Lux Ferre

Dreaming, The – In Aboriginal Australian English, or in translations of Aboriginal traditional terms, the Dreaming refers to the process by which places and emplaced life was created, ordered, and socialized. It

Dowson, Thomas A. – South African archaeologist and rock art researcher. Dowson initially drew attention to enigmatic geometric imagery in Southern African rock art traditions and later, with David Lewis-Williams, proposed a

Don Juan – An alleged Yaqui sorcerer and informant to Carlos Castaneda and the central character in his prolific series of Don Juan books, including The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui

Doctors – In many indigenous cultures, shamans are healers. As the local equivalent of Western doctors, they seek the causes and cures of illnesses. However, since their medical practice exists in an

Dobkin de Rios, Marlene (1939– ) – American medical anthropologist and clinical psychologist; professor of anthropology at California State University, Fullerton. Best known for her interest in ayahuasca and other plant use

Dismemberment – A common feature of many stories of initiations, especially of shamans. Powerful other-than-human persons, ancestors, or spirits take the prospective initiate (often against their will) and tear or cut them

Vilmos Diószegi (1923–1972) – Hungarian ethnologist and research fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. In addition to his extensive work on Siberian shamans, published as Popular Beliefs and Folklore

One of the most popular of the ancient mystery cults, the Dionysian mysteries were celebrated throughout Greece, and spread through most of the Mediterranean world after Alexander the Great’s conquests imposed Greek

Paul Devereux (1945– ) – British researcher of earth mysteries whose work has furthered scholarly attention to the archaeology of shamanism and opened up the topic to a broad audience beyond academia,

Descent of Inanna – A mythic poem dating from around 1750 BCE, surviving in at least 30 inscribed clay tablets with more than 400 lines of text and rediscovered in the excavation