Contents

Acknowledgments

Part I

Who, Where, When, and What Is a Shaman?

CHAPTER 1: Why Shamanism and Why Now?

CHAPTER 2: Why The World of Shamanism?

CHAPTER 3: What Is a Shaman? The Challenge of Definition

CHAPTER 4: The When and Where of Shamanism: Origins and Distribution

PART II

The Big Picture

CHAPTER 5: Essential Spirituality: Central Principles and Practices of Spiritual Life

CHAPTER 6: What Is a Hero? Life’s Aims and Games

PART III

The Life of the Shaman

CHAPTER 7: Times of Trial: The Initial Call and the Initiation Crisis

CHAPTER 8: A Life of Learning: Shamanic Training and Discipline

CHAPTER 9: The Culmination of the Quest: Shamanic Enlightenment

CHAPTER 10: The Culmination of the Quest: Death and Rebirth

PART IV

Diagnosing the Shaman

CHAPTER 11: Devil, Madman, Saint, or Sage? The Eye of the Beholder

CHAPTER 12: Primitive Madmen:
Assessing Traditional Views of Shamans as Psychologically Disturbed

CHAPTER 13: Putting Shamans to the Test:
Measuring Personality and Spiritual Mastery

CHAPTER 14: Spiritual Emergency and Spiritual Emergence?
New Views of Shamans’ Health

CHAPTER 15: Shamanic Trickery: The Tricks of the Trade

PART V

The Shaman’s Universe

CHAPTER 16: Many Worlds

CHAPTER 17: Many Spirits

CHAPTER 18: Mediums: Channels for the Spirits?

CHAPTER 19: What Is a “Spirit”?

CHAPTER 20: Cosmic Traveling: The Shamanic Journey

CHAPTER 21: A World of Ecstatics: Journeys in Other Religious Traditions

CHAPTER 22: The Varieties of Journey Experiences:
Dream, Out-of-Body, Near-Death, and Abduction Experiences

CHAPTER 23: Interpreting and Researching Journeys

PART VI

Shamanic Techniques

CHAPTER 24: The Politics of Consciousness

CHAPTER 25: Transforming Consciousness:
Contemporary Understandings and Shamanic Methods

CHAPTER 26: Psychedelics and Entheogens: Revealers of the Divine Within?

CHAPTER 27: Divination and Diagnosis

CHAPTER 28: How Do They Heal?

CHAPTER 29: Healing the Healer: How Do They Heal Themselves?

CHAPTER 30: Shamans and Psi: What Is the Evidence?

PART VII

The Shaman’s Mind

CHAPTER 31: Shamanic States of Mind

CHAPTER 32: Comparing States of Mind:
Shamans, Yogis, Meditators, and Schizophrenics

CHAPTER 33: How High Do They Fly? Levels of Consciousness

CHAPTER 34: The Evolution of Consciousness

CHAPTER 35: The Shaman’s Brain: Neurotheology and Neuromythology

CHAPTER 36: Shamanism(s) in a Changing World

Endnotes

Quotations Information

Bibliography