What is Shamanism?

The term ‘shaman’ is from the Tungus tribe in Siberia, meaning “someone who sees in the dark”. This describes the ‘journey’ that a shaman must make to non ordinary reality, or the land of the spirits, to bring about healing and other tasks for their clan/tribe/people.
Shamanism is a spiritual belief that all things have spirit, from the table, plants, trees, you and the earth itself.

This belief and many of the techniques used by shamans across the world were found to be very closely related and it was this discovery by Michael Harner in the 1950s, that led him to eventually set up the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, a school teaching these techniques in USA in the 1970s and 1980s.

Shamanism is thought to be the original belief system, dating back to the early peoples.

The term shamanism is very broad and today covers wide range of techniques and key similarities, focusing on the ‘journey’ of the shaman or shamanic practitioner undertakes.

We now use the term shaman to show a person, usually of that particular culture, who has grown up and gone through particular trials in order to become a shaman to their tribe/people.

The term shamanic practitioner is used to describe someone of another non native culture, often using cross cultural techniques, who journey to the land of spirit, through the use of a drum or rattle, to bring about healing of some kind.