shamans
Tribal spiritual guides
Shamans are people who act as intermediaries between the natural and spiritual worlds, typically in indigenous or traditional cultures.
They enter altered states of consciousness to heal, divine the future, or communicate with spirits.
The role combines priest, healer, and mystic: The shaman performed a ritual to cure the sick child.
In looser usage, shaman describes anyone claiming spiritual powers or practicing alternative healing.
Latin American folk healer
- herbalistPractitioner using plant medicines
- healingRestoration of health
- remediesTreatments that restore health
- herbsPlants for seasoning
curing · exorcism · extraction · cleansing · purification · diagnosis · patient · ailment
Formal event marking occasions
- drummingPercussive rhythm-making
- chantingRhythmic repetitive vocalization
- rattlesDisturbs or clatters
- costumesClothes for assuming roles
masks · trance · dance · fire · smoke · smudging · offerings · sacrifice
Worthy of reverence
- spiritsLiquor or apparitions
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
- soulInnermost animating essence
- afterlifeExistence beyond mortality
underworld · upperworld · cosmology · supernatural · otherworld · intermediary · possession · channeling
Beyond natural explanation
- occultConcealed from view
- esotericAccessible to few
- magicSupernatural or illusory power
- sorceryPractice of dark magic
spells · enchantment · transformation · shapeshifting · flight · invisibility · power · energy
Foretelling of future events
- oracleAuthoritative wisdom source
- seerOne who envisions futures
- visionsImagined or prophetic sights
- omensProphetic signs or warnings
dreams · augury · fortune-telling · scrying · bones · entrails · psychic · clairvoyance
Senior community members
- indigenousOriginating in a region
- clanRelated group sharing ancestry
- communityCollective of connected people
- traditionCustom passed through generations
lineage · initiation · apprenticeship · hereditary · chief · ceremony · folklore · customs
curandero
Latin American folk healer
- herbalistPractitioner using plant medicines
- healingRestoration of health
- remediesTreatments that restore health
herbs · curing · exorcism · extraction · cleansing · purification · diagnosis · patient · ailment · ceremony
ceremony
Formal event marking occasions
costumes · masks · trance · dance · fire · smoke · smudging · offerings · sacrifice · altar
sacred
Worthy of reverence
afterlife · underworld · upperworld · cosmology · supernatural · otherworld · intermediary · possession · channeling · animism
supernatural
Beyond natural explanation
sorcery · spells · enchantment · transformation · shapeshifting · flight · invisibility · power · energy · aura
prophecy
Foretelling of future events
omens · dreams · augury · fortune-telling · scrying · bones · entrails · psychic · clairvoyance · premonition
elders
Senior community members
- indigenousOriginating in a region
- clanRelated group sharing ancestry
- communityCollective of connected people
tradition · lineage · initiation · apprenticeship · hereditary · chief · ceremony · folklore · customs · native
- Borneo peopleslonghouse, longhouses, adat, Saban, headhunting
- Southeast Asian folklorefolktales, ghosts, spirits, nagas, ancestor spirits
- rainforestrainforest, jungle, tropical, tropics, canopy
- believersbeliever, believers, adherent, devotee, theist
- healersnurse, doctor, physician, surgeon, medic
- oral traditionfolk narratives, campfire tales, epics, oral poetry, storytelling circles
shamansbishops
High-ranking clergy members
popes · cardinals · church hierarchy · archbishops · priests
shamansmedical doctors
Licensed practitioners of medicine
surgeons · scientists · empiricists · rationalists · skeptics
shamansmaterialists
Prioritizers of physical possessions
atheists · debunkers · reductionists · rationalists · secularists
- shamanic healingSpiritual cure through trance
- shamanic journeyRitual trance voyage