Cultural beliefs and spiritual motifs of Shamanism
Shamanism is a practice of reaching altered states of consciousness in order to perceive and interact with the spirit world and channel these energies into this world. Shamanic practitioners, during rituals, travel between these two worlds through dreams, visionary experience, and waking consciousness. These two worlds are treated as a single reality.
Shamanism offers healing ceremonies that seeks wholeness; the harmony to body, mind and soul. When ancestral laws or environmental boundaries have been violated, the shaman will seek to re-harmonize the relations between people and land with tribal ancestors. When an individual falls into sickness, the shaman will journey to that person's spiritual guardians to take away illness and restore wholeness. When sickness comes to domestic animals, the shaman may commune with the spirits to find healing and renewal. Shamanism doesn’t have sacred scriptures or worship a god or deity, but the faith and belief system is largely focused on the power of spirits and animals, healing and shamanic drumming and entering trance, a state of profound abstraction or absorption.
I was looking for detailed discussion of ritual practices, altered states of consciousness, spirit animals, ancestral spirits, native peoples of Siberia, dreams and signs, healing ceremonies, drums, and entering trance. Many of these terms are defined cryptically in one or two paragraphs. Many terms that are not key to the Shamanic practices are described in relative detail. If you are looking for a book to understand Shamanism as a belief system, then this is not the book you are looking for.
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