The shaman's disease according to doctors. Shamanic disease is a heavy gift of spirits. Signs and symptoms of "shamanic disease"

and the shaman -
it's better,
i would go to shamans,
let them teach me.

The epigraph contains a free, playful interpretation of an excerpt from V. Mayakovsky's poem "Who to be?"

Can you become a shaman of your own free will? I guess, yes. But those who desire this do not quite understand what they want. A shaman is not a person who summons spirits, like a faithful dog, to bring him slippers. Even a dog needs to be trained for this. It is impossible to train spirits, you can only negotiate with them.

Strictly speaking, too many words above would have to be enclosed in quotation marks. For example: "Train", "agree", "Spirits"…

Being a shaman is not just some kind of "superpowers", it is a way of thinking, a worldview. This is the very foundation of life.

However, the article is about the phenomenon of "shamanic disease". We will restrict ourselves to this topic.

What is "shamanic disease"

It is not a disease at all. But outwardly it looks unpleasant and strange, and often outwardly looks like a mental disorder. Therefore, the people have stuck - "shamanic disease".

In part, this phenomenon is based on mental problems that inevitably arise when a person begins to contact with something that he does not understand. The human lot is the earthly, material world, which has little resemblance to other worlds with which magicians, sorcerers and shamans work. When a person, accustomed to earthly reality, suddenly begins to clearly feel that something unknown is breaking through him, then he panics, gets nervous. This affects his mental state. But this is not even the reason for mental changes.

In the process of "shamanic illness", the transformation of the psyche and of a person who can become a shaman is already beginning.

Shamanic disease is a harbinger of the fact that a person who is exposed to it passes into a different quality. He becomes what the ancient Greeks called "psychopomp" - that is, a creature that is able to connect the world of the living and the dead, the world of people and spirits.

Thus, shamanic illness is not a disease in the literal sense of the word, but a transformation process, which is usually painful for the person affected.

Signs of shamanic disease

Outwardly, it looks impartial. A person in a state of "shamanic illness" is similar to someone suffering from manic depression, or even schizophrenia. He can lie for several days in bed, not wanting anything, and even more so - communication, and then suddenly jump up and do strange things that do not lend themselves to rational comprehension. This is very similar to the behavior of holy fools in a moment of ecstasy. In fact, the holy fools are the same shamans, only from the Christian religion.

Shamanism is also a form of religion of a kind. In the classic version, the shaman sends rituals to the spirits that help him.

So, the signs of a shamanic disease:

• deep depression;
• a sudden extremely strong rise in tone, manic activity;
• hallucinations;
• global thoughts and images that reflect the structure of the universe;
• rejection of everyday and normal things for most people, norms of behavior, thirst for knowledge of another world;
• desire for solitude;
• striving for rituals.

All of this is very similar to the classic symptoms of mental disorders. What is the difference, and how can you tell?

Difference between "shamanic disease" and nervous and mental disorders

The difference is in the essence of the ongoing processes. Shamanic disease and its manifestations have a metaphysical meaning, but neuropsychiatric disorders do not.
From the above symptoms, I believe, everything is clear, except for the "desire for rituals." This item may raise questions.

The desire for rituals can be expressed:

• in an involuntary desire to perform illogical (but, as a rule, not dangerous for others) actions; for example - breaking a cup, spreading the fragments in a certain way and saying some kind of "rubbish" on them;
• in a special perception of music - especially rhythm - the desire to dance, and in mind it looks like broken body movements, although some harmony is preserved in them;
• in the habit of constantly mumbling some simple monotonous motive on one’s nose, or beating a rhythm on anything (simple rhythms have a hypnotizing effect, and hypnosis can put you into a trance, in which shamans chant)
• in the involuntary shouting of incomprehensible phrases - as they say, neither to the village nor to the city (this is a typical property of the holy fools).

In general, many behave in this way - whom the people contemptuously call "psychos". This, by the way, is a note - that you should not look down on someone you don't understand. It is possible that some "psychos" have a much richer inner world than many "decent" people.

The point is that the "shamanic disease" persuades a person to embark on the path of studying Art. This is some kind of purpose. And as soon as a person begins to follow his path, the shamanic disease ceases to be a "disease."

In practice, as a rule, a person subject to the "shamanic disease" goes into hermitage at the call of his "spirit" - the guide. The spirit-driver - or the spirit-guide - during the time of hermitage shows the future shaman the levels of the universe that are inaccessible to ordinary perception. The "Divine Comedy" of the medieval poet Dante Alighieri is essentially a description of the initiation of a shaman, only in the context of Christian beliefs. Dante's companion - the ancient poet Virgil - leads him through hell, purgatory and brings him to the gates of paradise. Virgil shows Dante other - subtle - worlds!

After initiation and reclusive practice, the shaman, in contrast to the mentally ill, can think quite clearly and behave adequately. And during the shamanic illness, a person, in principle, also remains in an adequate state, and is able to question the peculiarities of his own perception, which madmen usually do not do.

Moreover, people who have been struck by the "shamanic disease" often themselves may not be aware of the true nature of their experiences and their meaning! They may feel that they are really not themselves. And they are very self-critical and therefore vulnerable during this period. But those who are destined to become shaman usually find their way.

"Treatment" for "shamanic disease"

The treatment in this case is one thing: to accept your nature in yourself. That is, to go through the path of initiation to the end and become a shaman. An attempt to resist, an attempt to "cure" the "shamanic disease" leads to dangerous consequences - real madness and even death.

From the article by A.M. Kuznetsov "Shamanism as an anthropological phenomenon"

The period of crisis is marked by the appearance of a spirit that announces that he has chosen this person as his assistant or mystical marriage partner, and offers his chosen one his help in response to his consent to become a shaman. If consent is obtained, then the disease stops, but everyone is already aware that this young man will have a shamanic fate, and all that remains is to find him a suitable mentor. In the event that the summoned resists the will of the spirit, the painful symptoms are further aggravated, which can even lead to death. L.Ya.Sternberg gives a characteristic description of this phenomenon. “Before becoming a shaman, one familiar shaman told me, he had been ill for more than two months, during which he lay motionless, in a layer, completely unconscious. Before he had time to move away from one seizure, he fell into another. "I would die," he told me, "if I had not become a shaman."

By the way:

The spiritual life of Christ, as you know, began when he was 30 years old. For three years Jesus preached and performed all his miraculous deeds described in the Bible. Then he was tried and crucified. At that time he was 33 years old.

Jesus' messianic path began with baptism. John the Forerunner (Baptist) baptized him. After that, Jesus retired, as is known from the Bible, into the desert for 40 days, where he was tempted by Satan, but managed to resist the temptation. And only after that he returned to the world and began his journey as the messiah.

This biblical story is a typical description of hermitage and shamanic initiation. Shamanism also refers to religious beliefs - to "primitive" forms of religion, which are much older than Christianity, and are inherent in all archaic peoples. for example, it is also a form of shamanism.

From the anthropological point of view, this story of Christ's forty-day hermitage is borrowed from the traditions of shamans, who also always retired to be reborn. From the point of view of the ministers of the Christian cult, the meaning of the story about the passions of Christ is the opposite of the pagan meanings, to which Christians also include shamanism.

In shamanism, a neophyte - roughly speaking a "beginner", one who is just entering the Path - makes an alliance with a guardian spirit, which reveals secrets to him and helps him later. And the shaman bears certain obligations to this spirit.

In the Christian distorted view, the guardian spirit that shamans usually negotiate with is the Devil. And Jesus rejected the union with the Devil and / or the guardian spirit. But there is a logical problem here.

Firstly, Christ already had a guardian spirit without any devils. This is God the Father, or the Holy Spirit. It was with this essence that Jesus, initiated by the act of baptism, sought contact and union. According to the Christian concept, God is the father of Christ (and Christ himself receives divine status after baptism and hermitage!).

Secondly, "The passion of Christ" is the so-called ordeals - travels along the subtle planes of the universe, acquaintance with the laws of the astral world. Naturally, there are also harmful spirits (egregors), but this is the shaman's task to overcome their influence and learn to influence them in his own interests - for example, to cast out demons.

Imagine that you would “cure” Christ from “shamanic disease”. Like, where are you going, you better cultivate your garden and grow your kids! Then our modern culture would look different beyond recognition.

"Shamanic disease" is not treated, it is passed as the first stage of the path.

After a shamanic illness

The shaman makes his psyche flexible, like the actor of the Stanislavsky school. He needs it to:

• Feel the subtle energies of the astral world;
• Do not be afraid (of spirits), withstand the tension of these energies, since there are many of them.

When you go out into the astral plane, it is similar to an avalanche falling on you - grandiose streams of information. It's like watching a hundred channels on TV at the same time. Such a wave of information and energy can easily overwhelm an unprepared person.

A similar effect - only from taking LSD - is described by the famous psychologist Timothy Leary:

usually a person sees only a small part of what is in his mind, as if being in a dark closet, illuminates the surrounding with a flashlight, but when he takes a hallucinogen, a bright lamp seems to light up in the closet - this is the meaning of "expanded consciousness". A person is often not ready to see the whole "closet" of his memory, his consciousness. Much has been said about the danger of psychotropic substances, we will not repeat ourselves here. But now imagine that the shaman needs to look into the "closet" of the whole world - into the astral plane - and not just into his own mind!

And by the way, yes, traditionally shamans of many nations took intoxicating tinctures to achieve a state of ecstasy, in which it is possible to get to the highest levels of reality. Ancient shamans understood frightening and dangerous entities as "evil spirits." But in fact, these are just concentrated nodes of negative energy - destructive egregors.

• In order not to be crushed by the most powerful energy-information flow, to achieve a high degree of concentration - to narrow the "lamp" that illuminates the "closet" to a narrow beam that snatches the necessary elements from the whole variety;
• In order (to allow spirits into oneself without consequences) to connect to various (including dangerous, harmful) egregors, to interact with them.
• To arbitrarily change the properties of your own astral body (in fact, this is the ability to be different people in the astral plane - the same acting). This is necessary in order to, instead of another person (customer, for example), solve his problems at the astral level in a “soft”, “diplomatic” way, without reward for interference. This is about how in the 90s bandits went to showdowns and crumbled each other into salad, and now they sit in offices and negotiate. Agree, this is much more civilized. Who did not understand the joke of humor: I work without rough violence over the astral field of people and avoid conflicts with powerful egregors, working with them "diplomatically", because rough intervention can then turn into problems for the customer of magical influence.

What happens as a result of shamanic disease

There is a restructuring of the psyche and the astral body.
In principle: any person is able to exist only in the world that is ready to comprehend and accept. Therefore, we think in symbols, concepts and categories. And of course, this is not a true vision of the world, but only its scheme, image. The shaman is able to change schemes depending on the need to solve specific problems.
The basic principle of magic: there is no truth, there is only a scheme of decisions that either fits the given situation or not. The correct scheme (ritual, appeal to the spirit) is the one that works in this situation.
What happens if a person does not accept the reality that is shown to him? In this case, there is a gap between "reality" and a person - a network, what psychiatrists call schizophrenia.
You cannot become a shaman by repeating the practices of other shamans. Even mentors teach not the rituals themselves, but the principles of shamanism, that is, they, rather, teach to think, and not to act. All shamans have different rituals, individual. All Art is comprehended only by one's own practice and experience.

Buddha used to say to his disciples:

“Don't believe what I say! This is my experience, but the moment I say this to you, it becomes wrong, because for you it is not an experience. Listen to me, but don't believe. Experiment, search, study. Until you yourself know, your knowledge is useless; it is dangerous. The knowledge that is borrowed is an obstacle. ”

The spoken word is a lie (ancient truth)

If a shaman cannot withstand initiation, he goes mad and sometimes dies. Therefore, it is dangerous to whip up "shamanic abilities" in oneself, to push beyond the bounds, and to take all sorts of "shamanic medicines", drugs, etc. The fact is that all attributes - from conspiracies and rituals, to shamanic tambourines and potions - are just an engine. But you won't go anywhere if you don't know where to go. To understand this, where to move, you need to listen - to yourself and the surrounding space, because everything is saturated with astral energy, and even without going into the sphere of the atral you can feel its influence.
Being a shaman is great, but not more exciting than being a good pharmacist, for example.

Shamanism. One of the most controversial phenomena in magic. Shamans, like everything connected with them, have always been hidden behind a curtain of secrets and superstitions.

The very word "shaman" means "one who is agitated, touched by the mind."
It is believed that shamans are an intermediate link between the spirit world and everyday life. Shamans are able to heal diseases, predict the future, control the weather, and interpret dreams.
Shamans, and they can be both men and women, sometimes inherit magical power, but most often they acquire it through revelations through dreams, during illness or during periods of psychological imbalance, which is overcome in a mysterious way.

One of the characteristic features of shamanism is "Shamanic disease." It is with her that, as is commonly believed, the formation of a person as a shaman begins.

The shamanic gift, as a rule, was a heavy burden for its owner. In early childhood or adolescence, the future shaman experienced a deep mental shock, which "awakened" the shamanic illness. This disease consisted of painful emotional experiences (meetings with the spirits of ancestors who forced a person to start shamanizing) and physical suffering (epileptic seizures, severe forms of hysteria, unexpected loss of consciousness, etc.). In fact, the person chosen by the spirits for shamanic ministry had no choice. One way or another, the spirits forced the victim to obey. After the chosen one began to shaman, the disease receded, and the suffering stopped.

Nothing is known about the shamanic disease. The spiritual aspect is mainly described. Shaman experiences and visions.

For example, Mother-Bird-of-Prey.

It is believed that it looks like a large bird with an iron beak, curved claws and a long tail. This mythical bird is shown only twice: at the spiritual birth of the shaman and at his death. She takes his soul, takes it to the underworld and leaves it to ripen on a spruce branch. When the soul reaches maturity, the bird returns to earth, tears the candidate's body into small pieces and distributes them to the evil spirits of disease and death. Each of the spirits devours a piece of the body that he inherited. This provides the future shaman with the ability to heal the corresponding diseases. This rite tells about such a part of magic as sympathetic, or similar magic, eaten by some kind of disease, the shaman becomes as if one with it, which allows him to understand the deep cause of this disease and gain power over it. After eating the whole body, the perfume leaves. Mother Bird puts the bones back in place and the candidate awakens as if from a deep sleep.

There are many such beliefs, but they are all permeated with a common meaning: "a person, passing through torment, facing the face of death, receives knowledge and strength."

As for the specific physical manifestation of the disease, there is very little information. It is believed that people destined to become shamans often have special marks such as a birthmark, an extra finger, two tops of their heads, or something similar. Basically, it is said that the shamanic illness looks like an incomprehensible malaise that worsens every month on the new moon and stops only with the beginning of shamanic practice.

The most plausible story of shamanic illness I have heard is that of Isaac Tens:

“An American Indian named Isaac Tens, at the age of 30, began to involuntarily fall into a trance. Dramatic and often terrifying images of animal spirits haunting him appeared before him. After one such ecstatic state, Tens began to sing: “The song came out of me against my will, and I could not stop. Soon I saw before me huge birds and various animals. They called me ... Such visions happen when a person is ready to become a khalaait (shaman - healer) ""

As for me, my interest in shamanic disease is not accidental.
A year ago, I started having seizures, during which my blood pressure dropped sharply and the level of leukocytes in my blood dropped to a critical level.
I was in the hospital twice, but the doctors diagnosed a foodborne infection and that was when they finished their investigation.
The attacks were repeated at first once every three months, then at two, and now the last four attacks are repeated every month on the same dates, on the new moon of the month.
I don't know if my illness can be called shamanic, however, during it I can see people in the room, their movement without opening my eyes (and this does not surprise me at all in a “sick” state), the walls of the room seem to bend and swell. There is a general sense of unreality.
When the attacks were once every three months, the body was completely restored in 5-6 hours. Now, recovery usually takes a day.
After I started collecting information on shamanic disease, I was very surprised by the fact that two tops of the heads are also referred to as "special marks" I have just so many)))

The beginning of shamanic practice or initiation into shaman by another, experienced shaman can remove all signs of the disease, but there are no such nearby, and I do not know if there is any other way to cope with this disease.

Another important and characteristic feature for shamanism is the so-called "shamanic disease", seizures, dreams and hallucinations, which immediately decide the question of the future work of the shaman.

So among the Selish Indians, a young shaman who fell ill with a shamanic disease moved away from people for four whole years, fasted and subjected his physical and spiritual strength to other tests, which caused him visions in which he communicated with spirits. During this time, the shaman learns controlled ecstasy. The three stages of trance among the Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indians are characterized by N.A. Alekseev as "a directed effort of the shaman to come into contact with the world of spirits."

An ordinary person falls ill with this disease before becoming a shaman. Its symptoms, in general terms, are that a person rethinks his existence and attitude. At this time, a person often behaves like a madman or lies as if in a coma for several days. The actions and impulses of such a person are incomprehensible to the people around him. Tradition says that the longer a person is sick with this disease, the more powerful a shaman turns out from him.

The period of shamanic illness, namely, initiation by spirits and subsequent "recovery" - training - is not an expression of a neuropsychic disorder, as is often thought. These actions are socially and culturally programmed, they are expected by society and prescribed by its worldview. All shamans go into ecstasy and communicate with spirits. The state of ecstasy, or trance, is caused and controlled by the shaman himself; he brings himself into this state consciously, using self-hypnosis, willpower, sometimes using hallucinogens, for example, certain types of mushrooms, dope or mescalite. All this testifies against the common opinion that shamans are mentally ill people. They are no more sick than creative individuals in our society - poets, musicians, actors.

One of the Yakut shamans said that the future shaman usually "dies" and for three days lies in a yurt without water or drink. In the old days, in such cases, the ceremony of "dismemberment" was performed three times.

According to other stories, every shaman has a Bird-of-Prey Mother. It looks like a large bird with an iron beak, curved claws and a long tail. This mythical bird is shown only twice: at the spiritual birth of the shaman and at his death. She takes his soul, takes it to the underworld and leaves it to ripen on a spruce branch. When the soul reaches maturity, the bird returns to earth, tears the candidate's body into small pieces and distributes them to the evil spirits of disease and death. Each of the spirits devours a piece of the body that he has inherited. This provides the future shaman with the ability to heal the corresponding diseases. This rite tells about such a part of magic as sympathetic, or similarity magic, eaten by some kind of disease, the shaman becomes as if one with it, which allows him to understand the deep cause of this disease and gain power over it. After eating the whole body, the perfume leaves. Mother Bird puts the bones back in place and the candidate awakens as if from a deep sleep.

Sometimes the initiation of a shaman goes like this: evil spirits take the soul of a future shaman to the underworld and close it in a separate house for three years (for those who become a lower shaman, only for one year). It is there that the shaman is initiated. The spirits decapitate him, put his head aside (so that the candidate can see his dismemberment with his own eyes) and tear the body into small pieces, which are then divided among themselves (spirits of various diseases). Only under such conditions will the future shaman acquire the ability to heal. Then his bones are covered with fresh meat; in some cases, he also receives new blood.

According to one Yakut legend, shamans are born in the North. A huge spruce grows there, on the branches of which there are nests. The great shamans are on the highest branches, the middle ones are on the middle ones, and the smallest ones are on the bottom. According to some, the Mother Bird of Prey with an eagle's head and iron feathers sits on the Tree, lays eggs and incubates them. It takes three years of incubation for the birth of great shamans, two for medium, and one year for small ones. When the soul comes out of the egg, Mother Bird gives it to the devil-shaman, who has only one eye, one shoulder and one bone. She rocks the soul of the future shaman in an iron cradle and feeds it with frozen blood. Then three black "devils" appear, who tear his body into pieces, drive a spear into his head, and scatter pieces of meat in different directions as a victim. Three other "traits" are ripping off his jaw: a piece for each disease he has to heal. If, as a result, one of the "devils" lacks a piece, then one of the members of the shaman's family must die to replace it. Sometimes it happens that up to nine relatives die.

According to another legend, "devils" keep the soul of a candidate until he assimilates their knowledge. During this time, the candidate is sick. His soul has been transformed into a bird or another animal, or even a human.
Throughout their lives, shamans keep their power in some secluded place.

... The power of a shaman is stored in a nest hidden in the foliage of a tree, and when shamans fight with each other - in the guise of animals - they try to destroy their opponent's nest ...

It is important to note that in all these cases the main thing is that the shaman is reborn in the world of spirits, which gives him the opportunity to permanently access their world. As a rule, with the beginning of shamanic practice, shamanic disease ends.

I was thinking about such a phenomenon as shamanic disease. In the broadest sense today, this is mistakenly understood as any disease, including organic. I have heard more than once in my shamanic circle such cases that a person fell ill with something seriously, cancer or any other bedridden disease, often accompanied by long periods of unconsciousness, and then he kind of recovers and becomes a shaman. But something tells me that in this case, in principle, there is a reassessment of life values, and the person chooses shamanism purely by chance. In place of shamanism, there could be any religion or anything that gives a new spiritual meaning to life.

A real "shamanic disease" is a phenomenon of a neuropsychological nature. In a person, suddenly, the subconsciousness begins to seep into real life, which entails visual and auditory hallucinations, emotional breakdowns, paranoia, etc. Often this state does not even have a religious orientation. If a person is not immersed in the mythology of spirits, ancestors, gods, angels and other otherworldly entities, then everything will turn into everyday psychosis, he will be diagnosed with some schizoid condition, put on record and given pills that will block the opened channel with the subconscious.

Under the cut I collected excerpts on this topic from various books that came across to me in the last month.

Donna Tartt - "The Secret History"

(...) we started talking about the madness sent by the gods to people - poetic, visionary and, finally, Dionysian.

“Which is shrouded in much more mystery than all the others,” Julian said. - We are accustomed to believe that religious ecstasy is found only in primitive cultures, but it is often the most developed nations that are exposed to it. The Greeks, as you know, were not very different from us. They were highly civilized, adhering to a complex and rather strict system of rules and regulations. Nevertheless, they often fell into wild mass frenzy: riot, visions, dancing, massacre. I suppose all this would seem to us irreversible, clinical madness. However, the Greeks, at least some of them, could voluntarily plunge into this state and leave it voluntarily. We cannot just dismiss the evidence on this score. They are quite well documented, although the ancient commentators were as puzzled as we are. Some believe that the Dionysian frenzy was the result of fasting and prayer, others that wine was the cause. Undoubtedly, the collective nature of hysteria also played a role. Yet the extreme manifestations of this phenomenon are still inexplicable. The participants in the sacraments, figuratively speaking, were thrown into the unconscious state, preceding the appearance of reason, where the personality was replaced by something else - and by “other” I mean something beyond the control of death. Something inhuman.

Shamanism has been around for many years. According to legend, the progenitor of a powerful family of Baikal shamans was an eagle that turned into a man. It is interesting that initially the activity of each chosen one was directed only to his own tribe. However, today Olkhon shamans willingly help people from all over the world. Moreover, a real shaman is obliged to help out even his enemy.

Such a destination cannot be chosen like a profession at a university. To become a shaman, you need to have ancestors of shamans (ongons) and receive a special sign from above. It can be anything: a sixth finger on a hand, a sudden vision, a serious illness. You will not be able to refuse such a gift either - the elders claim that the spirits will not allow this.

As a rule, the elite learn about their abilities in the period from 6 to 50 years. However, experienced shamans say that too young age is not suitable for such an activity. And even at the age of 30, a person does not have enough knowledge to guarantee to help someone in need. Therefore, the optimal age for performing ceremonies is 50 years or more. But this does not mean at all that there are no powerful healers among the young.

Each shaman has his own skill level (there are 9 in total) and certain abilities. Some predict the future, others treat various diseases, remove generic curses or the crown of celibacy. Top tier shamans can even take off.

What is shamanic disease

Such a mysterious ailment can manifest itself in different ways. It so happens that a person is constantly unlucky, and he cannot achieve success either in his career or in his personal life. Or the future shaman is faced with a severe alcohol addiction. Some select few have understood their destiny through dreams or physical illness. And for some, the ancestors prepared dangerous tests that threaten life.

The chosen one must steadfastly endure all the blows of fate and never lose heart. After all, the vocation obliges the shaman to be strong and wise. Through such a difficult path, the future shaman seems to be reborn, completely changing his life.

The "symptoms" of this particular disease disappear only when the chosen one takes his own path. Denial of purpose entails a series of troubles both for the person himself and for his family.

What is it like to live with such a gift

Being a real shaman is hard work. It is a path that cannot be chosen or changed. But, accepting their true destiny, the elect help many people to live in purity and harmony.

Today, more than ever, tours and excursions have become popular, the program of which includes visits to places of power and conducting shamanic rituals. Travelers from all over the world come to Lake Baikal to turn to shamans and get answers to their questions.

Whenever possible, shamans help everyone. However, they will never ask for money for services. Each visitor gives as much as he can. Moreover, the payment for help can be anything: sweets, matches, etc.

If a shaman announces a certain amount to you for a ceremony, then this is a serious reason to doubt him.

By the way, if you think that a shaman is a hermit who is isolated from the outside world, then this is completely wrong. Many modern shamans write scientific works, study news, compose poems or songs.

How Gentiles View the Church

Previously, only the sacred spirits of nature were on Olkhon. Now there is an Orthodox church in this place, which was built for local residents. Contrary to various assumptions, shamans are quite calm about this phenomenon. Believing that the priest is doing the same job as they are - helping people. This means that there can be no reason for disagreement.

Representatives of several confessions live in the Baikal region: shamanism, Buddhism, Orthodoxy. Over time, many have become accustomed to such differences, and conflicts on this basis do not arise. After all, everyone is looking for their own way.

Features of the shaman's robe

If you have seen what a real shaman looks like, then you probably were impressed by such an unusual and spectacular outfit. They wear suits of bright blue or, less commonly, green fabric. The cape, which is used for performing the rituals, is called nemerge, and the hat is called mayhabsh. The main decoration on the chest of every shaman is mirrors to reflect negative energy. They are called "toli".

Shamans about tourists on Olkhon

Cape Burkhan has always been considered one of the most mysterious and sacred places on Lake Baikal. Its surroundings were once inhabited by celestials. But today shamans say that the spirits have left this place. The elders attribute this phenomenon to the fact that many tourists are disrespectful to local shrines. They visit places of power not as guests, but as hosts.

In the media, Baikal is listed as one of the strongest energy places. This attracts many tourists from all over the world, but not all visitors follow the rules of conduct on the holy land.

Every traveler is obliged to protect and respect nature and in no way harm it. Everyone must remember this.