Shamanism is one of the oldest religious beliefs of mankind. This is an amazing phenomenon in culture, the power of shamans is recognized even by those who are skeptical about traditional medicine or extrasensory perception. It is impossible to become such a priest of one's own free will; for this it is necessary to be chosen, to have a predisposition to communicate with spirits. Among the most important rituals is shamanism, with the features and essence of which we offer to get acquainted.
Definition
Kamlanie is a word that comes from "kam", which in Turkic means "shaman", respectively, kamlanie is the main activity of a shaman, which includes immersion in a trance, communication with the world of spirits and healing. Also, this term includes the escort of the soul of the deceased to another world.
Features of the ceremony
There are several specific features of the rite of worship:
- Publicity. In some villages, it is believed that the more people will be present in the sacred action, the more effective the ceremony will be. Often the spectators encourage the shaman with shouts or songs.
- Accompaniment with music, singing and playing musical instruments: tambourine, drum. The priest himself performed the sacred texts, which, according to him, were granted to him from above.
- The lyrics have a special secret meaning, aimed at opening the door to the world of spirits.
- It is carried out most often in the dark, in the evening or at night. However, if necessary, the ceremony can be performed during the day.
- Kamlanie is a serious ritual, so it should be done only on special occasions, it is forbidden to do it twice a day.
These features indicate that the shamanic rite is not an entertaining event, but a serious sacred action.
What was the purpose of the rite of worship?
- treatment of patients;
- protection of the people from evil spirits;
- help in attracting good luck on the hunt;
- prediction of misfortunes in a village or a particular family;
- less often - weather forecasting.
And if attracting hunting luck was of interest to people in the early periods, then seriously ill people go to modern shamans to be healed even today.
Preparation for the ceremony
Kamlanie is an important ritual act, so you should start preparing for it in advance. The process includes several procedures:
- Purification of the shaman himself, his tambourine and the place where the action will take place.
- Fumigation of the room with herbs - this helped to free him from evil forces.
- Cleansing with water is the most important stage of preparation. Often used a pre-spell liquid. The shaman himself also performed ablution.
- In some areas, it is customary to make sacrifices to appease the gods.
Only after these preparatory procedures could proceed directly to the rite itself.
How was the ceremony
Kamlanie is a rite, the conduct of which differed slightly in various shamanic cults, but common features can be found in all of them. The shaman always dressed in a special outfit, took a tambourine in his hands.
Having completed the preparatory work, he turned to the spirits, called them for help. These could be guardian spirits of the house, patrons of the area, tribe or village, then there was an appeal to the spirits of the Lower, Middle and Upper worlds and personal assistants of the shaman. The priest himself fell into a trance at this time.
This was followed by a conversation between the shaman and the incoming spirit, which moved into his body for a while. And the spirit of the shaman himself made a journey to the Lower or Upper world. Everything that happens to him, the priest described in detail aloud, and the people nearby listened to every word. For the success of the healing rite, it is essential that all those present feel empathy and compassion. Observers often noted that during such a ritual, fiery rays emanated from the body of the shaman, which touched the body of the patient. This is energy, a healing force that helped get rid of the disease.
The last step is the return. The spirit left the earth, and the shaman returned to his body. Often after the ritual, repeated sacrifices were made to thank the invisible helpers.
Features of the ceremony
We offer you to get acquainted with some of the features of the ritual:
- The most important role in the ritual was played by the shaman tambourine, on which the priest performed the sacred melody. Most often, there were 8 strokes in this instrument, but other combinations were also used. So, you can set the rhythm of the "Snake" with the help of three slow beats.
- Performing the ritual, the shaman makes movements in a circle: in the direction "south - east - west - north". This direction symbolizes the creative celestial circle.
- The second direction is the harmonizing celestial circle, "east - south - west - north".
- The third direction is the creative earthly circle: "West - South - North - East".
- Finally, the last circle, harmonizing the earth: "south - west - north - east."
During each ritual, depending on its purpose, the shaman chose a direction and moved strictly along it. The correct choice of the circle is a very important question in the ritual. No less important was the rhythm of the tambourine.
The meaning of the ritual
What is the meaning of shamanic ritual? This rite helped to penetrate the world of spirits, ask them for help, so the ritual was often performed to heal the patient. There are cases when a shaman helped people in the fight against ailments, with the treatment of which official medicine could not cope.
According to the ideology of shamanism, diseases and troubles are sent to a person by evil spirits, ordinary people are not able to fight them. Then a shaman comes to the rescue, who has assistants and a patron - Ayami. Thanks to the actions of good spirits, it is possible to stop the disease, cleanse the person and return him to normal life in the physical world.
Relationship to ritual
Not all modern people believe that the shaman actually communicates with spirits. For such skeptics, shamanism is a theatrical performance in which the priest uses music, playing the tambourine, special aromas, even hypnosis. He does everything to make people nearby believe in his journey to other worlds.
It is the singing and music, the rhythmic beats on the shaman's tambourine, that immerse the spectators of the rite into a special state, when it seems that the door to another reality has slightly opened.
To believe or not in the mystical power of the ritual of shamanic ritual - everyone decides for himself. However, two facts can be noted with certainty: the system of religious beliefs, shamanism, has existed for quite a long time. If other cults, be it totemism, animism, and others, are a thing of the past, then shamans who worship can be found to this day. The second point - often in the course of these rites people were healed, whom official medicine could not help. Such facts are documented.
These two circumstances indicate that the shaman's ritual really has some kind of secret power.
I argued with someone on these topics, I give here a classification of various types of rituals among the peoples of Siberia and China. Of course there are actually two types:
travel to the lower worlds;
journey to the heavenly, upper worlds.
there is, of course, a third type, ahem... it is common among the peoples of Chukotka, I would call it "imitation of the ritual" or family ritual, when they beat the family tambourine and dance everything, up to the children, until you drop. They imitate the whole rite and even trance, but without the very essence of the soul leaving the body and traveling in the chosen direction, then returning and solving the client's problem. There is such entertainment in shamanic families, they say a third of the population is shamanic families.
Here and below, italics are mine.
"The ritual of initiation is followed by the acquaintance of the shaman with his helper spirits, which endow him with powers, and by putting on ceremonial vestments (shamanic costume) with complex cosmotheological and psychotechnical symbols, which we will not touch upon here due to the remoteness of this topic from our problematics.* Therefore let's move on to a brief review of the essence of shamanic psychotechnics - shamanism ( from the Turkic word "kam" - "shaman").
* See: Sternberg L.Ya. primitive religion. L., 1936.
After initiation, the shaman goes through a rather long period of training, during which he masters psychotechnical techniques, gets acquainted with mythology, cosmology, epic tales of his people, etc. At the same time, the empowerment mentioned above and the dressing in ritual clothes are performed. At the end of this preparatory period, the ceremony of affirming the shaman in his status takes place, a kind of "testing" of his strengths and abilities, which can be considered a kind of "confirmation" of the shaman.
We will consider the structure of the kamlaniya on an example Tungus-Manchu shamanism, brilliantly described by our compatriot S.M. Shirokogorov, a white officer, and then a well-known ethnologist who published his works mainly in English.
The example of the Tungus-Manchus is very convenient, since during the period of their rule in China (the Qing dynasty, 1644-1911), shamanism acquired the most mature and institutionalized form among the Manchus (in Beijing there was even a shamanistic temple with shamans in gold-woven silk and brocade ritual vestments, which prompted Father Iakinf Bichurin to consider shamanism as one of the world religions), and some shamanic traditions and liturgical norms were recorded in writing. But on the other hand, it was Tungus-Manchurian shamanism for the same reasons that was under the strongest influence of Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism and the religions of China, which sometimes makes it difficult to isolate the original purely shamanistic elements.
The ritual of a shaman among the Tungus-Manchurian peoples usually includes three stages: a preliminary sacrifice (usually an elk, but in some cases a goat or a lamb), the ritual itself, or an ecstatic journey, of a shaman and a thankful appeal to spirit helpers.
Kamlanias, involving a descent into the lower world, are performed for: 1) sacrifice to ancestors; 2) search for the patient's soul and its return; 3) accompanying the soul of the deceased. This type of ritual is considered very dangerous and is performed only by individual, strong shamans (its technical name is orgisk, i.e. "towards orgi" - the western or lower region). (the west on the Vedic cross is on the left, i.e. the world of Navi, the world of the dead)
Before the ritual, the shaman prepares the ritual objects he needs - an image of a boat, figurines of spirit helpers, etc., as well as a shaman's tambourine. After elk sacrifice helper spirits are summoned. (as I understand it, spirits fly here on gavvahs, the victim’s life energy, free of charge, which is released after killing him) Then the shaman smokes, drinks a glass of vodka (eyewitnesses claimed that not everyone smokes weed and drinks vodka before the ritual) and begins a shamanic dance, gradually introducing himself into an ecstatic state, culminating in loss of consciousness and catalepsy. The shaman's face is splashed three times with sacrificial blood and brought to his senses. The shaman begins to speak in a high voice that is not his own and answer the questions of those present. It is believed that this is answered by the spirit that has entered the body of the shaman, while the shaman himself is in the underworld (which indicates a peculiar phenomenon of a split personality). After some time, the shaman "returns" to his body, and he is greeted by the enthusiastic cries of those present. This part of the ritual takes about two hours.
The third part of the ritual begins after a 2-3 hour break and consists in the shaman expressing gratitude to the spirits.
Interestingly, if a zoomorphic spirit enters the body of a shaman during a ritual (for example, in one case described by Shirokogorov, a wolf), then the shaman behaves accordingly, identifying with this animal (at the stage of split personality).
The shamanic journey to the world of the dead is described in the famous Manchu text "The Tale of the Nisan Shaman".* Its content is as follows: during the reign of the Ming Dynasty in China (1368-1644), a young man from a wealthy family dies while hunting in the mountains. Shaman Nisan volunteers to bring him back to life and goes for his soul to the world of the dead. She meets many souls, including the soul of her deceased husband, and after countless trials and dangers in the twilight of the underworld, she finds the soul of a young man and returns with it to earth; he comes alive. This text is interesting not only as a description of the shaman's ecstatic experience, but also as evidence of the shamanic origins of the "Orpheus theme", which is very significant for the mystery cults of the ancient world.
* For this, see: Nishan samani bithe (The legend of the Nishan shaman) / Ed. text, trans. and foreword. M.P. Volkova. M., 1961. (Monuments of literature of the peoples of the East. Texts. Small series. T. 7); The book about the shaman Nisan / Fax, manuscripts, ed. text, translit., trans. in Russian lang., note., foreword. K.S. Yakhontova. SPb., 1992.
Similar is the ritual performed to ascend to heaven. As an aid, the shaman uses 27 (9X3) young trees, identified with the pillars of the universe along the cardinal points and the world axis (the hole in the central part of the yurt, by the way, is often identified with the North Star, the world axis passes through it, through which the shaman can get into heavenly world). Another similar ritual object is a ladder. After the sacrifice, the shaman brings himself into an ecstatic state by singing, beating the tambourine and dancing. At the moment he loses consciousness, the flight of his soul to the heavenly world begins. Such rituals are performed both during the day and at night. Shirokogorov believes that the ritual for the sake of flying to the sky was borrowed by the Tungus people from the Buryats.
(Here, they told me about the trees. Naturally, for flights to the lower worlds, a sacrifice of a higher class is needed to call the helper spirits.)
Psychotechnical trance plays a huge role in Tungus shamanism; the main methods of achieving it are dancing and singing. The details of the ritual are close to the details of the sessions of other Siberian peoples: the "voices of the spirits" emitted by the shaman are heard, the shaman becomes light and the patient does not feel his weight when the shaman jumps on him in his almost two-pood attire, during the trance the shaman feels a strong heat. He gains insensitivity to fire, cutting objects, etc. In general, we see here both an archaic substratum and Sino-Buddhist influences (for example, the shaman invokes not only his "ethnic" spirits, but also Chinese and Buddhist deities).*
* Shirokogoroff S.M. Psychomental Complex of the Tungus. London, 1936. P. 304-365; Eliade M. Shamanism. P. 236-245.
The above description of the Tungus-Manchurian practice of shamanism as a whole, we believe, is sufficient to get acquainted with the practice of shamanism and the structure of the shamanic psychotechnical ritual. Let us offer just one more example of shamanic ritual, this time referring to the Chukchi material, since the Chukchi are a Paleo-Asiatic people, whose tradition was much less influenced by highly developed civilizations and religions. We have rich material about Chukchi shamanism thanks to the works of another Russian scientist, V. G. Bogoraz (Bogoraz-Tan).
It should be noted that by the beginning of the 20th century, that is, by the time of V.G. Bogoraz's observations, Chukchi shamanism was in a state of decline. The decline of tradition was also noted by other peoples of Siberia. However, in a number of cases, it may not be a real degradation of tradition, but the influence on the public consciousness of the golden age mythologeme, which suggested a gradual deterioration in living conditions and treatment of higher powers as one moved away from it. (yes, they also have epics about the galactic night and the deterioration of communication with the gods and ancestors)
Nevertheless, in the case of Chukchi shamanism, the decline was obvious. It manifested itself in the fact that shamans gradually lost their psychotechnical skills, replacing the real transpersonal experience of his imitation, the reproduction of only the outer side of the trance without real psychotechnical experience, and the "magic journey" of the shaman was replaced by a dream in which the shaman considered it possible to see a prophetic vision or fulfill his mission as a healer and psychopomp. Shaman rituals, in turn, turned into performances filled with various "stage effects" and a demonstration of the shaman's paranormal abilities, and sometimes just tricks in the manner of ventriloquism.
There were a lot of shamans in Chukotka, up to one third of the population. Family shamanism also flourished, which consisted in the fact that each family, which had its own shamanic tambourine, which was inherited, imitated ritual sessions on special holidays. We are only talking about imitation of the external moments of the shaman's behavior (jumping up, imitation of the sacred language of shamans - issuing inarticulate sounds, etc.). There were occasional prophecies during such collective actions, but no one took them seriously. The main formal difference between these family rituals and the truly shamanic one is that the family ritual (in which even children take part) is performed in the light under the outer canopy of the tent, while the shamanic one takes place in the sleeping quarters and in complete darkness.
The main parameters of the psychotechnics of Chukchi shamanism, however, lend themselves to reconstruction. The shamanic vocation, as a rule, manifests itself among the Chukchi either in the form of a "shamanic disease", or is signified by a sacred epiphany - the appearance at a critical moment of a divine animal (wolf, walrus), saving the future shaman. As a rule, shamans do not have personal teachers, although they refer to the instructions they receive from spirits during a psychotechnical trance. Chukchi folklore constantly describes the "magic journey" of the shaman to the heavenly (through the North Star) and other worlds in search of the souls of the sick, etc., although at the beginning of the 20th century. the ritual was reduced mainly to the invocation of spirits, various tricks and imitation of a trance.
The shaman tambourine is often called a boat, and the psychotechnical trance is often called the "drowning" of the shaman, which indicates the underwater wanderings of the Chukchi (as well as the Eskimo) shaman. Nevertheless, flights of the shaman to the upper world and descents to the lower are also described.
During the time of V. G. Bogoraz, the ritual proceeded as follows: the shaman undressed to the waist, smoked a pipe and began to beat the tambourine and sing a melody (each shaman had his own). Then "voices of spirits" were heard in the plague, heard from various directions. They seemed to either come from underground or come from above. At this time, eyewitnesses observed various paranormal phenomena - levitation of objects, rockfall, etc. (we refrain from assessing the reality of such phenomena). The spirits of the dead spoke to the audience in the voice of a shaman.
With an overabundance of parapsychological phenomena, a real trance was very rare, and only sometimes the shaman fell to the floor unconscious, and his wife covered his face with a piece of cloth, turned on the light and began to sing. It was believed that at this time the soul of the shaman consults with the spirits. After about 15 minutes, the shaman came to his senses and expressed his opinion on the question put to him. But often trance was replaced by sleep, since the Chukchi equate the dream of a shaman with trance (is this not typologically close to Tantric dream yoga, or, at least, is the latter rooted in shamanic psychotechnical activity in a state of sleep?).
Shamans also use the method of suction healing, during which the shaman displays an insect, a thorn, etc. as the cause of the disease. Shamanic operations are very curious, reminiscent of the famous methods of Filipino healers. VG Bogoraz himself was present at one such operation. A 14-year-old boy lay naked on the ground, and his mother, a well-known shaman, sort of opened his stomach with her hands, and V.G. Bogoraz saw blood and exposed internal organs. The shaman plunged her hands deep into the wound. All this time, the shaman behaved as if she was under the influence of intense heat, and constantly drank water. After a few moments, she pulled her hands out, the wound closed, and Bogoraz did not see any traces of her. Another shaman, after a long dance, opened his own belly with a knife.*
* See: Bogoras V.J. The Chukchee // American Museum of Natural History. memoirs. Vol. 11 (Jesup North Pacific Expedition. Vol. 7). New York, 1904. P. 445.
Such phenomena or tricks are characteristic of the whole of North Asia and are associated with the achievement of power over fire. Such shamans can also swallow hot coals and touch white-hot iron. Most of these abilities (tricks) were demonstrated at the beginning of the century for public viewing in broad daylight. VG Bogoraz also describes the following act: a shaman rubs a small stone with something, and its pieces fall into her tambourine. In the end, a whole mound of these pieces appears in the tambourine, but the stone in the hands of the shaman does not decrease and does not change its shape. Chukchi folklore is full of descriptions of such competitions.
*Bogoras V.J. The Chukchee. P. 444.
Chukchi shamanism has another interesting aspect. There is a whole class of shamans who have changed gender. They are called soft men or men who look like women. It is said that at the behest of the kelet (spirits) they changed their male gender to female. They wear women's clothes, behave like women, and sometimes even marry other men. However, usually the order of the kelet is only partially obeyed: the shaman wears women's clothes, but continues to live with his wife and has children. Sometimes a shaman who has received such an order prefers suicide to transvestism, although homosexuality has always been known to the Chukchi.* The prevalence of this kind of transsexuality in the shamanism of different ethnic groups has already been discussed above.
*Ibid. P. 448. See also: Bogoraz V.G. Chukchi. T. 1-2. L., 1936; Eliade M Shamanism. P. 252-269.
This concludes our brief description of shamanic psychotechnical practice, and after a few words about the place of shamanism in the history of religious teachings, we move on to an attempt to interpret the phenomenon of shamanism in the light of a psychological approach.
During the ritual, the shaman moves in a circle. There are four circles: the harmonizing heavenly circle, the creating heavenly circle, the harmonizing earthly circle and the creating earthly circle.
Creator of the heavenly circle. The movement starts from south to east, then west and ends in the north.
Harmonizing heavenly circle. It starts in the east and then passes in turn through the south, west and north.
Creator of the earthly circle. Movement starts from the west, then follows south, north and ends in the east.
Harmonizing earthly circle. It starts in the south and passes in turn through the west, north and east.
Depending on the goal, each ritual goes through one of the circles with a certain beat of a tambourine.
Kamlaniya
The word "kamlanie" in translation from the languages of the Turkic group means any ritual action performed by a kam, that is, a shaman. - a copper round mirror. The success of the ritual also depends on the spiritual preparation of the practitioner. The most important aspects of the ritual and the conduct of the mysteries themselves are described below.
Rhythms of a shaman tambourine
Each shamanic ritual is accompanied by certain sacred rhythms. There are eight basic rhythms. These rhythms are consistent with the eight human chokyrs. Such rhythms are indicated by dots from bottom to top when recording. One dot is a single hit, two dots are two quick hits. Each rhythm also has some purpose .Rhythm of the Snake - three slow beats, used for the first ritual, to gain decisiveness, the accumulation of internal strength. The rhythm of the Deer - two slow beats, two fast ones, used to separate, separate something. blow, used for reconciliation, creative processes. The rhythm of the Ox is one blow, four fast, used to accumulate physical strength, protection. The rhythm of the heron is two fast, two slow, used for love affairs, overcoming any obstacles. The rhythm of the Spider is two fast, single, two fast, used for purification, help in a contentious matter, a set of positive energy. Bear Rhythm - four fast, one single, used for meditation, protection from others. Tiger rhythm, six quick beats, used to give back the accumulated strength to another person, self-realization, gaining power. You should beat the tambourine from the bottom, then go to the middle, and then to the top.
Directions
During the ritual, the shaman usually moves in a circle. There are four such circles: the one that creates the heavenly circle, the one that harmonizes the heavenly circle, the one that creates the earthly circle, the one that harmonizes the earthly circle. The harmonizing heavenly circle begins in the east, passing alternately through the south, west and north. The creative earthly circle begins from the west, passes south, then north and ends in the east. north, and then to the east. Each shaman, depending on the intended goal, passes through one of these circles. That is, the direction of the moving shaman occurs in a certain circle and with a certain beat of the tambourine. This is a very important aspect of the shaman shaman.
Asta and Victims to Spirits
Asty is the general name of those things that are given to the shaman as payment for the shaman. Often the shaman is given multi-colored ribbons that he sews on the shaman's dress. Ribbons of different colors indicate various tasks solved during shamans. A black ribbon is given when curing schizophrenia, exorcism, drug addiction .The red ribbon is the treatment of various physical injuries. The knots on the ribbons are a victory over opponents. The souls of defeated enemies are placed in the knots. Shamans are not supposed to do something for nothing, since all the gifts brought go not only to the shaman, but also to the spirits, but for free spirits will not help. There is no standard amount of payment for shamanism, and therefore people who decide to turn to a shaman for help pay what they can. Traditionally, payment for shamanism is given only with the right hand. the more you get." If the fee for shamanism is small, then the person will not take seriously what the shaman will say and do. Asty can also be a voluntary offering and a prearranged payment for shamanic services.
Creation of Ongons
Ongon is a receptacle for the spirit. Various wooden figurines, rag dolls, and also domestic animals were used for such receptacles. salt, flour and butter are mixed in a bowl, and water is poured into the resulting mass in a thin stream. the figures are ready, then they are smoothed on a greased baking sheet and baked in the oven at the lowest temperature all night. spirit is just an ordinary thing.
Consecration of the ceremonial circle
After the arrangement of the ritual space, all the participants begin to beat the tambourines, or only the akhanad does it, calling on the helper spirits to give them strength for the upcoming ceremony. The shaman can explain to those present the meaning of a clean dwelling, which consists in the cleansing of this place by the spirits of all malevolent thoughts and energies. Ask those present at the ceremony to imagine how the sound of a tambourine will drive away all the bad that has fallen into this circle. In the first part of the rite, the shaman does not put on a ritual dress, but it is located nearby, behind the circle, so that the shaman can then put it on.
knotting
In this part of the ceremony, each of those present should take out their strips of cloth and red ribbons. The stripes represent diseases and misfortunes that may happen next year: headaches, colds, diabetes, arthritis and epidemic diseases.
The red color of the ribbons represents the color of power and the power of the spirits invoked to bind these diseases. Everyone present should take a ribbon and tie five strips with three knots, while focusing on their health. The knots are placed in the middle of the circle, to the fire or object representing the goal.
The most important action in shamanism is shamanism, because it is both a mystical experience for the shaman himself and his "work" to heal or accompany the soul to the realm of the dead. But what else is a ritual?
The meaning of the term "kamlamie"
The term kamlanie comes from the Turkic word "kam", which literally means "shaman". Therefore, kamlat is "shaman", that is, to perform specific shamanic activities.
What is swearing
As mentioned above, the ritual is the main form of the shaman's cult activity, during which the shaman enters the track state. It is performed in order to obtain some kind of sacred knowledge, travel to other worlds or find out the future, perform an act of healing or accompany the soul of the deceased to the realm of the dead. Sometimes rituals are carried out for other, more specific purposes.
How is the ritual performed
Kamlanie, as a rule, is performed in public, and many shamans believe that the more people are present, the more productive the shamanic session will be, since the shaman's helper spirits will be more active. But, nevertheless, for a certain kind of purpose, shamanism can be carried out alone, in solitude.
The Eskimos have the whole village present at the shamanic session. Spectators, from time to time, encourage the shaman with songs and shouts.
Features of the ritual as a mystical and ritual action
One of the most characteristic elements of the ritual is singing, dancing and, of course, playing a musical instrument (tambourine, drum, rattle, and so on).
At the same time, it should be understood that even though people are present at the ritual, and it is often played out as a kind of performance, it still should not be taken as a kind of analogue of the stage, since it does not have a fundamental goal to entertain the audience. This should be treated as a mystical theater, where a certain mystery is played out, a sacred act of travel and communication with more subtle layers of reality.
Therefore, the songs that the shaman sings during the ritual are his song of “power”. It contains special words to a special melody, which are taught by spirit helpers.
When is the ritual
Kamlanie can be performed at any time of the day, depending on the personal preferences of the shaman himself and on the direction of his actions. But most often this happens either in the evening twilight or at night, as, for example, North American shamans did.
It is also noted that it was not recommended to conduct a shamanic session twice a day.
Preparing for the ritual
First of all, the preparation for the ritual includes the purification of both the shaman himself and his tools, and the territory where the ritual will take place.
Usually fumigation is carried out first. For example, a Tuvan shaman scattered ashes, hot coals and a handful of dried juniper on a flat stone. Then he added a little flour, peeled and toasted millet, butter and lard.
Means for fumigation can be very different, it depends on the shamanic tradition and specifically on the shaman himself and the goals that he pursued. But in most cases, herbs were used as incense.
Then purification was carried out with water drawn from some sacred source or specially charmed. Bathing was a must.
This was followed by a sacrifice to the gods or helper spirits.
How is the swearing
The ritual scheme in all shamanic traditions is almost the same. After the preparatory stage, the shaman calls on his helper spirits. For example, among the Yakuts, the shaman first addresses the spirits-masters of the hearth, house, area, and so on, with a request to protect all those gathered from any misfortunes during his action, and then to the spirits of the upper, lower and middle worlds, as well as to his own guardian spirits and helper spirits.
The Nanai shamanic session begins with the shaman invoking helper spirits that have passed to her from the deceased shamans of her family and the shamans of the immediate surroundings and spirits in the form of children.
The call was usually followed by scenes-dialogues of the shaman with his helper spirits. This part of the ritual usually took place according to the same scheme: first, the shaman let the spirit into himself, treated himself on his behalf, had a “conversation” with him, and then “infused” the image or objects intended for him, often into a tambourine.
Russian scientists have captured how the body of a shaman emits light during a magical rite of ritual. On the film, it appeared as flashes of fire, coming from the shaman to the sick.
The Yakut historian and ethnographer Anatoly Alekseev, who devoted many years to the study of shamanism, is sure that it is in this fire that the great healing power of the famous Yakut and Tungus shamans is hidden. “On the photographic film, I recorded the energy of a person, objects and their electromagnetic fields that cannot be seen with the eyes,” said Anatoly Alekseev, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Archeology and History of Yakutia, Yakut State University. “Thus, during the process of shamanism, that is, the sacred action of the shaman, the “spirit of fire” manifested itself as a physical phenomenon!”
Alekseev's research on shamanism amazed the scientific world. Although in Soviet times he was a convinced atheist, he fought against paganism and religion. But after the first meeting with the great Tunguska shamans - Savey (today he is considered the strongest in Yakutia) and Matryona Kulbertinova - his views completely changed ...
“I realized that I was deeply mistaken,” Anatoly Afanasyevich said. - Shamanism is an amazing world phenomenon! Before my eyes, the great shaman Savey cured a Russian woman of a hernia in her spine in one session. The unfortunate 10 years suffered from unbearable back pain, and official medicine could not help her. Then she came to Savey. The shaman, under the blows of a tambourine, in front of my eyes, pulled out of her back ... a 3-centimeter white worm! All the witnesses gasped. And the patient forgot to think about the pain ... "
Since then Alekseev has been closely studying shamanism for 18 years. He made friends with shamans, attends rituals (from ham, kam - the name of shamans in a number of Turkic languages of Southern Siberia; a term in Russian that denotes special ritual actions of a shaman during which he communicates with spirits), photographs, lectures on shamanism in USA, UK, South Korea, Japan.
In 2007, his documentary about shamans was shown at the United Nations in New York, and later the study won the Gold Medal of World Civilization 2008 at the All-Russian Exhibition Center. It was on the photographs of Alekseev, taken by the Japanese film camera F-"Nikon"-301, that a unique phenomenon was recorded - the shaman's invisible fire.
“In the autumn of 2007 in Yakutsk, I photographed a ritual performed by the Tunguska shaman Savey (Semyon Vasiliev) together with his assistant Oktyabrina Naumova,” said Anatoly Alekseev. - After the film was developed and printed, flashes of light and a luminous force field of the shaman's tambourine appeared on it during the shaman's ritual of Savey!
A year later, I photographed the joint ritual of the shaman Savey and the Yakut shaman Fedot. And everything repeated again: the photographs clearly show how the fire from Savey passes to the young shaman.
The scientist asked Fedot Ivanov what he felt at the time of the ritual. To which the shaman replied that he felt a sharp blow to the brain area - it was as if he had been shaken by an electric current! And Savey explained that he hardened Fedot's brain with fire. “Then I understood the saying: that a person must pass the test of fire, water and copper pipes,” says Alekseev.
The scientist believes that shaman fire is exactly the method by which shamans heal people from diseases. In confirmation, Alekseev cites the following story. Three years ago, the wife of his close friend fell ill with cancer: doctors put her in the second stage. She underwent chemotherapy, but her condition remained critical - the disease progressed. Then the shaman Savey accepted her. He performed 3 sessions in 3 months and the woman recovered. Interestingly, in the photographs taken by Alekseev during the treatment, the mysterious shamanic fire reappeared.
“Only visible light is well known to us,” Anatoly Alekseev reflects. - But infrared light is invisible - just like radio waves, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, beta, alpha and gamma rays - that is, the entire electromagnetic spectrum. It must be assumed that there are other radiations - like the shamanic invisible light.
It should be noted that Alekseev is not the first to become interested in invisible fire. Ancient mystics insisted on its existence: it is mentioned in almost all religious teachings of the East. Such a fire was also present next to Helena Roerich. And now Alekseev proved that the magical power of shamans is not only associated with the manifestation of a mysterious fire, but they, moreover, are able to mentally control it.
It turned out to be even more paradoxical that sound waves give exactly the same effect of light: when the shaman strikes the tambourine, “lightning” comes out of it, and the effect of light appears. The impact of the shaman has different strengths, and the invisible fire, according to Alekseev, also changes its color. “In my photographs, in addition to white-golden (ordinary fire), both orange and red colors appear. I don't see those lights myself. But they appear when photographing the process of the ritual of Savey and Fedot Ivanov. There is no scientific explanation for these phenomena yet,” the scientist says.
According to Alekseev, shamanic fire works very well in healing wounds, it can cure bruises, bruises, herpes, shingles, rheumatoid diseases, allergies, skin diseases, eczema, psoriasis (chronic diseases), tuberculosis in its initial form, heart disease, sugar diabetes.
As the scientist established, during the treatment of the sick, a fire ax appeared behind the back of the shaman Savey. When he asked the shaman himself and his assistant Oktyabrina why fire appeared, Savey laughed and, looking at the photographs, said: “This shaman fire is the spirit of fire. We, shamans, communicate with the spirits of different spheres. The lights in the photographs are spirits. And through the fire we diagnose a sick person and treat various diseases. We agree with the spirit of fire and work together. From the side it turns out that I control the fire. This is clearly visible in the photographs.
The fire in the photographs of Savey, Alkseev said, began to appear since 1997. The shaman himself believes that this is due to his spiritual development: he went through all the stages of spiritual growth in 40 years of shamanic practice - the shaman of the 7th, 10th and 12th sky. Today, according to the ideas of relatives, Savey can already act as the master of the “spirit of fire”.
Only one amazing effect of the shamanic fire, Associate Professor Alekseev, cannot yet explain - this fire can sometimes be seen by children under 5 years old ...
