What Is a Shaman?

摘要

Flying above the earth to the spirit world or descending into the underworld; being stripped to a skeleton, reassembled, and reborn; fighting evil spirits and sorcerers; and protecting their people from famine and disease—these are powers commonly claimed by shamans throughout the world. The word shaman, sometimes erroneously used interchangeably with sorcerer or medicine man, comes from the language of the Evenk, a small group of Tungus-speaking hunters and reindeer herders in Siberia. In the strictest sense, it refers to a practitioner who can will his or her spirit to leave the body and journey to upper or lower worlds.