Orientation

Start Here

This atlas is built to move you from "shamanism means drums and trance" to an understanding of its cultural diversity, histories, ritual structures, ethics and controversies.

Four rules this site follows

01
Local names first. böö, udgan, mudang, jhākri, angakkuq, onanya, paqo, sangoma. "Shaman" is an outside word, and many communities reject it.
02
Comparison is labelled as comparison. Shared patterns are real and interesting. They are not evidence of one original religion.
03
Sources are read critically. Much of the classical record was written by missionaries and officials actively suppressing what they described.
04
Restricted knowledge stays restricted. Where ceremonial detail is closed, this atlas gives history, law and context instead.

The evidence grades

Every entry is tagged with the kind of claim it makes. These are categories, not a confidence ranking.

Ethnography: Based on field description of living or recorded practice
History: Documented historical record
Archaeology: Material evidence with interpretive inference
Comparative: Cross-cultural analytic category, not a local claim
Contested: Actively disputed among specialists
Modern: Contemporary movement or commercial phenomenon

A first route through the atlas

Browse traditions Open the map