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Apollonian iatromancers are told of journeys "in spirit" in the direction of the mystical White Island located in the extreme north, undoubtedly equivalent to the "supernal world" of shamanic traditions. Yet, at the same time we must not forget to say that the iatromancers themselves were able to perform katabasis, immersions "in spirit" in Hades, where they came into contact with the spirits of the lower world and with the souls of the dead, who were sometimes able to bring them back to life, making them "go back" with them to our world. In this we can see a very clear correspondence with the North Asian shamanic tradition, which however (at least nowadays) distinguishes between "white shamans", capable of making "supernal journeys", and "black shamans", to whom it is attributed the ability to descend into the "underground world": in the iatromantic current the two abilities most of the time coexist in a single person. According to Peter Kingsley - author of very valid studies on the religious tradition of archaic Greece, whose works we will use in the course of the chapters - "it is not possible to separate the Thracian Orpheus from the shamanic tradition of Central Asia".
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Excellent research as always, with very refined comparisons and a wealth of connections, book purchased.