Michael Harner: The Way of the Shaman. 1980, new edition, HarperSanFrancisco, 1990. ISBN 0-06-250373-1 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 claim to 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 claim to heal within the communities and the spiritual dimension by returning lost parts of the human soul from wherever they have gone. Shamans also claim to cleanse excess negative energies, which are said to confuse or pollute the soul. Shamans act as mediators in their cultures. [67] [68] Shamans claim to 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. 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, [133] 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. [134] 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. [56] [57] The methods employed are diverse, and are often used together.

Shamanism is the fastest-growing religious group in England and Wales, increasing from 650 people in 2011 to 8,000 identified in the 2021 Census. This represents the largest increase in membership of any group labelled ‘other religious groups’ on the census form. Jordan D. Paper, The Spirits are Drunk: Comparative Approaches to Chinese Religion, Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-7914-2315-8.A debated etymology of the word "shaman" is "one who knows", [11] [109] 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. [10] 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. [109] If the shaman knows the culture of their community well, [68] [110] [111] and acts accordingly, their audience will know the used symbols and meanings and therefore trust the shamanic worker. [111] [112] Fienup-Riordan, Ann (1994). Boundaries and Passages: Rule and Ritual in Yup'ik Eskimo Oral Tradition. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-585-12190-1. 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. Anthropologist Mihály Hoppál also discusses whether the term "shamanism" is appropriate. He notes that for many readers, "-ism" implies a particular dogma, like Buddhism or Judaism. He recommends using the term "shamanhood" [28] or "shamanship" [29] (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 [10] and emphasizes that shamanism is not a religion of sacred dogmas, but linked to the everyday life in a practical way. [30] Following similar thoughts, he also conjectures a contemporary paradigm shift. [28] 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). [31] Norwegian social anthropologist Hakan Rydving has likewise argued for the abandonment of the terms "shaman" and "shamanism" as "scientific illusions." [32]

Hutton, Ronald (2001). Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination. TPB. OCLC 940167815. George Devereux, "Shamans as Neurotics", American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 63, No. 5, Part 1. (Oct. 1961), pp.1088–90. a b Hay, Mark (4 November 2020). "The Colonization of the Ayahuasca Experience". JSTOR Daily. JSTOR . Retrieved 21 May 2021.a b c d Braun, Shelly Beth (2010). Neo-shamanism as a healing system: Enchanted healing in a modern world (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Utah . Retrieved 18 May 2021. Gabus, Jean (1970). A karibu eszkimók[ Vie et coutumes des Esquimaux Caribous] (in Hungarian). Budapest: Gondolat Kiadó.

Antiquarians such as John Dee may have practiced forerunner forms of neoshamanism. [4] The origin of neoshamanic movements has been traced to the second half of the twentieth century, especially to counterculture movements and post-modernism. [1] Three writers in particular are seen as promoting and spreading ideas related to shamanism and neoshamanism: Mircea Eliade, Carlos Castaneda, and Michael Harner. [1] Western shamans often resist the idea that they belong to a religion, and say that shamanism has no sacred text, priesthood, official institution, or ruling body. Shamanism is often described by its adherents as self-directed, involving the individual’s person journey to connect to the world of nature and spiritual beings through shamanic techniques. Neoshamanism refers to new forms of shamanism. It usually means shamanism practiced by Western people as a type of New Age spirituality, without a connection to traditional shamanic societies. [1] It is sometimes also used for modern shamanic rituals and practices which, although they have some connection to the traditional societies in which they originated, have been adapted somehow to modern circumstances. This can include "shamanic" rituals performed as an exhibition, either on stage or for shamanic tourism, [2] [1] as well as modern derivations of traditional systems that incorporate new technology and worldviews. [3] History [ edit ] Shimamura, Ippei. The Roots Seekers: Shamamisn and Ethnicity Among the Mongol Buryats. Yokohama, Japan: Shumpusha, 2014. ISBN 978-4-86110-397-1 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"). [141] 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." [142]The term has been criticized [ by whom?] 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. [27] 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. Armin Geertz coined and introduced the hermeneutics, [121] or "ethnohermeneutics", [117] 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)". [122] Revealing the animistic views in shamanism, but also their relevance to the contemporary world, where ecological problems have validated paradigms of balance and protection. [119] Decline and revitalization and tradition-preserving movements [ edit ]