SHAMANISM
The
cult of Tangra was essential for the dynasty of Khans (Kings).
Several clay plates reiterated the following religious sentence:
“Who is speaking the truth, is seen by god –
who is speaking lies, is seen by god, too.”
Several clay plates reiterated the following religious sentence:
“Who is speaking the truth, is seen by god –
who is speaking lies, is seen by god, too.”
Shamanism is the medicine of the imagination. --Jeanne Achterberg, Imagery in Healing
He descends into chaos and tribulation, into the realms beyond the limits of convention and human laws where the seething magma of raw transformative energy resides in its unrefined and undiluted state.
--Stephan Hoeller, THE GNOSTIC JUNG
Shamans were the first dreamworkers...if someone could imagine or dream an event,
that action was considered to be, in some sense, real. --Stanley Krippner
He descends into chaos and tribulation, into the realms beyond the limits of convention and human laws where the seething magma of raw transformative energy resides in its unrefined and undiluted state.
--Stephan Hoeller, THE GNOSTIC JUNG
Shamans were the first dreamworkers...if someone could imagine or dream an event,
that action was considered to be, in some sense, real. --Stanley Krippner
Natural
mystic-ecstasies can happen spontaneously to anyone. They often have an
uncanny or supernormal quality. They involve euphoria or bliss to an
extent unknown in most usual activities. They seem important in some
strange way. There is also some element of transcendence. They remain
in memory longer and more vividly than ordinary events. But not all
experiences are of equal depth. Some lead directly to the loss of sense
of self and time, and a reduction in mental activity.
It is a form of cosmic-consciousness. In most cultures the basic elements -- fire, air, water, and earth -- are revered in some manner, or at least considered fundamental to existence; some systems contain even finer distinctions. This has resounded through history in a variety of mystic arts ranging from alchemy to astrology, to Native American shamanism. In yoga they are known as the tatvas. Always this doctrine of the four elements symbolized a sense of wholeness with nature and self.
The mystic fifth element appears as the essence, or quintessence, spirit or ether. It represents the synergetic effect of the primary four components of natural existence. In opening to nature the self is purified, fear and shame vanish, replaced by the sense of brotherhood with all life. It is an experience of oneness with the creation.
Because nature always reflects the archetype of death/rebirth, the psychological response to a profound experience in nature may be one of rebirth. This can be particularly true if there is a close brush with death. The transport may also occur witnessing a birth which can evoke a strong sense of awe and wonder at the miracle of life.
In the nature-mystic experience there is always a mixture of instinctive awe and delight, a thrill usually felt most deeply in utter solitude, which fills the heart with a Presence. It is a form of enlightenment or illumination, where the divine element is veiled by nature. The experience is characterized by a deep feeling, rather than knowing. It is a life-changing event, with many further repercussions and adjustments.
One gains a new perspective as when standing on a majestic mountain, surveying the panorama. The mind calms, becoming tranquil and still, in regard for the beloved. All things seem pristine, perfect, and eternal. Conflicts are transcended or resolved in self-forgetfulness. The world "looks different." Maslow likened it to a "visit to a personal heaven." One feels more alive, loving, accepting, blessed, and happy.
A peak experience can be "grounded" by working with it in a journal and meditation, reclaiming those states for future nourishment. They are sources of sanctuary and inner fortitude, providing a foundation for further excursions into mystical dimensions. You can use them for stress management by recalling a special place and time in nature where you felt open and secure. Deep relaxation provides many benefits for health and well being.
http://dreamhealing.iwarp.com/whats_new_7.html
It is a form of cosmic-consciousness. In most cultures the basic elements -- fire, air, water, and earth -- are revered in some manner, or at least considered fundamental to existence; some systems contain even finer distinctions. This has resounded through history in a variety of mystic arts ranging from alchemy to astrology, to Native American shamanism. In yoga they are known as the tatvas. Always this doctrine of the four elements symbolized a sense of wholeness with nature and self.
The mystic fifth element appears as the essence, or quintessence, spirit or ether. It represents the synergetic effect of the primary four components of natural existence. In opening to nature the self is purified, fear and shame vanish, replaced by the sense of brotherhood with all life. It is an experience of oneness with the creation.
Because nature always reflects the archetype of death/rebirth, the psychological response to a profound experience in nature may be one of rebirth. This can be particularly true if there is a close brush with death. The transport may also occur witnessing a birth which can evoke a strong sense of awe and wonder at the miracle of life.
In the nature-mystic experience there is always a mixture of instinctive awe and delight, a thrill usually felt most deeply in utter solitude, which fills the heart with a Presence. It is a form of enlightenment or illumination, where the divine element is veiled by nature. The experience is characterized by a deep feeling, rather than knowing. It is a life-changing event, with many further repercussions and adjustments.
One gains a new perspective as when standing on a majestic mountain, surveying the panorama. The mind calms, becoming tranquil and still, in regard for the beloved. All things seem pristine, perfect, and eternal. Conflicts are transcended or resolved in self-forgetfulness. The world "looks different." Maslow likened it to a "visit to a personal heaven." One feels more alive, loving, accepting, blessed, and happy.
A peak experience can be "grounded" by working with it in a journal and meditation, reclaiming those states for future nourishment. They are sources of sanctuary and inner fortitude, providing a foundation for further excursions into mystical dimensions. You can use them for stress management by recalling a special place and time in nature where you felt open and secure. Deep relaxation provides many benefits for health and well being.
http://dreamhealing.iwarp.com/whats_new_7.html
Jan Irvin & Andrew Rutajit, authors of 'Astrotheology & Shamanism in Christianity and Other Religions'.
T’ien (à
Tan) is the chinese/uigur/kirgiz word for “sky”. Ra is, despite
egyptian roots, also an indoiranian word for “god”. Nak was the common
word for “human” of the different tribes from turk, aryan, altaic and
uralic, but also from more ancient heritage like sumerian – of course
this term differed etymologically due to ethnological facts – living in
the wide regions and valleys between the Altai and Pamir mountains in
middle asia known as Kirgizstan and Tadjikistan today.
So we can concluse that Tangra is actually the abroveTanNakRa and its other terminology differs from tribe to tribe: Dengir (sumerian), Danguz (baltic), Tengri, Dingir, Tingir, Dangar (turkic, altaic) and Tangra (bulgarian). We will look only onto the last, the bulgarians as their heritage and form of cult and paganism differs from that of the turkic and altaic tribes because we have to look at the bulgarian heritage as an irano-aryan tribe which is an etymological (the nomenclatura of the words “bolg”, “balhara”, “balhash” and “bulkar” as well as many other words, which are in use today) and spiritual evidence (many bulgar tribes also practicated the irano-aryan zoroastric cult by summoning both cults, tangric and zoroastric, as the main element of Tangra is the fire.)
We see a lot of cults based on sun worship. In that case, the sun (life – death – harvest) often rivals with the sky (drought – rain – harvest – grandeur).
Tangra is the power sky, a non-personificated and non-anthropoligic cosmic power. But the “trinity”sky-man-god could be interpreted as the divine connection between man and nature, between sky and sun, so man can be seen as a part of this dignity, even as a small one.
The celestial believe strongly includes the meaning of the balance of powers. There is no manifastated dualism. By becoming a part of the cosmic balance, man is no longer a subject of creation, he becomes divine himself.
The cult of Tangra was also essential for the dynasty of Khans (Kings), on several clay plates there could be defined the following religious sentence:
“Who is speaking the truth, is seen by god – who is speaking lies, is seen by god, too.”
Main characters of Tangra are: male sky deity, unvisible, untouchable –its symbols are the sun, eagle and horse (the Windhorse, which is nowadays the coat of arms of Mongolia).
The monotheistic cult of Tangra was widely practicated by ancient bulgarian tribes during their moving towards the western lands from the 4th until the 6th century and even after settling down on the Balkans in the 7th century up to the byzanthenean christianisation in the 9th century. In some of the Balkan and the Black Sea coast the cult was further developed with new creations combining the cults of the already settled souther slavs.
But despite the monotheistic system, we can distinct between five structures within the religious-mythological construction – the main elements that are a sacred pantheon themselves:
Tangra (Sky, Creator, God - the mighty sky) Yer Su (the holy earth-water)
These both main spirits are followed by:
The ancestor cult takes the main part in the common people´s life. As their duty is to take care of the living and to be the positive transcendent power while the living humans are themselves the power who are taking care of the balance between the worlds. Some of the deceased and forgotten ancestors are not able to reach the world of Erlik, they become holy spirits of Yer Su, inhabitating cliffs, rivers, shores, wells, lakes and meadows. Sacrifices were brought directly as gifts like food or crafts, buried superficiously in the earth (Umay) or layed on lake and river shores (Yer Su), as well as brought indirectly by sacrificing mainly dogs or hen by the shamans.
Totemistic beliefs were widely practicated with a high affinity to northern american native animism as this has asian roots (totem = tuteng). Every entity in nature contains a spirit. The personal totem of every balance-keeping human (Nak) was the Windhorse (bulg. Vihrogon), which is located right in the breast . The windhorse is crucial for the spiritual feeling of every human. Another important totems are bear, wolve, goose (as sometimes Tangra himself appears as a white, flying goose) or eagle. However, the main Tangra symbol is the horse, it is the zoomorphic incarnation of the Khan (King).
Every ritual begins with honouring Tangra, the mother Earth and the ancestor spirits. The shaman is drinking milk and deploys it among the temple/house at all four cardinal points, a fire is illuminated in the center of the cult place, it symbolizes the eternal life and the healing power, the breath of fire, the breath of the sun (this might be compared to zoroastric cults and slavic traditions, especially when the tangric people clashed with slavic culture and slavic regions that led to further cultural and ethnical assimilation, but it stands alone as an important part the Tangra rites).
http://svarga-bulletin.blogspot.com/2009/05/tangra.html
So we can concluse that Tangra is actually the abroveTanNakRa and its other terminology differs from tribe to tribe: Dengir (sumerian), Danguz (baltic), Tengri, Dingir, Tingir, Dangar (turkic, altaic) and Tangra (bulgarian). We will look only onto the last, the bulgarians as their heritage and form of cult and paganism differs from that of the turkic and altaic tribes because we have to look at the bulgarian heritage as an irano-aryan tribe which is an etymological (the nomenclatura of the words “bolg”, “balhara”, “balhash” and “bulkar” as well as many other words, which are in use today) and spiritual evidence (many bulgar tribes also practicated the irano-aryan zoroastric cult by summoning both cults, tangric and zoroastric, as the main element of Tangra is the fire.)
We see a lot of cults based on sun worship. In that case, the sun (life – death – harvest) often rivals with the sky (drought – rain – harvest – grandeur).
Tangra is the power sky, a non-personificated and non-anthropoligic cosmic power. But the “trinity”sky-man-god could be interpreted as the divine connection between man and nature, between sky and sun, so man can be seen as a part of this dignity, even as a small one.
The celestial believe strongly includes the meaning of the balance of powers. There is no manifastated dualism. By becoming a part of the cosmic balance, man is no longer a subject of creation, he becomes divine himself.
The cult of Tangra was also essential for the dynasty of Khans (Kings), on several clay plates there could be defined the following religious sentence:
“Who is speaking the truth, is seen by god – who is speaking lies, is seen by god, too.”
Main characters of Tangra are: male sky deity, unvisible, untouchable –its symbols are the sun, eagle and horse (the Windhorse, which is nowadays the coat of arms of Mongolia).
The monotheistic cult of Tangra was widely practicated by ancient bulgarian tribes during their moving towards the western lands from the 4th until the 6th century and even after settling down on the Balkans in the 7th century up to the byzanthenean christianisation in the 9th century. In some of the Balkan and the Black Sea coast the cult was further developed with new creations combining the cults of the already settled souther slavs.
But despite the monotheistic system, we can distinct between five structures within the religious-mythological construction – the main elements that are a sacred pantheon themselves:
Tangra (Sky, Creator, God - the mighty sky) Yer Su (the holy earth-water)
These both main spirits are followed by:
- Umay (Mother Earth, Womb of Earth, fertility)
- Erlik (the level of the underworld)
- Ancestor cult and demonology as well as totemism-shamanism
The ancestor cult takes the main part in the common people´s life. As their duty is to take care of the living and to be the positive transcendent power while the living humans are themselves the power who are taking care of the balance between the worlds. Some of the deceased and forgotten ancestors are not able to reach the world of Erlik, they become holy spirits of Yer Su, inhabitating cliffs, rivers, shores, wells, lakes and meadows. Sacrifices were brought directly as gifts like food or crafts, buried superficiously in the earth (Umay) or layed on lake and river shores (Yer Su), as well as brought indirectly by sacrificing mainly dogs or hen by the shamans.
Totemistic beliefs were widely practicated with a high affinity to northern american native animism as this has asian roots (totem = tuteng). Every entity in nature contains a spirit. The personal totem of every balance-keeping human (Nak) was the Windhorse (bulg. Vihrogon), which is located right in the breast . The windhorse is crucial for the spiritual feeling of every human. Another important totems are bear, wolve, goose (as sometimes Tangra himself appears as a white, flying goose) or eagle. However, the main Tangra symbol is the horse, it is the zoomorphic incarnation of the Khan (King).
Every ritual begins with honouring Tangra, the mother Earth and the ancestor spirits. The shaman is drinking milk and deploys it among the temple/house at all four cardinal points, a fire is illuminated in the center of the cult place, it symbolizes the eternal life and the healing power, the breath of fire, the breath of the sun (this might be compared to zoroastric cults and slavic traditions, especially when the tangric people clashed with slavic culture and slavic regions that led to further cultural and ethnical assimilation, but it stands alone as an important part the Tangra rites).
http://svarga-bulletin.blogspot.com/2009/05/tangra.html
This is a shamanic spiritual korean "Crane Dance" (turkish: "Turnalar Semahi")
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Turan Turanian Crane Dance
Turkic Turan Shamanism Tengrism Alevi Bektasi Alevism Shaman Shamanist Turkistan Alevilik Deyiş Baglama Saz Sufism Sufi Aleviten Aleviler Samanist Samanistler Orta Asya Altay Altai Türken Türkmen Nogay Nogai Tatar Türkü Özlem Özdil yıldırım gürses osmanlı selçuklu göktürk devleti nogaylar hun ottoman Kazahstan Kocgiri Tataristan Kirgizistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Uyghur Toruko Tujue dombra türk turk türklük özbek kırgız kazak uygur azeri Turkish Turkiye Uzbekistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Azerbaijan Cyprus uighur Nogay Noghay Nogai Noghayel Tatar KIPCAK Kavkaz Crimea Turkish Kuban Astrahan Kafkas Kazan Qirim South Turkestan Turkistan Afghanistan Turkmen Turkman Turkmens Kırkuk Kerkuk Kyrgyz Kyrgyzstan KIRGIZ QIRGIZ altai Bishkek Osh kino ATA Azadliq horasan iran Bozqurt Russia Altai East Turkistan Dogu Kok bori Batur Muslim Kahsgar Kazakh Tatar Kyrgyz Noghay Boshkort Siberia History Greek Serbs Armenian Russian Azat Azadliq Uyghur Ottoman
Uzbek Tuva Kirgiz Bishkek Tatar Kokbori Almila Turkeli Nihal Atsiz Turan Turanci Turk Turkcu Bozkurt Bozqurt Birlik Birliği Bayrak vatan akinci ottoman akincilar kilic kilicli kılıç atli atlilar Kursad Marsi Mars Turkey Türk Devletleri Azerbaycan Kazakistan Kırgızistan Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti Özbekistan Türkiye Türkmenistan Özerk Türk Devletler Altay Başkırdistan Çuvaşistan Dağıstan Doğu Türkistan Taymir Gagauzya Hakasya Balkarya Karaçay Karakalpakistan ALTİNORDU ALTINORDA kazan turk tatar borek kalakay turkiye kırım qirim crimea hansaray dagestan dagistan hazar derbent karacay cerkez balkar kavkaz elbruz horayda tandir astrahan qirim kuban almati biskek kipcak tatar altay altai uygur uzbek turkmen azer karapapak baskird kazak qazaq kyrgyz kumuk turk halklar ır jır ir konya kulu nogayel tugan el nogayturkleri җыры татар tatar song жыры jırı татарская песня KARACAY CERKEZ TV goruntuleri dagestan kumuk balkar malkar karacay zaza dersim tunceli zaza ahmet kaya halay kürt munzur ovacik ahmetkaya alevi kurdistan 62 hz.ali che ferhat tunc düzgün baba dersimspor tuncelispor zazaca apo serafettin halis mikail aslan ahmet aslan dersimspor tuncelispor direniş HÖC mlkp dhkp-c radyozaza radyoovacık domonedersim mazgirt pertek çemişgezek pülümür nazimiye hozat pkk partizan mameki kalan katliam dersim38 koyedersim zazakurde djmunzur arzu sahin grup munzur deniz gezmis ibrahim kampamkaya enver celik dilan bingöl diyarbakir van mus kars rojda koma azad beser rojin metin kemal karhaman munzur festivali Hozat Ovacık radiozaza Pertek Pülümür Nazımiye Çemişgezek Kürt grup doganay erzincan cepki night yildiz tilbe ERDOĞAN ŞİMŞEK HASRET TÜRKÜ EVİ TÜRKÜ BAR CANLI PERFORMANS GALİP POLAT GÖKER GÜLTEKİN KLAVYECİ İBO KAVALCI HASAN HASRET TÜRKÜ EVİ BİNEVLER GAZİANTEP SARAÇ KÖYÜ YASSIPINAR KÖYÜ ŞARKIŞLA SİVAS KEKLİKPINARI HAVZA SAMSUN KÜÇÜK LATİF DOĞAN İBRAHİM TATLISES AZER BÜLBÜL YENİ TÜRKÜ LADİK SEYYAH ADANA YENİBEY DİVRİĞİ YELLİCE KÖYÜ AVŞAR KÖYÜ GÜNEŞ ÇETİNKAYA SİVRALAN KÖYÜ KÜÇÜK LATİF DOĞAN İBRAHİM TATLISES AZER BÜLBÜL YENİ TÜRKÜ ORTAKÖY GEMEREK YENİÇUBUK AŞIK MAHSUNİ ŞERİF HASAN ERDOĞAN ABDULLAH PAPUR ALİ BAŞTUĞ MUSA EROĞLU ARİF SAĞ TOLĞA SAĞ ERDAL ERZİNCAN MUHLİS AKARSU SABAHAT AKKİRAZ MUSTAFA ÖZARSLAN GRUP ÇIĞ ÇIĞ GÖSTERİ MERKEZİ ORTAKÖY SİVRALAN SARACLİYİZ.COM İĞDELİ YELLİCE SEYYAH OĞUZ AKSAÇ DEYİŞ SEMAH KARS BAĞLAMA SAZ CANLI PERFORMANS CİHAN ÇELİK ALİ HAYDAR PİRSULTAN ABDAL MADIMAK MALATYA ARGUVAN HAVASI EKİM 29 BAR
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Turan Turanian Crane Dance
Turkic Turan Shamanism Tengrism Alevi Bektasi Alevism Shaman Shamanist Turkistan Alevilik Deyiş Baglama Saz Sufism Sufi Aleviten Aleviler Samanist Samanistler Orta Asya Altay Altai Türken Türkmen Nogay Nogai Tatar Türkü Özlem Özdil yıldırım gürses osmanlı selçuklu göktürk devleti nogaylar hun ottoman Kazahstan Kocgiri Tataristan Kirgizistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Uyghur Toruko Tujue dombra türk turk türklük özbek kırgız kazak uygur azeri Turkish Turkiye Uzbekistan Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Azerbaijan Cyprus uighur Nogay Noghay Nogai Noghayel Tatar KIPCAK Kavkaz Crimea Turkish Kuban Astrahan Kafkas Kazan Qirim South Turkestan Turkistan Afghanistan Turkmen Turkman Turkmens Kırkuk Kerkuk Kyrgyz Kyrgyzstan KIRGIZ QIRGIZ altai Bishkek Osh kino ATA Azadliq horasan iran Bozqurt Russia Altai East Turkistan Dogu Kok bori Batur Muslim Kahsgar Kazakh Tatar Kyrgyz Noghay Boshkort Siberia History Greek Serbs Armenian Russian Azat Azadliq Uyghur Ottoman
Uzbek Tuva Kirgiz Bishkek Tatar Kokbori Almila Turkeli Nihal Atsiz Turan Turanci Turk Turkcu Bozkurt Bozqurt Birlik Birliği Bayrak vatan akinci ottoman akincilar kilic kilicli kılıç atli atlilar Kursad Marsi Mars Turkey Türk Devletleri Azerbaycan Kazakistan Kırgızistan Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti Özbekistan Türkiye Türkmenistan Özerk Türk Devletler Altay Başkırdistan Çuvaşistan Dağıstan Doğu Türkistan Taymir Gagauzya Hakasya Balkarya Karaçay Karakalpakistan ALTİNORDU ALTINORDA kazan turk tatar borek kalakay turkiye kırım qirim crimea hansaray dagestan dagistan hazar derbent karacay cerkez balkar kavkaz elbruz horayda tandir astrahan qirim kuban almati biskek kipcak tatar altay altai uygur uzbek turkmen azer karapapak baskird kazak qazaq kyrgyz kumuk turk halklar ır jır ir konya kulu nogayel tugan el nogayturkleri җыры татар tatar song жыры jırı татарская песня KARACAY CERKEZ TV goruntuleri dagestan kumuk balkar malkar karacay zaza dersim tunceli zaza ahmet kaya halay kürt munzur ovacik ahmetkaya alevi kurdistan 62 hz.ali che ferhat tunc düzgün baba dersimspor tuncelispor zazaca apo serafettin halis mikail aslan ahmet aslan dersimspor tuncelispor direniş HÖC mlkp dhkp-c radyozaza radyoovacık domonedersim mazgirt pertek çemişgezek pülümür nazimiye hozat pkk partizan mameki kalan katliam dersim38 koyedersim zazakurde djmunzur arzu sahin grup munzur deniz gezmis ibrahim kampamkaya enver celik dilan bingöl diyarbakir van mus kars rojda koma azad beser rojin metin kemal karhaman munzur festivali Hozat Ovacık radiozaza Pertek Pülümür Nazımiye Çemişgezek Kürt grup doganay erzincan cepki night yildiz tilbe ERDOĞAN ŞİMŞEK HASRET TÜRKÜ EVİ TÜRKÜ BAR CANLI PERFORMANS GALİP POLAT GÖKER GÜLTEKİN KLAVYECİ İBO KAVALCI HASAN HASRET TÜRKÜ EVİ BİNEVLER GAZİANTEP SARAÇ KÖYÜ YASSIPINAR KÖYÜ ŞARKIŞLA SİVAS KEKLİKPINARI HAVZA SAMSUN KÜÇÜK LATİF DOĞAN İBRAHİM TATLISES AZER BÜLBÜL YENİ TÜRKÜ LADİK SEYYAH ADANA YENİBEY DİVRİĞİ YELLİCE KÖYÜ AVŞAR KÖYÜ GÜNEŞ ÇETİNKAYA SİVRALAN KÖYÜ KÜÇÜK LATİF DOĞAN İBRAHİM TATLISES AZER BÜLBÜL YENİ TÜRKÜ ORTAKÖY GEMEREK YENİÇUBUK AŞIK MAHSUNİ ŞERİF HASAN ERDOĞAN ABDULLAH PAPUR ALİ BAŞTUĞ MUSA EROĞLU ARİF SAĞ TOLĞA SAĞ ERDAL ERZİNCAN MUHLİS AKARSU SABAHAT AKKİRAZ MUSTAFA ÖZARSLAN GRUP ÇIĞ ÇIĞ GÖSTERİ MERKEZİ ORTAKÖY SİVRALAN SARACLİYİZ.COM İĞDELİ YELLİCE SEYYAH OĞUZ AKSAÇ DEYİŞ SEMAH KARS BAĞLAMA SAZ CANLI PERFORMANS CİHAN ÇELİK ALİ HAYDAR PİRSULTAN ABDAL MADIMAK MALATYA ARGUVAN HAVASI EKİM 29 BAR
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The word "shaman" in the original Tungus language refers to a person who makes journeys to nonordinary reality in an altered state of consciousness. Adopting the term in the West was useful because people didn't know what it meant. Terms like "wizard," "witch," "sorcerer," and "witch doctor" have their own connotations, ambiguities, and preconceptions associated with them. Although the term is from Siberia, the practice of shamanism existed on all inhabited continents. After years of extensive research, Mircea Eliade, in his book, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, concluded that shamanism underlays all the other spiritual traditions on the planet, and that the most distinctive feature of shamanism—but by no means the only one—was the journey to other worlds in an altered state of consciousness.
"...in our culture many consider it avant-garde if a person talks about the mind-body connection, but the fact that the brain is connected to the rest of the body is not the most exciting news. It's been known for hundreds and thousands of years. What's really important about shamanism, in my opinion, is that the shaman knows that we are not alone. By that I mean, when one human being compassionately works to relieve the suffering of another, the helping spirits are interested and become involved."
Shamans are often called "see-ers" (seers), or "people who know" in their tribal languages, because they are involved in a system of knowledge based on firsthand experience. Shamanism is not a belief system. It's based on personal experiments conducted to heal, to get information, or do other things. In fact, if shamans don't get results, they will no longer be used by people in their tribe. People ask me, "How do you know if somebody's a shaman?" I say, "It's simple. Do they journey to other worlds? And do they perform miracles?"
Is shamanism a religion?
The practice of shamanism is a method, not a religion. It coexists with established religions in many cultures. In Siberia, you'll find shamanism coexisting with Buddhism and Lamaism, and in Japan with Buddhism. It's true that shamans are often in animistic cultures. Animism means that people believe there are spirits. So in shamanic cultures, where shamans interact with spirits to get results such as healing, it's no surprise that people believe there are spirits. But the shamans don't believe in spirits. Shamans talk with them, interact with them. They no more "believe" there are spirits than they "believe" they have a house to live in, or have a family. This is a very important issue because shamanism is not a system of faith.
Shamanism is also not exclusionary. They don't say, "We have the only healing system." In a holistic approach to healing, the shaman uses the spiritual means at his or her disposal in cooperation with people in the community who have other techniques such as plant healing, massage, and bone setting. The shaman's purpose is to help the patient get well, not to prove that his or her system is the only one that works. --Michael Harner
In Search of Sacred Intelligence:
Shamanic Sensibilities & the Evolution of Diversity in Business
Palma Vizzoni
Abstract
This paper explores the question, “How do the sensibilities of shamanic practices in combination with communal indigenous tools demonstrate a capacity to better inform business leadership and management towards sustainability?” This exploration centers itself around a missing link in corporate community management related to the narrow focus of diversity development and the ensuing task to broaden the action of “embracing diversity” as a core value of business. This recovery of deeper diversity awareness towards cultural competence and beyond can bring business to the doorway of utilizing ancient skills traditionally secluded to the lives of indigenous people and their wisdom gatekeepers.
The main points of this paper include:
· When “modern” society walks into its own indigenous landscape, it can be seen that the socio-environmental crisis faced today is an initiatory ordeal. As a result, modern people are faced with the task of creating practical adaptations to eclectic, ancient tools that serve the action of pushing through this crisis and globally witnessing its conclusion.
· Examining what the terms indigenous self, shamanic sensibilities, and work instinct mean for Western culture.
· Identifying where Western science meets indigenous technologies and recognizing a new relationship that was previously thought to be incompatible.
· Analyzing the connection between broadening the definition of diversity in business to include indigenous community ritual technologies and the capacity of business to integrate sustainability and avoid the fatal consequences of current behaviors. In business diversity training case studies, when some groups have peak experiences of sustained creativity and trust, the format of their training is analogous to common techniques of community ritual.
These ideas are supported by the work of David Abram, James Hillman, Martín Prechtel, Malidoma Somé, Brian Swimme, Margaret Wheatley, Ken Wilbur, R. Rosen and P. Digh, J. Gibb, and L. Gibb. These authors provide evidence for connecting Western thought to indigenous practices and building the business case for expanding the concept of diversity. http://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings50th/article/view/267/60
Full Text: PDF
Shamanic Sensibilities & the Evolution of Diversity in Business
Palma Vizzoni
Abstract
This paper explores the question, “How do the sensibilities of shamanic practices in combination with communal indigenous tools demonstrate a capacity to better inform business leadership and management towards sustainability?” This exploration centers itself around a missing link in corporate community management related to the narrow focus of diversity development and the ensuing task to broaden the action of “embracing diversity” as a core value of business. This recovery of deeper diversity awareness towards cultural competence and beyond can bring business to the doorway of utilizing ancient skills traditionally secluded to the lives of indigenous people and their wisdom gatekeepers.
The main points of this paper include:
· When “modern” society walks into its own indigenous landscape, it can be seen that the socio-environmental crisis faced today is an initiatory ordeal. As a result, modern people are faced with the task of creating practical adaptations to eclectic, ancient tools that serve the action of pushing through this crisis and globally witnessing its conclusion.
· Examining what the terms indigenous self, shamanic sensibilities, and work instinct mean for Western culture.
· Identifying where Western science meets indigenous technologies and recognizing a new relationship that was previously thought to be incompatible.
· Analyzing the connection between broadening the definition of diversity in business to include indigenous community ritual technologies and the capacity of business to integrate sustainability and avoid the fatal consequences of current behaviors. In business diversity training case studies, when some groups have peak experiences of sustained creativity and trust, the format of their training is analogous to common techniques of community ritual.
These ideas are supported by the work of David Abram, James Hillman, Martín Prechtel, Malidoma Somé, Brian Swimme, Margaret Wheatley, Ken Wilbur, R. Rosen and P. Digh, J. Gibb, and L. Gibb. These authors provide evidence for connecting Western thought to indigenous practices and building the business case for expanding the concept of diversity. http://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings50th/article/view/267/60
Full Text: PDF
Tengri
Marlene Laruelle, a Research Fellow with the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars , and its Kennan Institute , in
Washington, D.C. wrote; "The Tengrist movement appeared in the 1990s in
Central Asia and in Russia. It particularly developed in Tatarstan
,where, since 1997, the only Tengrist periodical, Bizneng-Yul, has been
published. It later spread throughout Central Asia.
However, the movement, which has so far been little institutionalized, starts to organize itself: there is now a Tengrist society in Bishkek , which officially claims almost 500,000 followers (a figure which is obviously excessive and unrealistic), and an international scientific centre of Tengrist studies. Both institutions are run by Dastan Sarygulov, the main theorist of Tengrism in Kyrgyzstan and a member of the Parliament.
Publications committed to the subject of Tengrism are more and more frequently published in scientific journals of human sciences in this republic, as well as in Kazakhstan. The partisans of this movement endeavor to influence the political circles, and have in fact succeeded in spreading their concepts into the governing bodies. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and even more frequently former Kyrgyz president Askar Akayev, have several times mentioned Tengrism as the national and “natural” religion of the Turkic peoples."
Others consider it as simple re-introduction of so-called "Jewish Shamanism" phenomena. Rabbi Gershon Winkler has written: "Shamanism and sorcery are NOT antithetical to the Hebrew scriptures. In fact, torturing a witch to death is a far more heinous sin in Judaism than practicing the occult arts. The proscriptions in the Bible against divination and sorcery refer specifically to the kinds of sorcery practiced by specified cultures whose ways the Jewish people were forbidden to emulate.
The Hebrew scriptural verse (Exodus 22: 17) M'KHSHEYFAH LOT'CHIYEH for example, has for centuries been haphazardly translated as 'You shall not suffer a witch to live,' when literally it translates: 'You should not SUSTAIN a witch,' meaning don't get into the habit of supporting the livelihood of the village magician; don't let some guy with a lot of supernatural power drain you of your savings through fear and intimidation. Let him get a job like everybody else, and perform his magic out of the goodness of his heart and in recognition of the sacred gift he possesses. Another translation of the exact same Hebrew wording would be: 'From sorcery you should not live,' as in don't base your entire life and all of your affairs on the powers of sorcery, or, don't make a living from it."
Further Rabbi Winkler continues; "Jewish Shamanism is a quality of consciousness that enables one to experience magic in the ordinary, miracle in the natural course of events, and the spirituality of the physical. Jewish shamanism is as ancient and as rich as most any other shamanic tradition, sharing in common with many of them the belief that all of creation is alive, not just fauna and flora, but that the planets, the stones, the sun and moon, too, are living conscious beings replete with wisdom and soul (e.g. Psalms 8:7-8; 145:10; 148:3-4 and 7-11; Isaiah 55:12; Job 12:7-8; Midrash Heichalot Rabati 24:3).
The second-century Rabbi Me'ir used to call the sun "My brother" (Midrash B'reishis Rabbah 92:6), "All the trees," taught the ancient rabbis, "converse with one another and with all living beings" (Midrash B'reishis Rabbah 13:2). The planets and stars even have their own songs (Sefer Ha'Zohar, Vol. 1, folio 231b). Had the Hebrews never been given their Torah, their divinely inspired scriptures, they would have been able to learn all they needed to know from the animals (Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 100b).
The notion of "Jewish shamanism" may seem like an oxymoron to a lot of people, but it happens to be an integral part of the Jewish tradition that has been suppressed for centuries. Driven from its ancient sojourns in the fresh air of earth and sky, it is now confined to crowded, inaccessible texts that are as unintelligible in English translations as they are in the Aramic and Hebraic original. As with any other aboriginal people, the shamanic elements of the Jewish people grew with them from their infancy some 4,000 years ago as a people of the land, whose very karma and spiritual practice was from the onset interconnected with the earth and the flora and fauna with whom they shared the earth.
Not unlike other aboriginal peoples, the Jews enjoyed their independent commonwealth for millennia before they were conquered, colonized, and whipped into conformity to the religious standards and values of oppressive host cultures that considered themselves superior and sole heirs to absolute truth.
The recent re-introduction of Jewish shamanism represents a restoration of ancient and early medieval Jewish mystery wisdom harvested from Hebrew and Aramaic texts that reflect thousands of years of scriptural and oral teachings and ceremonies.
This vast body of esoteric knowledge and practice introduces us to myriad parallel as well as alternate realities where herbs wield magical powers over demonic energies (Sefer Ha'Zohar, Vol. 2, folio 80a-b); spirits guard the passageways to underground earth realms (Midrash Heichalot Rabati); spirit-doubles serve as vehicles for shamanic journeying (Sefer Ha'Zohar, Vol. 3, folio 104b); canyon walls encrypt mystical resonances that are awakened through the echo of human and rhythmic sounds (Sefer HaZohar, Vol. 3, folio 168b); lovemaking is the act of unifying Creator with Creation (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 17a and Ketuvot 62a); and good and evil engage one another in a concerted dance of divine mystery (Sefer Yetzirah 6:4; Sefer Ha'Zohar, Vol. 2, folio 69a-b). [49]
However, the movement, which has so far been little institutionalized, starts to organize itself: there is now a Tengrist society in Bishkek , which officially claims almost 500,000 followers (a figure which is obviously excessive and unrealistic), and an international scientific centre of Tengrist studies. Both institutions are run by Dastan Sarygulov, the main theorist of Tengrism in Kyrgyzstan and a member of the Parliament.
Publications committed to the subject of Tengrism are more and more frequently published in scientific journals of human sciences in this republic, as well as in Kazakhstan. The partisans of this movement endeavor to influence the political circles, and have in fact succeeded in spreading their concepts into the governing bodies. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and even more frequently former Kyrgyz president Askar Akayev, have several times mentioned Tengrism as the national and “natural” religion of the Turkic peoples."
Others consider it as simple re-introduction of so-called "Jewish Shamanism" phenomena. Rabbi Gershon Winkler has written: "Shamanism and sorcery are NOT antithetical to the Hebrew scriptures. In fact, torturing a witch to death is a far more heinous sin in Judaism than practicing the occult arts. The proscriptions in the Bible against divination and sorcery refer specifically to the kinds of sorcery practiced by specified cultures whose ways the Jewish people were forbidden to emulate.
The Hebrew scriptural verse (Exodus 22: 17) M'KHSHEYFAH LOT'CHIYEH for example, has for centuries been haphazardly translated as 'You shall not suffer a witch to live,' when literally it translates: 'You should not SUSTAIN a witch,' meaning don't get into the habit of supporting the livelihood of the village magician; don't let some guy with a lot of supernatural power drain you of your savings through fear and intimidation. Let him get a job like everybody else, and perform his magic out of the goodness of his heart and in recognition of the sacred gift he possesses. Another translation of the exact same Hebrew wording would be: 'From sorcery you should not live,' as in don't base your entire life and all of your affairs on the powers of sorcery, or, don't make a living from it."
Further Rabbi Winkler continues; "Jewish Shamanism is a quality of consciousness that enables one to experience magic in the ordinary, miracle in the natural course of events, and the spirituality of the physical. Jewish shamanism is as ancient and as rich as most any other shamanic tradition, sharing in common with many of them the belief that all of creation is alive, not just fauna and flora, but that the planets, the stones, the sun and moon, too, are living conscious beings replete with wisdom and soul (e.g. Psalms 8:7-8; 145:10; 148:3-4 and 7-11; Isaiah 55:12; Job 12:7-8; Midrash Heichalot Rabati 24:3).
The second-century Rabbi Me'ir used to call the sun "My brother" (Midrash B'reishis Rabbah 92:6), "All the trees," taught the ancient rabbis, "converse with one another and with all living beings" (Midrash B'reishis Rabbah 13:2). The planets and stars even have their own songs (Sefer Ha'Zohar, Vol. 1, folio 231b). Had the Hebrews never been given their Torah, their divinely inspired scriptures, they would have been able to learn all they needed to know from the animals (Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 100b).
The notion of "Jewish shamanism" may seem like an oxymoron to a lot of people, but it happens to be an integral part of the Jewish tradition that has been suppressed for centuries. Driven from its ancient sojourns in the fresh air of earth and sky, it is now confined to crowded, inaccessible texts that are as unintelligible in English translations as they are in the Aramic and Hebraic original. As with any other aboriginal people, the shamanic elements of the Jewish people grew with them from their infancy some 4,000 years ago as a people of the land, whose very karma and spiritual practice was from the onset interconnected with the earth and the flora and fauna with whom they shared the earth.
Not unlike other aboriginal peoples, the Jews enjoyed their independent commonwealth for millennia before they were conquered, colonized, and whipped into conformity to the religious standards and values of oppressive host cultures that considered themselves superior and sole heirs to absolute truth.
The recent re-introduction of Jewish shamanism represents a restoration of ancient and early medieval Jewish mystery wisdom harvested from Hebrew and Aramaic texts that reflect thousands of years of scriptural and oral teachings and ceremonies.
This vast body of esoteric knowledge and practice introduces us to myriad parallel as well as alternate realities where herbs wield magical powers over demonic energies (Sefer Ha'Zohar, Vol. 2, folio 80a-b); spirits guard the passageways to underground earth realms (Midrash Heichalot Rabati); spirit-doubles serve as vehicles for shamanic journeying (Sefer Ha'Zohar, Vol. 3, folio 104b); canyon walls encrypt mystical resonances that are awakened through the echo of human and rhythmic sounds (Sefer HaZohar, Vol. 3, folio 168b); lovemaking is the act of unifying Creator with Creation (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 17a and Ketuvot 62a); and good and evil engage one another in a concerted dance of divine mystery (Sefer Yetzirah 6:4; Sefer Ha'Zohar, Vol. 2, folio 69a-b). [49]
(c) Iona Miller, 1976, acrylic
Tengrism
The native people of Northern Asia in post-communist context by Roberte
N. Hamayon, Professor, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes ( EPHE-
Religious Sciences)
Unlike other regions of the world today, Northern Asia— the world of the steppe, taiga and tundra — seems to be sheltered from upheavals. Let us take the example of the native people of Siberia: the dying out of the Soviet regime and the change over to the market economy are carried out in a comparative apathy (except for anti-Russian acts of violence at Tuva). This vast zone is hardly talked about.
Does it mean that it remains outside globalization? Far from it. But it has remained closed and isolated for so long that the sentiment of discovery prevails, for those who enter into it or leave it. Even if tourism develops there, it is especially because of the journalists, ecologist militants or New Age travelers. And even if the trip abroad has become possible for these people, only some of their elites have access to it, like the singing and dancing troops invited to make tours throughout the world.
Nevertheless, an Arctic belt was made: the 'small people of the North' visit those they think are distant cousins in the American continent, to learn how to defend their territorial rights and claim their share of natural wealth. Their topicality is made from a complex mixture of 'return to traditions' and access to modernity as full-fledged people. A comparable mixture is observed in the neighboring regions, whatever be the political situation: national minority or titular ethnic group of an autonomous republic in Russian Federation, titular ethnic group of a republic having become independent after the fall of the Soviet Union or State already officially independent like Mongolia.
The 'return to the traditions' is, since 1990, a major theme with all these populations to whom the context enables the professed awakening or reawakening of nationalism. Gone are the days of eradication of customs, condemnation of religions, obligation of conforming to Homo sovieticus model, humiliation and restriction. They can become themselves once again.
Because many old ideas and habits have endured under the glaze imposed by the regime from above: partly clandestine, partly altered but experienced as having remained loyal to themselves under the flow of successive slogans. Some resurface as soon as the possibility of laying claims on them opens up, but it quickly turns out that souvenirs are not enough and doubt prevails over the opportunity of coming back to it. It is the same at all levels in all realms. The lapse dying out in the collective economy and automatic salary pushes a part of these people to resort to resume the nomadic life of hunters and breeders of their grandfathers.
But the organization of labor in kolkhozs, sovkhozs and others has brought about the loss of some know-how that allowed a comparative self-sufficiency. And general education has offered professional training education for women, which dissuades the women themselves and their children from returning to this type of life. A split appears between rural and urban zones, between old and new values, men resorting to old way of life and qualified women, between two claims of 'authenticity' —city dweller intellectuals appearing as the most sensitive people to the strict observance of the 'traditions'.
The Siberian peoples, who did not have a State of their own before the Russian colonization and integration into the USSR, do not have any identity model at the national level. Not long ago they claimed to be tuva (or koriak or evenk) and soviet at the same time; such a plurality is not anymore possible with 'Russians'. They have to build their own model, by taking advantage of the religious liberty restored. But, being initially shamanists, they were long ago more or less converted to orthodox Christianity, Buddhism or Islam, then subjected to atheist propaganda.
Then, which religion to invoke? Confronted with this problem, the resourcefulness of the elites is remarkable. The elites of populations like Buryats or Yakuts who have autonomous Republics of their own (without being majority there) are most strongly motivated to exercise their creativity. In fact, these Republics, politically and demographically dominated by the local Russians, individually depend on the titular ethnic group to create a new national identity for themselves on a territorial basis. Thus the Yakut intellectuals have at first ventured to institute Shamanism into national religion, working out a doctrine on the basis of descriptions of Russian observers of the end of the 19th century.
In Buryatia it is the most famous epic hero, Geser (like Manas in Kirghizia, a country that became fully independent) who was set up as a cultural emblem at the national level, thanks to the academic support and the creation of a specific ministerial department, institutions, publications and festivities to its glory. Nevertheless none of these symbolic constructions has achieved a popular base. In the same way we see new attempts emerging, like tengrianstvo in Khakassia, Kirghizia, Yakutia…
This recent neologism follows classical tengrism, formed on the turco-mongol word tengri 'sky'. It takes the concept of ‘mandate of the sky' used at the medieval time by the empires of the steppes to found their legitimacy. Some historians have interpreted this 'sky' as a supreme religious reference, although it was not conceived as a personal god and did not receive any direct cult. Nowadays involving this old concept is to equip the political unit with a religious tool of legitimization. A form of tengrianstvo just appeared even in Mongolia, superimposing on the unifying figure of Gengis Khan, who dominates the symbolic life of the nation since 1990, and enjoys a cult where Shamanic and Buddhist elements mix.
We observe constant aspects which recall the Soviet ways in the creativity deployed for (re)-constructing ethnic or national identity, but adapted to other ideals: the quasi experimental character of innovations which favor their quick succession, their elaborate ritualization intended to make them familiar, the practice of commemoration that enables to reconstruct history. A particular role comes back to Shamanism in this articulation between 'return to traditions' and modernization. Giving rise to a 'mystical tourism' on behalf of the Westerners, which is reflected locally in diverse forms (neo-Shamanisms the western way, urban Shamanism with nationalist tendency), it joins the liberalism based on private initiative by the mechanisms it implements and thus the emergence of individual subject is promoted in these societies.
Unlike other regions of the world today, Northern Asia— the world of the steppe, taiga and tundra — seems to be sheltered from upheavals. Let us take the example of the native people of Siberia: the dying out of the Soviet regime and the change over to the market economy are carried out in a comparative apathy (except for anti-Russian acts of violence at Tuva). This vast zone is hardly talked about.
Does it mean that it remains outside globalization? Far from it. But it has remained closed and isolated for so long that the sentiment of discovery prevails, for those who enter into it or leave it. Even if tourism develops there, it is especially because of the journalists, ecologist militants or New Age travelers. And even if the trip abroad has become possible for these people, only some of their elites have access to it, like the singing and dancing troops invited to make tours throughout the world.
Nevertheless, an Arctic belt was made: the 'small people of the North' visit those they think are distant cousins in the American continent, to learn how to defend their territorial rights and claim their share of natural wealth. Their topicality is made from a complex mixture of 'return to traditions' and access to modernity as full-fledged people. A comparable mixture is observed in the neighboring regions, whatever be the political situation: national minority or titular ethnic group of an autonomous republic in Russian Federation, titular ethnic group of a republic having become independent after the fall of the Soviet Union or State already officially independent like Mongolia.
The 'return to the traditions' is, since 1990, a major theme with all these populations to whom the context enables the professed awakening or reawakening of nationalism. Gone are the days of eradication of customs, condemnation of religions, obligation of conforming to Homo sovieticus model, humiliation and restriction. They can become themselves once again.
Because many old ideas and habits have endured under the glaze imposed by the regime from above: partly clandestine, partly altered but experienced as having remained loyal to themselves under the flow of successive slogans. Some resurface as soon as the possibility of laying claims on them opens up, but it quickly turns out that souvenirs are not enough and doubt prevails over the opportunity of coming back to it. It is the same at all levels in all realms. The lapse dying out in the collective economy and automatic salary pushes a part of these people to resort to resume the nomadic life of hunters and breeders of their grandfathers.
But the organization of labor in kolkhozs, sovkhozs and others has brought about the loss of some know-how that allowed a comparative self-sufficiency. And general education has offered professional training education for women, which dissuades the women themselves and their children from returning to this type of life. A split appears between rural and urban zones, between old and new values, men resorting to old way of life and qualified women, between two claims of 'authenticity' —city dweller intellectuals appearing as the most sensitive people to the strict observance of the 'traditions'.
The Siberian peoples, who did not have a State of their own before the Russian colonization and integration into the USSR, do not have any identity model at the national level. Not long ago they claimed to be tuva (or koriak or evenk) and soviet at the same time; such a plurality is not anymore possible with 'Russians'. They have to build their own model, by taking advantage of the religious liberty restored. But, being initially shamanists, they were long ago more or less converted to orthodox Christianity, Buddhism or Islam, then subjected to atheist propaganda.
Then, which religion to invoke? Confronted with this problem, the resourcefulness of the elites is remarkable. The elites of populations like Buryats or Yakuts who have autonomous Republics of their own (without being majority there) are most strongly motivated to exercise their creativity. In fact, these Republics, politically and demographically dominated by the local Russians, individually depend on the titular ethnic group to create a new national identity for themselves on a territorial basis. Thus the Yakut intellectuals have at first ventured to institute Shamanism into national religion, working out a doctrine on the basis of descriptions of Russian observers of the end of the 19th century.
In Buryatia it is the most famous epic hero, Geser (like Manas in Kirghizia, a country that became fully independent) who was set up as a cultural emblem at the national level, thanks to the academic support and the creation of a specific ministerial department, institutions, publications and festivities to its glory. Nevertheless none of these symbolic constructions has achieved a popular base. In the same way we see new attempts emerging, like tengrianstvo in Khakassia, Kirghizia, Yakutia…
This recent neologism follows classical tengrism, formed on the turco-mongol word tengri 'sky'. It takes the concept of ‘mandate of the sky' used at the medieval time by the empires of the steppes to found their legitimacy. Some historians have interpreted this 'sky' as a supreme religious reference, although it was not conceived as a personal god and did not receive any direct cult. Nowadays involving this old concept is to equip the political unit with a religious tool of legitimization. A form of tengrianstvo just appeared even in Mongolia, superimposing on the unifying figure of Gengis Khan, who dominates the symbolic life of the nation since 1990, and enjoys a cult where Shamanic and Buddhist elements mix.
We observe constant aspects which recall the Soviet ways in the creativity deployed for (re)-constructing ethnic or national identity, but adapted to other ideals: the quasi experimental character of innovations which favor their quick succession, their elaborate ritualization intended to make them familiar, the practice of commemoration that enables to reconstruct history. A particular role comes back to Shamanism in this articulation between 'return to traditions' and modernization. Giving rise to a 'mystical tourism' on behalf of the Westerners, which is reflected locally in diverse forms (neo-Shamanisms the western way, urban Shamanism with nationalist tendency), it joins the liberalism based on private initiative by the mechanisms it implements and thus the emergence of individual subject is promoted in these societies.
Runes
Due to several stone carvings in Ukraine (where the bulgarians moved through during the 5th
century) and Northern Bulgaria, two main runes could be depicted – the
actual sky rune could not be appointed until today. The rune on the left
is the spirit symbol of Yer Su. IYI in
the middle – the main rune of Tangrism – is the symbol of the unnamed
sun god (some bulgarian sources determinate the sun god, who is a very
special form of life bringer and guardian and the son of the cosmic
father-sky).
In this case the sun is no more the concurrent of the sky, it becames a part of the cosmic pantheon. Other sources also assign the ancient svastika as the main tangric sun symbol. The third rune is a symbol, similar to Odal rune, but turned upside down. Its meaning is the holy heritage “Sarakt”, the state itself – most of the tangric tribes defined their organization, consolidation or merge, already as a ‘state’ in its modern administrative meaning.
Time and its streaming, as well as the fluction of the epochs and eras was an issue of high matter to the spiritual elite and shamans of Tangrism, not only in far asian regions, but still in Europe, on the balkans – this evidence was manifested by the discovery of several stone and wood carvings in the former bulgarian capitols Pliska and the ruins on the Crymean Peninsula and several Regions of the Volga river (during the bulgarian movement towards Europe). Although the deliverance is absolutely inadequate, scientists like Bojidar Dimitrov and Peter Dobrev could determine the exact creation date of the Tangra calendar at 5808 B.C. and due to this computation of time, the year of 2008 is actually 7816. One circle of the Tangra period is 25920 years, beginning with the birth year of the first predecessors, the Alps, which can be compared easily with the Hyperboreans.
One day of the cosmic year is 72 years – the human pulse is 72 times per minute. The number of daily breaths is 25920.
The Alps are personificated sources of energy – each alp generation with a strong hierarchy rules over the three worlds (Ustyugu Uren, upper world – Urta Uren, middle world – Adak Uren, underworld).
The number 7 is essential for the tangric doctrines, which stand with eachother in a coherent context:
7 are the main symbols on the tangric rosette and so are the planets of the tangric cosmic system with the polar star as its center - a symbol of completed, fulfilled harmony and balance.
In this case the sun is no more the concurrent of the sky, it becames a part of the cosmic pantheon. Other sources also assign the ancient svastika as the main tangric sun symbol. The third rune is a symbol, similar to Odal rune, but turned upside down. Its meaning is the holy heritage “Sarakt”, the state itself – most of the tangric tribes defined their organization, consolidation or merge, already as a ‘state’ in its modern administrative meaning.
Time and its streaming, as well as the fluction of the epochs and eras was an issue of high matter to the spiritual elite and shamans of Tangrism, not only in far asian regions, but still in Europe, on the balkans – this evidence was manifested by the discovery of several stone and wood carvings in the former bulgarian capitols Pliska and the ruins on the Crymean Peninsula and several Regions of the Volga river (during the bulgarian movement towards Europe). Although the deliverance is absolutely inadequate, scientists like Bojidar Dimitrov and Peter Dobrev could determine the exact creation date of the Tangra calendar at 5808 B.C. and due to this computation of time, the year of 2008 is actually 7816. One circle of the Tangra period is 25920 years, beginning with the birth year of the first predecessors, the Alps, which can be compared easily with the Hyperboreans.
One day of the cosmic year is 72 years – the human pulse is 72 times per minute. The number of daily breaths is 25920.
The Alps are personificated sources of energy – each alp generation with a strong hierarchy rules over the three worlds (Ustyugu Uren, upper world – Urta Uren, middle world – Adak Uren, underworld).
The number 7 is essential for the tangric doctrines, which stand with eachother in a coherent context:
7 are the main symbols on the tangric rosette and so are the planets of the tangric cosmic system with the polar star as its center - a symbol of completed, fulfilled harmony and balance.
We
also cannot disregard and ignore the big influence of the western
chinese and altaic calendar when we look at its arrangement and zodiacs: Dox – Pig, Somor – Rat, Shegor – Ox, Bars – Tiger, Dvansh – Rabbit
Ver – Dragon, Dissom – Snake, Tech – Horse, Pesinu – Monkey
Toch – Rooster, Eth – Dog
After re-arranging this calendar structure, bulgarian and russian scientists determined the age of Pisces to Dvansh, the age of the rabbit and the current age of Aquarius to Pesinu.
Can Tangra be compared to any other prechristian monotheistic cult? Not really, but the cult itself can be compared to single deistic phaenomena like Indra or Mithra, although their ocularly sun referrence deeply clashes with the sky referred Tangra cult. By contrast to Tengrism, which is widely practicated today in many turkic-asian regions, the Chuvash people in western Russia are the ones, who continue the cult of Tangra (Tangrism) even in the 21th century.
http://svarga-bulletin.blogspot.com/2009/05/tangra.html
Ver – Dragon, Dissom – Snake, Tech – Horse, Pesinu – Monkey
Toch – Rooster, Eth – Dog
After re-arranging this calendar structure, bulgarian and russian scientists determined the age of Pisces to Dvansh, the age of the rabbit and the current age of Aquarius to Pesinu.
Can Tangra be compared to any other prechristian monotheistic cult? Not really, but the cult itself can be compared to single deistic phaenomena like Indra or Mithra, although their ocularly sun referrence deeply clashes with the sky referred Tangra cult. By contrast to Tengrism, which is widely practicated today in many turkic-asian regions, the Chuvash people in western Russia are the ones, who continue the cult of Tangra (Tangrism) even in the 21th century.
http://svarga-bulletin.blogspot.com/2009/05/tangra.html
Migration Patterns
MHCTMTVT BOCTOMHblX PyKOnMCEM PAH (cAHKT-nETEPEyPr) THE INSTITUTE OF ORIENTAL MANUSCRIPTS, RAS (ST PETERSBURG)
ANCIENT TURKIC ETHNICAL AND POLITICAL UNIONS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE TURKIC ETHNOGENESIS S. G. KLYASHTORNY (St Petersburg)
The most ancient regions of Turkic ethnogenesis and glottogenesis are all connected with the Eastern part of Eurasia: Central Asia and South Siberia, from the Altai mountains in the west to the Hinggan mountains in the east. This vast area was not isolated from the neighbouring civilizations nor from the tribes which were of a different ethnic type residing in the forests, mountains and steppes.
The migration routes, which varied in scale throughout the period of migration covered the whole of the Great Steppe. However, the stable correlation of the "Altaic" ethnogenesis with Eurasia's Eastern Steppland makes it possible to link the appearance of the first Turkic-speaking ethnical group (being the Western ones in the Altaic language family) with this period. This situation remained the same until the first centuries A.D. Due to the high mobility of the tribes inhabiting the Great Steppe, their ethnogenesis had no reference to a certain territory.
The common features of all the Turkic tribal unions of ancient times and the medieval period were their instability, mobility, and high capacity for adaptation within the emerging new tribal unions. Within the framework of ethnical and political unions created by a certain tribal group (dynasty), the chaotic outward appearance of the migrations formed definite directions. Only when the vast time periods are considered does it become obvious that these migrations had one tendency: from the East towards the West.
As only few written sources are available and it is difficult to explain from the ethnological point of view the archaeological materials, one can only hypo- thetically reconstruct those processes and draw conclusions from these. That is why here I shall deal with the most obvious periods of the ancient Turkic epoch, which are connected with the separate stages of formation of the Turkic ethnical unions. The beginning of Turkic ethnogenesis is commonly linked with the dissolution of the Hunnu State and the setting apart in Central Asia of hitherto unknown tribal groups. These could hardly be regarded as having ethnical relations with the Huns despite some references found in the Chinese sources.
Today it is obvious that there was a difference between the (linguistically) non-Altaic early Huns, who created their own empire, and the later Hun conglomerate unions in which the Altaic ethnical groups dominated. It was on the outskirts of the Hun empire that proto-Turkic ethnical and political unions emerged at the beginning of our millenium. The oldest Turkic folklore evidence, which was written down in the 6th c, is the legend of the Ashina tribe's origin and its growing dominance in the emerging tribal union of the Turks. In the Turkic genealogical legends, besides the genealogies proper, one can find the sources of three other tribal traditions concerning the initial stage of the Kyrghyz, Kypchak and Tiehle (Oghuz) ethnogenesis.
There are two well- known legends about the origin of the Turks: one found in the Chou-shu, another in Bei-shi. Both legends seem to be different forms of a single legend which reflects the successive settling of the Ashina Turks in Central Asia. After the migration of the Ashinas to the Altai mountains, the Turkic ethnical groups of Northern Central Asia and South Siberia 'who had created their own neighbouring tribal unions' joined the Ashina genealogical tradition.
According to the Chinese sources these formed the Tsigu group, i.e. the Yenissey Kyrghyz, or "White Swan" group. This group was identified by me with the Kypchak and Tiehle group, and together these can be identified with the Ashina relatives, who had settled on the banks of the Dju-dje river.
Two important aspects from the two variants of the legends should be mentioned. First, the four main ancient Turkic tribal groups, whose historical successors survived up to later periods, had been formed at an early stage of the Turkic ethnogenesis, when their genealogical relationship was fixed in the narrative tradition. Secondly, by counting the number of generations, one can date back the events recorded in the 6th to the 5th or, probably, 4th-5th centuries.
These events took place on the territory of Eastern Tien-Shan and Sayan-Altai (the Mongolian Altai included), and this encourages us to consult the remaining historical records and archaeological materials of those times. In the Sayan Altai area of the 3rd-5th centuries several archaeological cultures have been discovered. On the basis of specific ethnical elements they can be regarded as early Kyrghyz, early Tiehle and early Kypchak cultures. As examples of these elements in the Tashtyk culture on the middle Yenissey Lowland during the 3rd-5th centuries, one can mention cremation rites, features of sepulchre con- struction, and various types of adornments and ceramics. These were later developed among the Yenissey Kyrghyz. The remains of the Berel type found in the Mountaineous Altai (3rd-5th centuries) are noteworthy for the burials with horses, and can be regarded as being of early Tiehle origin.
In the conglomerate Upper Ob culture, especially its Odintsov stage on the Northern Altai, the monuments of the same period possess some features characteristic of the early medieval Kypchaks. The peoples who created all the archaeological complexes seem to be connected with ethnical and cultural substratum of the Hun-Sarmath time, and by 3rd-5th centuries stood apart as a separate ethnical community. On the basis of written tradition and archaeological evidence it is possible to point out the initial stage of the Turks' ethnogenesis, which can be named as "the stage of legendary ancestors". In the middle of the 6th century the four main groups of ancient Turkic tribes joined the political union newly established by the Ashina Turks, thus giving birth to a new stage of ethnical and political history of Central and Middle Asia - "the stage of archaic empire".
The new stage of the Turks' ethnogenesis emerged against the background of changing social conditions (a process of intense class-formation) in other geographical areas (i.e. the spread of the Turkic Khagan's power to the Middle Asia part of the Great Steppe and the spread of their political influence to the area of the Middle Asian civilization). These things caused a new level of ethnic contacts and economical symbiosis with the Eastern Iranian world. The formation of the Turkic and Uighur Khaganats - along with the formation of the Karluk, Tiirgesh, Kyrghyz and Kimak states, which had similar social and political structures — moved the Turkic ethnogenesis westwards and weakened the ethnic processes connected with the Turks in Central Asia. In the archaic empires the clan ideology was the counter-balance of imperial ideology.
Within the borders of a united empire existed a common literary language and writing (which survived even after the empire's collapse), a common style in the form of material objects, and a common social and political nomenclature; the latter reflected a new ethnical world-outlook and it stood as a symbol opposed to another cultural world. At the same time, in Djety-su, Eastern Turkestan and to some extent in Maverannahr the process of narrow localization of stable ethnic groups continued. In this process the centripetal forces grew stronger and, despite unstable intertribal links, became firmer. Thus they shaped the future Turkic peoples.
The centripetal and centrifugal processes, which replaced each other and co- existed in the course of the archaic empires history, resulted in the inconsistency of the simultaneously developing archaeological cultures. On the other hand, the completion of the common Turkic cultural complex included the spread of material objects over the whole of the steppeland belt. This took place during the 1st millenium A. D. and is reflected in the ideological notions of the funeral rites, and objects of imitative art. Also, such archaeological complexes have concrete ethnical features. Thus three independent archaeological cultures can be identified and each has specific decorated material objects associated with funeral rites. For example, the cultures of the Yenissey Kyrghyz, Altai Turks and Kimak-Kypchak cultures of Eastern Kazakhstan and Northern Altai.
Observing various innovations, one can trace the direction of the early medieval "cultural spread" from South to North and from East to West. Thus, during the 1st millenium A.D., in Central Asia and the Steppelands of South-Western Siberia, (in Djety-su and Tien-Shan) an ethnic process was going on which involved the formation of cultural traditions that were linked with the ethnogenesis of the Turks proper, i.e. Oghuz, Kyrghyz and Kypchaks. This took place within a framework that was common for all Turks.
Within the borders of the archaic empires four groups of Turkic tribes consolidated their positions and became the core of the formation of new ethnoses. The Kimak-Kypchak group, comprising the Sirs and some Oghuz tribes as its bulk, left Central Asia and moved to the Irtysh basin. They then rapidly spread westwards pressing from the South other Turkic tribes. Judging from the archaeological objects it becomes obvious that the Kyrghyz, after enlarging their Yenissey state, opened up the economically important foot-hill and forest areas for the nomads - from Baikal to Eastern Kazakhstan.
The Toguz-Oghuz tribal groups were pressed by the Tibetan expansion to the Western part of Kansu and Eastern Turkestan, making the Tarim basin part of the Western outskirts of their state. After the political disaster of 744 the Turks lost their Central Asian homeland and grouped in Kashgar and Djety-su. After adopting Islam and intermixing with the Karluk tribes, in the 10th century they created the Karakhanide state. Their Djety-su branch, being the descendants of the Turk-Oghuz tribes of the Western Khaganate, were pressed by the Karluks. This branch formed the state of the Aral Oghuz and assimilated the population of the Syr-Darya oasis and Aral Steppes.
The ethnic developments, which started in the mid-period of the archaic empires, are reflected in states whose formation marked the beginning of a new stage of the political, social and ethnic history of the Great Steppe — the stage of barbarous states. In these states the ethnic nucleus of the early medieval Turkic peoples was formed. At the same time there was a change in the correlation between the endogenous and exogenous factors forming the direction of ethnical processes.
On the other stage of ethnogenesis the main thing was not the development of the Turkic components but the influence of the contacts with other ethnical environments - those of the Iranian and Caucasian of Asia Minor and the Finno-Ugrians. The two different lines of ethnic development - that introduced from Central Asia, and that of local substratum displayed themselves in a different way in the racial genesis, cultural genesis and the ethnic history of the Turkic peoples.
ANCIENT TURKIC ETHNICAL AND POLITICAL UNIONS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE TURKIC ETHNOGENESIS S. G. KLYASHTORNY (St Petersburg)
The most ancient regions of Turkic ethnogenesis and glottogenesis are all connected with the Eastern part of Eurasia: Central Asia and South Siberia, from the Altai mountains in the west to the Hinggan mountains in the east. This vast area was not isolated from the neighbouring civilizations nor from the tribes which were of a different ethnic type residing in the forests, mountains and steppes.
The migration routes, which varied in scale throughout the period of migration covered the whole of the Great Steppe. However, the stable correlation of the "Altaic" ethnogenesis with Eurasia's Eastern Steppland makes it possible to link the appearance of the first Turkic-speaking ethnical group (being the Western ones in the Altaic language family) with this period. This situation remained the same until the first centuries A.D. Due to the high mobility of the tribes inhabiting the Great Steppe, their ethnogenesis had no reference to a certain territory.
The common features of all the Turkic tribal unions of ancient times and the medieval period were their instability, mobility, and high capacity for adaptation within the emerging new tribal unions. Within the framework of ethnical and political unions created by a certain tribal group (dynasty), the chaotic outward appearance of the migrations formed definite directions. Only when the vast time periods are considered does it become obvious that these migrations had one tendency: from the East towards the West.
As only few written sources are available and it is difficult to explain from the ethnological point of view the archaeological materials, one can only hypo- thetically reconstruct those processes and draw conclusions from these. That is why here I shall deal with the most obvious periods of the ancient Turkic epoch, which are connected with the separate stages of formation of the Turkic ethnical unions. The beginning of Turkic ethnogenesis is commonly linked with the dissolution of the Hunnu State and the setting apart in Central Asia of hitherto unknown tribal groups. These could hardly be regarded as having ethnical relations with the Huns despite some references found in the Chinese sources.
Today it is obvious that there was a difference between the (linguistically) non-Altaic early Huns, who created their own empire, and the later Hun conglomerate unions in which the Altaic ethnical groups dominated. It was on the outskirts of the Hun empire that proto-Turkic ethnical and political unions emerged at the beginning of our millenium. The oldest Turkic folklore evidence, which was written down in the 6th c, is the legend of the Ashina tribe's origin and its growing dominance in the emerging tribal union of the Turks. In the Turkic genealogical legends, besides the genealogies proper, one can find the sources of three other tribal traditions concerning the initial stage of the Kyrghyz, Kypchak and Tiehle (Oghuz) ethnogenesis.
There are two well- known legends about the origin of the Turks: one found in the Chou-shu, another in Bei-shi. Both legends seem to be different forms of a single legend which reflects the successive settling of the Ashina Turks in Central Asia. After the migration of the Ashinas to the Altai mountains, the Turkic ethnical groups of Northern Central Asia and South Siberia 'who had created their own neighbouring tribal unions' joined the Ashina genealogical tradition.
According to the Chinese sources these formed the Tsigu group, i.e. the Yenissey Kyrghyz, or "White Swan" group. This group was identified by me with the Kypchak and Tiehle group, and together these can be identified with the Ashina relatives, who had settled on the banks of the Dju-dje river.
Two important aspects from the two variants of the legends should be mentioned. First, the four main ancient Turkic tribal groups, whose historical successors survived up to later periods, had been formed at an early stage of the Turkic ethnogenesis, when their genealogical relationship was fixed in the narrative tradition. Secondly, by counting the number of generations, one can date back the events recorded in the 6th to the 5th or, probably, 4th-5th centuries.
These events took place on the territory of Eastern Tien-Shan and Sayan-Altai (the Mongolian Altai included), and this encourages us to consult the remaining historical records and archaeological materials of those times. In the Sayan Altai area of the 3rd-5th centuries several archaeological cultures have been discovered. On the basis of specific ethnical elements they can be regarded as early Kyrghyz, early Tiehle and early Kypchak cultures. As examples of these elements in the Tashtyk culture on the middle Yenissey Lowland during the 3rd-5th centuries, one can mention cremation rites, features of sepulchre con- struction, and various types of adornments and ceramics. These were later developed among the Yenissey Kyrghyz. The remains of the Berel type found in the Mountaineous Altai (3rd-5th centuries) are noteworthy for the burials with horses, and can be regarded as being of early Tiehle origin.
In the conglomerate Upper Ob culture, especially its Odintsov stage on the Northern Altai, the monuments of the same period possess some features characteristic of the early medieval Kypchaks. The peoples who created all the archaeological complexes seem to be connected with ethnical and cultural substratum of the Hun-Sarmath time, and by 3rd-5th centuries stood apart as a separate ethnical community. On the basis of written tradition and archaeological evidence it is possible to point out the initial stage of the Turks' ethnogenesis, which can be named as "the stage of legendary ancestors". In the middle of the 6th century the four main groups of ancient Turkic tribes joined the political union newly established by the Ashina Turks, thus giving birth to a new stage of ethnical and political history of Central and Middle Asia - "the stage of archaic empire".
The new stage of the Turks' ethnogenesis emerged against the background of changing social conditions (a process of intense class-formation) in other geographical areas (i.e. the spread of the Turkic Khagan's power to the Middle Asia part of the Great Steppe and the spread of their political influence to the area of the Middle Asian civilization). These things caused a new level of ethnic contacts and economical symbiosis with the Eastern Iranian world. The formation of the Turkic and Uighur Khaganats - along with the formation of the Karluk, Tiirgesh, Kyrghyz and Kimak states, which had similar social and political structures — moved the Turkic ethnogenesis westwards and weakened the ethnic processes connected with the Turks in Central Asia. In the archaic empires the clan ideology was the counter-balance of imperial ideology.
Within the borders of a united empire existed a common literary language and writing (which survived even after the empire's collapse), a common style in the form of material objects, and a common social and political nomenclature; the latter reflected a new ethnical world-outlook and it stood as a symbol opposed to another cultural world. At the same time, in Djety-su, Eastern Turkestan and to some extent in Maverannahr the process of narrow localization of stable ethnic groups continued. In this process the centripetal forces grew stronger and, despite unstable intertribal links, became firmer. Thus they shaped the future Turkic peoples.
The centripetal and centrifugal processes, which replaced each other and co- existed in the course of the archaic empires history, resulted in the inconsistency of the simultaneously developing archaeological cultures. On the other hand, the completion of the common Turkic cultural complex included the spread of material objects over the whole of the steppeland belt. This took place during the 1st millenium A. D. and is reflected in the ideological notions of the funeral rites, and objects of imitative art. Also, such archaeological complexes have concrete ethnical features. Thus three independent archaeological cultures can be identified and each has specific decorated material objects associated with funeral rites. For example, the cultures of the Yenissey Kyrghyz, Altai Turks and Kimak-Kypchak cultures of Eastern Kazakhstan and Northern Altai.
Observing various innovations, one can trace the direction of the early medieval "cultural spread" from South to North and from East to West. Thus, during the 1st millenium A.D., in Central Asia and the Steppelands of South-Western Siberia, (in Djety-su and Tien-Shan) an ethnic process was going on which involved the formation of cultural traditions that were linked with the ethnogenesis of the Turks proper, i.e. Oghuz, Kyrghyz and Kypchaks. This took place within a framework that was common for all Turks.
Within the borders of the archaic empires four groups of Turkic tribes consolidated their positions and became the core of the formation of new ethnoses. The Kimak-Kypchak group, comprising the Sirs and some Oghuz tribes as its bulk, left Central Asia and moved to the Irtysh basin. They then rapidly spread westwards pressing from the South other Turkic tribes. Judging from the archaeological objects it becomes obvious that the Kyrghyz, after enlarging their Yenissey state, opened up the economically important foot-hill and forest areas for the nomads - from Baikal to Eastern Kazakhstan.
The Toguz-Oghuz tribal groups were pressed by the Tibetan expansion to the Western part of Kansu and Eastern Turkestan, making the Tarim basin part of the Western outskirts of their state. After the political disaster of 744 the Turks lost their Central Asian homeland and grouped in Kashgar and Djety-su. After adopting Islam and intermixing with the Karluk tribes, in the 10th century they created the Karakhanide state. Their Djety-su branch, being the descendants of the Turk-Oghuz tribes of the Western Khaganate, were pressed by the Karluks. This branch formed the state of the Aral Oghuz and assimilated the population of the Syr-Darya oasis and Aral Steppes.
The ethnic developments, which started in the mid-period of the archaic empires, are reflected in states whose formation marked the beginning of a new stage of the political, social and ethnic history of the Great Steppe — the stage of barbarous states. In these states the ethnic nucleus of the early medieval Turkic peoples was formed. At the same time there was a change in the correlation between the endogenous and exogenous factors forming the direction of ethnical processes.
On the other stage of ethnogenesis the main thing was not the development of the Turkic components but the influence of the contacts with other ethnical environments - those of the Iranian and Caucasian of Asia Minor and the Finno-Ugrians. The two different lines of ethnic development - that introduced from Central Asia, and that of local substratum displayed themselves in a different way in the racial genesis, cultural genesis and the ethnic history of the Turkic peoples.
The Triple Union
We are truly psychophysical beings, composed of bodymind and spirit. Arguably, Carl Jung (1911) was among the first to apply the recognized concepts of physical energy to show that libido, or psychic energy obeys the same laws and is not only analogous, but identical. Psychophysical and emotional energy is associated with instinctual biological drives.
Though psychic energy is neutral, it can be literalized, somatized, sexualized, emotionalized, socialized, mentalized, or spiritualized. Symptoms, thoughts, images, fantasies, beliefs, emotions, forms of expression or behaviour are all libidinal. Libido tends to flow inward or outward, a dynamic rhythm of introversion/extroversion. Jung attributed mana or personal power for a kind of shamanic or positive psychic contagion to those individuals who seem to have a charismatic influence on others.
Psychic energy tends to follow the same laws of physical conservation and entropy. Jung taught that within the psyche, libido: (1) creates entropy, (2) is generally conserved under the principle of equivalence, (3) flows through the psyche in channels that can be redirected, (4) can be either progressive or regressive, and (5) is transformed by symbols. In short, the psyche as, defined by Jung, is a complex system.
New physics, chaos theory, synergetics, and information theory describe our existence as complex dynamical systems. Entropy can only occur in system that is absolutely closed so no energy from outside can be fed into it. But the psyche is an open system which exchanges energy and information with its environment and can be negentropic.
We can also have a negentropic influence on one another (Gladwell), perturbing, enlarging, creating new pathways and possibilities. Theoretically, behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or "tipping point" is reached, changing the world. Gladwell's thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors "spread just like viruses do" remains a metaphor. Yet, highly sociable or connective people often become revolutionary leaders, bringing others together with a new perspective, a broadend worldview.
Life includes chaos and order, good and bad experiences, even catastrophes which require us to adapt or die. The important thing is how we meet and react to chaos, finding ways to replenish our depletion. Observation of the subquantal domain reveals an inexhaustible realm of negentropy from which we can draw our psychophysical sustenance. When healthy, our entire system is designed to reduce entropy, in different scales and domains.
The same is true for the superorganism of society. We are irreducibly entangled with one another and the environment. We are healthy only to the extent we resonate with our environment. We maintain our integrity and identity as a dissipative system only because we are open to flows of energy, matter, or information from our environment (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984).
We live in a persistent delusion of separatness. However, we are all nonlocally connected in an ill-defined yet tangible way at the subatomic, individual, group and global level, connecting and diverging Psychic energy or libido is a psychosomatic phenomenon analogous to the paradoxical nature of energy/matter or wave/particle.
The human body is not an object in space, but seamlessly welded to spacetime. We are not merely a phenomenal body of flesh, but one of awareness, of consciousness, a living interface of inner and outer field phenomena.
We all experience visceral or gut reactions and know instinctively how our mental states affect our physical vitality, and vice versa. But often we loose the intimate relationship with our mindbody, with the source of our being, our aliveness, our passions. If we experience this flow at all, it ebbs and flows away. Our individual and collective creative potential remains largely unrealized.
How often do we pay attention to those vital signs, the innate wisdom of the body, inhabiting our minds rather than our flesh? We are increasingly not instinctual, but cultural, and we choose many of our behaviors for good or ill. We’re nearly all “sick and tired” of the way things are, but what do we do to change them?
We can learn simple techniques for self regulation, such as biofeedback, yoga, and meditation. Creativty, as an activity in several fields, brings many intrinsic health-promoting rewards. We can create new habits to help us cope with technocratic society that tone or recalibrate our systems and change our physical state. We are all having to learn how to deal with personal and/or global catastrophe whether we want to or not.
We are truly psychophysical beings, composed of bodymind and spirit. Arguably, Carl Jung (1911) was among the first to apply the recognized concepts of physical energy to show that libido, or psychic energy obeys the same laws and is not only analogous, but identical. Psychophysical and emotional energy is associated with instinctual biological drives.
Though psychic energy is neutral, it can be literalized, somatized, sexualized, emotionalized, socialized, mentalized, or spiritualized. Symptoms, thoughts, images, fantasies, beliefs, emotions, forms of expression or behaviour are all libidinal. Libido tends to flow inward or outward, a dynamic rhythm of introversion/extroversion. Jung attributed mana or personal power for a kind of shamanic or positive psychic contagion to those individuals who seem to have a charismatic influence on others.
Psychic energy tends to follow the same laws of physical conservation and entropy. Jung taught that within the psyche, libido: (1) creates entropy, (2) is generally conserved under the principle of equivalence, (3) flows through the psyche in channels that can be redirected, (4) can be either progressive or regressive, and (5) is transformed by symbols. In short, the psyche as, defined by Jung, is a complex system.
New physics, chaos theory, synergetics, and information theory describe our existence as complex dynamical systems. Entropy can only occur in system that is absolutely closed so no energy from outside can be fed into it. But the psyche is an open system which exchanges energy and information with its environment and can be negentropic.
We can also have a negentropic influence on one another (Gladwell), perturbing, enlarging, creating new pathways and possibilities. Theoretically, behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or "tipping point" is reached, changing the world. Gladwell's thesis that ideas, products, messages and behaviors "spread just like viruses do" remains a metaphor. Yet, highly sociable or connective people often become revolutionary leaders, bringing others together with a new perspective, a broadend worldview.
Life includes chaos and order, good and bad experiences, even catastrophes which require us to adapt or die. The important thing is how we meet and react to chaos, finding ways to replenish our depletion. Observation of the subquantal domain reveals an inexhaustible realm of negentropy from which we can draw our psychophysical sustenance. When healthy, our entire system is designed to reduce entropy, in different scales and domains.
The same is true for the superorganism of society. We are irreducibly entangled with one another and the environment. We are healthy only to the extent we resonate with our environment. We maintain our integrity and identity as a dissipative system only because we are open to flows of energy, matter, or information from our environment (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984).
We live in a persistent delusion of separatness. However, we are all nonlocally connected in an ill-defined yet tangible way at the subatomic, individual, group and global level, connecting and diverging Psychic energy or libido is a psychosomatic phenomenon analogous to the paradoxical nature of energy/matter or wave/particle.
The human body is not an object in space, but seamlessly welded to spacetime. We are not merely a phenomenal body of flesh, but one of awareness, of consciousness, a living interface of inner and outer field phenomena.
We all experience visceral or gut reactions and know instinctively how our mental states affect our physical vitality, and vice versa. But often we loose the intimate relationship with our mindbody, with the source of our being, our aliveness, our passions. If we experience this flow at all, it ebbs and flows away. Our individual and collective creative potential remains largely unrealized.
How often do we pay attention to those vital signs, the innate wisdom of the body, inhabiting our minds rather than our flesh? We are increasingly not instinctual, but cultural, and we choose many of our behaviors for good or ill. We’re nearly all “sick and tired” of the way things are, but what do we do to change them?
We can learn simple techniques for self regulation, such as biofeedback, yoga, and meditation. Creativty, as an activity in several fields, brings many intrinsic health-promoting rewards. We can create new habits to help us cope with technocratic society that tone or recalibrate our systems and change our physical state. We are all having to learn how to deal with personal and/or global catastrophe whether we want to or not.
"The visible universe is a storehouse of signs to which the imagination assigns a place and a relative value; it is a kind of nourishment that the imagination must digest and transform." (Charles Baudelaire)
"Everything that exists is the seed of that which will be." (Marcus Aurelius)
The Field BodyWe can return to Nature and our nature, collectively preparing a paradigm shift for a new shared reality and trajectory – physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual coherence. The silent frictionless flow of living intelligence is beyond words and conceptual constructs. We are a process of recursive self-generation. This continuum, which is our groundstate or creative Source, is directly discoverable in the immediacy of the emergent embodied moment.
We are each a temple of living light. We arise from and are sustained by field phenomena, waves of biophotonic light and sound which form our essential nature through acoustic holography (Miller & Miller), which is similar to the formation of matter via sound in cymatics. Cymatics is the science that describes how sound creates forms via resonance phenomena. Bioholography is thus a form of cymatics – acoustic holography.
Holography is the artform of producing virtual 3-D spatial images of objects. Its artifact is an ephemera, though the holographic plate which records the interference pattern is not. Projections are most compellin when they converge on the viewer. Virtuality is the condition of pure potential, non-actualization. Virtual images are created from diffracting lightwaves and reading the interference patterns.
But virtual particles from the vacuum potential (ZPE) pop in and out of our reality purturbing, even creating actual particles. Cybernetic virtuality involves interaction with a computer system to render certain potentialities actual within certain rules. In holographic systems, a body of fiction can potentially trigger future facts, opening new windows of reality. For example, rituals of quantum biofeedback, can manifest as nonlocal healing, whether through tangible interaction or the power of suggestion and placebo effect.
Our bodies are created from the virtuality of scalar field interactions with our 4-D reality of this spacetime. The mechanism is by projection via our DNA by biophotons or coherent light produced within the body. This coherent light transduces itself into radio waves which carry sound as information that decodes the 4-D form as a material object, such as ourselves.
The study of this phenomenon of light and sound forming an organism using DNA as a holographic projector is called quantum bioholography (Miller). This process is true not only of formation of the body but also extends into its maintenance, a continual process of creation and renewal.
Light and sound carry the information that shapes us and our environment. In a sense we are essentially “frozen” light. Universe congeals within us each moment in a unique way, never to be repeated. Science now tells us this is so, that each of us extends nonlocally far beyond the skin boundary through our embedded field body (Pribram/Bohm, Wan-Ho).
Nature works through self-organization at the creative edge of chaos (Gleick, Peat), and so do we. Complexity is the fine line between chaos and order, "a chaos of behaviors in which the components of the system never quite lock into place, yet never quite dissolve into turbulence either" (Waldrop, 1992, p. 293). The creative edge of chaos is a transition phase.
Self-reinforcing, autopoeitic morphogenesis creates specific forms. Yet a meta-theory eludes us. We still don’t know exactly how that works; there is currently no consensus in quantum physics at the level of the unified field, but we have many working theories which help us grope our way toward understanding. Likewise, there is no generally accepted paradigm in consciousness studies. Ambiguity surrounding our psychophysical Mystery also shows up in the split between conventional allopathic and energy medicine.
Mystics suggest even more subtle connections of soul and spirit through time and space, evolutionary intelligence. Even without a mystical approach, we can rest and refresh ourselves by aligning our intentionality with the very fabric of spacetime. Consciously participating in this universal process helps heal and integrate our mindbodies, psyche and matter. We can learn to self-soothe cumulative daily irritations by practicing self-regulation.
Cosmos resonates within each of us, but we have lost touch with that due to electromagnetic pollution and the distracting demands of modern life. But we can rediscover this integral context in which we are embedded as a field of timeless, radiant abundance. Spacetime is a plenum rather than an empty vacuum. It abides not just outside us in the depths of space but within the fabric of our being. We are pulsating dynamos of cells, organs, and dynamic systems.
We can learn to wrap our minds around this quantum reality that we are not separate from the ongoing process of creation, even if an energetic field of information defies detection. The source of creation always flows through rhythmic pulsation or waves of energy/matter. The manifestation of each so-calld particle of our being is orchestrated through a self-organizing process (Penrose/Hameroff).
This dance is a harmonic continuum from the smallest to the largest scales, permeating all domains of assembly and observation – subquantum, quantum, molecular, chemical, even cultural, global, and cosmological. The evolution of our dynamic system obeys universal laws. Likewise our behaviors flow into manifestation from our beliefs, thoughts and emotions, including our self-image.
By opening to system dynamics we can reorganize away from the entropic, reductionistic, destructive habit patterns that plague our species. We can make stress-reducing negentropic choices for structural and psychological adjustment, which improve our quality of life. Integration is a synergistic process rooted in primordial bodymind consciousness.
The brain is not confined to our skull, but permeates our whole being through the intracellular matrix and sensory system, as well as the strong EM fields generated by the beating heart. Research suggests activities in the brain may be pre-conditioned by the DC field of the organism (Oschmann; Becker). Our molecular system extends beyond the nervous system and is the bedrock of intuitive, subconscious and unconscious processes.
Hypnosis suggests the fabric of the body also helps store our memories, embodying our triumphs and traumas. Ideomotor signalling (Rossi) can elicit revelations about ourselves not available from our conscious minds. There is a reciprocal action between our inchoate perceptions, thoughts and the chemistry of our bodies, and therefore our current and future states.
The Golden Flesh
Do we actively value our psychic well-being, our totality, psyche and substance? Are we living soulful, artful lives? Do we nourish our whole selves with self-love? Do we take the time to care for our body or deny it, drive it relentlessly like our servant, or treat it like a machine? Do we attend to our inner world of waking images and dreams? Can we come to our senses, deepening the quality and intensity of embodied experience?
Our felt-sense is our wise intuitive response if we but listen. It brings meaning and value to life. What is your body trying to tell you? The body has a mind of its own and speaks that mind in gut reactions, body language, psychosomatics, and literal symptoms.
When psychic energy is dammed up it manifests in unconscious or destructive ways, such as tension, withdrawl, alienation, anxiety, compulsions, depression, addictions, somatization, and suicidal tendencies. Some people learn early, even in the womb, that their world is not a safe place. Social patterns become maladaptive when an organism’s true needs are not met in a tangible, congruent way.
A confused person can react with pain, fear, hopelessness, cognitive dissonance, disturbed biorhythms, approach/avoidance, passive aggression, codependence, apathy, or self-defeating behavior patterns. Our biology and minds become confused. Fed enough negative self-talk the body will react with authentic symptoms, self-induced illness. This does not mean that all disease is self-inflicted nor that we are necessarily to blame for our ailments, in some version of “new age guilt”.
Both the alternative health fields and mindbody psychologies such as the humanistic, Jungian and transpersonal psychologies have sought the triple union of body, soul, and spirit much like the medieval alchemists. But only a fusion of those approaches can manifest the union of opposites in the golden flesh. We can learn to care for our mindbodies in new ways from the inside out, conceptually and experientially.
To truly nourish ourselves holistically we have to address the manifest needs of mental and physical well-being. Consciousness may have a direct effect on the subatomic particles of the body, especially those within the brain. A tiny change within the open system of the brain, for example, can result in a vast change to the overall health of the body because of amplification through feedback loops. Nonlinearity exists at many scales.
Soma Sophia
Sometimes we have to address the external realities of a situation and sometimes its spirit or essential nature. The same is true for our bodies and souls. Significance is extracted from the experiential responses of our whole being – soma significance, the felt-sense wisdom of the bodymind, which we can personify as Soma Sophia.
We can use the wisdom of the bodymind to face stress, pain, loss, illness, even catastrophe. Creative transformation of our instinctive reactions produces the gold, whether we call that essence health, art, flow, or inspiration. Psychic sustenance is found within. Once the mindbody connects with Source, all of our self-expression becomes soulful. We truly embody spirit.
That Source is the source of psychic energy, our libido, which becomes available for negentropic or entropic expression. Its tangible root lies within our very energy/matter as the plenum that science calls the vacuum fluctuation or zero-point energy, the groundstate of existence. It is a bit of the cosmos, of the universe that lies within our bodies, which are composed of elements cooked within the stars.
The body itself is the Hermetic vessel for the transformation of instinctual drives. That creative process can take place through trance, art, or meditation, or any combination of them. There are many techniques which help us process pain, stress, trauma, or depression. Often therapies address higher levels of organization, often at the conceptual level, rather than reordering the physical core of distress which inhibits our well-being.
A dynamic combination of focus, concentration and flow undergirds our conscious existence and how we relate to others and the world. In meditations such as biofeedback, Tai Chi or Yoga, we intentionally create dynamic changes in our psychophysiology. We temporarily drop our identification with the body only to reinhabit it with even more awareness or mindfulness. This is the artful life; creative fulfillment of our collective destiny.
Quantum Consciousness; Quantum Healing
It’s ALL in your mind, but not necessarily merely in your head. The universe is holisticaly contained within the mindbody and is the context of mindbody. Both physicists and mystics now tell us that there is noTHING “out there.” The Vedas said centuries ago that it’s all “mindstuff” and modern science is now confronting that.
There are several types of explanation of quantum state reduction, an occasion of experience: Copenhagen (conscious observation causes collapse), multiple worlds (each possibility branches off to form a new universe), decoherence (interaction with environment contaminates superposition - though it doesn’t really cause reduction), some objective threshold for reduction (objective reduction - OR), or quantum gravity.
Popular QM notions seem to fall into two categories:
Copenhagen-esque--"old school" explanations which dwell on quantum theory's non-intuitiveness and in fact seem to celebrate the "leap of logic" needed to accept the observer-based wave-function collapse postulate;
New Agey Utopian idealism--"quantum theory is strange, consciousness is strange, therefore, consciousness is explained by quantum theory", entanglement is proof that "all points in the universe are connected by some underlying ineffable thing, so can't we all just get along", etc.
Quantum theory will probably play a role in explaining consciousness and its relationship
to the brain. The electrical activity of the brain makes a `model' of a self in the world
and our understanding of physical reality requires this `model' to exist `in the dark'.
That `model' is an intellectual abstraction and in reality it is just spatial and temporal relationships between each piece of electrical activity. Every quanta is in the form of matter waves except at state reduction. The electromagnetic fields permeating neurons and synapses consist of real and virtual photons, in their wave states, and each of these are disturbances in the photon field.
Our experience of reality is based on mind and observation. Only our mental impressions, sensory filters, language categories, and concepts make us perceive things: things as separate from ourselves, the I and the not-I. But we are seamlessly welded to the Universe at the most fundamental levels. We cannot scientifically or spiritually distinguish ourselves from the subquantum ground of BEING, even if we feel separate or alienated.
But who among us has successfully abandoned the tendency to conceptualize observations as things, and compound that observation with qualitative attributions? We have experiences and later we say it was this or that. Some forms of meditation are based on disidentification from all aspects of existence and nominalism – neither this nor that.
But most of us still can’t wrap our quantum minds around it as a steady state of perception. Though science has extended our sight to the subquantal and cosmological levels, we still think provincially from the human scale of our natural senses. Our logic and metaphors are based in the senses. But our outer life comes from the invisible inner world, where we are literally in resonance with the Cosmos.
Concepts of matter, life, and mind have undergone major changes. Consciousness is not a material system and neither is Quantum Mechanics (QM). The world is quantum mechanical and we must learn to perceive it as such, but we don’t need to understand that to experience nonlocal healing, any more than we need to comprehend internal combustion to drive. Even physicists have a tough time reconciling what they know about the deep nature of reality with their mundane experience in the world of things.
So how does that mind and its underlying mechanisms relate to or produce consciousness? Is consciousness a quantum process, or does it underlie all process? Neurologists tell us it is a physical matter of wetware in the skull. However, the most we can say at the molecular level is that there are correlates of consciousness. The irreducible precursors of consciousness and matter are built into the universe. They just ARE, unified holistic process.
At the finest levels of observation, physicists contend the distinction between mind and matter becomes as paradoxical as the distinction between energy and matter, life and death (organic/inorganic). Quantum mechanics strongly suggests the Universe is mental. The substratum of eveything, including our experience of being, has this mental character.
Healing theories, particularly nonlocal models, have drawn from theories in both new physics and consciousness studies, often compounding and confounding both disciplines. They mix levels of observation in theories which seem to be largely conditioned by the favoritism of pet projects; thus each theory is generally associated with only one or two “brand” names of researchers.
Healers have been quick to parrot many of these ideas that support what they feel they have observed in intentional healing acts, or what validates the tenets of their school of practice. Often their comprehension of the scientific basis of the argument is slim to none. But this attribution is used to “explain” the phenomenon, with enough misapprehension to preserve the Mystery. However, it isn’t this confusion that makes it so. Are the enigmatic qualities of the quantum realm actually the same as the unity, coherence and other enigmatic qualities of the conscious one? The jury is still out.
There is no consensus among theories of what constitutes FIGURE and what constitutes the most fundamental GROUND, and it seems they share the same essential nature. Our perceived ‘content’ is not distinct from the ‘context’ in which it arises. It is one whole cloth of bubbling spcetime. Nothing more, nor less. We have looked into the Abyss of spacetime and found it laughing back.
Ervin Laszlo points out regarding the finest level of observation, that because of “the quantum vacuum, the energy sea that underlies all of spacetime, it is no longer warranted to view matter as primary and space as secondary. It is to space or rather, to the cosmically extended "Dirac-sea" of the vacuum that we should grant primary reality.” Virtual particles pop in and out of existence like quantum foam.
Mass is the consequence of interactions in the depth of this universal field. There is only this absolute matter-generating energy field. This realization transforms our perception of life. Living systems constantly interact with the quantum vacuum, also called zero-point energy, vacuum fluctuation, or subspace. Wave-packets of matter are in a subtle interactive dance with the underlying vacuum field, a vast network of intimate interactions, extending into our biosphere and even Cosmos. Mind and matter both evolve from the cosmic womb of space.
According to Laszlo: “The interaction of our mind and consciousness with the quantum vacuum links us with other minds around us, as well as with the biosphere of the planet. It "opens" our mind to society, nature, and the universe. This openness has been known to mystics and sensitives, prophets and meta-physicians through the ages. But it has been denied by modern scientists and by those who took modern science to be the only way of comprehending reality.”
He goes on to propose a poetic metaphor: “Everything that goes on in our mind could leave its wave- traces in the quantum vacuum, and everything could be received by those who know how to "tune in" to the subtle patterns that propagate there.” In a mechanistic throwback, he likens it to an antenna picking up signals from a transmitter that contains the experience of the entire human race, reminding strongly of Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious.
Worldviews color our perceptions of our Reality, even in science. Concepts are effective theories, useful not true. The universe is immaterial, mental and spiritual. The mind observes, but it doesn’t really observe “things”. It has a way of attributing certain qualities, subjective qualities and dynamics, to everything, even so-called “objective observation. This multisensory narrative becomes the content of our memories – how we remember what happens.
Our minds have a tendency to come up with reasons, whys and wherefores, for things as they appear to us. It is part of our survival mechanisms. However, physics has proven, through relativity theory, the uncertainty principle, wave/particle duality, and Godel’s theorem, that there can be no objectivity, no order or creativity without chaos.
The mind produces narratives. Archetypal forces act as lenses that cause us to cherish certain beliefs, which lead to a class of thoughts, and patterns of emotions and behaviors. It doesn’t matter if you come down on the side of preferring order or chaos, nature has her way.
Ultimately, spontaneous or natural healing seems to by-pass this entire complex system, overriding our conscious perspectives in many cases. We may not “believe” in paradoxical healing, but it can still “work”, effecting psychophysical change at a deeper level through the emotional mind and through Mystery.
Healing is irrational. Perhaps the question we should really be asking is what causes us to imagine we are dissociated from a state of optimal health. This doesn’t mean our bodies will always work flawlessly. Chaos theory reveals that many systems in the body are self-organizing and regulated by stochastic processes that are naturally chaotic in nature. Chaos actually helps us reorganize, recalibrate our metabolism.
We can discuss it in terms of nested structured duality, superfluids, or an array of vortices, or a microtubule bank, or a dendritic cluster, or an entangled or collapsing wave function; still, we're merely talking about resonance between arrays -- patterns. This perspective leads to consideration of a Holographic concept of reality, the frequency domain, David Bohm’s implicate order.
Panpsychism aside, every bit of electrical activity is unaware of itself, is unaware of every other bit of electrical activity, and is unaware of all their relationships. This raises the question: why does consciousness exists at all and why is it a unity?
There are many plausible ways that quantum theory can help with these profound mysteries and it will be many decades before some understanding of the actual mechanisms are finalized. So, despite the pluses and minuses of existing quantum theories of mind, these kinds of theories should be encouraged. If consciousness is or is related to quantum effects then scientists will have to think in these directions to figure it out.
Most natural philosophers hold, and have held, that action at a distance across empty space is impossible-in other words, that matter cannot act where it is not, but only where it is. The question "where is it?" is a further question that may demand attention and require more than a superficial answer. Arguably, every atom of matter has a universal though nearly infinitesimal prevalence, and extends everywhere; since there is no definite sharp boundary or limiting periphery to the region disturbed by its existence. The lines of force of an isolated electric charge extend throughout illimitable space.
No ordinary matter is capable of transmitting the undulations or tremors that we call light. The speed at which they go, the kind of undulation, and the facility with which they go through vacuum, forbid this. So clearly and universally has it been perceived that waves must be waves of something, something distinct from ordinary matter.
Faraday conjectured that the same medium which is concerned in the propagation of light might also be the agent in electromagnetic phenomena, and he called it “the ether”. Now we speak of it as the zero-point domain of virtual photon fluctuation. Romantically, we refer to it as the plenum, since it is infinitely full of potential.
Some philosophers have reason to suppose that mind can act directly on mind without intervening mechanism, and sometimes that has been spoken of as genuine action at a distance. But, in the first place, no proper conception or physical model can be made of such a process.
Nor is it clear that space and distance have any particular meaning in the region of psychology. The links between mind and mind may be something quite other than physical proximity. Since we don’t know how it works, in denying action at a distance across empty space we are not telepathy or other activities of a non-physical kind. Brain disturbance or mindbody healing is certainly a physical correlate of mental action, whether of the sending or receiving variety.
"Everything that exists is the seed of that which will be." (Marcus Aurelius)
The Field BodyWe can return to Nature and our nature, collectively preparing a paradigm shift for a new shared reality and trajectory – physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual coherence. The silent frictionless flow of living intelligence is beyond words and conceptual constructs. We are a process of recursive self-generation. This continuum, which is our groundstate or creative Source, is directly discoverable in the immediacy of the emergent embodied moment.
We are each a temple of living light. We arise from and are sustained by field phenomena, waves of biophotonic light and sound which form our essential nature through acoustic holography (Miller & Miller), which is similar to the formation of matter via sound in cymatics. Cymatics is the science that describes how sound creates forms via resonance phenomena. Bioholography is thus a form of cymatics – acoustic holography.
Holography is the artform of producing virtual 3-D spatial images of objects. Its artifact is an ephemera, though the holographic plate which records the interference pattern is not. Projections are most compellin when they converge on the viewer. Virtuality is the condition of pure potential, non-actualization. Virtual images are created from diffracting lightwaves and reading the interference patterns.
But virtual particles from the vacuum potential (ZPE) pop in and out of our reality purturbing, even creating actual particles. Cybernetic virtuality involves interaction with a computer system to render certain potentialities actual within certain rules. In holographic systems, a body of fiction can potentially trigger future facts, opening new windows of reality. For example, rituals of quantum biofeedback, can manifest as nonlocal healing, whether through tangible interaction or the power of suggestion and placebo effect.
Our bodies are created from the virtuality of scalar field interactions with our 4-D reality of this spacetime. The mechanism is by projection via our DNA by biophotons or coherent light produced within the body. This coherent light transduces itself into radio waves which carry sound as information that decodes the 4-D form as a material object, such as ourselves.
The study of this phenomenon of light and sound forming an organism using DNA as a holographic projector is called quantum bioholography (Miller). This process is true not only of formation of the body but also extends into its maintenance, a continual process of creation and renewal.
Light and sound carry the information that shapes us and our environment. In a sense we are essentially “frozen” light. Universe congeals within us each moment in a unique way, never to be repeated. Science now tells us this is so, that each of us extends nonlocally far beyond the skin boundary through our embedded field body (Pribram/Bohm, Wan-Ho).
Nature works through self-organization at the creative edge of chaos (Gleick, Peat), and so do we. Complexity is the fine line between chaos and order, "a chaos of behaviors in which the components of the system never quite lock into place, yet never quite dissolve into turbulence either" (Waldrop, 1992, p. 293). The creative edge of chaos is a transition phase.
Self-reinforcing, autopoeitic morphogenesis creates specific forms. Yet a meta-theory eludes us. We still don’t know exactly how that works; there is currently no consensus in quantum physics at the level of the unified field, but we have many working theories which help us grope our way toward understanding. Likewise, there is no generally accepted paradigm in consciousness studies. Ambiguity surrounding our psychophysical Mystery also shows up in the split between conventional allopathic and energy medicine.
Mystics suggest even more subtle connections of soul and spirit through time and space, evolutionary intelligence. Even without a mystical approach, we can rest and refresh ourselves by aligning our intentionality with the very fabric of spacetime. Consciously participating in this universal process helps heal and integrate our mindbodies, psyche and matter. We can learn to self-soothe cumulative daily irritations by practicing self-regulation.
Cosmos resonates within each of us, but we have lost touch with that due to electromagnetic pollution and the distracting demands of modern life. But we can rediscover this integral context in which we are embedded as a field of timeless, radiant abundance. Spacetime is a plenum rather than an empty vacuum. It abides not just outside us in the depths of space but within the fabric of our being. We are pulsating dynamos of cells, organs, and dynamic systems.
We can learn to wrap our minds around this quantum reality that we are not separate from the ongoing process of creation, even if an energetic field of information defies detection. The source of creation always flows through rhythmic pulsation or waves of energy/matter. The manifestation of each so-calld particle of our being is orchestrated through a self-organizing process (Penrose/Hameroff).
This dance is a harmonic continuum from the smallest to the largest scales, permeating all domains of assembly and observation – subquantum, quantum, molecular, chemical, even cultural, global, and cosmological. The evolution of our dynamic system obeys universal laws. Likewise our behaviors flow into manifestation from our beliefs, thoughts and emotions, including our self-image.
By opening to system dynamics we can reorganize away from the entropic, reductionistic, destructive habit patterns that plague our species. We can make stress-reducing negentropic choices for structural and psychological adjustment, which improve our quality of life. Integration is a synergistic process rooted in primordial bodymind consciousness.
The brain is not confined to our skull, but permeates our whole being through the intracellular matrix and sensory system, as well as the strong EM fields generated by the beating heart. Research suggests activities in the brain may be pre-conditioned by the DC field of the organism (Oschmann; Becker). Our molecular system extends beyond the nervous system and is the bedrock of intuitive, subconscious and unconscious processes.
Hypnosis suggests the fabric of the body also helps store our memories, embodying our triumphs and traumas. Ideomotor signalling (Rossi) can elicit revelations about ourselves not available from our conscious minds. There is a reciprocal action between our inchoate perceptions, thoughts and the chemistry of our bodies, and therefore our current and future states.
The Golden Flesh
Do we actively value our psychic well-being, our totality, psyche and substance? Are we living soulful, artful lives? Do we nourish our whole selves with self-love? Do we take the time to care for our body or deny it, drive it relentlessly like our servant, or treat it like a machine? Do we attend to our inner world of waking images and dreams? Can we come to our senses, deepening the quality and intensity of embodied experience?
Our felt-sense is our wise intuitive response if we but listen. It brings meaning and value to life. What is your body trying to tell you? The body has a mind of its own and speaks that mind in gut reactions, body language, psychosomatics, and literal symptoms.
When psychic energy is dammed up it manifests in unconscious or destructive ways, such as tension, withdrawl, alienation, anxiety, compulsions, depression, addictions, somatization, and suicidal tendencies. Some people learn early, even in the womb, that their world is not a safe place. Social patterns become maladaptive when an organism’s true needs are not met in a tangible, congruent way.
A confused person can react with pain, fear, hopelessness, cognitive dissonance, disturbed biorhythms, approach/avoidance, passive aggression, codependence, apathy, or self-defeating behavior patterns. Our biology and minds become confused. Fed enough negative self-talk the body will react with authentic symptoms, self-induced illness. This does not mean that all disease is self-inflicted nor that we are necessarily to blame for our ailments, in some version of “new age guilt”.
Both the alternative health fields and mindbody psychologies such as the humanistic, Jungian and transpersonal psychologies have sought the triple union of body, soul, and spirit much like the medieval alchemists. But only a fusion of those approaches can manifest the union of opposites in the golden flesh. We can learn to care for our mindbodies in new ways from the inside out, conceptually and experientially.
To truly nourish ourselves holistically we have to address the manifest needs of mental and physical well-being. Consciousness may have a direct effect on the subatomic particles of the body, especially those within the brain. A tiny change within the open system of the brain, for example, can result in a vast change to the overall health of the body because of amplification through feedback loops. Nonlinearity exists at many scales.
Soma Sophia
Sometimes we have to address the external realities of a situation and sometimes its spirit or essential nature. The same is true for our bodies and souls. Significance is extracted from the experiential responses of our whole being – soma significance, the felt-sense wisdom of the bodymind, which we can personify as Soma Sophia.
We can use the wisdom of the bodymind to face stress, pain, loss, illness, even catastrophe. Creative transformation of our instinctive reactions produces the gold, whether we call that essence health, art, flow, or inspiration. Psychic sustenance is found within. Once the mindbody connects with Source, all of our self-expression becomes soulful. We truly embody spirit.
That Source is the source of psychic energy, our libido, which becomes available for negentropic or entropic expression. Its tangible root lies within our very energy/matter as the plenum that science calls the vacuum fluctuation or zero-point energy, the groundstate of existence. It is a bit of the cosmos, of the universe that lies within our bodies, which are composed of elements cooked within the stars.
The body itself is the Hermetic vessel for the transformation of instinctual drives. That creative process can take place through trance, art, or meditation, or any combination of them. There are many techniques which help us process pain, stress, trauma, or depression. Often therapies address higher levels of organization, often at the conceptual level, rather than reordering the physical core of distress which inhibits our well-being.
A dynamic combination of focus, concentration and flow undergirds our conscious existence and how we relate to others and the world. In meditations such as biofeedback, Tai Chi or Yoga, we intentionally create dynamic changes in our psychophysiology. We temporarily drop our identification with the body only to reinhabit it with even more awareness or mindfulness. This is the artful life; creative fulfillment of our collective destiny.
Quantum Consciousness; Quantum Healing
It’s ALL in your mind, but not necessarily merely in your head. The universe is holisticaly contained within the mindbody and is the context of mindbody. Both physicists and mystics now tell us that there is noTHING “out there.” The Vedas said centuries ago that it’s all “mindstuff” and modern science is now confronting that.
There are several types of explanation of quantum state reduction, an occasion of experience: Copenhagen (conscious observation causes collapse), multiple worlds (each possibility branches off to form a new universe), decoherence (interaction with environment contaminates superposition - though it doesn’t really cause reduction), some objective threshold for reduction (objective reduction - OR), or quantum gravity.
Popular QM notions seem to fall into two categories:
Copenhagen-esque--"old school" explanations which dwell on quantum theory's non-intuitiveness and in fact seem to celebrate the "leap of logic" needed to accept the observer-based wave-function collapse postulate;
New Agey Utopian idealism--"quantum theory is strange, consciousness is strange, therefore, consciousness is explained by quantum theory", entanglement is proof that "all points in the universe are connected by some underlying ineffable thing, so can't we all just get along", etc.
Quantum theory will probably play a role in explaining consciousness and its relationship
to the brain. The electrical activity of the brain makes a `model' of a self in the world
and our understanding of physical reality requires this `model' to exist `in the dark'.
That `model' is an intellectual abstraction and in reality it is just spatial and temporal relationships between each piece of electrical activity. Every quanta is in the form of matter waves except at state reduction. The electromagnetic fields permeating neurons and synapses consist of real and virtual photons, in their wave states, and each of these are disturbances in the photon field.
Our experience of reality is based on mind and observation. Only our mental impressions, sensory filters, language categories, and concepts make us perceive things: things as separate from ourselves, the I and the not-I. But we are seamlessly welded to the Universe at the most fundamental levels. We cannot scientifically or spiritually distinguish ourselves from the subquantum ground of BEING, even if we feel separate or alienated.
But who among us has successfully abandoned the tendency to conceptualize observations as things, and compound that observation with qualitative attributions? We have experiences and later we say it was this or that. Some forms of meditation are based on disidentification from all aspects of existence and nominalism – neither this nor that.
But most of us still can’t wrap our quantum minds around it as a steady state of perception. Though science has extended our sight to the subquantal and cosmological levels, we still think provincially from the human scale of our natural senses. Our logic and metaphors are based in the senses. But our outer life comes from the invisible inner world, where we are literally in resonance with the Cosmos.
Concepts of matter, life, and mind have undergone major changes. Consciousness is not a material system and neither is Quantum Mechanics (QM). The world is quantum mechanical and we must learn to perceive it as such, but we don’t need to understand that to experience nonlocal healing, any more than we need to comprehend internal combustion to drive. Even physicists have a tough time reconciling what they know about the deep nature of reality with their mundane experience in the world of things.
So how does that mind and its underlying mechanisms relate to or produce consciousness? Is consciousness a quantum process, or does it underlie all process? Neurologists tell us it is a physical matter of wetware in the skull. However, the most we can say at the molecular level is that there are correlates of consciousness. The irreducible precursors of consciousness and matter are built into the universe. They just ARE, unified holistic process.
At the finest levels of observation, physicists contend the distinction between mind and matter becomes as paradoxical as the distinction between energy and matter, life and death (organic/inorganic). Quantum mechanics strongly suggests the Universe is mental. The substratum of eveything, including our experience of being, has this mental character.
Healing theories, particularly nonlocal models, have drawn from theories in both new physics and consciousness studies, often compounding and confounding both disciplines. They mix levels of observation in theories which seem to be largely conditioned by the favoritism of pet projects; thus each theory is generally associated with only one or two “brand” names of researchers.
Healers have been quick to parrot many of these ideas that support what they feel they have observed in intentional healing acts, or what validates the tenets of their school of practice. Often their comprehension of the scientific basis of the argument is slim to none. But this attribution is used to “explain” the phenomenon, with enough misapprehension to preserve the Mystery. However, it isn’t this confusion that makes it so. Are the enigmatic qualities of the quantum realm actually the same as the unity, coherence and other enigmatic qualities of the conscious one? The jury is still out.
There is no consensus among theories of what constitutes FIGURE and what constitutes the most fundamental GROUND, and it seems they share the same essential nature. Our perceived ‘content’ is not distinct from the ‘context’ in which it arises. It is one whole cloth of bubbling spcetime. Nothing more, nor less. We have looked into the Abyss of spacetime and found it laughing back.
Ervin Laszlo points out regarding the finest level of observation, that because of “the quantum vacuum, the energy sea that underlies all of spacetime, it is no longer warranted to view matter as primary and space as secondary. It is to space or rather, to the cosmically extended "Dirac-sea" of the vacuum that we should grant primary reality.” Virtual particles pop in and out of existence like quantum foam.
Mass is the consequence of interactions in the depth of this universal field. There is only this absolute matter-generating energy field. This realization transforms our perception of life. Living systems constantly interact with the quantum vacuum, also called zero-point energy, vacuum fluctuation, or subspace. Wave-packets of matter are in a subtle interactive dance with the underlying vacuum field, a vast network of intimate interactions, extending into our biosphere and even Cosmos. Mind and matter both evolve from the cosmic womb of space.
According to Laszlo: “The interaction of our mind and consciousness with the quantum vacuum links us with other minds around us, as well as with the biosphere of the planet. It "opens" our mind to society, nature, and the universe. This openness has been known to mystics and sensitives, prophets and meta-physicians through the ages. But it has been denied by modern scientists and by those who took modern science to be the only way of comprehending reality.”
He goes on to propose a poetic metaphor: “Everything that goes on in our mind could leave its wave- traces in the quantum vacuum, and everything could be received by those who know how to "tune in" to the subtle patterns that propagate there.” In a mechanistic throwback, he likens it to an antenna picking up signals from a transmitter that contains the experience of the entire human race, reminding strongly of Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious.
Worldviews color our perceptions of our Reality, even in science. Concepts are effective theories, useful not true. The universe is immaterial, mental and spiritual. The mind observes, but it doesn’t really observe “things”. It has a way of attributing certain qualities, subjective qualities and dynamics, to everything, even so-called “objective observation. This multisensory narrative becomes the content of our memories – how we remember what happens.
Our minds have a tendency to come up with reasons, whys and wherefores, for things as they appear to us. It is part of our survival mechanisms. However, physics has proven, through relativity theory, the uncertainty principle, wave/particle duality, and Godel’s theorem, that there can be no objectivity, no order or creativity without chaos.
The mind produces narratives. Archetypal forces act as lenses that cause us to cherish certain beliefs, which lead to a class of thoughts, and patterns of emotions and behaviors. It doesn’t matter if you come down on the side of preferring order or chaos, nature has her way.
Ultimately, spontaneous or natural healing seems to by-pass this entire complex system, overriding our conscious perspectives in many cases. We may not “believe” in paradoxical healing, but it can still “work”, effecting psychophysical change at a deeper level through the emotional mind and through Mystery.
Healing is irrational. Perhaps the question we should really be asking is what causes us to imagine we are dissociated from a state of optimal health. This doesn’t mean our bodies will always work flawlessly. Chaos theory reveals that many systems in the body are self-organizing and regulated by stochastic processes that are naturally chaotic in nature. Chaos actually helps us reorganize, recalibrate our metabolism.
We can discuss it in terms of nested structured duality, superfluids, or an array of vortices, or a microtubule bank, or a dendritic cluster, or an entangled or collapsing wave function; still, we're merely talking about resonance between arrays -- patterns. This perspective leads to consideration of a Holographic concept of reality, the frequency domain, David Bohm’s implicate order.
Panpsychism aside, every bit of electrical activity is unaware of itself, is unaware of every other bit of electrical activity, and is unaware of all their relationships. This raises the question: why does consciousness exists at all and why is it a unity?
There are many plausible ways that quantum theory can help with these profound mysteries and it will be many decades before some understanding of the actual mechanisms are finalized. So, despite the pluses and minuses of existing quantum theories of mind, these kinds of theories should be encouraged. If consciousness is or is related to quantum effects then scientists will have to think in these directions to figure it out.
Most natural philosophers hold, and have held, that action at a distance across empty space is impossible-in other words, that matter cannot act where it is not, but only where it is. The question "where is it?" is a further question that may demand attention and require more than a superficial answer. Arguably, every atom of matter has a universal though nearly infinitesimal prevalence, and extends everywhere; since there is no definite sharp boundary or limiting periphery to the region disturbed by its existence. The lines of force of an isolated electric charge extend throughout illimitable space.
No ordinary matter is capable of transmitting the undulations or tremors that we call light. The speed at which they go, the kind of undulation, and the facility with which they go through vacuum, forbid this. So clearly and universally has it been perceived that waves must be waves of something, something distinct from ordinary matter.
Faraday conjectured that the same medium which is concerned in the propagation of light might also be the agent in electromagnetic phenomena, and he called it “the ether”. Now we speak of it as the zero-point domain of virtual photon fluctuation. Romantically, we refer to it as the plenum, since it is infinitely full of potential.
Some philosophers have reason to suppose that mind can act directly on mind without intervening mechanism, and sometimes that has been spoken of as genuine action at a distance. But, in the first place, no proper conception or physical model can be made of such a process.
Nor is it clear that space and distance have any particular meaning in the region of psychology. The links between mind and mind may be something quite other than physical proximity. Since we don’t know how it works, in denying action at a distance across empty space we are not telepathy or other activities of a non-physical kind. Brain disturbance or mindbody healing is certainly a physical correlate of mental action, whether of the sending or receiving variety.
The man in motley as the archetype: the divine fool, green man- in real life, the Sufi mystic, poet-philosopher, whose tales function on many levels... the artist as initiate-by-intuition. Shaman and Sufi are the root-forms... the "black" in black arts did not originally refer to any association with any prince of darkness, but to the whole complex of spiritual and magical traditions with roots in ancient Africa and Egypt... necessity of secrecy limits groups to small gatherings, inspires in-group signs, code-words, hand- shakes, intimate communion of shared mindspace largely absent from majority culture... a vigilant attention, awareness of true presence in the present, etc... to choose consciousness over consensus is always regarded with suspicion by the majority - the very definition of madness in totalitarian states... and yet, by some sort of Lemarckian evolution, the conspiratorial heart of active imagining has been hard-wired into "mind," a major tool of consciousness, never "meant" to be used once or twice and discarded, its value is as continuous aid to navigation through the chaosea of possibility. The prophet as shining beacon is the symbol of the collective's amplification and projection of its members inner lights... or should be. To each his or her own taproot to the underground source... we all contain the chaosufic circuit, only most of us are too damaged, dazzled and brutalized by the demands of post-modern life and all of our mechanical and electronic masters to ever really hear the song of our own being, let alone sing it, let alone to hear and harmonize with the essential songs of our fellow creatures. The true poets of our time are virtually unknown and largely unheeded, but are nevertheless of the greatest importance. Their invisible influence embraces the whole world.
NORSE SHAMANISM
Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic (2 vols.). By Clive Tolley. 2009.
Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica/Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. 893
pages. ISBN: 978-951-41-1028-3 (hard cover).
Reviewed by Timothy R. Tangherlini, University of California, Los
Angeles ([email protected]).
[Word count: 1360 words]
Clive Tolley's substantial two-volume work stands as both an accessible and thorough compendium of materials related to shamanism and the shamanistic in early Nordic mythology, folk belief, and practice. The work, in its encyclopedic consideration of the source materials, updates considerably the important study of Dag Strömbäck, whose Sejd: Textstudier i nordisk religionshistoria (1935) was the first comprehensive consideration of magical practices in pre-Christian Nordic religion. Although students of Nordic religion still frequently consult Strömbäck's work, Tolley's compendium makes many of the underlying source materials accessible to an English-speaking audience for the first time.
Tolley's work is broken into two essentially self-sufficient volumes. The first volume focuses on the analysis of the materials in a philological, text-historical, and, to a lesser extent, ethnographic context. Tolley also explores in considerable depth the potential connections between pre-Christian Nordic magical practices and other traditions. He downplays to a surprising degree the role that cultural contact with nearby groups such as the Sámi played in the
development of and the particular form(s) assumed by magical practices reminiscent of shamanism in the Nordic region. The second volume is a collection of all of the source materials Tolley used for his study, along with a thorough bibliography and index, and an appendix of maps and illustrations.
Tolley mentions early on that the goal of his study is to, "answer the question of whether Norse literature indicates that ancient Scandinavians had the notion of a practice which might reasonably be termed 'shamanism,' whether as an actual phenomenon of ordinary life, or as a motif appearing in fictional settings" (xv). The premise of the study, then, is one that sets the focus predominantly on texts. This philological orientation sets Tolley's study apart from other
studies that emphasize archaeological approaches or ethno-historiographical approaches.
The first volume is broken into seven main sections: a "Prolegomena,"
in which Tolley sets out his methodology and describes the main
working concepts of his study; "The Place of Shamanism in Society,"
in which he explores the concept of seiðr in the context of
female-centered shamanism as a feature of agricultural societies;
"Metaphysical Entities," in which he explores the concepts of "soul"
and "spirit"; "Cosmic Structures," that includes a discussion of some
of the most well-known features of the Nordic mythological world,
such as the Ash Yggdrasill and the ideas of horizontal and vertical
cosmological axes; "The Workings of Shamanism," perhaps the most
ethnographically inclined of the chapters, but one that focuses
largely on distant shamanistic traditions rather than anything rooted
in the Nordic region and the cultures of the Nordic region's closest
geographic neighbors; and "Kindred Concerns," a chapter that explores
literary and mythological motifs that can be used to expand on
representations of magical figures in the Nordic materials considered
in the other chapters, most notably the figure of the smith; the book
concludes with a concise "Epilegomena."
These chapters are extremely detailed and almost exhaustive in
nature. The topics of the sub-chapters are well chosen, and Tolley
provides thorough readings of each of the topics argued largely from
the perspective of the textual record. The identification and
subsequent close-readings of these texts, and the identification of
motifs in these texts that have a supernatural, magical, or
shamanistic component are read not only in the context of the
emerging fabric of the Nordic magical world, but also in the context
of other shamanistic traditions from around the world. His
conclusion, to which he slowly builds over the course of these many
chapters, would be startling if one had not followed his careful
argumentation. In his Epilegomena, Tolley writes: "My investigation
has. . .found little grounds for proposing the presence of
shamanism in pre-Christian or later Scandinavia, if by that is meant
the classic form of shamanism typical of much of Siberia. The
evidence does, however, support the likelihood of some ritual and
belief of a broadly (but not classically) shamanic nature as existing
and being remembered in tradition" (581). Although it may seem that
Tolley is trying to have it both ways, the conclusion is intriguingly
reminiscent of discussions of shamanism and the shamanistic in Korea,
another peninsular region marked by agricultural practice that exists
on the far edges of areas that include Tolley's "classical" shamanism
and one where the preponderance of shamans are female. Unfortunately,
despite Tolley's considerable research into many other shamanistic
traditions across the world, his brief mentions of Korean shamanism
are largely misinformed and based on second- or third-hand
references. That is a minor quibble when one considers the work as a
whole. Ultimately, Tolley has produced a substantial and far-reaching
discussion of the shamanistic in the Nordic region from a comparative
philological and text-critical standpoint.
The most consistent and vexing problem with Tolley's book is his
constant search for confirmation of his analyses far outside of
Scandinavia, when more local traditions of shamanism and magical
practice might lead to a more sustainable argument. This theoretical
decision is informed by Tolley's at times slavish adherence to the
concept that societies in similar circumstances -- historical,
political, and economic -- will independently create similar cultural
practices, as opposed to the more likely explanation that societies
in those circumstances will often look to their immediate neighbors
for possible solutions to difficult cultural problems. Of course
neither process is exclusive of each other. Accordingly, it would
have been helpful to encounter more ethno-historiographical
explorations coupled to considerations of culture-contact theories
where exchange between close neighbors are fruitfully explored. While
an undertaking such as Tolley's could easily devolve into armchair
anthropology or nineteenth-century Romanticism, he is careful to
avoid these pitfalls. Fortunately, there is a great deal of material
here for discussion, and students and researchers of early Nordic
magical practice will find many of the ideas provocative. If a book
makes you think, it has succeeded and Tolley's close readings of
texts, and the embedding of those texts in a broader, Indo-European
philological and textual framework certainly make you think.
Ultimately, Tolley's work is an excellent compendium of source
materials for the study of magical practices as documented in early
Nordic materials accompanied by a provocative and far-reaching series
of analyses. The interpretation of these materials in the context of
shamanistic practices is a rich area for investigation, and Tolley
presents a great deal of evidence for consideration. One may quibble
with Tolley's interpretations, particularly those that aver the
consideration of cultural contact between the pre-Christian
Scandinavians and the Sámi as a productive realm of cross-cultural
fertilization, but that in no way decreases the value of the
considerable work and research acumen that undergirds this
substantial collection. If one reads Tolley's first volume as a foil
to Thomas Dubois' Nordic Religions in the Viking Age (1999), with his
exploration of culture contact between early Scandinavians and the
Sámi, one develops a clearer grasp not only of the likely importance
of local cultural contact, but also an understanding of current
theoretical arguments that animate this field. One could then
complement that reading with works such as Anna-Leena Siikala's The
Rite Technique of the Siberian Shaman (1978) and Mythic Images and
Shamanism: A Perspective on Kalevala Poetry (2002), and Juha
Pentikäinen's Shamanism and Northern Ecology (1996) as a means to
flesh out the discussion of shamanism and the shamanistic among the
Sámi and in Siberia. Other recent works such as Xavier Dillman's
highly speculative Les Magiciens dans l'Islande Ancienne (2006) and
Neil Price's largely archaeologically slanted work, The Viking Way:
Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (2002), would allow one
to develop a broad understanding of the complexities of shamanism and
the shamanistic in the Nordic region.
Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic will appeal to a broad range of
readers, from those interested in the historical aspects of
shamanistic practice to those interested in early Nordic religions.
Students will find the work well-written and remarkably
well-researched, while scholars will find volume two to be one of the
most useful compendia of texts and other records of shamanistic
practices from the early Nordic region currently available. As with
all FF Communications publications, the book is very well-produced
and it includes not only a remarkably thorough index but also a
wonderfully complete bibliography.
---------
Read this review on-line at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr/review.php?id=1118
Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica/Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. 893
pages. ISBN: 978-951-41-1028-3 (hard cover).
Reviewed by Timothy R. Tangherlini, University of California, Los
Angeles ([email protected]).
[Word count: 1360 words]
Clive Tolley's substantial two-volume work stands as both an accessible and thorough compendium of materials related to shamanism and the shamanistic in early Nordic mythology, folk belief, and practice. The work, in its encyclopedic consideration of the source materials, updates considerably the important study of Dag Strömbäck, whose Sejd: Textstudier i nordisk religionshistoria (1935) was the first comprehensive consideration of magical practices in pre-Christian Nordic religion. Although students of Nordic religion still frequently consult Strömbäck's work, Tolley's compendium makes many of the underlying source materials accessible to an English-speaking audience for the first time.
Tolley's work is broken into two essentially self-sufficient volumes. The first volume focuses on the analysis of the materials in a philological, text-historical, and, to a lesser extent, ethnographic context. Tolley also explores in considerable depth the potential connections between pre-Christian Nordic magical practices and other traditions. He downplays to a surprising degree the role that cultural contact with nearby groups such as the Sámi played in the
development of and the particular form(s) assumed by magical practices reminiscent of shamanism in the Nordic region. The second volume is a collection of all of the source materials Tolley used for his study, along with a thorough bibliography and index, and an appendix of maps and illustrations.
Tolley mentions early on that the goal of his study is to, "answer the question of whether Norse literature indicates that ancient Scandinavians had the notion of a practice which might reasonably be termed 'shamanism,' whether as an actual phenomenon of ordinary life, or as a motif appearing in fictional settings" (xv). The premise of the study, then, is one that sets the focus predominantly on texts. This philological orientation sets Tolley's study apart from other
studies that emphasize archaeological approaches or ethno-historiographical approaches.
The first volume is broken into seven main sections: a "Prolegomena,"
in which Tolley sets out his methodology and describes the main
working concepts of his study; "The Place of Shamanism in Society,"
in which he explores the concept of seiðr in the context of
female-centered shamanism as a feature of agricultural societies;
"Metaphysical Entities," in which he explores the concepts of "soul"
and "spirit"; "Cosmic Structures," that includes a discussion of some
of the most well-known features of the Nordic mythological world,
such as the Ash Yggdrasill and the ideas of horizontal and vertical
cosmological axes; "The Workings of Shamanism," perhaps the most
ethnographically inclined of the chapters, but one that focuses
largely on distant shamanistic traditions rather than anything rooted
in the Nordic region and the cultures of the Nordic region's closest
geographic neighbors; and "Kindred Concerns," a chapter that explores
literary and mythological motifs that can be used to expand on
representations of magical figures in the Nordic materials considered
in the other chapters, most notably the figure of the smith; the book
concludes with a concise "Epilegomena."
These chapters are extremely detailed and almost exhaustive in
nature. The topics of the sub-chapters are well chosen, and Tolley
provides thorough readings of each of the topics argued largely from
the perspective of the textual record. The identification and
subsequent close-readings of these texts, and the identification of
motifs in these texts that have a supernatural, magical, or
shamanistic component are read not only in the context of the
emerging fabric of the Nordic magical world, but also in the context
of other shamanistic traditions from around the world. His
conclusion, to which he slowly builds over the course of these many
chapters, would be startling if one had not followed his careful
argumentation. In his Epilegomena, Tolley writes: "My investigation
has. . .found little grounds for proposing the presence of
shamanism in pre-Christian or later Scandinavia, if by that is meant
the classic form of shamanism typical of much of Siberia. The
evidence does, however, support the likelihood of some ritual and
belief of a broadly (but not classically) shamanic nature as existing
and being remembered in tradition" (581). Although it may seem that
Tolley is trying to have it both ways, the conclusion is intriguingly
reminiscent of discussions of shamanism and the shamanistic in Korea,
another peninsular region marked by agricultural practice that exists
on the far edges of areas that include Tolley's "classical" shamanism
and one where the preponderance of shamans are female. Unfortunately,
despite Tolley's considerable research into many other shamanistic
traditions across the world, his brief mentions of Korean shamanism
are largely misinformed and based on second- or third-hand
references. That is a minor quibble when one considers the work as a
whole. Ultimately, Tolley has produced a substantial and far-reaching
discussion of the shamanistic in the Nordic region from a comparative
philological and text-critical standpoint.
The most consistent and vexing problem with Tolley's book is his
constant search for confirmation of his analyses far outside of
Scandinavia, when more local traditions of shamanism and magical
practice might lead to a more sustainable argument. This theoretical
decision is informed by Tolley's at times slavish adherence to the
concept that societies in similar circumstances -- historical,
political, and economic -- will independently create similar cultural
practices, as opposed to the more likely explanation that societies
in those circumstances will often look to their immediate neighbors
for possible solutions to difficult cultural problems. Of course
neither process is exclusive of each other. Accordingly, it would
have been helpful to encounter more ethno-historiographical
explorations coupled to considerations of culture-contact theories
where exchange between close neighbors are fruitfully explored. While
an undertaking such as Tolley's could easily devolve into armchair
anthropology or nineteenth-century Romanticism, he is careful to
avoid these pitfalls. Fortunately, there is a great deal of material
here for discussion, and students and researchers of early Nordic
magical practice will find many of the ideas provocative. If a book
makes you think, it has succeeded and Tolley's close readings of
texts, and the embedding of those texts in a broader, Indo-European
philological and textual framework certainly make you think.
Ultimately, Tolley's work is an excellent compendium of source
materials for the study of magical practices as documented in early
Nordic materials accompanied by a provocative and far-reaching series
of analyses. The interpretation of these materials in the context of
shamanistic practices is a rich area for investigation, and Tolley
presents a great deal of evidence for consideration. One may quibble
with Tolley's interpretations, particularly those that aver the
consideration of cultural contact between the pre-Christian
Scandinavians and the Sámi as a productive realm of cross-cultural
fertilization, but that in no way decreases the value of the
considerable work and research acumen that undergirds this
substantial collection. If one reads Tolley's first volume as a foil
to Thomas Dubois' Nordic Religions in the Viking Age (1999), with his
exploration of culture contact between early Scandinavians and the
Sámi, one develops a clearer grasp not only of the likely importance
of local cultural contact, but also an understanding of current
theoretical arguments that animate this field. One could then
complement that reading with works such as Anna-Leena Siikala's The
Rite Technique of the Siberian Shaman (1978) and Mythic Images and
Shamanism: A Perspective on Kalevala Poetry (2002), and Juha
Pentikäinen's Shamanism and Northern Ecology (1996) as a means to
flesh out the discussion of shamanism and the shamanistic among the
Sámi and in Siberia. Other recent works such as Xavier Dillman's
highly speculative Les Magiciens dans l'Islande Ancienne (2006) and
Neil Price's largely archaeologically slanted work, The Viking Way:
Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (2002), would allow one
to develop a broad understanding of the complexities of shamanism and
the shamanistic in the Nordic region.
Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic will appeal to a broad range of
readers, from those interested in the historical aspects of
shamanistic practice to those interested in early Nordic religions.
Students will find the work well-written and remarkably
well-researched, while scholars will find volume two to be one of the
most useful compendia of texts and other records of shamanistic
practices from the early Nordic region currently available. As with
all FF Communications publications, the book is very well-produced
and it includes not only a remarkably thorough index but also a
wonderfully complete bibliography.
---------
Read this review on-line at:
http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr/review.php?id=1118
There is a growing interest in recreating the ancient oracular or 'shamanistic' techniques that are commonly referred to by Asatruar as seithr and spae-craft. The word "seidr" is spelled with a letter from the Old Norse or Icelandic alphabet called "eth". Since "eth" has a phonetic value somewhere between "d" and "th", seithr is variously spelled in English as "seid", "seidh", "seidr", "seidhr", "seith", or "seithr". Read these webpages to learn more about it.
Peregrinus - What is Seid? - "...The shamanistic trolldom (magic) that in Norden primarily was performed by women (volver). Also some of the gods such as Odin and Fro/ya, practiced it. Because of his seiding, Odin was accused of being unmanly. Seid had the same character as the Siberian and Saamic shamanism. The seidwoman would fall into a trance, while a choir of other women would evoke her guardian spirit to come to her aid. In her inspired state the spirits would inform her concerning the things she had been asked to ask; about what the weather was going to be, about events that would occur, about happiness and misfortune for man, acre and cattle. It also happened that her soul traveled to other worlds to fetch knowledge while the body lay lifeless..." More
The Fundamental Importance and use of Seidh, by Graena Vanswynn: "In Nordic History there have been two kinds of magick practiced among the peoples of the Ancient North. One begin Galdr, the other being Seidh. Galdr develops one's will and self control of their conscience and environment, Galdr implements the usage of symbols for communication or divination; these symbols being Runes, staves, et cetera. Seidh, however, is about the loss of one's control of self, conscience, and environment; it is about the inhibited sumbersion of one's self into something outside the practicer's persona. Seidh has been called the Shamanism of the North. It was the Vanic Goddess Freya who first taught the art of Seidh to the Aes, specifically the Alfather Odhinn. Seidh is the original magickal art of the Wanes, thus Galdr is of the Ases..." More
Hrafnar - A society for the re-creation of the seithr tradition. Diana Paxson's group, Hrafnar, has been working with and refining such techniques since the early 1980's, with remarkable success. Various groups around the country have been adopting or adapting Hrafnar's techniques or in some cases, striking out on their own to learn about this specifically Nordic technique of seeking knowledge. More
Hrafnar Seidh Training and schedule of Performance of Oracular Seidh at conferences and festivals.
Diiana Paxson Interview. ."..At the beginning of Ynglingasaga, Snorri lists Odin's magical skills, in a passage which identifies them as "seidh". They include all the things commonly ascribed to shamans, although given entirely in negative terms, such as weather-working, affecting people's minds, spirit journeying, etc. In the sagas there are stories about people using seidh to cause storms at sea, get information about people or places who are distant, shape-change, etc. The best-known story that may indicate going into trance to gain knowledge is the incident in which the lawspeaker of the Althing, Thorgeir of Lightwater, wrapped up in his cloak and meditated until he came up with a compromise that led to the gradual conversion of Iceland to Christianity without civil war...". More
Seidh - Return of the Volva by Diana Paxson - "Darkness covers the tents scattered across the drying grass of the festival grounds with a kindly shadow; at the far end of the sloping valley, the cliffs are edged by the first silver shimmer of the rising moon. As its light grows, it outlines a canvas pavilion and glimmers on the upturned faces of the folk gathered before it. They are gazing at a tall chair like a throne, but higher and draped with a bearskin, where a veiled figure waits, her body motionless, her face in shadow. "The gate is passed, the seidkoner waits," says the woman sitting on the fur-covered stool below the high seat. "Is there one here who would ask a question?..." More
Sex, Status, and Seidh: Homosexuality and Germanic Religion, by Diana L. Paxson. "For a man to take a female role, especially in a sexual relationship, was socially unacceptable to the Vikings....In the passage describing Odin's magic, Snorri uses a specific term, "ergi" to indicate the shamefulness of seidh magic. In other contexts this word and its derivatives are usually translated as lust or lewdness, specifically in the sense of sexual receptiveness. ...These references may help us to understand how effeminacy and passive homosexuality became equated with magical power. Effective magic requires the practitioner to unite the powers of the conscious and unconscious, of intelligence and emotion. In many shamanic traditions, cross-dressing allows the shaman to walk "between" genders, and to unite or balance within him or herself the abilities associated with each. Upsetting ordinary gender assumptions loosens the psyche and allows one to perceive in a new way..." More
http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/seidr.html
Peregrinus - What is Seid? - "...The shamanistic trolldom (magic) that in Norden primarily was performed by women (volver). Also some of the gods such as Odin and Fro/ya, practiced it. Because of his seiding, Odin was accused of being unmanly. Seid had the same character as the Siberian and Saamic shamanism. The seidwoman would fall into a trance, while a choir of other women would evoke her guardian spirit to come to her aid. In her inspired state the spirits would inform her concerning the things she had been asked to ask; about what the weather was going to be, about events that would occur, about happiness and misfortune for man, acre and cattle. It also happened that her soul traveled to other worlds to fetch knowledge while the body lay lifeless..." More
The Fundamental Importance and use of Seidh, by Graena Vanswynn: "In Nordic History there have been two kinds of magick practiced among the peoples of the Ancient North. One begin Galdr, the other being Seidh. Galdr develops one's will and self control of their conscience and environment, Galdr implements the usage of symbols for communication or divination; these symbols being Runes, staves, et cetera. Seidh, however, is about the loss of one's control of self, conscience, and environment; it is about the inhibited sumbersion of one's self into something outside the practicer's persona. Seidh has been called the Shamanism of the North. It was the Vanic Goddess Freya who first taught the art of Seidh to the Aes, specifically the Alfather Odhinn. Seidh is the original magickal art of the Wanes, thus Galdr is of the Ases..." More
Hrafnar - A society for the re-creation of the seithr tradition. Diana Paxson's group, Hrafnar, has been working with and refining such techniques since the early 1980's, with remarkable success. Various groups around the country have been adopting or adapting Hrafnar's techniques or in some cases, striking out on their own to learn about this specifically Nordic technique of seeking knowledge. More
Hrafnar Seidh Training and schedule of Performance of Oracular Seidh at conferences and festivals.
Diiana Paxson Interview. ."..At the beginning of Ynglingasaga, Snorri lists Odin's magical skills, in a passage which identifies them as "seidh". They include all the things commonly ascribed to shamans, although given entirely in negative terms, such as weather-working, affecting people's minds, spirit journeying, etc. In the sagas there are stories about people using seidh to cause storms at sea, get information about people or places who are distant, shape-change, etc. The best-known story that may indicate going into trance to gain knowledge is the incident in which the lawspeaker of the Althing, Thorgeir of Lightwater, wrapped up in his cloak and meditated until he came up with a compromise that led to the gradual conversion of Iceland to Christianity without civil war...". More
Seidh - Return of the Volva by Diana Paxson - "Darkness covers the tents scattered across the drying grass of the festival grounds with a kindly shadow; at the far end of the sloping valley, the cliffs are edged by the first silver shimmer of the rising moon. As its light grows, it outlines a canvas pavilion and glimmers on the upturned faces of the folk gathered before it. They are gazing at a tall chair like a throne, but higher and draped with a bearskin, where a veiled figure waits, her body motionless, her face in shadow. "The gate is passed, the seidkoner waits," says the woman sitting on the fur-covered stool below the high seat. "Is there one here who would ask a question?..." More
Sex, Status, and Seidh: Homosexuality and Germanic Religion, by Diana L. Paxson. "For a man to take a female role, especially in a sexual relationship, was socially unacceptable to the Vikings....In the passage describing Odin's magic, Snorri uses a specific term, "ergi" to indicate the shamefulness of seidh magic. In other contexts this word and its derivatives are usually translated as lust or lewdness, specifically in the sense of sexual receptiveness. ...These references may help us to understand how effeminacy and passive homosexuality became equated with magical power. Effective magic requires the practitioner to unite the powers of the conscious and unconscious, of intelligence and emotion. In many shamanic traditions, cross-dressing allows the shaman to walk "between" genders, and to unite or balance within him or herself the abilities associated with each. Upsetting ordinary gender assumptions loosens the psyche and allows one to perceive in a new way..." More
http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/seidr.html
(c) 2013-2014, Iona Miller, All Rights Reserved, Sangreality Trust; GenIsis Genealogy
[email protected]
http://ionamiller.weebly.com
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Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
