[expand]The primary shamanic technique involved cannabis vapor inhalation. Herodotus describes elaborate ritual: small tent constructed with framework of poles and felt covering, bronze brazier placed at center containing heated stones, hemp seeds thrown onto stones producing thick smoke filling enclosed space, shamans and sometimes clients entering tent to breathe vapor until achieving trance state. The smoke was not mere intoxicant but vehicle for spiritual travel, means of loosening consciousness from physical body, method of opening perception to invisible realities.
The tent itself functioned as portal—a bounded space separating ordinary consciousness from altered awareness, a container maintaining vapor concentration, a symbolic womb where transformation occurred. The felt walls blocked outside light, creating darkness where visions appeared more clearly. The concentrated smoke forced rapid intoxication, preventing gradual adjustment that might allow skepticism or resistance. Those who entered tent committed to experience—the only escape was through threshold into different state of consciousness, and re-emergence brought return to everyday awareness marked by knowledge gained in smoke.
The hemp used was likely wild cannabis growing abundantly across steppe, harvested at specific season when seeds reached maximum potency, processed through drying and storage methods enhancing psychoactive properties. The shamans maintained knowledge of plant identification, harvest timing, preparation techniques, and dosage management—practical botanical expertise encoded in religious ritual. Poor quality hemp produced inadequate trance, too much produced unconsciousness or sickness, correct amount opened gateway to vision. The skill lay in calibrating experience to achieve prophetic insight without complete loss of control.
The visions experienced varied: some shamans reported flying over steppe on spirit horses, others described descent into underworld to retrieve lost souls or negotiate with death spirits, others encountered divine beings who transmitted messages or granted prophetic knowledge. These experiences were not considered hallucination or imagination but actual travel to real locations inaccessible through normal perception. The shaman left his body in tent, journeyed to spirit realm, obtained information or performed spiritual work, then returned bringing knowledge back to ordinary world.
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