Month: March 2022

John Pretty on Top, – Cultural director and speaker for the Crow/Absaroke Nation who succeeded Thomas Yellowtail as medicine man and Sun Dance chief in…

Predation – A significant theme of many Amazonian cultures is that there are basically two kinds of beings—predators and prey— each of which is divided…

Pragmatism – Indigenous shamanisms tend to disrupt the binary sacred–profane boundary imposed by Western observers, avoid transcendentalism, and embed practice in pragmatic day-to-day community (human…

Power Animals – A significant portion of the practice of neoshamanism, including almost all early workshops in the style of Michael Harner’s core shamanism, involve…

Possession – Shamans are sometimes distinguished from other religious or cultural leaders by their ability to deliberately enter a trance that is sometimes considered to…

Pomo – An indigenous people of California. Greg Sarris has written both biographical and fictionalized accounts of the life and work of traditional doctors such…

Polynesia – A subdivision of Oceania or the Pacific Islands (along with Micronesia and Melanesia), including islands in a vast triangular area of the Pacific…

Politics – In Mircea Eliade’s construction of shamanism, political involvement is a sign of degeneracy among shamans. He prefers to present them as ritualists and…

Plastic Medicine People – A term applied to Native Americans who perform ceremonies or teach traditional knowledge to Euro-Americans or anyone else who is willing…

Piya – Various similar and related words in diverse Amazonian languages refer to the kind of shamans who have the ability to heal illnesses or…