In
1994 when I was 30 years old I had my first vision of spirits. At that
time I
was staying in Ak Dovurak, a city in the western part of Tyva. I saw
feets
walking
around without an upper body as well as half of a human skull. I heard
sounds which were not noticable for others.
After
this I got a vision of the local master spirit with his coat blowing in
the
wind. I tld it to my friends, but they only were afraid. From this on I
began
step by step to shamanize. The spirits several times tried to drown me
in the
river, but I was protected.
Later
I got the shamanic desease, and having survived it I began to tell
fortunes
with stones and cards. I started to read books on shamanism and studied
the
shamanic worldview including horoscope.
Earlier
I couldn’t imagine to work as a shaman, cause I had a normal job
working as a
car driver. But after this experiences I started to work as a shaman in
the
streets of Kyzyl. Having worked in different shamanic societies, Adyg
Eeren
turned out to be my place where I feel comfortable. It is now six years
that I
work there.
My
ancestors also have been shamans: Although I haven’t seen them
personally I
feel their energy and power.
The
big bird is my helping spirit. With his support I can fly anywhere, he
helps me
to heal people.
I
am a shaman descending and originating from master spirits of the
earth, from
black spirits and from the spirit of the bird
Larisa Kuzhuget Churum-oolowna
I
was born in 1962 in the state of Bai-Taiga. My first vision happened to
me when
I was still very young, in the age of 7. It was a cloudy and rainy day,
my
parents went into the forrest in order to fech wood there. Then I saw 7
seven
people similar to foreigners who were walking over the ground, some 50
cm in
the air. I told this to my parents when they returned but they only
laughed at
me
With
27 I got seroiously ill. For 3 years I suffered and felt like somebody
torturing me, several times I lost consciousness.
With
33 years my son was suddenly not at home, so I went into the forrest
where
children were playing to look for him, but I couldn’t find him. In the
forrest
I recognized a big round fire, but I didn’t pay any special attention
on it
this day. Returning to this place the next day xactly were the fire
was, I
could not find any ashes, which was very astonishing to me. These
visions which
happened to me continued as well as my illnesses, but it was not before
1994
when my daughter was born, that I felt for the first time a power that
was
attracting me. Although I knew about shamanic practices long time
before it was
not until the year 2000 that I started to work fully as a shaman.
Also
my father, grandfahter and grand grandfahter were shamans, my
grandmother lived
in the region of Mongun Taiga and knew how to heal with hands. I am of
shamanic
descendence of the spirits of earth, water and the healing power of
extraction.
Orlanma Mongush
Already
my birth was in close connection to a shaman. On the 3rd of
January
1970 in the state of Bai-Taiga I was born in the presence and help of a
shaman.
All my brothers and sisters died before me when mother gave birth to
them. The
shaman got a vision that this would be her last mission to assist my
birth.
When my mother’s birth contractions began the shaman had a vision of
big white
mouse, she consecrated her as a protector from all evil spirits and cut
the navel-string.
After some days the shaman we who was accopanying my birth died as
well. For a
very long time as a child I could not walk. And there it was the help
of
another shaman that made me walk. When my mother went out of the house,
she
just came in without being called and till mother was back I could
walk. Soon
this shaman died as well. After this I grew up close to another shaman,
seeing
continuously horrible beings. Then for a long time a hided my shamanic
gift,
working on a normal job at the police. My ability to see things in
advance
helped me there as well, but then came the moment when I had to decide:
Either
earning money or engaging in shamanism. I realized that even if I would
earn a
lot of money I would always feel empty inside. So I started to study
shamanic
philosophy be means of my own experiences.
Shyrag-ool
Eres-ool Satowich
Grandfather-shaman
of Adyg Eeren (tyvinian asha-cham)
What
is the peculiarity of the Tyvan shamans?
·
Gennadi:
Tyvan shamans feel themselves very close to nature, they regard
themselves as
sons of nature. It follows from this that we bend down in front of
nature, that
we honor it and that we receive all our power from it.
·
Larisa:
Our ancestors performed rituals around the fire with a drum, such
intensive
that they got red eyes. Shamans could almost fly, walk over the fire
without
touching the earth, jump on a tree like a kat. Although today this
power doesn’
t exist any more in such a strong way,
it still exists, it turn into a contemporary form. When I clean a hous
and fall
into trance , I start to dance and see all my ancestors
·
Unlike
the traditions in other cultures we do not consume any drugs, smoke
halluzinogenes or drink in order to find access to the other world