Question by Shweppes: What’s the difference between Amazonian Shamanism and Siberian Shamanism?
Can you recommend any good books about this subject? And why were they interesting to you? Thank you!
Best answer:
Answer by Kuve
Shamanism* is basically the belief that spirits outside the human norm exist and effect the natural order combined with the belief that it is possible to interact with these spirits for the benefit of a community or society. Such beliefs are common world wide, so the differences between any two are largely Geographical, in your example Siberia as opposed to the Amazon, and a result of the differences in the respective parent Cultures. There is a large societal difference between indigenous peoples in the Amazon and Siberia, just as there is between those of Korea and West Africa or Canada, what you need to do is study the cultures, and then the differences in their religious beliefs will make more sense.
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Ronald Hutton wrote a book on this subject, titled Shamanism, check it out.