The Radiation of Siberian Shamanism: How One Tradition Became Global
graph TB
SIB["Siberian Shamanism<br/>3000+ BC<br/>Evenki, Yakut, Mongol origins"]
SIB -->|Via land bridge & coastal routes| NAM["Native American Shamanism<br/>Bering Strait crossing<br/>Inuit, Tlingit, Navajo, Pueblo"]
SIB -->|Westward through steppes| FIN["Finnish-Saami Shamanism<br/>Sámi noaidi tradition<br/>Lapland practices"]
SIB -->|Norse traders & raiders| NORSE["[Norse](Norse.md) Seidr & Volva<br/>Freyja's priestesses<br/>Seidr circles"]
SIB -->|Eastward along coast| KOR["[Korean](Korean.md) Shamanism<br/>Mudang tradition<br/>Kut rituals"]
SIB -->|Further east| JPN["Japanese Shamanism<br/>Miko tradition<br/>[Shinto](Shinto.md) spirit mediums"]
SIB -->|Southeast Asian routes| SEA["Southeast Asian Shamanism<br/>Hmong, Karen, Lao traditions<br/>Rice ritual specialists"]
SIB -->|Steppes to Mongolia| TENT["Tengrism Revival<br/>Pan-Turkic identity<br/>Modern Mongolia, Kazakhstan"]
style SIB fill:#4a90e2,stroke:#000,color:#fff
style NAM fill:#7cb342,stroke:#000,color:#fff
style FIN fill:#9575cd,stroke:#000,color:#fff
style NORSE fill:#8d6e63,stroke:#000,color:#fff
style KOR fill:#ff8a65,stroke:#000,color:#fff
style JPN fill:#f06292,stroke:#000,color:#fff
style SEA fill:#29b6f6,stroke:#000,color:#fff
style TENT fill:#26a69a,stroke:#000,color:#fff
Key Argument:
The shamanic technology is fundamentally technological—it can be learned and transmitted. A Siberian shaman’s initiation ritual shows structural similarities to:
- A Korean mudang’s calling and training
- A Native American vision quest
- A Nordic volva’s apprenticeship
- A Japanese miko’s service initiation
- A Sámi noaidi’s spiritual education
The core components appear across all:
- A calling (often involuntary—seizure, illness, vision)
- A training period (3-7 years typically)
- Mastery of an ecstatic technique (drumming, dancing, plant medicine, rhythmic singing)
- Negotiation with spirits (not command—negotiation)
- Healing as primary practice
- Shamans as go-betweens for living and dead
This suggests cultural transmission through migration and contact, with Siberia as the root system.
Primary Sources & Further Study
Foundational Texts:
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Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Princeton, 1964) — The definitive comparative study. Eliade’s framework of “axis mundi,” “shamanic flight,” and “cosmological levels” remains standard.
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Uno Holmberg, The Mythology of all Races, Vol. IV: Finno-Ugric, Siberian (Archaeological Institute of America, 1927) — Pre-suppression documentation of actual practices. Holmberg interviewed shamans directly. His descriptions of the World Tree predate broader academic attention to the concept by decades.
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Vilmos Diósegi, Trancing and Shamanism in Siberia (Akadémiai Kiadó, 1968) — Focused ethnographic study of Mongol, Buryat, and Tungusic shamanism, with transcribed interviews and ritual documentation.
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Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Shamanism: An Expanded View of the Phenomenon (2012) — Modern synthesis incorporating post-Soviet research and indigenous perspectives. Balzer documents the Tengrism revival specifically.
On Tengrism Revival:
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Bayarsaikhan Dashdondog, The Mongols and the Islamic World (Oxford, 2011) — Political and religious context for modern Tengrism among Mongol peoples.
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Poul Erik Andersen, Shamanic Healing Within a Sámi Context — Comparative study showing how Siberian techniques survived in Sámi tradition through suppression periods.
Ethnographic Field Studies:
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Caroline Humphrey & Urgunge Onon, Shamans and Elders: Experience, Knowledge, and Power among the Daur Mongols (Oxford, 1996) — Living tradition documented in 1990s Mongolia.
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Åke Hultkrantz, Shamanic Healing and Ritual Drama (Crossroad, 1992) — Comparative analysis of shamanic healing across Siberian and Native American traditions.
Cross-Tradition Resonances
| Siberian Entity | Norse Parallel | Japanese Parallel | Hindu Parallel | Native American Parallel |
|---|
| Tengri | Ymir (cosmic principle) | Amaterasu realm (heaven) | Brahman (universal consciousness) | Great Spirit / Wakan Tanka |
| Erlik | Hel (underworld keeper) | Yama (lord of the dead) | Yama (god of death) | Underworld keeper spirits |
| World Tree | Yggdrasil (axis mundi) | Cosmic pillar | Brahma’s tree / Mount Meru | The central pole / lodge pole |
| Shaman’s Drum | Odin’s spear Gungnir (journey tool) | Shaman’s bell/staff | Rishi’s meditation object | Sacred rattle / pipe |
| Ongon | Household spirits (vaettir) | Kami in objects | Household devas | Spirit fetishes |
| Albys | Naiads / river spirits | River kami | Apsaras (water nymphs) | Water spirits / sirens |
| The Three Worlds | Niflheim / Midgard / Muspelheim | Three realms (takamagahara, nakatsukuni, yomitsu-kuni) | Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva realms | Lower/Middle/Upper worlds |
Quest Hooks & Narrative Scenarios
For Game Masters:
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“The Shaman’s Initiation” — A player character has been called to shamanism (via illness, vision, or possession). They must find a teacher, craft their first drum, and complete the three-realm trial.
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“Negotiation with Erlik” — A plague of deaths or soul-stealing requires the party to descend into the Lower Realm and bargain with Erlik’s servants for the souls’ return.
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“The Burning of the Drums” — Colonial/missionary forces are suppressing shamanism. The party must preserve, hide, or restore sacred drums while protecting the shamanic tradition.
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“The Alby’s Captive” — A party member or NPC has been seduced into the Alby’s underwater realm. Rescue requires social negotiation, shamanic magic, or a willing sacrifice.
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“The World Tree at War” — The three realms are in conflict. The party must climb the Tree to negotiate peace between Upper and Lower realms, preventing cosmic rupture.
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“The Tengrism Revival” — A modern-day quest to restore Tengrism as a pan-Turkic spiritual force, uniting fractured peoples through shamanic cosmology.
Siberian shamanism represents not a dead tradition but a living technology—one that has survived suppression, dispersed across continents, and persists in the 21st century as both spiritual practice and cultural identity. The shaman’s core claim is simple and radical: the invisible worlds are real, accessible, and negotiable. All it requires is the drum, the courage to die symbolically, and the discipline to return.
MYTHIC 
LEGENDARY 
RARE 
RARE 
MYTHIC