The purpose of this article is to help demystify the beliefs and practices around what is commonly known as shamanism. The aim here is to rely upon practical examples as well as understandable metaphors to breakdown and expand upon core principles, in hopes to bring clarity to what has been and remains a very mysterious and elusively defined expression of human behavior. We’ll start with a brief overview of how shamanism came to be such a widely used term and what this term typically refers to. From there we will attempt to construct a working definition, considering key principles inherent in that definition in greater detail. This bridges to an exploration of a local tradition, one that is currently gaining cultural momentum among Westerners; and finally, some closing remarks in respect to the material we will have covered.