Hank Wesselman


Henry Barnard Wesselman was an American anthropologist known primarily for his Spiritwalker trilogy of spiritual memoirs. In them, he claims to have been in contact with "Nainoa", an ethnic Hawaiian kahuna living some 5,000 years in our future. The books envision the imminent collapse of Western civilization as a result of global warming. On a more positive note, Wesselman perceives an ongoing "wide-spread spiritual reawakening" which he dubs the "Modern Mystical Movement."
Together with his wife Jill Kuykendall, Wesselman led shamanic training workshops for the Omega Institute and other, similar institutions. They divided their time between northern California, Oregon, and Captain Cook, Hawaii. Hank died peacefully near his home in Hawaii on February 15, 2021 after a short illness. His beloved Jill was at his side. He was 79 years old.

Professional background

Wesselman is a native New Yorker who received his undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his doctorate in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. During the 1960s he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nigeria, among the Yoruba. He has participated in paleoanthropology research in east Africa's Great Rift Valley. His research speciality is involved with the reconstruction of the paleo-environments of early man sites and the cover story of National Geographic, July 2010.
He was an instructor at American River College and Sierra College, both in California, and has also taught classes for the University of California at San Diego; the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo; the Kiriji Memorial College in Igbajo, Nigeria; and Adeola Odutola College in Ijebu Ode, Nigeria. The Omega Institute Faculty.
He is the author of the Spiritwalker trilogy—Spiritwalker, Medicinemaker, and Visionseeker —as well as The Journey to the Sacred Garden ; Spirit Medicine ; Awakening to the Spirit World, The Bowl of Light, and ''The Re-Enchantment: A Shamanic Path to a Life of Wonder''

Publications

Spiritwalker trilogy

  • Spiritwalker: Messages from the Future. Bantam, 1995 and 1996.
Spiritwalker has been published in 15 languages abroad.

Other books

  • The Omo Micromammals: Systematics and Paleoecology of Early Man Sites from Ethiopia—December 1984
  • The Journey to the Sacred Garden. Hay House, 2003. :An introduction to understanding and practicing Core Shamanism. The book includes an experiential CD with drumming and rattling tracks designed to induce altered states.
  • Spirit Medicine. :An overview of shamanic healing from the Hawaiian Perspective. The book contains an experiential CD for healing exercises.
  • Little Ruth Reddingford and the Wolf - September 2004—for children. A re-imagining of the Little Red Riding Hood story.
  • "The Caretaker of my Garden." In The Times of our Lives, Louise Hay & Friends; J. Kramer, ed., Hay House Books, Carlsbad, CA, pp. 220–230. 2007.
  • "The transformational perspective: an emerging worldview," in Mind Before Matter, Trish Pfeiffer, John Mack and Paul Deveraux eds., John Hunt Publ, London., pages 200–216. 2007.
2008: "Hawaiian Perspectives on the Nature of the Soul." The Journal of Shamanic Practice 1: pages 21–25.
  • "Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation" - March 2010. This book was awarded the gold medal first place award by the Independent Publishers Association in 2011 for the best body Mind Spirit book of the year. It was also given the first place award by the COVR—The Coalition of Visionary Resources. In this book, two accomplished shamanic teachers join forces to present a modern upgrade of the shaman's practice and worldview for modern people. Includes an experiential CD.
  • "The Bowl of Light: Ancestral Wisdom from a Hawaiian Shaman" - May 2011. in which Wesselman records his friendship with the Hawaiian elder kahuna Hale Makua over the last eight years of his life, including their philosophical discussions. Hank Wesselman's account of his eight-year friendship with the Hawaiian elder and kahuna nui Hale Makua includes previously unpublished kahuna wisdom and Polynesian philosophy and has been critically acclaimed.
  • "My Encounters with Sekhmet." In Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet, eds. Candace C. Kent and Anne Key, IUniverse Publ, Bloomington, Indiana, pages 104–111. 2011
  • "Speaking Woman." The Journal of Shamanic Practice. 4: pages 32–36. 2011
2014a: Australian Aboriginal Wisdom. A Journal of Contemporary Shamanism 7 : pages 6–8.
  • "The Three Stages of Spiritual unfolding." In Shamanic Transformations: True Stories of the Moment of Awakening, ed. Itzhak Beery. Destiny Books, 2015.
  • "The Re-Enchantment: A Shamanic Path to a life of Wonder" includes many of Wesselman's "field notes" of his visionary experiences and initiations including his observations about the unseen forces that affect our lives—spirit helpers, spirit teachers, the spirit guides and the masters of deception who attach themselves to our political, economic, military and religious leaders. It concludes with thoughts from the Hawaiian kahuna elder.

Contributions

  • Hawai'i: True Stories of the Island Spirit - Page 216, "Spiritwalker", July 1999,
  • The Spiritual Gifts of Travel: [The Best of Traveler's Tales] - Page 99, "Spiritwalker", March 2002,
  • Essay in: "How Do You Pray: Inspiring Responses from Religious leaders, Spiritual Guides, Healers, Activists and Other Lovers of Humanity, ed. Celeste Yacoboni, Monkfish Book Publishing, Rhinebeck New York, pages 156-158. 2014
  • "My First Encounter with Sekmet", foreword of Sekhmet: Transformation in the Belly of the Goddess by Nicki Scully,
  • * Foreword to: The Evolving Soul: Spiritual Healing through Past Life Exploration, Linda Backman, Llewellan Publications, Woodbury, Minnesota. pages X1-X1V. 2014

Selected Research papers

  • "Fossil remains of micromammals from the Omo group deposits" : In Earliest Man and Environments in the Lake Rudolf Basin: Stratigraphy, Paleoecology and Evolution; Y. Coppens, F. Clark Howell, G. Ll. Isaac and R.E.F. Leakey, eds. University of Chicago Press: pages 351-360.1976.
  • "Pliocene Micromammals from the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia: Systematics and Paleoecology." PhD dissertation, University Microfilms. 1982.
  • "The Omo Micromammals: Systematics and Paleoecology of Early Man Sites from Ethiopia," Contributions to Vertebrate Evolution 7: pages 1–219. S. Karger Publ. Basel.. 1984
  • "Fossil micromammals as indicators of climatic change about 2.4 Myr. ago in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia." South African Journal of Science 81: pages 260-261. 1985
  • "Micromammals as climatic indicators: the Omo evidence," in The Longest Record, the Human Career in Africa; volume of abstracts of papers presented at a conference in honor of Professor J. Desmond Clark. 1986
  • "Of Mice and Almost-men: Regional Paleoecology and Human Evolution in the Turkana Basin". in Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on Human Origins, eds. Elizabeth Vrba et al. Yale University Press, 1995, pages 356–368.
  • Asa Issie, Aramis and the origin of Australopithecus, Nature 440, pages 883-889,, E-, April 13, 2006.
  • "Small Mammals" in Ardipithecus kadabba: Late Miocene Evidence from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. eds. Yohannes Haile-Selassie and Giday Woldegabriel. University of California Press, pages 105-133, 2009.
  • "Taphonomic, Avian, and Small-Vertebrate Indicators of Ardipithecus ramidus Habitat", Science 326, page 66, October 2, 2009.
And more...
  • "The soul cluster: Reconsideration of a millennia old concept." World Futures 2011; 67: pages 132-53. 2011.
  • "Tachyoryctes Makooka and its bearing on the phylogeny of the Tachyoryctini,", Paleontology 56, pages 157-166. 2013.