WShamanism is an ancient healing tradition and for the Shaman it is a way of life, guiding ways to connect with nature and all of creationinside and outside the realms of present day understandings of physics.
WThe Archaeology of Shamanism is an academic anthology edited by the English archaeologist Neil Price which was first published by Routledge in 2001. Containing fourteen separate papers produced by various scholars working in the disciplines of archaeology and anthropology, it looks at the manner in which archaeologists can interpret shamanism in the archaeological record.
WAstral projection, is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a soul called an "astral body" that is separate from the physical body and capable of travelling outside it throughout the universe.
WIn astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles.
WThe Boxer Rebellion, Boxer Uprising or Yihetuan Movement, was an armed and violent xenophobic, anti-Christian, and anti-imperialist insurrection in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty.
WBreaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism is a book written by author and journalist Daniel Pinchbeck, founding editor of the literary journal Open City. Published in 2002, Breaking Open the Head covers, in Pinchbeck's words, the cultural history of psychedelic use, philosophical and critical perspectives on shamanism, and his personal transformation from a cynical New York litterateur to psychedelic acolyte.
WButa Kola is an Animist form of Spirit worship from the coastal districts of Tulu Nadu and some parts of malenadu of Karnataka and Kasargod in Northern Kerala, India. The dance is highly stylized and held in honor of the local deities worshiped by the Tulu speaking population. It has influenced Yakshagana folk theatre.
WMircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, has proved influential. One of his most instrumental contributions to religious studies was his theory of eternal return, which holds that myths and rituals do not simply commemorate hierophanies, but, at least to the minds of the religious, actually participate in them.
WAn entheogen is a psychoactive substance that induces alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwise in sacred contexts. Anthropological study has established that entheogens are used for religious, magical, shamanic, or spiritual purposes in many parts of the world. Entheogens have traditionally been used to supplement many diverse practices geared towards achieving transcendence, including divination, meditation, yoga, sensory deprivation, asceticism, prayer, trance, rituals, chanting, hymns like peyote songs, drumming, and ecstatic dance. The psychedelic experience is often compared to non-ordinary forms of consciousness such as those experienced in meditation, near-death experiences, and mystical experiences. Ego dissolution is often described as a key feature of the psychedelic experience.
WKurdaitcha is a type of shaman amongst the Arrernte people, an Aboriginal group in Central Australia. The kurdaitcha may be brought in to punish a guilty party by death. The word may also relate to the ritual in which the death is willed by the kurdaitcha man, known also as bone-pointing. The word may also be used by Europeans to refer to the shoes worn by the Kurdaitcha, which are woven of feathers and human hair and treated with blood.
WShamanism is found in many countries around the world, in different regional forms.
WSanamahism, also known as Meitei religion, Manipuri religion or Kanglei religion, is an animistic, ancestor-worshipping, shaman-led religious tradition found among the Meitei people in Manipur state of India. The term is derived from Sanamahi, the most important Meitei deities. The details of the identity of Lainingthou Sanamahi – sun, fire, or an aspect of Sidaba Mapu – along with other aspects of the Sanamahism beliefs, practices and the history, are unclear and disputed. Broadly, Sanamahism worship elements of nature, such as fire, water and mountains, with a notable temple and worship rituals at the Loi village of Andro, east of Imphal, according to Bertil Lintner. Along with Sanamahi, in the past, religious space within Meitei homes called Sanamahi Kachin were dedicated to Leimarel Sidabi and Phungga. This is also seen in modern Meitei families who identify with Sanamahism. According to Kanglei mythology life began from water in the form of "Namu Mitam Nga" commonly known as the "Ngamu" fish.
WSanni yakuma, sometimes known as Daha ata sanniyas, is a traditional Sinhalese exorcism ritual. The ritual consists of 18 masked dances, each depicting a particular illness or ailment affecting humans. These 18 dances are the main dances of the Pahatharata, or low country, dancing form, which is one of the three main dancing forms of Sri Lanka. The ritual calls the demons who are thought to affect the patient, who are then told not to trouble humans and banished.
WShamanic music is music played either by actual shamans as part of their rituals, or by people who, whilst not themselves shamans, wish to evoke the cultural background of shamanism in some way. Therefore, Shamanic music includes both music used as part of shamans' rituals and music that refers to, or draws on, this.
WShamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy is a historical study of the different forms of shamanism around the world written by the Romanian historian of religion Mircea Eliade. It was first published in France by Librarie Payot under the French title of Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaïques de l'extase in 1951. The book was subsequently translated into English by Willard R. Trask and published by Princeton University Press in 1964.
WA witch doctor was originally a type of healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft and is now more commonly a term used to refer to healers, particularly in regions which use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine.
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