to their bodies and souls. Their modern magico-religious practices serve an important social service role within their communities, as they give counsel to the people who most suffer the anxieties living life, of those who struggle to make sense of death, of love and loss, of hate and grief and envy and fear--all those seekers of comfort in the face of the unknown.