The book of an outstanding scientist, professor of several European and American universities can be characterized by the words of the author from the preface: “Shamanism is one of the archaic techniques of ecstasy and at the same time mysticism, magic and religion in the broad sense of the word .. We tried to show shamanism in various historical and cultural aspects and even tried to sketch a brief history of its formation in Central and North Asia. More important, however, we attach importance to the disclosure of the phenomenon of shamanism itself, the analysis of its ideology, the discussion of its techniques, symbolism, mythology. We believe that such work can be of interest not only to a specialist, but also to a cultural person in general, to whom this book is addressed first of all.