Shamans and their observers have been doing a strange dance for centuries. Although many observers have begun to take them seriously, there still appears to be a “force field” that keeps shamans apart, as American anthropologist Edith Turner once said. It involves a conflict of beliefs about the fundamental nature of reality. Many observers, especially those trained as scientists, are philosophical materialists. They believe that everything that exists is either made up of physical matter or dependent on matter for its existence. Shamans do not. They believe in spirits. Even after five hundred years of reports on shamanism, its core remains a mystery. One thing that has changed over the last five centuries, however, is the gaze of the observers. It has opened up. And understanding is starting to flower.