A bridge between earth and heaven, this world and the next, features in the mythology of many different peoples. For example, in Norse legends, Bifröst or Bilröst is a burning rainbow bridge between Midgard, the world, and Asgard, the realm of the gods. The Persians believed in a bridge between earth and paradise too. Over the midst of the Moslem hell stretches the bridge Es-Sirat. In the Lyke-Wake Dirge of the English north-country, they sang of "The Brig of Dread." In Java, a bridge leads across the abyss to the dwelling-place of the gods and among many of the American tribes the Milky Way is the bridge to the other world. The Slavs believed in a pathway which led to the other world and, since the journey was long, they put-boots into the coffin, and coins to pay the ferrying across a wide sea, even as the Greeks expected to he carried over the Styx by Charon. Book jacket.

Michael Berman BA, MPhil, Phd (Alternative Medicines) has been involved in teaching and teacher training for over thirty five years, and has given presentations at conferences in more than twenty countries. He also trained as a Core Shamanic Counsellor with the Scandinavian Cenre for Shamanic Studies under Jonathan Horwitz.