Tuvan
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
In Southern Siberia, on the northern edge of Mongolia, is the remote country of Tuva. This country has the unique claim to fame of being the farthest from an ocean on the planet. This is a country of rugged mountains, alpine lakes and great rivers, high steppes, fierce deserts, and dense forestland. The people here are nomadic, tending herds of camels, goats, yaks, reindeer, and sheep. The ethnic heritage is Turkish with strong Mongolian influence, and this place is said to have been the center of the ancient Turkish civilization.
In the Tuvan culture, shamans have always played a vital role in the lives of the people. The people of Tuva hold the perception of the natural world as being alive with spiritual energies, and they strive to maintain a harmonious relationship with their environment. Here in this fluid and mystical world, all of the seen world is imbued with a stream of consciousness from the unseen world. Here spirit plays out great adventures and dramas, and the seen and the unseen are woven together in an unbroken fabric called the play of life. Spirits of ancestors, holy beings, and wily trickster spirits populate this living, breathing world. Central characters of significance are the nine sacred mountains, the nine sacred springs, and the nine sacred sky beings. Trees hold special significance, especially those that have more than one trunk growing from a central set of roots. One such tree is revered as a shaman’s tree, as it has 12 trunks emerging from a single root system. These great nature beings are accorded generous respect by the people, are ritually fed, and offerings and prayer petitions are made to them. Trees are festooned with ribbons representing the prayers of the people, and these colorful ornaments attract the attention of the spirits. Everywhere are sacred places of power, often marked by piles of stones left as offerings to the spirits. Passing travelers continually add stones with their own prayers.
The shaman is the dancer between these worlds, the mediator between the people and spirit. ritual life is central to this keeping of the balance, and the shaman carries the knowledge and wisdom of how to conduct the ceremonies which allow life to continue in a harmonious way. There is an annual fire ceremony, as well as rituals to bless the land, and enhance fertility. Healing work includes extraction of harmful or non-resonant energies, exorcising unwanted spirits from a person or location, soul retrieval, and soul work around birth, death, and other life transitions.
Shamanism in Tuva is often, though not exclusively, hereditary, and a family lineage of shamans is common. Family members will watch for telltale signs of early awakenings, such as past life memories, vivid dream life, accurate predictions of the future, speaking different languages, spending a lot of time wandering alone in nature, communicating with animals, speaking spontaneous poetic verse, and other inherent mystical qualities. These are seen as initial contacts by spirits wishing to work with the person. The final sign preceding shamanic initiation is the “shaman’s illness,” the onset occurring early or later in life, and representing the invasion of the person by the spirit of a shaman. Common manifestations are dizziness, fainting, memory loss, convulsions, ringing in the ears, dramatic change in personality, fever, delirium, and excessive sleeping. When these symptoms show up, the local shaman is called in to diagnose and confirm that the person had indeed been inflicted with the shaman’s illness. Though this is considered an honor, it is not always welcome. It represents a great responsibility to the people, and often a harrowing ordeal for the budding shaman, in the form of the shamanic initiation. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, if the person heeds the call of the spirits and begins the shaman’s journey, with the guidance of the local shaman, the illness will most often quickly subside. If the call is ignored or rejected, the illness may intensify, and death may occur.
With the commencement of training, the initiate would require the tools of the trade. This includes; the customary tunic, decorated with long ribbons representing spirit helpers, as well as bells and other sacred metallic objects (aiding in the trance inducing sound effects of ritual and journey); as well as a feathered headdress to facilitate flight and spirit contact; and the all-important drum, or “shaman’s horse,” used to produce the trance inducing rhythm which facilitates the shamans “ride to the other side.” The family would make these things for the initiate, and a public ritual would proclaim their sponsorship of him or her, during which the drum would be beaten to “wake up” the spirits and charge the drum with sacred power. The initiate would train under the local shaman, and, depending on the lineage, would either receive initiation from the elder shaman, or go through the initiation guided only by spirit helpers.
In addition to the above mentioned tools, the Tuvan shaman also commonly uses his voice as a tool. During ritual, the shaman often sings, chants, and recites epic verse, carrying the oral tradition of the culture in this way. Another unique form of vocal expression in Tuva is throat-singing, or “xoomei.” The singer develops the ability to vocalize two distinct tracks with his/her voice, one primary one, and a secondary one which is high pitched and through which various distinct and separate sounds are produced. As can be imagined, this effect greatly enhances the trance inducing power of the shaman’s voice, and also is considered to allow a direct link with the vibrational world of the unseen. Tuvans view all sound as expressions of spirit, especially sounds in nature, such as an echo, a bird’s call, whistling wind, and thunder. These vibratory resonances are expressions of specific spirit energies, often sent as messages.
Another aspect of Tuvan culture is a great emphasis on the stars and astrology, with special importance given to the Bear constellation, the place of origin of the people in Tuvan mythology. The shaman’s astrological chart is carefully examined early on in his/her life, and he/she is trained in star wisdom. He/she sets up horoscopes for people commonly in the beginning of the year, along with an annual house blessing and purification. If there is an imbalance in the horoscope between family members, the shaman will initiate a healing to bring balance and harmony. He/she also does readings for people, with the help of a set of 41 helper stones, collected from river power spots. These stones are imbued with spiritual power, and help the shaman to communicate with the spirits in the places the stones were collected. The shaman uses the stones in order to find information and answer questions to help a person or family. If he/she finds that the person receiving the reading is out of balance, or has a lack of power or life force, a ceremony will be done, and through drumming, chanting, and petitioning the spirit helpers, strength and healing are imparted to the patient. Beside the drum, a small silver mirror, a small silver axe, and the leg of an owl, among other tools of personal significance, may be used.
The Tuvan shaman is continuously in a state of awareness of all the blessings that are bestowed on the world of form by the unseen spirit beings. Many rituals are performed throughout the year to give thanks for the spirit of nature, and for the life-sustaining spirits in fire, water, mountains, and stars. In this culture, the Shaman plays a central role in the life of the people, even now, despite many years during which, when Tuva was under Soviet rule, Shamans were persecuted and even killed. Shamanism and Buddhism existed peacefully, side by side, for many years, and both Buddhist monks and Shamans suffered greatly under communist Russian rule. Now, once again, both Buddhism and Shamanism are peacefully coexisting, and the Tuvan people are once again benefiting from these teachings and practices.