PhD ceremony: Stefan Mekiffer

Spirit ontologies in contemporary European Shamanism

This study examines spirit conceptions in contemporary shamanic practice in Europe. This practice centres on building relationships with spirits and other non-human beings, and this dissertation explores how practitioners interpret these experiences.

The introductory chapter defines shamanism through the relationship between practitioners and spirits. The book then identifies key authors, publications, and traditions in Europe and occasionally, the U.S., focusing on representative texts and their philosophical and cosmological perspectives.Special attention is given to Michael Harner, founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and his students. Later chapters explore the diversification of shamanic practice, considering practitioners who claim indigenous lineages, reconstruct pre-Christian European religious practices, or blend shamanism with herbalism, environmentalism, and psychotherapy. These chapters analyse how shamanic vocabulary adapts to various contexts.

A central finding is the stability of spirit conceptions. Most practitioners view spirits as independent beings, not psychological projections. However, views on their nature vary. Harner describes spirits dualistically, as immaterial entities in a three-layered spirit world, while others argue for a unified universe where spirit and matter are inseparable. Disagreements also concern the existence of malevolent spirits, and whether shamanic power is to be understood as conscious or inert.Finally, the study emphasises shamanism’s adaptability. Practitioners integrate shamanism with Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, quantum physics, ecology, and psychology to interpret their experiences. Numerous strands of European thought provide space for spirits and non-human persons, allowing shamanism to blend in. However, as long as practitioners identify their practice as shamanism, the core elements of their ontology often remain intact.

Dissertation