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S H A M A N I S M • A N I M I S M • W I S D O M WAY S • C O M M U N I T Y • R E N E WA L
25 ISSUE 102 - C 2018
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CELEBRATE THE CIRCLE OF LIFE sa
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Tibetan Cham Dancers
 Contents
REVIVING THE SOUL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-15
When refugees left Tibet after the Chinese invasion they
took not only their Buddhism but also thier ancient
shamanism with them. Larry Peters shares some of their
teachings and explains a soul restoring ceremony they do.
LOTUS LAKES AND MOUNTAIN GODS . . . 15-22
A sacred journey in Nepal to meet shamans in the
Kathmandu valley accompanied by Bhola Nath Banstola
a Nepali shaman. Evelyn C. Rysdyk and C. Allie Knowlton.
EDITOR, DESIGN AND PRODUCTION:
Nicholas Breeze Wood MONASTIC AUTHORISED SHAMANS . . . . 23-26
DESIGN AND EDITORIAL CONSULTANT: An introduction to the ancient Tibetan lhapa and
Faith Nolton lhamo tradition of spirit possessed oracle healers.
PROOF READING: A VISIT TO THE LHAMO . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27-29
Linda Botth, Carolyn G. Ryan, Janey Verney, Martin Wilford A chance meeting lead to receiving a healing from a
CONTACT DETAILS: lhamo shaman in Lhadak. Charles Burack describes
Sacred Hoop Magazine the journey to reach her, and the healing encounter.
Anghorfa, Abercych, Boncath,
Pembrokeshire, SA37 0EZ, Wales THE SOARING OF THE GREAT GARUDA . . . 30-33
Email: Nick@sacredhoop.org The Garuda is a huge bird spirit, found from Siberia to
Tel: (01239) 682 029 South East Asia. Yeshe Green gives a brief introduction to
www.sacredhoop.org the spirit, and explains how Garuda practitioners call up on
PUBLISHING POLICY: it for help with healing and other shamanic work.
SACRED HOOP seeks to network those wanting to
learn the spiritual teachings of indigenous peoples as a TYGER-TYGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34-39
living path of knowledge. Our contents cover the integration of both Tigers are considered a sacred animal in many traditions.
old and new ways, and insights that contribute to a balanced and In Tibet they feature widely, both within Buddhism and also
sustainable lifestyle in today's world. within the countries shamanism. Nicholas Breeze Wood
We honour all paths and peoples and do not include material from, or explores why they ‘burn so bright’ in the imagination.
give support to, any individual or group which seeks to oppress or
discriminate on grounds of race, lineage, age, gender, class or belief. IN THE MORNING OF THE WORLD . . . . . . . . . 40-46
Nor do we knowingly publish any material that is inaccurate. The Indonesian island of Bali is home to a remarkable
Views expressed are not necessarily those of the editor. spiritual tradition. Jaya Bear introduces us to some of the sa-
ISSN 2514-2909 cred flavours of the island they call ‘The Island of God.’
DISCLAIMER: CALL OF THE BABAYLAN . . . . . . . . . . 47-49
Whilst making every effort to be accurate, the Shamanism has a long tradition on the islands of the
editors will not be deemed responsible for any Philippines, where it is a woman’s spiritual tradition.
errors, omissions or inaccuracies appearing
in Sacred Hoop Magazine. We give a brief overview of its tradition and practice.
© Sacred Hoop Magazine THE SEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-57
and-or individual contributors. In 1956 Michael Harner began his very first field trip,
No part of this magazine,
either written text or visual art, may be reproduced looking for shamans in the jungles of South America.
in any way whatsoever It was the start of a lifetime of study which has led him
without the written
permission of
to be the most important shamanic voice of our generation
the Editor.

Website: www.sacredhoop.org X Facebook: www.bit.ly/Hoop-FaceBook

4 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

INTRUSIONS, PARASITES & OTHER BEASTIES . 58-63
Are you home to a beasty of some sort? Caitlín Mathews
explores intruding spirits, possession and entities.
THE LOST SOULS OF STALINGRAD . . . . . . 64-69
In Russia, during World War Two, many German and
Russian soldiers died dreadful deaths in the cold and the
blood of battle. Klaus Paasche travels to Stalingrad - one
of the worst battles - to do work for the spirits of the dead.
WHEN WE FOCUS ON THE SIMPLE WAYS. . 70-77
An interview with Sandra Ingerman about the
core qualities of shamanism and how we need to
deepen our practice in order to get good results.
SEEKING THE RADIANT BROW . . . . . . . . . 78-83
The ancient Druids of Iron Age Northern Europe
were well known to have many methods of divination.
Danu Forest looks at some of these and gives insights
into how they can be practiced today.
REALM BENEATH THE WATERS . . . . . . . 84-89
The Celtic peoples of Britain left many sacred
traces. Sharon Paice MacLeod looks at the ways
people today can work with the ancient traditions.
SPIRIT OF THE MARI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90-94
Very old folk traditions survive in Britain, some stretching
back a long way way to our ancient roots. Phil Larcher
shares what it’s like to be a tradition bearer within a
Welsh horse cult tradition, the Mari Lwyd.
SHRINE TO THE GODDESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
In a remote valley in Scotland is a shrine to the Earth
Goddess which has been tended in an unbroken tradition
that stretches back thousands of years, and is probably
the oldest pagan tradition in Europe.

THE FOUNDING INSPIRATION FOR SACRED HOOP MAGAZINE IN 1993

“Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all,
and around and about me was the whole hoop of the world...
I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the
spirit and the shapes of all shapes as they must live together
like one being. And I saw that the Sacred Hoop of my people
was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight
and as starlight and in the centre grew one almighty
flowering tree to shelter all the children of one Mother
and one Father, and I saw that it was holy.”
(From the vision of Nicholas Black Elk Lakota Holy Man: 1863 - 1950)
From the Editor
Welcome to the sixth of the four special,
extra issues of Sacred Hoop magazine (I am
I fear, very badly disnumerate), to celebrate
our 100th issue. I hope you enjoy the read.
Blessings to all Beings
Nicholas Breeze Wood

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 5

Reviving the Soul
Tradition, Practice and Trance
within Tibetan Shamanism
Larry Peters

6 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

Tashi Palkhiel is the largest of
three Tibetan refugee camps, a
few miles from Pokhara in Nepal. It
has a population of about 1,400.
I knew the late pau (shaman)
Karma Wangchuk, and Pau Nyima
Dhondup, who is currently sixty-
eight years old, since 1996, and
met Pau Rhichoe, now seventy-one
years old, in 1998. Each year since
then, I have spent about two weeks
with the pau, observing their rituals
and conducting interviews with
them. Over the years I’ve
witnessed more than a hundred
healing rituals.
SHAMAN, LAMA, AND BÖN
The pau are Buddhist, but their
shamanic practice and beliefs
originated in the indigenous Tibetan
tradition known as Bön.
Tibetologists distinguish an old
form of Bön, which has an oral
tradition, and a later form, which
has a literary tradition, and which is
monastic like Buddhism. This later
form arose after Buddhism came to
Tibet. These two forms are
sometimes referred to as ‘revealed
Bön,’ and ‘textual Bön.’
Textual Bön is a religious order,
but the earlier, ‘revealed’ Bön is
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
the indigenous shamanic tradition
which existed in Tibet, prior to the
arrival of Padmasambhava - the
Indian Buddhist cultural hero, who
is credited with bringing Buddhism
to Tibet in 749 CE.
Padmasambhava is said to have
subdued the local Bön deities,
converting them to Buddhism, and
binding them by oath to be
‘defenders of the Buddhist faith’ -
dharmapala in Sanskrit. It is these
converted Bön deities, the
dharmapala, and not the heavenly
high-ranking Buddhist deities - lha
- who have the significant role in
the Tibetan shamanism practiced at
the refugee camp.
The camp pau however, do not
have affiliation to Bön, as Bön is
seen as a heresy to Buddhism.
Instead they trace their origin as
shamans to Padmasambhava’s
arrival. However, the practice of
shamanism is not part of
Buddhism, and reflects beliefs and
an indigenous tradition, which was
in Tibet prior to Buddhism’s
cultural arrival.
The Buddhist preeminence, and
the hierarchy of lama and shaman
are formally validated in a myth
that, in one version or another, is
Shamanism was, and still is,
an integral part of the pastoral
community in rural Tibet and
this is why it has persisted, even
into current times, in nomadic
settlements far from any urban
centre - despite fifty years of
Chinese communist rule
omnipresent in Tibetan culture, and Previous page:
this myth is represented in a Pau Nyima in
shaman’s altar. ceremony,
To the far left and far right of a playing his
pau’s altar sit two cone-shaped damaru drum
piles of roasted barley flour - and shang bell
tsampa - with a pile of rice in the
centre. Each is placed on its own
raised round wooden tray.
The pile on the right represents Below: Pau
Mount Kailash - the holy Hindu and Nyima takes
Buddhist mountain in Western the pulse of a
Tibet, thought to be at the centre patient
of the world - an axis linking
heaven and earth. Underneath:
Originally, Kailash was a Mount Kailash as
mountain sacred to Bön, and the seen from Lake
surrounding area was a famed Manasarovar in
centre of Bön activity. However, in Western Tibet
7
Unable to return to their
homeland - once alive with the
stories, which put shamanism in
context and gave meaning to life -
shamanism is on the verge of
disappearing. This is probably the
last generation of shamans at the
refugee camp, as there are no
current initiates and nowadays
little indigenous interest
the story - as told to me by Pau
Nyima - Milarepa, a C12th Buddhist
ascetic saint, and a Bön shaman
called Naro Bön Jung, had a race to
the top of Kailash. The one who
reached the peak first would win
jurisdiction over the mountain and
gain religious authority.
Naro raced up by playing his
Below: drum, the sound of the drum being
Tashi Palkhiel his horse. Meanwhile, Milarepa
Tibetan refugee remained asleep.
camps in Nepal When his assistant tried to wake
him up, Milarepa said, “Call me
when the sun rises,” and when he
was finally fully awake, he flew on
a rainbow to the mountain’s peak,
straight past Naro.
Naro fell to the ground along with
his drum, landing upon stinging
nettles, a food which was sacred to
Milarepa, but which stung the
shaman. Milarepa felt compassion
8 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
for the shaman and gave him, as
consolation, a less important
mountain, which is depicted on the
left of the altar. Here, it is said, Naro
still resides along with his drum.
Although this story is about the
eclipse of Bön, by Buddhism, it
also affirms Bön has an enduring,
but marginalised and circumscribed
role in religious culture - the lesser
holy mountain, where the shaman
resides with his drum - being
graciously given to the defeated
shaman by the Buddhist saint.
Thus this myth, which explains
elements present on the altar,
provides a cultural charter for the
persistence of shamanism - that is,
for the practice of the pau.
At the camp, the pau’s practice
is independent of the Buddhist
lamas, but the lamas grant
authority by recognition.
A lama sometimes presents the
pau the fabric from which their
costume will be sewn; and Pau
Nyima received such material from
a rinpoché, while H.H. the Dalai
Lama gave Pau Wangchuk an old
and tattered costume, which once
belonged to the Tibetan State
Oracle, as well as a letter
certifying the authenticity of
Wangchuk’s work. All of the pau’s
ritual paraphernalia are
consecrated by a lama as well, and
therefore made sacred in the eyes
of Buddhism. Further, much of it is
gifted by lamas.
The pau also make pilgrimages
to many sacred Buddhist sites,
monasteries and teachers, seeking
power, knowledge and blessing.
The pau are also tested by
respected lamas, as well as by
elder pau. This testing discerns if a
neophyte has visions of deities - or
demons - when they look seen in a
shaman’s brass mirror. This is done
to determine whether their strange
behavior is the result of a shamanic
calling by the deities, or an illness
caused by harmful spirits. The
former initiates shamanic training;
whereas the latter necessitates
healing by a pau or a lama.
Pau Nyima says a pau needs
knowledge in four subjects:
1, the channels or veins in the
body; 2, how to describe the
appearance of the gods seen in the
brass mirror. A lama or elder pau
teaches these first two subjects.
A pau must also know: 3, how
to heal by sucking and 4, how to
invoke the proper deities to do
ritual healing procedures. These
last two must be learned from
another pau.
The pau often refer their
patients for supplemental healing
to a lama. The lama to whom the
pau refer patients are lay lamas
who, while robed, reside
in the camp with their
families.
 Although pau have overlapping
responsibilities, and perform some
rituals with the same purpose, the
pau do them in a way distinct from
lamas. There are also ngakpas,
which are thought to be ‘half-
shaman’ and ‘half-lama.’

WILD HEALINGS OF THE PAU

The pau say that their rituals are
‘wild,’ and this primarily
distinguishes them from those of
the lamas and ngakpas, who, by
contrast, chant from their holy
books and sit peacefully.
The pau are wild because they
enter trance by simultaneously and
loudly playing a small two-sided,
damaru drum and a shang, a flat
bell. They also dance; channel
deities and ferocious animals; suck
illness from the patient - often
swallowing the polluted substance
after extracting it - and
demonstrate mastery over fire by
handling live coals.
Dramatically, healing feathers
from the divine lammergeie vulture
- thang kar - sometimes fell from
the ceiling of Wangchuk’s house
after it was invoked.

When the deities arrive at a

ritual, some come on horseback,
and I have watched Pau Nyima sit
with bent knees while bouncing, as
if astride a horse; he also often
whinnies. When the deities
dismount they dance, and then
jump upon their seats. Deity-
embodied Pau Rhichoe once broke
the heavy wooden frame of a
patient’s bed by jumping like this.
Possession-trance and spirit
mediumship, the latter involving
verbal communication, are the
most salient characteristics of a
pau’s dramatic healing ritual.
During these altered
consciousness states, the
countenance of the pau changes,
taking on the wrathful appearance
of their deity, and they speak with a
commanding voice, impatiently
demanding obedience, sometimes
hurling insults at those present.
Although it is necessary to
invoke a deity for healing, it is also
important not to irritate them, as
they can be irascible and may
decide not to do the healing. Thus,
neither the patient, nor spectators
interact directly with the deity. There
is an assistant - an intermediary or
intercessor - called a bar mee - who
has been trained by a pau to honour
appropriately and speak to the deity, these beliefs are not real. Still, he Above:
and to relay the deity’s message to concluded, illness and healing are Mount Kalish
the patient during the ritual. manifestly real, therefore, the
Buddha adjusted his methods to
The dramatic practices of the include the practices of the people.
pau have survived from pre- With this argument, the
Buddhist times when most rinpoché seemed to acknowledge Below:
Tibetans were rugged nomadic the pragmatic aspects of the pau’s Padmasambhava,
herders, and being ‘wild, tough, healing work, while at the same who brought
and untamed’ was prized as a time undermining its spiritual Buddhism to
cultural value. foundations. Tibet in the C8th
Then, shamanism was dominant,
unlike the agricultural, urban and
sedentary life found in Buddhism
within Tibet now. In fact, .
I asked the pau - who are all
committed Buddhists - how they
integrated the two contrary belief
systems. When they couldn’t
explain, I followed their advice and
consulted with Khedup Rinpoche,
who spends several months each
year teaching at the camp’s
Buddhist educational institute.
He likened the two systems to
the differences between the
‘ultimate’ and the ‘relative’ aspects
of reality. The ‘relative’ speaks to
the beliefs and customs of the
people, including the animistic folk
religion which gives context to
shamanic healing. But then he
went on to say that ‘ultimately’

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 9

Right: Pau
Rhichoe in
trance during
a ceremony
THE SOUL CALLING RITUAL
The pau maintain that there is only
one soul, which they call nam shé.
This has a number of constituent
parts, including the la and the saug.
When as a Buddhist concept,
nam shé is seen as consciousness -
in a very wide sense - but it is not
conceived as ‘soul.’ But because the
nam shé is immortal, the pau liken it
to the Sanskrit word for the soul,
atma, which is found in Hinduism.
The pau sometimes lack the
terminological precision of a
rinpoché because they have not
had a Buddhist education - their
knowledge comes from tutelage
but not from books.
They often use the terms la and
nam shé interchangeably, and in so
doing, the pau convey the notion
that the la, like the nam shé, is
10 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
consciousness, which is similar to
the belief of other Tibetan shamans.
Pau Nyima says the la is the
spirit inside the person. Therefore it
is not merely consciousness, but
the spirit of consciousness; it has
the attributes of sem (mind and
thinking) and rig pa (reasoning and
intelligence).
The pau also say that the la
possesses nu shug - power, force,
energy, and strength - and liken it to
the Indian concept of shakti (albeit
without the goddess identity).
It is the power of nu shug - the
energy and strength which
animates the body. When a person
dies, the la leaves the body; and
the body then becomes a corpse
because there is no nu shug to
animate physical existence. The
word nu shug also relates to
personal power, skills, talent,
strengths, and magical and
shamanic abilities. It is also the
cosmic power possessed by deities,
and the inherent power found in
sacred objects and amulets.
A diminishment of nu shug is a
weakening of the la, and a
concomitant loss of physical strength,
personal power, health, passion,
motivation, mental acuity, and focus;
even a person’s luck is diminished.
Bön shamans also speak of
another important soul part, the
saug or tshé. The word saug means
‘life’, and also ‘breath soul.’ It is
inseparable from the body. It flows
in the breath, has its seat in the
heart, but penetrates throughout the
body. It is the life-force spirit within
us that opposes death and, after
death, seeks rebirth. When it is
weakened, our resistance to death
is weakened, and consequently, our
life is shortened. Here too the
weakness of the soul is the result of
a loss of nu shug, which supplies
vital energy to the saug.
RETURNING THE SOUL
Pre-Buddhist Bön defines the la as
a ‘shadow soul,’ a living double
which can temporarily leave the
body and wander about. Such a
free moving soul part may find
itself vulnerable to attack and
capture. Further, researchers
generally agree that a lost, or
wandering la can be ‘called back’
or ‘returned’ by a pau or lama who
performing an important soul
calling ritual, called a la kuk.
A pau has three methods of
performing a la kuk ritual: using a
slingshot; floating a cup in a tub
of water; or utilising black and
white stones.
In all these methods, three kinds
of beads - conch, coral and
turquoise, each typically worn as a
part of necklaces by Tibetans - are
used. Conch represents the patient’s
bones, Coral represents their blood,
and turquoise represents the
brilliant, or glowing appearance, of a
fully healthy person.
These beads are brought to the
ritual by the patient, and they are
then pressed into an image of a
sheep, called a la lug or ‘soul
sheep’, which is made of roasted
barley flour dough.
In the slingshot form of the
ritual, a large tub of milky water -
likened to Lake Manasarovar, a
sacred lake below Mount Kailash -
is covered with a silk khata scarf.
The dough sheep, containing the
beads, is placed into a slingshot and
taken outside by an assistant and
flung as far as possible. The cloth is
then removed from the top of the
tub of water and, if, miraculously,
the turquoise and the other beads
are found in the water, still spotted
with dough and debris from where
the sheep landed outside, the soul
part is seen as having been
successfully called back.
In other words, even though the
effigy was flung far away for all to
see, it miraculously ends up under
the cloth, in the presence of all,
who are astonished to see it.
Afterward the patient washes
with the water used - which is
considered holy, and the beads are
worn by them as an amulet.
In the second, floating cup
method, the beads and dough
sheep are put into a cup, which is
floated in the tub of water. The cup
is spun and if the sheep faces the
patient when it stops moving, it
indicates success.
This is determined by stretching a
khata offering scarf from the far end
of the pot, and across the water to
the patient. Thus the direction of the
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
sheep can be precisely determined
when it stops turning.
I observed Pau Nyima use yet
another method when there were
two patients who both required a la
kuk ritual, this is the black and
white stone method.
During this particular ritual, for
one patient the cup stopped
moving and the sheep faced the
patient, but for the other patient,
when the sheep did not face her,
nine white and nine black stones
were placed in the tub of milky
water, and the patient was asked
to pick three stones.
If, on three choices, the patient
picked a majority of white stones, a
successful calling of the soul part
was said to have occurred. However,
even one black stone picked from
the water might require the patient
to have their la strengthen by rituals
performed by a lama after the
shaman’s work was complete.
If the methods of soul calling
chosen fails, it demands another la
Conch, coral and turquoise
are brought by the patient,
each typically worn by Tibetans.
Conch represents the patient’s
bones, Coral represents their
blood, and turquoise represents
the brilliant, glowing appearance,
of a fully healthy person
kuk be performed, usually after the
patient has received an
empowerment - wang - or taken
part in the ritual reading of sacred
texts, both given by a lama.
The la kuk ends when the patient
cleanses themselves with the ‘holy’
water and wears the three beads.
Lake Manasarovar -
represented by the pot of water in
the la kuk ritual, and Mount Kailash
- represented by one of the barley
flour mounds on a pau’s altar, are
linked, not only in geographic
proximity, but also in mythology.
They are seen as the ‘mother’ and
‘father’ of the region respectively
and in Buddhist philosophy - which
is superimposed on the myth - both
Left: the late
Pau Wangchuk
playing his
damaru drum in
his left hand
while beating a
large ceremonial
drum suspended
from the ceiling
with a beater in
his right hand
11
The mirror is a window into a Similarly, Lake Manasarovar -
which means ‘mind lake’ in
‘non-ordinary reality,’ but it is Sanskrit - is a soul lake, or la tsho,
where pilgrims bathe to purify their
also a doorway through which soul and mind, and seek healing.
the deities enter ritual reality, In the ritual room, Mount Kailash
is on the altar, while the tub of water
to be embodied by the pau, is a few feet away and below a pau’s
altar; this the lake and the mountain
and thus, through the pau, set the stage for the ritual. Pau
they can do their healing work Rhichoe says the altar and the ritual
area should be made as if it were a
holy place of pilgrimage. Thus, the
the ritual is a symbolic pilgrimage to the
lake sacred mountain and lake; that is, to
and the mythical centre of the world, for
healing and purification.
THE VULNERABLE SOUL
This fragmentation of consciousness
and other symptoms are understood
as a weakening of the soul, which
the pau call la nyam.
When someone suffers la nyam,
the mind is weak. The patient is
unable to focus his thoughts. Their
soul is being ‘pushed down’ and
therefore has lost its clarity and
vitality. The person looks dull, their
skin has no luster or glow, their
eyes have no sparkle or light; even
if they dress well and are clean,
they do not look fresh. They have
no appetite but, if they eat they get
no energy from the food.
The cause of these oppressive
symptoms is always a frightening
experience, possibly from a
nightmare, a physical trauma, or by
having been scared by a ghost.
These ‘frights’ lead to a
diminishment of the patient’s nu
shug, and so lead on to a weaking
of their la, and of the life force -
saug. This is the disorder the pau
know as la nyam, and if not treated,
la nyam will in time cause death.
At the root of the problem is the
patient’s relationship to
certain spirits
which cause
them to
become
vulnerable.
Above: According to
Pau Nyima Pau Rhichoe,
Dhondup it happenes
wearing a when the zhee
mirror and with dak earth
a shang bell and deities, who rule lakes
his damaru drum and rivers, bridges and
mountain are necessary for
liberation. Mount Kailash is a
soul mountain - la ree - said to be
Right: a shamans in sympathetic connection with the
flat shang bell soul of the country itself.
12 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
roads, but mostly mountains; or the
yul lha, local protector deities of
villages, valleys and meadows, have
been offended because of the
patient’s carelessness, which has
meant they have done a defiling act.
It is these deities that attack the
patient, making them susceptible
to la nyam soul weakening. The
pau speaks to, and appeases
these deities on behalf of the
patient to dissuade them from
causing further harm.
It is because of la nyam that pau
do the la kuk ritual. The pau need
to ‘bring up’ the la, to strengthen it
and restore its brilliance.
Pau Rhichoe described it thus: “It
is deteriorating and degenerating,
so you need to ‘rise it up.’”
I asked what he meant by ‘rise it
up’, and he replied; “When you add
water to a vessel, the floating
things rise up.”
The word kuk also means ‘to turn
on, activate, assemble, enrich, make
shiny, conjure up, stir up,’ and ‘to
rise,’ all of which fit the ritual purpose,
the la kuk being a remedy for the
condition of la nyam.
WORKING WITH THE SOUL STONE
I discussed with the pau an often
stated, but inaccurate belief -
called la né - that the la can take
up residence in a number of
objects outside of the body, such
as trees, lakes, mountains and
animals, as well as in a valued
turquoise bead.
Such a stone is called a ‘soul
turquoise’ and is sometimes
considered to be the dwelling place
of a person’s soul.
Of course, Pau Nyima knew of
soul turquoise, because it is the
name of the stone utilised in a la
kuk ritual, but this did not mean to
him that the la could ever be
located there, or anywhere else
outside the body.
Pau Nyima agreed that the
Tibetan term la né refers to a very
strong connection between a
person and an object, or another
person. So much so that, if one is
damaged, the other will also suffer.
For example, if a parent has a
strong sympathetic connection to
their child, the Tibetans might say
that their soul resides - la né - with
the child. However, this does not
mean that the child possesses the
parent’s soul. Rather, it refers to a
strong emotional bond and
identification, and not the physical
location of the la.
It is in this experiential sense of
sympathy and merging of identity
that the ‘soul turquoise,’ and what
it represents, is connected to the
patient and the healing purpose of
the ritual.
Turquoise is a symbol of the
glow of the healthy person - dang -
because it doesn’t become dull, or
lose its shine.
Further, it is believed to contain
the emanations of light of the sun
and the moon, and thus, when
recovered in the holy water during
the ritual, it is seen as a gift from
the heavenly realm of the gods,
which restores light, shine, and the
glow of life to the soul and body,
reactivating and reinvigorating the
powers of the la and saug life
force.
Likewise, coral, symbolic of
blood, is seen as a gift of the
middle world deities of mountain
and red rock; and conch shell,
symbolic of bone, is believed to be
a gift of the lu or nagas - the lower
world serpent deities who dwell in
bodies of water and wells.
Thus the three stones impart a
cosmic force and power - nu shug
which bring the patient a strong,
healthy glow, blood, and bone.
The la kuk ritual is not a soul
retrieval, as familiar to Western
shamanic practitioenrs; it is a life-
extending empowerment, a power -
nu shug - raising, restoration, and
retrieval. Simply put, it is a ritual to
bring power to the la and the saug,
and thus heals a deteriorating soul
and life force. Moreover, it is a
method to evoke a transpersonal
experience in the patient, a feeling
of connection to the cosmos and
the deities from which the stones
obtain their healing capacity.
The stones are empowered by
the deities from each of the three
worlds and are delivered in the holy
water, the symbol of the purifying
lake of soul and mind at the earth’s
central mountain, the axis of ascent
and descent of the deities.
The stones, then being worn by
the patient, continue to restore
power to their soul - la - and body,
and increasing the life force - saug.
Pau Nyima explains that he tells
his patients at the end of their
treatment, to ‘remember’ the deities’
healing gifts, and to ‘take refuge’ in
them; that is, to become devoted to
them, to pray and meditate for their
guidance and protection, and
likewise to show compassion and
kindness to all beings.
WORLDS THROUGH A MIRROR
The pau themselves ‘take refuge’ as
part of their own way of bringing forth
the deities who work through them.
For the pau, this taking of
refuge begins by invoking the deity
through visualisation. During this
process - which may last fifteen to
twenty minutes or more - the pau
rapidly plays their damaru and
shang bell, and invites the deities
to come down.
After the deities descend, they
take their place, according to
status, in the brass mirrors on the
altar. The silk khata scarf wrapped
around the pictures of the deities is
the method of respectful greeting.
Brass mirrors are crucial to the
ritual, because, if they are not set up
on the altar, the deities will not come.
Traditionally there are three
mirrors placed on an altar, one for
each class of deity (upper, middle,
and lower worlds) invoked, but one
or two mirrors are sufficient
according to Pau Rhichoe.
When the deities descend, they
take their place - according to rank
The pau dance; channel deities and
ferocious animals; suck illness from
the patient - often swallowing the
polluted substance after extracting it
- in huge halls, which are seen in Above: a female
the mirrors, and the pau are able to shaman from
describe this in detail. Ladakh (lhamo)
When two mirrors are used, the extracting illness
numerous middle world deities are through the
in the upper mirror, along with the technique of
lha - the heavenly gods, while the sucking
serpentine lu - nagas - are in the
lower mirror. The mirrors represent
the different worlds and
levels of the
tripartite cosmos.
These
worlds
contain
everything
that is part
of the
ordinary
external world
because, as Pau
Rhichoe explains, he can
‘see’ mountains, people and
villages etc, in the mirrors, as well
as spirits and deities - his
experiences and visions are not
bound by ordinary space and time. Above: a Tibetan
Pau Nyima compares mirrors to a village shaman’s
television set and he, like brass mirror

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 13

 Wangchuk, typically wears one
around his neck during rituals.
With a mirror in hand, Pau
Nyima would often point it at the
patient or others present, to ‘see’
what type of spirit might be causing
trouble to them. In this sense, the
mirror is a window into a
‘nonordinary reality,’ but it is also a
doorway through which the deities
enter ritual reality, to be embodied
by the pau, and thus, through the
pau, they can do their healing work.
TAKING REFUGE IN THE DIETY
During a ritual, according to Pau
Rhichoe, light from a candle,
reflected in an altar mirror, become
ever larger and brighter, indicating
that the deities invoked have
descended. Pau Rhichoe says that
he sees the fiery radiance of his
refuge deity emerge from his mirror
and enter his body. When it reaches
his heart, there is a momentary flash
of intense heat that causes him to
shake, then the deity’s fiery radiance
continues its course to infuse the
pau’s entire body completing refuge.
Pau Rhichoe says: “It’s like a cup
being filled with tea.”
At the time of refuge, the nam
shé - consciousness - of the pau is
transformed into that of the deity
through an ‘exchange process,’ as
Pau Wangchuk and Pau Nyima
explain it.
Pau Nyima says first he
visualises his soul leaving his body
from the top of his head, at the
place of the fontanel, and
simultaneously the deity’s radiant
consciousness comes in to occupy
his body through openings at the
fourth fingers of each hand called
the kyang ma and ro ma tsa.
When refuge is attained, this is
signaled in the ritual by the pau
Right: Pau
Rhichoe’s altar
showing his
mirrors and
images of the
deities who will
come into them.
There are piles
of tsampa -
roasted barley
flour - and bowls
for water and
other offerings
14 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
putting on his ringa headdress, and
soon afterward his assistant will
thread a khata in special holes in the
ringa, to honour the deity’s arrival.
It is important to point out that
the pau distinguish between
possession and refuge. As Pau
Rhichoe summed it up while pointing
to a light bulb hanging from the
ceiling: “The pau become the light,
not the bulb.” The light of the bulb is
like the emanation of the deity, thus
the pau becomes an emanation of
the deity, not the deity itself.
At the same time as the pau
receives the radiant emanation of
the refuge deity, his own soul -
nam shé - enters into the mirror of
his protective deity. Pau Nyima’s
nam shé is protected by five
khadoma (dakini in Sanskrit), while
Pau Wangchuk was protected by
Padmasambhava.
When the trance is over, the
deities leave through the same
kyang ma and ro ma tsa openings
at the fourth fingers of the pau’s
hand, and the pau’s nam shé soul
returns to the shaman through the
top of their head.
Pau Nyima says the exchange in
both directions must be
simultaneous, as it is very dangerous
for the pau, as any delay could be
fatal - it would be tantamount to a
soul loss. Harmful spirits - né pa -
are always present during healings,
and they desire to create obstacles,
ruin the ritual, cause more pain and
suffering to the patient, or even
enter the pau’s body.
After taking refuge, the pau
embodies not only the attributes
and powers of the deity, but also
those of the deity’s entire retinue
of spirits, who descend with the
deity at the same time.
For example, when a pau
performs a ‘sucking healing’ - jib -
they embody the zoomorphic
radiance of one of the deity’s
sucking spirits, typically a mythical
dog, wolf, or divine bird, all with
expert extraction power.
At the time of refuge, Pau
Nyima and Pau Wangchuk say
that, because their nam shé is in
their mirror, they do not remember
what they do or say during a
healing. The loss of memory during
mediumship is a widely held view in
Tibetan culture, amnesia being the
sign of trance authenticity.
However, it is obvious that the
pau are perfectly able to discuss
their trance experiences in detail.
On many occasions, after a
treatment, Nyima even corrected
his assistant about what the deity
said during the ritual, seemingly not
realising that such detail betrayed
his conscious knowledge.
DECLINE OF THE SHAMANS
This is probably the last generation
of pau at the refugee camp, as
there are no current initiates and
nowadays little indigenous interest.
The healing rituals I’ve attended
over the years never had a large
audience, only being witnessed by
a few family members.
Years ago, I had heard stories
about some of Pau Wangchuk’s
rituals being well attended, but this
was before I had met him. As I
recall, it was in 2000 that he
became too ill to practice regularly,
albeit he attempted to
accommodate anyone who came to
his house for treatment.
In 2003, Pau Rhichoe, as well
as Pau Nyima, had a small
practice, and they did some of the
work Pau Wangchuk was no longer
able to do, and both periodically
traveled to Kathmandu and the
other camps as needed.
However, soon afterward, Pau
Rhichoe developed leg problems,
incapacitating him for even this
irregular travel.
I also know that since 2005, his
income has been almost entirely
dependent on Western tourist
group patients, and from his
meager wages at a local Tibetan
carpet factory.
He now rarely sees patients,
although was recently named a
Living Treasure by Michael Harner’s
organisation the Foundation for

Shamanic Studies; as has Pau
Nyima, positions that will provide
them with an annual stipend.
At the present time, Pau Nyima
has a small practice of perhaps five to
six patients weekly, mostly Nepalese,
with one or two Western trekkers
each month, and some European and
American tourist groups.
In 2005, Pau Nyima was invited
to Vienna to do healings, but Pau
Rhichoe is not as active physically, and
is also a very private person, much
less gregarious than Pau Nyima.
Further, Pau Rhichoe’s rituals
are long events, lasting almost
three hours, whereas Pau Nyima’s
are an hour at most. Thus Pau
Nyima does more shamanism, as
he is more available and requires
less time commitment. They are,
however, both known to be highly
effective healers.
Still, Pau Nyima, like Pau
Rhichoe, and Pau Wangchuk
before them, relies on the fees and
grants he earns from foreigners. If
not for this income, and
acknowledgment, refugee camp
shamanism would have far less
status than it currently does.
The crisis of exile transplanted
shamanism from its natural
environment - the mountains,
snow, and nomadic way of life -
into a tropical climate and the
sedentary life-way of a refugee
population. Unable to return to their
homeland and their sacred places,
once alive with the stories, which
put shamanism in context and gave
meaning to life, has meant that the
community-central and once robust
practice of camp shamanism is on
the verge of disappearing.
The pau often speak with great
fondness of their former nomadic
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
life, and with great passion about
their desire to return home. Indeed,
exile was and continues to be
traumatic in the lives of these men.
The present threat to
shamanism was preceded by a
much earlier one: Buddhism. As
discussed, it converted the Bön
deities and was, to a large
measure, successful because it
assimilated and textualised
indigenous folk beliefs and
shamanic practices.
In the cultural-historical process
that archaeologist and Tibetologist
John Vincent Bellezza calls the
‘buddhacisation of the indigenous
pantheon and ritual practices,’
shamanism became devalued,
marginalised, and subordinated to
Buddhism, as reflected in the myth of
Milarepa and the shaman Naro Bön.
With the loss of the nomadic
culture that supported shamanism,
and the religious life of the refugee
camp now centred around the local
Pau Nyima says to ‘remember’ the
deities’ healing gifts, and to ‘take
refuge’ in them; become devoted
to them, pray and meditate for
their guidance and protection,
and likewise to show compassion
and kindness to all beings
monastery, the historical process of Left: Pau
marginalisation has accelerated. Nyima wearing
Thus shamanism plays a decidedly his wing-like,
smaller role than it did, and its rainbow coloured
powerful practices are now ringa headdress,
passing, as the older generation said to be like
who remember the old ways die, the rainbow on
and the younger seeks fulfillment in which Milarepa
other ways. ascended to the
top of mount
Kailash
This article is an edited extract from
‘Tibetan Shamanism: Ecstasy and
Healing’ by Larry Peters.
Read a review of the book in this issue of
Sacred Hoop Magazine.
Dr. Larry Peter is a world-renowned
scholar and initiated shaman in the
Tamang-Nepal
tradition. He was recipient of the Regent’s
Fellowship at the University of California,
Los Angeles, and an NICCHD post-doctoral
fellow at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute.
Dr. Peters holds advanced degrees in both
anthropology and psychology. He has
conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Below: Pau
Nepal, China, Mongolia, and Siberia and is
Karma Wangchuk
a Nepal Research Associate of the
Foundation for Shamanic Studies. He has sitting beside his
published extensively on shamanism, altar, with three
conducted workshops on Tibetan mirrors - large to
shamanism in the United States, Europe, small - on it,
and Asia, and for more than sixteen years
led experiential initiation journeys to Nepal. placed vertically,
www.lpshaman.com representing the
lpshaman@aol.com three worlds
15
 Lotus
Lakes &
Mountain
Gods
A Sacred Journey to Nepal with
Shaman Bhola Nath Banstola

Evelyn C. Rysdyk and

C. Allie Knowlton

Above: Bhola
Nath Banstola
in ceremony
(Photo © Evelyn Rysdyk)

Main photo:
Boudhanath Stupa
Inset: Rudraksha seeds,
strung together to form
a mala (prayer beads)

16 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

Bhola Nath Banstola is a traditional
Nepalese jhankri (shaman) who is
the product of twenty-seven
consecutive generations of
Himalayan healer shamans in his
family. We have been hosting
Bhola’s visits to New England in
the United States for six years, and
over that time we have grown fond
of him as a person, and learned to
trust him as a teacher and healer.
While he had been leading trips
from Europe to Asia for many
years, Bhola hadn’t ever considered
taking a group from North America
as it was too difficult to organise.
Since Bhola divides his time
between Italy and Nepal he would
have had to do the organisational
and promotional work in absentia.
So after some discussion, we
agreed to arrange the states-side
aspects of the trip if he led the
journey in Nepal, and so the first
excursion from North America was
born!
We flew into Kathmandu on
October 14th, 2012, a group of 20
in all. After shuffling through the
airport and obtaining our visas, we
went out to get our luggage, and
once we had our bags in our
hand, we exited the airport
into an enormous bustling
crowd of shouting cab
drivers! Amidst the
chaos, Bhola stood
smiling and waving to us.
We walked over and
were met with hugs and
flower garlands. After
two-days of air travel, it
was good to be out in the
sunlight again and
welcomed so warmly!
Right:
Durga
Insets:
aspects of
the Godddess
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
SHAMANIC ASPECTS OF DURGA
Our visit to Nepal coincided with
the Dashain festival. This is a
fifteen-day festival of which nine
days are dedicated to honoring the
Goddess Durga.
Nepal is a Hindu country, and so
follows much of the religious
calendar of India, however there are
differences. Since Nepal also
retains a strong shamanic culture, it
is possible to see the blending of
older, nature honouring traditions in
the country’s Dashain celebrations.
In addition, the honouring of the
feminine principles of creation,
nurturance and destruction are a
very clear in the shamanic versions
of the rituals.
Each of the nine days of the
festival honor a different
manifestation of Durga, who can be
equated with Mahadevi or Shakti
the Supreme Great Mother
Goddess. Her other manifestations
include Shailputi, Brahmachaarini,
Chandraghantaa, Kushmaandaa,
Skandmaataa, Kaatyaayani,
Kaalaraatri, Mahagauri, and
Siddhidaatri. These different
aspects celebrate
different facets of
Durga’s powers.
We could
certainly see the
shamanic
elements of
Dashain in the first
aspect of Durga,
the Goddess
Shailputri.
Shailputri is considered the goddess
of nature and the daughter of the
Himalayas. Everything on Earth is a
part of Shailputri, she exhorts
humans to maintain balance with
nature and to live in harmony. In her
hands she carries a trident and a
lotus. She and Shiva - who is the
primary deity and first shaman - are
not separate but one being. She
bestows good health.
The second aspect of Durga is
Brahmachaarini who never
deviates from the spiritual path.
She is the spiritual strength of
the shaman that increases
all that is good in the world.
The aspect
Chandraghantaa provides
extreme peace, ultimate
good and reward, which
are the benefits a
shaman receives and
brings to their patients by
working with the helpful
healing spirits.
Kushmaandaa has the
capacity to heal and
eliminate sorrow, and this aspect
may be seen as the role shamans
have as healers through their
relationship with the spirits -
discerning what spiritual energies
need to be released and that which
needs to be increased.
Skandmaataa, who is like the
Sun, bestows divine light on the
earth. She is the radiant protection
shamans attain while inspirited.
Kaatyaayani grants protection
from negativity in the same way
17
 Siddhidaatri grants supernatural
powers. Some believe that Shiva at-
tained his shamanic abilities through
her. She also represents
the shaman’s victory over
negative energies and chaos
that shamans are kept safe
through the protection of their
tutelary spirits and power animals.
Kaalaraatri carries an iron thorn
like a phurba (ritual dagger). She
destroys evil spirits, protects from
wild beasts and removes fear. She
also offers rebirth. This can be
seen as the action performed while
a shaman is doing healing work.
Mahagauri helps to keep the
thoughts of her devotees on the
path of virtue, destroys illusion and
anything that interrupts with the
flow of creation. This represents
the shaman’s task of clearing away
anything that interferes with
harmony and health. This action
allows for primordial balance and
good health to be reborn.
The final aspect of Durga is
Siddhidaatri who grants
supernatural powers. Some believe
that Shiva attained his shamanic
abilities through her. She also
represents fulfillment and success
- the shaman’s victory over
negative energies and chaos.
While the names of these
goddesses seemed foreign, the
energies certainly
felt completely
aligned with the way
we already understood our
shamanic practice.
BEGINNING OUR WORK
We were all staying in Hotel Vajra,
and each day began early when the
neighborhood band would begin
playing. This music was to raise the
spirits of the people and announce
the arrival of the day’s Goddess.
The first morning we visited the
Swayambhunath religious complex,
reached by way of a long stairway
of 365 steps culminating at an
enormous vajra (dorje in Tibetan).
This object symbolises the
incorruptible energy of the
enlightened mind, or the lightning
bolt-like radiance of spiritual
illumination. Standing as it does
above the long stairway, it
represents both the fruit of the
Buddhist path and the treasure of
spiritual wisdom that may be found
on the shaman’s journey.
The next two days we immersed
ourselves in Bhola’s workshop and
he provided each of us with a
shoulder pouch of sacred objects
that we used during ceremonies.
We received a mala (prayer beads)
of rudraksha seeds, drilled and
made into beads, a red cloth

Inset: vajra
(Tibetan: dorje), the
industructable diamond
thunderbolt. It represents the
male principal and is used by
Buddhists in combination with
a bell, which represents
female principals

The temple
complex at
Swayambhunath

18 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

bandana, a quartz crystal, a coin, a
shaligram fossil (ammonite), an
extraction broom (a sanctified
version of small, hand held broom
used in Nepali homes) a plate and
vase for offerings, rice, a candle
and some cotton cloth streamers.
These days of teaching, shamanic
journeys and rituals set the stage
for all that we would experience
during the rest of our visit.
The workshop was held in an
amazing rooftop space at the Hotel
Vajra with 360° views of the
Kathmandu valley. From this
marvelous perch, we had a clear
view of Swayambhunath, the
enormous temple complex that sits
atop a hill. It is believed that this
sacred site created itself. According
to the mythic stories of the region,
the hill stands in the place that was
once a great lotus growing in the
lake that is now the Kathmandu
valley. Once the great lake drained,
the temple sprang from what was
the lotus flower.
A HEALING WITH EGGS
As part of our time we set out to
meet a shaman in Durwakot, a
rural village in the Bhaktapur
district of Nepal. This man was
Hari Bahadur Khadka, who didn’t
begin his shamanic career until he
was fifty-eight years old.
While he began his spiritual
training with his father at the age
of eleven, Mr. Khadka did not
initially pursue a shamanic calling,
instead serving in the military,
becoming a police officer and
working as an administrator for the
Ministry of Finance. It wasn’t until
his father died that the ‘egg
shaman’ of Nepal finally began his
shamanic practice.
He is known all over that country
for his ability as a spiritual healer
and diviner. His form of shamanic
healing was passed down in his
family for several generations. His
method has been proven effective
for a variety of mental and physical
diseases and conditions. He has
helped people suffering from AIDS,
cancer, paralysis, tuberculosis,
infertility and ulcers.
Each of us on the visit brought
him three eggs, three limes and a
half a kilo of rice, along with a small
monetary offering. While the rest of
our group waited in a front parlor,
one person at a time would be
escorted into a hallway to be seated
in a plastic garden chair. The
shaman
would begin
by asking why
we sought
healing, after
which he began
his work. Mr.
Khadka rubbed eggs over our
body very vigorously. While he did
this he would whistle sharp calls to
the spirits.
This shamanic technique with
eggs is different to the limpia
practiced in Latin America, here in
Nepal these eggs didn’t just
function as diagnostic devices, but
rather actually took on the energies
of the spiritual illness present in the tambourine, and at the same time a Above left:
patient’s body. cremation ceremony unfolded shaligram (fossil
Once the eggs were deemed to across the river. A strange mix of ammonite) used
be full, the shaman would forcefully celebration, joy and sadness, the to represent the
crack the eggs on the top of the experience of being there was God Vishnu
head of his patient! Fortunately, moving beyond measure.
rather than raw egg, what came Above: group
out of the shells were long THE LAST OF THE LHAPA altar made dur-
streamers of colored cloth. These The next day we flew to the city of ing Bhola’s work-
streamers were the captured Pokhara. After we had landed, the shop in Hotal
illness. drive to our hotel wound along the Vajra
Once the three eggs had
completed their work, the patient
was asked to take the shells and
streamers and put them into a
flowing stream or river to be taken
away. While releasing the remains,
the patient was told to completely
let go of any thoughts of the illness
to complete the healing.
The next day we visited the
temple Pashupatinath (Lord of the
Animals) who is the guardian deity
of Nepal. This complex of several
sacred sites and temples sits along
the banks of the sacred Bagmati
River. There, we experienced the
religious diversity of Nepal. Hindu
worshippers walked barefoot and
bearing offerings to the temple
dedicated to Shiva, sadhus sat
praying in shady niches, a man
dressed as Hanuman the Monkey
God danced and played the
we experienced the diversity
of Nepal, a man dressed
as Hanuman the Monkey
God danced at the same
time a cremation ceremony
unfolded; a strange mix of
celebration, joy and sadness
 streets until the view began to open
up. We rounded a turn and there
we began to see the Annapurna
range of the Himalayas! We were
able to stop in an area without
obstructions to take pictures and
say prayers to the mountain spirits.
After a while we boarded the bus
again to our hotel, Fishtail Lodge,
situated on a peninsula with the
Fewa Lake on one side and a
forest-covered hill on the other. The
hotel offered spectacular views of
the Himalayas, especially the peak
named Machapuchare or ‘Fishtail,’
which is considered sacred to Shiva.
In the morning we journeyed to
the nearby Tarshi Palkhiel Tibetan
Refugee Settlement, and there we
were able to meet with the last
living Tibetan shaman or lhapa in
Nepal, Pau Nyima Dhondup.
Pau Nyima, now in his early
70’s, was born in the Bungpa,
Kepyand part of Tibet. He practices
a shamanic tradition that has been
passed down through his maternal
bloodline from grandfather to
grandson, or from uncle to nephew.
When Pau Nyima entered puberty,
he was spontaneously chosen by
the spirits to continue his family’s
healing tradition. At that time, the
powerful mountain deity, Nyenchen
Thanglha entered his body and the
young lhapa began having the visual
and auditory initiatory experiences
that signaled his calling.
Unfortunately, this critical time in
Pau Nyima’s initiation occurred
during the period when China was
invading Tibet, and as a result, he
spent the next ten years having
spiritual experiences with no one to
guide him. At the age of twenty-five

20 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

his gift was recognised by the
Buddhist lama, Sakya Trizin Gongma
Rinpoche. The lama recognised that
Nyima was a shaman with the power
of Nyenchen Thanglha, the
mountain spirit. Finally, when Pau
Nyima was in his late twenties, he
was able to apprentice with two
other lhapas.
Like many other Tibetan people,
Nyima was forced to flee his
homeland, and since that time, he has
resided in this settlement on the
outskirts of Pokhara where he
performs healings in his modest home.
When working with his patients,
his first act was to set up his altar
on a small table, and there were
placed three bowls, piled high with
rice. The center bowl represented
Mount Kailash a mountain sacred
to Tibetan Buddhists, Hindus, Bön
practitioners and Nepali shamans
alike, and against this center rice
mound was sat a large melong or
shaman’s mirror.
As the ritual progressed, this
mirror became a great hall, into
which the shaman’s deities arrive.
To facilitate their arrival a dipa
(butter lamp) was lit in front of this
central bowl. The two other bowls
heaped with rice were considered
shrines, and into these miniature
thangkas (paintings) were placed.
These were images of the
protectors and deities who worked
with the lhapa.
Accompanying these bowls, there
were also bowls of water, milk and
tea, as well as an incense burner.
While entering into his
diagnostic trance, the lhapa played
a double headed damaru drum in
his right hand and rang a cone
shaped Bön shang bell in his left.
Once he received the information
about his patient, he donned an
elaborate headdress with wide
rainbow wings on either side, then
he chanted, danced and played the
instruments wildly, until he was
deeply inspirited.
While doing his work, the lhapa
merged with Nyenchen Thanglha
and other spirits, including a fierce
wild canine that bit and sucked out
illness from the patients’ bodies.
During these healings, the
entranced shaman revealed actual
objects to show the patient the
sources of their illness.
The healings are so powerful that
people from around the world have
found their way down the grassy
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
lane to his home to
receive blessings by
his spirits.
Since the
lhapa only works
with ten people at a
time, we had the
opportunity to visit his home
over the course of two days. At
each visit, the entire group
crammed into Pau Nyima’s humble
home to bare witness and support
each person’s healing with their
heart energy. While the lhapa
worked, his brother assisted him
and his daughter provided
language translation for the group.
THE MOTHER SHAMAN
Back in Kathmandu again, we visited
the famous Boudhanath stupa
complex. There, we circumnavigated
the stupa, turned prayer wheel after
prayer wheel, witnessed monks and
nuns in prayer and observed
devotees prostrating themselves or
sitting in sacred spaces reciting
mantras with their prayer beads. It
was in this area we also met the
Tamang shaman Buddhi Maya
Lama, who is better known as Aama
Bombo or ‘Mother Shaman.’
Aama Bombo began life in
Nepal’s North-central hill country.
Aama’s people are the indigenous
inhabitants of the Himalayan regions
of Nepal, and are the largest ethnic
group found there. They are a
Tibeto-Burmese speaking people,
who trace their ancient ancestry to
the Tibetan plateau.
Aama wanted to be a shaman
from as early as five-years-old,
since her beloved father was
famous for his gifts as a shamanic
healer. Unfortunately, traditional
Tamang culture prohibits women
Left: shang a
ritual bell used by Ti-
betan shamans and
practitioners of Bön,
Tibet’s pre-Buddhist
religion
from
practicing
shamanism,
and so her father
discouraged her desire to
follow in his footsteps.
When Aama was sixteen, she
moved with her husband to his
military residence in Kathmandu, Opposite:
and while she was in the city, her Tibetan lhapa
father grew ill. Before she was (shaman) Pau
able to return home her father Nyima Dhondup.
died. This was a terrible blow to He wears a five
her as she lost both her father Dhyani Buddha
and her connections to his spiritual crown which
world. At the age of twenty-five, represents many
Aama suddenly began shaking things, including
uncontrollably, and her family took the elements of
her to the hospital as she was earth, air, fire,
thought to be mentally unstable - water and space.
however soon the convulsions ended. He wears a
A while later, her shaking began melong (mirror)
again and continued, off and on, for around his neck
fourteen months. However, this and holds a sang
time Aama was fortunate to have bell in his one
been taken to a Buddhist lama who hand a large
determined that her problem was doubled headed
spiritual in nature as the lama told damaru drum
her that the spirit of her late father (often called a
was trying to work through her. chod drum when
Aama’s father had died without large like this)
finding a suitable person who could in his other
receive his shamanic power, and (Photos © Larry Peters)
his spirit believed that, in spite of
the Tamang cultural prohibitions, it
was only his daughter Aama who Below: Looking
had a pure enough heart to work across towards
with the power of the gods and his Pokhara and the
other healing spirits. And so, peak of Fishtail
Aama immediately began to work (Machapuchare)
21
 with the spirit of her father, as well We were able to have an encounter with
as the Goddess Kali, the monkey
God Hanuman, and local deities of Mount Everest - Chomolungma in Tibetan -
mountains, water, land and sky, as ‘Goddess Mother of the World,’ and at the roof
well as other spirits from nature.
At first, the transition to this of the world, we each said our prayers
experience was very difficult for
her, as Aama found that it was for all our relations and for
nearly impossible to control the Mother Earth herself
spirits’ power. These spirits would
often strike her patients quite
sharply, and behave in an erratic
manner, which frightened those
who needed healing. Over time,
Aama was able to resolve how she
and her spiritual guides could work
together in a harmonious way.
Since that time, Aama has
continued her work of healing
people. Each morning, she starts
her day with prayers to Shiva, the
deity that is most sacred to
consulted her spirits, and then she women on their left).
Nepalese shamans, and then
cleansed us with a small broom, laid On our foreheads was placed a
proceeds back to her home near
her hands on our heads and body, vermillion tika, which is a mixture
the Boudhanath stupa. There, she
sang softly, and then offered us of rice, yogurt and powdered
sees up to one hundred clients a
water. To sanctify this water for pigment. This tika blesses the
day from all walks of life for
each healing, Aama poured a small wearer with abundance for the
healing, divination and blessing.
amount into a copper cup and used coming year. The red color also
Now seventy-three years old,
a slender knife to stir it while she symbolises the blood ties that unite
Below: The Aama is widely recognised as a
chanted prayers - this had the us all. There could have been no
shaman Aama powerful shaman, healer and
effect of imbuing the water with better way to end our journey to
Bombo in a cere- member of the Council of Thirteen
healing energies. Nepal. We had been filled with so
mony with other Indigenous Grandmothers.
many sights, sounds, healings and
Nepali shamans In her healings, we were seated
THE MOTHER OF THE WORLD other extraordinary experiences on
in Kathmandu in a room filled with beautiful
We had all experienced so many our journey--enough to fill many
(Photo © Larry Peters) thangkas, and each of us in turn,
moving experiences on this more pages. Like a wax seal on a
took a seat in front of her. Aama
journey, and they were all rounded letter, the tika felt like a way to
out with a flight along the eastern hold the many blessings we
range of the Himalayas. received snuggly inside of us.
Flying the aptly named ‘Buddha
Air,’ we were seated in a small Evelyn C. Rysdyk and C. Allie Knowlton
LCSW, DCSW, are teachers of shamanism
plane that afforded us each our
and healers in joint practice as ‘Spirit
own window. Once the mountains Passages,’ their training center for
came into view, no one spoke a advanced experiential shamanism.
word, and at the half-way point in As founding members of ‘True North,’ an
our flight we were able to have a integrated medical center in Falmouth,
Maine, they also collaborate with
close encounter with Mount physicians, nurses, a psychiatrist,
Everest. The mountain is called naturopath and other complementary
Sagarmāthā in Nepali and health practitioners.
Chomolungma in Tibetan, which They are featured in the book ‘Spirited
means ‘Goddess Mother of the Medicine: Shamanism in Contemporary
Healthcare’ (Society for Shamanic
World,’ and there, at the roof of Practitioners, 2013).
the world, we each said our
Evelyn’s latest book, ‘Spirit Walking, A
prayers for all our relations and for Course In Shamanic Power,’
Mother Earth herself. (RedWheel/Weiser, 2013) focuses upon
the pivotal role healthy and vibrant
On the final day of our Nepal relationships play in a shaman’s ability to
be effective in the world.
adventure we had a ceremony of
Bhola Banstola will be teaching in Maine
thanksgiving and celebration. The
on June 8 & 9, 2013. Spirit Passages is
eldest man and eldest woman of also organising another trip to Nepal with
our group blessed us with jamara Bhola for October.
(barley grass) that we had all sewn www.spiritpassages.com
as seeds on our first day in Nepal. Sacred Hoop wishes to thank Larry
This grass was placed above our Peters for the use of the phtos of Aama
ear (men on their right ear and Bombo and Pau Nyima Dhondup.

22 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

 uddhism came to Tibet in the eighth Left: a Lhamo
B century, mostly from India, although
with influences from China, which
in Ladakh per-
forms a healing
received Buddhism from India before it
arrived in Tibet. Before that Tibet had a
rich shamanic tradition, which it shared
with much of Central Asia. This pre-
Buddhist tradition is generally known as
Bön, but Buddhism quickly started to
persecute these pre-Buddhist traditions,
and they have changed over the years to
fit in, so modern Bön now bears little
resemblance to the historic pre-Buddhist
traditions of the region.
However many of these pre-
Buddhist elements are interwoven
within modern Bön and Buddhism,
especially in the oldest schools of
Buddhism known as the ‘Red Hat’
sects, which were established in the
early Buddhist days of Tibet.
Subsequently Buddhism was ‘cleaned
up’ by later reformers who became
known as the ‘Yellow Hat’ sects. The
Dalai Lama is a member of a Yellow
Hat sect.

monastic Tibet was a land of spirits, and it still

is. When Buddhism arrived it brought
with it many of the spirits and gods that
had evolved from the Indian gods of the

authorised Buddha’s homeland, but it also

‘converted’ a great many of the original
Tibetan shamanic spirits, and turned
them Buddhist - in much the same way

shamans that early Christianity took pagan gods

and goddesses (such as Brigid) and
made them into saints.
Many of these ancient spirits were
Below: Wrathful
Tibetan Buddhist
said to have been fought and protector beings.
conquered by Padmasambhava - a These are part of
powerful Indian Buddhist mystic and the retinue of a
magician - who was reported to have more powerful
travelled all over Tibet, fighting the spirit. Many of
ancient spirits and binding them with an these retinue be-
oath to thereafter defend Buddhism. ings were once
The Lhapa These beings are known as dharmapala local shamanic
(chos skyong in Tibetan) which means land or protector
Tradition protectors of the Buddha’s teachings spirits which
(dharma). Buddhism incor-
of Tibet This mix of ancient shamanic porated

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 23


Above: Former traditions and spirits, and the
transformed Indian Gods brought to
Tibetan State Or-
Tibet, make Tibetan Buddhism
acle in full re-
unlike any other form of Buddhism
galia
in the world - and it shares so little
Top right: Ayu with the forms of Buddhism found
Lhamo, a famous in places like Southeast Asia or
village lhamo Japan, that some anthropologists
from Ladakh call it ‘Lamaism’ to distinguish it
from the other forms of Buddhism
found across the world.
One of the most shamanic
elements remaining in Tibetan
culture is the role of oracles. These
are people who are taken over by
spirits to bring messages from the
spirit world, and who give
Below: healings. These may be
Tibetan nationally important figures -
Buddhist bell such as the Dalai Lama’s own
(dril-bu) and oracle, the Nechung (Tibetan
thunderbolt State) Oracle - who is taken over
(dorje). The by a mighty, nationally known spirit
bell represents called Pehar (Dorje Drakden) [see
emptiness - the an interview with the current State
female principal, Oracle in Sacred Hoop Issue 47],
while the or they might be local oracles
dorje serving rural communities,
represents who are taken over by local
form -the protector spirits or land
male spirits, unknown outside
principal of a small geographic
area.
Generally known
as
24
Oracles are people
who are taken over
by spirits to bring
messages. They may
be nationally impor-
tant figures, such as
the Tibetan State
Oracle, or oracles
serving rural com-
munities who are
taken over by local
land spirits
lhapa (male) or lhamo (female) [lha
meaning spirit or god, with pa or mo
added after to denote if it is a man
or a woman], these are Tibet’s
shamans.
Being a lhapa is a serious
business; there is an account of one
monastic oracle who did not respect
the protector spirit who came through
them. The spirit took the oracle over,
and in trance made him disembowel
himself and place his own entrails on
the altar as offerings.
The lhapas of Tibet have not fared
very well since the Chinese invasion,
and although there are some still
within the country itself, many fled to
Nepal, although the tradition there is
in danger of passing away. In other
Himalayan Tibetan cultural lands
outside of Tibet proper - such as
Bhutan, Ladakh, Sikkim and
Mustang - where the Chinese
invasion did not happen - the tradition
can still be found.
Most lhapa are lay people
working in the villages, although a
few are ordained and work in
monasteries. They mostly work in
trance, having been taken over by a
spirit or spirits, and it is these spirits
who are seen to be the ones giving
the information or doing the healing.
In Ladakh the word lus-gyar means
‘a person in trance,’ Ius means body
and gyar means borrowed.
They do not generally enjoy high
status in Tibetan society - with a few
exceptions such as lhapas of high
rank like the Tibetan State oracle - as
Buddhist monks and rinpoches are
seen as being more spiritually potent.
Village lhapas generally work under
the guidance of their local monastery,
and they are examined by monks
when their shamanic talents first
manifest, to see if they are truly a
fledgling lhapa or simply a person
possessed by a harmful spirit.
Monasteries maintain their control
over the lhapas because lhapas enter
into what they consider to be an
uncontrolled, unprescribed Buddhist
trance state, and also because the
spirits that possess them are
considered to rank low in the
Buddhist pantheon - generally
because they are the pre-Buddhist
local nature spirits. Village lhapas also
rank lower than monastery oracles for
the same reasons, as their spirits
rank lower than the monastic oracle
spirits, and village trance practice is
even less controlled than that of
ordained oracle monks.
TOOLS OF THE LHAPA
When practicing, a lhapa wears a
set of ‘god clothes,’ which are
similar to those worn by monks on
special occasions such as funerals.
These clothes represent the
clothes of the Buddhas and high
spirits, and include a ringa (ritual
crown). This headdress is the most
important item of dress and it is put
on last (or second to last as
sometimes a scarf is tied over the
mouth so that the spirit speaking
through its human is not polluted.
This crown represents the
complex Buddhist cosmology; on
the simplest level it represents the
five Buddha families, but it also
represents five types of spirits, the
five elements (air, water, earth, fire
and space) which each Buddha
family are associated with, as well
as the four points of the compass
and the centre, with which they are
also associated; in effect it is
shorthand for a deep, multi level,
incredibly rich map of creation
which holds deep wisdom about
the way aspects of the universe
interrelate and are connected. In a
way it is very similar to the Native
American medicine wheel.
Lhapas also generally wear a
cape and an apron, and often cover
their heads with another scarf
before putting on the ringa crown.
The sacred items a lhapa uses
can be quite extensive, depending
on their specialisation, but they will
normally have close to hand a
double sided damaru drum, which
can vary in size from a few inches to
around a foot across, a Buddhist bell
(dril-bu) or a Bön bell (shang), a
ritual bronze thunderbolt (dorje),
prayer beads (tenga), an metal
extraction pipe for sucking out
poison (puri) and a ritual dagger
(phurba).
BECOMING A LHAPA
Often the role of lhapa runs in a
family, but this is not always the
case. However, it is not uncommon
for a relative of a recently deceased
lhapa to inherit the calling, and this
is explained as the need of a spirit
to find a new vessel to come
through. But as always, even before
a close relative lhapa is recognised,
they will still have to undergo exactly
the same testing as someone from
a non-lhapa family who develops
the symptoms. Men and women
become village lhapas or lhamos in
roughly equal numbers.
The untrained lhapa will be a
person who experiences a violent
loss of control, which in Western
culture we would call an episode of
mental illness. In local terms
however, this means that the
person is ‘weak’ and a spirit can
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
take them over easily.
A diagnosis will be made, either
by an established lhapa or a monk,
and if the diagnosis is that the
affected person is really a fledgling
lhapa, (rather than someone who is
mentally ill), this diagnosis must then
be ratified by a high ranking monk
or rinpoche before it can be
accepted.
As mental illness is
considered to be spirit-caused
anyway, it is essential for the
monastery to determine which spirit
is invading. If it is a hostile and
harmful spirit it will be driven out in
exorcisms, but if it is an appropriate
spirit for a lhapa, they will be
encouraged to learn to control the
spirit and use it for the benefit of the
local community.
However because the
monasteries generally disapprove of
these low local spirits, a validation
from a monastery also invites some
- at best unspoken - disapproval,
and some fledgling lhapas try to get
rid of the invading spirit through
exorcism and give up any possible
lhapa career.
But those who pursue the
calling train with an established
lhapa who acts as their teacher, the
teachings often given in exchange
for substantial sums of money. The
teacher will teach ceremonies,
healing techniques, how to
maintain the shrine to their spirits
and other practical matters, and
the teacher-pupil bond is often very
close and life-long.
Training is also closely connected
with the local monastery, and in
particular with a local rinpoche or
high ranking lama, who
will suggest sacred
Above:
places to visit
Tibetan rit-
on
ual dagger
(phurba)
pilgrimage, and
Buddhist practices to
develop the fledgling lhapas
spiritual muscle.
Below: Tantric
Being a lhapa is most often a
Crown with im-
part-time occupation, a lhapa will
ages of the five
continue to be a farmer or whatever
Buddha familes
trade they had before they received
their calling.
AN ENTRANCING CEREMONY
During the diagnosis of a lhapa,
sometimes established
lhapas and monks will
together perform a
ceremony which
culminates in the creation of a
new oracle. This is often a kind of
‘last hope’ ceremony, when the
fledgling lhapa is suffering greatly
under the effect of the spirits
and often reluctantly agrees to
incorporate them harmoniously,
and so become a lhapa to end
their suffering.
In this ceremony, a room is
prepared and an altar built and ritual
arrows are placed in pots of barley.
Ritual arrows feature quite a lot in
both Buddhist ritual and non-Buddhist
magic in Tibet.
The established lhapa then calls
their spirits to come into them, and Below: Ayu
goes into trance. The fledgling Lhamo performs
lhapa then enters the room and sits a healing on a
opposite the established lhapa. young woman
25
 A plate of barley dough torma
(offering cakes), which had been
ritually made by the monks, is then
thrown. The throwing of torma is
often a part of exorcisms - the
blessed torma are thrown at
invading spirits. After this the
possessed, established lhapa starts
to sing ritual songs encouraging
the fledgling lhapa to become fully
possessed by the spirit. The song
instructs them to pick up all the
items of a lhapa - which are laid
out before them -
“If you are a true spirit,
take your lhapa’s clothes.
If you are a true spirit,
cover your mouth with a scarf.
If you are a true spirit,
take up this drum and bell.”
The song mentions every article
of the ritual dress and equipment,
and as the fledgling becomes fully
possessed, a second song is sung
which asks the invading spirit to
come fully into their midst and
speak through the fledgling lhapa
“Please, don't stay
at the top of the mountain,
come here to the people.
come fully into this person
and speak to us.”
Then sometimes monks begin to
play a game of ritual dice, while the
spirit possessing the conducting
lhapa sings a song from an ancient
epic tale about King Gesar, a first-
shaman figure who travelled through
the worlds of gods, spirits and
humans at the dawn of human time.
Below: Pouring Lhapas often make claims of
strong black tea kinship with Gesar, and some
into a serkyem construct detailed genealogies that
as an offering to reach right back to him.
the wrathful The song tells a part of the epic
protector spirits where Gesar plays dice with a dwarf.
26 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
Gesar has learned that his wife has
been captured by the enemy who are
invading his country. Rushing home
to rescue her he meets the dwarf and
they play dice; the song describes
the game. Gesar starts badly and
loses everything - kingdom, wife and
horse; then his guardian spirit tells
him to gamble his ribs and Gesar
wins the throw. The dwarf is so
terrified at the thought of losing his
ribs that he promises great help to
Gesar. The game in the ceremony is
played until Gesar wins.
Next, two special offerings are
given to the spirits. One is a small
black doll representing a girl, and
the other is a small white doll
representing a boy. These type of
offerings, called lud, are often
substitutes for a sick person, and
are given to the spirits causing
illness as a kind of ransom during
healing ceremonies.
The fledgling lhapa is then
asked to speak and declare
themselves and their intention.
The spirit possessing the
established lhapa then challenges it
and asks if the spirit possessing the
fledgling lhapa is willing to be
taught by them - yes or no!
If they say “no” or say nothing at
all, they are banished from the
fledgling lhapa and the reasons for
the failure and any remedies
needed are given by the officiating
lhapas possessing spirit.
If the fledgling lhapa’s spirit says
“yes” they are told that they must
help all living beings and follow the
advice of the high lamas.
Then the officiating established
lhapa’s spirit sings more songs,
challenging the fledgling lhapa’s
spirit to answer questions about the
spirit world and the spirits who live in
it. This is where the ritual arrows are
used, as they represent these
different spirits, and are used to
demonstrate that the fledgling
lhapa’s spirit knows the correct
cosmology.
Eventually the last arrow - a black
one - is picked up by the fledgling
lhapa and broken. This broken arrow,
representing evil, is then thrown
outside to a chorus of “tha gyallo”
(victory to the gods). Then further
questions and instruction is given
and eventually both the officiating
lhapa and the fledgling lhapa bless all
those present and come out of
trance. After the trance, consecrated
dough torma offerings are given to
every house in the village and special
offerings to wrathful spirits called
‘golden drinks' (black tea or barley
beer poured into a special offering
vessel called a serkyem until it
overflows) are made.
THE LHAPA CAREER PATH
Village lhapas generally remain
suspect, not only to the monastic
authorities but also often to the
local people. But if they serve the
local people well, then over time
their reputations get better.
Their reputation also depends
upon close links with the local
monastery, which not only provide a
public validation of their authenticity,
but also gives a deeper training in
Buddhism. Some lhapas will spend
half their days in meditation and
prayer, and go on long pilgrimages
each year. Some, if they can afford
it, also give donations or gifts to
their local monasteries.
With this steady focus on their
reputations, over time, they are
seen less and less as an
incarnation of demonic low spirits,
who might even be enemies of the
Buddhas, and instead increasingly
become seen as incarnations of
the higher spirits.
Well respected lhapas can also
acquire more spirits who can begin
to use them as vessels as more
Buddhist teachings are learned. If
these are not merely local land
spirits, but instead are monastery
spirits, known to defend Buddhism
and be essential parts of Buddhist
teaching, the lhapas status
increases considerably.
Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism,
has often had a troublesome
relationship with shamanism. In
Mongolia, where it eventually
spread, it experienced much conflict
with the local shamans, although it
never managed to subjugate them
as fully as it did in Tibet.
Many ancient shamanic spirits
are now hidden within Buddhism,
incorporated into it and the same
spirits are still worked with by
shamans in Mongolia and up into
Southern Siberia - sometimes with
a mix of both Buddhist and
shamanic elements in the ritual,
with even both Buddhist lamas and
shamans taking part in them.
Although heavily controlled by
Buddhism, it would seem - as in
Christianised Europe - the ancient
spirits will have their voice, and
nothing can stop them.
 a visit to
the Lhamo
A personal healing encounter
with a Tibetan shaman in Lhadak
Charles Burack
We first heard her name when we
were staying in a small town in the
foothills of the Himalayas. We had
come to hike and climb and enjoy
the beautiful mountain air and
scenery, and Manali was a natural
stopping point on our journey from
Daramsala to Leh. Leh, perched at
11,550 feet above sea level in the
upper Indus River valley, is the
principal city of Ladakh, a region in
Jammu and Kashmir, India’s
northernmost state.
Many people call Lhadak ‘Little
Tibet’ because the majority of its
population are Tibetan Buddhists.
Our trip was occasioned by our
forthcoming wedding and was
meant to be a kind of premarital
honeymoon to deepen our
connection and celebrate our
commitment.
In Manali’s main market Mary
Ann found a tailor to alter some
dresses she’d purchased, and
when she told the friendly tailor that
we were on our way to Ladakh the
woman replied, “You must meet my
mother, Sonam Zangmo Kuldan.
She lives in Leh and is a famous
lhamo: you go meet her and tell her
I sent you. I will write her name and
address on my card.” Mary Ann
took the card and thanked her,
promising we’d look up her mother.
I was excited by the idea of
meeting her and perhaps getting a
healing from a Ladakhi lhamo. For
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
many years I’d had pain and
swelling in the right side of my
abdomen. After several tests,
doctors still didn’t know what was
wrong with me, and while medicines
provided some relief, they offered
no permanent cure. Perhaps a
lhamo would have better healing
‘karma’! Besides, It would be a real
adventure to experience a Buddhist
shaman!
THE ROAD TO LEH
The two-day jeep journey was long
and hard, but breathtakingly
beautiful. Younger, sturdier travellers
opt to do the trip in nineteen straight
hours of driving, but we thought it
best to do the more humane two-day
version that included an overnight
stay at a campground high in the of the cliff, and somehow two Top of page: the
mountains. vehicles would manage to pass one 17,582 feet above
Our jeep was driven by an intrepid another - by the breadth of a few sea level Taglang
and skilled driver who sometimes hairs! Not all vehicles were so lucky: La pass boasts
sped and sometimes crawled along we saw several trucks that had gone the highest
the one-lane road that wound off the road and plummeted public toilets
through some of the tallest and most thousands of feet to their demise. in the world
majestic mountains in the world. The Not only were our lives in constant
road is only open for three months of danger, but our bodies were also Inset: the lhamo
the year; the rest of the time it is subject to the painful, incessant ups at her altar
buried under deep snow and lashed and downs of the bumpiest road
by freezing winds. we’d ever experienced. I felt like a
As he approached every turn, our big sack of corn continually bouncing
driver honked his high-pitched horn on the not-well-cushioned seat.
to let oncoming traffic know he was Several timesI told myself, “Just be a
coming. Whenever there was traffic, sack of corn and surrender!”
we would swerve to the left edge of On our first night we stayed in a
the road, which was also the edge big tent in Sarchu, a mountain town
27
More than a dozen people were
sitting on the floor and on chairs
arranged around the room. Each
person was waiting his or her turn
to be treated by the lhamo
14,000 feet above sea level. When
we arrived after sunset, the camp
grounds were lit only by the light of
the stars. It was so cold that we
decided to sleep in our clothes
under the three layers of quilts that
were provided. Once under the
quilts, however, we were still teeth-
chattering cold, so we happily took
the old fashioned hot water bottles
that were offered to us. The next
morning we emerged to discover
we were surrounded by still-dark
mountain peaks. As the sun slowly
brightened the sky, it turned them
redbrown and caused the highest
snow-streaked peaks to glisten.
After a quick breakfast we
climbed back into our jeep and soon
crossed the border into the state of
Jammu and Kasmir. Midday we
began ascending the steep,
treacherous road to Taglang La,
17,582 feet above sea level, the
second highest road pass in the
world. At the apex of the pass was a
small Buddhist temple that looked
like a stone tent with supporting
Below: the pillars. Attached to the temple were
lhamo begins ropes that carried prayer flags which
to treat a local flapped wildly in the cold wind.
man who has Though the area boasted the
listed his shirt highest toilets in the world, we opted
up to reveal to go ‘the natural way,’ behind a
his stomach huge boulder, and then hopped back
28 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
in the jeep. Despite the beauty of the
landscape all along the way, it was a
relief to finally arrive in Leh in the late
afternoon.
A MEETING WITH THE LHAMO
During our first few days in Leh we
visited beautiful monasteries and
palaces, and were impressed by the
wonderful golden Buddhas, colourful
carpets and tapestries, and intricate
thangka paintings. We also attended
meditations and talks at one of the
main Buddhist temples.
On Friday morning we were
ready to seek out the lhamo. A
twenty-minute taxi ride brought us to
Sabu Chobabas, a sparsely
populated village with small stone
dwellings scattered over a rocky
area, abutting the mountains. During
the drive Mary Ann said she didn’t
need a physical healing herself but
wanted to ask about the
auspiciousness of our wedding date.
The driver dropped us off and we
walked through the cluster of
buildings to the house of Sonam
Zangmo Kuldan. The simple stone
house was situated right up against
the mountain, and as we entered the
hallway, a young Buddhist nun - who
spoke some English - led us into the
room where a healing session was
already in progress.
In the crowded room Sonam was
sitting on the floor next to a small
altar and chanting in a raspy,
haunting voice. Her eyes were
closed, and there was a great energy
in her voice and bodily movements.
Intuitively, I sensed she was ‘the real
thing’ - a woman with intense
spiritual and healing power. I was
both excited and nervous. I knew I
was stepping into the potent and
unpredictable realm of the numinous.
An old man, perhaps Sonam’s
husband, was assisting her; near him
incense was burning in large charcoal
burners, filling the rooms with its
woody aroma.
Sonam was a short thin woman
with brown, worn skin. She
appeared to be in her seventies and
was wearing a poncho-like
ceremonial dress. When she opened
her eyes, I saw they were small,
bright and intense. More than a
dozen people - mostly Ladakhi
women and children - were sitting
on carpets and cushions on the floor
and on chairs arranged around the
edge of the room. Each person
waiting for their turn to be treated.
Also present were a few Europeans.
I came to this session knowing
almost nothing about what would
take place. Though I had a general
knowledge of shamanism, I wasn’t
familiar with Tibetan shamans.
Recently, I’d read a brief
description of lhamos and their
practices and learned that at the
beginning of the process, either
before or after their patients arrive,
lhamos enter a trance. Sometimes,
they splash water on their face and
then position themselves in front of
the altar. Next they pray and chant,
ring a bell and sound a drum. They
may even roar, or wildly laugh, or
hiccup, or make other strange
sounds. Eventually, they drop their
instruments and put on their
ceremonial dress. I was sorry we’d
missed Sonam going into trance - it
must have been an awesome
experience to witness a deity enter
her. Much later - after returning to
America and researching Sonan’s life -
I discovered that she had gone through
extensive training to become a lhamo
and had been a lhamo herself for over
fifty years, beginning at age twenty
five. Her mother and grandmother
were also lhamos.
At the start of each session
most of Sonam’s patients handed
her a white khatag prayer scarf, and
then bowed and made a prayerful
gesture with their hands. She then
took the khatag and set it aside and
worked with one patient at a time for
a few minutes each.
A HEALING FROM THE LHAMO
Soon Mary Ann and I were called up
to see Sonam. The nun gave me a
khatag to hand to her and acted as
our translator. Mary Ann asked her for
advice on creating a happy and
harmonious marriage - our wedding
day was just three months away - and
I asked for a healing of my abdomen.
Upon hearing our requests Sonam
said that our wedding date was a
good time for us to marry, and that
we would have a good marriage.
I described to Sonam the
persistent pain in my abdomen and
she told me I should see an amchi
(traditional Tibetan doctor) because I
had a physical problem different
from what she usually sees. For a
moment I thought she was going to
dismiss me, but then she indicated
she would treat me.
Sonam gestured me to sit in
front of her. Then she put her face
very near my abdomen and began
sucking the harmful energy out of
my groin and spitting some kind of
noxious liquid into a copper bowl.
With great intensity and gravity she
repeated this sucking and spitting
motion several times and then asked
me to put my head over the incense
bowl. She touched my head with her
hand and tapped my upper back and
shoulders with a chisel-like device
that was wrapped with string. When
treating other patients, she’d torn off
a piece of this string and tied it
around one or more of their fingers.
Next she blew air, again with great
intensity, onto my belly and legs.
As soon as she finished doing
this she addressed the entire group
and asked everyone but me to leave
the room. I was surprised, and a
little alarmed by this request, since
everyone had been present for the
other healings we’d witnessed. I
wondered what she was going to do
that required complete privacy.
The room cleared out, and just
Sonam, myself and her assistant
remained. She gestured to me to
take off my trousers. Though a
little apprehensive, I complied. She
then took a ritual dagger that had
been heated on the stove and
placed it on her tongue and started
blowing the steam of her saliva
onto my abdomen. My anxiety
immediately transformed to awe!
She lifted my underwear a little to
blow some of the steam closer to
the region where I experienced the
most pain, on the right side of the
pubis, and then gestured to me to
put on my trousers. Once I was
dressed, the other people were
brought back into the room. A long
period of praying and chanting now
began, accompanied by bell ringing
and drumming.
At the close of the healing
session Sonam gave Mary Ann and
me little strings to wear: a red main
string attached to a short purple
string. She explained that these
strings had special healing energies
in them. She also gave us a small
portion of rice to boil and drink and
said the beverage would be healing
and strengthening.
Then Sonam said, “Your marriage
will be good in this lifetime and in
the next life time!” Mary Ann and I
beamed with delight!
Sonam treated a few more
individuals and then concluded her
work for the morning. After the last
healing session she bent over and
hit her back a few times and brought
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
the spirit speaks
through the
lhamo, while an-
other lhamo sits
sits by her
herself out of the trance. for partaking in such a powerful and
Immediately she became a different awesome process. Then Mary Ann
person: a warm, friendly, hospitable suddenly became quiet, looked
woman, even mild mannered and a straight into my eyes, and said, “But
little shy. Sonam was only partly right in her Charles Burack Ph.D.
is an award-winning
divination.” professor, scholar
REFLECTIONS ON THE HEALING I looked at her quizzically, and poet as well as
Though at times I felt a little wondering what she meant. Her a spiritual counselor
apprehensive during the healing, I tone seemed exaggeratedly serious. and creativity coach.
He teaches courses in
remained in a prayerful, meditative Was she joking? psychology, spirituality,
state throughout the session. The “She said our marriage will be literature and creativity
combination of chanting, drumming good in this life.” Her voice was now and specialises in con-
and bell ringing had a hypnotic effect tinged with disappointment. templative and creative
approaches
and added to my own internally “Yes” I said, still puzzled. Why to higher education
initiated meditation and prayer. was she disappointed? I searched at John F. Kennedy
Indeed, being present for the healing her eyes for a clue and detected a University California.
of others not only gave me a chance little twinkle behind the apparent He also teaches at
UC Berkeley, and the
to witness their sometimes seriousness. California Institute
miraculous healings, but also gave “Well, the truth is,” she exclaimed of Integral Studies.
me time to take in the healing exuberantly, her face now filling with He is widely published
writer, and the author
effects of the entire process. light and merriment, “our marriage of two books and many
Overall, the session had a dramatic will be good for the next seven lives!” articles, stories and
healing and uplifting effect. It was “Seven lives? Oh, yes, of course, poems.
also specifically helpful to my seven! So may it be!” I said, smiling. cburack@jfku.edu
abdominal problem.
I often felt confused because I
At the end
didn’t understand what was being
of the healing
said, but while my mind was
the lhamo
confused, my heart seemed in near
comes out
constant alignment with what was
of trance an
taking place.
is a norma
Throughout the session Sonam
person again
was rather direct with me, motioning
to me where and how to sit or kneel in
front of her and when to return to my
seat by the wall. Though I wasn’t
always clear how to position myself or
when to go back, it all worked out.
A man from Luxemburg who
spoke some English and Ladakhi
occasionally supplemented the nun’s
sparse translations. I wished she had
translated more of what Sonam had
said to me, but I assumed she’d
transmitted the essence.
In the taxi back to our lodgings,
we talked about our experience and
shared how deeply grateful we felt
29
 THE
SOARING
of the
great
GARUDA
Yeshe Green

30 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

In learning about Garuda, it is
immediately apparent just how
many forms there are of this
mighty being. From the Garuda
of Hindu mythology, to the
Khyung of Tibet, the Garid of
Mongolia and the Karura of
Japan, Garuda can be found in
many places and under many
names, with different origins.
What these cultures share is
the belief in a deity - a powerful
entity - who is part man, part
bird of prey. Usually, Garuda is
depicted with a man’s head
(beaked), torso, arms and legs.
Other forms have a bird’s legs,
head and horns, with talons as
feet, and a man’s torso and
arms. The number of heads and
limbs varies in different cultures,
and for different purposes.
My main focus will be on the
Khyung, the largely Himalayan
form, known to man since at least
since the ancient Shang Shung
civilisation. Indeed, the
Shang Shung
capital city was
called Khyunglung meaning
the ‘Silver Palace of Garuda 1.’
Khyung (pronounced
‘Chung’) is the essence
of the element Fire,
although sometimes also
thought of as the
essence of Air, as he is
also so powerful that a
beat of his wings can
cause hurricanes and
storms to rage, and
manifest lightning and thunder,
forces of immense power.
He is supposedly the ‘enemy’
of serpents, the ‘Naga’ spirits in
particular, but it is actually more
accurate to say that some
Nagas cause illness that can be
cured by Garuda. Indeed, in
India, the village healer who
helps those bitten by snakes is
called a ‘Garudika’.
For me, Khyung has always
been there, although as a child I
had no idea why. He protected
me often, and I began to be able
to see the visions of his battle
against harmful spirits and
energies with clarity.
Left: Mongolian ritual Garuda Tsam dancers mask. Painted
papier-mâché with padded cloth snakes. C19th
Above: gilded wooden Garuda carving. C19th
Right: two Tibetan thangka scroll paintings of Garuda
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
I suffered a severe illness in
India - Dengue Fever was
diagnosed. In a way I do not
understand, I emerged from it
having developed an even more
powerful bond, a unity with the
Khyung form of Garuda. On
another occasion abroad, a fer-de-
lance snake was somehow unable
to poison me as it struck me a
glancing blow. Harmful spirits are
sent at times by others with
spiritual power who wish me ill, but
Garuda has never failed me.
I had a more formal
introduction to shamanism and
Garuda rituals through a
Buddhist monk from a Tibetan
nomadic family. Much later, great
Tibetan masters such as
Dzogchen Rinpoche and
Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche have
‘transmitted’ [given] practices to
me, for which I am forever
grateful.
HEALING THROUGH GARUDA
I’ll try to explain, from my own
experience, just how Khyung
works with practitioners.
Different Garudas may be
chosen for specific illnesses.
Black Garuda is useful for
combating viruses and fevers,
Red for cancer and so on. Other
colours include Blue, White and
‘Rainbow’ Multi-coloured Garuda.
Most rituals require initiation and
practice to be effective.
In forming a protective area
within which to work, I may also
place Garudas to guard the four
Directions: Jewel Garuda (gold,
31
Right: bronze south), Lotus Garuda (red, west),
statue of Karma Garuda (green, north) and
Garuda, dancing Vajra Garuda (blue, east).
and holding a When I perform healing, my
ritual phurba rituals are largely based on
dagger in his traditional Tibetan forms, and so
right hand. may include the use of the small
Nepla C20th ‘damaru’ drum, and more often will
use the ‘ghanta’ bell. Other core
Below: gilt implements I use are also from that
copper figure region, particularly the bronze
of Ratna Garuda shamanic melong mirror (known as a
(Jewel Garuda) toli in Mongolia) and the phurba
Mongolian C1700. (called a kila in India), which is a
Sold recently at ritual spike or dagger.
Sotherby’s for Most commonly, Garuda
$121,000 USD manifests as my helper, or takes over
I had no choice in Garuda’s presence
in my life, no choice in the way this being
has guided and protected me, shared energy
and power with me, and enabled me to help
others. I would have it no other way!
my very being, as I transform into
him. Sometimes both of these
happen together, as the main Garuda
can be accompanied by an infinite
number of other Garudas in support.
When the transformation into
Garuda takes me over, whether in
healing or shamanic journeying to
other realms, it does not leave my
mind blank. Far from it, it is very
lucid and I am always aware of the
awesome power of that being, as
our combined spirits soar together.
This is not a transformation
process which needs a long time. It
is pretty instantaneous, but is then
followed by reciting mantra, and
using the drum and bell, and other
ritual acts which guide me in
performing the healing, or deal with
the harmful energies 2.
In the gentlest activity a specific
illness will be treated by myself,
having become Garuda. Then,
chanting mantra in trance, I send
fire to burn away the damage to a
part of the body, or the mind. The
fire may be in the form of flames or
sparks, or even Tibetan mantra
letters, appearing like molten iron.
To give an example, Blue Garuda
has over 100 such mantras, each
specific to a particular illness.
My Garuda practices may be
from a shamanic teacher, from
Buddhism or from the ancient Bön
religion, which has origins in the
ancient Shang Shung era.
Bön is sometimes called the
original ancient religion of Tibet, and
contains many shamanic practices
and rituals, some of which have
been assimilated into the Vajrayana
‘Tibetan’ form of Buddhism.
If a harmful spirit is causing a
problem, as Garuda I will often use
the melong or the phurba to
redirect them, to repel them, or
most commonly to trap them. With
the melong, the entrapment
involves the spirit entering a portal
to be held ‘in limbo’. Using the
phurba involves pinning down the
spirit, staking them to the ground
so they can no longer act with ill
intent. In both cases, those spirits
which are able to be released are
freed at a crossroads.
There are also practices relating
to the phurba which involve the
making and ritual stabbing of
effigies of harmful beings. It is easy
to imagine how this may be used
maliciously - to harm someone’s
enemies - and such rituals are
generally only given to those
unlikely to misuse them.

There is a Tibetan process

known as phowa (the transference
of consciousness) which I perform.
It calls the spirit of the recently
deceased person to attend and
then guides them to rebirth in
another realm.
This ritual involves using
physical fire to remove the person’s
kharmic defilements, which are
made to enter a quantity of sesame
seeds - shaped in the form of a
scorpion - and burned whilst
mantras are chanted.

32 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

 At the end of the phowa ritual,
to remove their physical presence
and release them, the deceased
person’s name flag, and other
specific items, are also burned.
Garuda can help in this by acting
as go-between, not just between
upper, middle and lower worlds, but
with any of the many realms of
existence - according to Tibetan
cosmology - in those planes. Garuda
may transport me, and may also call
other deities, protectors and spirits to
work with us. The term ‘psychopomp’
is close enough to describe phowa in
a more familiar term.

You will sometimes see Garuda

with a lower body like a phurba
spike – this form is often called
Khyung Kilaya – a being with the
combined powers of both Garuda
and the spirit of the Phurba,
called Vajrakilaya, who is
considered as another hugely
powerful major deity in
Tibetan Buddhism, in Tibetan
Bön, and in India.
Looking back, I had no
choice in Garuda’s presence in
my life, no choice in the way
this being has guided and
protected me, shared energy and
power with me, and enabled me to
help others. I would have it no
other way!
If Garuda should appear to you,
it will always be to help and support
your practice – a blessing beyond
description with the gift of the
power of fire.

NOTES
1: Shang Shung (Zhangzhung) was a vast
civilisation, of which pre-Buddhist Tibet was
only a part, and was the origin of much of
the shamanic practice in that region.
2: Transformation [shape shifting] in
Buddhist practices is often a relatively
slow process, where the practioner has to
imagine every detail of Garuda’s body, his
surroundings etc., and chanting
sometimes lengthy texts. Shamanic
transformation - and a form of Tibetan
tantric practice called ‘Anuyoga’ - is an
instant transformation. It is not so much
changing into another being as merging
with their consciousness, sharing the
‘essence’ of their power.

Yeshe Green (AKA Fyre Mantrik) has

worked as an holistic therapist in the UK,
using not only shamanic healing but also
combining techniques from India and
Japan. He has also worked as a freelance
writer, a senior manager in colleges and
as a martial arts instructor. Now retired, he
still performs remote healing occasionally
and enjoys a quiet country life in a village
in Wiltshire, England.

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 33

 Tyger - Tyger
Tigers in the
Buddhist and Shamanic Traditions of Tibet
Nicholas Breeze Wood
Above: painted
tiger on the lid
of a trunk
Inset: Tibetan
T igers are powerful animals, and
a symbol important to many
cultures where tigers have lived,
or are still living. Historically they
ranged over vast areas of Asia -
tiger amulet
right from the very south, up to the
north of the continent - and in this
Below: Tibetan wide spread there are a number of
tiger dancer sub-species of this mighty cat.
These sub-species include: the
Siberian or Amur Tiger, which lives
in Northern China and South
Eastern Siberia; the Bengal Tiger,
which lives in India, Nepal,
Bangladesh and Bhutan; the Indo-
Chinese Tiger, which lives in
Cambodia, South West China,
Laos, Burma, Thailand, and
Vietnam; the Malayan Tiger, which
lives in the southern part of the
Malay Peninsula; the South China
Tiger, which lives in Southern
China, and which may now be
extinct; and the Sumatran Tiger,
which only lives on the island of
Sumatra.
In addition to these living sub-
species of tiger, there are three other
recently extinct sub-species: the Bali
Tiger, from the island of Bali - which
became extinct in the late 1930’s;
the Javan Tiger, from the island of
Java - which became exstinct in the
1970’s’, and the Caspian Tiger. It is
the Caspian Tiger which lived over
the widest range - from Southern
Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey
and Syria in the West, through all
the countries of Central Asian,
such as Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and
Afghanistan, and across to
Turkmenistan, Mongolia and
Western China.
This tiger was last seen in the
1970’s in Central Asia, and now is
presumed extinct, although even
nowadays there are occasional
sightings of tigers reported in
remote parts of eastern Turkey -
none of which have been confirmed
- however, we live in hope.
It is likely that this tiger was also
native to Northern Tibet, close to
the Central Asian deserts, but no
physical remains of it have been
found there to confirm this.
The Caspian tiger is most likely
to be your ‘ancestral tiger’ if you
are of white European stock, as
many of our ancestors came from

34 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org


the
Middle
East, from
around Turkey,
Iran and Iraq, and your ancestors
would therefore, almost certainly,
have encountered tigers at some
point in the past.
In the South of Tibet the Bengal
Tiger can be still be found, in very
small - but happily, growing
numbers - in the high Himalayas
which border their homelands of
India and Nepal.
Tigers are the very stuff of
legends in Tibet. Their skins are an
essential part of the costume of
the wrathful Tibetan spirit beings,
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
furniture as both decoration and as Left: front and
sacred protectors. Tiger bones and back view of
skins have been used to make a C19th Tibetan
ritual objects, as well as having a leather quiver,
long and dubious use in traditional painted to
Chinese and Tibetan medicine. represent tiger
In Tibetan Buddhist folklore, a skin rather than
tiger bone is believed to bring the actually being
rain when it is thrown into a pool or made out of
well in which nagas dwell, and a tiger skin
tiger claw is believed to be an
extremely potent amulet for the
generation of personal power.
Brass and bronze amulets of
tigers are worn for personal
protection and empowerment;
tiger skins are kept in temples as Below left:
offerings to wrathful protector a Tibetan
spirits; high ranking lamas, protector spirit
rinpoches and tantric magicians sit with the body of
upon them in rituals, and nomads - a serpent-like
when they can - often wear tiger or naga with a
leopard fur trims on their clothes. tiger’s head,
All in all, tigers are deeply riding upon the
connected to many aspects of Tibetan back of a tiger
ritual and secular life, probably more
than any other animal.
The tiger is one of the guardian Below:
spirits of the four directions a Tibetan dancer
according to Tibetan cosmology, wearing clothes
and their fierceness has often meant decorated with
they are associated with warriorship. leopard skin
Warriors were sometimes described instead of tiger
who are depicted in thangka
paintings. Many of these Buddhist
and Bon - the original pre-
Buddhist shamanic traditions of
Tibet - beings also ride upon the
backs of tigers. Tigers are painted
on temple and domestic walls and
35
Right: a thangka as ‘conquering male tigers in their
painting of prime’ - skyes-pa stak-’gugs - and
Padmasambhava the proud swagger of a warrior,
riding on a tiger known as the ‘tiger’s gait’ - stak-
who is actually his ’gros - was later adopted as a sort
consort Yeshe of dance step used in wrathful
Tsogyal. rituals. Warriors often used a
The pair are quiver of arrows made of tiger
travelling to skin, a coat trimmed with tiger fur
Taktsang in Bhutan was awarded to brave warriors -
to subjugate a who were called ‘tiger-dress
local demoness. hero’ - dpa’-bo tak-chas; and in
Once there, both ancient Buddhist and Bon
Padmasambhava traditions, tiger fur was seen an
vanquished the insignia of distinction for
demoness, and powerful magicans and yogis.
then entered a
retreat in the cave Wrathful Tibetan deities
generally wear a loincloth
made of a flayed tiger skin, Tigers also appear as other people kept goats, sheep and
Inset top: an and the same can be said spirit helpers for some dogs. They were also said to have
antique copper for both mountain spirits, Tibetan shamans, and been able to shape-shift into these
Tibetan protection and the male dakas - the according to Tibetan animals when needed, in order to
amulet in the form spirits of the Earth. tradition, perform magical acts.
of a snow leopard Many Tibetan deities - people and Padmasambhava, the C8th
especially the wrathful protectors deities often tantric magician who is credited
- have large entourages, which have what they with bringing Buddhism to Tibet, is
are made up of other spirits. call ‘soul-force said to have ridden on the back of
These will often include either animals’ - which a tiger - and in some accounts this
tigers, or half-human, half-tiger we might call ‘spirit tiger was his consort, Yeshe
beings, generally with a human-like animal helpers’ - which Tsogyal, who had shape-shifted in
body and a tiger’s head. serve as protectors. Tigers are seen order to carry him.
In Tibetan symbolism, the tiger's as important and powerful spirit There are also ancient stories
phallic-like stripes, means that they animals to have, and the tiger spirit from the region about a divine
often represent maleness, whereas helper of a shaman is said to be couple who shape-shifted into
the spots of a leopard, which able to assist in healing a wide tigers, so as to mate and conceive
Inset bottom: resemble vaginas, often represent range of illness and problems, a powerful king, or clan leader.
‘tiger tooth’ dZi femaleness. This is why tiger skins afflicting both humans and livestock. The warrior leaders of clans were
stone bead amulet are worn more by wrathful male sometimes said to appear as
beings, and leopard skins are worn Ledgendary, historic, tantric tigers, which gave rise to several
more by the female dakinis - practitioners, magicians and ancient Tibetan clans having
female sprites or fairies found in shamans were supposed to have totemic tigers as their symbols.
Tibetan cosmology, or by wrathful kept animals such as tigers and The Buddhist victory banner - rgyal
Right: a thangka
goddesses. leopards, in the same way that mtshan - is sometimes made from,
painting of a
or decorated with, a tiger skin, or
Mongol leading
cloth that represents a tiger skin.
a tiger.
The ‘divine tiger’ is also still
This is a painting
called upon by shamans and lamas
with two meanings.
to attract good luck to people who
The first
have suffered misfortune,
interpretation
sometimes an actual tiger’s skin
represents three
being used in the rituals.
important
Bodhisattvas. Amulets of tigers - in some form
Its second meaning or another - are very popular. These
is more political, may be made from metal, but are
as it symbolises the also found in the form of dZi stones
supremacy of the which represent tiger teeth. These
yellow-hatted stone beads are made out of agate,
Gelugpa school which has been marked by chemical
(represented by methods to create patterns. They
the Mongol) over are very ancient beads, with a
the older 'red- history stretching around 3,000
hatted' schools, years, and
represented ‘true dZi’
by the tiger (old ones)

36 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

are very rare, and highly valuable,
selling for as much as a million US
dollars each. Modern dZi beads are
far cheaper, and made of the same
material, with the old patterns.
Amber is associated in Tibet with
tigers too. Historically amber was
obtained from either the Baltic -
traded on protracted routes across
Europe and Asia - or from Yunnan
province in 'China. Its Chinese
name is hu p'o, which means
'tiger's spirit', and this name comes
from a belief that the spirit of a
dead tiger enters the ground and
transforms itself into amber.
There are many places in and
around Tibet that take their names
from tigers. The most famous of
these is Tiger’s Nest - Taktsang - in
Bhutan, to which British Royals
recently made a visit. Taktsang is a
small monastery, perched
precariously upon a ledge on high
cliffs, and it gets its name from a
legend that Padmasambhava flew
there on the back of a tiger to enter
a retreat in a cave there. The
monastery is built over this cave,
and the cave is still used for
retreats.
Other tiger places in Tibet include
Tiger God Fortress - Tak-lha mkhar -
an ancient fortress said to pre-date
Buddhism, once part of the Central
Asian, pre-Buddhist shamanic
superstate, called Zhang Zhung - of
which Tibet was a province. There is a
sacred gorge, complete with geysers,
called Tak rong, which is associated
with the ancient Bon tradition, and
there are several Tiger Valleys and at
least one Tiger Mountain, the
powerful spirit of which comes into
the bodies of local shamans when
they go into trance.
Within Central and Northern
Tibet, ancient rock art depicting
tigers can be found. These tend to
date to between about 600-
100BCE, so are only some 2,500
years old.
Some of the very oldest Tibetan
texts mention ritual musical
instruments made from tiger
remains. The tiger skin would have
been used to make drums, and
some shamans in Nepal - even
until quite recent times - used tiger
skin for this purpose.
Tiger bones would have been
made into ritual trumpets called
taklings, which are similar to the
Tibetan human thighbone trumpets,
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
Left: Taktsang -
Tiger’s Nest -
Monastery
in Bhutan
Below: tiger
petroglyph in the
North of Tibet
Bottom:
tiger thighbone
takling trumpet,
used in rituals.
It has a skin
covering at the
knuckle end,
and silver
decoration, set
with red coral
and turquoise
called kanglings. As they are
associated with the most wrathful
of spirit beings, a tiger bone
trumpet is considered to be very
powerful.
Today tigers are, quite rightly, a
fiercely protected species, but this
was not always the case. Before
the British conquered India
between the C18th - C19th, tigers
were plentiful, as they were in the
vast cold lands of Siberia before the
Russians ventured east around the
same time.
Tigers were always hunted, often
from self defence, but they were
also respected as sacred animals by
the local population. However, the
rifles of the British Raj and the
Russians decimated the population
of the tigers worldwide, and had a
far more of a disastrous effect on
their numbers than Tibetans armed
with bows and arrows. The pelts
hunted as sport quickly became
British fireside rugs, and their heads
became snarling stuffed trophies to
be hung on a wall.
In Tibet, until quite recently,
tigers were still hunted if they were
a problem to local villagers,
although this is now dying out, due
mainly to ecological education.
When a tiger is killed in Tibet,
because it was such a powerful
and sacred animal, its pelt and
37
 stand upon while they performed,
practiced or undertook rituals and
ceremonies.
Practitioners generally sat on
two types of rugs - depending on
their spiritual practice. If they were
engaged in peaceful practices -
such as those devoted to peaceful
gods and beings, like Tara, or the
historic Buddha - a practitioner
would generally sit on either a
Chinese carpet, or a deer skin.
But if the tantric practitioner
Above: Tibetan bones are often given to a local was engaged in a wrathful, or
wooden trunk monastery, where it can be used violent practice, with beings
with an inset for sacred craftwork, or used as an such as Mahakala, Ekijati, or Dorje were first made - some two
panel of tiger skin offering to the wrathful protectors. Drolö - a wrathful manfestation of thousand years ago. In Tibet, rugs
Padmasambhava who is always from Central Asia and China, as well
Above right: Before hunting controls, tiger shown riding a tiger - then a tiger as Tibet’s own, home-produced
contemporary skins were incorporated into skin would be employed if at all rugs, have long been treasured.
tiger rug cushion furniture - set into panels on the possible. Many Tibetan rugs have tantric or
made by Tibetan front or top of pieces, although As a substitute for the rapidly magical designs on them, and these
refugees in Nepal very often, instead of fur, these declining genuine tiger skins, and as new rugs, generally called ‘tiger
panels were painted to represent an act of conservation, woollen rugs, rugs,’ became an important aspect
tiger stripes. which had always been popular in of both sacred and domestic carpet
But perhaps the main use of a Tibet, began to be created. These weaving.
tiger pelt in Tibet was as a were made with designs inspired by These tiger-patterned small
ceremonial rug. Shamans and actual tiger skins. carpets have increased in
tantric practitioners greatly prized Rug making has a long history in popularity, both in Tibet and the
these and sought them out to sit or Central Asia, which is where rugs West since they were first made,
and are now sought out by Western
collectors and interior designers.
Today, high quality rugs are
made by Tibetan refugees in Nepal
and India, and low quality ones are
made in factories in China. Recently
I even came across (and bought) a
washable mass-produced bathroom
shower rug with a Tibetan Tiger rug
design - a sign they have really
entered the mainstream.
Tiger rugs vary both in design and
form. Some are quite abstract, with
just a series of stripes, often with
stylised rainbows at the ends; others
represent whole skins, laid out on
Right: the floor; some are more pictorial,
Dorje Drolö, a showing actual tigers on rocks or
wrathful form of
Padmasmbhava,
riding upon a
pregnant tigress.
Padmasmabhava
shape-shifted into
this form at the
cave of Taktsang -
Tiger’s Nest - in
Bhutan, in order to
magically vanquish
a demoness who
lived in the area

Far right:
a painted canvas
tiger skin from a
Tibetan Monastry

38 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

beside trees. The shape of most of
these rugs are rectangular, but in
recent years a new form of rug which
follows the actual outline of a flayed
tiger skin, have become more popular.
It is also possible to buy small
square rugs, with a striped design, on
which to meditate, and high quality (and
high cost) cushion sets for your
favourite sofa - thereby supporting
Tibetan exiles by helping to keep their
culture alive, and generating some
much needed money.
Woollen tiger rugs are now
considered equally as auspicious as
actual tiger skins - and much more
ethical. It is said that the dakini are
attracted both to actual tiger skins and
to well-made tiger rugs, and they
come around a practitioner and bless
and empower their work when the
practitoner ‘rides the tiger.’
The tiger is a magnificant animal,
and has become somewhat of a
symbol for conservation work over
recent years. Real, old skins are still
around - the tigers shot when it was
legal to do, and tiger parts dating to
before 1947, are perfectly legal
to buy, sell and
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
own. Personally, I think it is morally
alright to use these old skins, as to
destroy an old skin seems to me to add
an even greater disrespect to the tiger.
However, it is in no way condonable
to hunt tigers nowadays, and old skins
- which are, thankfully, an ever
decreasing commodity, are very
expensive - well outside of the average
budget. Although, if tiger wants to
dance with you, there is no end to the
possibilities of what might manifest.
Nicholas Breeze Wood is the editor of
Sacred Hoop Magazine and has had a
lifetime interest in sacred objects.
www.NicholasBreezeWood.me
Above left: a Tibetan official sits
upon a tiger skin. Photo 1937
Above: a Buddhist monk with a
tiger skin offering to the wrathful
protectors in a monastery
Right: two Tibetan tiger rugs
one naturalistic and the other
more abstract in design
Below: Tibetan wooden trunk
painted with a tiger design
39
 in the Morning
of the World

Jaya Bear
Meets the Sacred
Traditions of Bali

an interview with
Nicholas Breeze Wood

40 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

Nick: Can you share a little
about your background and
about what led you to your
interest in the traditions of Bali?
Jaya: I’ve been involved in
spirituality, or a spiritual path,
almost all of my life. Spirituality for
me is synonymous with self-
analysis, self-awareness,
self-purification - mentally,
emotionally and physically - and an
awareness of what I eat and how
to heal and take care of my body in
the most natural ways I can.
I was born in South Africa, but
left there to travel and experience
the world when I was 17. For me
the world was my university –
learning directly from the
experience of peoples and cultures.
I came to England in 1968 and and
there met and studied with a guru,
a teacher, from India, who
introduced me to yoga, meditation,
and an intense study of the
Sanskrit language, both its
grammar and as the science of
sound vibration. After traveling to
India with my guru I stayed on there
for over a year on my own, before
returning to England, and then on
to the States, where I’ve lived for
over 39 years.
Over all that time, and during
further travels, I’ve met with many
different teachers, healers, gurus
and shamans, from lots of different
ethnic backgrounds, and I’ve been
exposed to, and been blessed with,
the experience of many amazing and
sacred ceremonies, healings, sacred
places and other alternative realties.
But before I go on, I want to
emphasise that I’m not an expert on
Bali, its traditions, or its people. I
can only speak from my own
experience of the healing and joy
that the island’s brought to me, and
what I’ve received by being there.
In Bali I’ve been fortunate to
have connected with some amazing
people, extraordinary healers and
sacred places, and these enriched
my experience there in a way that’s
changed my life and offered me a
small glimpse into the beauty and
spirituality that Bali has to offer.
It sounds as if your life has
been somewhat serendipitous?
Yes, an experiential and intuitive
approach to a journey, and to life in
general, is my preferred mode of
operating. This has much more
meaning for me than just visiting
somewhere with only an intellectual
appreciation of its culture – although
that has its own value of course -
but an experience absorbed on a
deeper level is what holds the most
meaning for me. Also, the focus of
all of the journeys which I facilitate,
whether they are to Bali or Peru, is
always one of spiritual healing,
growth and awareness.
So what’s Bali like – what’s it’s Left: a baby’s
history and the spiritual hair is ritually
traditions of the island? cut during the
oton ceremony,
Well, the physical facts are it’s an 280 days after
island in Indonesia in South East it was born,
Asia. It’s not very big, maybe about when it is first
90 miles long, and perhaps 70 wide. allowed to touch
It’s sometimes called ‘The Island of the ground
God’ or ‘The Morning of the World’,
and it’s said that in the history of
Indonesia, from its very beginning,
Bali has been a spiritual destination, Above: Pura
and final destination for high priests. Ulun Danu
I’ve not visited everywhere on Bratan, a water
earth of course, but even so I temple on the
believe the culture of Bali is unique. shores of Lake
The island has an innate aesthetic Bratan, Bali,
and physical beauty, not only in the dedicated to
and the landscape and the Dewi Danu, the
architecture, but also in the goddess of
Balinese people themselves, in their the lake
art, music and the other aspects of
their culture - which is a very Inset: making of-
integral part of their lives. Balinese ferings
culture’s a unique combination of
spirituality, religion, tradition and art.

So, was it in the US that you

met Sun Bear?

Yes, I met and married Sun Bear -

who was a Native American
Chippewa medicine man - and
after he passed away in 1992, I
started working with the medicine
plant ayahuasca.
Over the last 19 years I’ve
taken groups to Peru to experience
the work with ayahuasca and other
teacher plants. But also in recent
years the call of Bali has become
strong, and the experiences and
healing which I’ve received from
visiting and being there have
translated into my desire to
introduce others to the spiritual
side of Bali. That side is a whole
other level to the normal tourist
experience of the island!
The constant evidence of the devotional
aspect of Bali is ever present and al-
ways incorporated into the lives of the
people and the island. It really
does feel like it’s an ‘Island of God’
In my opinion, Balinese religion
and culture are so complex and
diverse that I don’t believe it’s
possible to really understand them
unless you’re born into the culture
itself – even years of study can
only give a glimpse of the depth of
this deeply spiritual and devotional
land and its people.
What does that feel like when
you’re there in the culture?
Below: making
prayers at a sa- For me, being in Bali is like
cred spring experiencing a perpetual state of
ceremony. The softness and beauty
Bottom right: and constant awareness of the divine
puppets from is kind of like a mirror reflecting a
the wayang kulit contrast to the harsher reality of life
shadow theatre I’ve seen in other parts of the world,
and the harshness we often
experience in the way we live our own
lives on a daily basis. Grace and
devotion are the essence of the island.
How would you say that grace
and devotion manifests?
Well, for example, all over Bali,
every house has its own temple
area, and each and every day the
people make offerings to honour
the divine, the spirits, and the
deities that surround them. These
spirit powers are an integrated part
of their world and consciousness.
Wherever you go there are
offerings – in front of temples,
altars, houses, doors, stores,
fields, gas stations, before every
dance and music performance –
everywhere you look there’s a
reminder of the divine and higher
consciousness.
So what exactly is the official
religion of Bali?
Well, Indonesia is basically Islamic,
but Bali is home to nearly all of the
country’s minority Hindu
population.
Although originally coming from
India, the Hinduism on Bali is very
different from the one found in
India. Instead of mysticism or
philosophy, which you tend to find
in India, the emphasis on Bali’s
Hinduism is more on daily rituals
and devotions. The
people incorporate
and intricately
weave these
into their lives to the extent that
you can’t separate the religious
life of Bali from its daily life.
Balinese Hinduism is a form that
was originally introduced to Java,
and then transported to, and widely
accepted in Bali about 2,000 years
ago. It’s a mix of Shiva Hinduism
and Mahayana Buddhism, with
some Javanese shamanism, and
when it finally reached Bali it
merged with Bali’s own animism
which was practiced by the original
indigenous people that populated
the island, and who were known as
the Bali Aga.
What happened when the West
made contact, did it change Bali?
There’s always been a demand for
Indonesia’s spices, and Spain and
Portugal were the first Westeners
to go to Bali, but then the Dutch
moved in and tried to gain
sovereignty. This was a dark time,
years of conflict, ending with the
mass suicide of Balinese families,
who’d rather die than give in to the
Dutch. They used ceremonial
knives to end their lives, and it
made such a large statement that
the Dutch eventually relented.
Then in the 1900’s the
Japanese invaded and occupied
the island, and were there until
after the end of the second world
war. Then the Dutch tried to come
back again, but Indonesia’s
President Sukarno declared
independence in 1945. It was only
in the late 1960’s that Bali opened
its doors to tourism.
Did the people hold on to their
traditions during this time?
Yes, and Bali seems to prove that the
unique spiritual forces that
shaped it in the past will
continue shaping it well
into the future too.
 There is so much continuity there
in the way the people live. Whatever
aspect of everyday life and events
are happening on a daily basis, the
constant evidence of the devotional
aspect of Bali is ever present and
always incorporated into the lives of
the people and the island. It is there
every time an offering of flowers and
incense is laid on the ground, every
time a ceremony is enacted, before a
music or dance performance, the
creation of a painting or sculpture, a
cremation ceremony. It really does
feel like it’s an ‘Island of God.’
Where does this fit into all the
different arts Bali’s known for?
Apart from the incredible paintings
and sculptures that one sees
everywhere, there are lots of
different arts practiced in Bali –
dance, music, and the wayang kulit,
which is a kind of shadow puppet
theatre. All of them are filled with
spiritual connotations. For instance,
they perform a trance dance, when
a village is suffering, say from an
epidemic or bad harvest. The dance
is intended to appease the gods and
goddesses, with the hope that they’ll
bless the village.
Other dances manifest different
aspects of the great spiritual
complexity you find behind
Balinese daily life. Some enact a
mythological story, some are done
purely ceremonially as an offering
to the deities, and some take the
form of those trance dances,
where the dancers enter into a
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
trance and their bodies are taken
over by the gods or goddesses.
And of course there are secular,
entertainment dances too, but even
these are always preceded by a
priest making offerings.
So, what about the Balinese
healing traditions? Can you tell
me a bit about them?
Balinese traditional medical
treatment is known as usada,
which comes from the Sanskrit
word ausadhi, which means ‘a
plant used for medicinal purposes.’
There’s a long tradition of Balinese
usada, which uses plants, holistic
therapies, massage and ancient
wisdom, to cure physical and
mental illness.
A traditional healer is called a
balian, and he or she is, and always
has been, the focal point of healing in
Bali. Skilled balians are sought out to
heal illnesses and dispel evil spirits. In
daily life the balians play a central
role, they’re consecrated
practitioners, and they perform many
priestly functions. They’re highly
esteemed. A balian possesses shakti
- spiritual power - and they’re
committed to service; they may never
turn anyone needing them away.
Some balians learned their
traditions through studying ancient A young dancer
scriptures called lontar, and in her costume
through apprenticing with a master,
while others received divine
inspiration and heal from the heart. Every village has at least four
Both types are equally esteemed in balians, and among them are ones
Balinese society. who specialise in different fields,
Women carry
offerings to
a temple
43
Being in Bali is like experiencing
a perpetual state of ceremony...
it feels like grace and devotion
are the essence of the island
such as bone-setters, midwives,
and diviners, and those who are
possessed by the souls of the
dead, and act as communicators
for the ancestors.
Most balians are ‘chosen’ by the
spirits or the gods. People don’t
choose to become a balian as a
career choice, but that’s the same
for shamans and healers in many
other indigenous cultures of course.
In many cultures people get
sick before they become
shamans - a kind of initiatory
shaman sickness. Does that
happen on Bali?
Yes, it’s the same, the person chosen
generally goes through a long-standing
illness, which disappears when they
finally acknowledge and accept the
sacred work they have to do.
One of the healers I’ve
connected with, and to whom I
introduce the people I take to Bali,
became a balian in this way. Before
he acknowledged the healing work
he was to do, he worked as a bank
manager, and during this time he
suffered from severe headaches,
Below left: a was unhappy and stressed, and
balian performs had many financial problems.
a healing When he finally acknowledged
his calling, all his symptoms went
Below right: away and the knowledge of how he
women make was to heal, and the methods and
prayers during practices he should use, came to
a ceremony him through his dreams, and
44 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
through spiritual contact with his
dead grandfather, who had been a
balian before he died.
What is his name and how does
he work?
I don’t really want to share his name,
and his methods of healing are
unique to him. He has the ability to
see auras, chakras and to
understand people’s past lives, which
he uses as his diagnostic tools. He
also uses the sensitivity of his hands
to sense and feel what a specific
problem or illness is, and he too has
the ability to enter into trance and
communicate directly with the spirits.
He’s completely dedicated to God
and his work as a healer, and he has
told me that he feels that this is the
work that God has given him to do,
and so he is always available day or
night if called upon to do it. He
doesn’t ask for money, and feels that
God takes care of him.
He works incessantly, and I’m
always amazed at the constant
energy he has. When I’ve asked
him, he’s told me that he gets his
energy from a divine source and
that even if he is feeling low or
doesn’t have energy, if someone
comes to him for a healing, he
miraculously receives the energy
through Spirit to help the person
that is in need.
Do people pay for healing when
they visit a balian?
People always bring an offering,
with a token of appreciation -
money or something of value -
inside, and people give what they
can afford. The healer always
dedicates these offerings to the
spirit in their family temple.
Are there any fear and taboos
to do with health, healing,
ancestors, shamans etc. within
Balinese society?
Yes there are, like in many cultures
the world over. There are taboos
against women participating in
ceremonies or entering a temple if
they are menstruating for example,
and in addition to this, if someone
has an open wound, which could
cause the shedding of blood, they
too are forbidden to enter a temple.
Balinese people also believe
strongly in magic and the power of
spirits, and much of their religion is
based on this. Alongside the healing,
you’ll find black magic also features
very strongly in their belief systems,
and is often suspected as the root
cause of a disease or illness.
So the spirit world is seen as
being all around them?
Yes, they live equally in two worlds
– the seen or conscious world,
which they call sekala, and the
unseen or psychic world which they
call niskala.
The Balinese have very deep
connections to, and great
acknowledgement of their ancestor
spirits as well. Often problems are
seen to have arisen through the
action of the ancestors, who cause
mischief or real harm if they’re not
acknowledged regularly with
offerings and their favourite treats.
A balian may be called upon to go
into a trance state to discover the
root cause of the problem, and
either give the patient plant
medicine, a massage, or a list of
offerings to make.
Because the Balinese live so
consciously between these two
worlds, trance states or possession
come very easily to them, and it is
not uncommon to see someone
being taken over by a spirit during
a ceremony. This is an accepted
and acknowledged part of their
lives. Mass trance and the viewing
of trance dances are a normal
feature of religious life in Bali.
And the whole landscape of Bali
is seen as home to the spirits too;
helpful good spirits are said to live
in the island’s mountains, and the
seas are said to be the home of
demons and ogres.
Are there set ceremonies along
each person’s life path, their
rites of passage so to speak?
Of course. There are ceremonies for
every stage of Balinese life. The first
ceremony in a person’s life takes
place even before they’re born, with
another soon after their birth, when
the afterbirth is buried along with
appropriate offerings.
And to make it more complex the
Balinese actually have two calendars
which run alongside each other. There
is a lunar calendar and a sacred
calendar - which only has 210 days.
This sacred one is called the pawukon,
and a major ceremony takes place
halfway through this in the baby’s first
year. The pawukon calendar is used to
define most - but not all - of the
island’s ceremonies, but is not used to
measure years; the islanders use their
lunar calendar for that.
You’ve said that there are lots
of offerings made whenever a
ceremony is done, are the
ceremonies very elaborate?
Whenever I’ve seen a ceremony
taking place I’m always amazed at
how much money they put into it.
Even if a family is poor everything
goes into the ceremony.
Here, in our culture, we save for
TV’s and cars and vacations, but
there, the Balinese use their money
for ceremonies first and foremost,
even if they have to borrow the
money to have the ceremony. For
foreigners this may seem hard to
understand, because our culture is
so materialistic, but in Bali the
ultimate is the connection to the
divine, and so honouring the deities
takes precedence.
A great example of this is the
last ceremony of a person’s life;
their cremation ceremony. That’s
the biggest of all the ceremonies.
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
Because the cost of these
ceremonies are so huge, many
poorer families can’t afford them,
and so the body will simply be
buried and remain that way, maybe
for many years, until enough
families get together, sharing the
cost, to perform a mass cremation
on an auspicious day. Although of
course a rich family will perform the
big ceremony as soon as the next
auspicious day has been chosen.
Can you describe what a
cremation ceremony is like?
They’re amazing! They are really
spectacular, colourful, noisy and
very exciting.
They start with prayers and
offerings by a priest and the family
of the deceased, and then the
body, wrapped in cloth and placed
in a wooden coffin, is lifted onto
the upper tier of a high multi-tiered
tower made of bamboo, paper,
string, tinsel, silk, cloth, mirrors,
flowers and anything else that is
bright and colourful.
Once the coffin’s placed in the
tower, either a priest or a close
family member sits on top of it, and
they remain there while the tower is
carried to the cremation grounds.
The tower’s carried on the
shoulders of a group of men. The
size of the tower and the group of
men carrying it depends on the
importance of the deceased.
Leading the procession, there’s
a huge hollow sculpture of a black
bull (or white bull in the case of the
deceased being a Brahman priest),
and bringing up the rear is an
orchestra of musicians who play as Below: a family
the procession makes its way. go to a temple
Along the way to the cremation to pray
grounds precautions have to be taken
to ensure that the deceased’s spirit
doesn’t find its way back home. This
requires getting the spirit confused as
to where it is, and they do this by
shaking the tower, running it around
in circles, spinning it around, throwing
water at it and generally making the
trip to the cremation grounds a
colourful celebration rather than a
funeral crawl.
At the cremation grounds the
body is transferred to that hollow-
bull sarcophagus, and then it and
the tower are placed on the funeral
pyre and burnt. What a great way
to celebrate life and death!
That sounds amazing, very
different to how things are
done in the West, but are
traditions changing with the
influx of western travellers and
the rise of new-age tourism?
It seems as if the Balinese hold
very strongly to their traditions, and
continue practicing them
unaffected by the the influx of
tourists who come there. But yes,
tourism to Bali has grown
exponentially in recent years, as
There are ceremonies for every stage
of life, the first one takes place even
before birth, withanother soon after
birth, when the afterbirth is buried
along with the appropriate offerings
45
 well as the popularity of visiting a
balian, which has increased,
particularly due to that bestselling
book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ by Elizabeth
Gilbert, and the movie they made
based on it. This is somewhat
unfortunate really, and it’s the
reason I’m choosing not to divulge
the names of the healers with
whom I work.
Ah, I was going to ask you why
you didn’t want to share a name
earlier on - that explains it.
Yes, that’s why. When I was last in
Bali I was told by a number of
people, that the balian mentioned in
that book now has lines of tourists,
usually women, outside his door –
most of them wanting to be told that
they’ll soon find love! Also I’ve heard
that he charges a larger amount
than other healers; and that he
repeatedly tells each person who
comes to see him the same ‘divine
message.’ I’ve heard it said that
he’s lost what power he used to
have. I know all that is hearsay, and
I’ve no interest in visiting him to find
out really, but to be honest I don’t
really doubt the truth of what I’ve
heard, having seen on more than
one occasion the downfall of a
teacher, shaman or guru, due to
money and power.
Visiting a balian seems to have
become the ‘in thing’ to do for
tourists, and most of these tourists
are unfortunately ignorant
regarding the protocol that goes
with visiting a balian. They
understand little of Bali-Hindu
culture and religion, and because a
balian is committed to service -
and may never turn anyone away -
tourists who casually enter a
balian’s compound expecting to be
seen, often delay the healer from
This page: the elaborate
Balinese cremation cere-
mony
46 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
working with genuinely ill Balinese
who have come to see them. A
visit to a balian should be treated
with the respect that is due to
them.
What do you see as the future
of these traditions?
Well, although tourism in Bali can’t
help but affect the people who live
there, and their culture too of
course, it always seems to me as if
the Balinese are living in a parallel
universe to the foreigners who flock
to their island. It’s as if the Balinese
are occupying the same space on a
physical level, but live in a
completely different world on
another – which is unaccessible and
invisible to those that are not part of
it. I think this is the reason that the
Balinese tradition has managed to
survive and will continue.
For me it seems that when an
entire culture is dedicated to the
divine, the energy of the whole land
is on a higher vibration than other
places in the world. This is what I
feel makes Bali such an exceptional
and unique place. And, as we all
know, when we individually or as a
group put out positive energy, that
energy reaches out and affects the
world around us.
Jaya Bear currently lives in Taos, New
Mexico, USA. She is the author of ‘Amazon
Magic – The Life Story of Ayahuasquero
and Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez,’
and has produced and recorded ‘Ayahasca
Songs from the Peruvian Amazon,’ a CD of
Ayahuasca icaros (spirit songs) sung by
Luis Panduro Vasquez. She takes groups to
both Bali and to Peru.
P.O. Box 2860, Ranchos de Taos,
NM 87557 USA.
Tel: (001 from within UK) (575) 751 0349
jayabear@taosnet.com
www.spiritjourney.net
www.pumashamanicjourneys.com
S hamanism and animism were
traditional to the Philippines.
When the Spanish first arrived
there in 1521, they found CALL OF THE
BABAYLAN
traditional shamans that were
known by various names, in the
different languages found across
the group of islands that make up
the Philippines. Some of the more
common names were babaylan,
katalonan, diwatera and tambalan.
In this article we will refer to them
as babaylan, and give a brief
introduction to their traditions.

As in many shamanic cultures

across the world, the first signs of
becoming a babaylan is a ‘shamanic
sickness,’ often with symptoms such
as fits, tremors, convulsion and
insanity - to some degree or other.
This, of course, very much fits the
worldwide pattern of shaman
sickness, although with the
babaylan, temporary blindness was
also considered a sign that an
individual was selected by the
diwatas [spirits].
Sometimes it is said the babaylan-
to-be vanishes from the world and
goes to the spirits for a time, before
being returned, and when this
happens the babaylan-to-be are said,
when found again - to often be
sitting beneath, or sometimes on top
of, a balete tree, which is considered
a sacred tree and a gateway for the
spirits to come into this world. The
balete is said to be the home of
fearsome spirits, and there are many Women’s Shamanism from the Philippines
hair-raising folk tales about the
trees, which is, in part, why many
people refuse to cut them down, period there are a series of transmitted from the elder to the
fearing the revenge of the spirits. initiations to prepare the apprentice. student, and the apprenticeship
Once identified as a babaylan, Upon entering the training, a elder begins.
the young person is then trained, babaylan woman pours sweet-
having to memorise complex forms scented oil on the head of the new The babaylan tradition is mostly
of ceremony, ancient oral epic student and presses special beads on a female one. There were, and are Bottom left:
stories and chants, and other the student’s forehead, blowing over male babaylan, but they are much children gather
aspects of the tradition. All this them through her cupped hands. The rarer than women ones. It is in front of a
takes several years, and during this spirit of the lineage is then explained that a babaylan balete tree

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 47

 symbolic gender transformation, so
they can be accepted and viewed
by the community as female, and
thus eligible to be babaylans. This
is still very much part of the
tradition, and may be one of the
reasons there are still relatively few
male babaylan today.
When the Spanish first
encountered the babaylan in the
C16th the chronicler Friar Alcina
described the male babaylan as: “...
impotent men, and deficient for the
practice of matrimony, considered
themselves more like women than
men in their manner of living or going
about, even in their occupations…”
Male babaylan were sometimes
called asog, which is also the word
for a sterile woman.
The training of a babaylan is
seen as a series of seven stages:
I: Baratakan - the first level, where
a young babaylan is connected to
Traditionally, male babaylan, their own spirit helper, which acts
as a guardian. The main job of the
in order for them to be accepted apprentice at this stage is to assist
into the tradition, have to an elder babaylan perform rituals
and ceremonies.
undertake a symbolic gender II: Sanguban - during this level the
apprentice is taught different plant
transformation, so they can be and herb lore, and given instruction
accepted and viewed by the in basic medical diagnosis.
III: Hangdugan - where the
community as female, and thus apprentice learns how to conduct
eligible to be babaylan ritual offerings to their own spirit
helpers by sacrificing black chickens
symbolises the Mother Goddess, IV: Tagbungan - where the
represents nature, fertility, creation apprentice studies the rituals,
and destruction; the Mother ceremonies and dances that a
Goddess being both the giver and babaylan must perform, but the
the taker of life. babaylan is forbidden to actually
Traditionally, male babaylan, in perform these.
order for them to be accepted into V: Hagbayan - this is where
the tradition, have to undertake a apprentices take on larger helping
Above: a male
babaylan makes
offerings before
a sacred
waterfall
Right: a young
male babaylan
sits beside a
balete tree
Far right:
male and female
babaylan sit with
sacred objects
in front of them
48 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
roles in ceremonies. They will be
known as a merku, and will be given
the responsibility to deal with minor
cases in their community. The
relationship with their spirit helpers is
greatly strengthened during this period.
VI: Turupadan - where the babaylan
is fully equipped with the knowledge
of the ceremonies, medicines and
magic they need, and the
apprentice is given the authority to
conduct rituals under the
supervision of an elder babaylan. At
this point the sacrifice rituals
increase from a single black chicken
to seven red chickens, which are
given to their spirit helpers.
VII: Banawangon - this the last level
of apprenticeship, where the student
is recognised as a full babaylan by an
elder babaylan in front of the village
menfolk. The apprentice offers a
black pig to their spirit helper, and
the new babaylan is now given their
piling, a collection of large sea shells,
attached to a cord - a sort of ritual
badge of office. This is ideally
passed from a dead babaylan, and
not newly made from fresh shells.
The fully initiated babaylan will
be held in a mix of awe, fear and
high regard, being seen as having
great supernatural abilities, which
although are generally used to heal
and cure those in their community,
can be used against people if the
babaylan so wishes.
THE WORK OF THE BABAYLAN
Babaylan work with a variety of
spirits, including ancestral spirits,
nature spirits, lesser gods and a host
of dangerous spirits who either
accidentally, or intentionally, inflict
pain, curses and injuries to humanity.
These harmful spirits belong to
three main groups, living in each of
the three worlds of their cosmology.
Each of these is responsible for a
particular ailment. These spirit
classes are the ibabawnon, who are
upper world beings, causing
epidemics and plagues; the dutan-
on, who are middle world spirits,
dwelling invisibly among humans;
and the idadalmonon, who live in
the lower world. These are known
as ‘the death bringers.’
One of the main jobs of a
babaylan is to appease and
communicate with these spirits,
and give sacrifice to them, so that
they will be more benevolent
towards the human community.
Two other main tasks of a babaylan
are to exorcise harmful spirits from
people or places, and seek lost
souls, whom these harmful spirits
have captured and made off with,
The offering of sacrifices plays a
major part of all traditional babaylan
ceremonies, and their nature
varies, depending on the spirits
being called. Pigs and chickens
generally play a major role in these
ceremonies, but rice wine - and
more recently tobacco - cakes,
flowers and many other things are
also very traditional offerings.
These are often given in groups of
seven, which is a sacred number in
this tradition, and during these
ceremonies the spirits are called to
and invited, using a secret
language - glossolalia - known only
to the babaylan. The babaylan are
often taken over in trances, where
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
the spirits enter thier bodies, and at what state the traditions will be in Below: babaylan
those times the spirits speak the when we reach the 2050s is Mendung Sabal
same glossolalic language. anyones guess. Some people in makes prayers
the Philippines think the tradition Bottom: a
Like most shamanic traditions has already been consigned to traditional altar
world wide, the babaylans work history and are surprised when they
with many forms of sacred objects. meet a modern day babaylan, but
Their shamanic musical the fact that there still are modern
instruments include bells, drums, day babaylan gives, perhaps, hope
large metal gongs and bamboo for the future.
trumpets, and they use a wide
variety of charms, made both of
metal and natural materials
But one of the more interesting
objects they work with are
diamonds - both diamante (raw)
and brilliant (refined) - as well as
more regular quartz crystals.
They use these in ways quite
different ancient to the crystal
therapies of modern western new
age culture, crystals and diamonds
are gazed into, in order to see the
spirits of illness, but as they are seen
as magical power and protection
objects, they are inserted under the
skin, normally being pushed into the
flesh of the arms, and sometimes
they are also swallowed by the
babaylan. This incorporation of
crystals is said to give the babaylan
more power, and also make them
impervious to the work of harmful
spirits and magicians.
Like all shamanic traditions
around the world, those of the
babaylan are changing fast.
Accounts of ceremonies held in the
1950s show little difference from
those recorded in the 1650s, but
49
 Shamans are
‘delusional and
quite possibly
schizophrenic’,
I learned this in
the early 1950’s
as an anthropology
student at the the
University of
California in
Berkeley.
Search
The evidence
offered was that
shamans claimed
that they could Shamanic Encounters
see and talk with with Another Reality
spirits, and even Michael Harner
use them to
heal people...

50 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

S uch a perception of shamans
was a heritage of Western
prejudices, stretching back
centuries to the Inquisition’s
ridicule and persecution of witches.
The Inquisition’s methods of torture
and execution were gradually
replaced by the more subtle
pressures of secularism that
accompanied the rise of science
during the Age of Enlightenment in
the eighteenth century.
At the same time, the shamans’
feats of healing and unbelievable
journeys to other worlds both
fascinated and perplexed Western
scholars. The armchair French
theorist Lucien Lévy-Bruhl
proposed in his early twentieth-
century book ‘Les fonctions
mentales dans les sociétés
inférieures’ that native accounts of
their incredible experiences were
indeed genuine, but that such
peoples were prisoners of a pre-
rational primitive mind.
Undoubtedly the foremost
twentieth-century figure in the
scholarly rehabilitation of
shamanism, and in the recognition
of its virtually panhuman
occurrence, was Mircea Eliade,
who published the first version of
his classic book ‘Shamanism:
Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy’ in
French in 1951. Eliade proposed
that although local practices had
their own variations, a key
consistent feature was the
shaman’s journey to other worlds in
a trance (ecstasy).
In his book, which remains the
outstanding general reference work
on shamanism, Eliade suggested
that shamanism was the progenitor
of all other spiritual systems and
religions, although he made it clear
that shamanism itself was a
methodology, not a religion.
However, even Eliade was not
immune from the mental-illness view
of shamans. As late as 1951, just
five years before my first Amazonian
fieldwork, he took the position that
‘the majority of shamans are (or
have been) psychopaths.’
Thus, from the scholars’
psychological perspective,
shamans were not liars and
charlatans, but merely insane, but
had the good fortune, however, to
be born into ‘crazy cultures,’ where
they could be accepted. Such
‘crazy cultures,’ of course, are the
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
primitive tribal ones, in contrast to
our own civilised Western culture
whose manifestations of presumed
sanity include two world wars, the
Holocaust, and other wholesale
acts of genocide, urban violence,
and the accelerating destruction of
the planetary life-support system.
I learned as an anthropology
student that fieldworkers were to
keep a skeptical ‘objectivity.’ Out of
paternalistic good manners or,
perhaps more practically, to avoid
alienating their native informants, I was taught
the anthropologists’ skepticism was
not expressed directly to the the dangers of
indigenous peoples, but only upon
returning home to the academic ‘going native’ like
community, where Western Frank Cushing who
psychological and sociological
assumptions were used to explain stopped publishing
what was ‘really going on’ in the
native cultures. on Zuni religion after
I was similarly taught the becoming formally
dangers of ‘going native’ in the
field, something that unstable initiated into their
personalities might be tempted to
do. Examples that I was given of secret societies
ethnologists or cultural
anthropologists who had ‘gone over culture, for their sensationalistic Above: cultural
the edge’ included Frank Cushing practice of ‘head-shrinking had anthropologist
of the Bureau of American resulted in many lurid, inaccurate, Frank Cushing
Ethnology of the Smithsonian and prejudicial accounts of their life in Zuni dress
Institution. About a century ago, and ideas.
Cushing stopped publishing on Zuni In 1956, shortly after I arrived
religion after becoming formally among the Shuar, I noticed a man
initiated into their secret societies, who wandered in the forest day and
thereby depriving the Western world night, seeing and talking with spirits.
of his discoveries and generally Having just come from the lofty Below:
becoming a scandal for many in the towers of academia, I thought, Jívaro (Shuar)
profession by failing to ‘keep his ‘Aha, I have one!’ So I asked the traditional hut
distance’ and thereby not fulfilling
his academic obligations.
IVORY TOWER TO RAINFOREST
It was with this academic
background that I engaged in my
first fieldwork in the Upper Amazon
in 1956–57.
My intention was to go beyond
the frontier of Western colonisation
to experience life in a still-
unconquered Native American
tribal society. I was almost a
century too late for this opportunity
in North America, so I chose South
America, and specifically the Jívaro
proper or Untsuri Shuar of eastern
Ecuador, who were famous for
their ability to resist would-be
conquerors over the centuries.
My intention was to do an
accurate ethnography of their total
51
 was that he could not
Soon I learned that turn off his contact with
the spirits. He was
I was in a society not useless to his people.
only of warriors, but Their shamans, in
contrast, consciously
of shamans, who chose when they would
interact with the spirits
numbered in the and did so with defined
hundreds, and purpose to help others.
This was the beginning of
their healing and my real education about
shamanism.
other activities
Soon I learned that I
permeated was in a society not only
daily life of warriors, but of
shamans, who numbered
everywhere in the hundreds, and their
healing and other
Above: Jívaro people if he was a shaman. They activities permeated daily
(Shuar) shaman replied, no, he was crazy! life everywhere. I found them
Although they viewed him as fascinating. They introduced me to
crazy, they did not consider him to concepts of reality far more
be having hallucinations. After all, exciting than anything I had ever
Below: Jívaro almost everyone in that society encountered before.
(Shuar) youth knew the spirits were real because Much of this seemed connected
performing a they had seen them too. The to their use of consciousness-
traditional dance reason they considered him crazy changing plants and plant mixtures.
Both shamans and non-
If a young boy shamans employed a
variety of hallucinogens,
misbehaved, his or psychedelics, to see
and interact with
parents might otherwise invisible spirits
force him to take in an invisible alternate
reality. Perhaps no
a psychedelic to indigenous people in the
world used a wider
straighten him assortment of
out; the idea was psychedelics. There was a
very mild one for babies to
that he would help them gain contact
with the beneficial spirits;
respect the there were ones for
authority of children; there was one
for hunting dogs so that
his parents they, too, could gain the
help of the spirits; there
more if he was one especially for
shamans, and another for
discovered the vision quest.
that they If a young boy
misbehaved, his parents
really knew might force him to take a
psychedelic to straighten
what they him out; the idea was that
were talking he would respect the
authority of his parents
about when they more if he discovered that
they really knew what they
spoke of the spirits were talking about when
and the hidden reality they spoke of the spirits
and the hidden reality.
52 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
Twice during that first fieldwork
shamans offered me the
opportunity to take their mind
altering potions and plants. I was
tempted, but held back, concerned
about even slight brain damage. A
clear-thinking mind was the most
important resource I had for writing
a successful doctoral dissertation.
Yet, as my months passed,
something happened subtly to my
spiritual orientation. I was
consciously adopting some of the
Shuar assumptions about reality,
including the reality of spirits. Now
I found myself silently invoking the
protection of guardian spirits on the
occasions when the Indians’
continuous feuds, raids, ambushes,
and killings placed me in physical
danger. The spirits’ presence felt
tangible and reassuring, although
still invisible to me.
Naturally I did not communicate
this slight shift in my Weltanschauung
[world view] in letters I wrote to the
university, and when I returned to the
US a year later, the personal spiritual
perceptions that I had experienced
gradually receded from my
consciousness and seemed more like
faint memories.
Then, four years later, on
another expedition to the Upper
Amazon I actually crossed the
threshold fully. On a fateful night in
1961 among the Conibo Indians of
Eastern Peru, I drank the shamans’
psychedelic plant brew, ayahuasca.
The Conibo required it of me
before they would describe their
own spiritual experiences and
religion. I cooperated, determined
not to repeat my failure to drink
this potion among the Shuar.
My visionary experiences that
ensued among the Conibo were
not only extremely powerful but
coincided incredibly closely with
those that the Conibo later
revealed to me. I began to realise
that the cultural theories I had been
taught as an anthropology student
were inadequate to explain this
consistency of experience,
apparently regardless of culture.
This discovery radically
challenged my Western views of
reality and started me on a truly
serious search for knowledge. There
was an excitement and fulfillment in
my life that had never existed
before, for I was discovering and

exploring a whole additional reality,
the reality of a hidden universe.
Eventually I had to leave my
Conibo friends to return to the
United States in 1961 to take a
position at Berkeley.
In the San Francisco Bay area I
found myself unexpectedly
becoming involved in a small but
rapidly growing network of
adventurous psychologists, poets,
musicians, botanists, chemists, and
bohemians whose psychedelic
experiences with LSD, Mexican
mushrooms, peyote, and mescaline
were engendering great excitement
and discussion. There were now
people in Western culture who
were beginning to understand
something of what the shamans
already knew. They were the avant
garde of what would be later
known as the Psychedelic Sixties.
In early 1963 I gave a public
lecture in Berkeley on ‘Drugs and
Reality in the Upper Amazon’. In the
talk I explained that the Shuar (then
called the Jívaro) believed that the
only real reality was that seen with
the aid of the ingested hallucinogen
ayahuasca, and that ordinary daily
life was by comparison a lie.
A MEETING WITH CARLOS
Unbeknownst to me, the talk’s
content was summarised in a
newsletter sent to all campuses of
the university. As a result, in
November 1963 I was approached
by a stocky, well-dressed, Latino-
looking gentleman who introduced
himself as Carlos Castaneda.
He wanted to talk with me
about what I had said in that
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine -
In the San Francisco Bay area I found myself
becoming involved in a network of adventurous
psychologists, poets, musicians, botanists, chemists,
and bohemians whose psychedelic experiences
with LSD, mushrooms, peyote, and mescaline were
engendering great excitement and discussion.
There were now people beginning to understand
something of what the shamans already knew
lecture in was clear that Carlos had now
Berkeley. He produced a book-length
explained that he manuscript. We helped him get it
was having to Grove Press in New York, which
difficulty immediately turned it down,
organising his field something its owner reportedly
notes from working with a Yaqui later deeply regretted. It was, of Below:
Indian and expressed interest in the course, finally published in 1968 the Sonoran
dichotomy of realities on which I under the title ‘The Teachings of desert where
had lectured. Don Juan’ after many difficulties Carlos Castaneda’s
We retired to a quiet corner to and drama - but that is another Don Juan series
converse. I found that Carlos was story for another time. One thing of books is set
the first anthropologist I had met
who was enthusiastic about the Carlos had a great sense of humor
realms that I had been penetrating,
and who seemed to share my and a dramatic earnestness. He
serious respect of the indigenous
knowledge connected to them. told wonderful stories about his
During the ensuing weeks he
often drove to Berkeley from Los
encounters with peyote and a
Angeles to share thoughts and Yaqui brujo named don Juan
experiences. Our discussions
helped develop the usefulness of a
concept of two realities for
Westerners. In his future
publications, Carlos formalised the
dichotomy into two simple terms,
‘ordinary’ and ‘nonordinary’ reality,
which I have associated
respectively with the
‘ordinary state of
consciousness’ and the
‘shamanic state of
consciousness.’
Carlos had a great sense of
humor and a dramatic earnestness.
He told wonderful stories about his
encounters with peyote and the
Yaqui man, a brujo named don
Juan.
My wife, Sandra Harner and I
encouraged him to start writing
them down. Within just a few
weeks, he brought us the first
written account. It was such an
impressive narration that we
encouraged him to bring more.
As his visits continued, and the
possible chapters accumulated, it
53

few psychedelic explorers
had any idea that they were
rediscovering territory
familiar to shamans.
Not surprisingly, they
sought frameworks for
their experiences in
the well-known spiritual
traditions of Hinduism
and Tibetan Buddhism.
They spoke of ‘trips’
rather than ‘journeys,’
and few of them had heard
of shamans or their journeys
was clear, however: popular psychedelics such as LSD in the
Western indifference to indigenous 1960’s.
spiritual and philosophical Prior to 1964, few of these
knowledge was about to change. American psychedelic explorers
had any idea that they were
TRIPS AND JOURNEYS rediscovering territory familiar to
Even before then, after the 1964 shamans for thousands of years.
publication in English of Eliade’s Not surprisingly, they sought
1951 book on shamanism, interest frameworks for their experiences in
in the subject was rapidly the well-known spiritual traditions
developing in the United States, of Eastern civilisations, especially
especially in California. This interest Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism.
was stimulated significantly by the They spoke of ‘trips’ rather than
widespread use of ‘journeys,’ and few of them had
heard of shamans or their journeys.
I attempted to communicate my
ayahuasca and other shamanic
experiences to my fellow
anthropologists. They tried to be
sympathetic and act interested, but I
came to realise that my experiences
collided with their secular
paradigms. Largely dropping my
attempts to communicate the
ineffable, I turned instead to the
stacks of the great university library
in Berkeley to find kindred spirits,
both literally and figuratively.
At first I focused on searching
for overlooked evidence of tribal
use of hallucinogens, for the
powerful effects of ayahuasca, and
later of datura. My experiences
with those substances, and the
use of other plants in native
North, Central, and South
America, made me think that
human spiritual experiences must
have originated from the use of
54
psychotropic plants; in other words,
that the plants were the
fundamental source of religious
experience and, thus, of religion
and shamanism.
Convinced that the use and
impact of such plant substances
had not been taken seriously by
students of the origin of religion, I
dug into the ethnological and
historical cross-cultural literature
with great curiosity and anticipation.
I found considerable evidence that
shamans in some parts of the world
had indeed used psychedelic plants
to achieve the experience of
another reality.
Others were simultaneously
engaged in a similar scholarly
search set off especially by
Gordon Wasson’s experience with
the ‘magic mushroom’ among the
Mazatec in Mexico, by Albert
Hofmann’s publications following
his discovery of LSD, by Aldous
Huxley’s accounts of his
experiences with mescaline, and
by Timothy Leary’s introduction of
psilocybin to the students of
Harvard. Thus, the assumption
among many of us in the early and
mid-1960’s was that ‘the drugs
did it,’ and therefore various
articles were published ascribing
the origin of the religious
experience to the ancient
ingestion of psychedelic plants.
The prevalent experimentation
with LSD during those years
reinforced the view that an ingested
bioactive substance was the secret
key to the shamans’ experience of
entering another reality, and in
1968 the first books by Castaneda
added to that general opinion.
POWER OF THE DRUM
However, as a result of my cross-
cultural research, by the late 1960’s I
was beginning to conclude reluctantly
that shamans in most of the world’s
indigenous cultures did their work
without the appreciable use of
psychedelic substances. It was
becoming inescapably obvious to me
that throughout the world, percussion
sound, most notably by drumming,
was far more widely used than
psychedelics by indigenous shamans.
Yet it was difficult to accept the
possibility that the shamanic use of
the drum could profoundly alter one’s
state of consciousness.
Starting in 1948 at Zuni pueblo
in New Mexico, I was awed by the
effect of repetitive ceremonial
drumming in a sacred context and,
in fact, had a truly religious
experience at Zuni. In the early
1950’s I was exposed to the
enchanting effects of Mohave and
Cahuilla rattles, and of wooden foot
drums in Northern Californian
sacred ‘roundhouse’ ceremonies.
Then in the 1960’s I found
drumming being used in a
specifically shamanic healing
context among the Coast Salish
people of Puget Sound in western
Washington State, although no
journeying was involved.
I bought a Pueblo-type double-
headed drum in the 1960’s and
decided to experiment with it for
journeying. Much to my pleasant
surprise, I discovered that steady,
repetitive drumming immediately
altered my state of
consciousness. I could
make shamanic journeys
without psychedelics! I
should not have
been surprised,
however. Shamans, as usual,
knew what they were doing,
benefiting from millennia of
experimentation.
Early in personal experiments, I
found that a steady, monotonous
beat of about 205 to 220 times a
minute was the most effective for
making journeys. At that time,
however, I lacked information as to
whether this was the same
frequency of beat used by the
drumming shamans of Siberia for
their journey work. Then, a few
years later, a four-minute tape
recording of a Siberian shaman
drumming was ‘bootlegged’ to me
from the Soviet Union, where
shamanism was illegal. I was
excited to find that their drumbeats
were in the same range as mine.
Years later, during my first visit
to the Soviet Union in 1984, Yuri
Simchenko, a Russian
ethnographer who had spent
twenty-eight seasons of fieldwork
in Siberia, told me that the real
Siberian shamans normally
employed only the drum to change
their state of consciousness, rather
than the psychoactive Amanita
muscaria mushroom.
The mushroom, Simchenko
reported, was mainly used by non-
shamans who had been unable to
journey successfully with the drum wooden clappers and stamping staffs Above: soul
alone. Also, he told me it is usually in Northern California, or in the form catchers, used by
difficult to maintain the discipline of drumming, as in the Puget Sound medicine people
necessary for shamanic work area, or through the repetitious use on America’s
when the Amanita spirit of hand bells, as among the Indian North Pacific
takes over the body. Shakers of Oregon and Washington. Coast to hold
When the Siberian This conclusion was a major souls during
shamans begin to personal discovery, for it meant soul retrievals
beat the drum for the that shamanic spiritual experiences
early portion of their could no longer be dismissed as Left: Yaqui gourd
journeys, it is in a simply due to the effects of drugs. rattle from the
steady, monotonous Indeed, the implications were Sonoran desert
rhythm. This tends to be enormous, as they suggested that
replaced with more irregular drums and drugs were different Below: South -
drumbeats as the shamans merge doorways to the same spiritual Western Native
with specific spirits in their journeys realms. With regard to shamanic American log
and engage in adventures in journeying to other worlds, I still drum from a
nonordinary reality. had not found anyone in western pueblo people
Very soon I concluded that
monotonous percussion sound, or
what I call ‘auditory (or ‘sonic’)
driving,’ done in conjunction with
shamanic methods, could yield
shamanic results in many ways
comparable to those achieved with
psychedelics.
For example, the ayahuasca-
based shamanic extraction healings
with which I was familiar in the
Amazon were accomplished equally
well by Indian peoples on the West
Coast of North America using only
auditory driving, as in the form of

I bought a Pueblo-type double-headed drum in

the 1960’s and decided to experiment with it
for journeying. Much to my pleasant surprise,
I discovered that steady, repetitive drumming
immediately altered my state of consciousness.
I could make shamanic journeys without psychedelics

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 55

Right: Drawing of North America using the drum or use of the musical bow, and its metal
bison shaman other auditory driving device for this relative, the mouth-harp [Jaw-harp],
from the Les Trois purpose. Much later I learned that both of which produce a repetitive,
Frères caves drumming was being used for percussive twanging sound and are
shamanic ascension among some used by shamans. Those in Mongolia
Canadian Athapaskan peoples. and Siberia today generally prefer
Worldwide, it appeared that the mouth-harp, while the Upper
the most common vehicle for Amazonian Shuar still use the
the shaman’s journey musical bow. The fiber string of the
was auditory musical bow is plucked at the
driving. Click shaman’s open mouth, the mouth
sticks were used serving as the resonance chamber
by most for the bow’s percussive sound. The
Aboriginal peoples musical bow is often almost inaudible
of Australia. In the to others nearby, but its repetitious
wet tropics of percussion is strong enough inside
Southeast Asia, the head to permit the Shuar
shamans shaman to change consciousness.
normally A half-human figure, presumably
used gongs a shaman merged with the Bison
Mongolian and metal Spirit, is recognised by
shaman’s bangles instead of archaeologists as playing the
jaw harp drums. In some musical bow among the wall
and cloth regions of the paintings in the
case
famous Upper
world, the rattle was Paleolithic cave of Les
employed. It was clear Trois Frères in
that auditory driving in France. If the painting
shamanism took many represents what a
forms in addition to the shaman was doing inside
use of the drum. the cave, the quiet musical
One such bow would have been a
form was the good auditory-
driving choice,
compared to the
drum, to avoid
dislodging rocks from
the cave’s ceiling.
My personal
discovery of the
effectiveness of the drum for
shamanic journeying was, of
course, just a rediscovery of what
shamans the world over had long
known. The drum is called the
‘shaman-horse’ because of its
ability to help the shaman fly to the
Upper and Lower Worlds, the beats
of the drum resembling the beats of
a horse’s hooves. The drum not
only helps one travel shamanically
but stimulates visionary
experiences. Thus, the Sami
Buryat shaman from people of northern Scandinavia call
Northern Mongolia the drum literally ‘a thing out of
wearing a fringed which pictures come.’
maykhabsha face I began to call the altered state
mask with ‘spirit accompanying the drumming (and
eyes.’ The metal also psychedelics) the ‘shamanic
strips are part of state of consciousness’ (SSC). It is
a set of orgay - not a naïve altered state of
metal shaman’s consciousness, but a state that
antlers includes knowledge of shamanic
purpose and discipline, such as that
involved in helping and healing others.
In the 1970’s, searching the
scientific literature for an
explanation of the mental effects of
drumming, I was able to locate only
three significant publications in
English on the subject. This was
both surprising and disappointing,
but perhaps drumming has been
such a natural part of our lives that
we have lacked the psychological
distance to wonder why.
Two of the three publications I
found were by Andrew Neher, who
in the early 1960’s pioneered the
scientific study of the effects of
drumming on brain wave patterns.
As a result of his laboratory
research, he concluded that
drumming produces unusual
changes in the central nervous
system. Two factors he
noted seemed
particularly important:
(1) a drum beat contains
many frequencies and
thus electrically stimulates
a variety of sensory and
motor regions of the brain
simultaneously; and (2) a
drum beat mainly contains
low frequencies and thus
can be loud and provide great
energy input without causing the
pain and damage that would
result from high-frequency sounds
of a similar amplitude. Neher also
proposed a connection to
ceremonial and religious
experience.
The third publication was by a
psychiatrist, Wolfgang Jilek, who
had studied the therapeutic effects
of the shamanistic Spirit Dances of
the Salish Indian people of British
Columbia and Washington. He and
a colleague found that the Salish
deerskin drums were predominantly
beaten four to seven times per
second during shamanistic initiation
procedures. He noted that this was
in the theta-wave EEG frequency
range, a range that ‘is expected to
be most effective in the production
of trance states.’
This was faster than the tempo
range I had found effective for
journeying, but both practices
shared a loud, monotonous beat.
If the shaman is moving about,
another type of tool is sometimes
used in shamanic journeying. It is
what I call the Siberian eye curtain.
Hanging down over the
eyes from a crown or
headdress of shamans
in Siberia and
adjacent areas, a
row of fringes
helps shamans to
see both realities
simultaneously.
When working,
the shamans
wearing these eye
curtains typically
swing their heads
left and right,
causing the perceptions
of ordinary reality to be
constantly interrupted by
darkness. These interruptions
of sight reinforce the regular
auditory interruptions of silence
produced by the drum, as I found.
Just as shamanic drumming
produces a result in consciousness
that I am calling ‘auditory driving,’
especially for journeying, the
swinging eyecurtain fringes seem to
constitute a kind of co-existing ‘optic
driving.’ The drumbeats and the
swings of eye-curtain fringes break
up ordinary reality, helping shamans
pass through them to other worlds.
For this to work, however, the
external light should be dim, so that
light does not interfere with the visual
imagery coming to the shaman.
CORE SHAMANIC PRACTICE
Over decades of my own practical
experimentation, cross-cultural
research, and fieldwork, I gradually
winnowed out underlying universal,
near-universal, and common
principles and practices of
shamanism. In the 1970’s I actively
developed methods for practicing
and teaching these principles,
continually refining and going further
with them. Partially this work was
pursued within the development of
my private practice of shamanic
healing and divination, and partially
it was done in response to requests
from other persons for training in
the methods of the shaman.
These underlying transcultural
principles of shamanic practice
provide the basis for what I named
‘core shamanism.’ Core shamanism
consists of those universal, near-
universal, and common features of
shamanism, put together with
journeys to other worlds, a
distinguishing feature of shamanism.
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
For most Westerners, learning
and practicing core shamanism,
including shamanic journeying, is a
far more productive approach than
imitating a shaman’s practices in a
single culture, for each culture has
its own symbolism, mythology, and
conceptual elaborations. If that is not
your own culture, then those
elaborations, specialisations, and
meanings will not be appropriate for
you in the way they are appropriate
for that particular indigenous people.
The hunger so many Westerners
seem to have for this long-lost
spiritual way is remarkable. In
response to requests, I began
teaching core shamanism for
practical use, giving training
workshops in the mid and late
1970’s in North America and
Europe. I especially emphasised
shamanic journeying with
The drum not only helps
one travel shamanically but
stimulates visionary experiences
drumming, which I found to be of Left: shaman’s
central importance in initiating frame drum.
Westerners into contact with the Altai people,
spirits, the essential ingredient Southern Siberia.
in shamanism and shamanic Late C19th
healing.
Gradually the training
workshops increased in
frequency, complexity, and
length. To meet the
demand, during the last
three decades or so I have
been assisted in the
teaching of the workshops by
former students who were
invited to be members of the
faculty of the Foundation for
Shamanic Studies, a nonprofit
organisation founded to save,
study, and teach shamanism and
shamanic healing worldwide.
Today presented by the
international faculty of the
Foundation for Shamanic Studies,
the teachings cover many
shamanic practices besides
journeying, including power animal
retrieval, extraction healing, soul
retrieval, divination, psychopomp
work, depossession, and very
advanced shamanic initiations that
include a great many other
practices. They are all taught within
the framework of core shamanism.
This article is an edited excerpt from
‘Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters
with Another Reality’ by Michael Harner.
Michael Harner was the founder of the
Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and the
originator of core shamanism. He was the
author of several books including ‘The
Way of the Shaman,’ ‘Hallucinogens and
Shamanism’and ‘The Jivaro: People of the
Sacred Waterfalls.’ Michael died in 2018
www.shamanism.org
Left:
Tuvan shamans
Southern Siberia
57

Above: ‘The Back in the days when chemist and
Ghost of a Flea’ microbiologist, Louis Pasteur, was
by William still proving the connections
Blake. between dirt and cross-infection,
1819-20 some French hospitals were
Egg tempera staffed by nuns. They would assure
mixture with him that everything in their ward
gold on a was spotlessly clean: after all,
hardwood panel hadn’t they meticulously laundered
(21.4 × 16.2 cm) all the linen, scrubbed and polished
the floors until they shone?
Louis knew otherwise. This was
the era when surgical instruments
were not boiled between
procedures, when midwives didn’t
wash their hands when examining
women in labour, when surgeons
wore an old frock coat in which to
perform operations - so that any
blood spatter wasn’t a problem!
Pasteur, along with Robert Koch
and Joseph Lister, showed the
Opposite: world that the presence of micro-
‘The Nightmare’ organisms had their own agenda.
by Henry Fuseli.
1781 It wasn’t until the days of
Oil on canvas compound microscopes, which
(101.6 × 127cm) enabled enough magnification, that
58 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
I ntrusions
P arasites
And O ther
B easties
Spiritual Hygiene
In Shamanic Healing
Caitlín Matthews
people could observe the micro-
organisms that lived all around us.
This was quite a shocking
discovery for the Age of Reason,
which had only recently put behind
it, images of demons and devils.
Such visions evoked paranoia.
In a global society where people
move freely from country to
country, we now understand how
diseases and contagions can
spread beyond the boundaries of
their origins, as is clear from the
present Ebola virus.
But with our faith in cutting-edge
medical practice, we believe that
such threats to our physiology will
find a cure, or that preventative
measures will contain them. After all,
we live in the world of immunology
where germs, bacteria and other
invisible presences are well
understood. We all know how to take
simple preventative measures against
dirt, infection and disease, how to
separate what is clean and whole,
from what is dirty and unwholesome.
In shamanic healing, we observe
the same principle of separation.
The two hands of healing are about
taking away and bringing things
back: returning what is healthy, but
only after we have taken away
what is unhealthy.
Just as you would clean the
grazed knee of grit before anointing
it with salve or bandages, so too
the removal of intrusions precedes
the return of power or soul,
ensuring that the system is clean.
Both procedures are as
important as the other but, to read
much shamanic literature, you
would imagine that it is only the
glamorous, re-empowering side of
healing that is important. Shamanic
students are often keener to learn
how to return soul fragments, than
they are about learning how to
remove intrusions.
WHAT ARE INTRUSIONS?
Shamanically speaking, everything
has power and spirit. Power and
spirit are not ‘evil’ in themselves,
they are neutral, but when they are serpent as a primary power animal When we encounter vomit, cat-pee or
in the wrong place, we experience when they first learn to journey, in
this as an ‘evil.’ case they mistake an intrusion for germ-laden sinks, we have the ability to
Take beetles, for example. an animal ally.
While beetles are fine in the In actuality, some people will deal with it, forthrightly and without
garden where they eat away indeed have helpful allies and
diseased foliage, beetles in your power animals that may be bees,
fuss. This is a helpful analogy to bear in
bed or on your plate are another butterflies, spiders or snakes, but mind when spirit intrusions, residues,
matter; I’m sure we would all these will feel very different in
agree. character from intrusive spirits, and miasmas are present in our souls,
though not every beginner may be
Throughout the world, there are so discerning! we can feel unclean, polluted or invaded
clear boundaries about keeping Intrusions can have the
things separate from each other: appearance of a host or swarm of presences who are lost or astray, or
most cultures, for example, keep a colonisers, like the gatherings of who still hold undue influence over
strict barrier between the living and dirt or residue that you find in a the host, or residues of abusive
the dead, with people of a certain long-forgotten outbuilding where people still alive, whose lives have
caste or skill-set there to attend to cobwebs and other detritus pile up. tangled with our own. Intrusions are
the deceased’s body. An intrusion can also have rarely depicted, for good reason.
Similarly, when it comes to humanoid forms: ancestral Some of the most notable
matters of psychic health and
spiritual hygiene, shamans and
medicine people have their own
craft in separating what has
become mixed and bringing clarity
and integrity once again.
For most healers, spiritual
cleanliness and clearing are akin to
housework: we all need to do a
little cleaning everyday so that our
home environment stays healthy.
When we encounter vomit, cat-
pee or germ-laden sinks, we have
the ability to deal with it,
forthrightly and without fuss. This is
a helpful analogy to bear in mind
when we encounter mixed realities
in our shamanic work. When spirit
intrusions, residues, and miasmas
are present in our souls, we can
feel unclean, polluted or invaded.

So what is an intrusion? An
intrusion can be anything in spirit
form that enters, invades or
clusters within its host. What do
intrusions look like? How do we
recognise them? The inheritance of
dualistic faiths in our society can still
fuel our paranoia, shaping intrusion
in human imagination into many
monstrous forms.
Both the demons and homunculi
of medieval times, as well as the
resurrected Gothic horrors of the
Romantic era, inform our cultural
imagination, veering uneasily
between the thought of suppressed
psychological entities, or forms of
uncleanly fears and fancies. Some
intrusions can have the appearance
of insects, many-legged, or
serpentine beings, which is one of
the reasons that some shamanic
teachers instruct beginners not to
bring back an insect, spider or

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 59

Below and right: drawings of spirits and intrusions
Inuit spirits were those made by Knud
drawn by Knud Rasmussen from descriptions of
Rasmussen spirits given to him when he went
among the Inuit in the early 20th
century.
Students and clients often ask me,
but how did the intrusion get there?
Opportunism is the name of the
intrusions’ game. If we leave an
opening, something may come in.
Sometimes it is invited in, because
the host believes that some benefit
may accrue. Or an intrusion may take
residency out of coercion - as in the
case of abuse, or due to a violation.
We can easily see how the
spirits of addictions come to fill up
empty spaces in our lives. Too
60 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
much TV, or food and binge
drinking, substance abuse or other
kinds of behaviour can invite a spirit
of intrusion to take up residence
within us, when we have suffered a
loss, or are not fulfilling our life to
its fullest extent.
While we can be unconsciously
collusive with the opportunity that an
intrusion has taken, largely speaking,
intrusion does not come about with
our conscious consent. It is something
that starts small and grows.
What does having an intrusion
feel like? Take the analogy of the
person who wears contact lenses:
they know which is their eye and
which is their contact lens. But
should the wind then blow grit into
their eye as well, they will also be
painfully aware of what is a piece of
grit. This sense of a ‘foreign body’
in their space, or being, is often
very clear to the host, who will
report feeling a strange
displacement that they can’t
account for.
They may also feel ‘overseen,’
stalked, or ‘uncomfortable’ in an
undefined way, overshadowed or in
the presence of something alien.
Some people have even described
this discomfort with a metaphor of
indigestion, ‘it’s like I’ve eaten
something bad, it just sits there, it
doesn’t move, but it feels toxic.’
The nature of dirt of any kind is
that it builds up and accumulates.
The same kind of thing happens
when we do not observe psychic
hygiene in our own beings. When
there is a gap or space in our
power or soul, intrusion can build
up there and become a more
serious matter.
THE FORMATION OF ENTITIES
Because we live in a sanitised world
of tidied-up order, our society has
purged the imagination of the kinds
of beings that our ancestors feared,
beings that they called by a variety
of names: demons, imps, incubi etc.
Such names are not so helpful to
us now because they make us
demonise intrusions. We do not
have to subscribe to Christian or
other beliefs to understand that
intrusions can take on an
intelligence and life of their own
when they are left unchecked.
These kinds of accumulated
instrusions can become parasitic
entities in their own right, whose life
is dependent upon that of a human
being or an unhappy dwelling.
Let me give you an example. A
few years back I went to spiritually
clear a house for a 93 year old
woman. She lived in a one bedroom
upstairs flat from which she hadn’t
moved for some years, and she was
a hoarder. Not only did she keep
everything – and I mean everything
– she also had the contents from
her deceased parents’ house stored
in the flat also.
I began to wonder whether this
lady had misunderstood my
function when I first came through
the door, as I could certainly have
brought my mop, bin-bags and
cleaning fluids, rather than my
house-clearing and shamanic kit!
It became clear that, before any
spiritual cleaning, I would have to
simply clear a space to set up a
pocket handkerchief shrine to work
from, as there wasn’t a clear
surface anywhere. The flat, which
was more like a repository than a
home, seriously needed a cleaner
to physically clean it first, but
apparently the council regarded her
flat as too dangerous for their
operatives to enter and so this
fragile old woman had had no help
to get straight.
Her habit had begun life as a
wise economy when, in her youth,
her parents had inculcated in her
the necessity to keep and reuse
things. In the nineteen forties and
fifties this was a fine habit, but in
the throw-away culture of the 21st
century, the effects of this habit
were gross: used tea-bags lined
the sink to ‘dry out,’ soiled food
cartons accumulated in skyscraper
piles in which families of flies had
taken up residence.
The helpers who brought her
food rarely took away any rubbish
when they left, so I did what I could
to make a clean space in her
kitchen and living area, to remove
some of the unhygienic nastiness
and began to go systematically
around the flat to check what else
had taken up residence there,
having to climb over stacked boxes
and piles of newspapers that were
piled to waist level, to do so.
Just as her flat was physically
full of stuff that had never been
cleared away regularly, so in her
bedroom, the doubts and fears of
many years had created an entity
of their own which sat on her bed.
The entity wasn’t greatly intelligent,
it wasn’t evil. It brooded there by
her pillow, where years of anxiety,
loneliness and depression had
accumulated in this one spot,
where she spent unhappy and
comfortless nights prey to this
entity, which was feeding off her
fears and growing in magnitude.
This was clearly what needed to
be tackled before anything else,
since without its removal, no-one
stood a chance of getting this flat
cleared and clean on any level.
With the help of spirit helpers, who
enclosed it, the entity was removed
and dispersed. Then I cleansed the
bedroom thoroughly, bringing in
blessing to fill up the space.
Shamanic healing was given to
the old lady herself as an important
part of the task. Having done my
best for her, I decided to leave my
little shrine with her, both the cloth
itself and the objects upon it,
including a little ceramic dove, to
act as a reminder of the hope and
spiritual support that had been
invoked there, so that the blessed
spirits would have a seat in that
most beleaguered of homes.
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DIAGNOSING INTRUSION Opportunism is the name
This was obviously an extreme
case of intrusion, both in the soul of the intrusions’ game. If we
and in the home of this lady. We
can see how it was given leave an opening, something may
opportunity by her loneliness and
her habit of hoarding.
come in... we can easily see how
Interestingly, when I first spoke to the spirits of addictions come to
her over the phone and asked what
symptoms she was experiencing, fill up empty spaces in our lives...
she said she had the sense of
being spied upon. Rationalising this binge drinking, substance abuse
uneasy feeling, she said that a or other kinds of behaviour
radio mast had been recently
erected at the end of her road and, can invite a spirit of intrusion
though she knew it sounded stupid,
wondered if her strange feeling to take up residence within us
emanated from this?
This is where it’s necessary to
be cautious, of course, because
when a client speaks like this, you
need to check for mental stability.
But because the concept of
intrusion is not commonly
understood in our society, the
metaphors describing it can often
sound very paranoid – people will
often giggle uneasily when making
comparisons of this kind, knowing
that these statements sound
bizarre to their own ears.
This sense of uneasy humour is
a good guide to the client’s
condition: it shows that they are
aware of something being wrong,
but that they equally know that
proper explanation is beyond their
conceptual language or current
understanding.
61
Possessory intrusions that dominate a
person’s soul have historically been
seen as ‘demonic possession’ in
many cultures, including our own.
Unfortunately, the only models
for intrusion in our culture tend to
be found in horror movies; because of this,
a client often comes with great fear, if they
have any awareness of their condition
Because the sense of ‘a foreign
body’ in diagnosing intrusion can
also describe a whole raft of
physiological conditions, we also
need to eliminate ordinary physical
causation before we proceed.
I well remember a man who
came for shamanic healing who,
when asked to describe his
symptoms of intrusion burst out in
a snarling voice: “I am the devil”
and vomited violently and copiously
into a hastily-proffered intrusion
bowl that I keep handy.
It was clear from the context
that this was not a ‘demonic
possession’ but a cry for help. I
immediately got medical assistance
for him and he was rushed to
hospital where, after a battery of
tests, a brain tumour was
diagnosed. End of ‘demonic
possession,’ and feelings of
intrusion which, in this case, was of
physical causation!
Below: Siberian This raises the idea that people
shaman’s spirit experience their intrusion as a
extraction tools: ‘spirit possession.’
an iron hook and Possessory intrusions that
eagle claw used dominate a person’s soul have
to pull out historically been seen as ‘demonic
intruding spirits, possession’ in many cultures,
and a knife including our own.
blade to cut Disease has spirit
them away and when that
spirit
62 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
becomes more dominant than the
person hosting it, then we have
problems. Unfortunately, the only
models for intrusion in our culture
tend to be found in horror movies;
because of this, a client often
comes with great fear if they have
any awareness of their condition.
Another rationale of
intrusion can be the rather
prevalent assertion that the
client ‘has been cursed’ or is ‘under
psychic attack.’ I will write more in
another article about the effects of
actual sorcery,
but suffice it to
say here that,
when most
people speak
like this, they
are expressing,
via this emotive
language, their
sense of invasion.
The sense that
something is living or
lodging inside you or in your soul is
scary. This is why we must be so
careful not to demonise an intrusion
or use language that is going to
freak out the client. ‘Instrusion’ is a
neutral word and in dialogue with
a client, I draw an unjudgemental
analogy between intrusion
and dirt, which most people
easily understand.
REMOVAL OF INSTRUSIONS
Methods of removing intrusions are
various: they usually fall into two
categories: either where the intrusion
is removed from the body of the
client, or where it is removed within
the course of a shamanic journey:
sometimes both are necessary.
Having spirit helpers who
specialise in extraction can help
you as a first resort, of course.
They are the experts and will often
step between the practitioner and
the intrusion, so that you do not
touch what is removed.
However, having a good
extraction kit is helpful. Things that
help you get to grips with the
intrusion and enable it to leave the
client’s being may include the spirits
of herbs or smoke, as well as tools
which you’ve been shown to make
by your spirit helpers. These tools
induce the intrusive spirits to leave,
and you may also have special
songs that you sing and rituals that
you perform, all of which have been
given to you by the spirits too.
Extraction tools are often kept
separate from your other shamanic
kit. My tools consist of a steel bowl
that can be easily cleaned: like a
Hindu, I wouldn’t even think of
using ceramic.
Into this bowl anything I remove
is placed and instantly covered with
a cloth and taken out of my work
area into the garden. The stones,
feathers, smoke, stones, rattles,
knives, and other tools are all
cleaned before and after use.
Any liquids or food offerings left
in the room after an extraction are
removed immediately, as these are
possible sites on which intrusion
might fall.
With miasmic intrusions that
cannot be removed easily outside
the journey, any removal is done
with the help of one’s spirit helpers,
who conduct the intrusion safely
away within the journey.
The elements may play their
part in this work, as fire
transforms, waters cleanse, earth
absorbs and winds clear away. I
also use salt and herbs extensively.
What is dirt to our eyes, may be
food to extraction spirit helpers,
who can often take the forms of
scavenger animals: just as dogs,
vultures and other carrion eaters
can absorb and change what would
be toxic to the rest of us.
Where instrusions are removed
or taken to, is not usually something
I enquire about, as long as it is not
back into my client. I am assured
that they go back to their rightful
place, or are dispersed or changed.
This is not work to do around
babies or young children, and if the
client is pregnant, I’ve been shown
a method of extraction that ensures
that the child is shielded.
least the client is clear that the
intrusion is gone!
So how can we avoid intrusion?
Without physical rest or regular
spiritual nourishment, we can
unconsciously create the optimum
conditions for intrusion to flourish.
While we are engaged,
connected strongly with the spirits
who inspire us, we can live without
fear of intrusion, because these
things fill us up with the power to
live. It is in the vacant moments,
when doubt, fear or uncertainty
enter into the emptiness that
instrusions can enter in, or when we
are under compulsion or coercion.
To be as full with power and soul as
we can be is the best preventative.
If you are practising your
shamanic craft, then you can
journey regularly to maintain the
pathways of life clearly and keep
your practice bright. Good missions
to journey on include:
• ‘Show me how to be true to my
vocation.’
While we are engaged,
connected strongly with
the spirits who inspire us,
we can live without fear
of intrusion, because
these things fill us up
with the power to live
• ‘Help me to let go of what
doesn’t serve my life.’
• ‘What needs to be cleared away
so that life can flow once again?’
• ‘Help me to transform fear into
power.’
• ‘Reconnect me more strongly
with the sources of power and
inspiration.’
In this way, in the words of Gandhi:
‘Your beliefs become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your habits
Your habits become your values
Your values become your destiny.’
When we are living our beliefs,
then everything works to the full
and we need not be afraid of long-
leggedy intrusions and other
beasties.
Caitlín Matthews is the author of ‘Singing
the Soul Back Home,’ ‘The Psychic
Protection Handbook’ and ‘Celtic Visions,’
and is currently at work on her study
of the ancestors,
‘The Book of Ancestral Welcome.’ She
has had a shamanic practice in Oxford for
25 years. www.hallowquest.org.uk

When something has come into

your being, it is essential that you
have a good sense that this
intrusion has left it! We can see
how shamans in traditional cultures
often deal with intrusion by passing
it into a stone or other object as
part of the extraction.
Anthropologists have accused
shamans of ‘palming’ an object, like
any conjuror, in order to ‘convince’
the client that the intrusion has
departed and that they have ‘taken
the object’ out of the client’s body.
The fact that the removal of
intrusion is often accompanied by a
loud shout or song, and the
intrusion disposed of with a flourish,
may have led anthropologists into
confusing a sense of showmanship
with the trickery of a conjuror, but at

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 63

 The spirits said: “Go to Russia

Healing and conduct healing work on the

battlefields of the Second World
War.” This message came to me
the on a cold winters day in January
2012, while I was walking along

Lost Souls a trail, deep in the wilderness.

I was shocked at the size of
the task, and so over the next

of few days I connected with my

Stalingrad spirit helpers to verify if the

message had really come
‘from the light’ and was really
something I should pay heed to.
My main spirit helper confirmed
Klaus Paasche to me that the task was real,
and that I should go and perform
healing work for the German and
Russian soldiers who had died in
the Battle of Stalingrad, saying
to me: “You need to help the
trapped souls in and around the
city who are calling you”

64 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

The Battle of Stalingrad was a
majorly decisive battle of World War
Two, where the invading German
Nazi forces fought the troops of the
Soviet Union for control of the city -
which is now called Volgograd. The
battle took place between August
23, 1942 and February 2, 1943,
and it was among the bloodiest
battles in the history of warfare,
with an estimated combined
casualty total mounting to upwards
of two million souls.
PLANNING THE TRIP
As I became used to the idea of
going to do this work, I realised
that the message from my spirits
was not actually a total surprise to
me. I already had an inkling for
some time that I would go there
eventually. I began to wonder about
how the spirits had prepared me. I
had grown up in Germany and
studied Russian for several years;
was this all part of a long term plan
to prepare me for this work?
But despite this lack of surprise,
I must admit that I felt
overwhelmed by what seemed like
the enormous task looming in front
of me. I didn’t know a single
person in Russia who could help
me in the healing work, and the
feeling of being out of my depth
was not helped by my shamanic
teacher in America told me that
she didn’t know anybody in Russia
who could help me either. So I
journeyed to my spirit helpers to
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ask for advice and help. and they
assured me that I could do the work
on my own, because I had prepared
for it with work I had done the
previous year. The previous work
my spirits were referring to was
when I had gone to visit the site of
the death camp at Auschwitz to
perform psychopomp work there
the year before.
My main spirit helper also told
me that I would be safe doing the
work in Russia as long as I called
upon her and all my spiritual
helpers, her words to me were:
“Regardless of what will happen on
your journey, you just have trust in
us and you will be safe”.
My first challenge began when
making my travel arrangements and
applying for a Russian visa. To my
relief, and a certain amount of
surprise, it became apparent to me
that my spirit helpers were standing
by their commitment to help me, as I
discovered that a friend of mine knew
someone in Moscow willing to
organise my entire trip to Russia. And
after only two months of planning and
preparation, I received my visa with
only minor complications.
PREPARING FOR CEREMONY
With the practical travel arrangements
in place, my major focus now
switched to planning the ceremonies I
would perform in Russia.
Since I had no information about
the battlefields in Volgograd, I talked
to the German embassy in Left: Barmaley
Washington and was told that Fountain in
Germany had built a cemetery for Volgagrad
their soldiers about 30 miles outside (Stalingrad).
of the city, but that there was no Known as
public transport to the cemetery. the ‘Children's
Since I was under the Khorovod’ or
impression the actual psychopomp the ‘Children's
work needed to be done at the Round Dance.’
cemetery site, or the battlefields, I Erected in 1939,
journeyed to my spirits and asked it was inspired
for help. My spirit helper told me, I by a children’s
didn’t have to go to the cemetery, poem by Russian
but instead I could do the ceremony writer Korney
somewhere in a city park. With this Chukovsky.
information I trusted my spirits Photographer
would help me to find the park and Emmanuel
the specific place for the ceremony Yevzerikhin took
within it, while I was in Volgograd. I this iconic image
was absolutely convinced that I of it on August
would be guided and protected. 23, 1942, just
Because I was instructed to do after a heavy
psychopomp work for both German German air raid
and Russian soldiers, I had to take a
class to refresh my Russian
conversational skills, and again,
being looked after, my teacher Olga
offered to help me with translating
the on-site prayers into Russian.
My spirits suggested that I Below:Russian
performed the ceremony around troops fly the
the summer solstice in June of Soviet flag
2012, so I arranged the dates of from shattered
my journey, first stopping off at the rooftops during
home of my sister who lived in the battle of
Berlin, then travelling onto Stalingrad
Moscow, then St. Petersburg and
lastly to Volgograd. I felt that my
preparations were complete, that I
was protected and ready to go.
65
 Exhausted, war-weary German
troops support each other on
the outskirts of Stalingrad
Marsovo Polye (‘Field of Mars’),
St Petersburg (which was called
Leningrad at the time of the war)
66 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
TESTS TO MY RESOLVE
I planned to leave for my trip on
June 3rd, but because I wanted to
see my daughter and my
grandchildren in Connecticut, I
went to visit them a few weeks
before this date.
I spent several days with my
grandchildren, running through the
forest and playing with them in tall
grasses, but when I returned to
Maryland I began to feel a little
unwell, and went to see my doctor,
only to discover that I had
contracted lyme disease,
presumably from an insect bite in
the long grass.
My partner panicked, and my
doctor advised me very seriously to
cancel my trip to Russia and take a
course of 90 antibiotic pills. I confess
I didn’t take the situation very
seriously and ended up being very
sick with tremendous muscle pain.
It was a very difficult situation.
Was this a warning from the spirits
not to go, or was this the work of
‘hostile forces’ that wanted to keep
me from doing the healing work? I
remembered being confronted with
a similar test in the past, so, wisely
or foolishly, I decided to stick to my
plans to go, and continued with my
preparations and travel planning as
scheduled.
On the day of my departure I
felt sick, had a huge golf ball size
swollen spot on my neck, and
severe muscle pain, and when I
arrived in Berlin, discovered that
my luggage hadn’t come with me.
I was tempted to take the next
flight home. But, I remembered the
promise of my spirit helpers, and
decided to stay on course.
Maybe it was because of my
decision to stay, that my healing
began to unfold and my lost
luggage arrived the next day.
Everything was looking better after
I had spent three days with my
sister in Berlin, and at that point, I
decided to stop taking my
antibiotics. I immediately felt my
spirits were with me and everything
would go well.
ONWARDS TO RUSSIA
I arrived in Moscow’s airport on a
rainy afternoon. An internet friend
of mine, whom I hadn’t physically
met before, was waiting for me at
the exit, holding my name sign
upside down with a beautiful bright
smile on her face. She was
standing there for me like an angel,
ready to serve a higher purpose.
I spent several days in Moscow
as a tourist, taking the opportunity
to practice my Russian in
restaurants and grocery stores, and
after this I left the city by taking the
Red Arrow train to St. Petersburg
which lay some 400 miles away. I
shared my compartment with a
father and his 10-year-old
daughter. He spoke little English
and I spoke little Russian, but we
had a great time together.
Olga, who had greeted me at
the airport in Moscow when I first
arrived in Russia, told me that she
had a friend called Natascha in St.
Petersburg and she asked
Natascha if she would meet me at
the railway station. To my surprise,
the train arrived on time and there
was Olga's friend, holding a piece
of paper with my name on it.
Natascha drove me to the hotel
I had booked, and up in my room
she opened up her heart to me and
told me her life story. As she was
crying and laughing, I wondered if
this was the purpose of my visit to
St. Petersburg. Natascha began to
share from her heart, feeling
confident and safe with me, so I
just listened intently. I became
aware of a connection with her.
During my exploration of the
city, I visited the Winter Palace and
Marsovo Polye (the ‘Field of
Mars’), a large park next door to
the palace, and while sitting on a
bench by the ‘eternal flame’ which
has burned since 1957 in the
centre of the park, I received a
message from my spirit helpers to
do some healing work right there.
Over the next few days I did
some research to find out more
about the history of the Field of
Mars; I learned that although the
park dates back to the C18th, I
had in fact been sitting on a mass
grave site connected to an event in
1917, when unarmed Russian
peasants had gathered around the
Winter Palace with a petition for
Czar Nicolas II. The peasants had
asked for improvements to their
living conditions, but the Czar,
without even talking to the
peasants, had ordered the guard to
clear the area, and more than 100
people had been killed and buried
in a mass grave there.
A HEALING IN THE PARK
I called my new friend Natascha to
ask her to support me during a
healing ceremony the next day at
Field of Mars. She promised to
help me, and to meet with me the
next day in the park close to the
eternal flame.
While I waited I became acutely
aware that the park was a tourist
attraction and served as a social
space and general meeting-up area
for many local people. I began to
get worried that the local police
might interfere with the ceremony,
or even arrest me, and also began
to worry that people in the area
might get curious and want to take
pictures of me during the ceremony
- something I was anxious to avoid.
While I was
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contemplating this, two young women
approached me and one of them
introduced herself as Natascha’s
daughter. She told me that Natascha
had to work, and so she and her
friend would support my ceremony
instead. I was overwhelmed again by
the kindness of the Russian people.
These two young women, both in
their twenties, who have never seen
me before, had stepped forward to
offer their support.
After we introduced ourselves (I
noticed both girls spoke English
well) I found a spot that would give
us some protection from onlookers,
and after settling down with them
by a bush, I began to prepare for
the ceremony.
As I did this I realised that the
light around us was dimming, and
dark clouds were gathering above
us. Suddenly heavy rain began to
pour down, and a wind blew
through the park. In just a few
minutes all the people who had
been gathered in the park
were gone and we had
the place to ourselves. I
wondered at that
moment if there was
a connection
between the
healing work and
the spirits of
the weather?
While the
two women and I
were huddling
under a bush more
wet than dry,
the strong
wind blew my
Russian prayer notes
away. This felt so
much like the spirits
saying to me “you
don’t need them, you
can memorise your
prayers,” that I
continued to
prepare the circle
for the healing.
I remembered my main spirit The enormous
helper’s words, “Protect yourself 52 meter high
with Divine light, use tobacco Родина-мать
around your group of human зовёт! (The
helpers, call upon your spiritual Motherland
helpers and ask for protection”. Calls!) statue,
I did as I had been told, I sang part of the
my power song and played my Mamayev Hill
drum, I filled my sacred pipe with Monument,
tobacco and began the prayers in Volgograd
Russian and German. My two
helpers supported me by holding
crystals and medicine stones, and
made prayers in Russian.
While I was smoking the pipe, I
asked the Creator to build a ‘bridge
of light’ for the lost souls who had
gathered in that place. Once this
bridge was built, these souls
would, in groups or singly,
complete the transition to the
higher dimension by crossing it
from this realm to the next. Some
souls were ready to leave
immediately, some hesitated and
needed to be encouraged, and
others asked to be guided by family
members who were already in the
other dimension. And, of course
there were - as there always are -
some who were not yet ready to
move on.
ONWARDS TO STALINGRAD
After a week in St. Petersburg, it
was time for me to get on to the
main focus of my trip to Russia, to
work with the dead of the battle of
Stalingrad. I flew the thousand
miles south to Volgograd, and was
picked up by the caretaker of the
cemetery dedicated to the
German soldiers who lost
their lives during the battle.
While we were driving to my
hotel, he asked me why I made the
reservation at the Hotel Touristic.
He told me that it was the oldest
hotel in town, built during the time
of the communists, and added that
it was falling apart.
I told him that I didn’t book it
myself, but that it had been
booked for me by the person who
had helped me with my
reservations, and that they had
recommended this place.
67
 Below: Russian When I arrived at the hotel and
children hiding checked in however, I understood
in the Stalingrad why the caretaker had made his
ruins during comments. No one on the hotel
the battle staff spoke English¸ the toilet
cistern leaked; and the windows
were broken... I could go on and
add to the list of woe, but I
remembered my spirits saying, “We
will be with you, protect and guide
you.” I was glad they were.
Surviving the first night, with the
hotel still standing, I ate my
breakfast and wondered where to
have the ceremony.
The River Volga flowed next to
the hotel, which, despite being
admired by many Russian writers
and poets, now had its banks
covered with trash, so I felt that
was out of the question. The hotel
The souls of children struggled
with their situation the most.
They all looked for their parents
and families, and were very
confused and afraid, looking for
help and protection. Often I had
to go - in a shamanic journey -
to find their mothers or fathers,
and get them to come down and
take their child back with them
68 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
didn’t have a map of the city, so I
had no idea where the parks were
for me to use one of those, and my
Russian was not good enough to
explain to the hotel manager why I
was even there and what I wanted.
So, in trust, I simply decided to let
my spirit helpers guide me to an
appropriate place as I wandered
about the city. I grabbed a bottle of
water and set off.
After walking for about twenty
minutes, I saw a huge sculpture
called Mamayev Hill Monument. It
had been erected in 1967 and
commemorates the battle of
Stalingrad. I decided I had to visit
it, and so climbed several hundred
steps and arrived at the top of the
hill to see the statue close up.
While searching for the right
spot that would protect me from
the sight of curious people and
guards, I spotted a place with trees
which seemed to be calling to me.
They seemed to be saying: “Come
to us. We have been waiting for
you. We will protect you for the
entire time.” I felt extremely
grateful for being able to serve the
spirits, and this place seemed an
ideal venue.
At sunrise the next morning I
felt excited and thrilled; but also a
little fearful of the unknown that lay
ahead of me. After six months of
preparations, the day had finally
come for me to proceed with the
ceremonies.
My backpack was ready to go
with my complete portable altar, my
drum, rattle, tobacco, crystals and
other sacred items. I was
instructed by my main spirit helper
to also pick up four stones on my
way up to the sacred place, as
these stones would represent the
four sacred directions.
I remember that day vividly; it
was a very hot day, and carrying
around 20 kilos of extra weight on
my back and a jug of water in my
hand didn’t help as I climbed the
stairs up to the monument - the
sun was burning down on me and
there were no clouds in sight.
I arrived at my chosen spot and
began the preparations for
ceremony. Following the
instructions from my spirit helpers,
I placed the stones in the four
directions and buried a crystal in
the center of the circle and sealed
and protected the circle I was
performing the ceremony in with a
strong prayer of protection, and
with a line of tobacco around the
perimeter.
After smudging the site, the
direction maker stones, the altar
and myself, I invited my spirit
helpers and asked again for
protection. I remembered my main
spirit helper’s warning that I needed
to strongly trust in my spirits and
they would keep me safe.
Next, I sang my power song,
played my drum and filled my
sacred pipe with tobacco. While I
smoked the pipe, I again asked the
Creator to make a bridge of light to
the other dimension, and began the
prayers in Russian and German.
It was wonderful for me to ‘see’
souls come in groups to the light:
German and Russian soldiers,
together with those who had been
caught up in the battle, women
with their children, and children by
themselves who had no families,
and young men holding old people,
who could not walk by themselves
any more.
The souls of the children - as I
had seen in my experiences at
Auschwitz - struggled with their
situation the most. They all looked
for their parents and families, and
were very confused and afraid,
looking for help and protection.
Often I had to go to the other
dimension myself in a shamanic
journey - to the world of light - to
find their mothers or fathers, and
get them to come down and take
their child back with them.
I continued the work until all the
souls who wanted to go had left
the earth, and then I asked the
final question; “Is there still
someone who is willing to leave?”
All in all, it was a joyful experience
to ‘see’ that once the first soul was
willing to move along the ray of
light, then other souls became
unafraid and followed.
I felt that some souls were not
ready to leave their current place of
misery, and so I repeated the
ceremony on three consecutive
days, so these souls would have an
opportunity to leave too if they
wanted to take it. I closed the
ceremony each day by thanking my
spirit helpers, my ancestors and
the spirit of Mother Earth for their
support and protection.
Even though the sky was
completely blue with no clouds, I
felt a gentle mist and rain drops
falling upon me following each
ceremony.
After the ceremony on the
second day something else
happened regarding weather which
reminded me of my experience after
my ceremony in St. Petersburg.
When I had finished the ceremony, I
went down the hill away from the
statue, for an early dinner at a
nearby restaurant; while I was
eating my Russian fish soup, sitting
outside the restaurant on some
decking enjoying the afternoon, a
black cloud moved rapidly in my
direction. Minutes later rain came
down in buckets, and again I
wondered if there was a connection
between the ceremonies I was
doing and the rain.
AN IMPROMPTU DEPOSESSION
Something else happened at the
end of the second day too. While I
was preparing to go to bed, I
began to visualise and fantasise
what it would be like to jump off
the balcony from my room - which
was on the 8th floor - falling all the
way down to the pavement in front
of the hotel. I saw myself lying
there, with people standing around
me shocked and confused. An
inner voice told me how wonderful
the ‘free flight’ through the air
would be.
Because I had never ever been
suicidal in my life and had no
mental health issues, I was aware
that this voice was not me, but
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
instead was likely to be coming
from another spirit or entity that
was trying to control me. Because
of my training in shamanism, I
realised that I had been possessed
by a lost soul during my
psychopomp ceremony.
And so, with the support of my
spirit helpers, I was able to connect
with that lost soul to let it know
that it didn’t belong here with me,
but instead it needed to move on to
the other dimension. With my spirit
helpers advice we agreed that I
would take time the next day to do
ceremony to help the lost soul
leave my body and go to the light;
but just to be safe and eliminate
any doubts I might have, I blocked
the door to the balcony before I
went to bed.
The next morning I helped the
lost soul, trapped within me, to
leave me and go join its
companions on their journey to the
other dimension. I finished the
ceremony by again asking: “Is
there still any soul who wants to
leave? Even then I saw souls on
the sideline who were not ready to
go, so I promised them that I would
leave the bridge of light open to
the higher dimension and journey
to this place again from my home.
I left Volgograd with a feeling of
inner peace and happiness. I did
my best in the healing work that
the spirits had asked me to do -
easing the pain and suffering of the
souls of fallen soldiers in
Stalingrad. At the same time, I
thought of the millions of souls of
fallen soldiers that are still trapped
in the middle world.
The journey to Russia had been
a test in trusting my spirit helpers
and surrendering to whatever the
outcome would be. I remain strong
in that trust, but of course I know
that I might be tested in the future.
When will I be called again?
I was overwhelmed by the
kindness and generosity of the
people whom I met; they trusted
me even though I was a complete
stranger, and stood by their word -
even when difficult situations
occurred. My spirits had been right,
regardless of what had happen on
my journey, I had trust in them and
I was safe.
Klaus Paasche was born in what is now
Poland, and went to high school in East
Germany. He escaped to West Germany
at the age of 19 and eventually settled in
New York in the USA. His life long
interest in spirituality eventually lead him to
work with Native American teachers and
others. His interest in Shamanism began
in 2007 after he met a student of Sandra
Ingerman.
His interest in psychopomp started during
a pipe ceremony with his Mohawk teacher
in Canada. During that ceremony souls
spoke to him and urged him to go to Below: the fully
Auschwitz and do the healing ceremony in restored Barmaley
the concentration camp. Fountain in
alphaklaus@verizon.net Volgograd today
69
 WHEN Nick: Shamanism is proliferating in the West -
do you have any thoughts about that?

Sandra: Indeed, we are seeing an incredible resurgence

WE FOCUS of people called to practice shamanism, but there is

some difference of opinion among experienced teachers
about bridging shamanism into the Western World.

SIMPLE
In many ways the discussion is somewhat
ON THE meaningless, because of the numbers of people
already practising today. It’s already happening, there’s
no way to turn back at this point. How do you say to
tens of thousands of people, this isn’t supposed to be

WAYS
happening, and try to stop the process?
I get a little confused by some of the controversy
- it’s almost like listening to American Democrat and
Republican parties fight in Congress and the Senate,
while there are millions of starving children being
sold into slavery, women being abused,
wars, and the destruction of our
environment and planet.

There is a need for people to wake up

and live a more conscious way of life.
While people debate about Westerners
practicing shamanism, it seems like the
helping spirits are finding a wealth of people to
work with and through, who have no idea there
is a controversy. These people are like ‘innocents’ -
in the best sense of the word. They don’t read any
shamanic magazines or newsletters. I continue to
hear accounts from them of some of the most
extraordinary and profound journeys that I’ve heard
in over thirty years of teaching.
The spirits are sharing incredible, life-changing
information with them, and helping them bring
through healing methods. For instance there are
people practising shamanism who are teachers in
schools who encourage their students to connect
with the trees and get messages from them, and
connect with the animal world, and learn how to live
with honour and respect for all of life.
There are people who bridge shamanic work into
the world of business, working with the guidance of
their helping spirits. In business meetings they are
raising consciousness about the need to stop
Sandra Ingerman projects that might destroy an entire species or
damage the environment.
talks to People in the medical and psychological
Nicholas Breeze Wood professions are getting information from
their helping spirits, so their patients
about the need for simple, might, for example, go through
grounded, shamanic practice chemotherapy and not get such a
negative impact from the

70 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

treatment. They are receiving
guidance to inspire their clients
how to improve their state of health
and well-being.
A range of people are learning
about the shamanic ways of
viewing death, and are able to sit
with clients and loved ones as they
are dying and share ways of being
a loving, calm, and peaceful
presence. For example they might
share; “Yes, if you see your
ancestors standing there in the
room, they are here to help you,”
instead of running out to get
doctors to administer medications
to stop the hallucinations.
So people are performing
shamanic work in beautiful and
inspiring ways, and they’re not
aware of any controversy going on.
So I have to wonder, if some of us
are being left behind...
When you and I started
discovering shamanism in the
eighties, there wasn’t any
information around. We were
the first generation doing it here
in the West, so we had to feel
our way forward. I think many of
us got a bit politically correct -
we were wary of becoming
‘wannabes,’ and didn’t want to
take on cultural baggage. But at
the same time we wanted to do
it authentically, and that was a
difficult path to tread.
I understand that. When we first
started out there was no internet,
no emails, or any way to
communicate with each other, and
so we were forced to practise
direct revelation and learn directly
through our helping spirits, we had
to find our own ways to incorporate
our work with others.
And that’s one
of the
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shadow sides that I do see with the
resurgence of shamanism today.
There is a whole culture that has not
been brought up in the practice of
direct revelation, and doesn’t know
how to enter into a process of self-
reflection about how to work with
the personal guidance they receive
from their helping spirits. When they
get information in their journeys, or
time spent in nature, they turn to
others to interpret their experiences.
In doing so they give their power
away by letting other people
interpret symbols and metaphors
shared by their helping spirits.
Shamanism requires taking
responsibility for self-reflection,
going out into nature, sitting for
weeks, or even months, if needs
be. During my first journey, where I
met with my guardian spirit in 1980, I
received a powerful one sentence
answer. I am still reflecting on all the
multiple levels of this answer all
these years later!
I really yearn, as many
practitioners do, for the days
before we could network with each
other, the times we were forced
into our own ‘vision quest’ process
around the work, as you were.
When I started studying
shamanism and practising in San
Francisco in 1980, there were only a
few books written on shamanism. But
even then there was such a wealth of
workshops going on, and so many
teachers. There were a lot of
discussions and judgments about who
should be doing what, and comparing
the work people were doing.
But we just had to find
our own way, had
to rely
While people debate about practising
shamanism, it seems like the spirits
are finding a wealth of people to
work with, who have no idea there
is a controversy. These people are
like ‘innocents’ - in the best sense
of the word... So I have to wonder, if
some of us are being left behind...
on our own helping spirits and
methods that worked, so we could
help clients with the challenges that
people were - and are still - facing.
Yes, back then no-one had
heard of shamanism, but now it
has become an incredible buzz
word. Now everything is
shamanic! For me that’s a
difficulty - the word and concept
are getting diluted because
people apply it to everything.
I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and
when I went to the store one day I
saw a ‘shaman shampoo’. I almost
had a heart attack!
What’s happening is, the
practice is being diluted because
many do not understand what the
word ‘shamanism’ means
anymore. At the same time I
find that the endless
discussions -
trying to
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 I went to the store one
day and saw a ‘shaman
shampoo’. I almost
had a heart attack!
What’s happening is,
the practice is being
diluted because
many do not
understand what
the word
‘shamanism’
means anymore
define what is and isn’t
shamanism - can get so
extreme. It isn’t really
helping to educate
people, because there’s
such an emotional energy of
controversy around it all, which
makes it really hard to hear what
people are trying to share.
I think one of the issues now, is
that so many different shamanic ways
are being taught, that people start to
think that one way is better than
another. So instead of sinking into just
one practice, and becoming it, really
focusing on it, people seem to be
saying: “If I could just study with one
more teacher, or take one more
workshop, then I’m going to learn a
more powerful healing method.”
People are surfing - take a little bit
from Peru, and take a little bit from
Siberia, a little bit from a Westerner...
They are not focusing on one practice,
one tradition, one way of working!
Shamanism has an incredible
depth and potential - that’s why it’s
survived tens of thousands of
years. But it’s the power of the
practice and working in the invisible
realms that has the ability to create
change and healing.
If we don’t really delve into the
depth of the practice, make it our
own, really focus on it and become
the work, then we will no longer
see powerful results. Without the
results we know are possible, the
practice of shamanism will start to
fade away. We have to dive deep
into the work and experience the
true magic behind the methods.
72 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
I agree - and yet to be devil’s
advocate - I’m so aware of what
happened in the later stages of
Rome, when there were all the
mystery schools thriving there.
Then a heady moment of gnosis
arose, where all the bits and
pieces from the different
‘mysteries’ got fused together
and out popped the Christian
Church - a synthesis, with bits
of the Isis cult and Mithraism
and so on. So I wonder if we’re
in some form of gnosis point at
the moment, some kind of
melting pot from which
something new will emerge?
Well, yes you can definitely see
that. I have students who contact
me and ask, “How do I combine
shamanism and reiki, massage, and
so on?” We can see where the
melting pot of combining different
traditions is already occurring.
On one level I ask myself the
question; ‘Does the work continue
to evolve out of bridging shamanism
into other systems?’ But then I
wonder if because of that melting
pot, are we losing and diffusing the
power of the work? I can stay up all
night and wrestle with these things’
So shamanism becomes a kind
of baby food, all mushed up
with all the texture removed!
Right, exactly. But I’m seeing some
really amazing things happening, so
I observe and stay open.
I receive letters from veterans of
both the Iraq and Vietnam wars who
were introduced to shamanic
journeying through a book, or CD,
or workshop, and many of them
seem to meet up with helping spirits
who are able to help them learn how
to forgive themselves, heal, and
move forward in their lives.
I observe people healing from
illnesses - which doctors would
diagnose as terminal - with the aid
of their helping spirits. People are
learning how to live a life filled with
hope, and learn through their helping
spirits how to improve their health on
both emotional and physical levels.
There are many paradoxes that
we’re dancing right now.
The helping spirits are touching
people in deep ways, by-passing all
of the conversation. Due to this the
issue becomes a ‘both-and’ where
the gifts and challenges are both
being revealed.
So, how do we encourage
people to go deeper?
Well, what I tell people to do, is
focus on just one practice at a time
Just do it and make it a part of
your daily life.
I’m still teaching workshops on to
how perform shamanic healing
ceremonies such as soul retrieval, but
more of my passion right now is trying
to help instill some of the the higher
core values that come out of life in
shamanic cultures. Teachings such as
how to live a life filled with gratitude,
how to love and respect yourself and
others, how to share your strengths
within your community to add to its
strength and health. It is time to stop
expecting a hero or heroine to appear
to fix all the challenges we’re facing in
our world. It’s each person’s
responsibility to work with spiritual
practices so we join together to create
positive change in our communities,
for all of life, and the Earth.
I’m more interested and devoted
to teaching people daily practices,
not just to perform in the morning,
but ones we can integrate into daily
life. So that when you’re stuck in
traffic, or you’re standing in line at
the bank, or the grocery store,
you’re not moving into a place of
frustration and anger, but you can
drop into being a presence of love,
peace, and light. When we do this
we uplift people with a smile and a
kind word, and focus our positive
words, thoughts, and daydreams,
as well as what we are grateful for,
to lead to our desired outcome.
So, instead of looking for more
complex ceremonies to get involved
in, I really try to inspire people to
integrate simple practices in their
daily life. Performing complex
ceremonies can end up being a
distraction and might only speak to
our mind. When we focus on
simple practices that connect us to
our heart and soul, we end up
creating healing. We must do our
work on a daily basis and
throughout the day. Then you start
to notice how your life changes,
and how you start to uplift the
people around you.
I use the word ‘simple’ a lot and
often people misinterpret that and
think it means that Sandra is only
teaching beginners. But I find that
it’s the simple practices that
personally kept me alive and have
helped me to live a meaningful life.
 I have suffered suicidal
depression for most of my adult life,
and it’s really a miracle that I’m
here! I’m 62 years old, and it’s the
simple daily practices that I do
which have kept me here. I have
learned how to be grateful - no
matter what I’m feeling - even if I’m
making it up - even if I’m forcing it -
just giving thanks for my life. I have
learned how to work with my words
and my thoughts, being aware of
the energies I send into the
collective. Through the practice of
shamanism I have learned how to
use my words, thoughts, and
daydreams to bless myself and
others. I have learned how to ride
the waves of both the joyful and
turbulent times.
In a way those are the
foundations of shamanism,
living with compassion and
kindness and love for the world,
and also being connected to life
and the spirit of life. Having an
animistic world view is very
wholesome, getting connected
with all our relatives in all the
different kingdoms. But as I see
it that is slightly different from
doing more interventionist
shamanic work. I always think
shamanism is ‘applied
animism,’ if that makes sense?
Yeah. So you mean bringing
through some of the power of the
helping spirits to do healing work
and intervene?
Yes. I see lots of ‘shamanic’
workshops advertised, just like
When we focus on
simple practices that
connect us to our heart
and soul, we end up
creating healing. We
must do our work
on a daily basis and
throughout the day.
Then you start to
notice how your life
changes, and how you
start to uplift the
people around you
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
you do; and what’s being taught
is really healthy, important,
empowering work - but it’s more
a form of animism. I think there’s
such a hunger in our culture for
meaningful practical spirituality.
I definitely understand what you’re
saying. I love performing healing
ceremonies, such as bringing
people together to bring back the
soul of land or removing trauma
from a place.
But that is where my caution
comes in. In the culture we live in
it’s really easy for people to seek
intervention from the helping spirits
in a very powerful fashion. But also
there is a tendency to try to
manipulate our environment - albeit
for all the ‘right reasons.’ I try to
get people to explore the
difference between intervention
and manipulation.
For example, shamanic
weather-changing work can get
very tricky. How do we help people
evolve into a place of spiritual
maturity to avoid performing
weather work from a place of ego
and personal desires? How do we
encourage them to be aware of a
bigger picture?
I guess for me, I think I try to
help people develop the maturity
and consciousness needed before
they ask the helping spirits to
intervene. It’s necessary for us to
grow and evolve, and that’s part of
the initiation that we all go through.
One of the things that I
encourage is to become embodied.
This is number one. I think part of
what creates dissociation and a
state of un-groundedness is that
we have all experienced so much
trauma in our lives. Also we are
flooded by so many images of
trauma through the media, so that
people are often drawn to spiritual
practice to escape being in a body
- the body is not a comfortable
place, and it doesn’t feel safe.
I know one of the things I teach
that can be controversial in the
shamanic community is my belief
that shamanic journeys are not an
‘out of body experience.’
Yes, shamans go into an
ecstatic state of consciousness,
but when they go into the invisible
realms they engage their senses
fully and see, hear, smell,touch,
and taste the invisible spiritual
world that they are in. They use all
their senses while communicating
with their helping spirits.
In our culture some people tend
to view their shamanic journeys like
they are watching TV or a movie.
Some lie in bed, seeing some
lovely visionary experience, but
don’t actualise the information and
guidance received. Of course there
are many people who do drum,
sing, and dance when they journey.
And I encourage people to deepen
their experience by being more
active as they journey.
I encourage people to wake up
their sensory experiences of this
world, and of the invisible worlds.
They need to touch the earth, to
smell fragrances and listen to the
sounds of nature in both worlds.
I think the more we can get
73
 embodied, the less our spiritual work
becomes ‘fluffy.’ When we’re really
living in our bodies, and experiencing
what is actually happening around us
it creates the fuel to want to do
something about it.
If we go around half in and half out
of our bodies that’s soul loss. We are
experiencing soul loss on a pretty
mass level, and many are
disassociated too. When we’re
disassociated it’s very easy to ignore
what is going on around us, and say,
“Oh that story on the TV news, or on
Facebook was disturbing,” and yet we
don’t do anything about it. The stories
we read and the events we witness
do touch us on a heart level. But until
we get truly embodied we might not
become active in participating in
becoming a positive change-maker.
If you really get in your body,
you become more grounded, and
you wake up to your responsibility
People seek intervention from
the spirits in a powerful fashion,
but there’s a tendency to manipulate.
For example, shamanic weather-changing
work. How do we help people evolve
into spiritual maturity to avoid
performing weather work from
a place of ego and personal desires?
74 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
to become an active participant in
creating necessary and positive
changes in the world.
I agree with that completely. I
started off learning shamanism
journeying in the typical Western
way, headphones and a CD, Then
about ten years ago I gave all
that up and now I drum for
myself sitting up. For me that
makes it much more physical. It’s
no longer a passive experience,
and the journey experience is
more vital and richer because I
am more deeply in both realities.
I do the same thing, and I actually
have been teaching that.
One of the reasons I keep writing
books is that I keep exploring how
we can deepen our shamanic
experience and practice. And one of
the topics that I’ve been writing
about is how to stop being passive in
our journeys! Shamans drum, rattle,
dance and sing while they journey.
But not everybody feels called to
this. For some people the passive
approach still really works for them.
In my workshops, one of the
first exercises I do is get people to
stand up with a drum or rattle, go
outside, connect with nature, and
sing and dance their journeys.
When I see clients, I drum for
myself, and I just put the drum
down when I have to do some
hands-on work with them. It’s just
too easy for my ordinary thoughts
to come in if I’m listening to a CD, I
start thinking about my emails, or
all the tasks I have to do while I
journey for myself.
Likewise. And if I’m looking
around in the spirit world, my
physical body turns and looks
around in this world. It’s like
there’s an intermesh between
both realities and it’s vivid and
extraordinarily real then, much
better than anything I ever
experienced on my back with
headphones on.
Ok, I’ve got another question
about the thorny issue of
whether people in the West can
be shamans or not? The whole
thing about a shamanic
practitioner and the ‘S’ word.
Well, you know, that’s a question
that I sit with a lot.
We see tens of thousands of
people getting in touch with
shamanic practices, and my belief
has always been it is our birthright
as human beings to engage in the
practice of direct revelation and
receive our own guidance from
helping spirits
And so I still feel really good
about teaching people how to
access their own spiritual
information through shamanic
journeying, and through connecting
with - and communicating with -
nature, and watching for omens
and signs that are shown to us to
help guide our way.
But I’m sure you get the same
emails and letters I do - ‘I would like
to be a shaman, how do I go about
doing that?’ I really believe that it is
a destiny to be a shaman, and not a
profession that you choose.
I do observe people in my
workshops who are born with a
gift. I can see it in their eyes. I’ve
trained some practitioners whose
work is extraordinary, it’s beyond
my wildest imagination, but it
wasn’t their choice, it was a gift
and part of their destiny.
There are two aspects I see -
those who ‘become a shaman’
through destiny, and those who
‘engage in shamanic practices’ to
improve the quality of their own
health and well being, and become a
more conscious being on the planet.
I separate out these two aspects.
I cannot teach anybody how to
be a shaman, that is for the spirits to
do. Once you open up to the world
of spirit, the spirits take you into
their tutelage. And it’s not always a
pleasant thing, because there are
very challenging initiations that
continue throughout life. The spirits
are not just going to put you through
a hard period for a week, there are
constant initiations to open you up to
the world of spirit and teach you how
to be a vessel for the helping spirits
and to work from a place of
compassion and love.
Yes, for me it’s always been the
old thing that it’s the spirits that
decide who’s going to be a
shaman. Whatever we might
want to do about it. it is not in our
personal game plan, so to speak.
Absolutely, I agree with that. I’ve had
the opportunity to work with
thousands of students, and I’ve
observed that it is people who
suffered a terrible loss - such as a
child dying - or they have healed from
a challenging physical or emotional
illness - they are the ones who I see
with a gift for the work. Many of
these people suffer the kinds of
losses that you can never heal from -
transforming them into a wounded
healer. Shamans are often called
wounded healers. Of course having a
near death experience is a classic
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initiation into becoming a shaman.
It’s almost like the spirits chose
them before they were aware of
shamanism or spiritual practices, and
they went through their loss or crisis,
and it was their destiny to be opened
up - because of that initiatory life
experience - into the work. Just like
you, I teach people that it’s the spirits
that choose you and if they do, it
won’t mean that life becomes easy
for you, because you are going to
experience a lot of challenges in order
for the spirits to sculpt you into the
shaman you are going to become.
What I see is that the really
great shamanic practitioners are
constantly going through initiations.
I was introduced to the practice
of shamanic journeying by Michael
Harner, and I also did a lot of work
with Oceana FastWolf, who is an
Apache medicine woman. Both of
them really instilled in me you don’t
call yourself a shaman. Your
community recognises you as a
shaman, but to actually call
yourself a shaman is an egoic
statement. That idea became so
embedded in me. I never trained
with anyone who said, “You should
stand up and call yourself a
shaman.” I saw calling yourself a
shaman, and bragging about your
power, as being the same thing.
But I can see that if you were
initiated and trained in a culture
where you were taught, ‘this is who
you are,’ then ‘shaman’ explains
your identity.
I was trained very much like you,
for me the ‘S’ word is a big ‘no
no.’ But then again, I got a bit of
gentle finger wagging from a
Siberian shaman once who said
“Of course you should call
yourself a shaman, it’s only like
saying you know how to do first-
aid if you come across a traffic
accident!” What an amazing
alternative way of looking at it!
I know, that’s beautiful. I love that. I
grew up in the sixties, and I’ve always
been a rebel. My mother died at the
age of ninety-eight, and my husband
will tell the story that she would say
every day; “You could never tell
Sandy what to do - ever! She will
always do what she wants to do!”
I had three near death
experiences which opened me up to
a state of oneness and unconditional
love. As a teenager, growing up in
I really believe that it
is a destiny to be a
shaman, and not
a profession that
you choose.
I cannot teach
anybody how to
be a shaman, that is
for the spirits to do
the sixties, I ingested psychedelic
drugs and had a wealth of numinous
experiences. I then moved to the
Haight-Ashbury district of San
Francisco, to join others in birthing a
more loving and conscious way of
bringing life into being.
Then I was introduced to
shamanic journeying in 1980, and I
was taught that the helping spirits
will teach you what you personally
need to learn to improve your life and
to help others. Well, that really fit my
personality. I realised that, I never
have to work with a human teacher, I
just needed to engage deeply in my
own practice of direct revelation and
work with my own helping spirits.’
And that’s what I’ve done, and
through that experience and learning
I’ve been able to help others.
I think the shadow side of
working with human teachers, is
they can often take certain
principles and turn them into rules.
And then they plant the seeds of
fear into students by the desire to
want to control their them. We can
choose a broader construct, and
ask ‘Where does this teaching
actually come from?’ and ‘What is
the purpose of this?’ Or we can just
say ‘Well, you’re my teacher, and
I’m going to take all of this in, and
believe everything that you say.’
As we deepen our own
shamanic practices, we move into a
place of self reflection and need to
work with our own helping spirits,
rather than say ‘I learned this from
somebody else, and I have to follow
everything I was taught without any
process of self reflection.
75
 I have students who worked with
an indigenous shaman who taught
them that one should not share their
journeys with others. Now, of
course, sharing without discretion
can be a form of giving your power
away, not sitting with the experience,
not letting it really sink in.
Yet often, there is a healing that
occurs in our Western culture that
comes from sharing our experiences
and having others reflect back to you
‘How beautiful and profound your
experience was’. For we live in a
culture where we were taught that if
you go into invisible worlds ‘You’re
crazy,’ or ‘You need professional help
and get on medication!’ We were
taught to only acknowledge what we
experience in the tangible realm.
So as I see it, often a teaching
that comes from a specific culture
has a broader underlying principle,
which doesn’t always translate into
our modern day culture in the West.
But there are profound guiding
principles that we can learn from
indigenous cultures and their
shamans - whilst we are living in
the here and now in our Western
culture, which is so different.
It is so important to me that we
do the questing, the visioning, the
journeying, getting direct
revelation. I continue believing
there is a way for us to broaden
our perspectives and evolve our
work to be effective practitioners
during the times we live in.
The paradox is, shamanism has
changed over thousands of years
to meet the needs of the people;
and we’re in a different time now.
So when we are wondering
‘Should I call myself a shaman?’
we have to know what ‘being a
shaman’ actually means.
Part of the shaman’s role has
always been holding
ceremonial space. I was in
conversation with Martin
Prechtel one time, and he said
that he saw his role as ‘giving
people the authentic taste of
ceremony, so that when they
came across it, they would
know if it was real or not.’
I think if you learn from a
traditional culture, or learn a
traditional technique or a
traditional world view, then you
get that taste of what’s authentic.
We need to know the bones of
the ceremony, so we add our
own flesh to them in a way that’s
suitable for our own culture.
Absolutely, and I think that when
people are able to participate in a
ceremony which has been carried
down through an ancestral line in a
particular way for thousands of
years, then the way that the people
and the shaman at the ceremony
all conduct themselves makes it -
in Martin Prechtel’s words -
‘authentic.’ The power is the
presence that comes through a
ceremony like that.
The power that then shines
through every cell of one’s being, is
something that inspires us. But
often we aren’t inspired because
there’s not the depth. People who
learn ceremonies or rituals, through
churches, or different religious
traditions, are given ‘step one,’
‘step two,’ ‘step three.’... and rules.
So people end up reading from
books or memorising steps to a
ceremony taught by other teachers
but there isn’t a cellular depth that’s
being touched, the bones you spoke
of are not really coming through.
When you’re in an authentic
ceremony, that has been carried
down through time, it’s not about
reading notes, it’s about really
experiencing what energies are
being carried through, what healing
energies and dreams can be bridged
from the invisible into the visible
realms. It shows the true power of
shamanism as we spin threads into
being from the invisible into the
world of form, to weave into being a
new beautiful fabric of reality.

Yes, and of course that taps into

Often people turn to others to
interpret their experiences. In doing
so they give their power away by
letting other people interpret the
things shared by their spirits.
Shamanism requires taking
responsibility for self-reflection, going
out into nature, sitting for weeks,
or even months, if needs be
another aspect. An ancient
ceremony or tradition has an
incredibly vibrant spirit of itself,
and you’re tapping into that spirit,
which helps create an ancestral
energy to what you are doing.
I agree. One of the things that I try
to share with people in the West is
that, due to modern psychotherapy,
people often focus on what they
didn’t get from their ancestors,
because maybe they grew up in a
dysfunctional family, and they are
dealing with the impact of that.
On one level, we all have to deal
with what we didn’t get growing up,
and validate the feelings that come
from feeling wounded as a child.
Then we must work our feelings
through and heal our past.
But at the same time, what’s
happened, because of only delving

76 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

into the wounds from growing up,
is we have lost our connection to
our ancestral line, in the way that
people experience their connection
with the ancestors in indigenous
traditions. That’s a real loss.
For in the West, we’re generally
cut off from that wealth of tradition,
from that line of ancestral gifts and
strengths.
I remember one time - this was
many, many years ago - I was
presenting at a conference. I was
talking about my ‘Medicine for the
Earth’ work, and I was teaching
about the power of words, and how
words can be used to bless, or how
words can be used to destroy. I was
sharing how we have to really work
to align our words and thoughts
that lead to our desired outcome,
At the end of my lecture, a
Navajo [Diné] Elder came up to me
- dressed in her full native dress -
and she said to me; “Do you know
what our term ‘May you walk in
Beauty’ means?”
And I said ‘No.’ I often hear that
term being used in songs and
conversation. She said “It’s a Navajo
term, and it means to make sure that
you bless everybody with your words
so that you always bring beauty.”
And then she said to me; “Do
you know why we don’t trust
people in America?”
I was confused by that question,
because for me, there are obvious
reasons, but I knew she was digging
deeper than just the surface.
She said; “Because you do not
speak about your family when you
introduce yourself.”
I asked her what she meant,
and she replied, “When you come
to the Navajo nation and we ask
you ‘Who are you? What’s your
name?’ we expect you to talk
about your ancestors, and people
don’t do that in your culture.”
I thought about that, and we sat
down together and talked for a very
long time - had a really deep
discussion. I told her that my family
came over from Russia to escape
persecution and death. I shared that
when they came to America their
focus was on integrating into the
U.S. They taught their children how
to integrate into America and did not
share where they came from and
who their ancestors were. I know
where my Mother’s family comes
from, but I actually don’t know
where my Father’s family comes
from at all. Nobody in my family
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
knows where my paternal
Grandparents came from in Europe.
Her questioning made me think hard
about my own ancestral connection.
The whole topic of ancestry and
connecting with ancestry really
takes us to another level of
reflection on how deep can we go
with our own shamanic practices.
We really need to bring through the
wisdom and teachings and strength
and bones of our ancestors.
For traditional people this
connection remains and is carried
down in physical community events.
I live in Santa Fe, and I can go and
see different traditional dances that
go on in local Native American
communities throughout New
Mexico. They rehearse and they
practise their dances, from the little
kids - maybe only five years old -
right up to the elders. They practise,
practise, practise. But it’s not about
practising the steps, it’s about
tapping into the ancestors, and
honouring the ancestors through the
power of the dance. And it’s really
evident that this is not a show for
the public - not a performance.
These are people who are actually
bringing through an ancestral
tradition, one that is still being done
in a genuine and authentic way. The
people present are touched by it.
When people are touched, they feel
their deep ancestral connections
and it changes their consciousness.
Of course in the West, when we
think about getting in touch with
our ancestors, the automatic
response is to go onto a
genealogy website. We get very
‘head’ with it. But my shamanic
approach would be to make
offerings to the ancestors. I
might offer honey and milk
mixed together. I’d go and make
prayers of gratitude to my
ancestors for the fact that they
carried me, and I’m here now! I
don’t necessarily need to know
who they actually were.
Exactly, yes. I do that every day in
my own life. I adored my parents,
And I just have such an honour and
respect for my ancestors, and so
expressing gratitude for my
ancestors is part of the daily
practice that I do every single day.
Again, I’m looping back into some
of those simple practices that we
can do, which bring through some
of the core values of shamanism.
We need to be able to honour our
own ancestors, and I also honour
the helping ancestors of the land I
live on every day, because I’m living
on their land, I’m living here! And I
give thanks.
For me, I also honour the
ancestors of the shamanic
traditions that I work with.
Oh absolutely. A couple of times,
with groups of experienced
students, we have done ceremonies
to heal the lines of shamanism,
especially where there have been
divisive energies coming through.
We go back and really get in
touch with the ancestral spirits, to
bring through the power that we
need to create change ‘right now,’
instead of getting lost in the
divisive energies that our mind likes
to get us involved in.
Well, thank you for a most
interesting and thought-
provoking talk. Is there
anything else you want to add?
I am really excited to see so many
people being drawn to shamanic
practices today. I have just written
‘Walking In Light: The Everyday
Empowerment of Shamanic Life,’
and in the book I encourage people
to bring some of the positive and
consciousness raising core values,
that come from shamanic cultures,
into own individual lives, our
communities, and the world at large.
I really encourage people to
bring practices into their daily life
which help to raise their own
consciousness, and that of the
planet. I also encourage them to
delve deeper into the practices, so
that we all are able to bring through
the power of the invisible realms in
a true and authentic way.
Sandra Ingerman, MA, is an award winning
author of ten books, including ‘Soul
Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self,’
‘Walking in Light: The Everyday
Empowerment of Shamanic Life.’
She is the presenter of seven audio
programs produced by Sounds True, and
she is the creator of the Transmutation
App. Sandra is a world renowned
shamanic teacher and has been teaching
for more than 30 years. Sandra is
recognised for bridging ancient cross-
cultural healing methods into our modern
culture addressingthe needs of our times.
www.sandraingerman.com
Sacred Hoop wishes to thank Sofy Rosie
for her help with this article
77
 There are certain persons
in Cambria (Wales) called
awenyddion or ‘people
inspired;’ when consulted
about some doubtful event
they roar out violently... and
become as it were possessed
by a spirit… They do not
deliver the answer to what is
required in a connected

Seeking
manner... but the person who
skilfully observes them will find
the desired explanation
conveyed in some turn of a

the Radiant
word: they are then roused
from their ecstasy as from a
deep sleep... These gifts are
usually conferred upon them

Brow
in dreams; some seem to have
sweet milk or honey poured on
their lips: others fancy that a
written schedule is applied to
their mouths and on waking
they publicly declare that they
The Bright Knowledge of Poetic
have received this gift.
Illumination in Druidic Divination
Giraldus Cambrensis
Danu Forest

78 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

The medieval writer, Giraldus
Cambrensis, or Gerald of Wales
(1146–1223) gives us this
fascinating description of the Welsh
awenyddion, literally ‘one who is
divinely inspired’ who functioned as
a seer or soothsayer, displaying
striking similarities to those
experiencing shamanic trances
described in cultures all around the
world. Note his suggestion that the
awenyddion appears to be
‘possessed by a spirit’ and is in
some state of ‘ecstasy.’
Possession and ecstasy are
common features of shamanic
practice, the close relationship
between shaman and their spirit
allies often appearing as a form of
possession. It is likely that figures,
such as the one wearing a deerskin
and antlers, considered to be the
god Cernunnos, found on the
Gunderstrup cauldron1, were
engaged in just this sort of practice.

Divination – to seek knowledge

of the future or of hidden events –
is a primary skill of all shamanic
paths. Whatever tool or focus is
used, the shaman, druid or seer is
seeking to understand the universe
via the promptings of spirit; to read
the pattern of ‘the whole,’ to thus
in turn be able to unpick one of the
subtle threads between all things,
and follow it to its conclusion, or
next point of interchange. The
following of this thread reveals the
knowledge, or answer sought.
While on the surface, it may
appear that a single or series of
questions are asked, in order to gain
knowledge of spiritual, emotional or
mundane events and relationships.
Beneath the surface, the spirit of the
seer is in close dialogue with a whole
host of other spirit intelligences,
passing on the knowledge sought in
a chain of communion and
communication from Source, or the
centre of the web.
Often this is completely
unconscious, and remains true
whether the seer uses modern tools
such as card decks, pendulums or
divining rods, or the ancient
practices of the Irish and Welsh
shaman poets, the filid and bards.
To seek and receive knowledge
from spirit, is to imbibe divine
inspiration, to align oneself with a
flow of interchange and exchange
which stems directly from the gods,
Great Spirit, or the Source, or
however we choose to view it.

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 79

 Ancient Celtic bards, or filid, several Celtic sources, such as the
while being keepers of genealogies medieval Irish manuscript the Book
and histories via the oral lore of Leinster, compiled around 1160,
handed down through the and in the ancient Irish tale ‘The
generations, were also gifted Death of Lomna,’ which recounts a
seers; receiving this divine story about the hero Finn.
knowledge via a whole host of Numerous Celtic tales refer to Finn
spiritual and magical practices. receiving divine inspiration by
These practices were burning his thumb on the ‘Salmon
fundamentally shamanic in nature, of Wisdom,’ which was cooking
the result of which would be the upon a fire, and ever after,
attainment of glefiosa, or the whenever Finn chewed his thumb,
‘bright knowledge’ – poetic knowledge would always come to
illumination, where like Taliesin, the him via a sudden song. In ‘The
hero of an ancient Welsh story, Death of Lomna,’ this occurs after
they would receive the ‘radiant the death of his friend Lomna, in
brow’ of spirit vision – the order that Finn can discover the
knowledge of creation as a whole. identity of his corpse.
This technique of spirit song
There are several techniques was used right through to the
used by the filid, which remain very modern era, with prayers and
applicable today. These are tenm incantations sung in the Scottish
laida, dichetal do chennaib, imbas Highlands being recorded in the
forosnai, and the slightly lesser Carmina Gadelica2 as late as the
known neladoracht, or cloud early C20th.
divination. Divination by fire and
smoke were also used, as was Spirit songs can be used to
meditation upon water, especially invoke the spirits, bring healing and
beside rivers and lakes. retrieve lost soul parts or power, as
Spirit song, tenm laida or well as to seek divine knowledge.
‘illumination of song’ is another If you would like to explore them
technique of shamanic spirit yourself, first prepare your sacred
singing practiced by the ancient space, and call upon your spirit
Celts. They are mentioned in helpers and guardians to assist
Tenm laida or ‘illumination of song’
is a technique of spirit singing
practiced by the Celts.
The ancient Irish tale
‘The Death of Lomna,’
recounts a story about
the hero Finn. receiving
divine inspiration by
burning his thumb on
the ‘Salmon of Wisdom,’
which was cooking upon a
fire, and ever after, whenever
Finn chewed his thumb,
knowledge would always
come to him via a
sudden song
80 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
you. Take nine deep breaths, and
when you are ready, begin your
spirit song by repeatedly chanting
either ‘imbas’ (Irish) or ‘awen’
(Welsh). Both of these words mean
‘Inspiration’.
Vary the tone and speed of your
chanting, allowing yourself to
improvise your rhythm. Then
gradually alter the tones and
pronunciation to draw out the vowel
sounds (I, A, E) and let the sounds
you make shift and flow.
Try not to think about what you
are doing, but gradually step back
consciously from what your voice is
doing, in order to share your song
with your spirit helpers.
Allow tune, rhythm and words to
form or disintegrate of their own
volition, as your voice becomes a
channel for spirit.
You may choose to begin your
chanting with a specific intention
rather than with either the word
imbas or awen, instead chanting
‘healing come’ or ‘strength return’
for example. Feel free to make up
your own initial statement, and flow
from there. This is very useful as a
power retrieval exercise, as well as
a form of offering.
Spirit will flow into your space
and energy field via the power of
your voice, and subtle shifts of
consciousness will follow as a
result. Allow the song to be the
magic in and of itself, and if you
choose to continue with further
work, let that also be ‘of the
moment too.’
Remember to close down your
sacred space and ground yourself well
afterwards, by eating and drinking.
ANCIENT WAYS OF WORKING
The Irish phrase dichetal do
chennaib is notoriously
difficult to translate.
The filid first chewed upon pig flesh,
an animal closely connected to divine
inspiration, before leaving the meat as
an offering to the spirits of place,
the sidhe, or the gods. The filid then
retreated into a darkened hut for
the period of nine days, or until the
wisdom and knowledge was received
Commonly known as ‘cracking
open the nuts of wisdom’ or
‘incantation on the bones of the
fingers,’ it may refer to the use of
hand-ogham, by which the sections
of the fingers all refer to specific
trees and their cryptic poetic
meanings.
However, in the ‘Senchus Mor’
- a collection of early Irish laws,
originally complled in the C5th CE -
it states that the filid could find out
about a person, by placing their
staff or wand upon the person’s
body; and this technique was also
used to find out about objects and
who had touched them. This may
be a form of psychometry3, but is
helped greatly by having a wand or
staff that one works with closely,
with the inhabiting tree spirit
functioning as an ally, to assist in
imparting the knowledge to you.
The imbas forosnai, or ‘wisdom
that illuminates,’ utilises the effects
of sensory deprivation. A
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
description of the meaning of the
word occurs in the C10th Cormac’s
Glossary - an early Irish glossary
containing the explanation of over
1,400 words - and is possibly
drawn from an even older and
larger text, the ‘Saltair Chaisil,’
now lost to us.
There are many instances in
Celtic literature, where the seer or
shaman figure retreats into a
darkened hut or other structure for
an extended period, to utter
prophecy, or magically poetic
insights upon finally stepping out
into the light.
The description in Cormac’s
Glossary records that the filid first
chewed upon pig flesh, an animal
closely connected to divine
inspiration, or the flesh of a cat or
dog, before leaving the meat as
an offering to the spirits of
place, the sidhe (Fairy
Folk), or the gods.
The filid then
retreated into a darkened hut for
the period of nine days, or until the
wisdom and knowledge was
received.
This practice may be related to
the tarbhfheis or bull’s hide
ceremony which also utilised ritual
food and trance-inducing darkness,
in this instance by being covered
by a bull’s hide, in order to divine
the next High King of Ireland. A
similar technique may
also be referred
to in the Welsh
tale ‘The
Dream of
81
When you seek illumination first
prepare your sacred space, switching
off all light sources other than one
central candle. Try not to get engrossed
in any thought, letting your conscious
mind slip over your thoughts without
holding on to them. You may find
images flash into your imagination, or
you may have other sensory flashes.
Allow them to come and go, to
remember and analyse later
82 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
Rhonabwy,’ a late C12th tale
recounting a mystical dream of the
hero while lying down on a yellow
ox skin.
ILLUMINATION IN DARKNESS
Today we may not choose to spend
so long in darkness, but we can
utilise this technique, adapting it for
our own needs and application.
When you seek illumination give
yourself plenty of time, at least an
hour, if not several hours. First
prepare your sacred space,
switching off all light sources other
than one central candle. Place
matches or a lighter next to the
candle, and make sure the space is
sensibly arranged so as to minimise
any safety risks.
Raise some energy and make
an offering to your gods or spirit
allies in whatever way you choose -
a gift of food is most appropriate.
Then settle into the centre of your
space, suitably near your central
candle, and snuff it out leaving you
in darkness.
Take nine deep breaths, ground yourself well by eating and
focusing your attention on your drinking afterwards.
breathing before greeting the
darkness itself and stating aloud WATCHING THE CLOUDS
your intention, then return your Cloud divination or neladoracht,
attention to slow deep breathing. relies on the key skills of gentle non-
In time you may choose to begin focused meditative awareness that
singing or chanting, may fall silent, are central to the other techniques.
or make other noises as you feel. The Celts were fascinated by
This may well form a pattern of the winds and weather, believing
silence and song. Try not to get that the sky illustrated and played
engrossed in any thought, letting out the Mysteries, life and death
your conscious mind slip over your and the wisdom of creation being
thoughts without holding on to visible and spoken upon the sky.
them. You may find images flash
into your imagination, or you may To practice neladoracht you will
have other sensory flashes. Allow need to go to a high place,
them to come and go, to remember preferably in nature, with an
and analyse later. unrestricted view of the sky.
Eventually you will feel it is time Raise some energy and the sit or
to light the candle. Do this as lie back comfortably in a position you
consciously and as deliberately as can maintain for at least 30 minutes.
possible. Take nine deep slow breaths, and
select a section of the sky you can
Initially this technique may take see clearly without moving your
some extended practise to be really head. This may be the whole horizon
successful, but allow the feeling of or a small section depending on your
new vision which arrives with the situation. You may at this point
return of the light, to provide an choose to ask a question of the air
insight into your question. The spirits, whether an open request for
knowledge may come in a sudden general insight or a particular matter.
insight, or a subtle shift of Relax your vision and view the
perspective. You may find the sky in a detached, meditative way,
answer comes to you later, freed allowing the movement of the
up by your stepping out of linear clouds, the flight of birds or
thought for a while. anything else that goes by your
As before, remember to close vision to speak to you. Let any
down your sacred space and analytical thoughts pass by.
 The Celts were fascinated by the winds
and weather, believing that the sky
illustrated and played out the
Mysteries, life and death and
the wisdom of creation being
visible and spoken upon the sky
Instead, in a relaxed way, try to
read the sky as the body language
of the air spirits, and of the
universe itself. Keep yourself in a
gentle, relaxed and receptive state,
to feel what is being conveyed to
you as the soul of the world
speaking directly to your soul.
This takes practise, and what is
received will often go beyond
words. That is as it should be, as
we are seeking profound spiritual
connection more than literal
mundane conversation. However,
with practise, sometimes the
messages will become particularly
clear, in which case you should
heed them very seriously indeed,
as spirit has made extra effort to
convey them to you.
Fire and smoke divination works
in much the same way as cloud
divination.
We know that the druids
preferred fires of rowan to warn
and advise them prior to battle, and
this is a very good wood to work
with today. Try lighting a bonfire or
hearth fire, and ask the spirits of
the fire to advise you, adding slips
of rowan if you have any, thanking
the tree spirits for their sacrifice.
Relax your vision, and view the
smoke and flame as you would the
clouds, as a form of body language
and expressive movement that goes
beyond words and analytical
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thought. Fire and smoke divination
is one of the easier forms to have
success with, as our relationship
with fire has been so close for so
much of our evolution, and is very
enjoyable. Take your time, practise,
and greater levels of communication
will come over time.
Working with ancient ways gives
contact with many doorways, each
opening upon a spirit road which
may lead us to a whole host of
destinations and with practise you
can become a capable
Otherworldly traveller.
Yet there is a challenge here,
and choices to be made. Much of
ancient Celtic literature is rich in
lessons and resources, and together
with history and archaeology we
may learn a great deal about the
druidic shamans of the past, and
perhaps can reconstruct large
swathes of their practice.
Yet it is crucial to position this
practice in the modern world. The
Iron Age Celts and their druids,
whether shamans, healers, priests
or politicians, may be found around
our ancestral council fires, but we
are the ones who walk this earth
today. Tradition and knowledge,
while immensely valuable, are there
to support our relations with spirit,
not to replace them.
Our primary source remains: to
be fully present in the here and
now, with feet placed firmly upon
our sacred earth. It is here that we
find our power, and the hosts of
the Otherworld waiting to greet us.
This article is an edited extract from
‘The Druid Shaman: Exploring the Celtic
Otherworld’ by Danu Forest, due to be
published by Moon Books in early 2014.
Sacred Hoop Magazine wishes to thank
Trevor Greenfield and Moon Books for
their help with this article.
NOTES:
1: The Gunderstrup Cauldron is a richly
decorated silver vessel, thought to date
between 200 BCE and 300 CE. With a
diameter of 69 cm and a height of 42 cm,
the cauldron is the largest known example
of European Iron Age silver work.
It was found in 1891 in a peat bog near
the hamlet of Gundestrup in the Aars
parish of Himmerland, Denmark, and is Danu Forest
now housed at the National Museum of is a traditional
Denmark in Copenhagen. wise woman, seer
2: The Carmina Gadelica is a compendium and Celtic shamanic
of prayers, hymns, charms, incantations, practitioner living in
blessings, literary-folkloric poems and Glastonbury UK.
songs, proverbs, lexical items, historical With over 20 years
experience studying
anecdotes, natural history observations,
and miscellaneous lore gathered in the the Mysteries in close
Gaelic-speaking regions of Scotland relationship with the
between 1860 and 1909. The material spirits of the wild land,
was recorded, translated, and reworked by Danu is the author of
the folklorist Alexander Carmichael two books, and
(1832–1912). numerous articles.
She is also an
3: Psychometry is a form of extra-sensory
perception where information is gained international magical
from an object by making physical contact teacher and healer.
with it. www.danuforest.co.uk
83
 Many spiritual seekers today are
Reclaiming Celtic Shamanism exploring the shamanic beliefs of
Sharon Paice MacLeod the world’s indigenous people, but
experts believe there was a Celtic
form of shamanism as well,
although the specifics of this
tradition appear shrouded in the
mists of time. Through the careful
study of archaeology, reading the
reports of Greek and Roman
authors who met the ancient Celts,
and looking at the ancient threads
still visible within medieval
manuscripts and folklore accounts,
we can carefully piece together the
vibrant tapestry of ancient Celtic
‘Not from spirituality. If approached with
respect, inspiration and an open
a mother or heart, the voices of the past can
father was speak to us today and share their
wisdom.
I made...
My skill To the ancient Celts the cosmos
was three-fold - in early Irish
was created perception there were the realms of
from nine forms nem (sky), muir (sea) and talam
(earth), and these are mentioned in
of elements, from the various Irish texts. As in other
blossoms of cultures, the Celts understood that
there were deities or spirits
trees and shrubs… inhabiting these three realms.
From the water of Ancient inscriptions recall deities
associated with the sky realm, like
the ninth wave…’ Taranis the Thunderer and Sirona
Taliesin, legendary the Divine Star Goddess, and other
Welsh poet-seer sources give us glimpses of gods
from the Lower World, such as the
ancient Gaulish god Maponus the
Divine Son.
In British and Irish mythology
and folklore, divine beings are
encountered near fairy mounds,
groves of trees or bodies of water,
and their parallel realms are
understood to be located beneath
the earth or under the waters.
The world tree - the tree which
many cultures say sits at the centre
of the world and connects the
Lower, Middle and Upper worlds -
is very prominent in Celtic tradition,
and many sacred gathering sites
featured a tree, a carved wood or
stone pillar, or offering pit at their
center. The Irish word bile referred
to ancient and venerated trees. It
was historically forbidden to
damage them, and rituals were held
in their presence.
This type of holy site was
known as a nemeton and they
existed throughout the Celtic
world. Often the nemeton featured
a pillar or tree, a sacred mound
and a holy well. Caesar wrote that
the druids of Gaul gathered at the

84 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

cosmological center of Gaul,
located near where the cathedral at
Chartres was built centuries later.
In Ireland the cosmic center was
near the sacred hill of Uisneach,
while in Scotland it was called
Medionemeton (Sacred Central
Place), which was situated
somewhere near Fortingall, a small
village in highland Perthshire.
Another Irish text describes the
primary attributes of the four
directions and the sacred center.
These are: east - prosperity, south -
music, west - learning, north -
conflict, and the centre - sovereignty.
There is often sacred lore
associated with these hallowed
places. One early Irish tale tells of
a man sitting in a tree with a
blackbird on his right shoulder, a
bronze vessel containing a trout in
his hand, and a stag standing at
the foot of the tree. He shares
apples and hazelnuts with the
animals - both of which are
symbolic of divine wisdom - and all
drink together from the sacred
vessel. The blackbird may
symbolise the Upper World, the
stag the Middle World and the trout
the Lower World, similar to animals
said to be associated with the
Norse World Tree Yggdrasil.
DRUIDS AND SEERS
In Celtic culture, druids seem to
have fulfilled similar roles to the
shamans found in many cultures
today. Greek and Roman authors
noted that they were highly
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
respected teachers, philosophers,
seers, theologians and judges;
presiding over sacred ceremonies,
studying the divine realms,
performing magic and healing, and
gathering expertise in the nature of
the divine.
The word druid - derived from
the Old Irish word druí and the
Middle Welsh word derwydd -
comes originally from two Indo-
European root words, deru (firm or
steadfast) and wid (to see); giving
a meaning like ‘strong, or steadfast
seer.’
The druids engaged in
discussion about the stars and their
motion, the size of the universe
and the earth, the composition of
the world, and the strength and
power of the gods. They had
knowledge of the natural world and
taught that the soul was eternal
and immortal, not perishing at
death, but passing into another
body to be reborn. Druidic training
was said to have taken up to
twenty years to complete. One of
their most well known teachings
was to ‘show reverence to the
gods, do no ill deed and practice
valour’, a powerful code for
spiritual living in any era.
Despite the arrival of Christianity
in the islands - as well as the
alleged destruction of British druids
at the hands of the Romans - the
druids existed in Ireland at least
into the ninth century. Some of
their duties were taken over by
highly trained poets known in Below:
Ireland as filid (seers). Like a druid, Ffynnon Fair
a fili underwent formal and lengthy (St Mary’s Well),
training, and their profession could Cefn Meiriadog,
be hereditary. They composed Denbighshire,
praise poetry or satires, performed North Wales
prophecies and divination, and
were known to sometimes use
secret or obscure languages rather
than the common tongue of the
people. The filid were said to be
able to recite many tales, which
helped to preserve genealogy,
mythology and sacred stories of
the landscape, passing the
information on from one generation
to the next.
Irish poets were expected to
know three kinds of poetic or
divinatory techniques: imbas
forosnai (great knowledge of
illumination), díchetal di chennaib
(incantation or spells, composed
spontaneously) and teinm laedo
(literally: ‘cracking open of
poems’). Irish poets were still being
trained in specialised schools until
the early 1600’s, and Scottish
poets until the early 1700’s. In
Scotland the poets were said to
Make pilgrimages to sacred
sites which were honoured by the Celtic
peoples: sacred mounds or
hills, sacred trees and wells,
mountains, fields, caves,
springs and bodies of water
85
Below: the an- compose in darkness with a stone
cient wild upon their belly, presumably to help
coast of Galway, regulate the breath. Their
Ireland, a loca- compositions were performed for
tion dotted with their teachers after emerging from
many ancient their darkened cells, and they were
Celtic sacred composed using an archaic type of
sites language.
Poetry, music and prophecy
were understood to be gifts from
the divine realms, and this belief
existed until recent times. The
MacCrimmons, the hereditary
pipers of my Scottish Clan
(MacLeod), were said to obtain
their gift of music directly from the
inhabitants of the Otherworld.
TALES OF TRANSFORMATION
In many cultures, shamanic
costumes often feature the
symbolism of sacred animals, such
as birds, deers, snakes, horses and
bears. Bird feathers, wings, or
representations of these, are often
incorporated into shamanic
headdresses or capes. This also
appears to be true within some parts
of Celtic spirituality, for example, in
an 8th century Irish text, it is noted
that master poets were allowed to
To the ancient Celts the cosmos
was three-fold: in early Irish
perception there were the realms
of sky, sea and earth, and as in
other cultures, the Celts understood
that there were deities or spirits
inhabiting these three realms
86 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
wear a special garment called a
tuigen (a covering of birds), which
was made from mallards’ necks and
crests from the waist up, and white
and multi-coloured birds’ skins from
the waist down.
A shamanic type costume was
also worn by the legendary Irish
druid Mug Roith consisting of a
bull’s hide and a speckled bird-
mask. Mug Roith was said to have
spent the first seven years of his
training inside a fairy mound under
the direction of a divine druidess.
Although blind, he was reported to
have been able to manifest fire and
water, alter the landscape,
shapeshift, and perform feats of
magic. He had many students who
referred to him as ‘Beloved
Teacher,’ and he was sometimes
assisted by the son of his
Otherworld teacher - a young man
who wore a grey-brown mantle
hung with talons, bones and horns.
Magical transformation and
rebirth are common in Celtic myths
and legends. One famous
shapeshifter was Fintan, an Irish
figure of great age and wisdom, who
spent part of his existence in the
form of an eagle, a hawk and a
salmon. In the ancient Irish tale
Leabhar Gabhála Éireann (‘The
Book of Invasions’), first written
down in the 11th century, the poet
Amairgen chants a magical poem in
which he says he possesses the
wisdom or power of the wind, the
ocean, a hawk, a boar and a
salmon. In another Irish tale, ‘The
Wooing of Étain,’ the heroine
experiences a number of
transfigurations, including a pool of
water and a scarlet fly. In this latter
form she is swallowed by a warrior’s
wife and reborn as her daughter.
Shapeshifting and
transformation also feature in the
medieval Welsh tales, such as the
Tale of Gwion Bach. In this story, a
female magician named Cerridwen
wished to brew an elixir of
prophetic wisdom for her
unfortunate son Afagddu (Utter
Darkness), so he could prosper.
Cerridwen, versed in ‘the three
arts’ (magic, enchantment and
divination), gathered herbs to boil
in a cauldron for a year and a day.
At the end of that time three drops
containing magical properties
sprang from the cauldron.
However, Cerridwen fell asleep
and the drops fell upon a young lad
who was tending the fire named
Gwion Bach. She was outraged,
and the two engaged in a
shapeshifting contest. Gwion Bach
finally changed into a grain of
wheat and was eaten by
Cerridwen, who later gave birth to
him in human form. As the tale
unfurls, the child is set adrift in a
small coracle boat, and later
discovered to be a highly gifted
poet and seer, when he is re-
named Taliesin (‘Shining Brow’).
In one poem credited to Taliesin,
he tells of the lives or forms
experienced before his rebirth.
These include raindrops, starlight,
an eagle, a spark in a fire, a harp
string and an enchanted sword. In
another poem he says he was
created from woods and trees and
flowers, from the essence of soil
and the water of the ‘ninth wave,’
which is considered to be a
boundary between this world and
the Otherworld.
In many cultures, spiritual
death-and-rebirth is sometimes
preceded by illness, madness or
suffering, prior to a new
incarnation. In the medieval Welsh
tale of Math Son of Mathonwy, the
young hero Lleu is struck by a
poisoned spear by the lover of his
unfaithful supernatural bride. He
utters a terrible scream and takes
flight in the form of an eagle. His
uncle Gwydion discovers him sitting
in the top of a tree in a very poor
state. Gwydion, a magician, sings
three poems or englynion and lures
Lleu down from the tree
whereupon he is transformed back
into human shape, and a group of
healers restore him to health.
POWER OF SACRED WORDS
In many cultures, shamans use
secret, archaic or ritual languages,
taught to them by their elders or
spirit teachers, and this is also true
of the druids, who were said to
offer their philosophy ‘in riddles.’
Irish poets used arcane ‘learned
languages,’ and in medieval Wales
there was a special class of seers
known as awenyddion who
performed seership using their
innate understanding, a gift
obtained through visions received
in their sleep. Once taken over by
spirits, they would call out the
response to questions put to them.
These responses were sometimes
hard to understand, but sounded
marvelous even to the untrained
ear. After their ecstatic state, they
Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
were
shaken
and roused as
if returning from a deep
sleep.
The Middle Welsh word awen
(seen in the word awenyddion) is a
type of poetic inspiration mentioned
frequently by Welsh poets. It is also
mentioned in Gaelic sources in its
Old Irish form, aí. The underlying
meaning of both words is ‘blowing,
breath or wind’ – in other words:
‘in-spiration’.
The druids were said to sing or
chant their sacred lore, and druidic
spells, recitations and invocations
are mentioned in many Celtic tales.
There was a great deal of
specialised terminology that
referred to singing and chanting, as
well as divine or specialised
knowledge, such as awen (or aí)
(poetic inspiration), imbas (great or
divine knowledge), eolas (guidance
or secret knowledge) and dán
Many
cultures often feature
sacred symbolism incorporated into
shamanic headdresses or capes,
this also appears to be true within
some parts of Celtic spirituality
(divine gift or skill). Above: the
Here is an example of a poetic Mold Cape,
mystic poem that speaks about the a solid sheet-
importance of wisdom and its gold, ritual
expression through sacred cape found near
language. It comes from an Irish Mold, Flintshire,
poetic text in which the filid were Wales, in 1833.
taught that there were three C1900-1600 BCE
cauldrons in the body. These were
Coire Goriath (Cauldron of
Warming), Coire Ermae (Cauldron
of Motion) and Coire Sois (The
87
 Cauldron of Great Knowledge). The
poem is in the voice of Amairgen
White-Knee, a legendary Celtic
poet (my translation from Old Irish):
My cauldron,
a fitting warming
A fervent poem the
Divine has given me
The secrets of the elements
The mark of an artificer…
A fortunate language
flows from it…
This is the manner of
service of my cauldron.
OTHERWORLD JOURNEYS
In Celtic myths there are frequent
tales of people journeying to, or
experiencing direct encounters with
the sacred Otherworld realms.
These include tales known as
echtrae (journeys or voyages) and
immrama (literally a ‘rowing about’
between Otherworld islands or
locations). Sometimes a spiritual
being appears in a person’s path,
guiding or enticing them to travel to
the world of the spirits. In other tales
the person sets out in search of their
own magical experience, and
sometimes they are provided with a
token or amulet that helps them
accomplish the journey. In other
cases a word or invitation is sufficient
for the spiritual travel to occur.
Sometimes the consumption of
certain foods - salmon, hazelnuts,
berries or apples – seems to
facilitate the Otherworld
experience, and this may be coded
language which actually refers to
the use of teacher plants, such as
Fly Agaric mushrooms (Amanita
muscaria), which is used by some
other shamanic cultures to achieve
an ecstatic state.
The relationship between human
beings and the inhabitants of the
Otherworld is one of the most
important themes in Celtic
mythology. In Ireland the gods were
known as the Tuatha Dé Danann
(The People of the Goddess Danu),
and in Wales they were called the
Plant Annwn (Children of Annwn,
the Welsh Otherworld). In earlier
times they were known as the Áes
Síde (People of the Síd) The Old
Irish word síd, which refers to the
Otherworld, and the Welsh word
sedd come from a root word sed
which means ‘seat’ (as in the seat
or abode of the gods). Interestingly,
it also means peace. The word was
used first to refer to sacred places
where one might encounter the
inhabitants of the spirit world. It
was then used to refer to those
beings themselves, and finally it
had a third meaning, that of peace;
the peace that resulted from
maintaining a right relationship with
the Otherworld.
In Celtic stories, people
encounter the inhabitants of the
spirit world in human or animal
form, and part of any journey is to
recognise that one is in the
presence of the divine and act
accordingly. Many myths
demonstrate the importance of
behaving in a respectful,
courageous and honourable way.
Showing respect for the ways of
the Otherworld is an ever-present
theme, and when truth, respect
and understanding are present,
there is peace between the worlds.
In the ancient Welsh tales found
in the Mabinogion - the earliest
surviving manuscripts of which date
back to about 1350 - Pwyll, Prince
of Dyfed rides out hunting one day
in the valley of the river Cych. He
comes across a stag felled by a
group of glittering white Otherworld
hounds with red ears and
encounters a mysterious horseman
who is angered that Pwyll let his
hounds have the stag.
The horseman is Arawn, a king
from the Welsh Otherworld, and
Pwyll asks Arawn how he can ‘gain
peace’ with him. Arawn describes a
number of tasks that Pwyll must
accomplish in order to ‘have
peace.’ Pwyll (whose name means

In the ancient Welsh tales the

Mabinogion, Prince Pwyll rides out
hunting in the valley of the river Cych.
He encounters a mysterious horseman,
Arawn, a king from the Otherworld -
the two began to strengthen their
friendship, forming an alliance between
the world of humans and the world
of spirits that was to last for
many years to come

Right: The
river Cych,
reputed to con-
tain portals that
lead into the
Otherworld

88 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org

Wisdom or Counsel) is successful,
and from that time on the two
began to strengthen their
friendship, forming an alliance
between the world of humans and
the world of spirits that was to last
for many years to come.
A similar alliance is described in
the Irish tale, ‘The Adventures of
Cormac mac Art.’ Cormac makes a
journey to the Otherworld at the
prompting of the god Mannanán
mac Lir, and there he is given a
vision of the Well of Wisdom,
surrounded by hazel trees that drop
their nuts into the water. The
salmon of wisdom who live near
the well ‘crack open’ the nuts of
wisdom and send their husks
floating down the streams.
The god tells Cormac that the
well is the source of knowledge and
the streams are the senses through
which knowledge is obtained. At the
end of the story, Cormac suggests
that he and Manannán make an
alliance, to which the god agrees,
‘well-pleased’ at the suggestion. He
gives Cormac a magical branch with
healing properties, and a cup to
discern between truth and
falsehood. Cormac was said to be
an ideal king, who shared wisdom
with others:
Do not be arrogant
or aggressive
Do not be ill disposed
towards others
Do not hoard things
that are not needed
Do not sacrifice justice
for human passion
Consult the elders and
those who are true judges
Observe the teachings
of your ancestors.
RECLAIMING ANCIENT WISDOM
There are many pathways into
Celtic shamanism that have been
handed down to us by the
ancestors, and here are some
time-honoured methods you can
use to walk in the sacred footsteps
of the druids, poet-seers and
elders of the Celtic tradition:
• Make pilgrimages to sacred sites
which were honoured by the Celtic
peoples: sacred mounds or hills,
sacred trees and wells, mountains,
fields, caves, springs and bodies of
water.
• Honour the gods and spirits of
the Three Worlds and make
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If you are lucky enough to live
in such places, learn about the
authentic Celtic culture of your region,
including history, stories of the landscape,
myths and legends, traditional poetry
and charms, and folk rituals
traditional offerings to the gods and
spirits - food, drink, white quartz
stones, poems, things of beauty
and value.
• Walk around the sacred site in a
sun-wise or clock-wise circle three
times, starting in the east.
• Invoke the powers of the four
directions and the centre, and
reflect on and invite in to work with
you the spirits of ‘prosperity,’
‘music,’ ‘learning,’ ‘conflict (or
transformation),’ and sovereignty.
• Recite traditional poems, prayers
and stories to honour the gods and
spirits.
• Visualise the Sacred Tree that
connects the Three Worlds at the
centre, whose roots run deep
below the earth and connect with
the Well of Wisdom.
• Meditate on the symbol of the
well or ‘cauldron of wisdom,’ and
ask to become a vessel for
traditional knowledge, inspiration
and learning.
• Use songs or chants in the Celtic
languages which are a powerful
bridge between the worlds, and
utilise traditional Celtic shamanic
methods for vision and connection.
• Incorporate or make use of
messages or symbols given to you
during an ecstatic state: embroider
them on cloaks or bags, carve
them on wooden wands or staffs,
use them in poems or artwork.
• If you are lucky enough to live in
such places, learn about the
authentic Celtic culture of your
region, including history, stories of
the landscape, myths and legends,
traditional poetry and charms, and
folk rituals.
Above:
offerings left
Following these traditions
at Saint Brigid’s
requires that we dedicate ourselves
to the path for many years, Well, County
studying reliable native sources of Clare, Ireland
knowledge: history, culture,
mythology, knowledge of the gods
and the natural world, traditional
healing and ritual practices, poetry,
prophecy and ancestral language.
As ‘strong seers’ we can
cultivate the indigenous methods
once used to obtain wisdom and
inspiration, gaining direct knowledge
of the Otherworld realms, and so
acquire the power to shape-shift our
lives and our world.
By using chant, breath and song
we can tap into the roots of the
sacred tree of knowledge and help
this ancestral wisdom flow through
the branches of the Celtic family
tree. The shamanic practices of the
ancestors still resonate powerfully,
guiding and inspiring us as they
have for thousands of years.
Sharon Paice MacLeod is a Harvard-
trained Celtic scholar and shamanic
practitioner of Scottish, Irish and Welsh
ancestry, a descendant of ‘Fairy Clan’
MacLeod. She is the founder of Senchas
and Immrama, both dedicated to preserving
indigenous Celtic wisdom, and has taught
and presented research on Celtic religion
and shamanism in North America and
Europe. She is part of the goth-pagan-
trance rock band ‘The Moors,’ and author
of Celtic Myth and Religion (McFarland)
and Queen of the Night (Weiser).
Sharon has profiles on: Academia.edu,
LinkedIn, Facebook, Dun na Sidhe
www.mobiusbandwidth.com/dns.html
89
 Spirit
The Mari Lwyd (Grey Mare) is a
Welsh winter tradition, in which a
decorated horse's skull is mounted
onto a pole, with its jaws hinged,

of the Mari
and a white sheet attached to
conceal the operator.
The Mari is an active living folk
tradition which has seen a recent
revival in some areas of Wales. It has
spread from the so called
‘stronghold of the tradition’ - in
Glamorganshire, South Wales - to
both the Western and Northern parts
of the country, and nowadays it has
even been known to venture over the
The Welsh border into England.
The Mari is led by someone,
folk tradition of known as Ostler Smart, and a
the Mari Lwyd troupe of other people will often
accompany the Mari and the
Ostler, providing music.
It is traditional for the Mari Lwyd
Phil Larcher troupe to visit homes, farms, public
houses and so forth, and to
interact with the people inside. The
sight of the Mari, and her
entourage, caused some people to
lock their doors and hide,
pretending to be out.
Traditionally when the Mari
troupe arrives at their destination,
the Mari tries to gain access.
Ostler Smart knocks loudly on the
door with a stick, and the
occupants open the door just
enough to ask who is there. Ostler
Smart then tells them that it's Mari
Lwyd, and then a sort of ritual
interaction begins.

Main Photo:
The author as Mari
Lwyd at Chepstow in
Eastern Wales
Inset: the Mari pays
a house call at the
editor’s house,
Solstice 2016

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‘ Wel dyma ni'n dwad
Gyfeillion diniwad
I ofyn am gennod i ganu
other pwnco, written specifically for
the venues we visit, in order to
'insult them appropriately' in rhyme.
There are no set rules on how a
Os na chawn ni gennad Mari should look. In the past a
pitchfork was often used to support
wybod ar ganiad the weight of the skull, while
Pa fodd mae'r nowadays a stick of some kind is
more generally used, and I myself
'madawiad, nos heno
’ use a twisted spiral hazel stick.
If you look at old photos of the
As well as rhyme, music has also
played an important part in the Mari
traditions. Welsh oral history, and
images too - and even some very
Below:
the Mari from
Llangynwyd,
Glamorgan,
old black and white film footage - Photographed
show that the male voice was an between 1904
accompanying instrument in the past and 1910
in the Mari traditions, but nowadays
a Mari’s visit is often accompanied
with folk music of one kind or
another played on instruments.

‘ Here we come
Dear friends
To ask permissions
to sing
If we don't have
permission,
Let us know in song
How we should
go away tonight
’
The Mari party and the
occupants converse via the pwnco,
which is the heart of the tradition,
which makes it unique to Wales.
The pwnco is a rhyming contest, in
which the Mari troupe, and the
occupants of the house, try to
outwit each other by rhyme. It is
said that, in years gone by, this
interaction could go on for hours,
or occasionally, even days.
It has been said that in past
times a local poet - a special
pwncwr or rhymester - might be
hired by the occupants of the
house, in order to outwit the Mari
troupe and keep them out for as
long as possible.
Eventually the Mari troupe gains
entry to the house, and once inside,
the Mari blesses the venue by
causing chaos in the establishment
by a variety of methods, such as
chasing the virgins present,
brushing the hearth - with the fire
still lit - and scattering ashes
around. All of these activities were
said to chase away any bad spirits,
or negative energy within the
house, and pave the way for the
good luck brought by the Mari.
In return for this blessing, it was
traditional for the Mari troupe to
receive teisen, cwrw ac arian -
cake, beer and silver.
Mari, you will see that the horses
skulls have been decorated in a
variety of ways, some with cloth
covering almost all of the skull, and
then covered in tinsel, or rosettes,
or various coloured ribbons.
But of course, over time, the
Mari has changed. Old black and
white photos and footage show
smartly dressed men, with a heavily
decorated horse’s skull covered
with Christmas decorations,
indeed, sometimes the skull is so
decorated it is sometimes hard to
see that a horse's skull is present
at all. The more modern Mari
Lwyd's may have electric lights in
the eyes, and I believe I was one of
- if not the - first to paint markings
directly onto the skull itself, and
add pointy ears, which now tend to
be more common than ears sewn
onto the sheet.
The skull I use has been
decorated with nine spirals, in triple
form - the spiral being an ancient
symbol, and a link to my Celtic
past. The white cloth covering our
Mari has been embroidered with Personally myself, I have strong
holly on the right-hand side, and ivy links to musicians, and they
on the left, and the mane - stitched accompany our Mari party.
to the cloth - is embellished with However, due to the time of year
green and red ribbons, which relate when performances happen -
to evergreens, and also are the winter - and our unpredictable
colours of the Welsh flag - white, Welsh weather, the whole troupe
green and red. has not always been able to gather,
There are also trinkets and and so I have found that - if there is
‘power objects’ attached in, and a planned Mari Lwyd visit - the
around the ribbons too; for most important thing is, of course,
instance, feathers and bones, for the Mari to attend, accompanied
alongside gifts such as, a real
horse's tail, and a miniature hand
forged horseshoe, all of which have
been received by the Mari as gifts.
We also tie mistletoe in the Mari’s
‘ Does genni ddim cinio
Nac arian iw gwario
I wneud i chwi roeso,
mouth, a plant associated with the nos heno

Each village had a variant on

how this tradition was carried out,
and our troupe uses a traditional
Mari Lwyd pwnco, along with some
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ancient druids of Wales.
It is said that if someone other
than the Mari bearer goes under
the cloth uninvited, then they will ‘
I have no dinner
Or money to spend
’
have 'bad luck and more', and I’ve
embroidered a curse on the inside
of the cloth too, just to make sure.
To give welcome tonight
Traditional Mari song ’
91
Above left: by Ostler Smart, and that can often
the Mari and be enough. When our whole troupe
Ostler Smart does assemble, the musicians have
at the editor’s always played traditional Welsh
house songs appropriate for the time of
year, and some Mari troupes are
Above right:
known to sing Christmas carols too.
the Hunting
of the Wren
ORIGINS OF THE MARI
in Ireland
The origins of this tradition are lost in
history, but the white horse has
always had a place in these isles of
Britain. They were carved on hillsides
sacred to the Celts, and then there
are the tales of Rhiannon in the early
medieval Welsh poetic epic, the
Mabinogion, and the ancient horse
goddess Epona.
There are still many ‘obby horse’
folk traditions found in England too,
such as the Padstow Obby Oss,
and the Kentish Hooden Horse,
and I am aware in some parts of
the USA there is a variant of the
Mari Lwyd tradition as well. I was
even recently contacted by a group
from California.
One of the items traditionally
carried by an Ostler Smart is a bird
Right: the
Uffington White
Horse, on a hill
in Oxfordshire,
England. It is
thought to be
around 3,000
years old
92 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
on a stick - Aderyn Pica Lwyd - the
Grey Magpie. The horse goddesses
Epona and Rhiannon are strongly
associated with birds, and so there
might be some ancient connection
going back to this in this aspect of
the Mari tradition.
Another ancient Welsh - and
Irish - winter ceremonial
performance is called the ‘Hunting
of the Wren.’ This occurs on Wren
day, December 26th, and this has
some similarities to the Mari Lwyd
tradition. In the wren tradition, men
would sing carols while carrying a
fake wren - placed on top of a pole,
or in a cage - decorated with
ribbons. The men were ritually fed
with ale and other drinks as they
made their way. The wren was called
‘King of all Birds’, but now captured,
he is paraded. This custom has been
said to have ancient Druidical origins.
For me - my own origin, my own
connection to the traditions - so to
speak - came when I first heard
the story as a child in my
Glamorgan Primary School.
I remember that during the
lesson, we all drew pictures, and
they were put up in the corridor, I
remember the walls covered with
brightly coloured images of the
Mari. I've always been an artist
with an interest in natural materials
and objects (particularly skulls).
Many years later I was working in
a woodland near the Welsh city of
Cardiff, creating artwork as part of a
sculpture trail, and one day, when I
went to the area I was working in, I
found a complete horse's skull,
which had be placed in the
branches of a coppiced ash tree at
the centre of my work space.
As if by instinct, I began to
decorate it, firstly by painting red
spirals over the skull.
I researched the Mari Lwyd
tradition by visiting the Folk
Museum of Wales, in St Fagans,
on the outskirts of Cardiff, and I
talked to members of the Cwmni
Dawns Werin Caerdydd, who are
also Mari Lwyd tradition bearers.
I began to discover more about
the traditions, and my wife Vivien,
who is originally from a Welsh village,
remembers her grandfather telling
her about the Mari Lwyd, and how
he had been part of a troupe visiting
a farm in the village. From her
account, it seemed that it was an all
male event, where the aim was to go
out to perform the tradition - fuelled
by ale - singing and rhyming to gain
entry to the farm, in order to be fed,
and hopefully be given more ale.
My wife's grandmother often
tried to stop her grandfather talking
about the Mari Lwyd, she was a
Chapel goer - a strict Christian
 People that
encounter the Mari
for the first time are
often frightened, but
people familiar with
the tradition are
usually pleased,
offering her beer
and snacks, along
with money, to bring
them good luck the
following year
woman - and didn't seem to think
that the Mari Lwyd was the right
thing to do at all.
By talking to the elders of the
village I also first heard about the
pwnco, and one man even sang the
verses to me. I was intrigued and
wanted to discover more, and so I
went to the places that still practised
the tradition and watched others
perform, and listened to their stories.
I feel that, in some way, becoming
a bearer of the Mari tradition has
been a process which I didn’t have
any real control over - I didn’t actively
seek to take on the role, but looking
back, it seems obvious to me that
this was something that was
happening to me.
My role with the Mari is, of
course, being concealed beneath the
white sheet. When I'm in position, I
feel the power of the Mari, I feel a
deep connection which I still don't
fully understand. I seem to become
in tune with my other senses, relying
on feelings and instincts - it’s
impossible to see what’s happening,
as the horse skull blocks my sight,
so I have to ‘tune in’ in other ways.
I also believe that I am more
deeply in harmony with the spirit of
the Mari each time I perform. I
enter a light trance - which is
enhanced when I hear rhythmic
music, in particular drumming.
I was initially quite focused on
the appearance of the skull,
ribbons and cloth, but I gradually
became aware that once under the
cloth I began to behave more as a
horse, displaying a bit of a cheeky
character, sometimes removing
someone's hat, or eating a snack
that was offered.
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There have also been occasions
when I was unwell and about to
perform the Mari. However, once I
was under the cloth, the spirit of the
Mari energised me, and the
performance appeared to erase any
illness. This is all part of my
developing relationship with the Mari,
and I have noticed that in recent
years I have felt more spiritually
connected with her, and my
performances have become more
about my interaction with this spirit.
BRINGING IN THE LIGHT
In our early outings with the Mari,
she performed, together with a
band of musicians, at various times
throughout the year. The Mari has
even made it to the summer Welsh
National Eisteddfodd too.
In our early performances, I
noticed that people with knowledge
of the tradition would comment if
the Mari was performing out of her
traditional time slot - either too
early in December, or too late in
Left: the Mari in
a public house
in West Wales
January - and nowadays, I don't
even think about performing in the
summertime at all.
This was all a big learning curve
for me. Over time it has become
more obvious to me how important
sticking to the traditional time slot
is. The Mari doesn't appear so
ghostly in daylight, and carrying a
skull, weighing over two stones
(around 13 kilos) for hours on end,
on a warm sunny day is no joke.
As a Winter tradition, the Mari
has a message - ‘o'r twyllwch i'r
goluni’ - from darkness comes light
- so traditionally she should only
ever be seen in the dark months of
December and January.
Every year the Mari performs a
number of times throughout this
period, during which time the Mari
is active, feasting and drinking,
spreading her message and
blessing venues.
We - my wife Vivien and I, as
she is my Mari’s Ostler Smart when
Left: the
Mari and Ostler
Smart’s ‘Aderyn
Pica Lwyd’ - the
Grey Magpie - in
a public house
in West Wales
93

Above: the Mari we perform - try to keep the
and Ostler Smart performances as traditional as we
at the editor’s can, learning a bit more about the
house tradition as we go along.
As I am a tradition bearer, I look
forward to my role over the dark days
of winter, and I no longer think of this
period as Christmas time - I have an
alternative way of celebrating the
season. I always decorate my
personal altar and my dwelling with
holly, ivy, mistletoe, apples and
oranges during this period.
Within these two months there
are also significant dates; Dec
18th - Epona day; the Winter
Solstice on Dec 21st; Wren Day
(St Stephen's Day) on Dec 26th;
New Years Day on Jan 1st: and
Hen Galan - the old Welsh new
year - on Jan 13th.
During the winter solstice - the
shortest day - the importance of the
tradition has become even more
obvious to me. I realise that in all
the chaos, the Mari has fulfilled her
promise of bringing light and
blessing all the venues she visits. I
believe that the tradition brings light
into the dark days of winter, and
gives those who are visited a sense
of hope for the coming year.
The cycle continues - life, death
and rebirth, from now on the days
grow longer, spring is on the horizon.
When the Mari is ‘out and
about,’ she gets a variety of
reactions from people.
I’m concealed behind her white
cloth and skull, and therefore not
able to see what is happening
around me, so I rely on my Ostler
Smart, to be my eyes, and to give
94 Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org
me direction too. Ostler Smart is
vital to keep the Mari focussed. I’m
often amazed when I see photos
and film of the performances.
The people that encounter the
Mari for the first time are often
frightened of any interaction, but
with encouraging banter from Ostler
Smart, they interact by petting the
Mari, often stroking her brow.
Children are either terrified - or
enchanted; they appear to only see
the Mari, and are not aware of the
person beneath the cloth. Dogs are
sometimes fascinated and other
times cowering.
Those people familiar with the
tradition are usually pleased - apart
from those of a dogmatic Christian
nature - and fully engage with the
Mari, offering her beer and snacks,
along with money, to bring them
good luck the following year.
THE PAST INTO THE FUTURE
In the last few years I have
engaged more closely with the spirit
of the Mari Lwyd, becoming ever
more in tune with the relationship I
have with the horse.
The Mari has influenced where I
have lived, taking me on a journey
from Cardiff to Carmarthen. I have
connected with other artists and
Musicians through the Mari too, and
I would say that the interaction with
the Mari has profoundly affected
me, and continues to do so.
As the horse skull I use came to
me originally from that woodland
near Cardiff, she has now returned
to a woodland setting, but this time
in Llansteffan in West Wales. In
this woodland I’m building a Mari
Lwyd temple, as I believe this is
what the spirit wants.
I’m really happy to witness the
resurgence in the Mari Lwyd
tradition in Wales, although I’m
aware of changes in tradition too.
I feel a certain responsibility to
upholding the standards of the
tradition. When I first became
involved I focused on the tradition
and took time to learn more about
it. Because of this, I would like to
see the tradition adhered to - and
not diluted out of recognition -
while at the same time people need
to embrace the vibrancy which
comes from a living tradition.
I hope that the spirit of the Mari
is embraced, and that all the
established Mari Lwyd bearers,
Ostler Smarts and troupes continue
to respect the tradition, and help to
preserve the knowledge we still
have, in order to keep it safe and
pass it on to future generations.
I would like to see each of the
tradition bearers embellish their
Mari uniquely. I have assembled my
Mari in a way that enables me to
incorporate a wide range of
movements, which enables me to
move freely and interact more.
Welsh villages are, of course,
not as isolated as they once were,
and influences from other Mari
traditions will have an impact on
local Mari traditions. People are
now naming their Maris too, giving
the troupe a name, whereas in the
past, you were known as the Mari
from a particular village or parish.
In the past the Mari Lwyd
tradition was male dominated, for a
variety of reasons, but now women
are often take a leading role, and
many of the Ostler's are female too.
It is inevitable that aspects of a
living tradition will change and
evolve, but as long as we
remember why we carry out this
ritual, and what message we
convey, then I firmly believe the
Mari has a future in modern Wales.
Phil Larcher is a tradition bearer for the
Mari Lwyd. He is a qualified artist, inspired
by the Welsh language and culture, and is
employed as a natural materials tutor for a
mental health charity.
He lives with his wife Vivien, in
Carmarthenshire, West Wales, where they
work as woodland craftspeople and run
eco/art therapy sessions in Morydau Magic,
their therapeutic woodland on the coast.
Facebook: Morydau Magic
email: phillarcher@hotmail.co.uk
Each year in Glen Lyon, one of the
most remote areas of Scotland, a
family of stones are brought out of
their small turf roofed ‘house,’
known as the Tigh nam Bodach, at
the start of May (Beltane) for the
summer, and are then returned to
their house at the end of October
(Samhain) for the winter.
The Tigh nam Bodach shrine is
recognised as the oldest
uninterrupted pagan tradition in
Britain - and perhaps in all of Europe
- stretching back thousands of years.
Although the valley is no longer
populated due to the Highland
clearances in the C18th, when the longest enclosed valley in Scotland. It is said that terrible things will Above: the
locals were thrown off their land, the It is rich in ancient sites and is an happen to anyone who disturbs the Goddess (on
stones are still tended each year. They ancient sacred landscape, Lugh is shrine and the sacred family, which the right) and
are a shrine to Cailleach, an ancient the Sun God. is perhaps to be born in mind as the her family
Celtic Earth Goddess, and the site is When the valley was more valley is now part of a major Hydro
believed to be the only ancient populated in the past, the shrine electric scheme, involving
surviving shrine to her. house was rethatched every year. considerable land work in the valley,
The stones represent Cailleach, Now this happens less often, the and the laying of underground
her husband Bodach, their daughter last time being in 2012, but each cables and other infrastructure.
Nighean, and members of their year local people still walk up the Hopefully, some of the
divine family. Their ‘house’ is a glen to take Cailleach and her stone developers are savvie enough to
simple shelter, measuring just 2.0m family out of their house as their give the Goddess some offerings,
by 1.3m, and only 0.4m high. The ancestors have always done. so they can be on as best of terms
shrine stones themselves are made Cailleach watched over the cattle as possible with her and her
of sandstone, roughly shaped in that once grazed in the glen, and the ancient family.
human forms; the largest stone, Goddess and her family were given
representing Cailleach is 45 cm high. shelter by the local people to ensure Below: Tigh
Often said to be Scotland’s most the valley would be fertile nam Bodach,
beautiful Glen, Glen Lyon was and prosperous. the house of
originally called Gleann Lìomhann, the Goddess
and is 55 km long,
making it the

the Shrine of the Goddess

Celebrating 25 years of Sacred Hoop Magazine - www.SacredHoop.org 95

Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis
The Tomb of Téviec
Skeletons of two women, both aged between 25 and 35 years old.
They both died a violent death, with several head injuries and evidence of
the impacts of arrows. The two bodies were buried with great care in a pit,
protected by antlers, and grave goods include flint and bone (mainly wild boar),
funeral jewellery made of marine shells, drilled and assembled into necklaces,
bracelets and ankle rings.
Dated between 6740 and 5680 BCE
Brittany, France