Basic shamanism. The mysterious powers of shamans Types of shamans

Shamanic training is no less difficult and dangerous process than shamanic initiation. Obtaining sacred knowledge and mystical skills is a subtle and individual moment in any tradition, but this is especially clearly manifested in shamanic training.

Shamanic training can be roughly divided into three types:

Training before initiation,

Teaching during initiation

Post-initiation training.

Of course, training a shaman lasts a lifetime, but in this case we are talking about obtaining basic "specialized" knowledge and skills.

Whichever type of shamanic training is chosen, it is usually conducted in solitude. The future student alone or together with a mentor is isolated from society - they go to the mountains, forests, and so on. This allows the secrecy of dangerous knowledge to be preserved and enables the future shaman to fully concentrate on the process of acquiring knowledge and skills.

Shamanic training before initiation

Not often, but still it happens that a future shaman receives basic knowledge even before he undergoes initiation. For example, this is done in the Caribbean tradition. But among the Eskimos, the one who decides to become a shaman goes to the mentor and, bringing him offerings, asks to teach him to see another world, spirits and gods. Thus, training is also meant before initiation.

Shamanic training during initiation

The process of training a shaman in many traditions is part of the general shamanic initiation. For example, one of the shamans said that during the initiation the spirits took his soul to the “meeting of the shaitans”. There, for seven days and nights, it was boiled in a cauldron and taught in shamanic skills.

Shamanic training after initiation

This type of shamanic training is the most common. It is characteristic for him that the student, having received the experience of seeing another world, learns to interact with him, mastering a number of specific methods and indulging in special mystical exercises.

© Alexey Korneev

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ABOUT SHAMANISM

What is Shamanism? Who is the Shaman? What gives the Shaman his main percussion instrument like "TUBE"? These questions will be answered by the two journalistic research articles below. And also my explanations - comments at the end. The authors of these articles were journalists and researchers.

SHAMANS:

The Khakases are a Turkic-speaking people of Southern Siberia, whose traditional religion is shamanism. In shamanism, the main attribute for communicating with spirits is the shaman's tambourine, with the help of which the shaman communicates with the spirits.

During the annexation of the Siberian lands to the Russian Empire, the Khakass were forcibly baptized. The whole people were driven into the Yenisei and baptized - women by Mary, men by Vladimir. But shamanism continued to be present in the life of the people for a long time. During the Soviet era, the shamanic tradition in Khakassia was completely interrupted. Unlike neighboring Altai and Tuva, where shamans went underground and continued to practice. Many Khakass shamans were repressed, their tambourines were broken or burned. Therefore, at present we can observe on the territory of the Republic of Khakassia the revival of the ancient cult practically from scratch.

Khakass mythology - shaman's tambourine

Examining the tambourine of the Khakass shaman, we see drawings applied to it, which symbolize the mythological representations of the Khakass. The surface of the tambourine is divided into three parts, which symbolize the three-part division of the world - into upper, middle and lower. In the upper world lives the creator god Kudai, the goddess Ymai (patroness of motherhood), and other deities-chayaans, personifying light forces. The owner of the lower world is the formidable Erlik Khan, his image is terrible and instills fear. Many Khakass myths tell about the struggle between Kudai and Erlik Khan. The middle world - the world of people - is also inhabited by spirits. These are spirits associated with human life and everyday life. There are family patrons, as well as spirits-masters of the forces of nature (fire, water, mountains, wind, etc.)

The Khakass believe that the world order is ensured by proper communication with the spirits that inhabit our world. If you feed the owner of the fire in time, the hearth in the yurt will not go out. If you sprinkle with vodka on the pass, then the owner of the mountain will give the hunter a rich prey. Pleasing the owner of the water - you will ensure yourself a successful fishing. Any illness is perceived as the abduction of a human soul (more precisely, one of the souls, since in the traditional beliefs of the Khakas, each person has several souls) by one of the spirits. In order to return the stolen soul, an intermediary is needed who knows how to ascend to the upper world, or descend to the lower one. The shaman is just such a mediator.

Shaman image

As a rule, the title of shaman is not hereditary, secret knowledge is not passed down from generation to generation, you cannot learn to be a shaman. Spirits choose their own intermediary for communicating with people. This communication is necessary for the spirits, since they are in direct dependence on the person. Just as people need the grace and disposition of the spirits, the spirits need food, which people give to the spirits in exchange for their favors.

Chosen as a shaman, he cannot refuse this difficult role. Not everyone wants to take on the responsibilities of a mediator between the worlds. In order to force someone to become a shaman, the spirits must break his will. If suddenly a person, who had not previously shown signs of mental disorders, suddenly leaves for the steppe, returns a few days later emaciated, foaming at the mouth, crazy eyes (and maybe even with a crow in his teeth) and does not remember what happened to him all these days - it means that he had been ill with the so-called "shamanic disease". He does not remember what happens to his physical body at this time, but his spiritual body falls into the hands of the spirits, which must "regenerate" him for a new life, the life of a shaman. Many shamans tell how spirits boiled their bodies in a cauldron, then ate them and recreated them.

After such a rebirth, the shaman makes himself a tambourine. Each shaman tambourine is individual, it has a soul. He can be a mount for a shaman's travels between worlds, can become his weapon in the fight against spirits. And if, for example, they turn to a shaman for treatment of infertility, he “hammers” the soul of a baby into the patient with a tambourine.

The shaman costume is hung with a variety of metal, fabric and bone pendants. These are the repositories of "service" spirits, of which each shaman has a different number. The more spirits a shaman has in his service, the stronger the shaman is. Also, metal or glass mirrors sometimes become an element of the shaman's costume, which are a shield that reflects the energy of evil spirits.

After the death of a shaman, the skin on his tambourine is necessarily pierced. Since the shaman's tambourine is a living being, he must die along with his master.

DRUM OF SHAMAN:

In the Shaman's World, the object that we habitually call a tambourine is not a rim on which a leather flap is stretched - but a living creature. Opinions differ as to how the shaman's work takes place when using a tambourine. Some sources mention the music of the tambourine as the Call for the helper spirits during the ritual.

Other researchers believe it is simply a way to create vibration and put yourself and those around you in a trance. And, finally, still others mention that being in an altered state of consciousness, shamans see a tambourine in the form of a different object. Most likely, we are dealing with three aspects of the same phenomenon, described from different points of view.

In most chants, shamanic legends, the tambourine is called "horse", "horse", "deer", even "reindeer team", sometimes - "sled". By the way, in Russian we traditionally use the word "narta" by analogy with the word "sleigh" (plural), although in the special literature it is accepted "narta" - the feminine gender singular. At the same time, of course, this is not just a sled - a sleigh, an inanimate object, but a team with dogs. Usually in the harness there are still deer (or rather, deer), but sometimes the shaman can ask for help for himself and the husky. Why does a shaman need a team? Of course, for travel - it is on his fast and light tambourine that the shaman flies into the Upper World and falls into the Lower. (By the way, traveling to the Lower Worlds does not always involve the tambourine in the ritual). Thus, a tambourine is not just a way, a means to get to other worlds, but also an opportunity to return from there. That is why the ancients firmly connected the life force of the shaman with his tambourine. It was not just strength, but the ability to control oneself, rituals and, consequently, one's own movements along the World Axis. If the shaman died, then he left for another world irrevocably - therefore, the tambourine was destroyed, killed, releasing spirits from it, turning it from a mystical deer or sled into an object: a shell (rim) and skin. Usually, a tambourine was pierced by putting it on a sharp branch of a tree next to the shaman's grave: in this way, a special grave was additionally marked, which not only could not be disturbed, but also should not have been approached without a special reason. If the shaman's burial did not look like a burial mound or burial ground, but, say, a hut or a yurt, then his tambourine was hung either at the entrance as a sign that it was the shaman who was buried here, or (less often) next to the smoke hole. Traditionally, the tambourine was made unusable, but sometimes in the legends we find mentions of how the hero finds a "escheat (" bad "," bad "," empty ", etc.) village" and accidentally (or intentionally) disturbs the spirit of the village shaman ... In particular, by touching a tambourine put on a stake at the entrance to his dwelling-tomb.

During his life, a shaman could have several tambourines. As a rule, the shaman did not have two or more tambourines at the same time, but this custom was sometimes violated, especially when the shaman made a special tambourine for a particular ritual (and then this tambourine was destroyed after the ritual), or when the shaman created a tambourine together with his successor, disciple: at some point, the shaman had two tambourines in his hands (or rather, touching his hands, knowing them). Usually, a shaman had no more than nine tambourines during his life (cf. nine cat lives, nine worlds in some shamanic cosmologies). When the last tambourine was torn, it means that the life of the shaman himself was coming to an end, he had to die. It is worth noting that no one dared to encroach on the life of the shaman at this moment - it was just that the shaman usually left on his own - and not violently, but in a completely natural way.

Here is what V.M. Kandyba in the work "Mysterious superpowers of man":

"According to the concepts of Yakut shamanism, a tambourine is a horse, and a beater is a whip for a shaman. A tambourine for a shaman is a winged horse, which he rides around the three-dimensional world. He is also an advisor to the shaman. The winged horse tells the shaman about everything he sees and hears. , warns him against troubles, against the misfortunes of other shamans and helps in his rituals and healing work. The sound of a tambourine at a shaman is different. A knowledgeable person by the sound of a tambourine immediately recognizes what the shaman is doing and what ritual he is conducting. The sounds of a tambourine change with the shaman's journey to Nizhny Novgorod. The level of the shaman can be immediately determined by the sounds of the tambourine. the tambourine sounds like when summoning spirits, then the professionalism of this shaman can be immediately denied.

A good professional shaman begins the ritual quietly and calmly, with the call of the cosmic forces - the shaman's spirits. He does not scream wildly theatrically and does not jump like mad. A tambourine, a beater and a shaman's costume are a reflection of the whole world. They contain the secret of this ancient Russian art, the special magical power of the Cosmos and the cosmological concepts of shamanism. All of them are spoken from above and in them is the secret teaching of our ancestors. Therefore, you cannot put on the costume of someone else's shaman and pick up someone else's tambourine. "

The tambourines were quite large - about 50-60 cm in diameter. Their shape was not always perfectly round: most of the diamonds were in the shape of an oval.

We see that if a tambourine is a living being, then it must be made of living material. The skin for a tambourine is the skin of that animal, which will then pull up the shaman's harness. For a greater identification of the part with the whole, a drawing of the whole (animal: deer, horse, etc.) was applied to the part (leather flap) along with the image of the action that will be performed - that is, immediately - the nart, the deer and the shaman himself. However, many tambourines of Siberian shamans were made of cow and lamb skin.

Since the drawings on the tambourine carried a huge semantic and symbolic load, they were schematic and not very large. The fact is that in addition to the shaman, a picture of the world was depicted on the tambourine. Other traditional images on the tambourine include the Spirits-helpers of the shaman, his Family, and a personal totem. Sometimes the drawing of the totem was outlined with a thin line on the whole tambourine, and then a stylized "map" of the Hidden Worlds was applied over it. Of course, more often in such a composition the image of the Guardian Spirit of the Family was used, which to some extent was both the Guardian of the World and the manifestation of the Great Spirit in the material world. Sometimes the drawing was applied only to the outer part of the tambourine, sometimes to the inner one too. On the inside of the tambourine there was a cruciform handle or just a bar fixed vertically or even horizontally (naturally, the vertical position was more logical - cf. World Axis). There are also tambourines, where a metal ring or even a leather loop, usually untreated, is used as a handle. Before attaching the handle, a spiral symbol was sometimes applied on the inside - clockwise or counterclockwise. The first option served as a symbol of the shaman's ability to travel to the Upper Worlds, the second - to the Lower. If it was a strong shaman, then the drawing could consist of two spirals flowing into each other (something similar to a lemniscate is a symbol of infinity).

When choosing a tree for the sidewall, the shaman was guided by the advice of his Spirits, talked with them, talked about what kind of tambourine he was going to create, what kind of travel he was going to undertake. These conversations could have been in the nature of solitary or even group meditation. Following the call of the spirits through the forest in search of a tree for a rim, the shaman finally found a place where the same tree was waiting for him, closed his eyes and listened, spoke with the spirit of the tree. In the same way, the animal was thoughtfully selected to become the singing part of the tambourine. If the shaman went to hunt this animal, then before and after the hunt, the shaman performed serious cleansing rituals: he performed ritual ablutions, starved for several days and, of course, did not engage in sexual relations. After the material was found, the shaman made a tambourine with his own hand. The whole process from beginning to end proceeded in an altered state of consciousness, the shaman practically without stopping, spoke with a tambourine. When everything was ready, the tambourine was initiated with a ritual, when the shaman asked the spirits to accept this tambourine as his friend and an object of power. For some peoples, the Spirits had to approve the work of the shaman (these were the Supreme Spirits, and then the shaman again told them in a song the story of finding his friend), for others, it was more a holiday of the spirits and shaman finding a living tambourine.

Bells and bells were placed on the handle and the inner part of the shell, which could serve the shaman both as protection from evil spirits and as attractive music for the helper spirits. The figures, which were suspended between the bells, depicted the helper spirits themselves - that is, they actually also "took their places" on the magic map. If the shaman went to the Lower World (and then his tambourine already became a boat carried by the river in the kingdom of the dead) to fight, say, for the patient's soul, then among the pendants there were also images of other magical objects and weapons. Sometimes such pendants were attached not only to the handle, but also to the rim itself and hung down like knives.

The ritual, as a rule, began calmly and unhurriedly. All participants and spectators took their places, and the shaman (or his assistant, student) warmed up the tambourine on the fire. The fire served both to cleanse and awaken that very living tambourine. In practice, as he heated up, the skin stretched tighter, and the sound of the tambourine became deeper, causing a stronger vibration.

In Finland, Lapland shamans used drums, not tambourines, during rituals. "The drum helped the shaman to gain knowledge of what happened in other places, even very remote ones, to predict the success or failure of future ventures, illnesses of other people, to find ways of healing, to find out what kind of sacrifice is pleasing to gods and spirits." (Samuel Rin - Christian priest - notes compiled in the 17th century). The drum, like the tambourine, was made of a wooden base, tied with wooden hoops and covered with leather. The skin depicted symbolic pictures of travel between worlds. It is interesting that if on the most ancient of the extant drums the Upper, Middle and Lower Worlds are depicted in the shamanic tradition, then in many later works we can see the results of mixing shamanic and Christian beliefs: images of Paradise and Hell in the form in which they were represented by the sacred Christian texts. On such drums, angels and demons can be clearly distinguished, led by the Devil. Sometimes an amulet was placed on the surface of the drum, depicting the shaman himself or one of his assistant spirits, and during the ritual, due to the blows on the drum, this figure moved either to the Upper or Lower World, where it was believed that the shaman himself went.

It is believed that when acquiring a tambourine or drum, how deep it sounds is critical. If possible, preference should be given to rich, vibrant tones. It is good to know that the skin of the drum sags in the cold, but in the warmth it will dry out and stretch again.

THESE WERE THE CONCLUSIONS OF JOURNALIST RESEARCHERS. WHAT CAN I TELL YOU AS A PRACTICE:

I myself personally, in other special cases, use Shamanic Practices using my own Tambourine. He is personally acquainted with the famous Shaman of Taimyr - Oleg Krashevsky. Relying on and basing on my own Practical Knowledge, observations and experience, I will say the following - "It is IMPOSSIBLE to learn to be a Shaman from various gurus." Shamans very rarely and ever take as their apprentices. "Teachers of Shamans" are FIRST of all SPIRITS, GODS, Supreme Beings and various Inhabitants of the Otherworldly World. By resorting to Shamanic Practices, it is possible, just as in Occultism as a whole, to do good, and to do evil in the same way. He personally cured a couple of serious diseases with Shamanic techniques. I will not boast of other achievements, for bragging is outside of my moral principles. I will dispel some vague misconceptions regarding various fictions and rumors associated with them about Shamanism. Some people who have read Carlos Castaneda, and misunderstanding the meaning of his writings, declare that Shamans all polls supposedly take hallucinogenic herbs and mushrooms to plunge into a trance. That is, on the basis of their herbs and mushrooms, they create potions, and under the influence of these narcotic intoxication, they supposedly penetrate the World of Spirits and conduct communication there. This is fundamentally wrong. First: Shamans are very good Healers in healing and, accordingly, in herbs. And how to make healing potions from poisonous mushrooms is also very well known. And incense - incense for their Practitioners what to collect from herbs, even more so. Secondly: No intoxication, and even more so narcotic, DOES NOT contribute to Development in Esotericism. But only self-destruction and degradation. And the Power of any Witchcraft to such "unfortunate practitioners", following the false paths based on rumors, regular states of various intoxication UNWAYS DO NOT bring. And vice versa, they only take away. Shamans regularly carry out various exercises on themselves to develop bioenergy, strengthen the biofield, and protect themselves. Various trainings for the development of Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, Sixth Sense, Lucid Dreaming, Out-of-Body Experience, etc. Starting with simple rhythmic breathing and continuing with various deep meditations. Consciousness for this simply MUST BE KEEPED IN PURITY AND CLEARANCE! And accordingly, your own health strengthens everything to complete perfection. Shamanism and, accordingly, Shamans are found and met far from only among the Northern peoples and indigenous peoples of Siberia and Asia: Nenets, Chukchi, Evens, Evenks, Dolgantsy, Taimyrs, Eskimos, Yakuts, Khanty, Mansi, Kalmyks, Buryats, Altaians, Khakases, Maris- El, Mordvins, Chuvash, Komi-Permyak, etc. In the same way, the Türkic peoples had and still have their own Shamans - Tatars, Bashkirs, Nogays, Kazakhs, Kirghiz, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Pashtuns. Shamanism among these peoples especially flourished before their adoption of Islam. Also, Shamanism continues to flourish in Mongolia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, throughout the "Indochina" peninsula, there are even Shamans in Japan and its islands. In the same way, Shamans met and are found among the Gypsy people, among the Ancient Caucasian peoples, among the Khazar nomads, among all the Indians of North and South America, among the Indigenous Australians. The most important thing is that a kind of Shamanism (Sorcery) was and flourished among the Ancient Slavs in Primordial Russia - Pre-Christian, among the Scandinavian peoples, among the Celts (Druids). And the most noticeable phenomenon is that there is also their own Shamanism in Africa, among the same Voodoo Sorcerers: It is progressively practiced by the Ungans and Bokkors. Likewise, Shamanism lived and flourished among the Ancient Semites. The homeland of Shamanism remains unknown to this day. I consider this phenomenon and direction in Esotericism to be universal and international in Truth and Essence.

I consider the Shaman's tambourine to be an integral attribute of Shamanic Practitioners. A very versatile tool capable of doing both positive and negative deeds. With His help, you can heal a lot, and vice versa, you can send a disease to your enemies. In general, the very use of the Tambourine and other percussion instruments in Magic is nothing more than the "Section of Sound Magic". You can also refer all this to the direction of "Magic of Musical Impact". Everywhere has its own subtleties and peculiarities. In addition to the Tambourine, there are many other musical instruments in the direction of Shamanism: Vargan (Khomus), Flute, Kalimba, Tamtam, Gong, Rozhok, Khoragay, etc. In Healing, this effect is called "Sound Therapy". And Sound Therapy is also capable of a lot.

YOU CAN HEAR THE SOUNDS OF SHAMMAN'S DRAMS, RELAXING MUSIC ON MY OTHER SITE BY FOLLOWING THE LINK

Shaman's attributes, power items

The main attribute of a shaman is his costume. Shaman costumes at different nations are different.

As an example, let's give a description of the Siberian shaman's costume:

"The shaman's dress was a caftan made of leather, so short in front that it does not cover the knees, but in the back it is long, right up to the ground; along the edges and over the entire surface of this caftan, but only at the back, something like a fringe is sewn from bundles of thinly cut rovduga; on these straps are attached rattles and glands of various shapes, which have special names, places and partly symbolic meanings.

The caftan is smooth in front and is tied at the chest with belt ties, and under the neck it is fastened with a buckle. On it in front are sewn figures of animals, birds, fish, animals, all kinds of plaques, emblems heavenly bodies, as well as glands representing parts of the human skeleton and entrails. In the north, in the absence of the costume described above, they put on a fur coat made of calfskin, with the wool outward, on which some more important pieces of iron are sometimes hung from the back, such as: both "suns", a fish, sometimes where a woman has breasts, they are hung two round cans to represent them. In the north, a woman's travel cap with headphones is worn on the head. According to the general belief, a piece of iron and a trinket of a shaman's dress has the property of not rusting and has a soul "(Kandyba D. Russian hypnosis. - M .: KSP, 1995).

Another important attribute is a tambourine (or drum). Like the costume, the tambourine was made for the young shaman by his teacher.

Siberian shamans, for example, always have an egg-shaped tambourine; its rim is made of an old deciduous tree dried up on a stump, from the best part of such a tree, called the "keel"; on the outside, the rim of the tambourine is decorated with seven, nine and eleven angular bulges covered with the same skin that covers the entire tambourine (moreover, the skin must be from a three-year-old bull); inside the tambourine there are belts tied crosswise in the middle to an iron circle with crossbars or to a cross; for this iron, the shaman, having passed his fingers through the corresponding holes, holds a tambourine. Inside the tambourine, along the rim, especially where the straps are tied, there are many bells, bells, iron and bone rattles, obedient to the slightest movement of the shaman-musician. To play the tambourine, the shaman takes a small, slightly curved wooden mallet, trimmed with leather from mare's or deer's legs.

Tambourines of Sami shamans are large and round in shape, have a wide rim, a wooden longitudinal handle in the form of a wide plate, one or several transverse (in relation to the handle) iron or wooden rods, as well as a complex pattern on the outer side of the tambourine covering. These drawings are quite diverse, but most of them reflect the idea of ​​three worlds - Lower, Middle and Upper. The surface of the tambourine covering is divided by stripes or otherwise into three parts, each of which is filled with figures of people, animals, images of mythological creatures belonging to the corresponding worlds. In some cases, in the center of the tambourine covering, the sun was depicted, from which rays emanate, as if dividing the spheres of activity of various creatures.

Interesting ways to use tambourines. Among most peoples, the shaman held a tambourine by the handle with his left hand, and with his right hand held a mallet, with which he struck the tambourine from the side covered with leather. As a rule, the tambourine at this time was in an upright position. Since the tambourine was used for different purposes (when treating a patient, predicting the future, fortune telling, etc.), it is possible that the position of the tambourine was different.

So far, the position of the tambourine during cult actions among the Sami does not find analogies:

"A ring made of metal or alder was placed on it; several small rings were usually tied to this ring. When the ring was placed in the middle of the tambourine, they began to strike the tambourine with a hammer, accompanying the blows with a song. The beater was usually wooden or made of deer antlers. the direction in which the ring moved from the blows, they recognized what was required. When it was required to find out about the outcome of the planned enterprise, the noyd (Sami shaman - A.P.) put a large ring with small rings tied to it on the tambourine so that it fell on the image of the sun. were moving salty, it was considered a good omen ... "(Khomich L. Shamansky drum of the Sami (to the problem of ethnic contacts). / In the book. Pr. problems of ethnic history and interethnic contacts of the Baltic-Finnish peoples. - SPb., 1994).

Over time, the tambourine fell out of use among different peoples. Among the Kola Sami, the shamans replaced it with a belt - "very much". This belt was made of a strip of leather, the outer side was trimmed in length with cloth strips of three colors - yellow, red and black. In the center of the belt, one above the other, three metal rings were attached, to the right and to the left of them there were three rhombuses embroidered with beads. During the rituals, the shaman put on this belt on himself and in it he prophesied or healed the sick. Still later, the belt was replaced by a scarf.

Among other attributes of the shaman, one should pay attention to the staff - the prototype of the priestly wand. In shamanic understanding, the staff denotes the axis between the solstices - the power of the Sun and the power of the Earth.

North American shamans made a staff from a branch cut from a live hazel or other walnut tree. Its length is approximately equal to the distance between the shoulder and the fingertips of an outstretched hand. Before undertaking a "surgical operation", the shaman not only asks permission from the tree, but also waits for instructions on where to make an incision. The cut branch is carefully prepared for further processing; before carving the staff, the shaman removes most of the bark. Some of the staffs are carved with a serpent. A rock crystal was sometimes inserted into the mouth of a carved snake. Some staves are adorned with feathers, pendants, and even bells. Symbols that are important to the shaman are carved or painted on the staff and the butt of the staff.

Another attribute, the shamanic mask, serves as a vehicle for expressing inner potential, usually in ceremonial or shamanic dance. The mask can represent any animal or patron spirit. It is worn to strengthen inner contact with these forces. Masks are made from various materials... The simplest mask is painted on the face.

In some cultures, shamans used a pendulum. The pendulum consists of a small weight - for example, a crystal of crystal, a pebble or a wooden cone, suspended from a thread or thin cord. The cord is held between the index and thumb, 7-8 centimeters from the load. The circular movement of the load (clockwise or counterclockwise), as well as its oscillation in a horizontal or vertical plane, gives a positive, negative or neutral answer to a question formulated in advance in a mental form. The shaman uses the pendulum as a means of communication between the conscious and subconscious and for talking with the hidden self. It is a method of gaining knowledge about things that are beyond the mind.

Bird feathers were of great symbolic value and were highly prized by the American Indians, who gave them rich nuances of meaning. The shaman uses a feather fan to fumigate himself and others, and to cleanse and consecrate certain objects. American shamans often used the feathers of eagles and other sacred birds, but feathers of any kind are suitable for our purposes. wild bird... They are attached to a wooden handle upholstered in soft leather or fabric and decorated with a bead pattern with symbols and emblems.

A rattle serves as a kind of addition to a tambourine in some cultures. This ancient sound device was used to create an atmosphere of anticipation in the process of moving from one level of reality to another. Usually, the rattle is made from dried pumpkin or rawhide and contains seeds, beans, pebbles or small crystals that emit a characteristic sound when the instrument is shaken. The pumpkin is attached to a wooden or bone handle. The sound of a rattle gently calms the mind, removing the barrier between the perception of the material world and the reality of the spirit. In other words, like a tambourine, it serves as a "bridge between the worlds"; that's why rattles are so good at soothing crying babies.

The whistle is a signaling instrument for calling to higher energies and communication with the shaman's allies and mentors in the spirit world. Native Americans made whistles from the bones of a bird's wing, usually an eagle's. The whistle (whistle) is also a shamanic attribute of the tribes of the Slavic group. In Europe, it gradually turned into a flute and flute. This makes us suspect that the legend of the Pied Piper, who took the rats, and then the children, out of the city of Hamelin, is related to some kind of shamanic rite.

Shamans store their collections of crystals, stones, herbs, and other power items in easily accessible, easy-to-carry pouches. Sometimes these bags are placed in a large shoulder bag. The material for the manufacture of bags and pouches is usually leather or thick fabric. They are decorated with fringes and beads, embroidered or painted with patterns and symbols related to the wearer. To prevent the contents from spilling out, the bags are usually pulled together with thick threads or leather laces.

Shaman bags and pouches themselves are objects of power, since they serve as storage for things containing power.

While power objects can be innumerable, one of them stands out - it is a quartz crystal. Shamans attach particular importance to these hexagonal pointed stones, which can range in color from sheer to milky white.

The quartz crystal is considered the most powerful item of power, since its material and spiritual nature are one. Many peoples call it "living stone".

Crystals are often pressed into the skin, rubbing them on the bodies of training shamans, and even pouring "liquefied" quartz onto their bodies. Shamans put a quartz crystal in water and drink it, after which they acquire the ability to see ghosts.

Shamans have long used quartz crystals for vision and divination. The crystal ball that is familiar to the people of our culture is simply a polished descendant of an old shamanic crystal.

In Australia, the finest shamans looked into the crystal to evoke visions of the past, present and future. The Indians would often send a quartz crystal or its spirit to capture the image of someone else's face. This technique was also used for long distance healing. The shaman sent a crystal at night to bring the image of the sick person. When the image arrived, the shaman danced around the crystal, shaking the rattle. Then the shaman asked the crystal to remove the harmful power from the image. A sick person, who was far away, thus recovered.

As a rule, the shaman wears his crystal hidden from people and from the rays of the sun. The shaman of the Siberian Sakhov people keeps it in his shoulder bag. The Australian shaman also stores his quartz crystals in a bag along with other power items, but can also store them in the stomach. A Tsimpani shaman wears a crystal in a pouch around his neck. The Papayan shaman is so dependent on a quartz crystal that it looks more like a guardian spirit than a helper spirit.

The shaman of South America has quartz crystals inside a rattle. It is believed that after death the soul of the shaman merges with them and rises into the sky in the form of light. Conversely, the shaman's soul can return to Earth from its heavenly dwelling in the form of a quartz crystal.

The quartz crystal is also associated with the sky and can be found by the shaman at the foot of the rainbow. Australian shaman Kaby "with many crystals in his body could travel down to the deepest wells where the spirit of the rainbow lived, and acquire even more crystals." Such a shaman rises "full of life" and "becomes a physician of the highest degree."

Some California shamans possessed very strong crystals - "ancestors", which were considered especially powerful. According to some beliefs, you need to work with them very carefully, especially with large ones: if the crystal is damaged, then the "end of the world" can come.

Psychodysleptic drugs (hallucinogens) play an essential role in the rituals of shamans.

Throughout Siberia and the Arctic since ancient times, the main psychoactive agent was the red fly agaric. Among the Khanty, for example, shamanic travels were preceded by a one-day fast, at the end of which the shaman ate three to seven fly agarics and went to bed. A few hours later, he suddenly woke up, shaken by a shiver, and announced that the spirits had told him. Among the Koryaks, shamans ate fly agaric, if it was necessary to come into contact with evil spirits or the souls of the dead.

Amanita muscaria is known to cause poisoning. After their use, there is a reddening of the face, neck and chest, increased heart rate, hallucinations in the form of bright colored spots, a violation of orientation in time and space. Already after a few minutes, these phenomena are smoothed out. The feeling of calmness lasts longer, turning into a state of bliss, which lasts for several hours.

By the way, European fly agarics are somewhat more poisonous than Siberian ones, and require more caution when used. Mild forms of poisoning are accompanied by a certain revitalization and spontaneity of movements, as from alcohol. With deeper poisoning, the surrounding objects begin to seem now very small, now very large, revitalization and depression alternate.

The shaman who has eaten the fly agaric sits calmly and, swaying from side to side, talks with family members. Suddenly his eyes roll up, he begins to convulsively gesticulate, talk to someone else, sing, dance. Then there comes a break, and in order to return from another world to ours, he must still eat one or two fly agarics.

The action of the fly agaric would be stronger if the alkaloid was not excreted from the body in the urine. Therefore, the Koryaks, for example, consider the fly agaric beetle's urine a valuable drink. He usually drinks it himself or offers it to others as a treat.

It should be noted here that the use of fly agarics was widespread not only among shamans, but also in the most diverse cults of India. Their images are found everywhere on the walls of temples. The Germans made a drink from them for the berserkers.

The name of the fly agaric among the Ural and Siberian peoples is "punk" or "bang" - a synonym Iranian name hemp. Hemp, on the other hand, was widely used by the Scythians as an ecstatic remedy. From the descriptions of Herodotus, we know about felt-covered shrines with hot stones in the center of the hut. The priests threw hemp seeds on them and, being in the clouds of intoxicating smoke, came into contact with the spirits and souls of the dead.

In shamanic practice on the American continent, "talkative" mushrooms are still widely used: peyote, strafaria and others, as well as extracts from vines, for example, ayahuasca - a decoction, the main component of which is a water vine. This drink is the most widespread among the hallucinogens found in the equatorial part of the New World used by shamans.

Here is what the ayahuasca Terek McKenna reported on a research expedition in the Colombian Amazon in the early 1970s:

“Jivaro shamans in Ecuador take ayahuasca, after which they - and anyone else who takes it - gains the ability to see a certain substance, which is said to be purple or dark blue and bubble like liquid. vomiting occurs, you throw out exactly this liquid; in addition, it appears on the skin like sweat. This curious thing the jivaro is used in most of their witchcraft rituals. All this is kept in the strictest secrecy. Eyewitnesses say that shamans pour liquid on the ground in front of them. and, looking into it, they see other edges and times.According to them, the nature of this fluid goes completely beyond the limits of ordinary experience; it consists of space, time or thought, or it is a pure hallucination that takes on an objective expression, but always limited liquid ".

Strong tobacco, used in the form of smoke or chewing gum, is also used as a hallucinogen on the American continent.

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While many view claims of extraordinary phenomena with a healthy dose of skepticism, in some cultures contact with supernatural forces is accepted unconditionally. Since ancient times, the tribal system has revered people who were believed to have the ability to communicate with deities and spirits.

They were called by different names: seers, healers or healers, but the most famous of such people are shamans, and they turned to them when necessary to heal from a physical or emotional illness, provide themselves with food in times of famine, help find objects left or lost somewhere. predict the future, control the weather, bring back the departed souls of the sick, and guide the souls of the dead.

Shamans usually try to communicate with the spirit world while in a trance. To enter this altered state of consciousness, they use methods similar to those used in modern experiments in parapsychology.

They either meditate in silence or focus on the rhythmic sounds of drumming, singing, or dancing; they may abstain from food or take hallucinatory substances. Once the soul and body have entered a trance, the shaman has the opportunity - often on a so-called shamanic flight - to visit the spirit world. There the shaman receives a message that may come to him in the form of a magic song, prayer, or sung; this is often expressed in the form of a luminous vision that reveals the nature of life.

On rare occasions, shamans have attempted to describe in words and pictures some of their often ineffable revelations they received on extraordinary travels into the spirit world. An example is the religious cultures of the Indians of North America.

Spirits of Anarkuac.

When Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen came to Arctic North America in 1921 to study the culture of the Igloolik Eskimos, he met a culture there that revolved almost entirely around a multitude of invisible creatures - the spirits that lived in every person, animal and object, and the spirits that answered Seemingly unexplained phenomena such as illness and bad weather.

From an Eskimo shaman named Anrkuak, who reproduced his visions of creatures from memory and depicted them in detail on paper. Rasmussen learned that some spirits were kind and helped the Eskimos, others were aggressive and unfriendly, and some were just evil. Although the Eskimos collectively tried to keep bad spirits away by following the prescribed rituals and taboos, only shamans were successful in expelling them completely.

Anarkuak was assisted in his shamanism by the so-called helper spirits. According to him, they penetrated his body or simply called his name, and when he answered, their strength became his strength. Many good spirits came at first, resembling monsters or ferocious animals that needed to be tamed or pacified. But, as soon as the spirits-helpers began to obey, they already firmly stood on his side, were loyal and readily helped the shaman.

Anarkuak claimed that the spirit of Igtuk was the source of the muffled sounds coming from the arctic mountains. According to the shaman, he had only one huge eye, which was on the body, at the same level as his arms. The mouth opened wide, and a huge dark chasm gaped inside. And the chin was covered with a thick layer of stubble.

Soon after Anarkuak's parents died, he said a spirit of sadness called Issitok, or the Giant Eye, came to him. “Don't be afraid of me,” the spirit said, “for I too am struggling with sad thoughts. Therefore, I will walk beside you and will be your helper spirit ”. Subsequently, he helped Anarkuak find people who violated the tribe's taboos.

One spring, Anarkuak saw a female spirit named Kvinjaruvlik who was trying to steal the child by hiding it under his clothes. However, before she could do this, two heavily armed helper spirits came to the rescue and killed the kidnapper.

Another time, while hunting a Canadian deer, Anarkuak met a fat spirit named Nartok. Nartok pounced on Anarkuak, as if attacking him, but when the shaman prepared to defend himself, the spirit disappeared. Later Nartok appeared again and explained to Anarkuak that when he learns to control his temper, Nartok will become his helper spirit.

Another, one of the many spirits that Anarkuac met while hunting, was a beast-like creature the size of a bear. His name was Kigutilik. Growling viciously, Kigutilik emerged from a hole in the ice when the shaman was hunting seals. Anarkuak was so scared that he fled home without even summoning a helper spirit.

Great vision of the Black Elk.

Have Black Elk, the leader and healer of the Oglala Siu Indian tribe, had several occasions when the ability to see came to him, which helped him to lead his people out of a streak of failures. However, the first time Black Elk entered the spirit world when he was still a very young boy.

In 1931, the already elderly Black Elk shared his impressions with the poet John G. Nyhardt, who later described them in verse. As Black Elk said, for several years the spirits called him and sang, and when he was nine years old, the voices said: "Now is the time." After this, Black Elk suddenly felt ill and was dying for twelve days; at this time a great vision came to him.

According to him, two spirits descended from the sky to take him out of the house, and together with them the Black Elk ended up in a “transcendental world, on a large white plain with snow-capped hills and mountains”. There the Black Elk met six elders, the most powerful spirits in the world. “They looked as old as possible, as old as hills, as stars,” he said.

The elders told the Black Elk about the spiritual values ​​of life and showed him the symbols of their life: a cup of water and an onion, which can be used to create or destroy life; healing herb and cleansing sacred wind; the pipe of peace and the herb of understanding; the hoop of the world, symbolizing; flowering branch, symbol of the tree of life. Then the Black Elk was led to the center of the earth, where he was shown "the goodness, beauty and singularity of the blooming earth, the spiritual forms of things as they should be."

When they told him everything, the most ancient elder let the Black Elk go back, telling him: "Go back with force back to where you came from." Black Elk returned to his village; and his illness was gone. But he himself had already changed forever. Childish carelessness turned in him into the maturity of a man, in whose words the wisdom of the ages was traced.

The powers of peyote.

For the shaman Ulu Temeya, like other shamans of the Mexican Indian tribes of Huichol, dreamless sleep is much worse than no sleep at all, because shamans in dreams and visions receive messages from the gods. In dreams, the shaman receives predictions of the future, reminders of obligations that he must fulfill or rituals that must be performed, reports of cases of insulting spirits, and he is offered means of punishment.

But while dreams talk about what needs to be done, the real possibilities of the shaman are shown to him in visions - kaleidoscopic images that appear after the shaman eats intoxicating buds or peyote cactus tops. The shaman leaves reality, and in visions he penetrates into the inner world, where the spirits share with him the secrets of their omnipotence and teach the shaman how to use their special powers and expand them.

While eating peyote buds, the shaman can hold in his hands a brightly colored disk, which he made like the disk seen in one of his dreams. Such discs from dreams remind the shaman of the promises he made to the gods in one of his past visions. To fulfill the obligation, the shaman offers the disk to the gods.

Colored discs are also considered a reward from the gods for loyalty to an oath or agreement, and it is believed that they contain the essence, and, therefore, the power of the gods. In addition to the colored discs, bird feathers attached to the arrow are an attribute of the shaman's power. Birds are believed to be the messengers of the deities, and with the help of feather sticks and discs, channels of communication with the gods are created. These items are kept in wicker baskets and are used in almost all shamanic rituals. They appear both in visions after consuming peyote and in visions of the rain-making ceremony.