Many peoples of the North - Nanais, Evenks, Yakuts, Koryaks - believe in shamanism and the ability of individual representatives of their clan to interact with the souls of both deceased and living people. Professional shamans tend to be nervous and excitable individuals. They quickly fall into a trance during rituals and claim that they see what others are not given. From the point of view of the former Soviet science, shamanism is nothing more than charlatanism
Where does the soul come from and where does it go
By the beginning of the 21st century, there were almost no shamans left in Russia. In the entire vast Far East there are no more than 7-10 people. The same Nanais (Golds), and there are less than 10,000 of them left in Russia, have no gods. But there is as much perfume as you like. Spirit. In the minds of the aborigines is the highest substance. Invisible spirits of good and evil can incarnate in real objects of nature - in some mountain or rock, stay in a lake or river, or inhabit a predator. In turn, the shaman himself or the shaman at the peak of ecstasy during the ritual can accompany the soul to the "kingdom of shadows", or the afterlife. The Nanai have a clear idea of the soul, which, prior to conception, remains in the form of a bird on a family tree. Then the soul moves into the mother's womb, and after the death of a person it leaves the body. The shaman is able to see her as if hanging above the ground and in shape resembling a body. By the way,the famous Bulgarian clairvoyant Vanga "saw" the same picture.
Seeing off to the "kingdom of shadows"
If, according to the Orthodox doctrine, the soul of the deceased can be among those close to him for 9 days, then among the Nanai this period is extended up to three years. At this time, the soul of the deceased wanders around the house or plague, sits at the table, walks along hunting trails. The aborigines believe that during this period she especially vigilantly sees which of her relatives, friends, and friends violates moral principles - fornicating, stealing, and so on.
The living are afraid and try to behave godly. Thus, the soul of the deceased becomes, as it were, the conscience of the living:
The ceremony of farewell to her three years later is a whole performance, where the shaman is the central figure. The ritual begins. Suddenly, the dance of the assembled family and friends stops, and the shaman says: "My soul tells me that you, Nikolai, did not return the money debt and two sable skins to the deceased." A relative present admits that he did borrow. He agrees to immediately return the debt to the wife of the deceased.
First one, then another of his kind is nailed to the pillory … Finally, the proclamation ends. The shaman informs the audience that the soul of the deceased is no longer offended by anyone and that he, the shaman, will escort it to the "kingdom of shadows." According to the sorcerer, this place is located somewhere far beyond Cupid, and the "shadows of the dead", that is, souls, are guarded there by dogs and a dragon.
At the patient's bedside
The shaman is subject to the treatment of various ailments. By the shadow of the patient, he determines how he suffers. The shadow is the soul of the sick person. The clairvoyance of the healer is so deep that he immediately establishes what kind of ritual he needs to carry out and what drug to prescribe for treatment.
A strong remedy is the shaman's own urine, as well as a tincture of fly agaric or other special herbs.
Treatment of a minor wound will require less effort, and in case of serious ailments, the shaman has to perform rituals for a whole day. The sorcerer turns to the spirit in charge of this disease, so that he has mercy and frees the patient from the disease. It is not uncommon for a disease to go so far that the soul of a person (still alive) leaves the body for a while and rushes to the “house of the dead” to look for a place for itself there. At the same time, the shaman rushes after her, trying to catch up with her and return to the patient's place of stay. If the soul has nevertheless reached the place of its eternal presence, the healer-shaman virtually ties the soul to a chair, after which he waits. If the ropes fall, the person will die.
Wicked places
There are many beautiful places in Primorye. However, the natives refuse to settle in them due to the fact that these places, or mountains, have already been chosen by spirits.
The very names given to a particular area by the aborigines (Shaitan, Devil's bald head and others) warn a person against visiting them. But hunters, fishermen, mushroom pickers still have to go there. Such a bad place is the flat-topped hill, popularly nicknamed the Devil's Bald Head. Some kind of trouble constantly occurs on it. Either one of the villagers drowns, or the boat capsizes, and one woman, who holds an academic degree, had her outboard motor constantly out of order.
The reasons for this are easily explained by legends. Here is one of them. A young woman with a child in her arms was sitting on the top of the hill. She was a clairvoyant, and so when a devil with a bad intent approached her from behind, she took a thick stick and hit him so hard on the crown that he flew down, and his bones crumbled down the slope. In the place where his remains decayed, nothing has been growing since then.
Wisdom of Dersu Uzala
Once, in late autumn, a well-known connoisseur of the Far East, Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev (1872-1930), was warming himself by the fire with the participants of the campaign and his faithful guide and friend Dersu Uzala. “Suddenly,” says Vladimir Klavdievich, “someone screamed. I turned around and saw a mirage. A steamer, two sailing schooners, and mountains behind them, then appeared in the air slightly above the surface of the water, and then a building appeared, completely unlike either a Russian house or a Chinese fanza. The phenomenon lasted for several minutes, and then it began to fade and gradually dissipated in the air.”Arseniev tried to explain the mirage by the optical properties of the atmosphere, but Dersu Uzala did not agree with him. According to him, not only people, animals, birds, fish, insects, but also plants, stones, and in general all inanimate objects have a soul.
Yuri METELEV
"Secrets of the XX century" № 40 October 2008.