Lux Ferre

Shuar – Indigenous people of Ecuadorian Amazonia, also known as Jivaro. Michael Harner began his anthropological fieldwork among the Shuar in 1956 but focused on their shamanism only after taking ayahuasca (yagé)

Shirokogoroff, Sergei Mikhailovich (1887–1939) – Russian ethnographer whose expertise in psychiatry and extensive field observations of the Evenk (Tungus) in the 1930s, including performing the role of shaman’s assistant on a number

Shinto – Japanese religion with a complex history of engagement with Buddhism, folk practice, and imperial and international politics. Irit Averbuch identifies as shamanic a dance, accompanied by drums, cymbals, flutes, and

Sharon, Douglas – Following Sharon’s now-classic anthropological study Wizard of the Four Winds (1978), which brought the Peruvian shaman Eduardo Calderon to public attention, Calderon was commercialized by neo-shaman and psychologist Alberto

Shape-Shifting – While the ability to change shape or take on the appearance of an animal, plant, or other being seems to many Westerners to be one of the most outlandish claims

Shanon, Benny (1948– ) – Professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in the study of human consciousness, cognitive processes, and the philosophy of psychology. Shanon’s particular interests in

Shamen, The – British psychedelic-influenced electronic music group popular with dance/rave culture in Great Britain during the early to mid-1990s. The album Boss Drum released in 1992 featured a spoken-word collaboration with

Shaman’s Drum – A “journal of experiential shamanism” published by the Cross-Cultural Shamanism Network, a not-for-profit educational organization. The magazine seeks to encourage the study of shamanism from a practical perspective, offering

Shamanic State of Consciousness – Michael Harner’s preferred term for the altered state of consciousness induced by shamans, to distinguish shamanic activity (control over the experience, journeying to nonordinary reality, engaging with

Shamanic Circles – A nonprofit neo-shamanic organization initially founded by a group in the United States to support and foster community, with council members worldwide “as far apart as Japan, Ireland and