The administration of Russia’s remote Tuva region has enlisted a “highly respected and obliging” psychic to search for a helicopter with up to 14 people on board, which disappeared two months ago, at the personal behest of the regional governor.

Half of the inmate population at the Coconino County jail is Native American, and their recidivism rate is high. In an attempt to change that, the jail offers various recovery and job-skills programs. It has even built a sweat lodge.

Hummux Anax is pretty sure he got burned because the sweat lodge ceremony started in the north. “A lot of people think that’s not right – the sun rises in the east,” he says. “We sang a song that should have invoked the water spirits, but it invoked the fire spirits.” He stepped out of the dark, steaming sweat lodge and tripped over the altar, a mound of earth arranged with feathers, jewelry and a forked stick representing male and female.

"The climate is certainly wretched: the summer solstice was now passed, yet every day snow fell on the hills, and in the valleys there was rain, accompanied by sleet. From the damp and boisterous state of the atmosphere, not cheered by a gleam of sunshine, one fancied the climate even worse than it really was."

Alutiiq shamans healed the sick, foretold the future, controlled the weather, and recounted events in far-off places. They acted as intermediaries between the human and spirit worlds, fulfilling the dangerous task of communicating with animals, ancestors, and supernatural beings. Shamans could turn themselves into animals or send their souls to find lost people.