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Mircea Eliade

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Bollingen Series, 24) Paperback – February 8, 2004

by Mircea Eliade (Author), Willard R. Trask (Author), Wendy Doniger (Author)

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First published in 1951, Shamanism soon became the standard work in the study of this mysterious and fascinating phenomenon. Writing as the founder of the modern study of the history of religion, Romanian émigré--scholar Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) surveys the practice of Shamanism over two and a half millennia of human history, moving from the Shamanic traditions of Siberia and Central Asia--where Shamanism was first observed--to North and South America, Indonesia, Tibet, China, and beyond. In this authoritative survey, Eliade illuminates the magico-religious life of societies that give primacy of place to the figure of the Shaman--at once magician and medicine man, healer and miracle-doer, priest, mystic, and poet. Synthesizing the approaches of psychology, sociology, and ethnology, Shamanism will remain for years to come the reference book of choice for those intrigued by this practice.

Print length

648 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Princeton University Press
Publication date

February 8, 2004
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.3 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0691119422
ISBN-13

978-0691119427
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Eliade writes of the shamans with that masterly combination of sympathy and detachment. . . . . [His] findings will almost certainly be echoed by great voices of the future." ― New York Times Book Review

"Eliade is the most informative guide to the modern mythologies."---Frank Kermode, New Statesman

"[A] close and detailed yet comparative study of shamanism. . . . [It] has become the standard work on the subject and justifies its claim to be the first book to study the phenomenon over a wide field and in a properly religious context." ― Times Literary Supplement

"Clearly the best work on Shamanism published so far." ― The Review of Religion

About the Author

Born in Bucharest in 1907, Mircea Eliade was for many years Sewell L. Avery Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago. He is author of, among other books, Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism, Myth of the Eternal Return, and Yoga: Immortality and Freedom (all Princeton). Wendy Doniger is Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago. Her books include The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade, The Implied Spider, and Splitting the Difference: Gender and Myth in Ancient Greece and India. Her translations of such texts as The Rig Veda, The Law of Manu, and the Kamasutra have garnered wide praise.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press; Later Reprint edition (February 8, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 648 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691119422
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691119427
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.56 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.3 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #125,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #203 in General History of Religion
- #240 in History of Religions
- #241 in Comparative Religion (Books)

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Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		17%
3 star		5%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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sally

An excellent resource book

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2019

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Ultimate encyclopedic reference book on shamanism around the world. As others have noted, it is not a primary source, but a secondary source that organizes and assesses all the primary source studies available, which allows the author to write about the cross-cultural similarities especially among cultures that have never encountered each other. Some knowledge of the time period during which the author was writing must be taken into account to explain any colonialist/etc. undertones, but the author clearly has a respect for the various magical and spiritual traditions and this shows.

10 people found this helpful

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Mitchell A. Sanders

Academic historical literature not particularly insightful or interesting

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2020

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Probably not what you’re hoping this to be. Written in 1951 by the master scholar of religious historical ideas Eliane, this book focuses on mostly Eurasia and particularly Siberia where the term Shaman derives from. Contains nothing on Western Hemisphere native history nor barely mentions use of entheogen medicine like what Gordon Wasson discovers later in 1955 from the Mazatec curandera (medicine woman) Maria Sabina.

I’ve read and own several of Eliades books including History of Religious Ideas volumes as introduced to me by Dr. Jordan Peterson. They are very historically oriented and not easy to read.

My interest in Shamanic practices relates more to the purposes, processes, and results related to the ceremonies themselves more from a first hand instead of an academic perspective. This book did not match that interest.

19 people found this helpful

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sbjalr0812

Best Study of Shamanism Ever

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2014

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If you are at all serious about the subject or practice you have to read this book, it's all in here, it's an account that is totally un-newageified if that makes any sense, you can make up your own mind some of it's touching some of it's light and soul saving and some of it's just the makings of down and dirty ritual at it's most transparent that you will find in any book.

13 people found this helpful

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R MackTop Contributor: Pets

Give it a try

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2017

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This was one of my first reads on Shamanism. Really enjoyed. If you haven't read Eliade before he can be a bit of an intimidating read. However, this book is enjoyable and worth the effort

4 people found this helpful

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happygirlk28

Great place to find real facts on shamanism

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2015

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This is a great book. It really gets into history, lore, and ancient knowledge on shamanism. For anybody who is curious about real facts on shamanism, this is a wonderful place to start.

4 people found this helpful

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Pamela Erickson

A classic work on shamanism

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2013

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this is a classic. Anyone interested in shamanism should take a look at this wide-ranging anthropological work - he is the expert.

One person found this helpful

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david wilcox

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2017

excellent book

Quite A Good Academic Material

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2007

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Shamanism of Mircea Eliade was quite a good academic material that enlightened everyone who wished to understand about this subject. Full of explanations about why archaic peoples did shamanizing.

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Born free

Scholarly work

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2010

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I don't normally write reviews for books but felt the one review giving one star for this book to be so unjust that it deserved a more balanced addition.

This book is a scholarly meticulously researched study of the various practises of shamanism throughout the world. It does not provide you with a description of the techniques of how to be a shaman, nor how to have an ecstatic journey, nor how to have an out of body experience, which is presumably what the one star reviewer was looking for. Instead it provides a detailed description of shamanism as it was and is practised.

There are over 50 pages of reference works on which Eliade drew in order to provide this summary, which groups his findings by region as well as by certain common practises - parallel myths symbols and rites.

There are descriptions of the 'rebirth' experiences of shamans [the genuine near death experiences, not the common interpreation now used of born again]; the practises of healing, the travels of the shaman in out of body experiences, their roles as psychopomp and their practise of healing via 'soul retrieval'. He also describes 'soul loss' and what it means to each group.

The amount of carefully researched detail that is provided is astonishing, it is almost a life's work but carefully organised into this relatively compact volume. It draws on the work of anthropologists and the better and more serious researchers of religions, as such it is also reliable in its findings.

Personally I found this book to be a treasure house of information - but then I bought the book knowing what it contained and what I was going to use it for.

To summarise - an invaluable scholarly work on shamanic practises throughout the world over the ages .

69 people found this helpful

D45

Thorough, well-written text on Shamanism. Still the classic.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2012

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This is a substantial work on Shamanism, most particularly in Central Asia and including specific nuances in tribes and variations of, also extending to other regions.

Eliade's text remains the classic. Although written some years ago now, it is very thorough and well-referenced, gathering together much ethnographic material.

My only issue with it is Eliade's bias / judgment of the use of entheogens which Eliade regards as a less "pure" form of Shamanism amongst ancient tribes, than the use of pure sensory deprivation, sweat houses and drumming and dancing as a means of achieving the ecstatic state. To this end, Vitebsky's text is a useful balance.

Highly recommended for any scholar researching shamanism.

9 people found this helpful

BadgerJelly

Great Piece of Work

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 21, 2012

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This is probably the most comprehensive amalgamation of shamanism there is. This is a vast and broad subject that has been tackled very well and is a great piece of scholarship.

Anyone who has even a passing interest in what shamanism is all about should really read this piece of work. Needless to say there are many books out there that possess the the concept of shamanism in the title but they generally tend to err towards a ideological meaning and skirt around the real content of what shamanism is essentially about.

A great piece of work for people interested in society, psychology, religions origins and anthropology. The only area it seems to be lacking in is a neurological view of shamanism (which is understandable given the date of the book).

7 people found this helpful

Elsa

Ancient Lore

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2013

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This is in fact a great book. It teachs us what is a shaman , what's his roll within his tribe. We learn here what were their 'practices' in Europe, Asia, America and Australia. Africa is not mentioned, because (in my opinion), there was a clash , a mixure of cultures, myths and 'sorceries', that made african shamans lose its true meaning. The writer is very precise and logic, I loved it.

3 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

Serious academic book

One person found this helpful

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Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Bollingen Series, 24) Paperback – February 8, 2004

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