Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review

Volume 4, Issue 2, 2013

Legitimization Strategies within the Cultic Milieu

Shamans in High Heels

This article focuses on neo-shamans in a “medialized” setting. Using the Norwegian celebrity shaman and medium Gro-Helen Tørum, other media practitioners from media and my own field-work as examples, I focus on the case of female shamans in particular. They often appear as mediums and clairvoyants in addition to their role as shamans, and demonstrate various ways of relating to or employing the “ethnicity” of shamanism as a way of widening their scope of action. Their staging of themselves as shamans or “users of shamanistic techniques” gives clues to understanding the interplays of popular religion and spirituality, tradition, media, and gender.