Field note · Sep 2026
As machines grow smarter, will we?
A man sits across from me in Ubud. A field note on intelligence that is not our own — and the kind we cannot afford to forget.
A memoir · Vonetta Rain
★ Winner · 2025 Best Book Awards
The Book
A memoir
She survived the life she was handed. Then she went looking for the one that was hers.
Vonetta Rain had built what looked like a remarkable life: an Emmy Award-winning career, creative success, and everything she once believed she was supposed to want. But beneath it all was a persistent knowing that something was missing.
When she finally follows that knowing, it leads her into an apprenticeship with a Peruvian shaman that transforms her understanding of the Great Mysteries, healing, purpose, and ultimately, herself. The Shaman's Apprentice is a memoir of survival, awakening, and remembering — an extraordinary journey into what can happen when we find the courage to leave behind the life that no longer belongs to us and begin the journey home.
available now
Three ways to read
Boston
Wakefield, Massachusetts. A child of desegregation. The first declaration: this cannot be all there is.
Kenya
Cornell anthropology, field research in Nairobi and Kibera. Thousands of zebra and giraffe migrating across the plain — and the moment the world stops being theoretical.
The Collapse
An Emmy-winning career, a marriage, an identity. Each undone to make room for what is true.
The Call
Yogananda appears twice in dreams. The Ganges. The baptism. The first plant medicine. The map begins to draw itself.
The Jungle
Joachim. The Amazon. Grandmother Serpent. Ancestral bleeding. A directive: create circles of twelve.
Ireland
A 40th birthday at the Poulnabrone Dolmen. The first facilitation. You'll be the best shaman on the planet.
The Return
Inverness, California. The Wild & Holy Women circles. Australia, Chicago, New York. The teaching expanding outward.
The Dawn
Rafael, the sound healer. Mentor and lost friend. A spirit that returns to comfort. The work that continues through her.
An interlude
What this path opened in me, more than anything,
was the simple permission — to play, to experience joy,
to the grace of being moved.
— move the feather. make a mark. —
From readers around the world
Working with Vonetta has been nothing short of a revelation. A stunning memoir. She is a veritable gift of light.
Dr. Rachel Pearl, MD · Emergency Physician, Cedars-Sinai
It's a piece of art. Vonetta is a true visionary.
Miriam Brown · Psychologist
Such a great book. Every time I had put it down, I could not wait to get back into it. So beautifully written. So relatable. She had me laughing and crying.
Amazon Customer · Verified Purchase
I've witnessed Vonetta change thousands of lives, including mine. Her ancient wisdom and captivating stories have finally made it to print.
Heather Brand · Founder + CEO, Shloak
Vonetta's mentorship gave me my life back. Her story is a powerful reminder of how we can remember our joy and passions — even in the most stuck places.
Dr. Nakia Gordon, PhD · Behavioral Neuroscience
The Shaman's Apprentice is so much more than a memoir — it's a transmission. Her storytelling is magnetic. A must-read for anyone longing to remember who they are beneath the noise of the world.
Dana D. Frost · Verified Purchase
A beautiful memoir that traces Vonetta Rain's extraordinary spiritual awakening from childhood to her calling as a healer. The writing flows effortlessly, making this an engaging page-turner that's genuinely hard to put down. I didn't want it to end.
Amazon Customer · Verified Purchase
Such a beautifully told story of a life lived with faith, curiosity, courage and intention. Witnessing Vonetta's path to service through the fibers of these pages was a literary delight.
Tamika B. · Verified Purchase
I couldn't put this book down. Vonetta is such an incredible storyteller. A must-read for anyone seeking to heal or even just curious about what is possible.
Erin Ferrare · Amazon Reviewer
I devoured it. A beautiful story of transformation and discovery. I loved the curiosity, the storytelling, and the humor. Looking forward to a sequel.
JV · Amazon Reviewer
I loved going on the journey of this woman who inspired me to have courage and believe in oneself. I could feel her joy and pain, and was grateful for all it enabled her to pass on to us.
Louise Baranowski · Amazon Reviewer
A page-turner from the first chapter. Vonetta's writing is honest, lyrical, and brave — a rare combination. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.
Amazon Customer · Verified Purchase
If the book changes your life
For some readers, the book is enough. For others, it is the beginning of an inquiry. The Shamanic Practitioner Certification™ is a year-long apprenticeship for those whose work has begun to ask more of them.
Where the path continues →The Invitation
I would be delighted
to hear from you.
Field Notes
Fragments of the memoir. Small openings into the larger map.
Field note · Sep 2026
A man sits across from me in Ubud. A field note on intelligence that is not our own — and the kind we cannot afford to forget.
Field note · Aug 2026
Healers undercharge for reasons older than pricing strategy. What lies beneath is a deeper conflict between service, receiving, and the sacred.
Field note · May 2026
On the sacred decision I made before any other transformation in my life could happen. In the laundromat on Sunset and Wilton, I daydreamed about owning my own washing machine.
Field note · Mar 2026
We've been preparing for this for a long time. Before the language. Before the platforms. Before awakening became something you could package and sell.
Field note · Mar 2026
A part of me also wants to escape them. I yearn for simplicity. I long for the days when I intentionally chose to leave my cellphone behind.
Field note · Mar 2026
I was guiding a plant medicine ceremony. Not in some distant jungle or retreat center, but in a penthouse villa at a private members' club overlooking the city.
Stay close to the path
A quiet letter from Vonetta. Free. Read on Substack or in your inbox.
Subscribe →