Category: Shamanism

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

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…

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…

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…

Paul Devereux (1945– ) – British researcher of earth mysteries whose work has furthered scholarly attention to the archaeology of shamanism and opened up the…

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

Deprivation and Overstimulation – Rhythmic dancing, monotonous singing, chanting and drumming, prolonged fasting, hyperventilation, flagellation and other forms of pain, and light deprivation all mark…

Vine Deloria Jr. (1933–2005) – Standing Rock Sioux and Santee Dakota; professor emeritus of history and religious studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder.…

Deer tribe – Also known as the Métis Medicine Society. A global organization that promulgates a blend of Native American religious traditions, neo-shamanism, and New…

De Mille, Richard – De Mille became suspicious that elements of Carlos Castaneda’s Yaqui “ethnography,” and indeed the shamaninformant Don Juan himself, were inauthentic—an elaborate…