The Origins of Shamanism, Spirit Beliefs, and Religiosity

H. Sidky

doi:10.5771/9781498551908

Summary

In The Origins of Shamanism, Spirit Beliefs, and Religiosity, H. Sidky examines shamanism as an ancient magico-religious, divinatory, medical, and psychotherapeutic tradition found in various parts of the world. Sidky uses first-hand ethnographic fieldwork and scientific theoretical work in archaeology, cognitive and evolutionary psychology, and neurotheology to explore the origins of shamanism, spirit beliefs, the evolution of human consciousness, and the origins of ritual behavior and religiosity.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2017
ISBN-Print: 978-1-4985-5189-2
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4985-5190-8
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 252
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Introduction No access
3. Acknowledgments No access
1. Changing Views No access
2. Different Understandings No access
3. The Problems of Definition, the Scope of Shamanism, and Divergent Theoretical Trajectories No access
4. Use of Ethnographic Data No access
5. Why a Cognitive Approach? No access
6. Shamans as Spirit Masters and Cosmic Travelers: Toward a Definition No access
7. Encounter with Shamans or “Specialists in Spirits and Ghosts” No access
8. Ontological Questions and the Ethnography of Shamanism No access
1. Alterations of Consciousness No access
2. Monophasic and Polyphasic Cultures and Altered States of Consciousness No access
3. Types of Shamanic States of Consciousness: An Ethnographic Perspective No access
4. Shamanic Induction and Use of ASC No access
5. The Study of Shamanic States of Consciousness and Its Critics No access
6. Changing Views of Altered States of Consciousness No access
7. Note No access
1. Entheogens in Polyphasic and Monophasic Cultural Settings No access
2. Entheogens and Shamanism No access
3. Changing Perceptions of Entheogens and their Spiritual Significance No access
4. Entheogens and Religion No access
1. Scenario 1: The Revolutionary Emergence of Modern Behavior and Shamanism during the Upper Paleolithic No access
2. Scenario 2: The Gradual Emergence of Modern Behavior and Shamanism in Africa during the Midle Stone Age No access
3. Altered States of Consciousness, Shamanism, and Religiosity during the Upper Paleolithic No access
1. Upper Paleolithic Shamanic Images No access
2. Assessing the Evidence for the Paleo-Shamanic Hypothesis No access
1. Theory of Mind and the Origins of Spirit Beliefs No access
2. Agency Detection and the Rise of Religions Ideas No access
1. The Evolution of the Modern Human Mind and Enhanced Working Memory No access
Chapter 8 No access Pages 117 - 134
1. The Shamanic Cosmos No access
2. The Cosmological Elements of the Shaman’s Costume and Ritual Paraphernalia No access
1. Shamanic Trajectories No access
2. Trajectory 1: Becoming a Shaman through Deliberate Learning No access
3. Trajectory 2: Becoming a Shaman through Paranormal Attack No access
4. Step 1: Mastering Shamanic Knowledge No access
5. Step 2: Controlling the Shamanic Trance No access
6. Trajectory 3: Becoming a Shaman through Spirit Abduction No access
1. The Basis of Shamanic Healing No access
2. The Nature of Shamanic Healing No access
Chapter 12 No access Pages 193 - 204
Conclusion No access Pages 205 - 210
Bibliography No access Pages 211 - 236
Index No access Pages 237 - 250
About the Author No access Pages 251 - 252