Buryatia is located in the south-central part of the Siberian region along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, the junction of Mongolia, Siberia and China. Buryat traditional spiritual practice is a mixture of Buddhism and the Tibetan Gelugpa of Siberian shamanism and can answer the question of how they become shamans. Locals have been practicing this path for many centuries, but the shamanistic traditions of Buryatia are still so little known in the Western world that we will analyze them.
Origin of the word
Even today, few know that the Buryats, Mongols, Yakuts, and many other nationalities and other indigenous tribes in Siberia have kept shamanistic practices traditionally for hundreds of years. There is some confusion about the origin of the word “shaman”. Some say that it comes from Sanskrit, others that from Turkish. So how do they become shamans? The truth is that the word "shaman" comes from the Tungus and means 'possessed'. This is because the shaman’s job is to communicate with his spirits, and let them work in his body. This is a kind of obsession, which is only the consent of the shaman on them in order to gain access to the spiritual realm.
The Russians who colonized Siberia in the eighteenth century and first discovered shamans, whom they called the Tungus, then they used this word to simplify the description of all Siberian shamans, ignoring local names such as Oyun (in Yakutia), voo (in Buryatia), kama ( Turkic-speaking tribes of Central Asia), etc. In contrast, all the speakers of the Turkic and Mongolian shamans are called "Yudagan."
Instruments and ceremonies
Shamanism is one of the oldest ways of spiritual expression with which all religions began. The use of agricultural and wild animals, initiations, sacred techniques and methods, symbols, tools and rituals common to all shamanistic traditions on the planet, which have a deep connection and intimacy with nature, earth, sky, animals, a network of universal energy and ancestors. Today, after many years of religious oppression and persecution by the Soviet government, the shamans of Buryatia and Mongolia are again free to practice maintaining the ecological balance and community.
In the culture of the indigenous peoples of Siberia, shamans play an important role in communities and the spiritual education of people. They knew how to become shamans. Shamans have the right to bestow blessings with rituals of protection, blessings in hunting and fortune telling, showing fate. They also heal the spiritual causes of the disease, such as spiritual penetration and pollution, loss of soul, and, if necessary, can cancel the curse. Shamans are also guardians of the Buryat culture. Because they know that the old traditions, their advice has been requested through the centuries.
What you need to select ancestors
Anyone who wants to become a shaman must have a family history - with buried shamanic roots. This means that he has an ancestor who was a shaman. It is even believed that a shaman can be strong only if he has ten practitioners of magic in his family among his ancestors, who in fact become the protective spirits of the newly elected.
Evidence of this "choice of spirits" may be a distinctive sign on the body - a divine sign. This sign may be an unusual place on the skin, forked fingers, strange behavior. It was even believed that a true shaman should have an extra bone, and only those whose souls were studied in another world, the shamanic practice calls good sorcerers. No one can become a shaman just because he wants it.
Spirit Call
Spirits come only to the elect themselves and do not listen to someone else. The exception is that a person was struck by lightning and survived or if the person is a descendant of an ancestor who was killed by lightning (the choice of the gods), even if the dead was not a shaman. While in the West many people seek shamanistic initiations, want to be shamans and perceive this as a kind of extreme entertainment or experience, in Siberian and Mongolian cultures this issue is treated with great fear and respect. Usually, people who have been called to become shamans are not so happy to learn about their fate. Many fear responsibility and consequences.
Ratings and Strength Levels
In the world, many believe that shamanic calling is not a gift, but a burden. “Those who are chosen” often discover this suddenly, through the “shamanic disease” they suffer from, which from the outside may seem like a neuropsychic disease. Very often they become alcoholics.
Depending on the rank, the shaman may have a drum, an iron crown, a ritual cloak and the right to make more complex rituals. The highest rating - Zaarin (9th level) - was rare even in the nineteenth century. According to ancient legends, the first shamans could rise and plant trees, plant flowers and greenery and perform miracles that their modern descendants cannot repeat.
A shaman is one who is always between two worlds. The invisible world of spirits and our physical kingdom, therefore it is often one and not always accepted by society. One who has been chosen to follow this path has no other choice. So we understood how to become a shaman in real life.
Family Tree
But do not think that this is impossible for a simple person. Almost every person from the country who remained after the Soviet Union has ancestor shamans in the seventh to tenth generation.
So do not be discouraged and get to know your family tree better. Relatives will tell you if there were people in your family who became shamans. You will surely find powerful ancestor spellcasters. After all, you know how they become shamans. This will mean that your strength only needs to be awakened. But you will not find all the rituals and healing skills on the Internet, so it is better to take a trip to the countries of origin of this art. You will become stronger and perhaps become the best shaman of the modern world.