Shamanism probably began as a religion of the people of Northern Asia and Europe. It involved belief in an unseen world of demons, gods, and ancestral spirits. These other-world characters, it was thought, talked only to shamans. Only shamans could serve as a link between these beings and members of the tribe or group. Therefore, the shaman had a very important and special place in the community.
Shamans are religious leaders something like priests.
Unlike priests in today's modern religions, they were thought to have supernatural powers. The word itself suggests that the shaman's unusual power came from his superior knowledge. Each early culture throughout the world had its own shamans. The shaman was thought to be the only person in the tribe able to communicate with the spirits of ancestors and with the gods and demons. Shamans attempt to cure disease, heal the sick, assure good harvests and hunting, and in other ways make the community safer and better.