Eurasian shamanism
Siberia, Central Asia, the Sami and Tengri: the drum, the journey and the shaman's worlds.
The Kazakh and Kyrgyz baksy: the kobyz and the legend of Korkyt
The Central Asian baksy and his horsehair bowed instrument, the kobyz: the legend of Korkyt Ata who fled death, and shamanism meeting Islam.
Buryat shamanism: the 99 tengri and Lake Baikal
Böö and udagan, the 99 western and eastern tengri, Olkhon Island and the collective tailgan rites: the shamanism of the Buryats around Baikal.
The Chukchi and Bogoras: family and «transformed» shamans
The shamanism of the Chukchi in the research of Waldemar Bogoras: the family drum, domestic rites and the shamans who changed their social gender.
Eliade and the «archaic techniques of ecstasy»: book and critics
Mircea Eliade's 1951 book: the shaman as master of ecstasy, Siberia as its model, and the criticisms raised by the anthropologists who came later.
Shamans seen from Europe: travellers, explorers and philosophes
From Archpriest Avvakum to Witsen's engraving, from Gmelin's expeditions to Catherine II's comedy: how Europe discovered and judged the shamans of Siberia.
Helper spirits and animal guides in Eurasian shamanisms
Who accompanies the shaman on the journey: helper spirits, animal guides, the Sakha animal-mother, Mongol and Buryat ongon and their bond with people.
The Khanty and Mansi bear festival: songs, masks and the sky
The Khanty and Mansi bear festival: the bear as son of the sky god, nights of songs and masks, the veiled language and the return to the sky.
The mudang and the gut: Korean shamanism past and present
Korean shamanism: the mudang and the gut ritual, hereditary shamans and those called by spirits, persecution and survival in modern South Korea.
The tundra Nenets: the tadebya, Num and sacred Vaygach Island
The religion of the Nenets, reindeer herders of the tundra: the tadebya shaman, the sky god Num, sacred sites with wooden figures and Vaygach Island.
The Nisan shaman and Manchu shamanism at the Qing court
The Manchu tale of the Nisan shaman, who descends into the realm of the dead to bring back a soul, and the court shamanism of the Qing dynasty.
Where the word «shaman» comes from: a Siberian story
The word shaman comes from a Tungusic language of Siberia, reached Europe through Russian and became a universal category, with several limitations.
The ovoo: the sacred stone cairns of Mongolia
The ovoo, sacred stone cairn of Mongolia: the sunwise circling, the blue khadag scarves, the summer festival and the encounter with Buddhism.
Sakha and Yakutia: the Aiyy gods, the oyuun and the Yhyakh
The religion of the Sakha of Yakutia: the Aiyy deities, the abaasy spirits, the oyuun and the algyschyt, and the great summer Yhyakh festival.
The Sami joik: a song that is not about someone, but is them
The joik, traditional song of the Sami: how a person or place is «joiked», its link with the noaidi, its condemnation and its modern revival.
The Sami noaidi and drum: shamanism of the Far North
Who the Sami noaidi was, how the drum worked with its figures and pointer, and why Lutheran missionaries persecuted it in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The sieidi: sacred stones and places of the Sami landscape
The Sami sieidi, stones and places in the landscape that received offerings of reindeer and fish, Ukonsaari Island and the idea of a living land.
The shamanic vocation in Siberia: calling, refusal, initiation
How one became a shaman in Siberia according to the sources: inheritance, the spirits' call, dismemberment dreams, apprenticeship and community recognition.
Shamans in the 20th century: Soviet repression and revival
How the Soviet state fought Siberian shamanism, from the anti-religious campaigns of the 1930s to clandestine survival, and on to the revival after 1991.
The Siberian shaman's costume: iron, fringes and bones
The shamanic costume in Siberia as a ritual body: iron pendants, fringes, antlered headdresses, bird and skeleton images and what they meant to wearers.
The Siberian shamanic drum: mount, cosmos and voice
Structure, materials and symbols of the shamanic drum in Siberia: the animal hide, the beater, the painted figures and the idea of the drum as a mount.
Tengri, the Eternal Sky of the steppe peoples
Tengri in the history of Turkic and Mongol peoples: from the Orkhon inscriptions to the Great Khans' seal and on to contemporary Tengrism in Central Asia.
The three worlds and the cosmic tree in Siberian shamanism
Upper, middle and lower worlds in Siberian cosmologies: the cosmic tree, the pole, the river and the hole in the sky as routes of the shaman's journey.
The toli: the bronze mirror of Mongol and Buryat shamans
The toli, bronze mirror of Mongol and Buryat shamans: Chinese origins, shield and eye on the invisible world, and a symbol of light and of the soul.
Tuva: shamans, spirits of place and throat singing
The shamanism of Tuva: the kham, the master spirits of places, the eeren, the link with khöömei throat singing and its revival since the 1990s.
Ülgen and Erlik: the sky and the abyss of the Altai kam
The kam of the Turkic peoples of the Altai between Ülgen, lord of the sky, and Erlik, ruler of the lower world: the notched birch and the ritual ascent.