Between the Worlds: Shamanism of the Peoples of Siberia

Описание книги

Now, in the latter half of the first decade of the twenty- first century, it seems that there is no area of the sciences or know ledge of which we cannot learn in detail on the Internet or in specialist publications. Yet we have not found all the answers to questions such as who we are, where we came from and how we got there. Interest in shamanism as a phenomenon of spiritual culture has remained high over the centuries.
World-famous scholars like James George Frazer, LJ.Steinberg, Mircea Eliade and many others have written and continue to write on shamanism as mysticism, magic, religion, and worldview.
The fact that shamanism is so widespread and can be found in Asia, Africa, America, Australia and in Northern Europe means that it is a frequent subject of study.
The viability of shamanism is also impressive. In Russia shamanism has survived violent repression by the Soviet authorities; it has also been preserved in Europe and America.
For ethnographers shamanism is an important component of the native culture of different ethnic groups. "Those who speak with the wind" and "those who shoot arrows" - the shamans of Siberia, North and Central Asia-are both archaic and modern symbols of the culture of the peoples living here. Shamanism contains the structure of a unique mythology that is connected with two groups of important ritual: the initiation of the shaman and various ritual practices, including healing.
The shaman's cosmos is divided into three worlds, the Lower, Middle and Upper, and can be seen in the Scandinavian runes, in the Karelo-Finmsh epic tale Kalevala, and even in Homer's Odyssey.
Since the founding of the Russian Museum of Ethnography in 1902 the museum's ethnographers have gathered collections of rare exhibits and photographs dealing with shamanism of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East. These ethnographers have also left invaluable journals recording the shamanistic rituals they observed. In this volume we present to ethnography specialists, historians and philosophers of religion, and to the public at large priceless historical documents that introduce us to shamanism as a unique worldview reflecting the interaction of man and nature.

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