Indigenous wisdom in the Tungus, Huichol, and Mazatec Shaman The basic religions we recognize today such as Christianity,

Hinduism, Muslimism, and Buddhism are based on shamanistic universal world views, and the basis of the religious practices performed by prophets, priests, sages, messiahs, and healers. According to Halifax,

shamanism is an ecstatic religious complex of particular and fixed elements with a specific ideology that has persisted through millennia and is found in many different cultural settings. (Halifax, 3) Shamanism is very ancient religious practice in which the practice of religion and medicine by shamans (who may be called healers, seers, or visionaries) who are specialists in the human soul. The shamans as generalists are sacred and have social functions and can do an extraordinary wide range of specialized activities. In this paper, I would like to compare three shamans: the Tungus shaman, the Huichol shaman, and the Mazatec shaman. The values of these indigenous practitioners, their methods, and their worldviews are discussed in this paper. Tungus shamans live among Siberian and Mongolian indigenous peoples. They believe that the universe includes animals, plants, and polar stars. The universe has triad structure including the lower world, the middle world, and the upper world. The animals are also associated with the universe, the elk is for the middle world and the bear is the great master animal. The world tree is connected to the world river. Drums are the sacred instrument in their ceremonies, the drums are made from animals skin and are symbolic of the entire universe. The shamans souls can leave their body and travel to other worlds such as the upper world (sky) and lower world (underground). The process of becoming a shaman in the Tungus culture requires that they need to have experienced sickness. For example the Tungus shaman Semyonov Semyon, states that he laid sick for whole year. The sickness forced him on the path to becoming a shaman. His body was swelling and he experienced spells of fainting. He starts to

sing, and his sickness disappears. According to Halifax, Although the shamans illness is frequently ascribed to the intrusion of malign spirits, such an invasion usually has beneficial consequences. (Halifax, 11) During the shamans battle with evil spirits, this battle engages him in a powerful struggle both physically and psychologically and may almost take his life. This struggle trains him for combat with similar problems in the future, as a result he becomes much stronger to fight with evil spirits and sickness. Another example is the Reindeer Tungus in Siberia, the shaman can be either male or female. The shamans power can control various spirits; communicate to those spirits ask that they not cause harm; the shamans also act as a medium for the spirits. The drum is an important instrument to induce trance in their shamanic ceremony. The rhythmic drumming prepares the shaman for their journey to the upper or lower worlds, where they would be able to help their clients. The Tungus shamans usually help people to determine the cause of their illness, to help people to find lost treasure, to help the community with problems, and to predict future situations. The Huichol shamans live in the areas of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. Huichol shamans are well known for their shamanic balance called shamanic equilibrium. For the Huichol shamans equilibrium is one of the most important requirements to become a shaman. In order for the shaman to find the path, the vision, and the image; balance is required. According to Halifax, As intermediary between the reals of the divine, the nether world, and the middle world, the shaman becomes a master of thresholds, putting his or her body on the line to make manifest a process that is intrinsic to all of shamanism: shamanic balance. (Halifax, 19) The Huichol shaman is called a Mara Akame . The Mara Akame must have superb equilibrium. It is very important to have balance in order to perform their shamanic duty in Huichol tradition. In Halifaxs book he mentions that the Huichol shamans come to the waterfall

where shamans conduct their ceremony. On the slippery rocks the shamans leap from one rock to another to show their balance. The concept of being in balance also comes from the philosophy stating that balance is one requirement to live with nature, in order to not be eaten by animals living below the mountains or in the valleys. One crosses over; it is very narrow and without balance, one is eaten by those animals waiting below. (Halifax, 21) The shamans effort to maintain balance is also very important to maintain balance in the human community, in their relationships between the community and the gods or spirits which direct the life of Huichol culture. The peyote vision is very private and intensely personal experience, the beauty of the visions are an awakening to finding unity with the spirits. The Matsuwa shaman in Mexico is a shaman priest and a sacred politician in Huichol culture. The Matsuwa shaman during the second night of the drum ceremony or Wima Kwari, touches his prayer feathers (muvieri) to objects that will become infused with the life energy force (kupuri), the energy would transfer to those who have needs in the community, the transmission is similar to the communication of Shakti between Hindu guru and disciple. (Halifax, 21) This ceremony has the intention to equalizing and balancing social problems in the Huichol community. Most importantly, shaman Matsuwas ceremony is to allow people to experience the real field of power, and the power itself would lead their people to see and understand the true meaning in their lives. The fire song is also translated into language, the wind in dry brush or the rain falling on the thatching. (Munn, 1973) When the song is sung, the shaman is ready to receive the sacred sounds that are coming from within and the people can receive a poetic chant. There is a world beyond ours, a world that is far away, nearby, and invisible. And there it is where God lives, where the dead live, the spirits and saints, a world where everything has

already happened and everything is known. That world talks. It has a language of its own. (Halifax, 130) Psilocybin mushrooms have been used historically in the Mazatec Indians traditions. They live in the Sierra Mazateca in the Northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The shaman named Maria Sabine was a well-known shaman who practiced her art with hallucinogenic mushrooms. The psilocybin mushroom was called the sacred mushroom. The Mazatec Indians called them the mushrooms speak because the shaman who eats them is called upon to speak. Words are materializations of consciousness; language is privileged vehicle of our relation to reality. Let us go looking for the tracks of the spirit, the shamans say. (Munn, 1973) During the ceremony the ecstatic human voice speaking with rhythmic force the realities of life and society. Maria Sabine during the mushroom ceremony, she received the messages from mushrooms speak about how to cure her clients. Normally Mazatec Indians eat the mushroom at night when it is dark. They begin to eat small black mushrooms called nanacatl with honey, and they will bring to drunkenness, hallucinations, or even lechery. (Munn, 1973) When the mushrooms begin to affect them, they will start to dance, sing, and weep. The sacred voices appear, and they speak to each other about the visions they have seen. Only when problems arise or illness occurs the mushroom is eaten. If there is nothing wrong, it is no reason to eat the mushrooms. The experiences of how indigenous people become shamans take various paths from society to society. Among Tungus of Siberia, those becoming shamans often experienced

illnesses and serious problems physically and psychologically. In the other societies discussed above, the Huichol shaman and Mazatec both regularly use hallucinogenic drugs to achieve their altered state of consciousness in the practice of their shamanism. All three of the shamans discussed above find it very common to experience ritual death and rebirth those are the

initiation experiences while in a state of trance. The ecstatic experience for the shaman is a universal one in the three societies discussed. In my own culture, shamanic healers are often chosen after an illness or serious physical or psychological problem. Since Balinese religion is a blend of animism, Hinduism, Buddhism and ancestor worship, the healing ceremonies are religious in nature yet involve a trance-like state where the healer connects with the spirit world for guidance and to heal the patient. Herbs, copal and sandlewood, and offerings made from nature may be used in healing ceremonies, as well as incense, chants and sound are all possible aspects of the ceremony. As are ritual purification and holy water obtained from sacred sites in Bali. There are differences between cultures in their shamanic ceremonies, yet there are also similarities. (Author, Ni Wayan Ekarini)

Works Cited Halifax, Joan. Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives. New York: Penguin Books, 1979. Print.

Munn, Henry. "The Mushroom of Language." Schaffer Library of Drug Policy. (1973): n. page. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/munn.htm>.