Shamanism: A Public Overview of the Term, Its Origins and Its Limits

What the word means, and where it came from

"Shaman" is a word that outsiders carried from one place to many others. A 2025 scoping review of the medical literature explains that the term was first introduced to the Western world by the historian of religion Mircea Eliade, who borrowed it from the Tungusic people of Siberia and Central Asia. [1] Eliade suggested the word could be applied across cultures to people in a similar role. [1] The same review describes shamanism as a worldview concerned with human interaction with the spirit world, in which practitioners use altered states of consciousness to perform services, and says healing of the body, mind and spirit is foremost among those services. [1]

That is a scholars' umbrella, and it has limits. Peoples in Siberia, in the Amazon and in many other regions have their own words, roles, training paths and rules, and they are not one system. This page uses "shamanism" only because it is the term people search for. Where a source names a specific people or practice, we name it.

What this site does not describe

Many healing practices are ceremonial, sacred or restricted to people who are trained and recognized inside a community. We do not describe ceremonies, rituals, initiations, drumming or journeying methods, or the use of sacred plants, and we do not offer a general "shamanic healing" method. If you want to learn about a particular tradition, the respectful route is to go to that community's own sources and teachers. For the wider principles, see Indigenous and community traditions and cultural context and respectful representation.

Plant-medicine ceremonies are outside this page. A pointer to the full guides is at Ayahuasca and plant medicine ceremonies.

Traditional and modern uses of the term

The scoping review notes that the American anthropologist Michael Harner spent several years with Indigenous groups in the Peruvian Amazon, then founded a center for shamanic studies in 1979 and published a guide for practitioners; the review links this to the "neo-shamanic" movement. [1] This is a modern, mostly Western teaching framework (often called core shamanism). It is different from the practices of the communities that use their own terms, and the two should not be assumed to be the same thing.

What research has measured

Almost all writing about shamanism is ethnography, meaning descriptions of cultures. The scoping review searched for medical literature on shamanic healing as a clinical intervention and found 16 publications: one clinical trial, two case series and ten case reports. [1]

Evidence label: insufficient evidence for any health condition.

One case report in the review describes a man with an infected snake bite who was treated with antivenom and antibiotics while a shaman also performed a ritual. The ritual calmed his nerves, but neither approach was entirely successful and his lower leg was amputated. [1] The authors also say that several cases involved delayed conventional treatment, and that there is insufficient evidence to conclude a shamanic belief system is dangerous at a cultural level. [1]

"Shaman near me": how to think about it

We do not list or recommend healers. In the United States, NCCIH says there is no standardized national system for credentialing complementary health practitioners, and states decide what credentials are needed. [2] We found no regulator or professional-body source for shamanic practice, so assume it is not regulated and that titles can be self-claimed. Useful questions: Who trained this person, and does a community recognize them? What do they claim to treat? Will they work alongside your doctor? What does it cost, and is anything offered as a guaranteed cure? A person who tells you to stop medicines or avoid medical care is a red flag; see red flags in health claims and questions to ask before a session.