Born in Copenhagen, Merete Demant Jakobsen taught in Denmark, Britain, and Alaska. Having worked on shamanism in ethnography and literature for her Danish degrees, she completed her doctorate at the University of Oxford in anthropology. She was researching negative spiritual experiences at the Religious Experience Research Centre, Westminster College, Oxford.

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1. Shamanism: Definition and Description

• Introduction
• The Origin of the Term
• Definitions of Shamanism
• Definitions of Shamanism by Two Organisers of Shamanic Courses
• Trance/Ecstasy

Chapter 2. Early Encounters Between Explorers, Missionaries and Shamans

• The Work of Poul and Niels Egede in Greenland

Chapter 3. The Greenlandic Angakkoq

• Apprenticeship and Initiation
• The Pantheon
• Paraphernalia
• The Séance
• Travels
• Healing
• The Concept of the 'Witch'
• Burial Customs
• Myths and Legends
• Angakkut in Oral Tradition on the East Coast

Chapter 4. Neo-shamanism and the New Age

• Old Traditions Moulded to the Needs of Westerners in Search of Spirituality
• Courses in Neo-shamanism
• A Description of the People Participating in Courses
• The Basic Course in Shamanism
• The Paraphernalia
• Introduction to the Concept of Shamanism
• The Instruction in Journeying
• Power-Song and Journeying
• Healing
• Advanced Courses in Shamanism
• Approaches to the Role of Shamanism in Modern Society
• Manuals on Neo-shamanism

Chapter 5. The Revival of Shamanism in Other Cultures

Conclusion

Afterword: The Way of the Teacher

Appendix: Advanced Courses in Shamanism

• Nordic Shamanism and The Spirits of Nature
• Shamanic Healing and Spiritual Ecology
• Soul Retrieval Training
• The Soul Retrieval

Bibliography

Subject Index

Name Index