|
|
|
Biography |
1. Once upon a time, in the taiga there was a Shaman woman, descending from
The "Kara deer uktuch kham" (celestial shamans).
The Shaman woman fell in love with a horse thief.
2. From them Ai-Tchourek ( Moon Heart) was born.
That night there was a violent thunderstorm, but just when her first cry was heard,
the water stopped pelting down and the wind died down and appeared the moon.
3. Her father who was accustomed to spend entire nights in the forests, at the mercy
of the fury of the elements, saw in this a divine sign and decided to call her Moon Heart.
4. His daughter would bring moments of serenity to the people,
just like the moon that appeared high in the sky, after the storm, to the hunters.
5. Very soon the small Moon Heart started to play with the spirits
from the cemetery of the village, to run behind her friend the Wind in order
to speak with him, or when her mother was absent, to invite at home her friends
the Mice that could improvise dances in her honour
6. Her mother watched to grow the daughter with apprehension, although she left
her free in her games and adventures with this fantastic world.
7. The fable broke abruptly at the moment of his mother’s death,when Moon Heart
was still a child. She was entrusted to the cares of the relatives that did
not understand her extravagances, and they started to punish her all the
time constraining her to pass entire days locked up in a dark cellar.
8. The fable ended completely when she was growing, and became part of that
communist society. At that time, the Soviet Union had erected the atheism as
state religion and therefore was no indulgence for those who that believed
in a God,and even less for a shamanic creed, considered wild and tribal.
The shamans were persecuted, considered charlatans, drunkards, seen like the
scum of the society.
9. They were interned or locked up in the prisons, according to the dictates of
Stalin's antireligious politics. However in Shagonar where Moon Heart had grown up,
it was still possible, with much precaution, to celebrate the ancient rituals that
had been handed on from the ancestors: the ritual of purification of the tree of the
shaman, the prayer of the mountain, the invocation of the spring and the autumn and
the purification of the springs. All this happened secretly and hidden from others.
Maintaining the own traditions was very difficult in a situation like this. Therefore,
when Moon Heart started to manifest the obvious signs of her "gift", the relatives,
totally scared and fearing the retaliation from the Party, they tried to heal her.
10. But the voices that spoke in her ears, the strong impulse to live isolated
in the taiga, her speaking with the birds and the wind were considered, by the official
medicine, as signs of a mental disease and she was locked up in a psychiatric hospital.
But it was useless, the voices continued and Moon Heart started to foretell the events,
to diagnose the diseases and in some cases she foresaw the death of her relatives.
11. At this point they accused her of being a witch and her relatives,
scared from her behavior, besides the possibility of being persecuted, sent her to Moscow.
12. Moon Heart tells that the life in Moscow was very difficult because the voices
harassed her incessantly, and the spirits revealed themselves continually.
She felt deprived of any moral supports, totally neglected.
Moon Heart, at that point, understood she had inherited the "gift" of her mother.
At that time, she met her husband and gave birth to her son, and in her new family
she found love and understanding, but she found a real relief only when she was in church
and knelt down she addressed herself to the icons for help.
13. When the perestroika arrived, Moon Heart returned to Tyva.
14. Surely her life was not easy also in Tyva.
It was very difficult for her to live in the capital: the water of the taps
was not pure and in every corner of Kyzyl there was a malignant spirit.
The atmosphere was heavy and Moon Heart went to live in the taiga where,
in complete solitude, she could contact the forces of the nature and develop
her shamanic "gift".
15. In 1993, during the First International Conference on Shamanism,
Moon Heart was sitting down among the public and listened to the stories of
other shamans that were similar to her life experience.
16. Kenin Lopsan, curator of the Museum of Shamanism of Tyva,
and great supporter of the conservation and rebirth of the tyva shamansim,
noticed her and her "gift".
17. He suggested her to pursue in her difficult path and invited
her to work in shamanic center "TUNGUR" founded in Kyzyl in the post-perestroika.
18. Moon Heart returned to live in Kyzyl where now regularly works as a shaman,
by curing the persons with the aid of the herbs, according to the ancient tradition
of the nomads of Tuva, celebrating great ceremonies of purification and ancient rituals
whose origin is lost in the mists of the time.
Just like fulfilling her father’s prophecy Moon Heart is among us to help, to cure
and to bring serenity.
19. "... in order to cure and in order to calm a person or in order to recall
the positive spirits I use the khoomei and the drum. The contact with the spirits happens
mentally, in an altered state of consciousness, through the use of the voice.
We believe that the narration and the music have a magical force in fact the spirits of
the mountain love music and the stories and listen to us gladly.
20. Other times in order to help the persons I addressed myself to the stars.
They help me to see the weakness and the force of a person, his diseases and his talents.
Therefore I invoked the star of the sick person, if the star appears and almost falls, the person
will be healed; on the contrary, if the star does not appear the situation is serious... "
21. Like in a fable, when all is difficult and it seems without hope,
when the night seems to us too dark, let's remember to scan the sky,
somewhere a Moon Heart is waiting for us.
|
|
|
|
