Based on an ethnographic study of ‘Western’ forms of contemporary shamanism in North East Scotland, the article discusses the significant role that eremitism plays in folk healing systems, particularly in shamanism. The tendency to live an isolated life is not only a key feature of traditional shamanic healing practices, but it can also be found in contemporary manifestations of them. Two such cases are discussed in this article. Terry Mace and Norman Duncan are two contemporary shamanic healers who live and offer services in the wider region of North East Scotland. For different individual reasons, they have self-consciously decided to isolate themselves geographically, living simply and self-abundantly, and leading an eremitic way of life away from materialism and socialising. The article thus focuses on examining the role of eremitism in the life of these two healers in an attempt to highlight the significance of the phenomenon in contemporary shamanisms.

The article, based on the author’s doctoral research on the life and work of contemporary folk healers with shamanistic knowledge in North East Scotland, explores one key issue when it comes to healing traditions: What kind of healing do these individuals offer? In 1986, anthropologist James Dow, expanding on Daniel Moerman’s idea that all spiritual healers are in fact symbolic healers, suggested that these folk specialists use human communication, ritual, and culture-specific symbols as tools to heal others. Drawing from the author’s ethnographic fieldwork alongside one such spiritual healer, the article examines the healer’s symbolic healing approaches through the example of a spontaneous magic ritual he conducted in autumn 2015 in Greece. The article’s goal is to ethnographically demonstrate how the healer’s practices fit into Dow’s “symbolic healing” scheme as an integral component for the efficiency of his healing practices.