manvir singh
@manvir.bsky.social
anthropologist at uc davis.
contributing writer at the new yorker.
author of SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION (knopf + allen lane).
contributing writer at the new yorker.
author of SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION (knopf + allen lane).
9. Finally, here's a video I took in 2017 of Mentawai shamans (sikerei) on Siberut Island, Indonesia. This dance, lajo simagre, is said to be so beautiful that spirits and souls flock to the dance floor, at which point the shamans enter trance.
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
9. Finally, here's a video I took in 2017 of Mentawai shamans (sikerei) on Siberut Island, Indonesia. This dance, lajo simagre, is said to be so beautiful that spirits and souls flock to the dance floor, at which point the shamans enter trance.
8. Shamans in Inner Mongolia (China) use drums, dancing, and chanting to invite spirits to possess them. Healing rituals often culminate with shamans collapsing from energetic depletion.
From Ken Hermann's short film "SHAMAN" (2017)
From Ken Hermann's short film "SHAMAN" (2017)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
8. Shamans in Inner Mongolia (China) use drums, dancing, and chanting to invite spirits to possess them. Healing rituals often culminate with shamans collapsing from energetic depletion.
From Ken Hermann's short film "SHAMAN" (2017)
From Ken Hermann's short film "SHAMAN" (2017)
7. Pentecostal preacher Kenneth Hagin releases the Holy Spirit with a "Ha!" or flick of the wrist. Congregants erupt in intense, uncontrollable laughter—often understood as healing, deliverance, or spiritual renewal.
From the YT channel The Anointing
From the YT channel The Anointing
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
7. Pentecostal preacher Kenneth Hagin releases the Holy Spirit with a "Ha!" or flick of the wrist. Congregants erupt in intense, uncontrollable laughter—often understood as healing, deliverance, or spiritual renewal.
From the YT channel The Anointing
From the YT channel The Anointing
6. Zulu healers (sangoma) in eastern South Africa summon spirits, including the god Umvelinqangi, and speak to them.
From Ton Van der Lee's "The Spirits of Africa" series
From Ton Van der Lee's "The Spirits of Africa" series
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
6. Zulu healers (sangoma) in eastern South Africa summon spirits, including the god Umvelinqangi, and speak to them.
From Ton Van der Lee's "The Spirits of Africa" series
From Ton Van der Lee's "The Spirits of Africa" series
5. Tidikawa, a Bedamini shaman in Papua New Guinea, channels his spirit-daughter and divines happenings in a neighboring group. Watch how the group sings back everything he utters.
From "The Spirit World of Tidikawa," dir. by Jef and Su Doring (1972)
From "The Spirit World of Tidikawa," dir. by Jef and Su Doring (1972)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
5. Tidikawa, a Bedamini shaman in Papua New Guinea, channels his spirit-daughter and divines happenings in a neighboring group. Watch how the group sings back everything he utters.
From "The Spirit World of Tidikawa," dir. by Jef and Su Doring (1972)
From "The Spirit World of Tidikawa," dir. by Jef and Su Doring (1972)
4. Under the protection and guidance of a shaman, a group of Barasana men, in Colombia, consume ayahuasca to travel beyond the Milky Way and transform into the first people.
From "The War of the Gods" (1971, voiceover by anthropologist Stephen Hugh-Jones)
From "The War of the Gods" (1971, voiceover by anthropologist Stephen Hugh-Jones)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
4. Under the protection and guidance of a shaman, a group of Barasana men, in Colombia, consume ayahuasca to travel beyond the Milky Way and transform into the first people.
From "The War of the Gods" (1971, voiceover by anthropologist Stephen Hugh-Jones)
From "The War of the Gods" (1971, voiceover by anthropologist Stephen Hugh-Jones)
3. Katy, a Haitian Vodou priestess (mambo), leads a ceremony in which lwa (spirits) are honored & called to "mount" (possess) participants. Once possessed, a mambo can heal, reveal hidden truths, & perform blessings.
From "The Vodou Healer," dir. by Lucy Walker (2016)
From "The Vodou Healer," dir. by Lucy Walker (2016)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
3. Katy, a Haitian Vodou priestess (mambo), leads a ceremony in which lwa (spirits) are honored & called to "mount" (possess) participants. Once possessed, a mambo can heal, reveal hidden truths, & perform blessings.
From "The Vodou Healer," dir. by Lucy Walker (2016)
From "The Vodou Healer," dir. by Lucy Walker (2016)
2. A shaman in Gilgit-Baltistan (Pakistan) inhales juniper and communicates with fairies, who tell him about the future.
From the YT channel MountainInsider
From the YT channel MountainInsider
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
2. A shaman in Gilgit-Baltistan (Pakistan) inhales juniper and communicates with fairies, who tell him about the future.
From the YT channel MountainInsider
From the YT channel MountainInsider
1. Demnime, a Nganasan shaman of the Russian Far North, drums in a ceremony to journey to another world. This was filmed in 1977 but wasn't released in full until two decades later.
From "The Shaman" by Lennart Meri (1997)
From "The Shaman" by Lennart Meri (1997)
May 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
1. Demnime, a Nganasan shaman of the Russian Far North, drums in a ceremony to journey to another world. This was filmed in 1977 but wasn't released in full until two decades later.
From "The Shaman" by Lennart Meri (1997)
From "The Shaman" by Lennart Meri (1997)
Watch this clip from “Magical Death”: Yanomamö shamans inhale a psychedelic snuff to destroy the souls of enemy children. Widespread narratives often whitewash Indigenous use, ignoring contexts like this to depict psychedelics as singularly positive & therapeutic.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Watch this clip from “Magical Death”: Yanomamö shamans inhale a psychedelic snuff to destroy the souls of enemy children. Widespread narratives often whitewash Indigenous use, ignoring contexts like this to depict psychedelics as singularly positive & therapeutic.