Dark Celebration (54 page)

The Eurasian shamanistic tradition—from the Carpathians to the Siberian shamans—held that illness originated in the human soul, and only later manifested as various physical conditions. Therefore, shamanistic healing, while not neglecting the body, focused on the soul and its healing. The most profound illnesses were understood to be caused by "soul departure.'" where all or some part of the sick person's soul has wandered away from the body (into the nether realms), or has been captured or possessed by an evil spirit, or both.

The Carpathians belong to this greater Eurasian shamanistic tradition and shared its viewpoints. While the Carpathians themselves did not succumb to illness, Carpathian healers understood that the most profound wounds were also accompanied by a similar "soul departure."

Upon reaching the diagnosis of "soul departure," the healer-shaman is then be required to make a spiritual journey into the nether worlds, to recover the soul. The shaman may have to overcome tremendous challenges along the way, particularly: fighting the demon or vampire who has possessed his friend's soul.

"Soul departure" doesn't require a person to be unconscious (although that certainly can be the case as well). It was understood that a person could still appear to be conscious, even talk and interact with others, and yet be missing a part of their soul. The experienced healer or shaman would instantly see the problem nonetheless, in subtle signs that others might miss: the person's attention wandering every now and then, a lessening in their enthusiasm about life, chronic depression, a diminishment in the brightness of their "aura," and the like.

2. The Lesser Healing Chant of the Carpathians

Kepä Sarna Pus (The
"Lesser Healing Chant")
is used for wounds that are merely physical in nature. The Carpathian healer leaves his body and enters the wounded Carpathian's body to heal great mortal wounds from the inside out using pure energy. He proclaims, "I offer freely, my life for your life," as he gives his blood to the injured Carpathian. Because the Carpathians are of the earth and bound to the soil, they are healed by the soil of their homeland. Their saliva is also often used for its rejuvenative powers.

It is also very common for the Carpathian chants (both the lesser and the great one) to be accompanied by the use of healing herbs, aromas from Carpathian candles, and crystals. The crystals (when combined with the Carpathians' empathic, psychic connection to the entire universe) are used to gather positive energy from their surroundings which then is used to accelerate the healing. Caves are sometimes used as the setting for the healing.

The lesser healing chant was used by Vikirnoff Von Shrieder and Colby Jansen to heal Rafael De La Cruz whose heart had been ripped out by a vampire in the book titled
Dark Secret
.

Kepä Sarna Pus
(The Lesser Healing Chant)

The same chant is used for all physical wounds
, "sivadaba"
["into your heart"] would be changed to refer to whatever part of the body is wounded
.

Kuńasz, nélkül sivdobbanás, nélkül fesztelen löyly.

You lie as if asleep, without beat of heart, without airy breath.

[Lie-as-if-asleep-you, without heart-beat, without airy breath.]

Ot élidamet andam szabadon élidadért
.

I offer freely my life for your life.

[Life-my give-I freely life-your-for.]

O jelä sielam jŏrem ot ainamet és soŋe ot élidadet
.

My spirit of light forgets my body and enters your body.

[The sunlight soul-my forgets the body-my and enters the body-your.]

O jelä sielam pukta kinn minden szekmeket belső.

My spirit of light sends all the dark spirits within fleeing without.

[The sunlight-soul-my puts-to-flight outside all ghost-s inside.]

Pajńak o susu hanyet és o nyelv nyálamet sívadaba.

I press the earth of our homeland and the spit of my tongue into your heart.

[Press-I the homeland earth and the tongue spit-my heart-your-into.]

Vii, o verim soŋe o vend andam.

At last, I give you my blood for your blood.

[At-last, the blood-my to-replace the blood-your give-I.]

To hear this chant,
visit: http://www.christinefeehan.com/ members/
.

3. The Great Healing Chant of the Carpathians

The most well-known—and most dramatic—of the Carpathian healing chants was En Sarna Pus ("The Great Healing Chant"). This chant was reserved for recovering the wounded or unconscious Carpathian's soul.

Typically a group of men would form a circle around the sick Carpathian (to "encircle him with our care and compassion"), and begin the chant. The shaman or healer or leader is the prime actor in this healing ceremony. It is he who will actually make the spiritual journey into the nether world, aided by his clanspeople. Their purpose is to ecstatically dance, sing, drum, and chant, all the while visualizing (through the words of the chant) the journey itself—ever)' step of it, over and over again—to the point where the shaman, in trance, leaves his body, and makes that very journey. (Indeed, the word "ecstasy" is from the Latin
ex statis
, which literally means "out of the body.")

One advantage that the Carpathian healer has over many other shamans, is his telepathic link to his lost brother. Most shamans must wander in the dark of the nether realms, in search of their lost brother. But the Carpathian healer directly "hears" in his mind the voice of his lost brother calling to him, and can thus "zero in" on his soul like a homing beacon. For this reason, Carpathian healing tends to have a higher success rate than most other traditions of this sort.

Something of the geography of the "other world" is useful for us to examine, in order to fully understand the words of the Great Carpathian Healing Chant. A reference is made to the "Great Tree" (in Carpathian:
En Puwe)
. Many ancient traditions, including the Carpathian tradition, understood the worlds—the heaven worlds, our world, and the nether realms—to be "hung" upon a great pole, or axis, or tree. Here on earth, we are positioned halfway up this tree, on one of its branches. Hence many ancient texts often referred to the material world as "middle earth": midway between heaven and hell. Climbing the tree would lead one to the heaven worlds. Descending the tree to its roots would lead to the nether realms. The shaman was necessarily a master of movement up and down the Great Tree, sometimes moving unaided, and sometimes assisted by (or even mounted upon the back of) an animal spirit guide. In various traditions, this Great Tree was known variously as the
axis mundi
(the "axis of the worlds"), Ygddrasil (in Norse mythology), Mount Mem (the sacred world mountain of Tibetan tradition), etc. The Christian cosmos with its heaven, purgatory/earth, and hell, is also worth comparing. It is even given a similar topography in Dante's
Divine Comedy
: Dante is led on a journey first to hell, at the center of the earth; then upward to Mount Purgatory, which sits on the earth's surface directly opposite Jerusalem; then further upward first to Eden, the earthly paradise, at the summit of Mount Purgatory; and then upward at last to heaven.

In the shamanistic tradition, it was understood that the small always reflects the large; the personal always reflects the cosmic. A movement in the greater dimensions of the cosmos also coincides with an internal movement. For example, the
axis mundi
of the cosmos also corresponds to the spinal column of the individual. Journeys up and down the
axis mundi
often coincided with the movement of natural and spiritual energies (sometimes called
kundalini
or
shakti)
in the spinal column of the shaman or mystic.

En Sarna Pus (The Great Healing Chant)

In this chant
, ekä
("brother") would be replaced by "sister," "father," "mother," depending on the person to be healed
.

Ot ekäm ainajanak hany, jama.

My brother's body is a lump of earth, close to death.

[The brother-my body-his-of lump-of-earth, is-near-death.]

Me, ot ekäm kuntajanak, pirädak ekäm, gond és irgalom türe
.

We, the clan of my brother, encircle him with our care and compassion.

[We, the brother-my clan-his-of, encircle brother-my, care and compassion full.]

Opus wäkenkek, ot oma śarnank, és ot pus fünk, álnak ekäm ainajanak, pitänak ekäm ainajanak elävä.

Our healing energies, ancient words of magic, and healing herbs bless my brother's body, keep it alive.

[The healing power-our-s, the ancient words-of-magic-our, and the healing herbs-our, bless brother-my body-his-of, keep brother-my body-his-of alive.]

Ot ekäm sielanak pälä. Ot omboće päläja juta alatt o jüti, kinta, és szelemek lamtijaknak
.

But my brother's soul is only half. His other half wanders in the nether world.

[The brother-my soul-his-of (is) half. The other half-his wanders through the night, mist, and ghosts lowland-their-of. ]

Ot en mekem ŋamaŋ: kulkedak otti ot ekäm omboće päläjanak.

My great deed is this: I travel to find my brother's other half.

[The great deed-my (is) this: travel-I to-find the brother-my other half-his-of.]

Rekatüre, saradak, tappadak, odam, kaŋa o numa waram, és avaa owe o lewl mahoz.

We dance, we chant, we dream ecstatically, to call my spirit bird, and to open the door to the other world.

[Ecstasy-full, dance-we, dream-we, to call the god bird-my, and open the door spirit land-to.]

Ntak o numa waram, és muzdulak, jomadak.

I mount my spirit bird and we begin to move, we are under way.

[Mount-I the god bird-my, and begin-to-move-we, are-on-our-way-we.]

Piwtädak ot En Puwe tyvinak, ećidak alatt o jüti, kinta, és szelemek lamtijaknak
.

Following the trunk of the Great Tree, we fall into the nether world.

[Follow-we the Great Tree trunk-of, fall-we through the night, mist, and ghosts lowland-their-of.]

Fázak, fázak nó o śaro.

It is cold, very cold.

[Feel-cold-I, feel-cold-I like the frozen snow.]

Juttadak ot ekäm o akarataban, o'sívaban, és o sielaban
.

My brother and I are linked in mind, heart, and soul.

[Am-bound-to-I the brother-my the mind-in, the heart-in, and the soul-in.]

Ot ekäm sielanak kaŋa engem.

My brother's soul calls to me.

[The brother-my soul-his-of calls-to me.]

Kuledak és piwtädak ot ekäm.

I hear and follow his track.

[Hear-I and follow-the-trail-of-I the brother-my.]

Sayedak és tuledak ot ekäm kulyanak.

Encounter-I the demon who is devouring my brother's soul.

[Arrive-I and meet-I the brother-my demon-who-devours-soul-his-of. ]

Nenäm ćoro; o kuly torodak.

In anger, I fight the demon.

[Anger-my flows; the demon-who-devours-souls fight-I.]

O kuly pel engem.

He is afraid of me.

[The demon-who-devours-souls (is) afraid-of me.]

Lejkkadak o kaŋka salamaval.

I strike his throat with a lightning bolt.

[Strike-I the throat-his bolt-of-lightning-with.]

Molodak ot ainaja, komakamal.

I break his body with my bare hands.

[Break-I the body-his empty-hand-s-my-with.]

Toya és molanâ.

He is bent over, and falls apart.

[(He)bends and (he)crumbles.]

Hän ćaδa.

He runs away.

[He flees.]

Manedak ot ekäm sielanak.

I rescue my brother's soul.

[Rescue-I the brother-my soul-his-of.]

Aladak ot ekäm sielanak o komamban
.

I lift my brother's soul in the hollow of my hand.

[Lift-I the brother-my soul-his-of the hollow-of-hand-my-in.]

Alədam ot ekäm numa waramra.

I lift him onto my spirit bird.

[Lift-I the brother-my god bird-my-onto.]

Piwtädak ot En Puwe tyvijanak és sayedak jälleen ot elävä ainak majaknak.

Following up the Great Tree, we return to the land of the living.

[Follow-we the Great Tree trunk-its-of, and reach-we again the living bodie-s land-their-of.]

Ot ekäm elä jälleen.

My brother lives again.

[The brother-my lives again.]

Ot ekäm weńća jälleen.

He is complete again.

[The brother-my (is) complete again.]

To hear this chant, visit:
http://www.christinefeehan.com/ members/
.

4. Carpathian chanting technique

As with their healing techniques, the actual "chanting technique" of the Carpathians has much in common with the other shamanistic traditions of the Central Asian steppes. The primary mode of chanting was throat chanting using overtones. Modern examples of this manner of singing can still be found in the Mongolian, Tuvan, and Tibetan traditions. You can find an audio example of the Gyuto Tibetan Buddhist monks engaged in throat chanting at:
http://www.christinefeehan.com/carpathian_chanting/
.

As with Tuva, note on the map the geographical proximity of Tibet to Kazakhstan and the Southern Urals.