 Shamanism, setting the stage, great choice, shamanism, setting the stage, quote, Raungi sat still in the fading light of the fire. He felt his body flex deep within in ways that reminded him of the gulping of an eel. As he formed this thought, an eel's head oversized and bathed in electric blue appeared obediently in the darkened space behind his eyelids. Quote, mother spirit of the first waterfall. Quote, grandmother of the first rivers. Quote, show yourself, show yourself. Responding to the voices, the darkened space between the now slowly spinning eel, apparition filled with sparks, waves of light leaped higher and higher, accompanied by a roar of increasing intensity. Quote is the first Maria, end quote. The voice in that of a magai, the elder shaman of the village of Jarocamina. Quote, it is strong, so strong, end quote. Mangi is silent and the visions close over them. They are on the brink of venduri, the real world, the blue zone, the sound of falling rain outside is unrecognizable. There is the shuffling of dry leaves mingled with the sound of distant bells. Their tingling seems more like light than sound. Until relatively recently, the practices of the mangi and her remote Amazonian tribe were typical of religious practices everywhere. Only in the last few millennia have theology and ritual graduated to more elaborate and more necessarily more serviceable forms.