Ruth-Inge Heinze

(1919-2007) was a scholar and spiritual practitioner with extraordinary insights. Coming from the war torn Europe of the 1940s she embarked on a journey to study shamanism in Indonesia and Singapore, earning a PhD from UC Berkeley.  She later was a professor at CIIS, UC Berkeley, South Asian Studies Department and the author of numerous books on healing practices from around the world including ,21st Century Shaman. Her autobiography, The Light In the Dark: The Search for Visions, was published posthumously. 

Dr. Heinzewas one of the earliest cultural anthropologists to see the value of shamanic traditions related to the transformation of contemporary society. Dr. Heinze addressed the lack of vision in Western society for social and individual transformation. In 1984 she founded the International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternative Modes of Healing,   to address this lack of vision and to create a contemporary sacred space to focus on personal and global transformation.She brought together academics, practicing shamans, Indigenous Elders, artists, musicians and alternative healers for a yearly conference of transformative experiences and learning. This evolving community became the focus of the last decades of her life. Dr. Heinze’s greatest desire was to bring together people she could call her family, a tribe for the future that wouldbring light into our dark world.