This is still by far the best overall study of Shamanism. Mircea Eliade was the greatest elucidator or religion and myth of the 20th century: this is above all a scholarly study, so forget all about words like "New Age" and "workshop", forget about whatever you can buy at your local Shamanic Supplies Store.

Most striking is the uniformity of utterly unorganised shamanism wherever it appears, in Lapland and neighbouring parts of Russia, in Central Asia and Siberia, among the Innuit and Native American peoples.

No-one can choose to become a shaman. You are called to it, often through an illness. Initiation takes the form of ritual dismemberment, the old profane self dying through intense suffering, a new shining sacred self emerging.
The universe consists of tiered worlds, underworlds and overworlds, seen as rungs of a ladder or the successive branches of a tree. The shaman ascends to superior worlds riding on his drum, to find help or healing for those below.

Shamanism left its mark on the higher religions: the "tapas" or supernatural heat generated by yogis through ascetic practices is a shamanic theme. It influenced Tantra and Tibetan Buddhism; Tibet's Bön simply Is shamanism.
More intriguing are the parallels with Christian spirituality, where identical themes receive different valuations (ritual dismemberment by otherworld helpers becomes tearing apart by demons.) Shamanism has also percolated throughout folklore, customs, fairytales, traditional beliefs.

Members of archaic societies lived in worlds so utterly unlike ours. Some readers may find this book dry or hard going; but it's well worth the effort for a privileged glimpse into this ancient and now almost vanished universe.

In this work, Eliade tackles traditional Shamanism among the Altaic, Uralic, and Native American peoples. His work is detailed, discussing parallel symbolism between these traditions in cosmology, costume, ritual structure, etc.

Many people I suppose buy this book expecting it to be a How-To book relating to ecstatic states and shamanic journeys. This is not the substance of the book---it is instead a critical look at the topic from a scholarly perspective.

Eliade's works are almost always worth reading and does have a bearing on individual religious practices. This work is no exception. Whatever your path and tradition, you will find this work raises thought-provoking questions. Highly recommended.

I am reading this book as a prerequisite for a two-week shamanic healing intensive course beginning Sept 6. It's a bit thick and extraordinarily well-footnoted, and Eliade says of himself in the preface that he is a religious historian, not an anthropologist. Nevertheless, this book is an excellent resource. I removed one star simply because the index clings to archaic terms even though this particular edition isn't that old. "Invert"? as opposed to "homosexual"? You have to ferret out things a bit here, but it's still worth it. Not that it's the be-all, end-all; as I mentioned above, he's a religious historian, and all of this work is based on secondary sources. By all accounts, Eliade did no field work himself. Despite that and despite my minor grumbles about the index, he nails it.

This is a scholarly work that seeks to illuminate the role of the shaman. Since it draws from secondary accounts, it does not seek to portray the actual experience. Rather, it is concerned with defining what shamanism is, its historical significance, and its influence around the world. The precision of language used here to describe various aspects of the subject matter tend to make the book weighty and tiresome. But the payoff for the student of the history of religion is big. It is fascinating to consider how shamanism - developed in the primitive setting of hunter-gatherers - has influenced today's religions around the world.

The phenomenon of shamanism derives from an archaic world view that has a limited knowledge of the workings of the physical world, but such a knowledge is not of significance here. The shaman's journey is the journey of the soul, breaking beyond the confines of the physical world and entering by means of the cosmic tree or the cosmic mountain (symbols of the center of the world) the celestial regions or, less frequently, the lower regions. To make this transition or flight, the shaman employs techniques of ecstasy, which usually involves drumming and a trancelike state. In the Arctic, where shamanism has been most prominent and the most durable due to the extreme physical conditions, the use of ecstatic techniques have been seen to be the most effective. The purpose is to communicate with spirits in order to cure people of illness, create favorable conditions for hunting, or retrieve lost souls. One of the defining characteristics is the mastery of fire: the ability not to be affected by heat or cold.

Now the sceptic or materialist might well think, especially after hearing what seem like tall tales, that the shaman is just some whacked-out neurotic, who uses the threat of the supernatural to advantage. But consider the fact that in order to become a shaman a crisis must first be faced. Some sickness or illness such as epilepsy causes the would-be shaman considerable distress. In dealing with the crisis, the candidate undergoes an initiation process under the auspices of a master shaman, and only succeeds if he or she is able to control his condition. As a result of the ordeal, the shaman is significantly healthier and more physically fit than an average person and also has greater mental acuity. And, the very act of shamanizing is needed in order to maintain that physical and mental health.

Of particular interest is how shamanism was assimilated into emerging civilizations both East and West. The author does not broadly speculate, but compares specific characteristics. It does seem clear that shamanism has had a very strong influence on the asceticism of India and even more of an influence on the religious tradition of Tibet and on Taoism in China. In the West, shamanic influences are not as strong. The Indo-Europeans, when they migrated south through Greece and the Aegean and then spread through the Near East, came into contact with an agrarian, socialized people, who were under the spell of a priest rather than a shaman.

The book market is flooded with books on "shamanism" but this one really stands out. I can honestly say that out of the books on the topic I've read so far this one is the best. It not only discusses the shamanic practices of the Native Americans , Siberians, and Tibetans, but also analogous practices of the Indo-European peoples. "Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy" is a classic and a must read for anyone who has an interest in the subject.