SHAMANISM CASANOWICZ 421 



brings their life to an end. * * * This is particularly so when 

 the shaman is slow to carry out those orders which are intended to 

 single him out from other people. * * * There exist traditions 

 about shamans who were carried away still living from the earth 

 to the sky, about others killed b}^ the spirits or struck down at their 

 first meeting with the poAvers whom they dared to call upon." ^ 



THE SHAMAN— INITIATION 



As a rule candidates for the profession of a shaman have to un- 

 dergo preparatory instruction which is imparted by some expert 

 practitioner. During the time of preparation the novice has to pass 

 through both a mental and a physical training. He is usually seg- 

 regated and goes either to the forests and hills or else he remains in 

 the inner room the whole time. His imagination is worked upon by 

 solitude, the contemplation of the gloomy aspect of surrounding- 

 nature, long vigils and fasts with the use of narcotics, until he be- 

 comes persuaded that he, too, has seen the apparitions which he has 

 heard of from his boyhood. The shaman spirits usually appear in 

 the form of animals or birds. The most common guardian spirits 

 of the shaman are the wolf, the bear, the raven, the sea gull, and the 

 eagle. The Yakuts believe that every one of their Oyums has his 

 emekhet, or guardian spirits, and his bestial image, ie-kyle,, sent 

 down from above. The emekhet, generally a dead shaman, occasion- 

 ally a secondary deity, always stays near the man it protects. 



The novice has also to learn singing, dancing, ventriloquism, and 

 how to beat the drum. But it is not always that a preparatory in- 

 struction is necessary. There are shamans who have obtained the 

 requisite powers and qualifications direct from the gods without be- 

 ing previously instructed in the profession. 



THE SHAMAN— CONSECRATION 



The consecration of the candidate to his office is among some 

 tribes accompanied by certain ceremonies. The candidate on this 

 occasion takes certain vows upon himself and becomes the property of 

 the spirits. Among the Yakuts, an old shaman takes him to a hill 

 or an open field, clothes him in shaman's dress, invests him with 

 tambourine and drumstick, and placing him between nine chaste 

 youths on his right and nine chaste maidens on his left, makes him 

 promise that he will be faithful to the spirit who will fulfill his 

 prayers. Then he tells him where the various spirits dwell, what 

 diseases each causes, and how they may be appeased. Finally the 



■f Czaplicka,, op. cit., p. 175 f. 



