Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture

Mariko Namba Walter & Eva Jane Neumann Fridman, "Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture"
ABC-CLIO (2004) | English | ISBN 1576076458 | 1091 pages | PDF | 7.53 MB

For thousands of years shamans have traveled the spirit world, hunting lost souls, healing the sick, interpreting dreams, and guiding human endeavors on behalf of individuals and communities. Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture is the first worldwide survey to trace the continuous thread of shamanic beliefs and rituals across cultures and through time. It is the only reference to fully convey what it means to be a shaman and how the role of the shaman influences—and draws meaning from—each culture from which it emerges.

Shamanism offers nearly 200 fascinating entries on general and regional topics, with leading anthropologists, ethnographers, psychologists, archaeologists, historians, and scholars of religion and folk literature describing shamanism in tribal and large-scale populations and in developing and developed societies. It both investigates shamanism as a universal part of humanity and discusses specific traits and rituals, studying shamanism from multiple points of view.

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