Studies in Shamanism: Based on Papers Read at the Symposium on Shamanism Held at Åbo on the 6th-8th of September, 1962

On the initiative of Dr. K. Rob. V. Wikman, Professor Emeritus at the Finland-Swedish University of Åbo, (Åbo Akademi), the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History organized in Åbo from the 6th to the 8th of September, 1962, a symposium on shamanism. The Institute is described below in an introductory article by its former head, Dr. H. Ringgren, now Professor in Old Testament Exegetics at the University of Uppsala. Some forty specially invited scholars and students from the four Nordic countries as well as Dr. H. Diószegi took part in the symposium. The local arrangements were cared for by Dr. H. Tegengren, Professor of Nordic Culture History and Folklore Research in Åbo. Preface 7 HELMER RINGGREN / The Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History 11 GUSTAV RÄNK / Shamanism as a Research Subject. Some Methodological Viewpoints 15 ERIK HOLTVED / Eskimo Shamanism 23 ÅKE HULTKRANTZ / Spirit Lodge, a North American Shamanistic Séance 32 HALFDAN SIIGER / Shamanistic Ecstasy and Supernatural Beings. A Study Based on Field-Work among the Kalash Kafirs of Chitral 69 TONI SCHMID / Shamanistic Practice in Northern Nepal 82 ARVID S. KAPELRUD / Shamanistic Features in the Old Testament 90 JENÖ FAZEKAS / Hungarian Shamanism, Material and History of Research 97 CARL-MARTIN EDSMAN / A Swedish Female Folk Healer from the Beginning of the 18th Century 120 ODD NORDLAND / Shamanism as an Experiencing of "the Unreal" 166