European shamanism

ethnic group

In Old Norse, '''' (sometimes anglicized as seidhr, seidh, seidr, seithr, seith, or seid'') was a type of magic practiced in Norse society during the Late Scandinavian Iron Age. The practice of is believed to be a form of magic which is related to both the telling and the shaping of the future. Connected to the Old Norse religion, its origins are largely unknown, and its practice gradually declined after the Christianization of Scandinavia. Accounts of later made it into sagas and other literary sources, while further evidence of it has been unearthed by archaeologists. Various scholars have d

traditional religion of the Sami people in the Nordic countries

thumb|Sami noaidi with a meavrresgárri drum used for [[runic divination. Illustration printed from copperplates by O.H. von Lode, after drawings made by Knud Leem (1767).]] A noaidi (, , , , , , ) is a shaman of the Sami people in the Nordic countries, playing a role in Sámi religious practices. Most noaidi practices died out during the 17th century, most likely because they resisted Christianization of the Sámi people and the king's authority. Their actions were referred to in courts as "magic" or "sorcery" (cf. witchcraft). Several Sámi shamanistic beliefs and practices are similar to those

Iatromantis is a Greek word whose literal meaning is most simply rendered "physician-seer." The iatromantis, a form of Greek "shaman", is related to other semimythical figures such as Abaris, Aristeas, Epimenides, and Hermotimus. In the classical period, Aeschylus uses the word to refer to Apollo and to Asclepius, Apollo's son.