Month: March 2022

Pacific Northwest – Among the 11 recognized Native American nations of the North American Pacific Northwest coast, there are numerous village community identities, and shamans…

Owners – Shamans in some societies are said to engage with otherworld or other-than-human persons who “own” animal species or all animals. Permission may be…

Other Worlds – Many shamanic cosmologies posit the existence of lands, realms, or dimensions accessible to shamans after initiation and training. These are rarely if…

Other-Than-Human Persons – A phrase coined by Irving Hallowell, influenced by the Ojibwe of southern-central Canada. It refers to the widest possible community of living…

Orphic Mysteries – Like the Sumerian Descent of Inanna epic, the mysteries of the Greek hero Orpheus have been interpreted as being shamanic. In part,…

Origins of Religion – Many theories about how religion began propose that shamanism is the earliest religion of humanity. This is rooted in the notion…

Onon, Urgunge (1919– ) – A Daur Mongol who is the manager of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at Cambridge University. His collaboration…

Ojibwe – Also known as Anishinaabeg, Ojibwa, and Chippewa. ANative American people now living in the Midwest of the United States and south-central Canada. Their…

Oceania – Although some scholars insist that shamanism is the preserve of circum-Arctic regions, the peoples who live in the many islands of Oceania in…

Object-Persons – A term that attempts to express in English the indigenous notion that many objects are not inanimate, “mere representations,” or art but rather…