There are certain ethical issues around ritual objects which reflect the very nature of the objects themselves. The main one is 'should such items ever be sold?'

Some sacred objects have a tradition of not being exchanged for money, others have no such prohibition in their original culture.

For instance, Native American sacred pipes. Nicholas has received a considerable amount of pipe teachings himself over the years, and follows a traditional line that pipes should, ideally not be bought or sold, rather they should be traded for, given as gifts or made by the pipe carrier themselves.

Other sensitive items are the shaman's mirrors or 'toli' of Mongolia and Siberia. There is currently unease amongst some Mongolian shamans about the buying and selling of these mirrors, because of the sacred nature of the mirrors themselves, and also because many are said to have been stolen from shamans in order to have come on the market.

When Nicholas gets an item such as a mirror, he tries to follow his own gut feeling about whether he should offer it for sale or not. This 'unease' does not occure with Tibetan shamanic mirrors (melong) as there is not the same ethical problem with these mirrors.

Many other ritual objects do not carry such an emotional charge with native people, and Nicholas feels free to offer these without reservation, this also includes objects made from human remains such as thighbone trumpets, which Nicholas keeps with respect until they are sold.

All of the objects offered here have to pass Nicholas's own sense of correctness. The gallery will not offer objects he does not personally feel good about, nor will it offer objects from shamanic traditions Nicholas knows little about, such as those from Africa or Australia which are not in his area of expertise.

If any holder of traditional knowledge finds anything offered on this website offensive in anyway, please get in touch with Nicholas to voice your concerns and he will see what he can do to remedy the situation.