Vaguely known as the worship of nature and spirits, shamanism is actually a complex system of beliefs and practices. The universe, according to shamanism, is divided in three world: the heavens, the middle world, and the lower world. The shaman is a person who posseses the ability to travel between these worlds. On of the first things people should know is that term shamanism is actually western invention. Instead of shamanism, Khakas people talk about Хам (kham), which is the real name of the animistic religion practice by people in Khakassia. This religion, widely known as shamanism, is also practiced in Tuva, Altay, and Yakutiya. Each religion has its own names and terms according to each region’s local language. Some shamans and followers of shamanism here in Khakassia relate themselves and would like to connect with other forms of shamanism around the world. For convenience and for the purpose of this blog post, however, I will use the term shamanism.
I was late to my consultation with Tatyana Nikitovskaya, a shaman who works at the Khakass Research Institute of Language, Literature, and History in Abakan. When I met Tatyana, she was not wearing a cluster of pelts on her back, nor was she rattling shells in my face. She did not have rings on each one of her fingers. She was short, Khakas lady in her 50’, whose only unearthly characteristic were her enigmatic eyes. I clumsily rushed into her office, strew all my things all over the area next to my chair, took a sip of my awful coffee, and began to explain why I wanted to interview her. As I talked, I noticed that she was taking out a small pouch from the closet to her. Before she began speaking, she took out a bell from the pouch and rung it once. “It’s Buddhist bell,” she said when she noticed the perplexed look on my face. “It gets rid of negative energies in the room.
Having cleaned my high-strung vibes from the room, I began to ask Tatyana about her experience as a shaman. Tatyana has practiced shamanism for 22 years, but does not call herself a shaman. Her mother used to be a healer in the village, known for her ability to straighten bones.
Despite her gift, shamanism remained latent throughout Tatyana’s house. In the Soviet Union, everyone was expected to be stable, happy, productive atheists; religions were suppressed and banished from day to day life. Soviet restrictions, however, did not prevent her from discovering her abilities. The ability to heal and communicate with spirits is something that runs deep in Tatyana’s family. Although she never called herself a shaman, Tatyana’s mother possessed the ability to heal; she could heal problems with the head, remedy stomach problems, and straighten bones. Because she would often get sick from healing people, Tatyana’s mother did not accept patients on a daily basis, only relatives. At 86, when her she fell gravely ill, she was not able to recover. During the time of her mother’s illness, Tatyana started taking healing courses and began to learn her mother’s curing methods.
Like her mother, Tatyana also does not call herself a shaman. She was initiated and taught how to communicate with spirits by a shaman woman in Tuva. Each shaman has a special ability or is sensitive to certain energies. To discover these abilities, a shaman has to go through a testing period that might consist of deep mental trances or soul journeying across different worlds. Gradually, as the shaman acquires more experience, the spirits begin to help the shaman discover his or her inherent abilities.
At the beginning of February, tuvans celebrate Shagaa, the Buddhist lunar New Year in Tuva and Mongolia. Before this holiday, people perform rituals to spiritually cleanse themselves and consecrate their houses with the help of shamans. Tatyana was invited by a government official to lead a consecration ritual in Tuva during Shagaa.
“They build a fire, prepared the offerings, and prepared everything. Tuvans are take this very seriously—it’s a completely different culture. I was beating on the drum. Simultaneously, could hear something, a creature, hitting the glass window of the house.”
Her nephew, who also practices shamanism, taught Tatyana how to conduct rites.
“We usually perform rites when somebody commits suicide and there is a there is a threat for them beyond life.”
The shaman builds a fire and summons the Дух Огонь (the fire spirit), as well as other spirits. They feed offerings, usually bread and milk, into the fire, ask for guidance, and make sure that the suicide’s spirit goes back to its place of origin. People also ask for Tatyana to perform rituals for different purposes, such as relief from health or financial troubles.
Some people ask the shaman to perform rites for specific occasions or purposes. When the person needs financial support or good fortune for any kind of endeavor.
During rituals, shamans communicate with spirits. For an amateur shaman, the most difficult aspect of their job is developing the mental strength to transition between worlds. Sometimes the mind cannot withstand the shift from the spirit world into the material world and loses itself upon returning to reality. According to shaman cosmology the world is traditionally divided in three spheres— the underworld, the material world, and the heavens, although the division between worlds is more complex and manifold. As she grew more accustomed to trance, Tatyana began discovering parallel worlds in between and beyond the three main worlds. When in trance, the spirits would show other worlds and try to derail her from mental path. The further and deeper her mind traveled, however, the scarier it became for her:
“When you fall into the worlds of a lower order, you truly feel weighed down, that you don’t belong in that place, and you realize that there is a possibility you could never return. But, apparently, the spirits do this in purpose in order to teacher. When you into a world for the first time, spirits always try to test you and push you into different places.”
When a shaman is in trance, he or she also has to avoid being carried away by other spirits or energies that try to interrupt their work. That is why soul travel between these unseen worlds is not always fluid, unless you are a thoroughly experienced shaman. Tatyana says young shamans can lose their minds or even die in the state on trance. She told about two inexperienced women in her local village who tried to practice shamanism. While they were in communication with other world, they lost control and gave in to fear. They panicked and ended up breaking away from reality. In other words, they lost their mind.
“It is important,” Tatyana says, “not to let fear grab ahold of your mind. You have to be relaxed, simply be aware.”
My life in Khakassia 