Category: Shamanism

Neurotheology – The idea that the impulse behind shamanism and other religions originates in brain chemistry, put forward in Michael Winkelman’s Shamanism: The Neural Ecology…

Neuropsychological Model – David Lewis-Williams and Thomas Dowson’s neuropsychological model, set out in their Current Anthropology article “The Signs of All Times: Entoptic Phenomena in…

Nepal – An ethnically and religiously diverse country bordered by Tibet and India. Hindu, Buddhist, and animist Nepalese may employ shamans or attend shamanic performances…

Neo-Shamanism – Also neo-Shamanism, neoshamanism, new shamanism, whiteshamanism, contemporary shamanism, urban shamanism, Western shamanism. A term applied by scholars to engagement with, application of, or…

Neolithic – “New Stone Age,” a period assigned in Europe to the development of agriculture or the Agricultural Revolution, although hunter-gatherer activity endured well into…

Neihardt, John (1881–1973) – Poet and writer (Nebraska’s poet laureate for 52 years) who published a version of the biography of Nicholas Black Elk, a…

Nayaka – A hunter-gatherer community of the forested Gir Valley in the Nilgiri region of South India. Their relational epistemology is discussed in Nurit Bird-David’s…

Nature – One aspect of the common Western perception that indigenous peoples, especially hunter-gatherers, are “close to nature” is that shamans and shamanism provide helpful…

Native Americans – A significant number of traditional Native American cultures have employed and sometimes continue to employ people who have been labeled “shamans.” Indigenous…

Native American Spirituality – Since there are hundreds of distinct Native American Nations, many containing more than one distinctive traditional religious practice, it should be…