Census data has revealed an unlikely religion is on the rise in England and Wales: shamanism.
Survey results released today show that the number of people identifying with the niche practice has soared.
Just 650 people said they subscribed to the belief system in 2011 but that’s up more than 10-fold to 8,000 in a decade, the steepest rise of any minor group filed under ‘other’.
It means there are now more self-identifying shamans than Rastafarians or Zoroastrians, who number just 10,000 combined.
Shamanism is a loose collection of beliefs found in various communities around the world which revolves around healing practices.
Adherents hold that it’s possible to communicate with the spirit world in order to bring about positive change through various esoteric methods involving ceremonies and trances.
The word ‘shaman’ derives from a Siberian language but the beliefs it is used to describe vary widely and have often evolved independently of each other around the planet.
It’s sometimes claimed it is the oldest religion and it has its roots in ancient folk practices.
According to Earth Heart Shamanism, a UK-based group, its methods mean ‘the spiritual world and your higher self may be contacted through the inner senses in ecstatic trance’
It describes shamans as ‘the keepers of ancient techniques that are used to maintain energetic synergy and balance within themselves and their communities’.
An increasing number are turning to it in the UK, with several organisations offering paid-for training courses in how to set yourself up as a healer.
The Sacred Trust Centre, which runs a shamanism training facility in Dorset, offers instruction in exorcisms (‘compassionate depossessions’), a days-long darkness immersion course and ‘curse unravelling’.
A one-year live-in course in shaman practices costs £2,225, while converts more pressed for time can learn its secrets via a two-week £2,8000 intensive crash course.
Paganism has also seen a steep rise, up to 74,000 self-confessed adherents from 54,000 in 2011, while 13,000 identify as ‘wicca’.
The census revealed that fewer than half the population of England Wales describe themselves as Christian for the first time ever.
The overall percentage slumped to 46.2%, down from 59.3% a decade earlier.
People saying they had no religion jumped from around a quarter in 2011 (25.2%) to over a third in 2021 (37.2%), the Office for National Statistics said.
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