Shamanism & Traditional Belief

This volume of "North Atlantic Studies" is a theme issue of conference presentations on particular religious belief and practices in the North Atlantic area and in the American and Eurasian north.

The central theme is the relationship between human society and other realms or worlds.

The papers deal with interaction through ritual, Shamanic practices, dreams, and imagery with the worlds of spirits, game animals, the dead and others removed in time or space from the human actors.

There are extensive cross-cultural resemblances between such beliefs and practices within the northern regions.

Historically such issues have been addressed in terms of climate, historical connection, evolution, structural or functional necessity, and psychological mechanisms and research in this field has taken place in different disciplinary frameworks with limited mutual contact.

In the tradition of "North Atlantic Studies", scholars from different disciplines and research communities are brought together in the presentation of common themes in and around the North Atlantic areas. In this volume the contributors are anthropologists, archaeologists, a student of folklore, a biologist and, presenting a different viewpoint, a shamanic therapist.