shamanism

File:SB - Altay shaman with drum.jpg ethnicity{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=77, 287}}{{cite book |last=Znamensky |first=Andrei A. |title=Csodaszarvas. Őstörténet, vallás és néphagyomány. Vol. I |publisher=Molnár Kiadó |year=2005 |isbn=978-963-218-200-1 |editor=Molnár, Ádám |location=Budapest |pages=117–34 |language=hu |chapter=Az ősiség szépsége: altáji török sámánok a szibériai regionális gondolkodásban (1860–1920)}}, p. 128{{cite book |last=Znamensky |first=Andrei A. |title=Csodaszarvas. Őstörténet, vallás és néphagyomány. Vol. I |publisher=Molnár Kiadó |year=2005 |isbn=978-963-218-200-1 |editor=Molnár, Ádám |location=Budapest |page=128 |language=hu |chapter=Az ősiség szépsége: altáji török sámánok a szibériai regionális gondolkodásban (1860–1920)}}]]

Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance.{{sfn|Singh|2018}}{{cite web|url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/shamanism|title= Shamanism|last1= Mircea Eliade|last2= Vilmos Diószegi|date= May 12, 2020|website= Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date= May 20, 2020|quote= Shamanism, religious phenomenon centred on the shaman, a person believed to achieve various powers through trance or ecstatic or unifying, religious experience. Although shamans’ repertoires vary from one culture to the next, they are typically thought to have the ability to heal the sick, to communicate with the otherworld, and often to escort the souls of the dead to that otherworld.}} The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human beings in some other way.{{sfn|Singh|2018}}

Beliefs and practices categorized as shamanic have attracted the interest of scholars from a variety of disciplines, including anthropologists, archeologists, historians, religious studies scholars, philosophers, and psychologists. Hundreds of books and academic papers on the subject have been produced, with a peer-reviewed academic journal being devoted to the study of shamanism.

Terminology

=Etymology=

File:Witsen's Shaman.JPG, 17th century. Witsen called him a "priest of the Devil" and drew clawed feet for the supposed demonic qualities.{{sfn|Hutton|2001|p=32}}]]

The Modern English word shamanism derives from the Russian word {{lang|ru|шаман}}, {{Transliteration|ru|ISO|šamán}}, which itself comes from the word {{lang|tuw|samān}} from a Tungusic language{{sfn|Hutton|2001}} – possibly from the southwestern dialect of the Evenki spoken by the Sym Evenki peoples,{{sfn|Janhunen|1986|p=97}} or from the Manchu language.{{cite book|last=Crossley|first=Pamela Kyle|title=The Manchus|publisher=Blackwell Publishers|year=1996|isbn=978-1-55786-560-1|url=https://archive.org/details/manchus00cros}} The etymology of the word is sometimes connected to the Tungus root {{lang|tuw|sā-}}, meaning "to know".{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=15}}{{sfn|Diószegi|1962|p=13}} However, Finnish ethnolinguist Juha Janhunen questions this connection on linguistic grounds: "The possibility cannot be completely rejected, but neither should it be accepted without reservation since the assumed derivational relationship is phonologically irregular (note especially the vowel quantities)."{{sfn|Janhunen|1986|p=98}}

Mircea Eliade noted that the Sanskrit word {{lang|sa|श्रमण}}, {{Transliteration|sa|IAST|śramaṇa}}, designating a wandering monastic or holy figure, has spread to many Central Asian languages along with Buddhism and could be the ultimate origin of the word shaman.{{cite book |last=Eliade |first=Mircea |author-link=Mircea Eliade |year=1989 |title=Shamanism |publisher=Arkana Books |page =495}} The word has been reported in Gandhari as {{lang|pgd|ṣamana}}, in Tocharian A as {{lang|xto|ṣāmaṃ}}, in Tocharian B as {{lang|txb|ṣamāne}} and in Chinese as {{lang|zh|沙門}}, {{Transliteration|zh|pinyin|shāmén}}.{{cite web |last1=Baums |first1=Stefan |last2=Glass |first2=Andrew |title=ṣamana |url=https://gandhari.org/dictionary/1ṣamana |website=gandhari.org |access-date=5 March 2024}}

The term was adopted by Russians interacting with the indigenous peoples in Siberia. It is found in the memoirs of the exiled Russian churchman Avvakum.Written before 1676, first printed in 1861; see {{harvnb|Hutton|2001|p=vii}}. It was brought to Western Europe twenty years later by the Dutch statesman Nicolaes Witsen, who reported his stay and journeys among the Tungusic- and Samoyedic-speaking Indigenous peoples of Siberia in his book Noord en Oost Tataryen (1692).{{sfn|Hutton|2001|p=32}} Adam Brand, a merchant from Lübeck, published in 1698 his account of a Russian embassy to China; a translation of his book, published the same year, introduced the word shaman to English speakers.Adam Brand, Driejaarige Reize naar China, Amsterdam 1698; transl. A Journal of an Ambassy, London 1698; see Laufer B., "Origin of the Word Shaman," American Anthropologist, 19 (1917): 361–71 and Bremmer J., "Travelling souls? Greek shamanism reconsidered", in Bremmer J.N. (ed.), The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife, London: Routledge, 2002, pp. 7–40. ([http://theol.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/root/2002/594/c3.pdf PDF] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222218/http://theol.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/root/2002/594/c3.pdf |date=2013-12-02 }})

Anthropologist and archeologist Silvia Tomášková argued that by the mid-1600s, many Europeans applied the Arabic term shaitan (meaning "devil") to the non-Christian practices and beliefs of Indigenous peoples beyond the Ural Mountains.{{sfn|Tomášková|2013|pp=76–78, 104–105}} She suggests that shaman may have entered the various Tungus dialects as a corruption of this term, and then been told to Christian missionaries, explorers, soldiers and colonial administrators with whom the people had increasing contact for centuries.

A female shaman is sometimes called a {{vanchor|shamanka}}, which is not an actual Tungus term but simply shaman plus the Russian suffix {{wikt-lang|ru|-ка|-ka}} (for feminine nouns).{{cite book|last1=Chadwick|first1=Hector Munro|last2=Chadwick|first2=Nora Kershaw|title=The Growth of Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgq0AAAAIAAJ|year=1968|publisher=The University Press|page=13|quote= The terms shaman and the Russianized feminine form shamanka, 'shamaness', 'seeress', are in general use to denote any persons of the Native professional class among the heathen Siberians and Tatars generally, and there can be no doubt that they have come to be applied to a large number of different classes of people.}}

=Definitions=

There is no single agreed-upon definition for the word "shamanism" among anthropologists. Thomas Downson suggests three shared elements of shamanism: practitioners consistently alter consciousness, the community regards altering consciousness as an important ritual practice, and the knowledge about the practice is controlled.

The English historian Ronald Hutton noted that by the dawn of the 21st century, there were four separate definitions of the term which appeared to be in use:{{sfn|Hutton|2001|pp=vii–viii}}

To refer to "anybody who contacts a spirit world while in an altered state of consciousness".
Those who contact a spirit world while in an altered state of consciousness at the behest of others.
In an attempt to distinguish shamans from other magico-religious specialists who are believed to contact spirits, such as "mediums", "witch doctors", "spiritual healers" or "prophets," this definition suggests that shamans undertake some particular technique not used by the others. However, scholars advocating the third view have failed to agree on what the defining technique should be.
"Shamanism" referring to the Indigenous religions of Siberia and neighboring parts of Asia.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a shaman ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|ɑː|m|ə|n}} {{respell|SHAH|mən}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|æ|m|ə|n}} {{respell|SHAM|ən}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|eɪ|m|ə|n}} {{respell|SHAY|mən}}){{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/shaman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402074808/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/shaman|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 2, 2017|title=Definition of Shaman by Oxford Dictionaries}} is someone who is regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing.{{sfn|Singh|2018}} The word "shaman" probably originates from the Tungusic Evenki language of North Asia. According to Juha Janhunen, "the word is attested in all of the Tungusic idioms" such as Negidal, Lamut, Udehe/Orochi, Nanai, Ilcha, Orok, Manchu and Ulcha, and "nothing seems to contradict the assumption that the meaning 'shaman' also derives from Proto-Tungusic" and may have roots that extend back in time at least two millennia.{{sfn|Janhunen|1986|pp=97–98}} The term was introduced to the west after Russian forces conquered the shamanistic Khanate of Kazan in 1552.

The term "shamanism" was first applied by Western anthropologists as outside observers of the ancient religion of the Turks and Mongols, as well as those of the neighbouring Tungusic- and Samoyedic-speaking peoples. Upon observing more religious traditions around the world, some Western anthropologists began to also use the term in a very broad sense. The term was used to describe unrelated magicoreligious practices found within the ethnic religions of other parts of Asia, Africa, Australasia and even completely unrelated parts of the Americas, as they believed these practices to be similar to one another.{{Cite book|title=Shamanism, Discourse, Modernity|last=Alberts|first=Thomas|publisher=Ashgate|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4724-3986-4|location=Farnham|pages=73–79}} While the term has been incorrectly applied by cultural outsiders to many Indigenous spiritual practices, the words “shaman” and “shamanism” do not accurately describe the variety and complexity that is Indigenous spirituality. Each nation and tribe has its own way of life, and uses terms in their own languages.{{Cite web|url=https://hazlitt.net/feature/fatal-naming-rituals|title=Fatal Naming Rituals|date=2018-07-19|website=Hazlitt|language=en|access-date=2020-03-05}}

Mircea Eliade writes, "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = 'technique of religious ecstasy'."Mircea Eliade, Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Bollingen Series LXXVI, Princeton University Press 1972, pp. 3–7. Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments and illnesses by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul or spirit are believed to restore the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. Shamans also say that they enter supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community, or visit other worlds or dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. Shamans operate primarily within the spiritual world, which, they believe, in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance is said to result in the elimination of the ailment.

=Criticism of the term=

File:Shaman tableau.png

The anthropologist Alice Kehoe criticizes the term "shaman" in her book Shamans and Religion: An Anthropological Exploration in Critical Thinking. Part of this criticism involves the notion of cultural appropriation.{{cite book |last1=Kehoe |first1=Alice Beck |title=Shamans and religion : an anthropological exploration in critical thinking |date=2000 |publisher=Waveland Press |isbn=978-1-57766-162-7 |location=Prospect Heights, Ill.}} This includes criticism of New Age and modern Western forms of shamanism, which, according to Kehoe, misrepresent or dilute Indigenous practices. Kehoe also believes that the term reinforces racist ideas such as the noble savage.

Kehoe is highly critical of Mircea Eliade's work on shamanism as an invention synthesized from various sources unsupported by more direct research. To Kehoe, citing practices such as drumming, trance, chanting, entheogen and hallucinogen use, spirit communication, and healing as definitive of shamanism ignores the fact that they exist outside of what is defined as shamanism and even play similar roles in nonshamanic cultures, for example chanting in the Abrahamic religions. She argues that these expression are unique to each culture that uses them and that such practices cannot be generalized easily, accurately, or usefully into a global religion of shamanism. Because of this, Kehoe is also highly critical of the hypothesis that shamanism is an ancient, unchanged, and surviving religion from the Paleolithic period.

The term has been criticized{{by whom|date=February 2021}} for its perceived colonial roots, and as a tool to perpetuate perceived contemporary linguistic colonialism. By Western scholars, the term "shamanism" is used to refer to a variety of different cultures and practices around the world, which can vary dramatically and may not be accurately represented by a single concept. Billy-Ray Belcourt, an author and award-winning scholar from the Driftpile Cree Nation in Canada, argues that using language with the intention of simplifying culture that is diverse, such as Shamanism, as it is prevalent in communities around the world and is made up of many complex components, works to conceal the complexities of the social and political violence that Indigenous communities have experienced at the hands of settlers.{{cite web |last1=Belcourt |first1=Billy-Ray |title=Fatal Naming Rituals |url=https://hazlitt.net/feature/fatal-naming-rituals |website=Hazlitt |date=19 July 2018 |access-date=3 March 2020}} Belcourt argues that language used to imply “simplicity” in regards to Indigenous culture, is a tool used to belittle Indigenous cultures, as it views Indigenous communities solely as a result of a history embroiled in violence, that leaves Indigenous communities only capable of simplicity and plainness.

Anthropologist {{ill|Mihály Hoppál|de}} also discusses whether the term "shamanism" is appropriate. He notes that for many readers, "-ism" implies a particular dogma, like Buddhism, Catholicism or Judaism. He recommends using the term "shamanhood" or "shamanship"{{sfn|Hoppál|2006a|p=14}} (a term used in old Russian and German ethnographic reports at the beginning of the 20th century) for stressing the diversity and the specific features of the discussed cultures. He believes that this places more stress on the local variations{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=15}} and emphasizes that shamanism is not a religion of sacred dogmas, but linked to the everyday life in a practical way.{{sfn|Hoppál|1998|p=40}} Following similar thoughts, he also conjectures a contemporary paradigm shift.[http://www.folkscene.hu/magzines/shaman/coming.html ISSR, 2001 Summer], abstract online in second half of second paragraph Piers Vitebsky also mentions that, despite really astonishing similarities, there is no unity in shamanism. The various, fragmented shamanistic practices and beliefs coexist with other beliefs everywhere. There is no record of pure shamanistic societies (although their existence is not impossible).{{sfn|Vitebsky|1996|p=11}} Norwegian social anthropologist Hakan Rydving has likewise argued for the abandonment of the terms "shaman" and "shamanism" as "scientific illusions."{{cite journal|last1=Rydving|first1=Hakan|title=Le chamanisme aujourd'hui: constructions et deconstructions d'une illusion scientifique|journal=Études Mongoles et Siberiennes, Centrasiatiques et Tibétaines|date=2011|volume=42|issue=42|doi=10.4000/emscat.1815|doi-access=free}}

Dulam Bumochir has affirmed the above critiques of "shamanism" as a Western construct created for comparative purposes and, in an extensive article, has documented the role of Mongols themselves, particularly "the partnership of scholars and shamans in the reconstruction of shamanism" in post-1990/post-communist Mongolia.{{cite journal|last1=Bumochir|first1=Dulam|title=Institutionalization of Mongolian shamanism: from primitivism to civilization|journal=Asian Ethnicity|date=2014|volume=15|issue=4|pages=473–491|doi=10.1080/14631369.2014.939331|s2cid=145329835}} This process has also been documented by Swiss anthropologist Judith Hangartner in her landmark study of Darhad shamans in Mongolia.{{cite book|last1=Hangartner|first1=Judith|title=The Constitution and Contestation of Darhad Shamans' Power in Contemporary Mongolia|date=2011|publisher=Global Oriental|location=Leiden|isbn=978-1-906876-11-1}} Historian Karena Kollmar-Polenz argues that the social construction and reification of shamanism as a religious "other" actually began with the 18th-century writings of Tibetan Buddhist monks in Mongolia and later "probably influenced the formation of European discourse on Shamanism".{{cite journal|last1=Kollmar-Paulenz|first1=Karenina|title=The Invention of "Shamanism" in 18th Century Mongolian Elite Discourse|journal=Rocznik Orientalistyczny|date=2012|volume=LXV|issue=1|pages=90–106}}

History

Shamanism is a system of religious practice.{{Cite encyclopedia |url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/shamanism |title=Shamanism {{!}} religion |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2018-09-07}} Historically, it is often associated with Indigenous and tribal societies, and involves belief that shamans, with a connection to the otherworld, have the power to heal the sick, communicate with spirits, and escort souls of the dead to the afterlife. The origins of Shamanism stem from Mongolia and indigenous peoples of far northern Europe and Siberia.{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=2001|2a1=Price|2y=2001}}

Despite structural implications of colonialism and imperialism that have limited the ability of Indigenous peoples to practice traditional spiritualities, many communities are undergoing resurgence through self-determination{{Citation|chapter=Using the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Litigation|publisher=Hart Publishing|isbn=978-1-84113-878-7|doi=10.5040/9781472565358.ch-005|title=Reflections on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples|year=2011}} and the reclamation of dynamic traditions.{{Cite journal |first1=Jarich |last1=Oosten |first2=Frédéric |last2=Laugrand |first3=Cornelius |last3=Remie |date=Summer 2006 |title=Perceptions of Decline: Inuit Shamanism in the Canadian Arctic |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=445–447|doi=10.1215/00141801-2006-001 }} Other groups have been able to avoid some of these structural impediments by virtue of their isolation, such as the nomadic Tuvan (with an estimated population of 3000 people surviving from this tribe).{{Cite news |url= https://www.lonelyplanet.com/mongolia/travel-tips-and-articles/mongolias-lost-secrets-in-pictures-the-last-tuvan-shaman/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d2767e50 |title=Mongolia's Lost Secrets in Pictures: The Last Tuvan Shaman |date=2014-08-21 |work=Lonely Planet |access-date=2018-10-19}} Tuva is one of the most isolated Asiatic tribes in Russia where the art of shamanism has been preserved until today due to its isolated existence, allowing it to be free from the influences of other major religions.{{Cite news |url= https://thediplomat.com/2016/10/welcome-to-the-tuva-republic/ |title=Welcome to the Tuva Republic |first1=Bradley |last1=Jardine |first2=Matthew |last2=Kupfer |work=The Diplomat |access-date=2018-10-19}}

Beliefs

File:OpenSpeaks-Bfw-Munaremo-Sukra Dhangdamajhi-Gobardhan Panda-Shamanism.webm "disari" (shaman) Sukra Dhangdamajhi shares his shamanic practices in the Bonda language]]

There are many variations of shamanism throughout the world, but several common beliefs are shared by all forms of shamanism. Common beliefs identified by Eliade (1972) are the following:

Spirits exist and they play important roles both in individual lives and in human society
The shaman can communicate with the spirit world
Spirits can be benevolent or malevolent
The shaman can treat sickness caused by malevolent spirits
The shaman can employ trances inducing techniques to incite visionary ecstasy and go on vision quests
The shaman's spirit can leave the body to enter the supernatural world to search for answers
The shaman evokes animal images as spirit guides, omens, and message-bearers
The shaman can perform other varied forms of divination, scry, throw bones, and sometimes foretell of future events

Shamanism is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces or spirits which affect the lives of the living.{{cite web |url=http://www.kirasalak.com/Peru.html |title=Hell and Back |last=Salak |first=Kira |publisher=National Geographic Adventure }} Although the causes of disease lie in the spiritual realm, inspired by malicious spirits, both spiritual and physical methods are used to heal. Commonly, a shaman "enters the body" of the patient to confront the spiritual infirmity and heals by banishing the infectious spirit.

Many shamans have expert knowledge of medicinal plants native to their area, and an herbal treatment is often prescribed. In many places shamans learn directly from the plants, harnessing their effects and healing properties, after obtaining permission from the indwelling or patron spirits. In the Peruvian Amazon Basin, shamans and curanderos use medicine songs called icaros to evoke spirits. Before a spirit can be summoned it must teach the shaman its song. The use of totemic items such as rocks with special powers and an animating spirit is common.

Belief in witchcraft and sorcery, known as brujería in Latin America, exists in many societies. Other societies assert all shamans have the power to both cure and kill. Those with shamanic knowledge usually enjoy great power and prestige in the community, but they may also be regarded suspiciously or fearfully as potentially harmful to others.{{cite book|editor-last1=Whitehead|editor-first1=Neil L.|editor-last2=Wright|editor-first2=Robin|title=In Darkness and Secrecy: The Anthropology of Assault Sorcery and Witchcraft in Amazonia|date=2004|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham, NC|isbn=978-0-8223-3333-3|doi=10.1215/9780822385837|last1=Wilbert|first1=Johannes|last2=Vidal|first2=Silvia M.|s2cid=146752685}}

=Soul and spirit concepts=

;Soul

:Soul can generally explain more, seemingly unassociated phenomena in shamanism:{{sfn|Merkur|1985|p=4}}{{sfn|Vitebsky|1996|pp=11–14, 107}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=27, 30, 36}}

;Healing

:Healing may be based closely on the soul concepts of the belief system of the people served by the shaman. It may consist of the supposed retrieving the lost soul of the ill person.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=27}}

;Scarcity of hunted game

:Scarcity of hunted game can be solved by "releasing" the souls of the animals from their hidden abodes. Besides that, many taboos may prescribe the behavior of people towards game, so that the souls of the animals do not feel angry or hurt, or the pleased soul of the already killed prey can tell the other, still living animals, that they can allow themselves to be caught and killed.{{sfn|Kleivan|Sonne|1985|pp=7, 19–21}}Gabus, Jean: A karibu eszkimók. Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 1970. (Hungarian translation of the original: Vie et coutumes des Esquimaux Caribous, Libraire Payot Lausanne, 1944.) It describes the life of Caribou Eskimo groups.

;Spirits

:Spirits are invisible entities that only shamans can see. They are seen as persons that can assume a human or animal body.{{Cite book|title=Animism beyond the Soul: Ontology, Reflexivity, and the Making of Anthropological Knowledge|last1=Swancutt|first1=Katherine|last2=Mazard|first2=Mireille|date=2018|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78533-865-6|location=New York|pages=102}} Some animals in their physical forms are also seen as spirits such as the case of the eagle, snake, jaguar, and rat. Beliefs related to spirits can explain many different phenomena.{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|p=18}} For example, the importance of storytelling, or acting as a singer, can be understood better if the whole belief system is examined. A person who can memorize long texts or songs, and play an instrument, may be regarded as the beneficiary of contact with the spirits (e.g. Khanty people).{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=99}}

Practice

Generally, shamans traverse the axis mundi and enter the "spirit world" by effecting a transition of consciousness, entering into an ecstatic trance, either autohypnotically or through the use of entheogens or ritual performances.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FuFsDwAAQBAJ&q=shaman+axis+mundi+entheogen&pg=PT61|title=Curanderismo Soul Retrieval: Ancient Shamanic Wisdom to Restore the Sacred Energy of the Soul|last=Buenaflor|first=Erika|date=2019-05-28|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-59143-341-5|language=en}} The methods employed are diverse, and are often used together.

=Music and songs=

Just like shamanism itself,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=15}} music and songs related to it in various cultures are diverse. In several instances, songs related to shamanism are intended to imitate natural sounds, via onomatopoeia.{{cite web|url=http://dasa.baua.de/nn_35984/sid_2C8A99B3F31A58C62BBE3312986DC568/nsc_true/de/Presse/Pressematerialien/Sonderausstellung_20Macht_20Musik/Schamanen-Musik.pdf |title=healthCheck |access-date=6 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402105719/http://dasa.baua.de/nn_35984/sid_2C8A99B3F31A58C62BBE3312986DC568/nsc_true/de/Presse/Pressematerialien/Sonderausstellung_20Macht_20Musik/Schamanen-Musik.pdf |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}

Sound mimesis in various cultures may serve other functions not necessarily related to shamanism: practical goals such as luring game in the hunt;{{sfn|Nattiez|n.d.|p=5}} or entertainment (Inuit throat singing).{{sfn|Nattiez|n.d.|p=5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/inuit.htm|title=Inuit Throat-Singing|access-date=6 June 2015}}

=Initiation and learning=

Shamans often say that they have been called through dreams or signs. However, some say their powers are inherited. In traditional societies shamanic training varies in length, but generally takes years.

Turner and colleagues mention a phenomenon called "shamanistic initiatory crisis",{{sfn|Turner|Lukoff|Barnhouse|Lu|1995|p=440}} a rite of passage for shamans-to-be, commonly involving physical illness or psychological crisis. The significant role of initiatory illnesses in the calling of a shaman can be found in the case history of Chuonnasuan, who was one of the last shamans among the Tungus peoples in Northeast China.{{sfn|Noll|Shi|2004}}

The wounded healer is an archetype for a shamanic trial and journey. This process is important to young shamans. They undergo a type of sickness that pushes them to the brink of death. This is said to happen for two reasons:{{Cite book | last = Halifax | first = Joan |author-link = Joan Halifax |title = Shaman: The Wounded Healer |publisher = Thames & Hudson |year = 1982 |location = London |isbn = 978-0-500-81029-3 |oclc = 8800269}}

The shaman crosses over to the underworld. This happens so the shaman can venture to its depths to bring back vital information for the sick and the tribe.
The shaman must become sick to understand sickness. When the shaman overcomes their own sickness, they believe that they will hold the cure to heal all that suffer.

= Items used in spiritual practice =

File:Goldes shaman priest in his regalia.png shaman priest in his regalia]]

Shamans may employ varying materials in spiritual practice in different cultures.

The drum is used by shamans of several peoples in Siberia.{{sfnm|1a1=Barüske|1y=1969|1pp=24, 50–51|2a1=Kleivan|2a2=Sonne|2y=1985|2p=25}} The beating of the drum allows the shaman to achieve an altered state of consciousness or to travel on a journey between the physical and spiritual worlds. Much fascination surrounds the role that the acoustics of the drum play to the shaman. Shaman drums are generally constructed of an animal-skin stretched over a bent wooden hoop, with a handle across the hoop.

Roles

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een shamaan op Zuid-Boeroe bezweert boze geesten de kinderen te verlaten waarbij hij een geldstuk en een sirihnoot offert TMnr 10001031.jpg shaman in an exorcism ritual involving children, Buru, Indonesia (1920)]]

File:An Itneg shaman renewing an offering to the spirit shield (1922, Philippines).jpg of the Itneg people in the Philippines renewing an offering to the spirit (anito) of a warrior's shield (kalasag) (1922){{cite journal|author=Fay-Cooper Cole & Albert Gale|year=1922|title=The Tinguian; Social, Religious, and Economic life of a Philippine tribe|journal=Field Museum of Natural History: Anthropological Series|volume=14|issue=2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tinguiansocialre142cole/page/235 235]–493|url=https://archive.org/details/tinguiansocialre142cole}}]]

File:Khagdaev1.JPG shaman on Olkhon Island, Russia]]

Shamans have been conceptualized as those who are able to gain knowledge and power to heal in the spiritual world or dimension. Most shamans have dreams or visions that convey certain messages. Shamans may say that they have or have acquired many spirit guides, who they believe guide and direct them in their travels in the spirit world. These spirit guides are always thought to be present within the shaman, although others are said to encounter them only when the shaman is in a trance. The spirit guide energizes the shamans, enabling them to enter the spiritual dimension. Shamans say that they heal within the communities and the spiritual dimension by returning lost parts of the human soul from wherever they have gone. Shamans also say that they cleanse excess negative energies, which are said to confuse or pollute the soul. Shamans act as mediators in their cultures.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=45}}{{sfn|Boglár|2001|p=24}} Shamans say that they communicate with the spirits on behalf of the community, including the spirits of the deceased. Shamans believe they can communicate with both living and dead to alleviate unrest, unsettled issues, and to deliver gifts to the spirits.

Shamans perform a variety of functions depending upon their respective cultures;{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=25}} healing,{{cite web |last=Sem |first=Tatyana |url=http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/changing/journey/healing.html |title=Shamanic Healing Rituals |publisher=Russian Museum of Ethnography}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=27–28}} leading a sacrifice,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=28–33}} preserving traditions by storytelling and songs,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=37}} fortune-telling,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=34–35}} and acting as a psychopomp ("guide of souls").{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=36}} A single shaman may fulfill several of these functions.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=25}}

There are distinct types of shamans who perform more specialized functions. For example, among the Nanai people, a distinct kind of shaman acts as a psychopomp.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=61–64}} Other specialized shamans may be distinguished according to the type of spirits, or realms of the spirit world, with which the shaman most commonly interacts. These roles vary among the Nenets, Enets, and Selkup shamans.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=87–95}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/sha/sis/sis05.htm|title=Shamanism in Siberia: Part III. Religion: Chapter IX. Types of Shamans|access-date=6 June 2015}}

The assistant of an Oroqen shaman (called jardalanin, or "second spirit") knows many things about the associated beliefs. He or she accompanies the rituals and interprets the behaviors of the shaman.{{sfn|Noll|Shi|2004|p=10, footnote 10}} Despite these functions, the jardalanin is not a shaman. For this interpretative assistant, it would be unwelcome to fall into a trance.{{sfn|Noll|Shi|2004|pp=8–9}}

Ecological aspect

As the primary teacher of tribal symbolism, the shaman may have a leading role in this ecological management, actively restricting hunting and fishing. Among the Tucano people, a sophisticated system exists for environmental resources management and for avoiding resource depletion through overhunting. This system is conceptualized mythologically and symbolically by the belief that breaking hunting restrictions may cause illness.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} The shaman is able to "release" game animals, or their souls, from their hidden abodes.{{sfn|Reichel-Dolmatoff|1999}}{{sfn|Vitebsky|1996|p=107}} The Piaroa people have ecological concerns related to shamanism.{{sfn|Boglár|2001|p=26}} Among the Inuit the angakkuq (shamans) fetch the souls of game from remote places,{{sfn|Merkur|1985|p=5}}{{sfn|Vitebsky|1996|p=108}} or soul travel to ask for game from mythological beings like the Sea Woman.{{sfn|Kleivan|Sonne|1985|pp=27–28}}

Economics

The way shamans get sustenance and take part in everyday life varies across cultures. In many Inuit groups, they provide services for the community and get a "due payment",{{who|date=February 2012}} and believe the payment is given to the helping spirits.{{sfn|Merkur|1985|p=3}} An account states that the gifts and payments that a shaman receives are given by his partner spirit. Since it obliges the shaman to use his gift and to work regularly in this capacity, the spirit rewards him with the goods that it receives.{{Cite book|title=Plural World Interpretations|last=Oelschlaegel|first=Anett C.|date=2016|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-643-90788-2|location=Berlin|pages=206}} These goods, however, are only "welcome addenda". They are not enough to enable a full-time shaman. Shamans live like any other member of the group, as a hunter or housewife. Due to the popularity of ayahuasca tourism in South America, there are practitioners in areas frequented by backpackers who make a living from leading ceremonies.{{sfnm|1a1=Kleivan|1a2=Sonne|1y=1985|1p=24|2a1=Merkur|2y=1985|2p=3}}

Furthermore, due to the predominant number of female shamans over males, shamanism was and continues to be an integral part of women’s economic liberation.{{Citation needed|reason= Citation below to Jonghyun (2009) deals specifically with Korean shamanism, but this is phrased globally. There are some cultures where shamans are typically male. |date=December 2023}} Shamanism often serves as an economic resource due to the requirement of payment for service. This economic revenue was vital for female shamans, especially those living during the Chosun Dynasty in Korea (A.D. 1392–1910). In a culture that disapproved of female economic autonomy, the practice of shamanism allowed women to advance themselves financially and independently, in a way that had not been possible for them before.{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Jonghyun |date=May 2009 |title=Shamanism and Its Emancipatory Power for Korean Women |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886109909331756 |journal=Affilia |language=en |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=186–198 |doi=10.1177/0886109909331756 |s2cid=144331213 |issn=0886-1099}}

Academic study

File:Shaman.jpg ''noaidi with his drum]]

= Cognitive and evolutionary approaches =

There are two major frameworks among cognitive and evolutionary scientists for explaining shamanism. The first, proposed by anthropologist Michael Winkelman, is known as the "neurotheological theory".{{sfn|Winkelman|2000}}{{Cite journal|last=Winkelman|first=Michael|title=Shamanism and cognitive evolution|journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal|volume=12|issue=1|pages=71–101|doi=10.1017/S0959774302000045|s2cid=162355879}} According to Winkelman, shamanism develops reliably in human societies because it provides valuable benefits to the practitioner, their group, and individual clients. In particular, the trance states induced by dancing, hallucinogens, and other triggers are hypothesized to have an "integrative" effect on cognition, allowing communication among mental systems that specialize in theory of mind, social intelligence, and natural history.{{Cite journal|last=Winkelman|first=Michael|title=Trance states: A theoretical model and cross-cultural analysis|journal=Ethos|volume=14|issue=2|pages=174–203|doi=10.1525/eth.1986.14.2.02a00040|year=1986}} With this cognitive integration, the shaman can better predict the movement of animals, resolve group conflicts, plan migrations, and provide other useful services.

The neurotheological theory contrasts with the "by-product" or "subjective" model of shamanism developed by Harvard anthropologist Manvir Singh.{{sfn|Singh|2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/12/study-suggests-shamans-acted-as-the-first-professional-class-in-human-society/|title=The mystery of the medicine man|last=Reuell|first=Peter|date=2018|website=Harvard Gazette}}{{Cite journal|last=Singh|first=Manvir|date=2018b|title=Why is there shamanism? Developing the cultural evolutionary theory and addressing alternative accounts|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324252150|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=41|pages=e92|doi=10.1017/S0140525X17002230|pmid=31064458|s2cid=147706275}} According to Singh, shamanism is a cultural technology that adapts to (or hacks) our psychological biases to convince us that a specialist can influence important but uncontrollable outcomes.{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/modern-shamans-financial-managers-political-pundits-and-others-who-help-tame-lifes-uncertainty-113302|title=Modern shamans: Financial managers, political pundits and others who help tame life's uncertainty|last=Singh|first=Manvir|website=The Conversation|date=May 2, 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-05-02}} Citing work on the psychology of magic and superstition, Singh argues that humans search for ways of influencing uncertain events, such as healing illness, controlling rain, or attracting animals. As specialists compete to help their clients control these outcomes, they drive the evolution of psychologically compelling magic, producing traditions adapted to people's cognitive biases. Shamanism, Singh argues, is the culmination of this cultural evolutionary process—a psychologically appealing method for controlling uncertainty. For example, some shamanic practices exploit our intuitions about humanness: Practitioners use trance and dramatic initiations to seemingly become entities distinct from normal humans and thus more apparently capable of interacting with the invisible forces believed to oversee important outcomes. Influential cognitive and anthropological scientists, such as Pascal Boyer and Nicholas Humphrey, have endorsed Singh's approach,{{Cite journal|last=Boyer|first=Pascal|title=Missing links: The psychology and epidemiology of shamanistic beliefs|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=41|pages=e71|pmid=31064451|year=2018|doi=10.1017/S0140525X17002023|s2cid=147706563}}{{Cite journal|last=Humphrey|first=Nicholas|title=Shamans as healers: When magical structure becomes practical function|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=41|pages=e77|pmid=31064454|year=2018|doi=10.1017/S0140525X17002084|s2cid=147706046}} although other researchers have criticized Singh's dismissal of individual- and group-level benefits.{{Cite journal|last1=Watson-Jones|first1=Rachel E.|last2=Legare|title=The social functions of shamanism|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|volume=41|pages=e88|pmid=31064460|year=2018|doi=10.1017/S0140525X17002199|s2cid=147706978|pmc=10401513}}

=Ecological approaches and systems theory=

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff relates these concepts to developments in the ways that modern science (systems theory, ecology, new approaches in anthropology and archeology) treats causality in a less linear fashion.{{sfn|Reichel-Dolmatoff|1999}} He also suggests a cooperation of modern science and Indigenous lore.{{sfn|Reichel-Dolmatoff|1999}}

=Historical origins=

Shamanic practices may originate as early as the Paleolithic, predating all organized religions,{{cite web |url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |title=Shamanism in Prehistory |author=Jean Clottes |access-date=2008-03-11 |work=Bradshaw foundation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430093540/http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |archive-date=2008-04-30 }}{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409074119/http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-04-09 |author=Karl J. Narr |title=Prehistoric religion |access-date=2008-03-28 |encyclopedia=Britannica online encyclopedia 2008 }} and certainly as early as the Neolithic period. The earliest known undisputed burial of a shaman (and by extension the earliest undisputed evidence of shamans and shamanic practices) dates back to the early Upper Paleolithic era (c. 30,000 BP) in what is now the Czech Republic.Tedlock, Barbara. 2005. The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine. New York: Bantam

Sanskrit scholar and comparative mythologist Michael Witzel proposes that all of the world's mythologies, and also the concepts and practices of shamans, can be traced to the migrations of two prehistoric populations: the "Gondwana" type (of circa 65,000 years ago) and the "Laurasian" type (of circa 40,000 years ago).{{sfn|Witzel|2011}}

In November 2008, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced the discovery of a 12,000-year-old site in Israel that is perceived as one of the earliest-known shaman burials. The elderly woman had been arranged on her side, with her legs apart and folded inward at the knee. Ten large stones were placed on the head, pelvis, and arms. Among her unusual grave goods were 50 complete tortoise shells, a human foot, and certain body parts from animals such as a cow tail and eagle wings. Other animal remains came from a boar, leopard, and two martens. "It seems that the woman … was perceived as being in a close relationship with these animal spirits", researchers noted. The grave was one of at least 28 graves at the site, located in a cave in lower Galilee and belonging to the Natufian culture, but is said to be unlike any other among the Epipaleolithic Natufians or in the Paleolithic period."Earliest known shaman grave site found: study", reported by Reuters via Yahoo! News, November 4, 2008, [https://archive.today/20191216202317/https://www.webcitation.org/5c5MCHK7R?url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081104/sc_nm/us_shaman_israel/print archived.] see Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

=Semiotic and hermeneutic approaches=

A debated etymology of the word "shaman" is "one who knows",{{sfn|Diószegi|1962|p=13}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=14}} implying, among other things, that the shaman is an expert in keeping together the multiple codes of the society, and that to be effective, shamans must maintain a comprehensive view in their mind which gives them certainty of knowledge.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=15}} According to this view, the shaman uses (and the audience understands) multiple codes, expressing meanings in many ways: verbally, musically, artistically, and in dance. Meanings may be manifested in objects such as amulets.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=14}} If the shaman knows the culture of their community well,{{sfn|Boglár|2001|p=24}}{{sfn|Pentikäinen|1995|p=270}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=25–26, 43}} and acts accordingly, their audience will know the used symbols and meanings and therefore trust the shamanic worker.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=25–26, 43}}

There are also semiotic, theoretical approaches to shamanism,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=13–15, 58, 197}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2006a|p=11}} and examples of "mutually opposing symbols" in academic studies of Siberian lore, distinguishing a "white" shaman who contacts sky spirits for good aims by day, from a "black" shaman who contacts evil spirits for bad aims by night.{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|pp=24–25}} (Series of such opposing symbols referred to a world-view behind them. Analogously to the way grammar arranges words to express meanings and convey a world, also this formed a cognitive map).{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=15}}Hoppál, Mihály: [http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol4/hoppal.htm Nature worship in Siberian shamanism] Shaman's lore is rooted in the folklore of the community, which provides a "mythological mental map".{{sfn|Hoppál|2007b|pp=12–13}}{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|p=25}} Juha Pentikäinen uses the concept "grammar of mind".{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|p=25}}{{sfn|Pentikäinen|1995|pp=270–71}}

Armin Geertz coined and introduced the hermeneutics,{{sfn|Merkur|1985|p=v}} or "ethnohermeneutics", interpretation. Hoppál extended the term to include not only the interpretation of oral and written texts, but that of "visual texts as well (including motions, gestures and more complex rituals, and ceremonies performed, for instance, by shamans)".{{sfn|Hoppál|2007b|p=13}} Revealing the animistic views in shamanism, but also their relevance to the contemporary world, where ecological problems have validated paradigms of balance and protection.{{sfn|Hoppál|2007c|p=25}}

= Medical anthropology approaches =

In many societies where shamanism is practiced, the understanding and treatment of illness are closely tied to social and cultural processes. Disease is often seen not just as a biological condition but as a disruption in the balance of spiritual and social relationships. The concept of the body in these contexts is multifaceted, encompassing physical, social, and cultural dimensions.{{Cite book |last=Joralemon |first=Donald |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315470603 |title=Exploring Medical Anthropology |date=2017-03-16 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-47061-0 |edition=4 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315470610}} Anthropologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Margaret Lock expand on this by introducing the idea of "the three bodies": the "individual body," relating to personal health experiences; the "social body," connecting health to social and cultural values; and the "body politic," reflecting the influence of power structures on health outcomes.{{Cite journal |last1=Scheper-Hughes |first1=Nancy |last2=Lock |first2=Margaret M. |date=1987 |title=The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology |url=https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/maq.1987.1.1.02a00020 |journal=Medical Anthropology Quarterly |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=6–41 |doi=10.1525/maq.1987.1.1.02a00020 |issn=0745-5194}}

According to anthropologist Donald Joralemon, the practice of medicine is inherently a social process, both in shamanistic societies and contemporary biomedicine. Joralemon argues that healing rituals, diagnoses, and treatments are deeply embedded in the cultural norms and social expectations of a community. This is particularly evident in shamanism, where the shaman addresses not only physical symptoms but also the spiritual and communal aspects of illness. The shaman's role is to restore harmony within the individual and the community, reinforcing the social bonds believed to influence health. Joralemon emphasizes that in both traditional and modern medical practices, disease is not merely a biological fact but a social phenomenon, shaped by the cultural and societal contexts in which it occurs .

Where a Shaman is present within a community - the group determines whether an individual is true Shaman or not. The group also determines whether an individual is sick and doomed by sorcery, this is where a Shaman is given the role to dispel an illness. The Shaman does not become a great Shaman because they cure a person, it is because they are known by the group as great Shamans. Community members known as dreamers also listen in on private conversations to convey an individual’s known sickness.{{sfn|Lévi-Strauss|2016}}

Decline and revitalization and tradition-preserving movements

File:Kyzyl Shaman.jpg, 2005. Attempts are being made to preserve and revitalize Tuvan shamanism:{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=117}} former authentic shamans have begun to practice again, and young apprentices are being educated in an organized way.{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=259}}]]

Traditional, Indigenous shamanism is believed to be declining around the world. Whalers who frequently interacted with Inuit groups are one source of this decline in that region.{{cite journal|last1=Oosten|first1=Jarich|first2=Frederic |last2=Laugrand|first3=Cornelius |last3=Remie|title=Perceptions of Decline: Inuit Shamanism in the Canadian Arctic|journal= Ethnohistory|volume=53|issue=3|year=2006|pages=445–77|doi=10.1215/00141801-2006-001}} In many areas, former shamans ceased to fulfill the functions in the community they used to, as they felt mocked by their own community,{{sfn|Boglár|2001|pp=19–20}} or regarded their own past as deprecated and were unwilling to talk about it to ethnographers.{{sfn|Diószegi|1960|pp=37–39}}

Besides personal communications of former shamans, folklore texts may narrate directly about a deterioration process. For example, a Buryat epic text details the wonderful deeds of the ancient "first shaman" Kara-Gürgän:{{sfn|Eliade|2001|p=76}} he could even compete with God, create life, steal back the soul of the sick from God without his consent. A subsequent text laments that shamans of older times were stronger, possessing capabilities like omnividence,Omnividence: A word created by Edwin A. Abbott in his book titled Flatland fortune-telling even for decades in the future, moving as fast as a bullet.{{sfn|Diószegi|1960|pp=88–89}}

In most affected areas, shamanic practices ceased to exist, with authentic shamans dying and their personal experiences dying with them. The loss of memories is not always lessened by the fact the shaman is not always the only person in a community who knows the beliefs and motives related to the local shaman-hood.{{sfn|Noll|Shi|2004|pp=8–9, 10, footnote 10}} Although the shaman is often believed and trusted precisely because they "accommodate" to the beliefs of the community,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=25–26, 43}} several parts of the knowledge related to the local shamanhood consist of personal experiences of the shaman, or root in their family life,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=224}} thus, those are lost with their death. Besides that, in many cultures, the entire traditional belief system has become endangered (often together with a partial or total language shift), with the other people of the community remembering the associated beliefs and practices (or the language at all) grew old or died, many folklore memories, songs, and texts were forgotten—which may threaten even such peoples who could preserve their isolation until the middle of the 20th century, like the Nganasan.{{sfn|Nagy|1998|p=232}}

Some areas could enjoy a prolonged resistance due to their remoteness.

Variants of shamanism among Inuit were once a widespread (and very diverse) phenomenon, but today is rarely practiced, as well as already having been in decline among many groups, even while the first major ethnological research was being done,{{sfn|Merkur|1985|p=132}} e.g. among Inuit, at the end of the 19th century, Sagloq, the last angakkuq who was believed to be able to travel to the sky and under the sea died—and many other former shamanic capacities were lost during that time as well, like ventriloquism and sleight of hand.{{sfn|Merkur|1985|p=134}}
The isolated location of Nganasan people allowed shamanism to be a living phenomenon among them even at the beginning of the 20th century,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=92}} the last notable Nganasan shaman's ceremonies were recorded on film in the 1970s.{{sfn|Hoppál|1994|p=62}}

After exemplifying the general decline even in the most remote areas, there are revitalizations or tradition-preserving efforts as a response. Besides collecting the memories,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=88}} there are also tradition-preserving{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=93}} and even revitalization efforts,{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=111, 117–19, 128, 132, 133–34, 252–63}} led by authentic former shamans (for example among the Sakha people{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|pp=257–58}} and Tuvans).{{sfn|Hoppál|2005|p=259}}

Native Americans in the United States do not call their traditional spiritual ways "shamanism." However, according to Richard L. Allen, research and policy analyst for the Cherokee Nation, they are regularly overwhelmed with inquiries by and about fraudulent shamans, (aka "plastic medicine people").Hagan, Helene E. [http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.com/features/spirg-hagan.html "The Plastic Medicine People Circle."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130305155048/http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.com/features/spirg-hagan.html |date=2013-03-05 }} Sonoma Free County Press. Accessed 31 Jan 2013. He adds, "One may assume that anyone claiming to be a Cherokee 'shaman, spiritual healer, or pipe-carrier', is equivalent to a modern day medicine show and snake-oil vendor."{{cite web | title = Pseudo Shamans Cherokee Statement| url = http://www.thepeoplespaths.net/Articles2001/RLAllen-CherokeeStatement-Shamans.htm| access-date = 2008-06-23}}

Regional variations

References

= Citations =

= Works cited =

{{cite book |last=Barüske |first=Heinz |title = Eskimo Märchen |series = Die Märchen der Weltliteratur |publisher = Eugen Diederichs Verlag |location = Düsseldorf • Köln |year=1969 |language = de }} The title means: "Eskimo tales", the series means: "The tales of world literature".
{{cite book |last=Boglár |first=Lajos |title = A kultúra arcai. Mozaikok a kulturális antropológia köreiből |trans-title=The faces of culture. Mosaics from the area of cultural anthropology |publisher=Napvilág Kiadó |series=TÁRStudomány |location=Budapest |year=2001 |language=hu |isbn=978-963-9082-94-6 }}
{{cite book |last=Diószegi |first=Vilmos |title=Sámánok nyomában Szibéria földjén. Egy néprajzi kutatóút története |series=Terebess Ázsia E-Tár |publisher=Magvető Könyvkiadó |location=Budapest |year=1960 |language=hu |url=http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02181 }} The book has been translated to English: {{cite book |last=Diószegi |first=Vilmos |title=Tracing shamans in Siberia. The story of an ethnographical research expedition |others=Translated from Hungarian by Anita Rajkay Babó |publisher=Anthropological Publications |location=Oosterhout |year=1968 |ref=none}}
{{cite book |last=Diószegi |first=Vilmos |title=Samanizmus |publisher=Gondolat |series=Élet és Tudomány Kiskönyvtár |location=Budapest |year=1962 |url=http://mek.oszk.hu/01600/01639/ |language=hu |isbn=978-963-9147-13-3 |trans-title=Shamanism}}
{{cite book |last=Eliade |first=Mircea |author-link=Mircea Eliade |title=A samanizmus. Az extázis ősi technikái |series=Osiris könyvtár |publisher=Osiris |location=Budapest |year=2001 |isbn=963-379-755-1 |language=hu}}
{{cite book |last=Hoppál |first=Mihály |title=Sámánok, lelkek és jelképek |publisher=Helikon Kiadó |location= Budapest |year=1994 |isbn=978-963-208-298-1 |language=hu |trans-title=Shamans, souls and symbols}}
{{cite book |last=Hoppál |first=Mihály |title = Folklór és közösség |publisher=Széphalom Könyvműhely |location=Budapest |year=1998 |language=hu |isbn=978-963-9028-14-2 |chapter = A honfoglalók hitvilága és a magyar samanizmus |pages=40–45 |trans-title=The belief system of Hungarians when they entered the Pannonian Basin, and their shamanism}}
{{cite book |last=Hoppál |first=Mihály |title=Sámánok Eurázsiában |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |location=Budapest |year=2005 |isbn=978-963-05-8295-7 |language=hu |trans-title=Shamans in Eurasia}}
{{cite book |editor1=Hoppál, Mihály |editor2=Szathmári, Botond |editor3=Takács, András |title=Sámánok és kultúrák |last=Hoppál |first=Mihály |chapter=Sámánok, kultúrák és kutatók az ezredfordulón |pages=9–25 |publisher=Gondolat |location=Budapest |year=2006a |isbn=978-963-9450-28-8 |trans-chapter=Shamans, cultures and researchers in the millenary |trans-title=Shamans and cultures}}
{{cite book |last=Hoppál |first=Mihály |title=Shamans and Traditions |volume=13 |series=Bibliotheca Shamanistica |chapter=Is Shamanism a Folk Religion? |pages=11–16 |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |location=Budapest |year=2007b |isbn=978-963-05-8521-7 }}
{{cite book |last=Hoppál |first=Mihály |title=Shamans and Traditions |volume=13 |series=Bibliotheca Shamanistica |chapter=Eco-Animism of Siberian Shamanhood |pages=17–26 |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |location=Budapest |year=2007c |isbn=978-963-05-8521-7 }}
{{cite journal |last=Janhunen |first=Juha |title=Siberian shamanistic terminology |journal=Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne |date=1986 |volume=194 |pages=97–117}}
{{Cite book |title=Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination |first=Ronald |last=Hutton |date=2001 |publisher=TPB |oclc=940167815}}
{{cite book |last1=Kleivan |first1=Inge |first2=B. |last2=Sonne |title=Eskimos: Greenland and Canada |year=1985 |publisher=Institute of Religious Iconography • State University Groningen. E.J. Brill |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |series=Iconography of religions, section VIII, "Arctic Peoples", fascicle 2 |isbn=978-90-04-07160-5 }}
{{cite book |last=Lévi-Strauss |first=C. |year=2016 |chapter=The sorcerer and his magic |title=Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology |pages=197–203 |publisher=Routledge}}
{{cite book |last=Merkur |first=Daniel |title=Becoming Half Hidden: Shamanism and Initiation among the Inuit |year=1985 |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell |location=Stockholm |isbn=978-91-22-00752-4 |series=Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis • Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion}}
{{cite book |last=Nagy |first=Beáta Boglárka |chapter=Az északi szamojédok |pages=221–34 |editor=Csepregi, Márta |title=Finnugor kalauz |series=Panoráma |publisher=Medicina Könyvkiadó |location=Budapest |year=1998 |isbn=978-963-243-813-9 |language=hu |trans-chapter=Northern Samoyedic peoples |trans-title=Finno-Ugric guide}}
{{Cite book |last=Nattiez |first=Jean Jacques |date=n.d. |author-link=Jean-Jacques Nattiez |title=Inuit Games and Songs / Chants et Jeux des Inuit |series=Musiques & musiciens du monde / Musics & musicians of the world |publisher=Research Group in Musical Semiotics, Faculty of Music, University of Montreal |location = Montreal }}. The songs are [http://www.ubu.com/ethno/soundings/inuit.html available online], on the ethnopoetics website curated by Jerome Rothenberg.
{{cite news

| last1 = Noll

| first1 = Richard

| author1-link = Richard Noll

| last2 = Shi

| first2 = Kun

| date = 2004

| title = Chuonnasuan (Meng Jin Fu), The Last Shaman of the Oroqen of Northeast China

| periodical = 韓國宗敎硏究 (Journal of Korean Religions)

| location = Seoul KR

| publisher = 西江大學校宗教硏究所 (Sŏgang Taehakkyo Chonggyo Yŏn'guso)

| volume = 6

| pages = 135–62

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090326115313/http://www.desales.edu/assets/desales/SocScience/Oroqen_shaman_FSSForumAug07.pdf

| url = http://www.desales.edu/assets/desales/SocScience/Oroqen_shaman_FSSForumAug07.pdf

| access-date = 2020-05-28

| archive-date = 2009-03-26

}}. It describes the life of Chuonnasuan, the last shaman of the Oroqen of Northeast China.

{{cite book |editor-last=Price |editor-first=Neil S. |title=The Archaeology of Shamanism |year=2001 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415252546}}
{{cite book |last=Pentikäinen |first=J. |year=1995 |title=Saamelaiset: pohjoisen kansan mytologia |place=Finland |publisher=Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura |isbn=978-9517178266 |language=fi}}
{{cite journal |last=Reichel-Dolmatoff |first=Gerardo |author-link=Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff |url=http://www.theecologist.info/page9.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041027152526/http://www.theecologist.info/page9.html |archive-date=2004-10-27 |title=A View from the Headwaters |journal=The Ecologist |volume=29 |number=4 |date=July 1999 |url-status=usurped}}
{{cite journal | last = Singh | first = Manvir | year = 2018 | title = The cultural evolution of shamanism | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318255042 | journal = Behavioral & Brain Sciences | volume = 41 | pages = e66, 1–61 | doi = 10.1017/S0140525X17001893 | pmid = 28679454 | s2cid = 206264885 }} Summary of the cultural evolutionary and cognitive foundations of shamanism; published with commentaries by 25 scholars (including anthropologists, philosophers, and psychologists).
{{cite book |first=Silvia |last=Tomášková |title=Wayward Shamans: The Prehistory of an Idea |publisher=University of California Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-520-27532-4}}
{{cite journal |last1=Turner |first1=Robert P. |last2=Lukoff |first2=David |last3=Barnhouse |first3=Ruth Tiffany |last4=Lu |first4=Francis G. |year=1995 |title=Religious or Spiritual Problem. A Culturally Sensitive Diagnostic Category in the DSM-IV |journal=Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease |volume=183 |number=7 |pages=435–44|doi=10.1097/00005053-199507000-00003 |pmid=7623015 }}
{{cite book |last=Vitebsky |first=Piers |author-link=Piers Vitebsky |title=A sámán |series=Bölcsesség • hit • mítosz |publisher=Magyar Könyvklub • Helikon Kiadó |location=Budapest |year=1996 |language=hu |isbn=978-963-208-361-2}}
{{cite book |last=Winkelman |first=Michael |title = Shamanism: The neural ecology of consciousness and healing |year=2000 |publisher= Bergen & Gavey |location=Westport, CT |language = en-US |isbn=978-963-9104-39-6 }} Major work on the evolutionary and psychological origins of shamanism.
{{cite journal | last1 = Witzel | first1 = Michael | year = 2011 | title = Shamanism in Northern and Southern Eurasia: their distinctive methods and change of consciousness | url = https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8456537/Witzel_ShamanismNorthern.pdf?sequence=2 | journal = Social Science Information | volume = 50 | issue = 1 | pages = 39–61 | doi = 10.1177/0539018410391044 | s2cid = 144745844 }}

External links

[http://newagefraud.org/ New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans], an organization devoted to alerting seekers about fraudulent teachers, and helping them avoid being exploited or participating in exploitation
[http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/changing/journey/healing.html Shamanic Healing Rituals] by Tatyana Sem, Russian Museum of Ethnography
[http://haldjas.folklore.ee/~aado/ Studies in Siberian Shamanism and Religions of the Finno-Ugrian Peoples] by Aado Lintrop, Folk Belief and Media Group of the Estonian Literary Museum

Category:Anthropology of religion

Category:History of magic

Category:Indigenous culture

Category:Magic (supernatural)

Category:Spiritual practice

Category:Supernatural healing