Studia Mythologica Slavica
August 31, 2026
Tomaž Simetinger
The article examines painting as a practice of relating to the dead and other non-human beings in contemporary and historical contexts. Drawing on vernacular religion, it approaches these relationships not as fixed beliefs system but as experiences emerging through bodily perception, learning, and artistic practice. The article focuses on ethnographic research with a contemporary Slovenian...
Studia Mythologica Slavica
August 31, 2026
Kaarina Koski
This paper analyses three bereavement narratives in which adult daughters describe nightmarish after-death communication with a deceased parent. The narratives are approached with a narrative analysis in dialogue with psychological approaches to bereavement dreams and continuing bonds. In psychology, bereavement nightmares are usually assumed to signal difficulties accepting loss. However, in...
Studia Mythologica Slavica
August 31, 2026
Emese Ilyefalvi
This article examines contemporary mediumship in Hungary through ethnographic research among practitioners of a three‑legged stool technique and their clients. Drawing on interviews, participant observation and analysis of séance practices, the study explores why people seek contact with the dead and how these encounters generate experiential certainty, address crises and produce new forms of...
Studia Mythologica Slavica
August 18, 2026
Tina Ivnik
This article examines the connection between the ideas adherents of alternative spiritualities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have about the afterlife and their understanding of dreams involving the dead. It explores how these ideas and interpretations are connected to the perceived agency of the dead, as experienced by my interlocutors in their dreams. Focusing on ideas about the afterlife within...
Studia Mythologica Slavica
November 23, 2022
Zmago Šmitek
1 citation
Are there elements of shamanism in Slovenian folklore tradition, or is it more adequate to use terms like spirit possession or ecstasy? The author’s conclusion, which is based Slovenian data and on comparative literature, is that it is difficult to differentiate these terms in practice. He also explains the possible original meaning of the names kresnik and vedomec.
Studia Mythologica Slavica
November 23, 2022
László Kürti
For a long time, Hungarian scholars debated the origin and structure of Hungarian folk religion and folk beliefs. This article considers the relevance of shamanism to Hungarian folk belief, especially the complex surrounding the táltos. This Hungarian magical practitioner reveals connections both with historical magical specialists and with recent ethnographical materials. There are, however,...
Studia Mythologica Slavica
October 16, 2006
Suzana Marjanić
4 citations
I shall attempt to interpret witches' zoopsychonavigations in the worlds of Croatian legends as (possible) aspects of shamanistic techniques of ecstasy (and trance), in the framework of which I shall be trying to designate the concept of zoopsychonavigation as the border of permeation between shamanistic ecstatic experiences and the witches' experience of lethargy.In addition to the above...