The Shaman's Wife: A Mystical Journey of Surrender and Self-Discovery

by Alicia M. Rodriguez

What happens when a woman follows a call across continents—and falls in love with a shaman?

The Shaman’s Wife is a true spiritual memoir about love, surrender, and awakening through a profound relationship rooted in indigenous wisdom.

After divorce and loss, Alicia M. Rodriguez accepts an invitation to Ecuador that will change her life. What begins as a journey of curiosity and healing leads her into the world of shamanic tradition—and into a powerful, life-altering love with a man who embodies both spiritual wisdom and deep complexity.

As their relationship unfolds across cultures and years, Alicia is initiated not only into shamanic ways of seeing, but into the deeper truths of power, devotion, illusion, and self-abandonment. Through ceremony, travel, and intimate encounters with the unseen, she confronts the ways women are conditioned to surrender themselves in the name of love—and the cost of doing so.

This memoir is not a guidebook or a romantic fantasy. It is a lived initiation.
Honest, evocative, and unflinching, The Shaman’s Wife explores the intersection of spirituality and romance, the shadow side of awakening, and the journey of reclaiming one’s voice, agency, and inner authority.

This book is for you if you’re drawn to:
• Spiritual memoirs rooted in lived experience, not platitudes
• Stories of women who awaken through love, loss, and profound inner reckoning
• Indigenous wisdom traditions and shamanic ways of seeing the world
• Transformational travel that changes the soul, not just the scenery
• Honest explorations of power, devotion, surrender, and reclaiming the self

If you loved Eat, Pray, Love but longed for something deeper, darker, and more spiritually complex—this story meets you there.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Biography Memoir

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2024

About the author

Alicia M. Rodriguez is an award-winning Latina author of reflective nonfiction, memoir, and poetry exploring mindfulness, spirituality, personal growth, and conscious living.

Through lived experience and intimate storytelling, her work invites readers into presence, self-awareness, and meaning—especially during times of transition, grief, and inner transformation.

Known for a grounded, non-dogmatic voice, she blends contemplative insight with practical wisdom rather than prescriptive self-help.

An executive coach with over 20 years of global experience, Rodriguez has guided thousands of people in aligning their lives and work with what matters most.

Her books include Everyday Epiphanies (Editions 1 and 2), Manage Your Life Before Life Manages You, the poetry collection Between Root and Sky, and the award-winning memoir The Shaman’s Wife: A Mystical Journey of Surrender and Self-Discovery, winner of the 2024 International Book Awards for Narrative Nonfiction.

Her writing has appeared in Thrive Global, Tiny Buddha, Tiferet Journal, Medium, and other literary and mindfulness publications.

She lives in the Algarve, Portugal with her dog Sophie and her magic cat, Merlin.

Reviews

[Cherisa B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Four chapters and 53 pages and I can't invest anymore time in this. Too many words, so little said, story going no where of someone you don't know whether to care about.

DNF

[Emma Nyman]

Reading this book was a transformative experience. I was drawn in so deeply to the story of Alicia’s life & self discovery. I absolutely loved the fact it included descriptions of shamanism. There is so much wisdom in it and it’s delivered in a way that it feels as though it was transmitted deep into my soul. I was very sad to finish reading it but I am aware that ideas & lessons in it will remain with me. It really is a wonderful book that is beautifully written.

[Wade E · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the best book I have ever read! It is a powerful and profound masterpiece! Alicia did a fantastic job of combining all the elements needed for a book you just can't put down. It really has It all! Self discovery, and self love, adventure, romance, love, risk and so much more. It's written in a way that absolutely pulls you right in, and let's you see things from Alicia's perspective, but it also has big messages about similar we all really are, and how we all have the power to step into our truth. It's extremely inspirational and one I know I'll read multiple times. Bravo!

[Glenna Turney · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I won this book from Goodreads. Thank You
This book is for those of us wondering if once you lost yourself, is it possible to find yourself.
It takes you down that path of seeing one thing but living something else.
The excitement of Love and the fear of Betrayal. Taking risks and surviving them. Becoming stronger with each step.

[Erin E Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shaman‘s Wife reads like a lyrical, poetic and magical story. Unlike most memoirs, the author‘s voice shines through, interwoven with an engaging multicolor sparkling tapestry of story threads layered chapter by chapter as she pulls the reader closer into an intimate view of her deeply, profound and transformational experiences.
The audio version of the book was a delight to listen to, and I felt like I was invited into the author’s secret world, with all the vivid details pulling my imagination directly into the scenes and geography of Ecuador.
For anyone who has experienced a dark night of the soul or spiritual awakening, or who has pondered the difference between breaking down and breaking open, or even glimpsed what the next stage of their life will be before they’re able to move into it, this book will speak directly to the core of your being, and perhaps inspire what has not yet awakened in you.

[Sandra Carrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excruciatingly honest memoir written by a courageous woman who explores her spiritual journey feeling a vital piece of herself is missing, despite being a successful entrepreneur in America. She meets a man she has a strong connection with and moves to Ecuador wanting to build a healing retreat with the shaman. The early years are interesting and powerful - exploring the slow unfolding of her heart and soul, evocative in landscape, South American culture and emotion. However, she is blindsided by the man she loved, then betrayed, but ultimately reclaims her power and agency. Ms. Rodriquez learns many important lessons from the shaman but mostly how to enflame the lucesita - the divine spark within that links us to the Creator. This is an important read for anyone who wants to author and transform their own lives, and reflect on how suffering can lead to meaning and happiness.

[Lauren Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had me hooked from the very beginning and was a roller coaster through emotions, time, dreams, struggles and the emerging of new life.
It's exquisitely written - I was right next to Alicia in all these moments - the jungle, the ocean, the house, her dreams.... I was transported. She effortlessly takes you moment to heart-wrenching moment with incredible descriptions and depictions, and ease.
Whilst it's her story, and a very unique one at that, it's a story shared by so many women that can get lost in love and in finding themselves back. Loved it.

[Soraya Wilks · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a transformative book. It was an honor to read Alicia’s first draft of this book last year, chapter by chapter. I give it credit to what helped me survive during a challenging life change. Reading the final version took me back but in a stronger more empowered way. The way Alicia wrote this book, jumping from Chesapeake Bay to the Ecuadorian jungle, you feel, hear, and see all those moments in her words. It’s a beautifully written book, you will fall deep, let it.

[Meredith Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gift for anyone who has felt the longing of spirit but not known how to answer its call. It's a beautiful, vulnerable, and honest story about how we can find our truest selves through suffering and beauty and love. Mystical, compelling, and profound, The Shaman's Wife speaks on a level few stories dare to and left me in awe of the unseen threads that connect us to something larger than we can imagine.

[Graisi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been relatable to me years ago, so it will probably help those who need it now. I removed stars because the book seems slow, padded with unnecessary information and doesn't offer as much as it seems like it could about how the author feels.