If you have started reading about shamanism, you will meet two words again and again: core shamanism and traditional shamanism. Core shamanism is the stripped-down, cross-cultural method that anthropologist Michael Harner distilled from techniques shared by cultures worldwide — practices anyone can learn, free of any single tradition. Traditional shamanism is the culture-bound, lineage-based practice of a specific people, carried through initiation, language, land, and generations of teachers. One is a doorway that opens for almost anyone; the other is a whole house you are born or invited into. Understanding both — and how they relate — helps you find an honest place to begin.
What is the difference between core and traditional shamanism?
The core difference is this: traditional shamanism belongs to a particular culture, while core shamanism is a universal method drawn from what those cultures have in common. In the 1980s, Michael Harner — who trained with Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and the American West — noticed that shamans on different continents, who had never met, used strikingly similar techniques: rhythmic drumming, a journey to other worlds, working with helping spirits and power animals. He gathered the shared skeleton of these practices, set aside the specific gods, songs, and rituals of any one people, and taught the method openly. That method is core shamanism. Traditional shamanism, by contrast, cannot be separated from its culture — the spirits, the songs, the plants, and the cosmology all belong together.
| Aspect | Core Shamanism | Traditional Shamanism |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Distilled by Michael Harner in the 1980s | Thousands of years within a specific culture |
| Cultural ties | Deliberately culture-neutral | Inseparable from land, language, lineage |
| How it is learned | Workshops, courses, books — open to all | Initiation, apprenticeship, being called or chosen |
| Spirits & cosmology | Universal framework (Lower, Middle, Upper worlds) | Specific deities, ancestors, and spirit beings |
| Role in community | Often personal practice or healing work | Held responsibility within a village or people |
| Accessibility | High — designed to be portable | Limited — belongs to those inside the tradition |
What is core shamanism, exactly?
Core shamanism is a system of near-universal shamanic methods, taught without the trappings of any single culture, so that people of any background can practise safely and respectfully. At its heart is the shamanic journey: you lie down, a drum beats at roughly four to seven beats per second, and your awareness travels to meet helping spirits in non-ordinary reality. From there you can retrieve a power animal, ask for guidance, or bring back healing. Because Harner deliberately left out culturally specific content, core shamanism sidesteps the problem of borrowing sacred material that was never offered. It is the reason a beginner in Berlin or Lisbon can learn to journey without pretending to be a member of a culture they were not raised in. If you want to understand whether this path is open to you, our honest guide to whether anyone can learn shamanism is a good next step.
What is traditional shamanism?
Traditional shamanism is the living practice of a specific people, in which a shaman is initiated, trained, and held accountable by their community and their spirits. Think of the Sami of northern Europe, the many peoples of Siberia and Mongolia, or the Shipibo of the Amazon. Here, becoming a shaman is rarely a personal choice. A person may be called through illness, a near-death experience, dreams, or by inheriting the role. Their training can take years or decades under an elder, and their work is woven into the survival, healing, and spiritual life of the whole community. The word “shaman” itself comes from the Evenki people of Siberia. In these traditions, the songs, the plant allies, the offerings, and the map of the spirit world are not interchangeable — they are the tradition.
Is core shamanism cultural appropriation?
Core shamanism was actually designed to reduce cultural appropriation, not cause it — but how you practise still matters. By teaching only the shared, universal techniques and leaving out the sacred songs, ceremonies, and names that belong to specific peoples, core shamanism lets you practise without taking what was never given to you. That said, respect is a practice, not a certificate. Appropriation creeps back in when people play dress-up with feathers and titles, sell “Native” ceremonies they were never taught, or claim an authority they have not earned. The grounded approach is simple: learn the method, honour where it came from, name your teachers, and stay humble about what you do not know. Scholars like Mircea Eliade, whose classic Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy mapped these practices across cultures, remind us how ancient and widespread this human birthright really is — and how much care it deserves.
Which one should you learn first?
For almost everyone beginning today, core shamanism is the right and respectful starting point. It gives you real, working tools — journeying, meeting your power animal, simple healing — without asking you to belong to a culture that is not yours. Many people find that core practice quietly deepens over the years into a personal spirituality all their own. Some, drawn by love and long relationship, are later welcomed into a specific tradition by its keepers — but that is an invitation to receive, never a course to buy. If you are ready to learn the foundations properly, our Elements of Shamanism training teaches core practice step by step, live or at your own pace. You may also want to compare formats in our overview of whether online shamanic training actually works.
My own experience with both
When I first sat in a drum circle, I was afraid I was doing something that did not belong to me. I had read enough to know the history — how much has been taken from Indigenous peoples — and I did not want to add to it. What core shamanism gave me was a way in that felt clean: I could learn to journey, meet my power animal, and do real healing work without wearing someone else’s culture like a costume. Over the years, teachers from specific lineages have shared pieces of their world with me when trust had grown — always as a gift, never something I reached out and grabbed. That is the distinction I hold: the method is open to all of us; the tradition is somebody’s home. You can walk gratefully through the open door without rearranging the furniture in a house that isn’t yours.
Frequently asked questions
Core shamanism was developed by the anthropologist Michael Harner in the 1980s. After decades of fieldwork and training with Indigenous peoples, he distilled the techniques that shamanic cultures worldwide share into a method that could be taught openly, and founded the Foundation for Shamanic Studies to preserve and teach it.
It is real in the sense that the techniques genuinely work and are drawn from authentic traditions — but it is a modern method rather than a specific culture’s living practice. Think of it as the shared grammar of shamanism rather than any one people’s language. It is honest about what it is.
Yes. Because core shamanism is culture-neutral, many people weave it into their existing spirituality, therapy, or coaching. The key is to keep the method and your own beliefs clearly your own, and not to graft on sacred material from traditions you have not been invited into.
No. Being called or chosen is a feature of many traditional lineages, where the role is a serious community responsibility. Core shamanism is deliberately open to anyone willing to learn respectfully and practise with care.
No. Shamanic work — whether core or traditional — is a complementary spiritual practice. It can sit alongside therapy and medical treatment, but it does not replace them. If you are facing a health or mental-health concern, please keep working with qualified professionals.
About the author: Carolin Mallmann is a shamanic practitioner and teacher at One Shamanism, where she guides people gently into journeying, spirit-animal work, and shamanic healing — with deep respect for the traditions these practices come from. She offers online shamanic training and healing sessions worldwide.
Note: Shamanic practice is a complementary spiritual path and does not replace therapy or medical care.
