Shamans Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination

With their ability to enter trances, to change into the bodies of other creatures, and to fly through the northern skies, shamans are the subject of both popular and scholarly fascination. In Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination Ronald Hutton looks at what is really known about both the shamans of Siberia and about others spread throughout the world. He traces the growth of knowledge of shamans in Imperial and Stalinist Russia, descibes local variations and different types of shamanism, and explores more recent western influences on its history and modern practice. This is a challenging book by one of the world's leading authorities on Paganism. >

IntroductionPart One: Why We Think We Know about Shamans1. The Creation of Siberia2. The Creation of Siberians3. The Transformation of Siberians4. The Records of ShamanismPart Two: What We Think We Know about Shamans5. What Shamans Did6. Shamanic Cosmologies7. Shamanic Apprenticeship and Equipment8. Shamanic Performance9 Knots and Loose EndsPart Three: Siberia in the Shamanic World10. The Discovery of a Shamanic World11. The Discovery of a Shamanic Past12. The Discovery of a Shamanic FutureNotesBibliographyIndex