ABSTRACT
Shamanism refers to a variety of spiritual healing practices found in premodern societies around the world. By the time of the Enlightenment, however, it was viewed as a form of the irrational other. Twentieth-century scholar Mircae Eliade provided a different view of the shaman as someone who entered “ecstasy” to interact with spirits on behalf of the community. Eliade pointed to similar spiritual healing practices in societies around the world. Shamans typically engage the entire local community in all-night ceremonies. The shaman’s dancing, drumming, and chanting are accompanied with a dramatic recounting of mythological themes, struggles with the spirits, and a “soul flight,” a departure of the shaman’s consciousness from the body. In this soul journey into the spirit world, the shaman appears unconscious but is engaged in a dramatic encounter with spirits and natural forces, as well as other shamans and entities.
