Quotes by : James David Lewis-Williams

It is the task of San shamans to activate their supernatural potency, to cause it to ‘boil’ up their....

Shamanism is not simply a component of society: on the contrary, shamanism, together with its tiered....

The portable animal statuettes were therefore far more than decorative trinkets: they were reified three-dimensional....

The principal aim of a vision quest is to ‘see’ a spirit animal that will become the quester’s....

There were at least four contexts in which San shamans acquired insights into the spiritual world: –....

To understand the ‘wounded men’ of Upper Palaeolithic art, I now consider somatic hallucinations;....

Primary consciousness is a kind of ‘remembered present’…

In southern Africa, a great many figures are ithyphallic. This feature has generally – and rather vaguely....

San religion is built around belief in a tiered universe. As do other shamanistic peoples throughout....

The ‘wounded men’ may, I argue, represent a form of shamanistic suffering, ‘death’ and initiation....