Tracing the history, ideology, and rites of the shamans' fascinating belief system in its many global manifestations, this book looks at the forms and functions of shamanic practices from Siberia to China and beyond. Authoritative and accessible, the guide investigates some of the most notorious and frequently misrepresented aspects of shamanism.

"Shamanism" traces the history, ideology and rites of the shamans' fascinating belief-system in its many global manifestations. Looking at the forms and functions of shamanic practices from Siberia to China and beyond, it provides an authoritative and accessible guide to some of the most notorious and most frequently misrepresented aspects of shamanism. Answers questions such as how shamans' dual souls roam the world of the dead in search of lost souls and why the Yukaghir people wear "grandfather" amulets made of the flesh and bones of dead relatives.
Placing particular emphasis on the climatic, geographic, and cultural pressures under which shamanic traditions arose, "Shaminism" summarizes and clearly explains the logic of a faith whose fantastical elements have a special place in popular imagination.