| LC control no. | sh 85121087 |
|---|---|
| Topical heading | Shamans |
| Variant(s) | Medicine-man Medicine men Shaman |
| See also | Healers Mediums |
| Found in | Britannica 15: v. 10, p. 692 (shaman: in the religious systems of Siberian and Ural-Altaic peoples and in certain analogous systems of other peoples worldwide, a person believed to have the power to heal the sick and to communicate with the world beyond ... The shaman is medicine man, priest, and psychopomp; that is to say, he cures sicknesses, directs communal sacrifices, and escorts the souls of the dead to the other world. He is able to do all this by virtue of his techniques of ecstasy.) The Penguin dict. of religions, 1984 (shaman: one whose supernormal powers as a practitioner of the sacred (e.g. as healer, seer, or conductor of souls) are attributed to contact with spirits when in an ecstatic state) Random House Web. (shaman: a person who acts as intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds, using magic to cure illness, foretell the future, control spiritual forces, etc.) |
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