Shaman

The world of the shamans in Siberia and Central Asia, especially of the Mongol, Buryat and Tungus people (Evenks) is related with that of the Turk people in the High-Altai, the Altaic, Khakas and Tuva and with the Bon religion from Tibet. The tribes living in the northern part of Mongolia (Darkhad, Tsaatan, Khotgoit, and others), in the northeastern area of Mongolia (Buryat and Khamnigan) and in western Mongolia (Uriankhai) as well as some tribes living in Central-Mongolia, the Khalk still maintain the ancient shamanic traditions. These phenomena are still present today.

Shamans practise a form of animistic religion (animism - magic thinking belief - all humans, animals and all things in nature have a soul - spirit) with several meanings and with different characters. The difference between soul and spirit is explained in that only human beings had a soul, while spirit was an abstract notion that could be related to a wide spectrum of natural phenomena. The opinion is that animism must have developed from the dream experience, where people generally feel as if they existed independently from their bodies, flying in the other worlds. In short, the soul takes "journeys" outside the body. During such dream journeys they could meet dead relatives, friends, or their spirits (souls).

The central element in this is constituted by the worship of the Blue Mighty Eternal Heaven - "Blue Sky" (Köke Tengri, Erketü Tengri and Möngke Tengri). There are a total of 99 Tengris (sky-spirits) or heavenly creatures in the lower and upper world, in which Köke Möngke Tengri (Eternal Blue Heaven) is the supreme. He is the creator of the visible and invisible world. In the Asian mythologies such a monotheistic world is referred to by multiple Gods (Tengris, Burkhans and Lords). The next to Köke Möngke Tengri is the Qurmusata King. He has a special relation with the origin of fire. People said that: “Buddha struck the light and Qurmusata Tengri heated the fire”. The fire is sacred for this people. One of this rules (taboo) says: "Never stamp out the fire or put rubbish or water on it".

- More information on this you will find in the Epics of Geser or the Creator Ulgen.

Similar rules and traditions you will find with the indigenous people in North America, with references to Mother Earth and Father Heaven as well as spirits of animals and in the nature, which expresses respect for nature forces as well as respect for the elder people and the ancestors.

Tengers, spirits, human souls, the fire and water are the elements of the vast arch of the sky. The sun and the moon are Tenger's eyes. The sun is the fire, the moon is the water, this being one of the oldest religions and cultural traditions in our world. The Buryats and Mongols have understood that one of the important things to keep the world in balance is to revere respect to the sky, water and earth. The world is full of spirits and souls in all things and in all places. All animals and plants have spirits (souls) like we ourself have. The Mongolian word tegsh describes the condition of being in balance with all of them.

It is essential to maintain a correct way of living by being respectful and human (hun) to all these spirits (souls). The world will then be in balance and this will maximize our power (our windhorse - our psychic power), hiimori. Heaven and Earth with all of their spirits in nature and our ancestors will provide everything we need and protect us human beings. Shamans play an important role in restoring balance in our world.

The universe of the Mongols can be visualized by a circle, not only in the three dimensions, but also in time itself. Everything has a circular motion, the path of the sun from day to day, the cycle of time from year to year, and the cycle of all living spirits as they return to earth to be reborn again and again, the circle of the axes with the four directions and the center of the world: the axes to the upper world, the Eternal Heavens and down to the lower world, the Mother Earth. In a shaman's journeys the shaman can climb up the World Tree (the toroo of the world tree) or fly to the upper world, travel down with the spirit river to the lower world (the world river enters the middle world from its sources in the upper world), or the shaman can simply find a tunnel (channel) to follow it. The Dagur Mongols in Inner Mongolia used the word solongo (rainbow) for the shamans’ power dreams, which means that the shaman may be travelling in his sleep over the rainbow to the upper world.