Living Religions Reading

I am posting on last nights reading about mystical intermediaries because I really enjoyed reading it. To start with I had never heard specifically of a "shaman", and thought that being between the physical and non physical world for purposes such as healing is so interesting. Reading about the different ways of healing, brought theses ancient methods to my attention. It is most common for the world now, to just go to the doctor when we get an injury or get sick, but these shamans used so many different techniques to heal. I also thought that because the treatment is not only given to the body, but rather to the body, mind and spirit that the group healing that was often used is such a different way of healing, something that I had never heard of. Reading about shamans experiencing physical death and rebirth really made me think. I don't even know if this kind of healer is possible. I thought the story about Uvanuk, an Inuit shaman being struck by a lightning ball and after receiving great power was a great story, but hard for me to believe. I also really enjoyed reading the interview with Nadezhda Ananyevna Stepanova. Reading about when she started to get  very sick because she was not following her steps to become a shaman and then learning how to heal through different rituals and prayers helped me to understand how strongly the belief in the shaman is.