Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance.[4][5] The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human beings in some other way.[4][6]
Beliefs and practices categorized as shamanic have attracted the interest of scholars from a variety of disciplines, including anthropologists, archeologists, historians, religious studies scholars, philosophers, and psychologists. Hundreds of books and academic papers on the subject have been produced, with a peer-reviewed academic journal being devoted to the study of shamanism.
TerminologyEtymology
The earliest known depiction of a Siberian shaman, by the Dutch explorer Nicolaes Witsen, 17th century. Witsen called him a priest of the Devil and drew clawed feet for the supposed demonic qualities.[7]The Modern English word shamanism derives from the Russian word шаман, šamán, which itself comes from the word samān from a Tungusic language[8] – possibly from the southwestern dialect of the Evenki spoken by the Sym Evenki peoples,[9] or from the Manchu language.[10] The etymology of the word is sometimes connected to the Tungus root sā-, meaning to know.[11][12] However, Finnish ethnolinguist Juha Janhunen questions this connection on linguistic grounds: The possibility cannot be completely rejected, but neither should it be accepted without reservation since the assumed derivational relationship is phonologically irregular (note especially the vowel quantities).[13]
Mircea Eliade noted that the Sanskrit word श्रमण, śramaṇa, designating a wandering monastic or holy figure, has spread to many Central Asian languages along with Buddhism and could be the ultimate origin of the word shaman.[14] The word has been reported in Gandhari as ṣamana, in Tocharian A as ṣāmaṃ, in Tocharian B as ṣamāne and in Chinese as 沙門, shāmén.[15]
The term was adopted by Russians interacting with the indigenous peoples in Siberia. It is found in the memoirs of the exiled Russian churchman Avvakum.[16] It was brought to Western Europe twenty years later by the Dutch statesman Nicolaes Witsen, who reported his stay and journeys among the Tungusic- and Samoyedic-speaking Indigenous peoples of Siberia in his book Noord en Oost Tataryen (1692).[7] Adam Brand, a merchant from Lübeck, published in 1698 his account of a Russian embassy to China; a translation of his book, published the same year, introduced the word shaman to English speakers.[17]
Anthropologist and archeologist Silvia Tomášková argued that by the mid-1600s, many Europeans applied the Arabic term shaitan (meaning devil) to the non-Christian practices and beliefs of Indigenous peoples beyond the Ural Mountains.[18] She suggests that shaman may have entered the various Tungus dialects as a corruption of this term, and then been told to Christian missionaries, explorers, soldiers and colonial administrators with whom the people had increasing contact for centuries.
A female shaman is sometimes called a shamanka, which is not an actual Tungus term but simply shaman plus the Russian suffix -ka (for feminine nouns).[19]
DefinitionsThere is no single agreed-upon definition for the word shamanism among anthropologists. Anthropologist Manvir Singh argues that the most justifiable definition includes three basic features: entering non-ordinary states, engaging with unseen realities, and providing services like healing and divination.[4][20]
The English historian Ronald Hutton noted that by the dawn of the 21st century, there were four separate definitions of the term which appeared to be in use:[21]
To refer to anybody who contacts a spirit world while in an altered state of consciousness.Those who contact a spirit world while in an altered state of consciousness at the behest of others.In an attempt to distinguish shamans from other magico-religious specialists who are believed to contact spirits, such as mediums, witch doctors, spiritual healers or prophets, this definition suggests that shamans undertake some particular technique not used by the others. However, scholars advocating the third view have failed to agree on what the defining technique should be.Shamanism referring to the Indigenous religions of Siberia and neighboring parts of Asia.According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a shaman (/ˈʃɑːmən/ SHAH-mən, /ˈʃæmən/ SHAM-ən or /ˈʃeɪmən/ SHAY-mən)[22] is someone who is regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing.[6][22] The word shaman probably originates from the Tungusic Evenki language of North Asia. According to Juha Janhunen, the word is attested in all of the Tungusic idioms such as Negidal, Lamut, Udehe/Orochi, Nanai, Ilcha, Orok, Manchu and Ulcha, and nothing seems to contradict the assumption that the meaning 'shaman' also derives from Proto-Tungusic and may have roots that extend back in time at least two millennia.[23] The term was introduced to the west after Russian forces conquered the shamanistic Khanate of Kazan in 1552.
The term shamanism was first applied by Western anthropologists as outside observers of the ancient religion of indigenous Siberians and Mongols, as well as those of the neighbouring Tungusic- and Samoyedic-speaking peoples. Upon observing more religious traditions around the world, some Western anthropologists began to also use the term in a very broad sense. The term was used to describe unrelated magicoreligious practices found within the ethnic religions of other parts of Asia, Africa, Australasia and even completely unrelated parts of the Americas, as they believed these practices to be similar to one another.[24] While the term has been incorrectly applied by cultural outsiders to many Indigenous spiritual practices, the words shaman and shamanism do not accurately describe the variety and complexity that is Indigenous spirituality. Each nation and tribe has its own way of life, and uses terms in their own languages.[25]
Mircea Eliade writes, A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = 'technique of religious ecstasy'.[26] Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments and illnesses by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul or spirit are believed to restore the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. Shamans also say that they enter supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community, or visit other worlds or dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. Shamans operate primarily within the spiritual world, which, they believe, in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance is said to result in the elimination of the ailment.[26]
