The article deals with the problems of shamanism and its fate in the context of globalization. Nature is revealed, the essence of this unique phenomenon, dating back to the most ancient religious beliefs and continuing to live in modern conditions. The authors show that in the minds of most people in the past the idea was prevailing that the world is inhabited by many good and evil spirits, and...
The article presents a phenomenological analysis of corporeality followed up by an analysis of key elements of shamanic ideolo-gy and practice by means of interpreting primary corporal and corporal-semantic situations. It is argued that the body acts as a media-tor between experience and the meaning this experience generates, and thus the body is the primary carrier of meaning as well as the...
Since prehistory, shapeshifting has been a feature of several shamanic societies. Shapeshifting refers to a physical transformation of a shaman into an animal; and second, a shaman or other person behaving like a specific animal. This phenomenon has informed several mythological traditions. Prehistoric and extant shapeshifting provides a platform for understanding transformative elements of...
The purpose of the study is to explore neo-shamanism as a cultural, spiritual and psychological phenomenon through the lens of polycultural space of postmodernity. Methodology of the study. The authors have used integrative anthropological approach, multidisciplinary analysis, comparative, cultural-historical, and descriptive methods. The scientific novelty. Rejecting classical rationality,...
A surprising development over the past half-century has been the revival of the ancient tradition of shamanism. Evidence for the renaissance is everywhere. But what is going on? I offer a structural view, suggesting that a global–historical conjuncture is responsible. The most important structures of civilization—governments, religions, sciences—have all suffered from popular alienation, most...
The article outlines the main ideas of the archaeologist David Lewis-Williams and his contribution to the study of shamanism and the analysis of rock paintings. Author examines the depicted scenes, the process of the painting, as well as artifacts and ethnographic evidences of the alleged rituals. The reconstruction of rituals is accompanied by the Lewis-Williams’s conception of the spectrum of...
Recognising causal links between religious practices and socio-political structures, it is argued that the transition to settled life during the Neolithic was the product of social and political changes brought about by the institutionalisation and manipulation of ideology. These were employed by ambitious, influential individuals using sedentism as a strategy to achieve social control and the...
This paper presents information on the shamanic religious system practiced among the Tu ethnic group of Qinghai Province in Northwest China. After presenting ethnographic information on the spirit beliefs, rituals, and shamanic specialists of the Tu, the paper will use a systemic definition of religion to (1) identify changes that have occurred in the focus of Tu shamanism and the role of the...
Abstract The issue raised in the present article is shamanists’ ideas about why there should be unity in drinking in the shamanic community. In the framework of the shamanic worldview, each act of drinking, not only ritual acts but also everyday acts, can comprise the features of worshipping the spirits and making an offering to them. Hence there is the need to make an offering during any...
Healing through ritual has often been a common facet of shamanic traditions. Catching “shamanic illness” is recognised as a sign of a candidate in many cultures. However, among the Horchin Mongols ...