Spirit Helpers in Shamanism: A Diverse Classification and Their Crucial Role in Shamanic Journeys
Each Shaman has his Spirit Helpers, mystical allies and forces protecting him. Classification of spirit-helpers is complex and diverse. In different traditions and cultures, it is different. Nevertheless, the entities that help shamans are everywhere.
Traveling through the worlds, a shaman meets on his way evil and good beings, benevolent and malicious spirits. With some of them he enters into mutually beneficial relationships, and some help gratuitously, some seek to harm or use the power of the shaman, and some share their power and skills.
The ability to communicate with the spirit world comes with experience. At first, it is recommended not to communicate with anyone until you understand what to do, and never take anything from anyone, and do not bring anything with you from a shamanic journey. It is necessary to understand that rituals and visualizations are not just a game, they are a way of communicating with your own subconscious and something else that has no name, that connects us with alternative realities. Symbols and figures, encounters and events that take place while traveling carry a significant informational load, affecting the events of ordinary life, health, etc. It is necessary to act carefully and ecologically, observing safety measures.
The ability to communicate with the spirit world comes with experience. At first, it is recommended not to communicate with anyone until you understand what to do, and never take anything from anyone, and do not bring anything with you from a shamanic journey. It is necessary to understand that rituals and visualizations are not just a game, they are a way of communicating with your own subconscious and something else that has no name, that connects us with alternative realities. Symbols and figures, encounters and events that take place while traveling carry a significant informational load, affecting the events of ordinary life, health, etc. It is necessary to act carefully and ecologically, observing safety measures.
One of the best methods of protection during a journey, is the use of a spirit helper or guide
In some traditions, animal forms of spirit helpers and guardian spirits predominate. In North Asia, these are in most cases anthropomorphic spirits of ancestors and deceased shamans who can take the form of an animal.
Spirit helpers play an essential role in the beginning of a shamanic session, that is, in the preparation of shamanic journeys. Usually their presence is manifested in the shaman's imitation of his spirit-helper's cries or behavior.
In Nanai, even worms that “eat” a shaman's body during his sickness are transformed into spirit-helpers. They are represented in the form of snakes. A shaman inherits some of his supernatural helpers from his predecessor in the clan. In Nanai shamans, the very first spirit-helper was the spirit Edekhe, who came to a shaman “through kinship”.
The Golds (Nanai) make a clear distinction between the guardian spirit ayami, who chooses the shaman, and the subordinate spirit-helpers siven, whom the ayami himself hands over to the shaman. Each shaman always has several closest spirit-helpers. They appear in the period of his formation.
The animal-helper of Buryat shamans is called khubilgan, which can be translated as “metamorphosis” (from khubilhu - “to change”, “to acquire a different form”). In other words, the animal-assistant not only allows a shaman to reincarnate, but is in a sense his “double”, sub-personality, one of the souls of the shaman, “soul in the image of an animal” or, more precisely, “soul-life”. A shaman fights in the form of an animal, and if his animal is killed in the fight, the shaman is greatly weakened and may even die.
The number of spirits “belonging” to a shaman depends on his “power”. Great shamans have many of them, and weak shamans have only a few.
Shorian shamans, like Kumanda shamans, use different “horses” to travel to Ul'gen and Erlik. Mythical birds, the supernatural creature Tailyk, similar to ermine, pike and burbot also serve as riding animals.
Part of the spirit helpers guard their master during a ritual, part leads the exploration and search for the soul stolen from a client, and part serves as a means of transportation: carries the shaman, carries the sacrifice to the spirits and the found soul, etc.
The first time that a person has a spirit helper, he is informed by a shaman during his sickness or journey. This spirit comes from the sky, from the place where there is fur. Therefore, the spirit always knows good places in the taiga and informs the hunter about them in a dream.
Spirit helpers play an essential role in the beginning of a shamanic session, that is, in the preparation of shamanic journeys. Usually their presence is manifested in the shaman's imitation of his spirit-helper's cries or behavior.
In Nanai, even worms that “eat” a shaman's body during his sickness are transformed into spirit-helpers. They are represented in the form of snakes. A shaman inherits some of his supernatural helpers from his predecessor in the clan. In Nanai shamans, the very first spirit-helper was the spirit Edekhe, who came to a shaman “through kinship”.
The Golds (Nanai) make a clear distinction between the guardian spirit ayami, who chooses the shaman, and the subordinate spirit-helpers siven, whom the ayami himself hands over to the shaman. Each shaman always has several closest spirit-helpers. They appear in the period of his formation.
The animal-helper of Buryat shamans is called khubilgan, which can be translated as “metamorphosis” (from khubilhu - “to change”, “to acquire a different form”). In other words, the animal-assistant not only allows a shaman to reincarnate, but is in a sense his “double”, sub-personality, one of the souls of the shaman, “soul in the image of an animal” or, more precisely, “soul-life”. A shaman fights in the form of an animal, and if his animal is killed in the fight, the shaman is greatly weakened and may even die.
The number of spirits “belonging” to a shaman depends on his “power”. Great shamans have many of them, and weak shamans have only a few.
Shorian shamans, like Kumanda shamans, use different “horses” to travel to Ul'gen and Erlik. Mythical birds, the supernatural creature Tailyk, similar to ermine, pike and burbot also serve as riding animals.
Part of the spirit helpers guard their master during a ritual, part leads the exploration and search for the soul stolen from a client, and part serves as a means of transportation: carries the shaman, carries the sacrifice to the spirits and the found soul, etc.
The first time that a person has a spirit helper, he is informed by a shaman during his sickness or journey. This spirit comes from the sky, from the place where there is fur. Therefore, the spirit always knows good places in the taiga and informs the hunter about them in a dream.
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