Abstract

Surveys anthropological studies to illuminate the relation between shamanism and shamanistic practices to parapsychology. A shaman is defined in the present paper as any "wonder worker" who acts as an intermediary between the world of the living and the world of supernatural beings. In all the cultures reviewed, the aspiring shaman is expected to possess and display certain prescribed psychic abilities. It is suggested that since similar traditions have evolved in different cultures, which have their parallels in the psychic effects studied by psychical researchers, these feats may not be legendary but based on genuine psychic practices.