Understand the most compelling quests, sagas and epics - the journeys into the spirit world.Shamanism is a life and death struggle for the survival of communities which takes place in a world of spirits; for human villages couldn't survive without battling, negotiating with, or seeking aid from powers which most people will never see.It is within these spirit journeys that greatest fairy tales and the myths of the gods take place. It's within these journeys that people encounter the magical beings that controlled their fate. Using mythology, fairy tales, and folk religion this book will help you understand these fate controlling beings, the people who undertook spirit journeys to seek them out, and the nature of the spirit journey's themselves.