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In her book, "An Encyclopedia of Shamanism," author Christina Pratt says a shaman by definition is a person who has mastered three specific things: altered states of consciousness, acting as a medium between the needs of the spirit world and those of the physical world in a way that's useful to the community, and the ability to meet the needs ...
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Shamanism or samanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman or saman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance.
- Overview
- Classic shamanism
shamanism, religious phenomenon centred on the shaman, a person believed to achieve various powers through trance or ecstatic 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 term shamanism comes from the Manchu-Tungus word šaman. The noun is formed from the verb ša- ‘to know’; thus, a shaman is literally “one who knows.” The shamans recorded in historical ethnographies have included women, men, and transgender individuals of every age from middle childhood onward.
As its etymology implies, the term applies in the strictest sense only to the religious systems and phenomena of the peoples of northern Asia and the Ural-Altaic, such as the Khanty and Mansi, Samoyed, Tungus, Yukaghir, Chukchi, and Koryak. However, shamanism is also used more generally to describe indigenous groups in which roles such as healer, religious leader, counselor, and councillor are combined. In this sense, shamans are particularly common among other Arctic peoples, American Indians, Australian Aborigines, and those African groups, such as the San, that retained their traditional cultures well into the 20th century.
It is generally agreed that shamanism originated among hunting-and-gathering cultures, and that it persisted within some herding and farming societies after the origins of agriculture. It is often found in conjunction with animism, a belief system in which the world is home to a plethora of spirit-beings that may help or hinder human endeavours.
Shamanism as practiced in northern Asia is distinguished by its special clothing, accessories, and rites as well as by the specific worldview connected with them. North Asiatic shamanism in the 19th century, which is generally taken as the classical form, was characterized by the following traits:
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1.A society accepts that there are specialists who are able to communicate directly with the transcendent world and who are thereby also possessed of the ability to heal and to divine; such individuals, or shamans, are held to be of great use to society in dealing with the spirit world.
2.A given shaman is usually known for certain mental characteristics, such as an intuitive, sensitive, mercurial, or eccentric personality, which may be accompanied by some physical defect, such as lameness, an extra finger or toe, or more than the normal complement of teeth.
3.Shamans are believed to be assisted by an active spirit-being or group thereof; they may also have a passive guardian spirit present in the form of an animal or a person of another sex—possibly as a sexual partner.
Shamans are local leaders who perceive the fundamental nature of the universe and see the big picture. Around the world shamans are called by many local names, among them sorcerer, healer or curandero/a, walker between the worlds, medicine man/woman, priest, transformer, psychopomp and so on.
Jun 25, 2019 · “Shaman” is an umbrella term used by anthropologists to describe a vast collection of practices and beliefs, many of which have to do with divination, spirit communication, and magic. One of the key beliefs found in shamanistic practice is that ultimately everything—and everyone—is interconnected.
- Patti Wigington
Aug 26, 2024 · The Essence of Shamanism. At its core, shamanism is about connection—connection to nature, to the spirit world, and to the inner depths of life. Shamans, the practitioners of this sacred tradition, are intermediaries between the physical world and the spiritual realm.
A shaman is more than a healer; a shaman is a spiritual custodian entrusted with the delicate task of maintaining equilibrium between the physical and the spiritual realms. Across centuries and continents, shamans have played pivotal roles in the intricate dance of life within their communities.
