The Mongols had worshipped to shamanism
for a long, even before Genghis Khan’s period. The shamanism emerged in the 7th century
B.C during Mongolia’s Matriarchy. It seems like only female shamans practiced
the rituals during this period. Many modern Mongols consider the shamanism not a
religion. The easiest explanation about shamanism would be that it is a science
to communicate with the souls of people lived thousands of years ago. As a
shamanist researcher considers that the soul that enters the body of chosen
person has different levels of power depending on how old the soul is. The
souls reincarnate to the one selected from their own tribe.

I was really curious to witness a shaman
who lives outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. I was surprised to encounter young
lady since I expected an old man. I recalled once I read a so-called book “Shaman
myth, 2010” and found out that the shaman practitioners are supposed to be
healthy and have to be with any fallen teeth. I wondered if the young shaman is
in a healthy condition. The lady shaman looked as if she is in her early 30s. She
requested us to go through some fortunetelling process to make sure we have
good will only. I had to abide to it regardless of my skepticism about such
things. As they finished with fortunetelling the lady shaman advised one of her
subordinates to reincarnate her tribe’s soul. This was again a lady. She filled
bowls with milk in order to call her grandmother’s soul, who is the entire
tribe’s named soul. Then she put on boots with a number of little bells made of
goat skin and Mongolian national outfit and plus the outfit weighs
approximately 30 kilograms. The lady shaman needed assistance of two, three
people to put the shaman outfit on these; assistant shamans are called
“tushee”, in some cases “tulamash”. Their primary responsibility is to
translate what souls say. Like I heard earlier the reincarnated souls speak in different
dialects. As the shaman outfits are extremely heavy, the shamans are not able
to dance when the souls have not been reincarnated. The reason is the shamans’
bodies do not belong to themselves when souls are in their bodies. The
lady shaman who wore head gear with many feathers and the outfit started
calling for the soul.
The other shamans followed her. The
weather which was warm and nice when we arrived suddenly became windy and I got
scared of the Ger collapsing. The head shaman, as if she guessed my thoughts,
said that some souls arrive with wind and rain. The drum sound was getting
louder and louder and she shook her body from side to side. Then the assistants
were following her to figure out where to put the cushion. After this I
barely recognized her body and motions. She looked totally different. The head
shaman asked “dear Grandpa did you have a safe trip? The other shamans greeted
the same way. I never believed in miracles, but this time I was hesitating
strongly. I kept staring to the face of a young lady whom I saw before the
ceremony trying to determine if she is not pretending or playing drama. I was
genuinely surprised when I heard the young lady speaking old man’s squeaky
voice. When I listened to it with focus I could recognize that she spoke Buryat
Language. Now I firmly believed that the lady was not pretending or playing
drama. The shaman was drinking vodka that assistants offered and smoking a
pipe. The head shaman told the reincarnated soul about our purpose and some
people accompanied us had their fortunes told by the old man. I was trying to
understand what the old man was saying about as if attempting to catch
radio waves.
I couldn’t wait the lady to acquire
her body again. I got knowledge that the soul was anxious about the way we live
while the shamans were trying to pacify him. The ceremony got over and the old
man took off. Happy with the chance to talk to the lady shaman I asked so
many questions. She has an ordinary life. She was reluctant about accepting
soul in the beginning as other modern people do. Finally she had no way but to
admit the soul as she spoke. She said she begged her grandmother to speak
clearly and take off sooner. In response to my question how the soul invaded
her body, she said that the she saw the soul flying towards her and then she
felt nothing. She also added that the shamans are not actually magic or
fortunetellers. They just use their bodies to help people. The lady shaman
expressed her anxiety about fake shamans who accept much gifts and money from
her. But she didn’t look drunk and was holding her child as normal. The soul
was said to be living in 1600. He happened to come to see her when she was
heavily sick. She invites the great Grandpa’s soul when told to do so. Other
than that the lady lives a normal life.
This particular shaman tribe involves
over 50 shamans and they perform different shaman ceremonies together such as
worshipping and offering gifts to the as worshipping and offering gifts to the
mountains and ovoos (pile of rocks). The head shaman told me very interesting
stories including about his mentoring French shaman. I am not against what
people speak about shamans. There are a number of fake shamans who cheat on people.
The souls dislike this phenomenon and never let us do such things. She said
“Mongol shamanism is a wonderful science about communicating with mystery
world”. I am confident that the fake shamans will disappear as time does and
only professional shamans will survive. She also mentioned about some souls who
return to the never-come-back world after satisfactory performance of his
mission in the world.
There are many books about shaman
study. These books have depicted that Mongolian shamanism is under renaissance
of fourth era. Initial renaissance period, since Kidan Empire different
religious sects such as Nestorian and other powerful religions have invaded
Mongolian spiritual world and shamanism had been abandoned. The second era
renaissance had started with Genghis Khan Empire and had lasted up to XVII
century or when the Abtai Sain Khan introduced Tsongkhapa religion from Tibet.
Soon after this, Khalkha Shamanism had deteriorated. The third era of
renaissance covers period from the middle of 1800s up to 1930. Finally, the
fourth era started in 1990 with democratic revolution.
It is wonderful that Mongol Shamans
communicate with mysterious world in XXI century. Although I haven’t been able
to reveal the Mystery of the world, I am still extremely curious to find out
more about what is left behind this door of mystery. I do not doubt that the
door of mystery exists in Mongolia and you may be the one who wish to discover
this mystery behind this door. I also wish to open the door one day.