Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Shamans of Alaska and Kamchatka (video)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Isuma.tv; Awakened Indigo

Shakyamuni (Central Asian shraman from Scythia/Indo-Sakastan, modern Afghanistan) thangka with enthroned Vajrayana Buddhist/Bon lamas, Tibet (Earth-Spirit/flickr.com)
Dancing shaman holding a traditional trance-inducing drum (Hamid Sardar-Afkani)
Scene from "The Journals of Knud Rasmussen" (isuma.tv, a website dedicated to indigenous media from around the world with over 2,600 videos in more than 46 languages).
Kalmyk Buddhism: "Shaman Reality: The Other Side" (Christophe Carlier/flickr.com)

(RT) Smoking Beauties: Kamchatka, Land of Stone TorchesEigunichvan National Folklore Ensemble of Kamchatka performing at Festival du Houblon, Haguenau, France, August 18th, 2015.

Shaman masks (oakleafcontracts.com)
Eigunichvan was created by Svetlana and Serguei Beliaeva Kutynkavav. The women wear dresses with Manchu accents sewn into the skin. Through dance the youth reconnect with their history, imitating nature, celebrating life: a bear attack, whale hunt, childbirth, the beauty of the tundra, love, particularly the "gaga" dance, the sacred bird that plunges into the sea and comes back to land. These dances are like prayers expressed in symbolic codes. Dancers are dressed in coats and reindeer skins with traditional "torbosa" shoes made of sealskin. They change with the rhythm of the drums.

Animist Tanya Tagaq: Nanook of the North
Sometimes accompanied by an accordion to build a bridge between tradition and modernity. Perched on the edges of the North Pole, the Koryak communicate with unseen spirits through dance and music. Meanwhile, the sacred reindeer tirelessly seek out lichen and moss under the snow. On earth human life is difficult, but with the help of shaman guides, faithful humans are able to continue their long journey over the snow.

The shaman, like a "Bear-Man" (Almas/Sasquatch) merges with the natural world (HSA).
We cannot live here, exist here. We can only live and coexist with reindeer. The shaman-led Mongolian Duhalar people depend on reindeer like Sami of Sweden (Hamid Sardar-Afkhami)
Ayahuasca is a medicine, not a drug of abuse.
A day-long workshop at Claremont College in Southern California addressing the Jung Society of the greater LA area, was an unusual setting to instruct and enchant a group "with a rich inner life" that was not necessarily psychedelic. McKenna stretched to accommodate Jungian fans. McKenna's plant psychology scenarios meander through symbols dear to Jungians including Jung's theory regarding UFOs. Do UFOs originate as psychic projections from our own minds? Also explored are the mysteries of time, nature of language, techniques of ecstasy developed in non-Western societies to navigate invisible worlds, and the role of hallucinogenic plants. McKenna is the author of Food of the Gods, Archaic Revival, and the 9-CD set True Hallucinations, an underground classic (Sound Photosynthesis).

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