I am always fascinated with spiritual world; reason why we exist, the meaning of life, what
happens after we die and so on. The
reason I chose this topic is because I’m a shamanist myself. It’s a belief of
indigenous people, not so many people heard of. Before giving a definition of shamanism, I’d have to explain about
spirits.
Spirit
As the scientific technologies growing up day by day, today
people only believe in the things that they can see, hear or feel; in their
common senses with proven assurance. Here are some facts; eagles’ eyesight is
capable of seeing fish in the water from thousand feet above. Likewise, 3-year
old children and dogs can see the aura (subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a person) of people. It also can be seen through special device. But a person would deny
them, if he can’t SEE through his own eyes. Suppose an eagle and a man seeing
into the water for fish from few hundred feet high altitude. What would the man say? “There’s no such
thing as a fish”, but probably there are fishes in the sea, right? Therefore,
we cannot just deny the fact of existence of spirits.
So if we give away the doubt, then there has to be a
PROOF. Some scientists said they had found a proof, but some still don’t
believe it. The term SHAMAN is the biggest proof of spirits.
Do you think people die and disappear? The answer is NO.
Even though their bodies graved in the ground, their souls still go with
their mind, memories and even has the bruises, marks from the body. Also souls
reincarnate, if their life wasn’t worth good enough, they’d born as a human
again, if worth it they’d go up and up and become spirits and higher ranks.
Worse ones become animal species. Sometimes they can’t even find their kind and
extravagate around the in-between world. Therefore, each soul have different place
and kind to-be born. They all have different ranks. Just like normal human
beings, there are bad spirits and good ones as well. But most importantly they
are capable of influencing people; us.
Afterlife
You, me, us humankind will die someday for sure. Well
what happens after that? When we leave our bodies behind, we directly go
through the Jury of God. It’s the most
accurate fair system. (Which every religion say so) Without it, everything
would have been in chaos. Anyone who’s living in this materialistic world would
think, “Who’d believe that mythical gag?” I’ll tell you the proof.
Shaman
Is there a way dead can connect to us? Yes, and that’s
what Shamans, also called uliyachi are
for. They are the “messengers” between the two worlds. We can meet our
ancestor’s spirit through shamans. They would talk, act just like the way they
were alive, even has the memories, and would also slobber and preach their
children. They might even tell you where they’d hid a treasure.
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| Mongolian Shaman in trance |
WHERE ARE SHAMANS FOUND?
Shamans are found in many parts of the world, but they
generally do not exist outside of animist cultures. That means shamans
hardly ever exist except in gathering-hunting, nomadic animal-herding, or
horticultural (gathering and gardening) communities.
Once a culture turns to agriculture, the religion
changes from animism to something else, usually worship of goddesses
and/or gods, and shamanism disappears, though some cultures retain some elements
of shamanic practice longer than others.
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| Siberian Shamanka |
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| Indian Shaman |
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| Yakut Shaman healer |
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| Thunderbear (Canadian Mohawk) |
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| South African Shaman witch doctor |
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| Mapuche Shaman in Chile |
Shamanism
Shamanism is a specific set of beliefs and
practices used by shamans in serving the spirit world and their own
people. It is the shaman’s job to keep the people in harmony with nature
and the spirit world, and to heal them or bring them back into harmony when
needed.
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| Mongolian Shaman Ritual |
Shamanism is not a religion. It is an outgrowth of
the oldest spiritual belief system, animism.
Gathering-hunting peoples, nomadic animal herding
cultures, and some other animists who live in small, mobile groups or
isolated villages still depend on shamans for healing and spiritual protection
in many parts of the world.
When a culture turns to farming (depending on
raising large quantities of a few crops and staying in one place), the spiritual
belief system gradually changes from animism to something else, such as the
worship of human-like gods and goddesses, and shamanism usually dies out.
References
As I was doing this research, I've found this
documentary feature film that follow the quest of an American guy and his wife
to find healing for their autistic son. After discovering that their son's condition appears to be improved by contact with horses, the family leave their home in Texas on a journey to seek help from the traditional shamans in Mongolia.
You can see insight into the shamanic tradition, healing process from this movie.
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| Isaacson's Family in the steppe |
More Information:
©2012 Nomin Yeru
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