According to Daniel Noel, at Berkley, Harner sat on Carlos Castenada's dissertation committee; Castenada's dissertation was "Sorcery: A Description of the World," which he later published with few changes as Journey to Ixtlan.[2] Susan Grimaldi wrote an article for Shaman's Drum magazine, published by Harner's Foundation for Shamanic Studies, in response to Noel's book.[3] Grimaldi notes that Harner never taught at UCLA where Castenada was a graduate student. Harner's own departure from academic anthropology to become what Daniel Noel termed a "shamanthropologist" came with the publication of The Way of the Shaman as a "how-to" guide for people outside of shamanistic cultures to become "shamans." The Foundation of Shamanic Studies, created in 1985, published more books along these lines, and offers weekend seminars and for-fee classes to the same end.
In 1987, he left academia to devote himself to full-time work with shamanism, and created the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. The foundation funds research and publications, offers worldwide trainings in shamanic practices, has an international membership, and has reintroduced shamanic practices to parts of the world where the tradition was lost or suppressed.
His publications include the books: The Way of the Shaman, Hallucinogens and Shamanism, The Jívaro, and a coauthored novel, Cannibal.
Roger Walsh and Charles S. Grob in an interview with Michael Harner in Higher Wisdom wrote that:
"What Yogananda did for Hinduism and D. T. Suzuki did for Zen, Michael Harner has done for shamanism, namely bring the tradition and its richness to Western awareness."[4]