Draft:José Stevens

José Luis Stevens (born August 2, 1948), better known as José Stevens, is an American author of numerous books and articles. He is a psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, and internationally known shamanic teacher.

Biography
In 1983, José Stevens completed his PhD in Integral Counseling at the California Institute of Integral Studies. In 1989, he cofounded The Power Path Seminars and School of Shamanism in Sante Fe, NM, with his wife Lena Stevens, and currently serves as president. José Stevens apprenticed for ten years with a Huichol shaman in Central Mexico, studied Toltec traditions, and studied with the Shipibos of the Amazon and Q’ero of the Andes.

José Stevens served as a board member of the nonprofit Society for Shamanic Practice, from the 1990s until 2022. In the early 2000s, José and Lena Stevens cofounded the Center for Shamanic Education and Exchange, a 501(c)3 non-profit, which is included in the Native American History library resource guide by Nancy Thompson Learning Commons at Kean University.

The Michael Teachings
José Stevens is best known for his works related to the Michael Teachings, a channeled New Age spiritual doctrine. Two of his books, The Michael Handbook (coauthored with Simon Warwick-Smith) and Transforming Your Dragons, are featured on The Michael Teachings 101 Spiritual Books You MUST Read Before You Die.

In 2015, speaking with Dr. Melanie Harth on her KSFR podcast, Living With Happiness, Jose Stevens describes his Personessence system of personality as "as a map and also a philosophy of life”.

José Stevens credits the creation of his Personessence System to Sarah Chambers and the Michael Teachings. He says that, "As a student of her work and her friend, I was able to use my knowledge of human personality from western psychological systems to help unpack the information and make it more accessible to the mainstream. I called it The Personessence System to better reflect the core theme of the teachings. This has been a major aspect of my life work".

International Influence
Books by José Stevens have been translated to many languages including Finnish, French, Spanish, German, Danish, Turkish, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese.

José Stevens' work appears in articles published by academic journals such as the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, Shaman's Drum, and the Ukrainian Sport Science and Human Health Journal, as well as in dissertations from PhD and graduate students of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Saybrook University, and California Institute of Integral Studies.

José Stevens appeared in the 2017 documentary Shaman Trekker, directed by French filmmaker and actor Emmanuel Itier.

José Stevens' work is also featured in various articles, podcasts, and blog posts on spirituality and shamanism and in self-help books such as Living in the Wow: What If Nothing Is What It Seems? by Krystina Morgainne and Acting Lessons for Living: Play the Scenes of Your Life with Intention, Presence, and Pure Potential: A Living, Acting and Enneagram Master Class by Ruthie Landis.

Psychedelics and Spirituality
José Stevens' article, "The Macho Ingestion Syndrome," was published in by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies in 1994. He offers his perspective as a psychologist who has had clients benefit from "ingestion of peyote, mushrooms, and other substances in ceremonial settings," but cautions that many ingest larger doses and pressure others to use larger doses in order to appear "spiritually macho" and "more enlightened," which inflicts harm and distorts the effectiveness of these substances.

José Stevens' book Encounters with Power was featured in the 2016 Publisher's Weekly article "Drugs and the Divine: Where Psychedelics Overlap with Spiritual Practices" as an upcoming book of note exploring "the intersection of drugs and spiritual development".

Works

 * The Michael Handbook (coauthor Simon Warwick Smith), 1988, Warwick Press, ISBN 978-0-941109-00-0
 * Tao to Earth, 1988, Pivotal Resources, ISBN 978-0-942663-02-0
 * Earth to Tao (coauthor Lena Stevens), 1989, Pivotal Resources, ISBN 978-0-942663-03-7
 * The Personality Puzzle (coauthor J. P. Van Hulle), 1990, Pivotal Resources, ISBN 978-0942663068
 * Transforming Your Dragons, 1994, Bear and Company, ISBN 978-1-879181-17-5
 * The Power Path (coauthor Lena Stevens), 2002, New World Library, ISBN 978-1-577312-17-8
 * Secrets of Shamanism (coauthor Lena Stevens), 2004, William Morrow Paperbacks, ISBN 978-0-380756-07-0
 * Praying with Power, 2005, Watkins Publishing, ISBN 978-1-842931-27-1
 * Awaken the Inner Shaman, 2014, Sounds True, ISBN 978-1-622030-93-4
 * Encounters with Power, 2017, Sounds True, ISBN 978-1-622037-93-3
 * How to Pray The Shaman’s Way, 2021, Hierophant Publishing, ISBN 978-1-950253-12-8
 * The Shaman's Book of Extraordinary Practices: 58 Power Tools for Personal Transformation, 2024, Hierophant Publishing, IBSN 978-1-950253-53-1