Category: Shamanism

Horwitz, Jonathan – Neo-shamanic practitioner who founded the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies in 1986, and with Annette Høst offers such basic and advanced workshops…

Hoppál, Mihály – Hungarian ethnographer with wide interests in the shamanisms of Eurasia, particularly those of Siberia and Hungary. In addition to important ethnographic publications,…

Holy People – A term for religious leaders among many Native American nations, who may be comparable with shamans elsewhere. Medicine people is a similar…

Hoffman, Albert (1906– ) – Swiss chemist who synthesized the hallucinogen LSD (d-lysergic acid diethylamide), a chemical derived from the ergot fungus he had been…

Hmong – Southeast Asian people originating in Laos; many now live in North America. Traditionally an animist culture, the Hmong employ shamans as healers and…

Heusch, Luc de (1927– ) – Professor of anthropology at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. Following Mircea Eliade’s categorical distinction between shamanism as “mastery…

Helpers – Shamans are often marginal figures, but they are rarely solitary. In some cultures, they are aided by apprentice shamans or by other types…

Heinz, Ruth-Inge – Scholar of comparative religion and psychological anthropology and a research associate at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley.…

Heathens – At the time of conversion to Christianity in Iceland, the terms kristni and hedhni made a simple distinction between Christendom and Heathenry, the…

Healing – Among the most significant duties performed by shamans are concerned with healing clients from illnesses. Sometimes illnesses are understood to be otherworld persons…