What do you think?
Rate this book
Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination
With their ability to enter trances, to change into the bodies of other creatures and to fly through the northern skies, shamans are the subject of both popular and scholarly fascination. In Shamans Ronald Hutton looks at what is really known about both the Shamans of Siberia and about others spread throughout the world. He traces the growth of knowledge of shamans in Imperial and Stalinist Russia, describes local variations and different types of shamanism and explores more recent western influences on its history and modern practice. This is a challenging book by one of the world's leading authorities on Paganism.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published February 5, 2003
1 person is currently reading
354 people want to read
About the author
Ronald Hutton
52 books524 followersRonald Hutton (born 1953) is an English historian who specializes in the study of Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary Paganism. A professor of history at the University of Bristol, Hutton has published fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 2, 2012
This book came highly recommended to me, as I was looking for something that would get at the history of the word "shaman" and how it was used in Siberian Shamanism. I found it to be a well researched and well written book about precisely what is known about the shamanic experience in Siberia. Hutton certainly dug out all of the relevant sources and put them into a cogent and easily read narrative. It is well documented with extensive notes and sources.
In the last three chapters of the book, Hutton overlays what I will characterize as his perspective on famous writers in the field of contemporary shamanism, most prominently, Mircea Eliade and Michael Harner, although he certainly covers a great many more. He wishes to see what use has been made of the Siberian tradition by historians and anthropologists, and in this he is both critical and skeptical. He sees much that is speculative in the writing, and sees no real consensus. Much of his criticism seems to be aimed directly at the contemporary notions of what shamanism was and how it is put to use in contemporary society.
He does acknowledge evidence of Finnish shamanism, and proceeds to debunk much of the rest of it, including notions of druid shamanic traditions and even that of the Norse other than the Saami (Finland).
He then proceeds on to investigate what he terms "neoshamanism" or "urban shamanism", which he describes as ". . .an application to modern needs of techniques derived to some extent from traditional peoples, of the sort which scholars have dubbed shamanic." He highlights 4 components of this, starting with the connection to the writings of Michael Harner and Carlos Castaneda. My sense is that he is somehow critical of the fact that both left a strict academic environment in order to carry teachings to the "lay" population. It seems to me that he finds that the complexity of the indigenous methodology has been distilled (dumbed down?)for the contemporary western market. He next focuses on Eliade's vision of shamanism as a world-wide and ancient phenomena, an assertion which he believes is by no means proven, though he does not cite extensive sources for his perspective. He discusses two other points which he deems relevant.
At the end of the day, while the first part of the book is well-researched, I remain in the dark as to what Hutton's points and assertions are regard the contemporary applications.
In the last three chapters of the book, Hutton overlays what I will characterize as his perspective on famous writers in the field of contemporary shamanism, most prominently, Mircea Eliade and Michael Harner, although he certainly covers a great many more. He wishes to see what use has been made of the Siberian tradition by historians and anthropologists, and in this he is both critical and skeptical. He sees much that is speculative in the writing, and sees no real consensus. Much of his criticism seems to be aimed directly at the contemporary notions of what shamanism was and how it is put to use in contemporary society.
He does acknowledge evidence of Finnish shamanism, and proceeds to debunk much of the rest of it, including notions of druid shamanic traditions and even that of the Norse other than the Saami (Finland).
He then proceeds on to investigate what he terms "neoshamanism" or "urban shamanism", which he describes as ". . .an application to modern needs of techniques derived to some extent from traditional peoples, of the sort which scholars have dubbed shamanic." He highlights 4 components of this, starting with the connection to the writings of Michael Harner and Carlos Castaneda. My sense is that he is somehow critical of the fact that both left a strict academic environment in order to carry teachings to the "lay" population. It seems to me that he finds that the complexity of the indigenous methodology has been distilled (dumbed down?)for the contemporary western market. He next focuses on Eliade's vision of shamanism as a world-wide and ancient phenomena, an assertion which he believes is by no means proven, though he does not cite extensive sources for his perspective. He discusses two other points which he deems relevant.
At the end of the day, while the first part of the book is well-researched, I remain in the dark as to what Hutton's points and assertions are regard the contemporary applications.
November 10, 2009
This book is highly informative, critical and important to read if one wants to find out what we really do (and do not) know about a practice first encountered by Europeans in Siberia (and Mongolia) and termed shamanism by western scholars, the problems regarding the definition of this term, where Mircea Eliade was wrong, the influence of neoshamanism and more...
Read
October 2, 2025Isn’t it clear that for all the research Hutton just doesn’t actually understand ritual, paganism, witchcraft, druidry, shamanism at all? And isn’t this connected with why his point is always that everyone is forever seeing the history of these things through filters? Apparently he has no problem penetrating the minds of 18th century Russians.
He is so confused about what should count as shamanism because his neurotic methodological misgivings about what should count as counting are so confused.
He is so confused about what should count as shamanism because his neurotic methodological misgivings about what should count as counting are so confused.
January 16, 2024
Interesting book about Siberian Shamans, what they did and did not and how they have been destroyed by colonialism. It is also an interesting story about Siberia and its peoples, albeit a tragic one. I enjoy Hutton's writing style, he makes a quite heavy topic interesting for non-academics like myself.
February 1, 2022
Highly recommend to anyone interested in the area, with the caveat that this is very much a survey of what is known about Siberian shamanism, looking at a range of secondary sources and drawing Hutton's usual sane conclusions (or so it seems to me - it's not a field I know anything about).
Hutton is always a joy to read and this is no different. If you're not *that* interested in the sub-categorisations of Siberian tribes, you can skim a little (ahem). A few maps would have been extremely useful.
I would have liked more about Shamanism in the popular imagination (the focus of the last chapter or so) and particularly in literature, but Hutton is, primarily, a historian and the majority of the book reflects that.
(I'm pleased to say my copy has a far less troubling cover than the one depicted on Goodreads.)
Hutton is always a joy to read and this is no different. If you're not *that* interested in the sub-categorisations of Siberian tribes, you can skim a little (ahem). A few maps would have been extremely useful.
I would have liked more about Shamanism in the popular imagination (the focus of the last chapter or so) and particularly in literature, but Hutton is, primarily, a historian and the majority of the book reflects that.
(I'm pleased to say my copy has a far less troubling cover than the one depicted on Goodreads.)
December 21, 2021
The ornately footnoted Ronald yet again cuts a clear way through misconception, misattribution, conflation and plain old wishful thinking.
December 6, 2016
Although I had to read this book for class, it honestly wasn't bad. It gave a lot of insights and I liked how he gave a lot of definitions. This book was good BUT it seemed to flip flop around. My mind felt like it went through the wringer. Not to mention it got very dense as you went on.
Want to read
June 13, 2008*reminds self* authors don't choose cover work. authors don't choose cover work.
October 15, 2013
The great thing about Hutton is his books are essentially a survey of the available secondary materials on a subject, with his brief analysis of their usefulness. SO handy. Great as always.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews