Navigating Liminal Realms - by Norma J Burton & Nisha Burton (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Safely explore inner worlds through altered states of consciousness

- Investigates drumming-induced trance states through shamanic journeying

- Provides advanced lucid dreaming training, sharing techniques for inducing lucidity and skillfully navigating our inner cosmos

- Explores the mindful use of psychedelics, offering guidance on setting intention, navigating the experience, and integrating insights

OFFERING TECHNIQUES from psychonauts ancient and modern, this profound guide helps you navigate consciously into the depths of the human psyche. Psychonavigation is the art of mindfully exploring the liminal realms of consciousness. This requires a map, a guide, and a clear intent, so one does not emerge overwhelmed and struggling with unexpected shadow material.

Norma and Nisha Burton map the important connection between three gateways into the psyche's depths: lucid dreaming, shamanic drumming trance journeys, and ceremonial plant medicine journeys. With drumming-induced trance journeys, they explore the scientific effect on brainwave frequencies alongside consciousness teachings from indigenous cultures like the Sami of Norway and Huichol of Mexico. Their masterful approach to lucid dreaming transcends basic instruction, offering sophisticated techniques to not only summon but sustain lucidity and integrate suppressed parts of oneself. They explain how a mindful engagement with entheogens can be profoundly enhanced through these precursory mystical practices, creating a safe container for integration and meaning-making that honors the gravity of such experiences.

With these skillful methodologies, ancient psycho-spiritual techniques meet ultra-current science to enable seekers to process and integrate profound encounters with expanded consciousness.

Review Quotes

"Navigating Liminal Realms is a master class in psychonavigation, an art whose name I did not know before reading this compelling book. As a mother-daughter creative team, Norma J. and Nisha Burton possess a rare combination of deep ancestral lineage, unique educational paths, and decades of experience with the Dreamtime, drumming, and psychedelicassisted shamanic journeying. With their unique and broad set of life experiences, spiritual gifts, and communicative skills, Norma and Nisha pull together strands from Eastern, Western, and Indigenous sources. The result is a clear-eyed, sober, authoritative guidebook to the beauty and mystery of the inner journey."-- "JIM GILKESON, energy practitioner, healer, and author of Three Lost Worlds: A Memoir of Life Among M"

"Navigating Liminal Realms is a profound guide to structured, safe, and transformative inner exploration. The authors emphasize that establishing safety is a prerequisite before engaging in deep inner work--a principle I see daily in my work as a physician specializing in integrative medicine. Their whole-systems approach ensures that healing comes from integration, not just the experience itself. Through lucid dreaming, drumming, and shadow work, the book demonstrates that altered states--whether through these methods or psychedelics--are tools, not the source of healing. As I've seen with my patients, where I utilize ketamine when needed as a catalyst to therapy, true transformation happens through preparation, integration, and expert guidance. A must-read for seekers and practitioners committed to responsible, ethical healing."-- "GEETA ARORA, M.D., certified in internal medicine, integrative holistic medicine, and as psychedelic"

"As a retired biotechnology chairman and CEO, I am enthusiastically recommending this extraordinary book. Norma and Nisha have put in writing thousands of years of wisdom, knowledge, and experience from many Indigenous cultures on healing, authentic power, and consciousness. We live in a precarious time when dramatic healing is necessary on a micro and macro level across the globe. It is also a critical period to stand up against the extreme abuses of power we are witnessing on a daily basis. The teachings herein bring these concepts forward in such a humble and compassionate way and also represent the highest ethical standards that I know. Norma and Nisha offer a synergistic approach to generational healing with very relevant case studies. My work with them has represented the most transformative learning process of my career by far, and I am forever grateful."-- "JOHN DEE, chairman and CEO of Biotech Companies, with a degree from Stanford in bioengineering scien"

"Both profound and illuminating, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the farthest reaches of human development and psycho-spiritual exploration."-- "PHILIP CARR-GOMM, psychotherapist and author of The Gift of the Night"

"Rarely does a book serve as both a lucid guide and a true initiation. Navigating Liminal Realms is more than a manual--it is a living transmission of wisdom. Norma and Nisha Burton weave ancient traditions with modern insights, offering a structured yet deeply intuitive path through dreams, drumming, and psychedelics. This is not escapism; it is a call to mastery--an invitation to meet the shadow, reclaim innate gifts, and navigate altered states with clarity and purpose. For those ready to step beyond the known and into the fullness of their consciousness, this book is an essential companion."-- "ERIC KAUFMANN, executive coach and author of Leadership Breakdown and Four Virtues of a Leader"

"Thank you, Norma and Nisha, for the immense gift of your book at such a pivotal time in the revival of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy! As a psychotherapist with 40 years of experience working with traumatized adults, I find your teachings are foundational and essential in protecting the users and facilitators of plant medicines from overwhelm, fragmentation, and misuse of power. If used with the psycho-navigational tools you teach, psychedelics shall not be pushed into the underground again. Having experienced Norma's total commitment to safe healing, her deep non-dualistic compassion, and her authentic humility based on her own shadow work, I am filled with endless gratitude. I cannot recommend this treasure trove of practical exercises and horizon-expanding concepts more highly. Your lineage and your personal wisdom, humility, and yes, impeccability, are truly the 'path of the heart'--which your book brings within reach for everyone."-- "BETTINA DEE, LMFT, psychotherapist, marriage and family therapist, and internal family systems (IFT)"

About the Author

Norma J. Burton is a counselor and theologian with academic degrees in Buddhist psychology and shamanic traditions. She specializes in trauma healing, shadow work, and Jungian dream analysis. Having apprenticed with indigenous elders for more than 30 years, she founded the Journey to Completion methodology and the Circle of Trust Healing Center.

Nisha Burton has been a skilled dream worker and lucid dreaming practitioner for more than a decade. She's an award-winning filmmaker and a sought-after consultant on branding and emerging technologies for Fortune 100 companies. A specialist in visual storytelling and film-AI integration, she speaks at conferences and universities worldwide.