Sometimes the dreams come true.
In summer 1997 I went in Mongolia with Nadia Stepanova and her husband Nima Pourboev to visit Tserin Zarin Boo a shaman of Buriatan origin that lives in the Dornod region. Adventurous and difficult travel because the roads practically do not exist, and to the frontier between the Russia and Mongolia it was the first time they saw a westerner and they did not want let me pass. But it helps to travel with a shaman. In fact after a while we were discussing about my transit an officier asked Nadia if she could  "see " if the problems that she had with her husband could be solved. At that point I understood that also my problems soonwould be solved, and in fact in few hours we succeeded to leave and at sunset we arrived at Tserin Zarin Boo.
For a week we remained with him and his family and thus I could filmed Tserin Zarin's rituals and the life around his yurta: the son who attended to the pastures and the herds and the young wife milking the cows at dawn. A natural life following the rhythms of the sun and the rituals of Tserin Zarin Boo. During the day always someone will arrive on horseback, the only way of transport in that remote area of the world, to ask advice to Tserin Zarin Boo.
And there during the cold nights of the mongolian steppe I dreammed that Tserin Zarin Boo would come in Italy. I told Nadia about my dream. She was enthusiastic and slowly slowly the dream became true.
I had many problems but thanks to the collaboration of the Universita' of Verona, prof. Gabriel Sala and dr. Gabriel Ubaldini I succeded to reunite in Italy all the shamans that have marked my life in my spiritual search: Brant Secunda Huichol shaman who in 1986 introduced me to the shamanic world, and to experience that realty is much wider as we normally perceive.
Nadia Stepanova who introduced me to the Siberian shamanism and to the mystical pilgrimages to the lake Baikal.
Tserin Zarin Boo, the great mongol shaman that allowed me to film his " trance " and the spirits.
Ai-Tchourek (Moon Heart) that introduced me to the Tuvinian shamanism,khoomei and kamlanie and in a starry night introduced me to the spirit of a spring and to feel the heat all around my body with the sirio star ignited and extinguished to the rhythm of the bell that Ai-Tchourek played. Altered states of perception of the realty but that she helped me to live without fear. And with them Kham Night Chase who I had never met before but because, spiritual guide of Gabriel Ubaldini, I was sure about his " shamanic power".
But as they say in the popular wisdom between saying and making there is a sea. From the shamans I have learned to believe to the dreams and my confidence in my dream remained firm, also when I did not know if Tserin Zarin Boo would arrived in time because in December in Mongolia the temperature comes down to -50 C. and all it freezes and the transports are extremely difficult.
For this reason in the middle of November when the situation was almost hopeless because it was difficult almost impossible to find someone ready to go from Buriatia to Mongolia to fetch Tserin Zarin and his son, I sent back from Italy Nima, the husband of Nadia Stepanova, who with great force and energy went back to Buriatia found the jeep, faced an extremely difficult journey but he succeeded to put Tserin Zarin and its son on the airplane three weeks later.
Many thanks Nima for your courage.
The conference has been carried out in a shamanic way, guided from the protector Spirits, creating sometimes confusion between the participants but they had the opportunity to be part of an irripetibile event: the encounter of the Siberian shamanism with the native Americans shamanism.
If shamanism was born in Siberia or America is an academic dispute my intention was only to share my experience of search as a man and filmaker in the shamanic world .
Nadia Stepanova, during the conference, yielded her place and her scene to Tserin Zarin Boo , taking care that everything was done in the right way for the old mongolian shaman.
Many thanks Nadia for introduced me to your shamanic world.
Tserin Zarin has allowed us to see his shamanic " trance " when he was possessed by his spirits whose made him dance and fly even if he is 70 years old.
Long life to you Tserin Zarin Boo.
I hope that everybody have been able to live with respect and free mind this experience.
The realty is a lot more complex and articulated than we see it and we perceive it.
The shamanic world bring us back to the time of the myth to the time of the fables and everything mixes together and becomes alive, everything moves and speaks.
Maybe I will never be able to express to my shamans friends my gratitude for make me feel different feelings and different states of mind, waver my certainties and for always bring me back with kindness to my known world, to my realty.
Many thanks Brant Secunda, thanks Nadia Stepanova, thanks Ai-Tchourek (Moon Heart)  , thanks Tserin Zarin Boo.
Costanzo Allione
 
 
 

WARM SNOWFLAKES  FROM THE TAIGA
...snow, slow snowflakes come down all around,they swirl playing, they go back towards the sky, like if they are called from voices, and then they come down one by one on my skin. They are warm at the contact. My body shine of their purity, I feel warmth and pure like the last snowflake laying on my hand. I touch it, I feel it, I feel myself, we are all one, voices around that they vibrate deeply... and they are not anymore snowflakes and I am not anymore anna. The dull heartbeat spreads, receives a low note and follows the melody, I perceive my body like a big sound box that strikes in unison with the drum, I become wider and wider and then the sound explodes within myself. My heart sings, my body sings with an ancient sound found again in the depth of my soul.
A howl burst full of pain, invokes help , for me, for you, for the moon up there that it is hidden from the view, it is an ancient and deep pain.
Help, forgive me, help, listen to me.
Hao, has ha ha hauu... Hao, ha ha ha hauu! I feel bad , we fell bad, help me. Only the painful cry of Ai-Tchourek exists, high, powerful, addressed to the Gods. The drums quieten down, the hearts slow down their rhythm, the tears, without shame, come down slowly melting knotes forgotten in the time. The eyelids are heavy, dipped in the motionless dark, they open with difficulty, reluctant to return to the reality. A little light hardly filters , the air is dense of smells of taiga, the attish throw off fumes in the incense rach, the energy is palpable, solid. It is enough to observe better and it is possible to see flutter up above us the green color of the taiga, one feels the intense smell of the trees and its noises.
Ai-Tchourek and Nikolaj with their song and their drum have made us to fly, with the powerful wings of the eagles and the penetrating look of the owl, over the immense tuvinian land. I encounter the intense and dark look of Ai-Tchourek, it vibrates watching the spirits who have gathered around us. Then her soft and deeply moved voice is hardly audible, the tone is low and far away.
" This is a great ritual of purification. In the kamlanie I have called the Protectors of my land to help me in this task, they have come and they have helped to purify yourself. All together we have held in the heart only one thought. Oh, Gods help me to free myself from the bad thoughts and the negative energies and filled up my heart of kindness and love. This has happened, the wild juniper of the taiga has opened the doors of your hearts, the tears has washed the negativity, and the Gods have pacify your souls and, I, with their aid, have filled up them with new energy. Good energy, the energy of the love."
Her voice breaks off, the eyes are dark, and the black hair, collected in two braids like a child, are shining like silk. Intact porcelain skin. It nearly seems impossible that this face like a doll crosses the time and the space and lives the suffering of the other men. But her low voice is full of all the tones of love, all the force of love. Nikolaj, knelt down near the altar where the candles sparkle, stand up with slow movements and speaks with high and vibrating voice : " the spirit of the Universe has only just rejoined with us, has penetrated through the blood, in the soul that lives within everyone , and has permeated with the beams of Divine Light our spirit, part of the infinite and immortale spirit of the Universe. Now we are one energy, we belong like many small cells to a great plan, that it trascend us. " His inspired voice wake me up and I feel, pushed from the energy of its words, throbing the blood in my body. Now it is the time of Vera. She is from Moscow, but in spite of her urban origins, many years ago has discovered again within herself the ancient shamanic gift. She moves light and the numerous little bells of her custom accompany her steps and move those funny little snakes over her back.
" I work with the drum, his voice tells me about the needs of the persons and then, meanwhile I play it, I purify, where it is the need. Sometimes we heard bad words, sometimes the eyes have seen ugly things, the legs and the arms then allowed always to enter too many negative informations and so I purify with the fumigation, I sing with persuasive voice, if I understand that it is easy to convince, or otherwise, my voice becomes harder if the energies are darker..."
She lowers her blue, timid and sensitive eyes.
I feel their force, the love towards all us, I feel myself freed from the negatives thoughts , my body is like in torpor, like empty, lacking in forces.
"Now that we have purified all of you with the tungur, the khoomey and the whip you need to feed yourself with energy. We take a little rice from the plate of the offering, some candies and fruits and we go out in the nature. We thanks the spirit of the Fire with our gifts and we feed ourself with the energy of the Sun and the Mother Earth. Follow me. "
Ai-Tchourek moves fast, comes down the spiral staircase of the ancient palladian villa and ventures on the park. We all follow her, in the hands a tangerine and a biscuit for our offerings. The sun shines up, it is warm, although it is winter. But I cannot forget that pure snow laying on my body while I was up there, warmsnowflakes from the taiga.
Anna Saudin
 
 

VIRARIKA - THE HEALING PEOPLE
There is an antecedent to my meeting with the Huichol Shaman and Ceremonial Leader Brant Secunda in Verona, December 1998. More or less four years ago I spread the voice through my friends that I wanted to meet a shaman. My idea was of a Native American shaman, because that tradition has always appealed to me . but you certainly know that often the universe answers our requests in its own ways. Anyway, the universe is aware of the fact that, being a fiery Aries, I need to be answered very quickly, otherwise I can become . let's say rather persistent! So in a  week's time I had Brant's address in California, I wrote, and as a reply I got a leaflet with all his wonderful programmes in the States. As I couldn't go, I put the
programme on my little altar, at home, leaving the mattes into God's hands. Four years later I receive the Verona programme . and guess who is coming, the selfsame Brant Secunda. I could not miss this occasion. So here I am waiting, in Verona, when I see him coming from far, an aura encompassing him like a trembling of the air.
When he passes near me I can feel a sort of "shiver" in the "Force", as Luke Skywalker calls it in "Star Wars". The shiver is persistent, like a slight electric shock, like a kind of soft emotion, like a movement in the water, a mellowness in the bones, like a welcoming from old times, a sense of homecoming, the feeling:"Yes, here we are again!" Then the conference starts, all the shamans perform some kind of prayer, but Brant's is the one that touches me most, hearing his voice chanting the sacred songs is something not new at all for me. Next morning we are all ready to start, I arrive rather late, with my friend, and the only free seat is on the right of Brant's chair, at the moment I don't take it as a sign . but it sure is! I sit there, all eager and happy, and start to notice that Brant's translator is having a bad time, she is not feeling very well and is at pains, so I do my best to help. In the afternoon, once again by "chance" I find myself sitting exactly behind Brant, and this time I have to translate, for Anna is sick and has "disappeared" into thin air. Brant gives me a  tobacco bag to hold, the whole afternoon, I don't know whether it has a special meaning or not, but I feel it is some kind of sacred conection that is being woven again between us. Next day I am officially Brant's translator, even if, as far as I know, he has not asked me .. Everything comes very easily, I tune in to him and words flow effortlessly, meanings are elightened within me, even when he tries to  trick me into some kind of mistake (to my surprise he admits this, during an interview  with an Italian journalist). I am not translating, I feel that sometimes Brant is talikng inside my head, in my heart, that's why everything come so easily. Brant leads us into many exercises and ceremonies, he wants to leave us a lot of material to work with, once at home. He gives sacred crystals, as a present for all the participants, a healing instrument both for ourselves and the Mother Earth this sacred altar of Mother Earth, as Brant continually repeats. The Huichol tradition stresses the connection of all beings and creatures of the universe. Man gets sick only when this sacred connection is severed, due to his own indifference or forgetfulness of the sacred cycles of life. The most intense group experience is with no doubts the "Dance of the Deer". The deer is the sacred animal who helps the shaman in his healings, and  it is the connection between men and the Gods. It lives in our hearts, and it represents  the fifth direction, the one which leads to the human being, the centre, the heart. We
dance around the fire, a lit candle in the centre of the room, while Brant chants the  sacred Huichol songs and drumms his heart away. You should see us, a bunch of  Westeners all circling round a lit candle, and hopping and losing ourselves, at moments, into the beauty of the rite. When it's finished all faces are lit up, a kind of glamour, of brilliant beauty on us, shining, lighting from within, radiating in us like the pulse of life, found again, in all our forgetful rush . we still remember, if we pay attention. We still are all traditional people, let's go back, let's remember, never forget who we really are. Virarika the healing people.
Antonella Riem Natale

  I HAVE BUILT THE INIPI WITH KAM LAU NIGHTCHASE
While I was getting ready to the meeting with Kam Lau Nightchase and his wife Mary I was very excited. Five months after the Sundance in Nevada, I would have been able to hug them again. The occasion was the meeting of December in Verona where  representatives of Buriatia, of Mongolia, from Republic of Tuva, of the North and the Center America
have performed propitiatory and healing rituals.
I have prayed with Nadja Stephanova and with Tserin Zarin, I have invoked the protection of the Spirits with the magic songs of the shamans of Tuva. I have danced the Dance of the Deer with Brant Secunda and I have helped Kam to build the Inipi.
About six years ago some friends  asked me if  I was interested to meet Kam, the Lakota tradition and the Sweat Lodge. My ansver was yes. Now I know  that  “yes”   changed the course of my life. At that time I didn't had any  idea of the Inipi and now I was helping  Kam   teaching to the people to build it,  because now I conduct the Inipi myself, I am Pipe Carrier  and Dancer of the Sun too.
Kam Lau Nightchase is a recognized Teacher of the spiritual tradition of the Lakota as well as a Sun Dancer Chief. He has been a Sun Dancer for 17 years. He is a direct descendant of a long lineage of renowned Lakota chiefs, warriors, and medicine men and women. Kam has travelled widely to share the wisdom and medicine of his people, from Russia to the  South Pacific, and across the North American and European continents.
His calling has been blessed by the elders  of the Lakota people, who recently gathered in the northeastern Nevada wilderness to consacrate acreage so that Kam might conduct his own annual Sun Dance ceremonies. A po7erful and devoted medicine teacher, Kam brings to the retreat a presence of his people’s traditions that is pure and
uncompromising, healing and empowering.
During  his one of a the many  Hanbleceya (Search of the Vision), Kam saw the four colors of the offers of tobacco become men of the four races that danced together. These colors are: Black- West, Red- North, Yellow- East, White- South.  (For other traditions the order of the colors could be different).In his vision the red offers became native Americans, the white changed in European, the yellow in Oriental and the black in Africans. His vision  now is a reality. To his Sundance, initiated in the 1997, the year of birth of the White Buffalo, the four colors are dancing, the four races dancing together.
The two events they were scheduled six generations before  in a prophecy. There is something of terrible and of marvelous, a big honor but also a big burden,  to be part of a similar prophecy.
The Inipi is a rite of purification that precedes all the spiritual practices of the Lakota but it could have different other characteres.
The note drift from the word Inipo= must purify you ,and it unwinds said onfiltered= lodge. His structure is formed of 12 or 16 branches of willow  according to the cardinal directions to form of dome and four horizontal branches that they represent the periods of the Creation and all that the number four symbolize. His form represents the whole universe, Mother Earth.
Represent all the elements, living beings of each kind, animal and vegetable. In the beginning the lodge was covered of skins of buffalo but now they used covers and blanquettes. Inside, in the center, it is a  hole, "the crib of rock",  where are deposed the incandescent stones during the ritual. The opening of the Inipi is in the west, where, beyond the altar and the sacred path long seven footsteps, it is the fire without end, the peta ohiankesi, above which they become  hot and red the stones. Who conducts sits down close to the door, to west, and after everybody have entered doing the turn in hourly sense, introduces the stones, in a varied number according to the porpouse of the ritual. The first are for the Four Directions, than for the Sky , for the Earth and at the end for Wambli Gleska = Spotted Eagle, the Messenger of Wakan Tanka. The blankets in front the door of the lodge come down, and inside, in the absolute dark, the participants tune up songs and prayers. The door will be  open four times. Between the second and the third opening of the door,we smoked the Pipe. With the fourth opening finish the ceremony and we go out all following the hourly sense always.
        To Verona, thank you to the interest of Costanzo Allione, of Gabriele Sala  and other people too,  the shamans of  different traditions, as like Kam, they could share their  teachings for help us,men and women of the "civilized" Europe, to find again those spiritual and moral values that have been replaced from the consumism,  hedonism, in one word from the egoism.
        Grazie Mitakuye Oyasin
 Eva Fodor Tedeschi