New Mexico Soul Retrieval

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New Mexico Living Magical Traditions

Soul Retrieval refers to forms of shamanic practice that aim to reintegrate various interpretations of the soul that might have become disconnected, trapped or lost through trauma.

The Tibetan people traditionally view the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space as pervading all of life and as the essential components of our entire worldly existence. The soul (la) is said to be composed of these elements at a very subtle level — and it is believed that a traumatic event or other shock can cause an individual to lose connection with the elements and become dispirited. The ancient shamanic rites of soul retrieval (la gu) and life-force retrieval (tse gu) from the Mother Tantra of the Bon tradition are methods of calling on the living essence of the elements — the elemental spirits — to balance and heal the individual. Just attending the ritual in itself brings a healing effect. Students receiving the teachings additionally learn how to diagnose the need for soul retrieval as well as how to perform it. Through ritual and meditation practice, they learn to overcome negative influences and bring back the positive qualities that are missing or reinforce the qualities that are weakened in themselves or in others. Cultivating these personal qualities, in turn, serves as a foundation for spiritual awakening.

Navajo also use ceremonies used for curing people from curses. Many people often complain of witches and skin-walkers that do harm to their minds, bodies, and even families. Ailments aren't necessarily physical. It can take any form it wishes. The medicine man is often able to break the curses that witches and skin-walkers put on families. Mild cases do not take very long, but for extreme cases, special ceremonies are needed to drive away the evil spirits. In these cases, the medicine man may find curse objects implanted inside the victim's body. These objects are used to cause the person pain and illness. Examples of such objects include bone fragments, rocks and pebbles, bits of string, snake teeth, owl feathers, and even turquoise jewelry. There are said to be approximately fifty-eight to sixty sacred ceremonies. Most of them last four days or more; to be most effective, they require that relatives and friends attend and help out. Outsiders are often discouraged from participating, in case they become a burden on everyone, or violate a taboo. The ceremony must be done in precisely the correct manner to heal the patient, and this includes everyone that is involved.

Maclovia Sanchez de Zamora, the 85-year-old yerbera who prescribes herbs and oils and tinctures for what ails you, might want to brew up a big pot of Saint-John’s-wort tea. B. Ruppe Drugs has been an Albuquerque business since 1883, when Bernard Ruppe, a German who pronounced his name “ROO-pee,” settled by accident in Old Town and began selling medicinals. “His donkey or his cart or something broke, and he decided to stay,” is the story Zamora tells. The tradition of healing with plants has been with us since man and woman started walking on two legs. Its trendiness, like hemlines, comes and goes, but Zamora has been on the bandwagon since she was 10 years old. The curandera tradition came into Zamora’s family when she was a child in Belen. Her stepmother’s mother was a midwife and curandera and carried her black bag of herbs everywhere. Little Maclovia watched and learned. Cota tea to help the kidneys. Peppermint for inflammation. Pine tar to tame an angry boil. “I fell in love. I really fell in love with herbs,” she said.When Zamora began working at Ruppe’s, she had a small table of herbs. In 1985, she bought a share of the business, and over the years has expanded the herbal selection to a dizzying array of roots, grasses, weeds, oils and tree tars.Two-dollar pouches of herbs from A to Z line one wall – catnip, cloves, dandelion, eucalyptus, ginger, ginkgo, flax, laurel, passion flower, yarrow – while baskets and bowls brimming with yerba del manzo (good for wounds) and osha root (coughs, colds) line the counters. At 80, Zamora is still a bundle of energy. She is coming to terms with the end of her role as the mistress of remedios and considering her second act. She lectures about herbal remedies and is considering putting her lifetime of knowledge into a book.

"Bless Me, Ultima" is a coming-of-age novel that centers on Tony’s quest for personal and cultural identity. Perhaps the most prominent theme is that of Tony’s emerging spiritualism, which becomes an essential part of both his personal and cultural self. Anaya entrusts Tony’s spiritualism to Ultima, a wise healer, or curandera, who comes to live with Tony and his family. Upon meeting Ultima, Tony is overwhelmed by her powers. Revelation through dreams is one of the ways Anaya illustrates Tony’s metamorphosis. According to tradition, curanderas often attend laboring mothers, and Ultima had attended Tony’s mother during the birth of her children. In further keeping with tradition, she had buried the placenta after Tony’s birth, and with it the key to his destiny. Tony says “there was a nobility to her walk that lent a grace to the small figure.” It seemed to him as if she were part of the landscape, one with the spirit of the earth. He says that when he imitated her walk, he was no longer lost in the enormous landscape of hills and sky. “[He] was a very important part of the teeming life of the llano and the river.“ Ultima is confident, and she seems to possess an inner peace; she commands respect and she emanates power. Many people in the Chicano culture know the powers of curanderismo and consider them magical. But Tony can feel the magic. He is captivated by Ultima, and he speaks of the “clear bright power in her eyes [that] held [him] spellbound.” When he first shakes hands with Ultima he says that he “felt the power of a whirlwind sweep around [him].”

One of the major themes that emerges in Bless Me, Ultima is that of spirituality and healing. Ultima is a kind of shaman, a spiritual guide that helps Tony come to an understanding of God and nature and helps him use that understanding to recognize spirit in his world. In many traditional cultures, folk healing is tied to a belief in the sacredness of nature. Curanderismo is an ancient system of Mexican American folk healing; it relies on the use of rituals and the power of herbs that arise from the land. Curanderas reputedly can heal both body and soul. To Tony it seems that they know earth magic. Anaya tells us that “for Ultima, even the plants had a spirit,” and everything in nature is a manifestation of life force. Ultima teaches Tony a respect for nature. She teaches him that spirit exists everywhere, and that his spirit “[shares] in the spirit of all things.”

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

October 2012

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Phowo Sridgyal: Tibetan Lhapa

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John Vincent Bellezza is widely recognized as one of the foremost specialists in the archaeology and cultural history of Upper Tibet. He has lived in the high Himalaya for over a quarter of a century. Explore these pages for information about his work:

http://www.tibetarchaeology.com/december-2009/

Phowo Sridgyal as the mountain god Namra

Special cords (srung-mdud) are braided for a variety of apotropaic and healing purposes. Like barleycorn, these cords are believed to be magically empowered by the deities of the trance once Phowo Sridgyal blows on them. Braided cords of white wool are thought by Phowo Sridgyal to be useful in a variety of diseases and for preventing obstructions to a patient’s long life and well being. Cords of black and white wool braided together are considered effective against arthritis and other body pains. Cords of black wool are used for diseases of the planets (gza’), which are primarily psychological and neurological in nature. Cords braided from the hair of a hare are said to be effective against livestock epidemics and are hung around the necks of animals. Phowo Sridgyal observes that cords made of brown bear hair are efficacious in life-threatening diseases and when all other remedies have failed. He keeps a small supply of brown bear hair for this purpose.

Phowo Sridgyal claims that the downy white feathers from an owl’s chest are efficacious in virtually all ailments. The small white feathers from the wings of the lammergeyer are used to increase the good luck potential (rlung-rta) and innate capability (dbang-thang) of patients. Feathers are also empowered while Phowo Sridgyal is possessed by the deities.

During one the of trance ceremonies I had the privilege to attend, the presiding deity was the ferocious Tsen-gö Namra. This mountain god announced his appearance through Pho-wo Sridgyal in poetic and somewhat cryptic language (as befits a supernatural being):

Listen to me carefully with the ears on the upper part of your body!
A kho re (an exclamation and lyrical phrase that draws attention to the spirit-medium and his utterances),
If you do not recognize me the btsan {like this}, yeah, the country residence of Handsome Body (gZugs mchor-po), yeah,
The country to which I bTsan mchor-po reside, yeah,
It is in the upper plain of {Ba ga thug = Bar-tha} in the east,
In the lower plain of {Ba ga thug} in the east.
On the 18 great secret paths [paths] in the east,
And on the pass of the adamantine lotus btsan,
And on the plain that is like a lotus,
And in the palace of the adamantine three peaks mountain,
And on the lotus ridgeline serchen flower,
There is the yellow btsan self-arising father god.
There is the spontaneously self-arising arched lotus rainbow.

Now that Tsen-gö Namra has made his presence known, he precedes to call on his army of warrior spirits (dgra-lha). The dgra-lha are invoked to aid and protect those attending the trance ceremony. These spirit warriors belong to Namra’s large retinue of divine helpers. Usually it is people that petition the dgra-lha, but here it is their divine leader that officiates over their invocation. So powerful is Namra perceived to be that in the observed trance ceremony he fulfilled the wishes of his minions with just one sacred word: bswo (pronounced so). The propitiation of the dgra-lha by oracles and diviners is an integral part of the first system or vehicle of Bon teaching known as Cha Shen (Phya gshen). Phowo Sridgyal, an illiterate Buddhist, has unwittingly preserved this ancient religious practice through an oral tradition of indeterminate but substantial age. For the first time ever, the cult of the dgra-lha in spirit-mediumship is presented in a translation of the actual words spoken. As they are intended to do, may these words benefit readers, wherever you go:

There are the young men, bswo, bswo, bswo (word of invocation)!
The mother and father territorial protectors of the dgra-lha,
The support of the good men, the males,
Eliminate the sudden onset misfortunes and obstacles of life,
And defeat the types of diseases of the demonic ’byung-po.
They defeat the diseases and demonic influences of the sudden onset obstructions.
Be the support of the men with the one span [long] body.
bSwo! bSwo! The sparkling snow mountain of sunrise,
The dgra-lha who is like the white lioness;
I praise you white lioness with the turquoise mane.
Realize their wishes whatever place they go.
I bswo (word of praise and offering) you, be the good guide whatever country they stay in.
Yeah, I praise the protector who looks like the white vulture in the good white vulture nest on the high red rock,
Your downy lammergeyer wings di ri ri (conveys a loud swooshing sound).
I bswo you flying flocks of birds khro lo lo (conveys a raucous chattering).
I bswo you, be the dgra-lha of males whatever place they go.
I bswo the tiger in Nepal in the sparkling forest.
I bswo the body god who is like the good red tiger.
I bswo you good red tiger with the six converging whorls.
You must be the good guide whatever place they go.
Be the protector of the good man, the one span [long] body.

Phowo Sridgyal is undoubtedly one of Upper Tibet’s greatest contemporary spirit-mediums or lhapa. He is locally renowned for his kindness and great skill as a healer and oracle. It is not often that one meets an individual who emanates the holiness of Phowo Sridgyal. I had the good fortune to spend time with him on several occasions in the mid-2000s. Born in 1927, Phowo Sridgyal learned how to effectively channel the deities from Pönkya Gönpo Wanggyal, Namru’s senior-most spirit-medium in the mid-20th century. Pönkya Gönpo Wanggyal was the father of the late Phowo Lhawang (see Calling Down the Gods for biographical information on these noble healers). Phowo Sridgyal’s paternal uncle was also a spirit-medium, but he passed away when Phowo Sridgyal was still in his early teens.

In his early 20s, after becoming involuntarily possessed by the gods, Phowo Sridgyal experienced severe bodily pains. He sought help from Pönkya Gönpo Wanggyal, who lived less that one day’s ride away. Pönkya Gönpo Wanggyal cautioned Phowo Sridgyal not to attempt to be a lhapa until he had mastered all the basic techniques and traditions. Pönkya Gönpo Wanggyal counseled that a lhapa or lhamo practiced their vocation solely to help sentient beings and that their power must not be misused. The elder lhapa taught Phowo Sridgyal the various curative rituals needed in the practice of spirit-mediumship.

For several years, Pönkya Gönpo Wanggyal tutored the fledging lhapa, and performed the tsago (rtsa-sgo) rite for him. This entailed tying a cord around the ring finger of the left hand to regulate access to the subtle channels of Phowo Sridgyal’s body. It is believed that this was necessary to prevent demons from trespassing in his body. Pönkya Gönpo Wanggyal and Phowo Sridgyal would go into trance together on the first, eighth and fifteenth day of each lunar month. During these occasions, the entranced youth was made to describe the many visions that appeared in the ritual mirror (gling). Pönkya Gönpo Wanggyal let Phowo Sridgyal use some of his ritual equipment and later gave him many esoteric implements. Phowo Sridgyal’s initiation was completed when he reached 25 years of age. He married when he was around 29 and had four children with his wife, none of which practice as spirit-mediums.

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

October 2012

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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DARK RETREAT Practices

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MITHRAEUM.....It is difficult for scholars to reconstruct the daily workings and beliefs of Mithraism, as the rituals were highly secret and limited to initiated men. Mithras was little more than a name until the massive documentation of Franz Cumont's Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra was published in 1894-1900, with the first English translation in 1903. Religious practice was centered around the mithraeum, either an adapted natural cave or cavern or an artificial building imitating a cavern. Mithraea were dark and windowless, even if they were not actually in a subterranean space or in a natural cave...

mithraea are sunk below ground and there were no windows as each mithraeum was intended to be as dark as the original cave of Mithras.

Click here to View Shrine w/ Mithra on Horseback

The name Mithras is the Greek masculine form of Mithra, the Persian god who was the mediator between Ahura Mazda and the earth, the guarantor of human contracts....earliest images show Mithra holding in his upraised hands the Sword of Truth and Torch of Light.

Mithras was known throughout Europe and Asia by the names Mithra, Mitra, Meitros, Mihr, Mehr, and Meher. The veneration of this God began about 4000 years ago in Persia

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NIGHT YOGA....(Ratriyoga)..."In the Kalachakra tradition, the apparition of ten signs are likened to an image reflected in the mirror of one's mind, comparable to the visions that appear in a magic mirror during a pratisena divination rite. In order to let the first signs appear, the yogin has to meditate in a closed place, where no light can filter in. This is called night yoga. The other signs will appear in daylight yoga (divayoga), practiced with ones back to the sun in a walled space with no roof, wherebye the only things seen is the empty sky." (Orofino: 1996...pg 130)...

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CHRISTIAN DARK RETREAT........The time before Easter is traditionally a dark time on the liturgical calendar. Many Christians express discomfort with its contemplation and remembrance of Christ's betrayal, abandonment and suffering, preferring the "light" - and lightheartedness - of Easter. But more Christians are beginning to embrace the spiritual value of darkness, participating in Buddhist-inspired "dark retreats" and candlelit Tenebrae - Latin for "shadows" -- services.......Martin Lowenthal is the founder and director of the Dedicated Life Institute in Newton, Mass. He is also the author of Dawning of Clear Light: A Western Approach to Tibetan Dark Retreat (Hampton Roads, 2003). Contact 617- 527-8606.

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SUFI MEDITAYION..........Room Dark........Sufi Meditation Muraqaba, thinking about the spiritual mentor, an attempt to concentrative focus our thoughts on someone, so that his image could recurrently reflect upon the screen of our mind, we are liberated from the limiting senses....

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DARK PRACTICES IN SHINTO.....Salvation is a foreign idea in Shinto...When you look into the mirror you know who you are more deeply. Knowing is important. Deeper knowledge is important." (Yamamoto Negi of the Tsubaki Grand Shrine at RMSC in 1992)...."In Shinto, the ceremonies connecting with summoning anew the spirit of a deity are called 'chinza-sai'. They are usually ceremonies of mysterious grandeur carried on with the utmost solemnity during the darkness."...(Jinja: 1958...pg

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ISLAM & THE CAVE......Jabal al-Thawr is the name of a mountain in Saudi Arabia, located in the lower part of Mecca to the south of the district of Misfalah.....notable for housing a cave known as Qar al-Thawr (lit cave of the Bull), in where the Islamic prophet Muhammad and Abu Bakr hid from their persecuters, the Banu Quraish during the migration to Medina.

Great Mosque of Cordoba....the mihrab (a niche in the qibla wall indicating the direction of Mecca) of Cordoba is unusual in design, notes Grabar. This mihrab is a small, windowless room -- a dark and mysterious source of the Divine.

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The Bardo Retreat

"The practice of thogal is typically carried out in strict seclusion, in the seven-week bardo retreat known as yangti, "beyond ati," in other words beyond the ninth yana, atiyoga, "one of the most highly advanced and dangerous forms of practice in Tibetan Buddhism." It is held that through practicing the bardo retreat, one attains the rainbow body, which arises as the natural result of the identification of mind (jnana) and body (kaya).

In the bardo retreat, one follows a course of meditation that simulates the experiences of death and the after-death state. (See chapter 14.) The retreat itself is carried out in complete darkness, and because it is considered dangerous, facilities for it were found at only a few places in Tibet. Only those considered sufficiently well prepared both physically and mentally are authorized to carry out the retreat. The very real peril to the practitioner is one of psychosis, of dissociating from ordinary reality.`" A variety of methods and practices are known and employed to bring practitioners "back" when such a psychotic break occurs. A practitioner aspiring to perform yangti yoga needs to be at a most advanced stage of practice and spiritual maturity. Having been accepted for the retreat, he or she then undergoes months of preparation. Even then, one is allowed to enter the retreat only after clear evidence of mental and physical readiness. The retreat cell is specially designed so that all light can be gradually reduced until it is completely dark. The practitioner is taken to the cell and then, over the period of a week, the light is gradually excluded until he or she is in total darkness. Trungpa Rinpoche, who carried out this retreat as part of his training prior to leaving Tibet in 1959, remarks that at first the meditator feels depressed and anxious. In time, however, he becomes accustomed to the absence of light."

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Druchen Gyalwa Yungdrung wrote a practice manual in which the number of sessions in retreat (thun mtsham) was further reduced to fifteen. This popular practice manual is known as the A-khrid thun mtsham bco-lnga-pa. And in the present century, the great Bonpo master Shardza Rinpoche wrote extensive commentaries on the A-khrid system, together with the associated dark retreat (mun mtshams). The A-khrid tradition, where the practice is very systematically laid out in a specific number of sessions, in many ways corresponds to the rDzogs-chen sems-sde of the Nyingmapa tradition.

There are four parts to this text, each being called a wheel or a cycle of teaching ('khor-lo). These wheels or cycles have nothing to do with the Indian Tantric system of Chakras located in the human body and employed in yoga praxis. In the text, these wheels are set side by side, much as one would do with the four wheels of a wagon or vehicle.

These Four Wheels are as follows..... 1. the Wheel of the Base that abides (gnas-pa gzhi'i 'khor-lo),
2. the Wheel of the Interdependent Origination due to either Understanding or to Delusion (rtogs 'khrul rten-'brel gyi 'khor-lo),
3. the Wheel of the Channels that represents the Essential Points of the Body (lus gnad rtsa'i 'khor-lo), and
4. the Wheel of the Time of the Bardo (bar-do dus kyi 'khor-lo).

The Wheel of the Time of the Bardo ..... The fourth cycle of teaching found in this text concerns the time of the onset of the Bardo experience after death (bar-do dus kyi 'khor-lo). The description in the preceding cycle of teaching concerning the mystical anatomy and physiology of the human body, which is the foundation for the practice of vision both in sunlight and in the dark retreat, pertains to the preparations made in advance during one's lifetime for death and the Bardo experience. Just as may be the case in practice, both with sunlight and with total darkness, following upon the onset of the Bardo after physical and psychical death, the archetypal sacred visions of the celestial hierarchies of Nirvana may be experienced in the Bardo of the Clear Light of Reality (bon-nyid 'od-gsal gyi bar-do) and then the profane visions of the various destinies of rebirth in Samsara will be experienced. However, it is likely that the experience of the Clear Light after death will occur so rapidly, almost instantaneously like a flash of lightning, that the individual will fail to recognize it unless one has done practice during one's life time, including both Dzogchen and Tantric practice. So, not every deceased consciousness will experience this Bardo of the Clear Light. That is the reason why prior preparation and practice during the course of one's lifetime is so important. And failing to recognize the Clear Light of Reality, or even to catch a brief glimpse of it, the stream of consciousness flows relentlessly onward, driven on by its individual karma, into the experiences of the Bardo of Existence (srid-pa'i bar-do).

The experiences that the individual undergoes in this Bardo are determined by that individual's particular karma. Even so, there exist practices, especially those of dream yoga or lucid dreaming and the practices of Tantric transformation into a Yidam or meditation deity, that serve as preparation for the experiences of the Bardo of Existence. The latter practice would culminate in the creation and realization of a subtle body of mind (sems) and psychic energy or prana (srog) in the form of one's Yidam. This is technically known as the Illusion Body (sgyu-lus). However, realization of such a subtle body is not synonymous with enlightenment and liberation from Samsara, for, even though its form represents a pure vision of one's own being, there yet remain many layers of subtle spiritual obscurations that need to be purified. However, to accomplish this, one does not need to take on again a human existence. Furthermore, even though the visions seen in this Bardo represent impure karmic visions, nevertheless they can be transformed as the result of the previous practice of the Yidam.

Again, the Preface to the text states that if one does not know this teaching cycle concerning the advent of the Bardo, one will not, while in the Bardo, be able to separate and distinguish liberation, that is, recognizing the Clear Light, from the delusions or illusory karmic visions that arise after death. These karmic visions represent both the residuesof past existences and the precognitions of future existences. Moreover, time in the Bardo does not operate in the same mode as does the perception of time in the normal waking state, that is to say, time as rigidly sequential and chronometric. Rather, time in the Bardo resembles time in the dream state where past and future come to be mixed up together. In many ways, the Bardo of Existence is like an extended dream state. For this reason, dream yoga and the practice of lucid dreaming can serve as preparation for death and the Bardo experience in general. In everyday life, the process of falling asleep may be equated with the Chikhai Bardo, the experience of dying, and the moment after falling asleep, but before the onset of the dream process, may be equated with the Bardo of the Clear Light because, at that moment, one may catch a glimpse of the Clear Light of the Nature of Mind. Finally, the dream state itself may be said to correspond to the Bardo of Existence, where one comes again under the sway of karmic visions and re-enters the holographic labyrinth.

Again, as the Conclusion to the text asserts, it is by means of this cycle of teaching concerning the time of the Bardo, that one is able to separate and distinguish liberation, by way of recognizing the Clear Light, from delusion, which is the falling once more under the sway and dominion of the dull lights of Samsara which lead back to the various destinies of rebirth within cyclical existence. Whereas liberation represents ascent into the Clear Light of Reality brought about by gnosis or understanding, delusion represents a descent into the lower worlds of generation ruled over by the kleshas or passions, in this case brought about by a lack of gnosis or understanding.

Practitioners of the spiritual path are divided into those of a superior capacity (dbang-po rab), those of an intermediate capacity (dbang-po 'bring-po), and those of an inferior capacity (dbang-po tha-ma). In addition to these three, the individual possessing an exceedingly superior spiritual capacity (yang rab) may obtain liberation without the need to undergo death and the Bardo experience because such an individual has attained liberation from Samsara in one's present lifetime. This process is known as Phowa Chenpo or the Great Transfer ('pho-ba chen-po), where one transforms directly into a Body of Light without the prior necessity of going through the death process.

Tenzin Wangyal Center in Virginia.........

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Part Five: The Practice of Seven Cycles of Clear Light. This final part of the re-structured presentation of the Chag Tri contains "Chapter Ten: Magical Wheel of the Channels and Prana," and "Chapter Eleven: The Practice of the Seven Cycles of Clear Light" for the dark retreat. These two chapters provide the instructions for the traditional dark retreat of forty-nine days duration. Rinpoche looks forward to guiding students who possess the commitment and dedication to complete this journey of five parts and make a retreat of seven weeks in darkness.

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Begtse is a Mongol war god that legend says, converted to Buddhism in the 16th-century at the sight of the Dalai Lama's transformation into Chenrezi, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.  As a consequence, he became a symbol of pacification and the last in the series of 8 (or 9) Tibetan Buddhist dharma protectors or Dharmapalas.

"He is represented with all the ornaments of the Dharmapala, brandishing a sword in his right hand, the handle of which is in the shape of a scorpion. His left hand holds the orange heart of an enemy near his mouth, clutching at the same time a bow and an arrow. He tramples upon the corpse of a man with his left foot and the carcass of a horse with his right foot. His three eyes are full of fury directed at the enemies of the dharma.

Salvation is a foreign idea in Shinto...When you look into the mirror you know who you are more deeply. Knowing is important. Deeper knowledge is important." (Yamamoto Negi of the Tsubaki Grand Shrine at RMSC in 1992)...."In Shinto, the ceremonies connecting with summoning anew the spirit of a deity are called 'chinza-sai'. They are usually ceremonies of mysterious grandeur carried on with the utmost solemnity during the darkness."...(Jinja: 1958...pg

Tenzin Wangyal Center in Virginia......... The Practice of Seven Cycles of Clear Light. This final part of the re-structured presentation of the Chag Tri contains "Chapter Ten: Magical Wheel of the Channels and Prana," and "Chapter Eleven: The Practice of the Seven Cycles of Clear Light" for the dark retreat. These two chapters provide the instructions for the traditional dark retreat of forty-nine days duration.

2005-06-26 - Sakyong Enters Second Scorpion Seal retreat.......Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche has begun his second Scorpion Seal retreat in Kalapa Valley, Cape Breton. The Sakyong has undertaken this sealed retreat in the new tenno building, part of which will be in darkness, to benefit the Shambhala community.

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

September 2012

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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Ancient Rituals and Ceremonies

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LHA SANG: Tibetans traditionally use 5 aromatic plants in their various sang rituals: juniper (lha), rhododendron (nyen), tamarisk (lu), margosa (tsen) and pine (dut)...."klu bsangs: smoke offering ceremonies to the nagas"..."Dud brDa is smoke divination. The color, volume, and drift of the smoke all have significance." (Ekvall: 1964..pg 270)..."Five aromatic plants used in the sang fumigation rites." (Norbu: 1993..pg 37)..."We do a lhasang in order to purify any setting sun situations and to bring about the genuine mind of sadness. (Trungpa)..."What needs to be purified are all the different types of contaminations (mnol grib) that weaken the positive force." (Norbu: 1995..pg 108)..."the sang offering to the 13 dgra bla protectors." (Norbu: 1995..pg 60)..."In Shinto, harae (purification ceremonies) are very important."..(Jinja:1958..pg 26)...."In ancient Peru, every morning in Cuzco, fires were lit from an aromatic wood specially carved to make it pleasing to the God of the Sun." (Hawkes: 1962..pg 133)...

LUSTRAL SPRINKLING...(purification with water, milk, etc)..."One method is to mix the juices of certain medicinal plants and the water of sacred lakes and mountain snows (especially Lake Mapham and Mt Tise) and to sprinkle the mixture with the feathers of a medicinal bird, either the white grouse or the peacock." (Bansal: 1994..pg 80)....."the rites of sprinkling with lustral water are called Tsen (tshan), Tsentru (tshan khrus), or simply Tru (khrus). May use a conch shell container. There are nine types of lustral water." (Norbu: 1995..pgs 112-116)...."To restore harmony with the Phug lha (deity of the house) it is necessary to perform the Tshan Khrus lustral aspersion rites and the bSang fumigation rites." (Norbu: 1995..pg 251)..."In the lalu ceremony, the infant is bathed in milk to invite the la to stay. The white color of milk represents divinity." (Trungpa: 1978..pg 227)...

ROMAN MITHRAIC MYSTERY RELIGION....(2nd Century AD)..."Those devoted to Mithras entered the Mithraea cave with no outside light and participated in various purifications, miatory rites and ceremonial feasts, and were sealed on their foreheads. From the Mithras Liturgy: 'Open your eyes, the rays will turn toward you. Look at the center of them. You will see a youthful god, beautiful in appearance in a white tunic...draw in breath from the rays...then make a long hissing sound." (Meyer: The Ancient Mystery Religions Sourcebook:1987..pg 197)

CHA & YANG RITUALS...."In the rites of 'propitiation of prosperity' (yang grub), the term 'cha' is used as a synonym of 'yang' (prosperity or fortune). It refers to a principle or force that embraces all the positive aspects such as wangthang (ascendancy-capacity), yang (richness, prosperity), pal (glory), phunsum tsogpa (completeness), trashi (good fortune). Ritual texts by Chogyur Lingpa, Jamgyang Khyentsi Wangpo, and the Fifth Dalai Lama are discussed." (Norbu: 1995...pg 63-76)

CHINESE...."In Han Dynasty China (206 BC-222 CE), rituals, domestic observances, and various forms of polite behavior were compiled in the text 'Liji' (Book of Rites). It states that 'Music is the harmony of Heaven and Earth, Ritual is the order of Heaven and Earth.' (McGreal: 1996...pg 41)...

SHADOW PRACTICES..."The shadow practices are termed 'The examination of your life-force reflection within the sky's expanse' or 'Examining your life force, the intrinsic radiation of the five-elements'." (Lopez: 1997...pg 462)...

TENSEGRITY....the Shamanic Exercises taught by Carlos Castaneda can be found at www.castaneda.com......

"An Early Avestan ritual consisting of recitation (vacah) and liturgical gestures, while the gods use daylight itself, which is their visual form, transmitting specific words to men such as 'sasna' and the formula ('mathra'). (Piras: 1996...pg 17)...

FIRE SACRIFICE....(Agni botra).."The purpose of the Vedic sacrifices, haoma, and the materials used (which did not involve the slaughter of animals) are practically identical with those of the Buddhist ritual fire offerings." (Krishan: 1993...pg 240)...

PERSIAN FIRE RITUALS...."In the haoma fire ceremony, the celebrant is required to sit cross-legged, as close as possible to the good earth. The mortar and pestle are placed on a low stand before them with the fire also in a low container. These ritual requirements go back to pre-Zoroastrian times." (Boyce: 1982...pg 146)...

"Haethra paitis: Ancient Persian fire priests used the fire to call down the deities. Atar was the hearth fire, the ritual was organized in accordance with the 3-tier system. Drinking of haoma was an essential part of the ritual." (Ency Brittanica)

NIGHT YOGA....(Ratriyoga)..."In the Kalachakra tradition, the apparition of ten signs are likened to an image reflected in the mirror of one's mind, comparable to the visions that appear in a magic mirror during a pratisena divination rite. In order to let the first signs appear, the yogin has to meditate in a closed place, where no light can filter in. This is called night yoga. The other signs will appear in daylight yoga (divayoga), practiced with ones back to the sun in a walled space with no roof, wherebye the only things seen is the empty sky." (Orofino: 1996...pg 130)...

GREEK CEREMONIES......'euhai, euhoi'...ritual cry during Dionysiac ceremony....aparchai: first fruit offering...apporrheton: secret....daimon: demon....demiurgos: creator...dromena: rituals...entheos: possessed by a god...epoptes: wathcher, highest degree of Eleusian mysteries...hierophantes: one who shows sacred things....katharsis: purifications....kymbals: cymbals...paredros: divine consort...pompe: procession...thronismos: enthronement...(Burkert: 1987...pg 172)...

LHA GYALO...."The gods are victorious"...(Born in Tibet: pg 209)

"The Avestan 'monthra', pahlavi 'monsar'...

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

September 2012

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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SANG RITUALS AND PRACTICES

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LHA SANG: Tibetans traditionally use 5 aromatic plants in their various sang rituals: juniper (lha), rhododendron (nyen), tamarisk (lu), margosa (tsen) and pine (dut)....

"klu bsangs: smoke offering ceremonies to the nagas"...

The sang ritual is the basic component of worship of the local gods....the central feature is the burning of incense, particularly juniper wood.....invoke regional and local deities.....Sang is not merely a protective practice but also an suspicious ritual, whose performance may be hoped to create positive influences for the good fortune of the participants....

LAPTSE......offering a heap of stones dedicated to the protective deity of the area..stones, white quartz, coins, turquoise, coral...and prayed of rain or sun or a good harvest or protection from bad weather.....

KANG SUNG...Performed annually...

"Dud brDa is smoke divination. The color, volume, and drift of the smoke all have significance." (Ekvall: 1964..pg 270)...

"Five aromatic plants used in the sang fumigation rites." (Norbu: 1993..pg 37)..."

We do a lhasang in order to purify any setting sun situations and to bring about the genuine mind of sadness. (Trungpa)...

"What needs to be purified are all the different types of contaminations (mnol grib) that weaken the positive force." (Norbu: 1995..pg 108)...

"the sang offering to the 13 dgra bla protectors." (Norbu: 1995..pg 60)...

"In Shinto, harae (purification ceremonies) are very important."..

(Jinja:1958..pg 26)...."In ancient Peru, every morning in Cuzco, fires were lit from an aromatic wood specially carved to make it pleasing to the God of the Sun." (Hawkes: 1962..pg 133)...

In HOPI.... the word "Medicine" has a different meaning...... It encompasses well-being and spiritual health as well as physical health. A pipe ceremony is a ritual that Hopi Native Americans employ to pray to the Great Spirit. Great Spirit is comprised of the mother (the earth) the father (the heavens and celestial bodies) as well as the grandmothers and grandfathers. Grandmothers and grandfathers may be likened to angels. In the Hopi tradition, they are beings that have been in the universe since time began and they are thought to carry specific medicines. That is, they each have different strengths or aptitudes which the Hopi may call upon in different circumstances.

Pipe ceremonies can be carried out at virtually any time that the practitioner desires. One way to think of them is as an active or interactive prayer session or meditation. Sometimes a Hopi shaman (medicine man) is present for the ceremony, but that is by no means a requirement. Practitioners of the Hopi faith can perform a pipe ceremony when they are grateful for an answered prayer, to ask for the health or care of a loved one, to celebrate the birth or death of a family member, to ask for clarity when making a decision, to request the healing of a friend, or to express gratitude for life's many blessings. One of the key aspects of the pipe ceremony is to develop one's own relationship with Spirit with the understanding that Spirit will provide the tools necessary via channels such as the shaman

The model for the Hopi Pipe Ceremony draws largely from the four cardinal directions in addition to three other directions. Each of the cardinal directions corresponds to a season of the year and a time in one's life. These will be described below. In addition to the four cardinal directions, the three other "directions" are the mother, the father, and the self or child. In total, then, there are seven directions. Each direction has a representative animal from the Hopi faith tradition. These representatives are thought to guard a specific direction. One prays specifically to these representatives with the belief that they can carry the practitioner's prayers to the appropriate grandmothers and grandfathers in the star kingdom.

The central piece of the pipe ceremony is, fittingly, the pipe. The Hopi tradition, similar to many other religions, has symbolic stories that represent and explain some of the basic core beliefs in this Native American practice. These are referred to as Kiva stories and may be likened to parables in the Christian tradition. One of these specific Kiva stories describes that tobacco was given to the people of the earth as a gift from the grandmothers and grandfathers. They gave this gift, the story goes, because Great Spirit has the ability to see smoke. Accordingly, Hopi's can put their prayers in the tobacco during a pipe ceremony. Then, when the tobacco is smoked, their prayers can be taken to Spirit in the smoke.

LHASING TAMDRAG......Ritual to subdue the gods and spirits

LU DUGPACHEN......Ritual to subdue the LU spirits......

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

September 2012

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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THE PRACTICE OF ZIJI

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The Tibetan texts "Ziji" (gZi brid)(confidence) and "Zermig" (gZer mig)(Piercing Eye) are the two biographies of Shenrab Miwo .

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Chogyam Trungpa.... Translation of the Name (1978):
Shen = divine, heavenly,ally..... Rab = Supreme One...... Miwo = Great Man

"Shenrab Miwo was born in Shambhala (sTag gzigs) in the west in the town called Yans pa can, in the dwelling place of the 33 Gods, the palace called Barpo so brgyad". (Kvaerne: 1971..pg 220)

Shenrab Miwo A Mukpo...."The work of Shenrap still exists in Tibet in the form of 400 volumes, but it has undergone heavy Buddhist editing." (Trungpa: 1978..pg 220)....

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ZIJI...(gzi brjid) (gzhi)...the Tibetan word for confidence. ZI means shine or glitter. JI means splendor or dignity. Means to shine out, rejoicing while remaining dignified. (Trungpa:84...pg 85)...

"A person possessed fully of the blessings and health that come from the gods is said to be "full of splendor" (gzi brjid can). This splendor, majesty is pronounced ziji in Tibetan, and is an actual radiant force that envelops a healthy and prosperous being, whether god or man." (Kornman: In Lopez...pg.82)...

"gzi brjid: brilliance, majestic brilliance, splendor, charisma, glamour, confidence, light, radiance, full of splendor, overwhelming presence, resplendent radiance..."

....gzi: nine eyed onyx stone....gzi byin: overwhelming presence...gzig: leopard....gzig stangs gsum: the three gazes...

"This state of pure and total awareness (rigpa) is the primordially pure ground of being itself (gzhi)."..(Kongtrul: 1995..pg 54)...

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There are three biographies of Tonpa Shenrab......There are three biographies of Tonpa Shenrab. The earliest and shortest one is known as Dodu (mDo-'dus: 'Epitome of Aphorisms'); the second is in two volumes and is called Zermig. These two accounts were rediscovered as terma in the 10th and 11th centuries respectively. .....The third and largest is the twelve volume work entitled Zhiji (gZi-brjid: 'The Glorious'). This last book belongs to the category of scriptures known as Nyan gyud (bsNyan-rgyud: oral transmission), and was dictated to Londen Nyingpo (bLo-ldan snying-po) who lived in the 14th century.

The gZer-mig and gZi-brjid are both published by the Bonpo Foundation, Dolanji, 1965 and 1967-69, respectively. Extracts from the gZi-brjid have been edited and translated by D.L. Snellgrove, The Nine Ways of Bon, London Oriental Series, vol. 18, London 1967. The first seven chapters of gZer-mig and part of the eighth have been translated into English by A.H. Franke, 'A Book of the Tibetan Bonpos', Asia Major, Leipzig 1924, 1926, 1927, 1930; Asia Major (New Series) 1, London 1949. A summary of the contents of gZer-mig has been made by H. Hoffmann in The Religions of Tibet, London 1961, 85-96.

The gZi-brjid is an enormous work, totalling in our manuscript 2,791 folios. There are twelve volumes numbered ka to da with a final volume a . The text is arranged in sixty-one chapters, and a list of these chapters will give some idea of the scope of this composite work:

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gzi brjid............. (to be) radiant and resplendent; resplendent radiance [RB]......light, confidence, dignity, radiance, [full of] splendor, [blazing w the] brilliance [of], charisma, overwhelming presence, majestic [brilliance], magnificence, splendor, honor, esteem [IW]......glorious, glory, honorable, honor, healthy appearance, prosperity, brightness, lustre, halo, light, radiance, brilliance, beauty, fair, healthy complexion, esteem, celebrity, confidence, dignity, splendor, full of splendor, grandeur, majesty, longest of 3 biographies of gshen rab mi bo che in 12 volumes [JV].....brilliance, majestic brilliance, splendor, charisma, glamour; light, confidence, dignity, radiance, full of splendor. blazing with the brilliance [of ...], splendorous, overwhelming presence, splendid; (to be) radiant and resplendent; resplendent radiance [RY].....brilliance [RY]......glorious, glory, honorable, honor, healthy appearance, prosperity, brightness, lustre, halo, light, radiance, brilliance, beauty, fair, healthy complexion, esteem, celebrity, confidence, dignity, splendor, full of splendor, grandeur, majesty, longest of 3 biographies of gshen rab mi bo che in 12 volumes, elegant [JV]

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The founder of Bon religion is the Shenrab Miwo..........Excerpted from a publication by Triten Norbutse and Yungdrung Bön Monastic Center......

In past ages there were three brothers, Dakpa, Selwa et Shepa, who studied the Bon doctrines in the heaven named Sipa Yesang, under the Bon sage Bumtri Loggi Chechen. When their studies were completed, they visited the God of Compassion Shenlha Ökar and asked him how they could help the living beings submerges in the miseries and sorrow of suffering. Shenlha advised them to act as guides to mankind in three successive ages of the world. To follow his advice the eldest brother, Dakpa, completed his work in the past world age. The second brother, Selwa, took the name Shenrab and became the teacher for this present world age. The youngest brother, Shepa, will come to teach in the next world-age.................

Shenrab was born in the Barpo Sogye Palace, to the south of Mont Yung-drung Gutsek. He was born a prince, married while young and had children. At the age of 31 he renounced the world and lived in austerity, teaching the doctrine. During his whole life his efforts to propagate the Bon religion were obstucted by the demon Khyabpa Lakring. This demon fought to destory or impede the work of Tönpa Shenrab, until he was eventually converted and became a disciple of Shenrab.....Pursuing the demon to regain his stolen horses. Tönpa Shenrab arrived in Tibet, it was his only visit to Tibet. There, he imparted some instructions concerning the performance of rituals but, on the whole, found the land unprepared to receive fuller teachings. Before leaving Tibet, he prophesied that all his teachings would flourish in Tibet when the time was ripe. Tönpa Shenrab departed this life at the age of 82.

There are three written acounts of Tönpa Shenrab. The earliest and shortest one is known as Dodü (mDo-'dus),"Epitome of Aphorism". The second which is in two volumes is called Zermik (gZer-mig), "Piercing Eye". These two accounts date from the 10th and 11th centuries respectively. The third and largest is in twelve volumes known shortly as Ziji (gZi-brjid), "The Glorious". It belongs to the category of scriptures known as "spiritual transmission" (snyan-rgyud) It is believed to have been dictated to Loden Nyingpo (Blo-ldan snying-po)who lived in the XIV century.

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Ziji appears in the language of both Buddhism and Shambhala.

The Vidyadhara commented that both zi and ji have a sense of light and brilliance to them, glossing zi as “shine” or “glitter,” and ji as “splendor.” He added that ji also carries a sense of “monolithic.” In keeping with that, when translating buddhadharma we have rendered ziji as “splendor,” “radiance,” “brilliance,” and “full of splendor.” One piece of etymology might be of interest here: zi also can mean a variety of precious stone unique to Tibet, a type of black and white striped agate with “eyes.” The more eyes, the more it was valued in Tibetan culture, and as an historical note, the Vidyadhara often wore a theb-long (thumb ring) made of zi, a gift to him from Namgyal (aka “Nammie”) Ronge, brother of Noedup and Palden.

In the Shambhala teachings, ziji has particular importance. Though on occasion, especially in our early days, we translated ziji as “light,” we quickly settled on two renderings that the Vidyadhara felt brought out the inner quality that resulted in an outer radiance: “confidence” and “dignity.” These are key terms in the Shambhala teachings. In fact, both render the one Tibetan phrase, ziji. The choice we made largely depended on the context—often the result of lengthy discussions with the tertön, the Druk Sakyong.

http://nalandatranslation.org/offerings/choosing-the-right-word/ziji/

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Zhang Zhung King Takna Ziji

The narrow gorge and hot springs of Takrong is still considered by local Buddhist drokpa to be a sacred site of the Bönpo.113 According to the Bön Tisé Karchak, Takna Rong/Takna Ling, was where the Zhang Zhung king Takna Ziji had his castle Takna Weldzong.114 It would appear by the description given in this account of Takna Rong that, by being situated at the foot of Pori Ngeden (some 180 km to the west), an area larger than the single Takrong valley is described in this text. In the local sacred geographic tradition of Takrong,115 the site is said to have been a stronghold of King Takzig Norgi Gyelpo. He is said to have had two priests: Awong, the tiger lama, and Miwong, the lama with the magic lasso. The river of Takrong passes under an area of geothermal activity. This geographic oddity is referred to as the self-formed bridge of King Gesar. The geomantic heart of the site is a high volume hot spring called Sinpo Nyingchu. Pinnacles of mineral precipitates thrown up by the hot springs represent the Bön deity Takla Membar and his circle of 18 Drekpa spirits. Other light and dark pinnacles called Lékarnak (White and Black Destiny) represent heaven and hell. There are also “palaces” of the lha, nyen and lu, vertically arrayed to reflect the characteristic placement of these deities in the sky, earth and underworld realms of the tripartite universe (sisum/sipa sum).

http://www.thlib.org/bellezza/#!book=/bellezza/wb/b1-2-6/

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According to the Bonpos, the founder of their tradition, Tönpa Shenrab Miwo (ston pa gshen rab mi bo), lived from 16,016 B.C.E. until approximately 7,816 B.C.E. He was born in the land of Ölmo Lungring, both an allegedly historical place somewhere to the west of Tibet in present-day Kashmir, Afghanistan, and/or Iran, known to Bonpos as Takzik (stag gzig), and a mythical place of origin and destination, somewhat equivalent to the Buddhist notion of Pure Land. At the center of this land was a great mountain called Yungdrung Gutsek (g.yung drung dgu brtsegs). There are a number of stories about Shenrab Miwo’s early exploits, but the most significant myth, and the one that provides the alleged foundation for the story of Padmasambhava’s subjugation of Tibetan spirits, tells of a demon who stole horses from Shenrab Miwo, an act that led the latter into Tibet. In Tibet and along the way, Shenrab Miwo subjugated the local deities and ultimately the demon himself, demanding an end to blood sacrifices and converting all in his path to Bon. Shenrab Miwo’s teachings vary across sources, but two sources provide the most succinct and popular systems attributed to him: the Zermik (gzer mig) terma and the Ziji (gzi brjid) text based on oral tradition. The former describes the “Four gates with the treasure chamber as the fifth”, which includes instructions for rituals, purification, divination, demon ransoming, high tantric teachings, monastic regulations, philosophy, path, and rdzogs chen, while the latter describes the “Nine ways of Bon”, and goes into greater detail about and builds on top of the same basic elements as the Zermik. Its main focus is clearly rdzogs chen, with which it concerns itself for the entirety of its final third. The Bonpo canon is comprised of similar texts, including biographies of Shenrab Miwo, termas - most of which were allegedly buried by Drenpa Namkha in the 8th century, oral traditions, and oral “revelations” that visited scholars in sleep or visions.

https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/wiki/renaissanceold/Bon%20Background%20Research.html

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The Yungdrung Ko"leg Chorten (gying drung bskod legs mchod rten) is a very popular image of for the Bo"mpo. It is the one of the 360 chorten described in the Ziji (gzi brjid), the biography of tonpa shenrab. Only 120 of these can be made as the others are chorten of emptiness and awareness and are not pysical.

http://www.alivenotdead.com/DragonChild28/--profile-4436.html

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

September 2012

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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SHAMANISM

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"In the Tibetan Bon traditon.....the first 4 of the Nine Ways are Shamanic Levels of Ordinary Elemental Magic.......the the next 3 are Tantric Transformation Levels.....and the highest 2 are Dzogchen Direct Experience Levels...in all nine levels of Bon the connecting deity is Shenlha Okar."

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SHAMANIC TRADITIONS...."In the Altaic tradition, Shaman is not our word. That is a word created by the Russians. We call such people Kams. Their rituals are called Kamlanie." (Kharatidi: 1996..pg 63)

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"Tibetan histories written by cloistered Buddhist monks portray the ancient pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet called Bon as a nefarious mixture of sorcery, black magic, shamanism, and bloody sacrifices, this appears to be just so much anti-Bonpo propaganda providing a melodramatic effect. The principal aim of these Buddhist historians was to glorify the role of Indian Mahayana Buddhism in Tibetan history."

Primitive Bon was the indiginous shamanism and animism of Tibet and adjacent regions in ancient times. Indeed, according to Bonpo tradition, some of these practices such as invoking the gods (lha gsol-ba) and rites for exorcising evil spirits (sel-ba) were actually taught by Tonpa Shenrab himself when he briefly visited Kongpo in Southeastern Tibet in prehistoric times. Such rites were later incorporated into the classification of the teachings and practices of Bon known as the nine successive ways or vehicles (theg-pa rim dgu). These shamanistic types of practices are now known as "the Causal Ways of Bon" (rgyu'i theg-pa). Teaching and practice found in the Causal Ways are considered to be dualistic in their philosophical view, that is, the gods (lha) representing the forces of light and order called Ye and the demons (bdud) representing the forces of darkness and chaos called Ngam have an independent existence, and the concern of the practitioner is principally with the performing of rituals that invoke the positive energies of the gods and repel the negative influences of the demons and evil spirits (gdon). An examination of the ritual texts in question reveals them to be largely of non-Indian origin.

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Shamanism, now recognized to be a world-wide religious and cultural activity of great antiquity, has been extensively described by Russian and other anthropologists, as well as by scholars of the History of Religions such as Mircea Eliade and others. See especially Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Pantheon Books, New York 1964.

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Healing With Form, Energy and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen*, by Tenzin Wangyal, Mark Dahlby (Editor), Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche - book on Tibetan Shamanism from prominent practitioners of Tibetan shamanism.

From the Shamanic perspective, one relates to the five elements by calling them in the form of a goddess, in which one asks the goddess to assist in healing the psychophysical body. From the Tantric perspective, working with the Elements involves an inner focus on the channels, winds and energy. The Dzogchen perspective emphasizes how the Elements comprise all that exists, and how the dynamic play of light and space creates mass and form. The Five Elements in their subtlest quality are viewed as the five sacred aspects of luminosity and wisdom.

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On Tibetan shamanism generally, see Rene de Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet, Mouton, The Hague 1956, pp. 538-553, as well as Per-Arne Berglie, "Preliminary Remarks on Some Tibetan Spirit Mediums in Nepal," in Kailash 4 (1), Kathmandu 1976, pp. 85-108. For an account of a contemporary Tibetan shaman from Ladakh and practicing in Kathmandu, see Larry G. Peters, "The Tibetan Healing Rituals of Dorje Yudronma: A Fierce Manifestation of the Feminine Cosmic Force," in Shaman's Drum 45, Ashland OR 1997, pp. 36-47.

See Joseph Rock, "Contributions to the Shamanism of the Tibetan-Chinese Borderland", Anthropos LIV (1959), pp. 796-818

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"In this study I will specifically examine the modes of production of Huichol art. I have categorized them as sacred ceremonial, sacred subsistence, and commodified art. 1) Sacred ceremonial art is created during ceremony by Maraakame (medicine men). 2) Sacred subsistence art is sold for cash and is created by individual artists who mimic motifs found in sacred ceremonial art. 3) Commodified art is mass-produced in assembly line production and is distributed on the global market."

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Shamanism*, by Mircea Eliad - a very detailed scholarly book on shamanism, which takes the perspective of anthropology/sociology/history.

The Woman in the Shaman's Body : Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine, by Barbara Tedlock - The book combines scholarly research into women in shamanic practice, with narration of personal experiences of the author who, in addition to being an anthropologist, is also a shamanic practitioner.

Traveling Between the Worlds: Conversations With Contemporary Shamans, by Hillary S. Webb - Interviews with contemporary Shamans concerning their view of modern shamanic practice.

Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge*, Carlos Castenada - A widely read author on shamanism, Castenada's books focus on culturally oriented shamanic practice - that of the shamans of ancient Mexico. His books focus on various topics, this was the first of his books

Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self Through Shamanic Practice, Sandra Ingerman - one of the first books on soul retrieval, it provides an understanding of soul retrieval and its purposes. She is the author of several books.

Shapeshifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation, John Perkins - founder of the Dream Change Coalition, Perkins studied shamanism in South America. He is the author of several books, this book discusses shape shifting.

The Way of the Shaman, Michael Harner - written approximately 30 years ago, it gives a general overview of shamanism.

Medicine Woman* - Lynn V. Andrews - books often focus on the female aspects of shamanism. Considered by some to be a partially fictional/fantasy writer.

Kahuna Healing: Holistic Health and Healing Practices of Polynesia*, Serge Kahili King - Practitioner of Polynesian or Huna Shamanism.

Fundamentals of Hawaiian Mysticism*, Charlotte Berney - A book about the Hawaiian Huna practice, Huna is considered by some to be a shamanic practice.

Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit*, Tom Cowan - a practitioner of shamanism, this book discusses Celtic legends and shamanism.

The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, Jeremy Narby - a book about the connection between shamanism and DNA.

Shaman: An Illustrated Guide (Living Wisdom), Piers Vitebsky - hard to find but very good pictures, and an interesting overview of shamanism that looks at different regions around the world. Can sometimes buy used from Amazon. There is also a Time Life Books, version of this book.

Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism*, by Gershon Winkler, David Carson, Gabriel Cousens - many books are being published recently which discuss the connection between Shamanic practice and Judaism.

The Book of Shamanic Healing*, Kristin Madden - focuses on healing and shamanism.

The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves*, by Jean Clottes, David Lewis-Williams, Sophie Hawkes (Translator), J. David Lewis-Williams

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Eliot Cowan is the author of Plant Spirit Medicine, and a shaman in the Huichol tradition. He is the founder of the Blue Deer Seminary and the Blue Deer Center. As a provider at the Blue Deer Center, Eliot Cowan offers Plant Spirit Medicine practitioner training courses, continuing education for PSM practitioners, healing camps based on traditional Huichol healing, and animal totem courses. Eliot Cowan has been teaching, leading healing retreats, and maintaining private practice for many years. He began to study and practice herbalism in 1969,.....the traditions of the Huichol people of Mexico. He completed his shamanic apprenticeship with the late Don Guadalupe Gonzalez Rios, an eminent Huichol Indian Shaman. In 2002, Don Guadalupe ritually recognized Eliot as a leader of shamanic apprentices in the Huichol tradition.

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Maraakame.......A priest of the Huichol religion, a shaman-called in Spanish a "cantador" or "curandero" and in Huichol a maraakame-is the rock on which the Huichol tradition, culture and spirituality rest and are kept pure. "He helps the mother so the baby will be born well; he baptizes it and initiates it into the mysteries of the gods; he unites man and woman in marriage; he conducts the soul of the dead to its final abode." A maraakame is like a seaman who sails the ocean from shore to shore but always belongs to his homeland.

As priest he sings at the feasts and the rites. He prays that the rains be abundant. He prays that there will be neither sickness nor hunger. He prays that there will be no epidemic or damaging wind. He prays that there will be no trouble in the Community. He prays that justice and righteousness will prevail. He prays that the crops will be good and that life will be healthy and long. He can talk with the gods and perceive things distant and hidden. To him all is clear and transparent. He knows what causes a death and can predict one.

The maraakame is the Huichol doctor. He is the one who is acquainted with medicinal plants, the one who performs magic rites and who exposes witchcraft and sorcery. He is the wisdom of the Community.

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A curandero (or curandera for a female) is a traditional folk healer or shaman in Hispanic-America, prevalent in Latin America, that is dedicated to curing physical and/or spiritual illnesses.

They are often respected members of the community, being highly religious and spiritual. Literally translated as "healer" from Spanish, curanderos often use herbs and other natural remedies to cure illnesses, but their primary method of healing is the supernatural. This is because they believe that the cause of many illnesses is evil spirits, the punishment of God, or a curse.

Curanderos treat ailments like espanto (Spanish for "shock"), empacho (Spanish for "surfeit"), susto ("fright"), mal aire (literally, "bad air"), and mal de ojo ("evil eye") with religious rituals, ceremonial cleansing, and prayers. While curanderos are capable of treating these ailments (and do), in reality they seldom do, for many ailments, such as empacho, can be treated by family members. Often Curanderos employ the use of sung Icaros to contact certain spirits to aid them in their healing work.

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"Tibetan Bonpo in ancient times appeared to cover a number of different types of practitioner, whether shaman, magician, or priest. Here there seems to be a strong parallel of the role of the Bonpo in ancient Tibet with that of the Druid in ancient pre-Christian Europe. Just as the Druidic order was divided into the three functions of the Bards, the Vates, and the Druids, who were singers, soothsayers, and magicians respectively, so the ancient pre- Buddhist kingdom of Tibet was said to be protected by the Drung (sgrung) who were bards and singers of epics, the Deu (lde'u) who were soothsayers and diviners, and the Bonpo (bon-po) who were priests and magicians."(Reynolds)

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

September 2012

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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