What is Shamanism?

Shamanism is a deeply rooted traditional system for healing and solving personal and community problems, in which a spiritual or healing practitioner contacts spirits for wisdom and advice, usually by going into an altered state of consciousness. In this altered state of consciousness, the practitioner can see deeper truths and gain insights for understanding and healing.

The heart and soul of shamanism is the ability to invoke the power that enables the practitioner to see or step into a non-ordinary of spirits (Shamanic journeywork). This contact and communication with the spirit imparts an usual type of wisdom or healing power, one which enables a shaman to divine what it wrong with a heal someone or find the solution to a range of personal problems.

(Information copied from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Shamanism, by Gina Graham Scot, Ph.D.)