First published in 1951, Shamanism soon became the standard work in the study of Shamanism and has continued to be so for over fifty years.

Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) was a unique figure who began what we now understand as the academic study of the history of religion through thirty years as the director of History of Religions department at the University of Chicago and the author of numerous texts.

Eliade’s analysis of religion is based on the existence of “the sacred” as the object of worship within the religious communities of the world. (He uses the term religious in the widest possible context).

This “sacredness” is perceived as having power, significance, and value. We experience this “sacredness” through symbols, myth and ritual. These means give access to the sacred and this access goes beyond the frame of reference in which it originates; Eliade sees this as going beyond historical time and defines it as illud tempus (Latin for ‘that time’).

This conceptualisation of the sacred and non historical sacred time is central to his understanding of the religious impulse. Whether this sacredness has an “objective” existence or primarily operates within a psycho-mythic realm is insignificant insomuch that its power is in what it does and its function, rather than in its innate nature.

In this momentous work Eliade surveys the practice of Shamanism over the thousands of years of human history, moving from the earliest Shamanic traditions of Siberia and Central Asia to North and South America, China, Indonesia, Tibet, and beyond.

Eliade emphasises the centrality of the role of the Shaman within these cultures and shows how this figure was Magician, Priest and Healer, and worked both as an intermediary between the sacred and human, as well as sustaining the coherence of the culture of which he or she was central.

Eliade also explores the Shamanic traditions of the ancient Indo-Europeans and gives considerable coverage to the Shamanic elements of Greek myth, Persian views of the afterlife, and the inherent Shamanism in the myths of the Nordic God Odin.

The depth of this volume is truly impressive, covering historical, mythic and symbolic aspects of Shamanism with reference to everything from the Axis Mundi and the role of the Shaman within a culture, to such minute considerations as clothing and ornamentation, ritual tools, food, charms and amulets.

This is a complex and demanding work that shows Shamanism in its cultural, historical and religious context. It is a stark contrast to modern New Age works on the subject which tend to reduce the grand vision of the ancients to simple techniques for making modern life less stressful, beating a drum in a weekend workshop, or seeking a power animal in the comfort of one's home.

The original power of the Shamanic worldview was in its cultural context, its complete all encompassing view of all life and experience. Reducing it to a salve for the modern soul is meaningless, if not destructive, and the importance of this work is the way in which it offers a complete vision (as much as possible) of Shamanism in its original and most pure form.

– Reviewed by Robert Burns in New Dawn No. 90