[ noun ] in societies practicing shamanism: one acting as a medium between the visible and spirit worlds; practices sorcery for healing or divination <noun.person>
Shaman \Sha"man\, n. [From the native name.] A priest of Shamanism; a wizard among the Shamanists.
His double-act of Lieutenant Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police is cleverly balanced: Leaphorn is widowed and wise, Chee wants to become a shaman as well as a good cop, which offers all sorts of tensions for a novelist.
The Xiongs have been advised by a Hmong shaman, or spiritual leader, that consenting to corrective surgery would continue problems they believe stopped after Xiong promised the spirits that Kou would be left as he is.
Moses, a Nootka shaman, told about the "animal people" of years ago, repeating the opening line of the story four times in his native language.