Shamanism is a term that originally pertains to spiritual practices by indigenous people of far northern Europe and Siberia, founded in the belief that humans inhabit a multi-world, multi-dimensional universe that is made up of physical beings and spiritual beings as well. This term now applies to all traditions worldwide that share common beliefs in spirits and the ability to contact, journey with and interact with them, through different spiritual practices or ceremonies. In all shamanic cultures there is the appearance of the shaman, who is the spiritual leader or person with the specific capacities or abilities necessary to contact and interact with the spirits.

The Peruvian Amazon is a perfect example of the expansion of the use of the term shamanism. The native traditions in the Amazon now are considered to be practices under the umbrella term shamanism, while in the past they were known solely by their local names. In the last few hundred years there has been an expansion in the shamanistic practices in include not only indigenous shamans, but Mestizo (a person of mixed racial ancestry especially mixed European and Native American ancestry) shamans and now Foreign Shamans (westerners whom have left their home countries to live in the Amazon to learn the traditional practices.)

Since the umbrella term shamanism now applies to so many varied and different cultures it has lost a lot of its specific meaning. Locally the cultures while recognizing themselves and being shamanic typically differentiate between themselves with terms that specify the nature and focus of their practices or the types of plants or tools they use. In the Amazon the use of medicinal plants is common so many of the differentiation between shamans lie in the types of plants they specialize in. For instance three common types of shamans are the Ayahuasquero (shaman that specializes in Ayahuasca), the Palero (shaman who specializes in the use of medicinal trees), or the Sananguero (shaman that specializes in the sanango trees.)
Due to the nature that traditional shamanism is based in the exploration of other worlds, dimensions and spirits, it is fundamentally based in dualistic philosophies where there exists a subject/object relationship between the practitioner and the world at large. This inherent dualism is rarely if ever transcended and typically maintained at all time as the shaman is in communication with the spirit world and individual spirits.

The Shaman is the head of the tradition, practices, spirits, and ceremonies. The shaman, due to the dualistic nature of the main philosophies, is imbedded in a dualistic world where the psychological division between light and dark, good and bad, and right and wrong are maintained. This opens the shamans to falling on either side of those divisions resulting in a dualistic sub grouping of shamans into healers and witchdoctors or good ones and bad ones. This differentiation is exemplified in the western culture with movies characters like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Luke is the good master and Darth and bad one.

Shamanism is growing changing and evolving. Each new practitioner is the next generation and the direction that shamanism is moving. Shamanism is growing strength and popularity in western cultures and as it continues to grow people will continue to seek it as a viable spiritual expression.