The foundational work on shamanism from an influential historian of religion Shamanism is an essential account of this mysterious and fascinating phenomenon. The founder of the modern study of the history of religion, Mircea Eliade surveys the shamanic tradition through two and a half millennia of human history, moving from Siberia and Central Asia--where shamanism was first observed--to North and South America, Indonesia, Tibet, China, and beyond. This authoritative account illuminates the magico-religious life of societies that give primacy 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 is an essential study of an important practice.