ABSTRACT
The word shaman comes from the word saman, used by north Asian peoples to designate the one “who knows.” But we can find shamans in North and South America, Africa, and other parts of the world. They are the traditional healers in many cultures. These individuals remind us of a time before the tremendous amount of specialization that characterizes our modern society. Shamans take us back to a time when the healer and the spiritual leader were one, and people would consult the same person for maladies of the soul as well as the body. Indeed, the role of the shaman is at the heart of a worldview that is integrated and whole. Within this worldview there is no separation between the spirit world and the material world. The two are understood to overlap, so it is possible to stand on the margin shared by both and to communicate with both worlds. This margin is the domain of the shaman, who can pass from one side to the other with ease.
