The nature of shamanism : substance and function of a religious metaphor / Michael Ripinsky-Naxon.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-272) and index.

Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: A Personal Dialectic Shamanism and Culture: Configurations of a Religious Metaphor Cultural Ethos and Mysticism Hunting Magic Master of the Animals - The Lady of Wild Things The Spiral and the Labyrinth Shamanism and Ancient Egyptian Religion Shamanistic Metaphors, Techniques, and Appurtenances42 Mongolian Shamanism The Celtic Religion The Role of the Shaman Substance and Function of Shamanism Definitions and Problems "Answering the Call," Initiation, and Shamanic Enlightenment The Shamanistic Experience Shamanism and Psychopathology The Psychotropic Universe: Cosmology of the Spirit World Cosmic Transformations Corresponding Realities and Otherworlds Numerical Potencies Rock Crystals and the Hexagonal Universe Reason and Order The Ritual Drug Complex: Ethnobiology of Heaven and Hell The Drug Ceremonial Psychoactivity and Mechanisms of Hallucinations Phosphenes The Botanic Experience: Hallucinogens in Archaeology and Ethnohistory The Old World The New World The Quest for Magical Plants and the Origins of Cultivation The Power of Metaphors: Phenomenology of Symbolic Forms Language,Perception, and Reality Metaphor, Myth, and Transcendence Visionary Experiences and Art Phosphenes and Shamanistic Symbolism Shamanistic Parallels and Survivals Notes Bibliography Index