which aspire to following a path soundly based in Norse heritage.
The word Shaman itself originates from the Tungus of Siberia, and is often equated with the titles of ‘witch doctor’ or ‘medicine man’. Whilst this serves to describe some aspects of the versatile character of the Shaman, it does not clarify all the points of the Shamans complexity. In small scale communities, the Shaman was often the only religious specialist within the community, and as such was involved in a wide range of tasks, such as blessings, curative remedies, divination, communication with the spirit world (in all its various forms), and life cycle rituals. In all of these tasks, performance plays an important role in traditional Shamanism. In public ceremonies, the performance of the Shaman, and the techniques which he/she employs are necessary to place the audience in a receptive mode of thought, which is of a similar nature to the trance that Shaman enters, though it is not thought to be as deep. These techniques include the use of percussion, chanting, ventriloquism and sleight of hand. Though some have looked upon the use of trickery (such as sleight of hand) as being evident of the fraudulent nature of the traditional Shamanism, this is not the case. The Shaman needs the belief of the audience in order for the success of the ritual/performance, and sleight of hand serves to convince the audience of the Shamans powers. This is reminiscent of the ‘placebo effect’ employed today by our own modern day healers and doctors; if a person if given what they believe to be a cure by a health professional they can show considerable signs of improvement in their condition. It is easy for a person to believe something if they are but given a sign of