direction

world

east

"The upper world is shown in some wooden figures opposite the east entrance to the tent. they are "giant reindeer," the most powerful spirit helpers of the shaman and herd leaders of all his other animal spirits.

south-east

To the southeast of the upper world, a pole is set up with ... hanging on it, ... skins of sacrificed animals. This is the road to the upper deities.

(south?)

The sun and the moon, and

(south-west?)

an assemblage of deities called collectively "bear,"{with the name of the bear-goddess ARTemIs, cf. /Nir-R.TI/ in southwest} are represented ... .

west

Opposite the west entrance of the round tent is another group of wooden figures, the representatives of the lower world.

(north?)

The central figure is a spirit elk, flanked {at northwest and at northeast?} by Siberian spirit stags.

outside?

Anthropomorphic figurines of the shaman’s watch spirits guard ... from the back, prevent the spirits ... from entering." [p. 138 : "the tent is closed by small planks, the spirit watchmen."]

p.

event of caerimony

137

"A spirit river, originating in the upper world, flows ... . In the course of the ritual, the shaman’s soul floats down it to the lower world, with the drum his boat and the drumstick his pedal {sic : read "paddle"}. ...

138

At a sign by him, his assistant dresses him in his shamanic robes and places an iron crown on his head with iron reindeer horns on it. He warms the drum at the fire. The shaman sits down on a small wooden platform representing the fish spirits. ... Addressing each of his spirits in turn, the shaman vividly describes its form, listing its services ... and the characteristics of its power. He relates where the spirit is at the time, what it is doing, and whether it is obeying the summons. Finally, he tells how each spirit is leaving its own ranges and is coming to the tent. ...

139

the shaman ... at this point is {possessed by} the khargi in the lower world. ... The assistant bends down, put his ear to the shaman’s lips, and reports what the shaman {viz., h^argi} says is happening during this return of the khargi and his entourage. ... The assistant gets hold of the drum once more, warms it over the fire, and, starting to beat it, entreats the shaman {h^argi} not to get lost on the road, to look more fixedly at the fire, to listen more closely to the sound of the drum. ... This leads the shaman into renewed ...

140

... the shaman denounces all manner of disease spirits; he .... passes into the former melody once more to consult with his spirit helpers about what to do next. Following the advice of the khargi, he now proposes that the disease spirit pass into a ... reindeer. A long dialogue develops between the shaman and the disease spirit. The shaman praises the ... reindeer’s ... body, and speaks disparagingly about the body of the patient. ... the disease spirit ... does agree to accept the reindeer as a substitute for the patient. ... The shaman is handed the heart, which now supposedly holds the disease spirit. He bites a piece off of it, spits it into a hole in the spirit figurines, stoppers it, and carries it to the representation of the lower world west of the

141

He then performs a special

142

dance, his journey to the upper world, which he reports reaching by way of the larch. ... When he reaches the upper world, he walks over its earth until he gets to Amaka sheveki, Grandfather Spirit, and leaves in his keeping the soul of the patient ..., in the form of a small wooden figure of a man attached to the tip of the larch. A final ... dance celebrates the return of the shaman to the middle world, and with that ... the patient to renewed health. The tent is left to the elements {abandoned} afterwards; only its reindeer-skin covering is removed."

"topmost" level of the upper world

"Amaka sheveki ... is in charge of the societal aspect of the Evenk world."

"lower level of the upper world"

"This is where the supreme lord of the animals, birds, fish, and plants lives. It is also the abode of the spirits of the sun, the moon, thunder, the stars, the clouds, the sunset, and daybreak."

"in addition" {middle level of the upper world?}

"the upper world has a storehouse for unborn souls. It is guarded by watchmen whose generic name is "bear."" [the "assemblage of deities called collectively "bear,"" on p. 137]

[world of souls of the dead {upper level of lower world?}] "The spirits of the dead live in the lower world ... . Admission to it is handled by ... the mistress of that realm. The shaman has the task of guiding the departing soul to her and requesting permission for it to enter."

[world of pernicious spirits {lower level of lower world?}] "Its exits are guarded by watchmen such as spirit eelpouts, who gulp down any spirit inhabitant of the lower world that might attempt to cross its boundary and trespass into the middle world of people, causing them harm. ... Disease spirits are banished to it, and all manner of pernicious spirits, assuming the form of ermines or stoats, also live there."

p. 142

"A very special category of spirits was comprised of the ruling spirits of waters, mountains, forests, various species of beasts, and others. There were whole tribes of these". (quoted from Anisimov 1963:108)

p. 143

"The different species of animals that Evenks hunt are thought to be the tame herds of these spirits, which have the same social structure as that of the Evenks. The Evenks have cordial relationships with these "neighbors.""

"the shaman surround the territory of his clan with a spirit stockade. On dry land, the stockade is a fence of wood spirits. It extends, invisibly, across the taiga, from one ridge to the next, from rivulet to rivulet, from mountain to mountain. Day and night, the spirit watchmen of the shaman guard this fence. In the air, they are supported by bird spirits, in the river by fish spirits. ... Upon a shaman’s death, the stockade disappears, and it is imperative for a new shaman to reconstruct it."

"Divination may also be performed by female shamans; in fact, ... it is their only public shamanizing task (see Hamayon 1984:312-313)."

However, the most effective method ... is to induce in the possessed three successive spasmodic attacks by means of the rhythms of the drums and the songs. ... In preparation for such an ecstatic experience, the woman is helped to a sitting position on two large leather cushions. Her head is swathed in cotton bands, applied so ... that she cannot see. One woman begins beating the drum, while all the other women of the group mark the rhythm with singing and clapping. The particular beast is used exclusively for this rite. During the music and singing, the possessed woman rocks from side to side on her pillow, marking the rhythm, sighing, murmuring, or whistling, as is customary during the trance. Eventually, she falls unconscious".

p. 149

"the Kel Asouf spirits ... are "people of the solitude," of the desert, the earth, or the night ... . ... They are also attached to prehistoric ... graves. ...

Kel Asouf may assume either anthropomorphic or animal shape. ... In the former case, they are ... beings or elongated shape, having only four fingers on each hand, eyes with a vertical slit {like unto felines’ eyen}, their faces on the back of their heads. But ... they are of both sexes; they reproduce and die, and they have their own "spirit" language. ...

"However, people, either men or women, can make a compact with the Kel

p. 150

Asouf, and in that case they will be their helpers. Such friends of the spirits ... can carry several Kel Asouf with them, talking with them in their special language and sending them on errands. When sent out this way, they will travel fast and very far, locating a lost camel for example. The friends of the Kel Asouf can also give advice in the case of an accident or illness ... having been caused by other Kel Asouf."

p.

Dodot nimurok

154

"The Dodoth call their religious specialists ngimurok, the plural of emuron; the feminine form is amuron."

155

"the sacred trees" include "the fig tree" under which domestic oxen are immolated. {cf. as`vattha ‘fig’ as the tree sacred to Yama the death-god (according to the Brahman.a-s of the Veda)}

156

In divining, the immolated ox’s "integument can be read "like a page in a book," the Dodoth say."

157

"But the most important way in which one may come in contact with the alternate reality is controlled dreaming, familiar to both men and women. ... Great ngimurok ... engaged extensively in dreaming :

[quoted from Marshall-Thomas 1972:173] [A certain emuron] had a stool ... which ... he ... used as a pillow by night. The stool was beautifully carved and had a special power to make his dreams come. He dreamed of ways to heal the sick ... . ... He was uncannily right."

... Akui ... communicates with people in dreams. He uses ... a shooting star, which is a message from God".

"The dead survive ... . Some elders return in the shape of snakes. They wear white plumes like the plumes of a headdress, and visit the sacred groves." {There are Kemetic depictions of divine serpents having a plume extruding from their head.}

"The water spirits ... have human form and are transparent like water, with billowing rust-colored hair. They are seen in lightning and also float in air like mist. ... They keep cattle below the rivers, marry, have children, and die. If a water spirit dies, his family moves away, and the pool where they lived dries up. {a commonplace event for East African geological conditions} They ... possess people ... . If that happens, an emuron has to paint that person with ... stripes like the stripes of a rainbow. He then persuades the water spirit to enter a goat, leads the goat around a tree, and the water spirit will climb the tree."