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Shamans and Other “Magico‐Religious” Healers: A Cross‐Cultural Study of Their Origins, Nature, and Social Transformations
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This paper examines shamans and other "magico-religious" healing practitioners through a cross-cultural study that empirically determines types of magico-religious healers and their characteristics. It is argued that shamanism is found throughout the world because it derives from an ecological adaptation of hunting and gathering societies to biologically based altered-state-of-consciousness potentials. Agriculture and political integration are shown to cause the
transformation of the shaman into other types of magico-religious healing practitioners, labeled in this study as shaman/healers, healers, and possession-trance mediums.
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... The main characteristic of shamanistic activity is the trance state, which would allow shamans to enter the supernatural world, and ask gods for community well-being and healing disease people. Shamans would be guided in the supernatural world by spirit helpers, especially birds [3]. However, shamans might also perform divination and serve as advisors to a clan chief [4]. ...
... Only four papers were included in the study because they were concerned with the paper's objective [4][5][6][7]. A manual search for the references of retrieved papers potentially useful for the study was performed, and of these, eight were included [1][2][3][8][9][10][11][12]. Furthermore, a search on the Internet for old books as well as old papers, not usually found in the PubMed database, was also performed because this could provide more information on the subject. ...
... Almost nothing is known regarding cults carried out by such communities. Ethnographical studies have suggested that spiritual leaders of hunter-gatherer societies were usually shamans, who were also responsible for the healing process [3]. In this sense, a figurine comprising a cylindrical head with holes where feathers could be applied, mimicking human hair and beard, fixed in a wood body, suggests shamanistic activity [28]. ...
This review suggests that shamans were in charge of the healing process in pre-dynastic Egypt. After the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt by Narmer in 3100 BC, shamans evolved into the Sem priests, who were responsible for the king’s health. With the change in Egyptian religion in the fourth dynasty (2613-2494 BC), Ra, the sun god, was revered as the supreme power, replacing the king. The emergence of mass festivities to celebrate Ra led to the priests of Sekhmet in the fifth dynasty (2494-2345 BC) checking the sanitation of bull meat that was provided to the populace in an attempt to avoid infectious epidemics. This seems to be the first recognition that disease might be transmitted from animals to humans. They used medical folklore, incantations, spells, and charms available at the House of Life, previously used by the lector priest. By 2487 BC, the first medical curative procedure was performed by Ni-Ankh-Sekhmet who cured the bleeding of a king's nose.
... A cross-cultural research project on magico-religious practitioners (Winkelman 1986(Winkelman , 1990(Winkelman , 1992(Winkelman , 2010a(Winkelman , 2021b) used a 47-society subsample of the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS) (Murdock and White 2006). Each of 115 culturally-recognized types of religious practitioners, thought to have a special capacity for interacting with supernatural beings or power, was individually coded (for data see 1 ). ...
... The issue is not where a term originated, but if it refers to a well-delineated cross-cultural phenomenon that justifies a general term. Winkelman's (1990Winkelman's ( , 1992 cross-cultural research shows a consistent pattern of ritualists in foraging societies which corresponds to core concepts identified by diverse scholars researching the nature of shamanism. This cross-cultural pattern of Foraging Shamans ought to be the framework for characterizing and evaluating what was a shaman. ...
... But the concept of Shaman types should stop short of including Healers, Mediums, Priests and the wide variety of ancient, modern and post-modern practitioners lacking core features of Foraging Shamans. The term shamanistic healer can be used for a cultural universal, ritualists who alter consciousness for spirit communication, divination and healing (Winkelman 1990(Winkelman , 1992(Winkelman , 2010a. ...
An ethnological model of magico-religious practitioners and their social predictors is presented to assess Siberian shamans, their sociocultural evolution, and their relationships to worldwide patterns. Features of Foraging Shamans found worldwide distinguish them from other types of ritualists whose distinctive features and associated social conditions illustrate the social evolution of religion. Empirical similarities and differences among Siberian ritualists and with respect to other types of ritualists address long-standing questions about the generality and variability of shamans and their changes across socio-cultural evolution. Ethnological data show that the transformation of shamans began with the loss of foraging subsistence and the adoption of intensive agriculture, followed by the consequences of warfare and political integration. Comparison of this sociocultural evolution with Siberian practitioners illustrates parallel transformations from intensification of pastoralism and the dominance of and eventual breakdown of clan structures. The ethnological model provides an interpretive framework for archaeological, historical, anthropological and ethnographic studies and identifies social processes producing changes in Siberian ritual practices.
... Empirical evidence for a worldwide manifestation of shamans was provided by formal cross-cultural research (Winkelman, 1986a(Winkelman, , 1990(Winkelman, , 1992(Winkelman, , 2010a(Winkelman, , 2021a(Winkelman, , 2021b ...
... These shamans were significantly predicted by subsistence and political variables (Winkelman, 2021a), notably a principal reliance on foraging for subsistence, but with negative correlations with intensive agriculture, supra-community political integration, and warfare. These predictors provide an external source of validity of these practitioners as an empirical concept (also see Winkelman, 1986aWinkelman, , 1990Winkelman, , 1992. ...
... A number of anthropological responses to the faulty and erroneous claims of Francfort, Hamayon, and Bahn have been presented (see Winkelman, 2010aWinkelman, , 2013c for review; also Clottes, 2004;Lewis-Williams, 2004Lewis-Williams & Clottes, 1998;Pearce, 2004;Whitley, 2009). Although Eliade's selective use of data and impressionistic assessments do not meet the standards of modern ethnological research, his general conclusions are directly supported by findings from cross-cultural research (Winkelman, 1986a(Winkelman, , 1990(Winkelman, , 1992. ...
Shamanism is a transcultural concept for understanding roles of ritual and psychedelics in the prehistoric origins of religiosity. The origins of religiosity are revealed by parallels of shamanic and chimpanzee collective ritualizations involving group chorusing and drumming with dramatic bipedal displays. This hominid baseline was expanded with mimetic evolution of song, dance and enactment. Psychedelic substances stimulate innate cognitive dispositions manifested in shamanism such as the human-like qualities of spirits, animal identities and other spiritual and mystical experiences. These structural features of consciousness are stimulated by mimetic performances with song, dancing, and drumming; painful and exhausting austerities; and psychedelic substances. These produce altered experiences of the self which are conceptualized within indigenous psychologies as spirits and one’s soul, spiritual allies, and animal powers that can be incorporated into personal powers (i.e., animal transformation). Cross-cultural manifestation of shamanic features reveal that they are based in biology rather than merely cultural traditions.
... One such self-proclaimed miracle healer is Josip Grbavac (known as "Braco"), who claims to be able to cure diseased people with his gaze (Kamp, 2023). Further research findings on Shamanic healing among various ethnic groups have indicated the supposed supernatural powers of healers (Krippner, 2012;Sidky, 2009;Singh, 1999;Winkelman, 1990). Nevertheless, these differences in the meanings of experience and knowledge acquisition between AM and EBM influence the effectiveness of each treatment form. ...
Health-related discussions in society and the media—specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic—showed that individuals are confronted with Alternative Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine. When making reflective decisions about these treatments, both knowledge and beliefs are important. Previous research with preservice biology teachers has shown that they commonly use Alternative Medicine, although they have little knowledge about it. To date, systematic studies on preservice biology teachers’ beliefs about Alternative Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine are lacking. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, the present study elicited German (N = 40) preservice biology teachers’ beliefs about these treatments via an open-ended questionnaire. Behavioral, normative, and control beliefs were categorized using qualitative content analysis. The results showed that the participants mentioned the efficacy, scientificity, and safety of treatments as important beliefs. For Alternative Medicine, beliefs were related to scientific evidence for its efficacy, naturalness and mild effects. These beliefs indicate that some preservice biology teachers do not have a clear understanding of Evidence-Based Medicine and Alternative Medicine, which can influence their decision-making. The results highlight the need to incorporate Alternative Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine into health-related decision-making within biology education and biology teacher education and provide a basis for further research.
... Eliade (1976), historiador de las religiones, construye su modelo basado en el chamanismo siberiano y central-asiático.4 En su estudio transcultural, MichaelWinkelman (1990) identifica los siguientes roles: chamán/curandero, curandero, médium, sacerdote, y hechicero/ hechicera (sorcerer/witch). ...
Introducirse al mundo de las machi para un no mapuche ¿es tan dificultoso como suele creerse?, ¿a qué se deben estas barreras?, ¿cómo afectan estos impedimentos en
nuestro conocimiento acerca de la música mapuche? En el presente capítulo reflexiono sobre algunos de los posibles motivos del difícil acceso a la práctica ritual de las machi —razones que se relacionan con su mandato espiritual, pero también con la historia de expoliación, la actual situación colonial y la consecuente desconfianza hacia el chileno y su palabra—, un par de representaciones generalizadas no del todo rigurosas relativas al empleo ceremonial de la música, y los vínculos entre las dificultades metodológicas y nuestras ideas sobre la práctica musical de las especialistas.
... For example medical clowns, thank to their positive role in building social connections, dealing with emotions, caring and encouragement, and motivating treatment adherence 137 , can have a particular impact on H and act as 'super-spreaders of health' . In more traditional societies, Shamans and traditional healers may have a similar role 138 . Moving forward, experimental and theoretical work will be crucial for the quantification and incorporation of multiple indicators of health and their interplay in epidemiological models, which would allow us to transition toward the management of future epidemics that includes producing guidelines based on a broader definition of health and infection risk. ...
Avoiding physical contact is regarded as one of the safest and most advisable strategies to follow to reduce pathogen spread. The flip side of this approach is that a lack of social interactions may negatively affect other dimensions of health, like induction of immunosuppressive anxiety and depression or preventing interactions of importance with a diversity of microbes, which may be necessary to train our immune system or to maintain its normal levels of activity. These may in turn negatively affect a population’s susceptibility to infection and the incidence of severe disease. We suggest that future pandemic modelling may benefit from relying on ‘SIR+ models’: epidemiological models extended to account for the benefits of social interactions that affect immune resilience. We develop an SIR+ model and discuss which specific interventions may be more effective in balancing the trade-off between minimizing pathogen spread and maximizing other interaction-dependent health benefits. Our SIR+ model reflects the idea that health is not just the mere absence of disease, but rather a state of physical, mental and social well-being that can also be dependent on the same social connections that allow pathogen spread, and the modelling of public health interventions for future pandemics should account for this multidimensionality.
... In contrast, the dissociative experiences induced by shamanic archetypal symbols require the induction of an unconscious state through ritual to be perceived, that is, enter the spiritual world to achieve a change in consciousness (Winkelman, 2002). Although shamans may believe that the entities they encounter in the spirit world exist independently (Winkelman, 1990), Jung's understanding of these experiences is based on his model of the psyche (Bright, 2009). Jung explained the shaman's spiritual world as an expression of the collective unconscious and an archetype transcending humanity (Scott, 2014). ...
The alteration of consciousness during shamanic rituals is both a physical and mystical phenomenon. It involves psychological and spiritual experiences. Through ritual practices, shamans can connect with archetype within the collective unconscious, utilizing trance-inducing techniques for “hallucinatory exploration”. This study surveyed 75 participants to investigate the impact of prototype symbols in Shamanistic rituals on participants’ consciousness states focusing on Jungian psychology’s concept of archetype. The results indicate that archetype symbols in shamanic rituals can significantly influence participants’ conscious state, leading them to experience a conscious dissolution of the self. Furthermore, archetype symbols have different effects at the stages of consciousness change. In particular, during the “Visionary Restructuralization” stage, archetype symbols, such as patterns, masks, totems and music, brought participants’ consciousness to a peak and caused significant changes to it. These findings suggest that the metaphoric function of archetype symbols plays a crucial role in rituals. Archetype symbols connect the individual to the collective unconscious through visual images and symbolic imagery. They prompt the participants to experience emotional resonances that transcend individual experiences and affect their state of consciousness.
... The inner illness is something that cannot be cured by doctors or by using indigenous medical knowledge because it is an illness of the soul, not of the body. Shamans are often called medicine-men by many authors (Demetrio, 1978;Eliade, 1972;Lewis, 1980;Miyazaki, 2000;Winkelman, 1990) but the latter term is inappropriate when discussing Wana shamanship. In his monumental work on shamanism, Le Chamanisme et les Techniques Archaiques de L'extase, Eliade notes that the Shaman is the great specialist in the human soul; he alone "sees" it, for he knows its "form" and its destiny […] and wherever the immediate fate of the soul is not at issue, wherever there is no question of sickness (= loss of the soul) or death, or of misfortune, or of a great sacrificial rite involving some ecstatic experience (mystical journey to the sky or the underworld), the shaman is not indispensable. ...
Among the Wana people of Morowali, Central Sulawesi, music serves as a connection between the human world and the hidden world of spirits and emotion. For this reason, music has a central role during the momago, the main Wana healing ritual. Music makes it possible for shamans to tap power from mythical time. By examining the momago, I will clarify the role and the importance of music for Wana rituality. During the ritual, music serves as a ritual marker and, with its relation with the hidden world, calls the spirits, transforms ordinary time into mythical/ritual time and helps shamans to get into trance. Moreover, it contributes to the playful atmosphere that characterises Wana rituals and that allows the healing of the patient and the community through emotional catharsis. To explore the role of music in this shamanic ritual, this paper will analyse the structure and the aim of the momago, a ritual in which shamans and music join forces in the effort to find the soul of the patient and save his/her life.
Background
Shamanism is a spiritual tradition in which trance practitioners deliberately modify their state of consciousness to seemingly interact with an invisible world to resolve their community members’ problems. This review aims to provide a multidisciplinary overview of scientific research on shamanic trance.
Methods
The search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Twenty-seven articles were found to be eligible, and their data were classified into four dimensions, namely, a) phenomenology, b) psychology, c) neuro-physiological functions, and d) clinical applications.
Results
These studies suggest that these trances are non-pathological, different from normal states of consciousness in terms of phenomenology and neurophysiology, and influenced by multiple personal and environmental variables. Furthermore, while trances may offer therapeutic potential, their scope should be approached cautiously, underscoring the need for rigorous studies to assess the effectiveness of shamanic approaches for complementary therapies.
Conclusion
Overall, shamanic trance and its potential benefits remain an intriguing and multifaceted area of scientific study, offering insights into the intersections of consciousness, spirituality, and possibly therapy.
Knowledge of the burial customs of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) in the Near East is increasing. Particularly, lately a large number of burials and skeletal remains have been unearthed in the Upper Tigris Basin, thanks to a number of new excavation projects in recent years. The newly revealed findings indicate that PPNA burial customs varied considerably in the region from site to site. However, the 10th millennium BCE burial C ̧H 2019/05 at C ̧emka Ho ̈ yu ̈ k shows as well that there are also different burial practices with in settlements. C ̧H 2019/05 belongs to a female individual, accompanied by animal skeletal elements, who appears to may have been a shaman or at least had been buried by someone practicing ways associated with what we understand nowadays as animism or shamanism. Hence, the burial may represent one of the earliest known examples of its kind in an Anatolian Neolithic context.
Although claims of psychic phenomena have been with us since antiquity, the beginning of organized research into the nature of these phenomena is usually associated with the founding in 1882 of the Society for Psychical Research in London. The S.P.R. was the brainchild of a group of distinguished scholars who were concerned primarily with the question of survival after death, and who believed that scientific research might provide a more satisfactory resolution of this problem than had the current religious dogma (Gauld, 1968). The S.P.R., as well as its sister society established a few years later in America, devoted its energies to two principal lines of ESP research. The first was a thorough investigation of reports of “real-life” psychic experiences (e.g., telepathy, apparitional experiences, hauntings) with the purpose of demonstrating that they could not be adequately explained by “normal” causes (e.g., Gumey, Myers, and Podmore, 1886/1970; Myers, 1903/1975). The second approach involved the investigation of spiritualist mediums who claimed the ability to communicate with the dead. Although some of these mediums proved to be fraudulent, others consistently were able to provide investigators with remarkably detailed information about deceased persons, information that it is difficult to conceive of their having acquired by normal means. Perhaps the most outstanding of these mediums were Leonore Piper (Hodgson, 1897–1898) and Gladys Leonard (Smith, 1964). Whether the information received by these mediums originated from the “other side” or simply reflected their own ESP is still an unresolved issue in parapsychology, although most parapsychologists today recoil from the spiritualistic interpretation.
Since the time of atomists like Democritus, forerunner of Plato and Aristotle, two modes of scientific explanation have been used to fill the conceptual space between mind and brain, a dualism more grudgingly resistant to resolution than that of energy and matter. One method assumes a world of hidden realities, impenetrable, to be understood by conjecture and test, observations evaluated for their consistency with hypothetical constructs. The other requires an intuitive grasp of the essence, insightful awareness of the thing itself. The first approach defines a unification of mind and brain out of the possible; the second assumes it. Feelings about these orientations still run strong. In a recent book, the philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper expressed irritation with Plato for intermixing these two thought styles without acknowledging the intermixture, concluding that only the conjectural-test approach is valid; the other kind of knowing Popper dismissed as a “will-o-the-wisp” (Popper & Eccles, 1977).