Over the last decade, the Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca has swept through the West, becoming famous for affecting powerful (and often lasting) change in people who take it. Eager Western seekers have descended on the Amazon and the high jungle of the Andes, flooding towns like Iquitos and Pucallpa with both ayahuasca tourists and shamans who serve them — along with scam artists and shady practices.

Tucked away in the south of Siberia, among mountains, steppes and taiga, live the Khakas people, who have preserved the ancient traditions of shamanism. To this day, they perform rituals to thank the spirits and worship their ancestors at huge burial mounds. RBTH managed to arrange a visit to one of the most powerful Khakas shamans.

Ten years ago, Mark Pischea, then a 42-year-old political consultant and father of five from Williamston, Michigan, was rushed to the hospital with severe stomach pain. Pischea was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, a chronic autoimmune condition that can cause extreme abdominal discomfort, weight loss, fatigue and fevers. For the next decade of his life, the formerly healthy husband and father lived in a constant cycle of flare-ups, surgery and recovery.

A feature of Tuvan shamanism is its age, because it remains the same from ancient times, from the cave men through the great Scythian kingdom and until now. It hasn't changed. I think that Tuvan shamanism is something great, Vedantic shamanism with witchcraft, healing, communication with spirits of mountains, rivers, lakes, taiga, and animals.

After being dormant for more than 60 years, the Midewiwin ceremony is being revived in Obishikokaang (Lac Seul First Nation), in northwestern Ontario. A group of practitioners, commonly referred to as Mide, have built a Midewiwin lodge and separate teaching lodge. "'When you build that lodge, the people will come, when they know it's here'", says Tom Chisel, a Lac Seul elder, explaining the message given to him from his mentor almost two decades ago.