I think a cool description of shaman's

"What
distinguishes a payé [shaman] from others is that he is an
intellectual...He is a humanist, in the sense that he is interested in the
'pagan' antiquities of his own cultural tradition: in myths of origin, in
archaeological sites, in long forgotten place names, and in stories of
legendary migrations."
http://www.ayahuasca-shamanism.co.uk/Huachuma-Journeys.htm