Myths and Rites of Shamanism

Extract

What is shamanism? What is the social nature of this institution which at times seems so clearly to be situated on the fringe of society that one is tempted to call it anti-social? There is indeed no lack of definitions, but where religion is concerned definitions are never satisfactory, for the limits of various phenomena are too uncertain and shadings between them too subtle. The social position of the shaman is so variable that it seems hardly possible even to state the question precisely. On the other hand, we find in mythology and ritual numerous elements indicating the place held by the shaman in collective, and especially in more general, representations of divinities. An attempt to establish, as evidenced in mythology, the position of the shaman in relation to the divinities will lead us to indications as to his social nature, that is, to society's conception of the shaman.