shamanism
Trance-based spirit contact
Shamanism is a set of spiritual practices centered on a shaman—a person believed to interact with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness.
Found across many indigenous cultures, shamans traditionally heal illness, guide souls, and mediate between human and spirit realms.
The term now applies broadly to similar practices worldwide, sometimes loosely: She studied shamanism in Peru.
In contemporary usage, shamanism often describes neo-spiritual movements drawing on these traditions.
Latin American folk healer
- herbalismPlant-based healing tradition
- remedyCurative treatment or fix
- cleansingRemoving dirt or toxins
- restorationReturning something to condition
balancing · holistic · wellness · therapeutic · poultice · extraction · diagnosis · illness
Liquor or apparitions
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- totemSpiritual clan symbol
- natureInherent quality or disposition
- soulInnermost animating essence
life-force · interconnectedness · animistic · pantheism · essence · cosmology · sentience · vitalism
Formal admission ceremony
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
- shapeshiftingTransforming into other beings
- offeringsThings presented or given
chanting · rattle · ceremony · rites · calling · invocation · apprenticeship · lineage
Percussive rhythm-making
- journeyingAct of traveling somewhere
- ecstasyOverwhelming intense delight
- possessionState of owning
- hallucinationPerception without external cause
dreaming · channeling · psychedelic · ayahuasca · peyote · otherworldly · disassociation · visionary
Struck percussion cylinder
- rattleShaking sound maker
- costumeClothing for portrayal
- headdressOrnamental head covering
- feathersBird's lightweight covering
mask · staff · amulet · talisman · fetish · bones · crystals · altar
curandero
Latin American folk healer
- herbalismPlant-based healing tradition
- remedyCurative treatment or fix
- cleansingRemoving dirt or toxins
restoration · balancing · holistic · wellness · therapeutic · poultice · extraction · diagnosis · illness · recovery
spirits
Liquor or apparitions
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- totemSpiritual clan symbol
- natureInherent quality or disposition
soul · life-force · interconnectedness · animistic · pantheism · essence · cosmology · sentience · vitalism · fauna
initiation
Formal admission ceremony
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- divinationForetelling through mystical means
- shapeshiftingTransforming into other beings
offerings · chanting · rattle · ceremony · rites · calling · invocation · apprenticeship · lineage · transmission
drumming
Percussive rhythm-making
- journeyingAct of traveling somewhere
- ecstasyOverwhelming intense delight
- possessionState of owning
hallucination · dreaming · channeling · psychedelic · ayahuasca · peyote · otherworldly · disassociation · visionary · entrancement
drum
Struck percussion cylinder
feathers · mask · staff · amulet · talisman · fetish · bones · crystals · altar · offerings
underworld
Realm of the departed
- upperworldSociety's privileged echelon
- otherworldSupernatural plane of existence
- realmsRuled territories or spheres
ancestors · mythology · creation · afterlife · cosmic · threshold · liminal · mountain · cave · river
- Folk ReligionsSanteria, Shinto, spirit worship, animism, folk belief
- alternative medicineacupuncture, acupressure, Ayurveda, ayurveda, homeopathy
- Indigenous SpiritualityGhost Dance, spirit animals, ancestor spirits, vision quest, ancestral spirits
- nomadic lifenomads, yurt, wanderers, tent, Bedouins
- prehistoric lifedinosaur, dinosaurs, triceratops, Velociraptor, velociraptor
- Stone Agecave painting, paleolithic, hand ax, handaxes, hand axe
shamanismorganized religion
Structured communal belief systems
state religion · established church · Catholicism · Roman Catholicism · orthodoxy
shamanismrationalism
Reason as knowledge source
secular humanism · atheism · empiricism · physicalism · positivism
- shamanic healingSpiritual cure through trance
- shamanic journeyRitual trance voyage