A shaman was at the Inuit a man or woman who could get in touch with the upper world to entreat for favourable weather, animals in abundance and health. Guiding spirits in the form of animals brought a shaman in contact with the supernatural and helped him to travel to other worlds. They helped the shaman to figure out what the - supernatural - cause of illness, death, famine or natural disasters was and told him what to do against it. Relationships between people, animals and other creatures were regulated by a complex system of rules and taboos. Disaster was usually the result of the breach of a taboo. Because of his special gifts the shaman was honoured and feared at the same time. A polar bear was the strongest guiding spirit in which only an experienced shaman could change. The polar bear learned the Inuit ancestors how they could survive in the merciless arctic climate.