The Shaman Sickness – a heavy gift of the spirits (part 2)

By Excellence Reporter on December 27, 2018 • ( 1 Comment )

Shaman sickness represents an extreme nervous breakdown that cannot be treated by conventional medicine. Only initiation into shamanism can relieve the afflicted. Symbolically, it is the call of the ancestors who have chosen a particular person to become a shaman. If the chosen candidate refuses, they either die or go insane. There is ample evidence of how this sickness manifests.

Before becoming a shaman, a person experiences prolonged illness and visions in which they believe the souls of deceased shamans—their “uttha” (ancestors)—come to teach them. During these episodes, the initiate falls unconscious and converses with these spirits as though they were alive. Outsiders cannot see them. Sometimes, only one spirit appears; at other times, several or even nearly all deceased shamans manifest.

(Testimony of Mikhail Stepanov from G.V. Ksenofontov’s book, “Legends and Stories from the Yakuts, Buryats, and Tungus”)

One hundred and fifty years ago, in the 4th Kharanutov clan of the Kudinsky province, there lived a Buryat named Aldyr-Areev. He suffered from madness for about 15 years—running naked for miles in the dead of winter. Then, his “uttha” finally revealed itself to him—Baruunai (from Hondogor-Shosholok). The uttha spoke:

“Why are you wandering like a fool? Don’t you recognize us? Become a shaman! Rely on us—your uttha! Do you agree?”

He accepted.

(Testimony of Bulagat Bukhasheev from the book by G.V. Ksenofontov)

As we can see, uttha—the spirits of deceased shamans—play a crucial role in this affliction. In the Buryat tradition, uttha also signifies lineage and the hereditary right to become a shaman. If a person descends from a line of powerful shamans, they possess uttha, and the spirits may assign them a heavy fate. Uttha presents itself as a personified force that directly communicates with the initiate. In most cases, it asks for the chosen one’s consent, as well as specifying what must be done to safely undergo initiation.

Modern interpretations of shaman sickness often associate it with nightmares—so vivid and intense that they blur the line between dream and reality. In the late 1990s, the following case was documented:

A Buryat woman began experiencing visions of two Mongolian shaman spirits. The encounters were terrifying—she was tormented by disembodied hands and palms. Her nightmares became indistinguishable from waking life. One night, she awoke from another nightmare, opened her eyes…

“To my horror, I saw above me the very palms that I had encountered only in my dreams.”

Only when she screamed in terror and her family switched on the light did the vision vanish. Another challenge for her was that she did not speak Buryat. Yet, uttha spoke to her in that language. She simply could not understand what the spirits of her ancestors wanted from her.

In essence, shaman sickness is a sacred phenomenon that has developed its own mythology. The belief that spirits inhabit the world and influence the fate of entire kinships dates back to an era when humans were defenseless against the forces of nature. It was likely during this time that the conviction arose: spirits live alongside humans, but only a select few can see them. This ability, which manifests during initiation, is what we now call shaman sickness.

(Testimony of Bulagat Bukhasheev)

For the Siberian people, the place of spiritual learning is fluid—it may be the sky, or it may be the underworld. It is said that a shaman’s “color” depends on this: white or black. However, a black shaman is not necessarily malevolent; rather, they communicate with and seek aid from the spirits of the lower world. The following is an account of a vision experienced by Spiridon Gerasimov, a Yakut shaman:

*”As I lay there, they began pulling me to the left with an iron hook. I lifted my head—my eyes could still see. I realized I was lying in the mouth of a Bloody River, flowing back and forth… They drew water from this river and forced me to drink until I was completely drunk. Then, they drilled holes in my ears, placed me in a clay pot, and said: ‘You are now a renowned shaman with bloody feet.’

They threw a hunk of gore the size of a pillow at me and said: ‘Be famous among the evil shamans with bloody feet.’

I found myself repeating these words without knowing why. They looped a rope around my neck and dragged me far away.”*

Here, we see a description of the shaman sickness of an “evil” or “black” shaman. The image of the Bloody River is particularly striking—it bestows upon the initiate the title of a famous shaman with bloody feet. The branching riverbed evokes the image of a tree. In this sense, water, as a symbol of Chaos, becomes the primary conduit for the shaman’s journey to the Lower World. This suggests the presence of the World Tree, which connects the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds. The river’s mouth—the place where it originates—is the root from which the tree grows. Spiridon thus stands at the base of the tree, preparing to travel between worlds. In Yakut tradition, the souls of unborn shamans are nurtured in the nests or “cradles” of the World Tree.

Equally important is the symbolism of suffering. Before being chosen by the spirits, the initiate’s soul is subjected to a symbolic death—boiled in a cauldron, dismembered… It is believed that the degree of torment an initiate endures determines their future strength:

“Now we will cut your flesh, cook it, and make you ripen. You will die, and we will put your flesh back together—then you will be reborn as a shaman. No other meat will be cooked for you, so you must know your own. If we replace it with someone else’s flesh, then only foolishness will emerge!”

(Testimony of Bulagat Bukhasheev)

According to other accounts, spirits counted the bones of the future shaman. If the initiate had enough bones, they could become a shaman; if not, they perished. It was considered a good omen if a shaman had more bones than an ordinary person—this was a sign of their power. The Buryats held great respect for six-fingered shamans, who possessed a biological anomaly. A well-known Olkhon shaman, Valentin Hagdaev, had six fingers on one hand.

Ultimately, the essence of shaman sickness is the death of an ordinary person and the birth of a shaman. Under normal circumstances, this transformation occurs when a person is called by the spirits of their ancestors. However, there are cases where someone became a shaman by other means:

*”There was a great black shaman named Mylyksen Baltaevsky, who died ten years ago in the Bulagatsky region. When he became a shaman, he sacrificed seventy of his relatives to his uttha.

He had no uttha of his own, so he could not have become a shaman… But he forced his way in, took another’s uttha… For this, he was punished—seventy lives lost, and he became a shaman.”*

(Testimony of Bulagat Bukhasheev)

Buryat Mylyksen sacrificed seventy of his relatives to form a new uttha, since he originally had none. A shaman with their own uttha is forbidden from making such sacrifices.

(Testimony of Buina Bulagatova and Bagduya Bashilkhanov)

It remains a mystery how this shaman experienced shaman sickness without uttha. How did he establish contact with spirits and negotiate his right to become chosen? Did the seventy lives he “offered” mean literal deaths, or was this a symbolic sacrifice that deprived his kin of spiritual protection? The true nature of this act remains uncertain.