Shamanism v. Religion?

[SUNDANCE]

I'm curious where people draw the line between an occult practice being "shamanism" and "religion", since one is often an aspect of the other? Asking specifically because I was going to make a post about Mongolian "white", "black", and "yellow" shamanism but those things are all still very deeply connected to the "Mongolian Folk Religion" as well as aspects of Tibetan Buddhism, animism, and other religious concepts. My instinct is that it would lean towards shamanism for discussion of specific ritual practices, magical items, interactions with spirits (which could, theoretically, be separated into LHP/RHP as well) and religion for the overarching beliefs, history, etc?

 

[motzfeldt]

Religion is formalised. It has rites, hierarchies, texts, dogma, communities, etc. Shamanism is more "anarchist" in nature - there's not much in the way of standardised practice, and is rooted more in the practitioner, their experiences, psychoactives and oral tradition.

 

[Morell]

I usually put religion and spirituality in this opposition, with religion being organization and traditions, while spirituality being personal experience of the spiritual.

 

[Planet13]

I think your instinct is largely right, but the line between “shamanism” and “religion” isn’t a hard boundary — it’s more a difference in scope and focus.
Religion usually refers to the broader cosmological and social framework: shared myths, worldview, moral structure, ritual calendar, and historical development.
Shamanism, on the other hand, refers more specifically to a set of ritual techniques and specialist roles within that broader framework — trance states, spirit journeys, healing rites, invocation of spirits, ritual tools, and mediation between worlds. It describes what certain practitioners do, rather than the entire belief system of the culture.
Ultimately, these are modern categories. In traditional Mongolian contexts, there probably wasn’t a strict divide — it was all part of one lived spiritual reality.

 

[FireBorn]

Shamanism and religion aren’t parallel, which is where a lot of confusion comes from.

Shamanism predates organized religion and writing. It isn’t a belief system meant for whole populations, but a specialized role and method centered on direct interaction with spirits, trance, mediation, healing, and negotiation. Not everyone participates, and not everyone can.

Religion, is a structured framework designed for entire communities. Shared cosmology, ethics, ritual cycles, and continuity across generations. It welcomes everyone and stabilizes culture. Huge difference.

In places like Mongolia, what we now separate into “folk religion,” Buddhism, and “shamanism” would have been experienced as one lived reality. Shamanism functioned within that broader worldview, not as a separate 'religion' of its own.

The challenge is to not back fill history with our modern lens and narrative.