Introductions - Shamanism and the issue of religion - A history of shamanic encounters - Shamanism in archaeological evidence - Shamanic soteriology and ritual - Cosmology and the work of the shaman - The call and initiation - Mediating the spirit world : shamanic roles and careers - Examining ritual effectiveness - Seance, trance, and the shamanic mind - Shamans, clients, and healing - The shamanic arsenal - Music and entheogens : pathways to ecstasy - The material culture of shamanism - Shamanic verbal art - Shamanic politics in a changing world - Shamanism under attack - Shamanic revitalizations - Neoshamanism.