VIDEO

7 Years with siberian shamans

The divine mushroom

WOMEN OF POWER

Video series available from "Mystic Fire Video"  www.mysticfire.com

Since ancient time, all over the world, the "sacred art" of healing has been to a great extent in women's hands: women, from different religions, have had the duty of maintaining, through rituals and sacred ceremonies an harmonious link between man, nature and the supernatural world, since, according to all ancient knowledge, physical and mental health derives from a style of life that respects nature and, all the more, the supernatural.
In Siberia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, there has always been a strong tradition of healers and healing's rituals, belonging to all religious systems.
In the past 70 years these countries have been ruled by communist regimes and suffered the anti religious campaign of Stalin, but despite the harshness of this persecution they were able to preserve their spiritual knowledge and healing methods.
During his journeys in these secluded countries Costanzo Allione had the chance of meeting some of these remarkable healers, mostly women: through their portraits he tried to show mostly their life style, based on a strong spiritual relation to nature and a deep understanding of the sacred.
Five stories of women among the most representative of the process of cultural and religious revival going on in the communist countries are being told.
 
 

WE WILL MEET AGAIN IN THE LAND OF THE DAKINI

"...If during your life you dedicate yourself to the Dharma, at death your mind will naturally follow the path of truth.... Don't be attached to what you are leaving behind. We will meet again in the Land of the Dakini."
Now in her eighties, Doljin Kandro Suren is a Buddhist lama and a spiritual guide for thousands who come to her from all over Mongolia and Russia. Through the terrible years of death and persecution of all religious people in Mongolia, she survived, finding within herself the strength to overcome the despair that surrounded her people.
After seventy years of Communist rule she is left as the only keeper of the Chod lineage in Mongolia.
Tibetan master Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, invited to Mongolia to give Dzogchen teachings and to advise the Mongolian people during the days of the reconstruction of the Buddhist faith, performs a Chod ritual with her.
 
 
 

NADIA STEPANOVA

BURYATIAN SHAMAN"...lt's very easy to treat people when their soul is open and full of kindness, because in that case you see a miracle taking place...their own kindness returns to them as if reflected in a mirror."
Nadia Stepanova is a Buryatian shaman who is reviving shamanic ritual ceremonies that for centuries have ruled the life in the taiga. The Republic of Buryatia is a large country that lies between Lake Baikal and Mongolia in Siberia, often said to be the cradle of shamanism, which appeared at the dawn of civilization and survived down through the ages, until Stalin's antireligious campaign in the 1930's.
During all these years there was an attempt to separate the individual from his spirituality and as a result many people forgot their soul, their ancestors and their Gods.
Nadia Stepanova hopes that the young people will again be aware of spirituality and of the gifts that Mother Nature bestows us.
 
 

SAVONIHA

A SIBERIAN "OLD BELIEVER""...Everybody must be good and should not neglect anyone. We must learn how to excuse ourselves and to serve life as it comes. The prophets spoke the truth: where is heaven? This is our heaven! "
Savoniha belongs to the "Old Believers", a sect of the Russian Orthodox Church who was exiled to Buryatia, Siberia, many centuries ago. Along the centuries, they never ceased to be persecuted. Savoniha, now 95 years old, witnessed Stalin's anti- religious campaign loosing her father, one of the main spiritual representatives of the Siberian Old Believers.
"...Forgiveness allowed me to enjoy the autumn of my life.
Forgiveness is not merely a word, a prayer pronounced with our lips; it is something we conquer inside ourselves. Forgiveness set me free: everything gains a less distinctive shape, each thought is softer and passing by my heart, it doesn't hurt my feelings...People now come to me asking for help: I speak to them and my words flow like a river soothing their pain. I am amazed, and with my thoughts I go back to the One who speaks through my tongue.
Many ask for advice as if I might have accumulated a treasure that I can pull out to relieve other beings. But I see no bag!
I only see a small key that allows me to to talk like a bird to the sky."
 
 

MOON HEART

THE MAGICAL WORLD OF TUVINIAN SHAMANS"...When I accepted my destiny as a shaman, the spirits of my ancestors taught me the cosmic origin of man and nature and about our father the Eternal Blue Sky and our Mother the Earth. I dedicate my life to my gentle people who believe that I am the link between man and God. I am a poet, a priest, a healer, a foreteller, a teacher, but mostly I am their friend."
Moon Heart is a shaman from Tuva, a very powerful healer who speaks to the stars. "...To heal a person I invoke his star asking it to come down. When the star appears, a strong heat falls from above and my eyes are filled with tears. The strength of the star comes down from the sky until, gradually, everybody bends to the earth."
Tuva is a very ancient country of shamans and throat singers. It lies between the Siberian forests and the central Asian desert, marking the center of Asia.
The high Sayan mountains protected Tuva, keeping it wild and pure. Tuvinian people love nature and live in harmony, fearing the rage of the powerful spirits of the mountain. "...To get in touch with the spirits of the mountains and to soothe them, we use our traditional throat singing chants whose melodies derive from our contemplation of life, of the sound of nature, of the birds, of the whistling of the steppe wind, of the mountain's draft."
 
 

HABIBA

A SUFI SAINT FROM UZBEKISTAN"…People come to me every day for help. This is very important. This is the step that opens their hearts, which allows them to surrender to God's love and compassion. Along the years, I have learned that this is the secret of healing".
Habiba is a Tabib, a Muslim healer. She belongs to the earliest Sufi "Chain of Mystic Transmission" a lineage of teachers whose main representative is the great master Bahaudin Nacksband.
Uzbekistan is a dreamlike land of turquoise domes and minarets, a crossroad of western and eastern civilization, along the Silk Road.
Uzbekistan is a Muslim country: its spiritual tradition derives from the teachings of all the great religions of the earth.
"...The perfection of man's nature is the inner teaching of all religions. Truth, teachings and disciples all together form a hand.
When an ignorant person looks at the hand he might see that each finger is unlike the other and will not notice the movement of the hand itself.
Therefore the task of the Teacher is to speak to each person according to the level of his understanding.
The duty of each Muslim, man and woman, is to acquire knowledge."