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Shamanism, in which a specialist enters altered states of consciousness to interact with a spirit world on behalf of the community, carries a live tie into seven religions, tied with Prayer for the strongest convergence candidate still open in this atlas. Unlike several of the atlas's other convergences, none of the seven shares a documented line of descent with any other.

Seven Regions, No Shared Root

Bon is the indigenous religion of Tibet, tracing itself to the sage Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche and the ancient kingdom of Zhangzhung. Chinese Folk Religion is the ordinary, non-exclusive practice of Chinese communities, overlapping Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism rather than standing beside them. Korean Muism centers on the mudang, a shaman who mediates between the human world and a population of gods, spirits and ancestors. Sami Religion is the traditional religion of the Sami people of northern Fennoscandia. Shinto is Japan's ritual tradition of the kami, powers present in mountains, rivers, storms and ancestors. Siberian Shamanism is the family of traditions of the Tungusic, Buryat, Yakut and other Siberian peoples. Tengrism is the traditional religion of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples of the Central Asian steppe. Tibet, China, Korea, northern Scandinavia, Japan, Siberia, Central Asia: seven regions with no shared root connecting any two, each reaching the same underlying practice on its own.

The Word Itself Comes From One of the Seven

Siberian Shamanism holds one distinction the other six do not: the word shaman itself derives from saman, the Evenki term for the specialist at the center of Tungusic practice. The discipline that names all seven traditions here is, by its own etymology, just one of the seven. The specialist recurs under a different name and method in each: the mudang of Korean Muism enters trance through the gut, an elaborate ceremony of music, dance and possession; the noaidi of Sami Religion used a painted frame drum and joik song to send out a helping spirit and travel to the realms of the gods and the dead; the Siberian shaman enters trance through drumming and ecstatic flight to negotiate with spirit masters of animals and place. Different instruments, different songs, the same underlying role, arrived at seven times over with no contact between the traditions that built it.

Where To Read More

• ShamanismMagical DisciplinesThe discipline itself, tied for the strongest open convergence candidate, seven religions with no shared root
• BonPolytheistic (Animist)The indigenous religion of Tibet, one of the seven with no shared root to the others
• Chinese Folk ReligionPolytheistic (Folk)The ordinary religious practice of Chinese communities, one of the seven
• Korean MuismPolytheistic (Animist)Centers on the mudang, who enters trance through the gut ceremony
• Sámi ReligionPolytheistic (Animist)Its noaidi used a frame drum and joik song to travel to the realms of the gods and the dead
• ShintoPolytheistic (Animist)Japan's ritual tradition of the kami, one of the seven
• Siberian ShamanismPolytheistic (Animist)The one of the seven the word shaman itself is derived from, via the Evenki term saman
• TengrismPolytheistic (Animist)The traditional religion of the Turkic and Mongolic steppe peoples, one of the seven