Tuvan (Part 1)
(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.