SCHAMANENGESCHICHTEN AUS TUWA; the classical book on Tuvan shamanism, is now published in German language.

The word "shaman" in the original Tungus language refers to a person who makes journeys to nonordinary reality in an altered state of consciousness. Adopting the term in the West was useful because people didn't know what it meant.

What is Shamanism?
Terms like "wizard," "witch," "sorcerer," and "witch doctor" have their own connotations, ambiguities, and preconceptions associated with them. Although the term is from Siberia, the practice of shamanism existed on all inhabited continents.

After years of extensive research, Mircea Eliade, in his book, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy , concluded that shamanism underlays all the other spiritual traditions on the planet, and that the most distinctive feature of shamanism — but by no means the only one — was the journey to other worlds in an altered state of consciousness.