A medicine man in societies, often believed to have supernatural powers, who is capable of healing - or harming. A shaman receives an "inner call" to this vocation or receives the office through heredity. The shaman is called upon to mediate with the spirit world on the community's behalf in times of sickness. The shaman presides over rituals and may also be responsible for the keeping of laws and the continuity of traditions. Shamanism is the dominant element in the religion of most known arctic and subarctic (Siberian and Ural-Altaic) hunter-gatherers. Most shamans are male. This religious ideology may be north Asian in origin.