The one-armed warrior of Siberia

A burial site in western Siberia was found and archaeologists started working on it. It appears they unearthed a preserved burial from a legendary warrior who was slain in battle. The body was discovered in a mound in the Omsk region dating back to the 11th or 12th century. The warrior died when he was more or less 40 years old and he was about 1.80 meters tall. According to the studies held by the archaeologists and anthropologist, his right shoulder was smashed and his left arm severed, evidently in battle. The arm was preserved and buried alongside him.

The warrior was buried with a mask on his face, complete with a bear claw above the nose, as well as bronze tools and 25 war arrows; many of which were still sharp when discovered by the archaeologists. He was probably a warlord trained since childhood for a life of combat.

Siberia was mostly colonized by the Russian Empire between the 16th and 18th centuries, its indigenous tribes offered more resistance than is commonly known. The Chukchi people in the far-eastern tundra on the shores of the Arctic and the northern Pacific defied conquest for 150 years and were ultimately subdued through negotiations, not military effort. The Khanty people, along with the neighboring Nenets, led one of the few ethnic uprisings against the Bolsheviks between 1931 and 1934, protesting the destruction of their traditional way of life. With shamans encouraging their fight against the Bolsheviks, the rebels ( no more than 150) resisted submission for three years in the harsh conditions of the tundra.

It is still unclear who killed this warrior unearthed from his burial mound, but he may have been a recent victim (historically speaking) from the period of the russian empire, between the 16th and the 18th centuries.

World's oldest wooden statue

Scientists in Germany are ever closer to dating an ancient wooden statue which they say contains secret encrypted codes written around 9,500 years ago - possibly the oldest on the planet (so far). The Shigir Idol, as it was called, is twice as old as the Egyptian pyramids and was preserved as if in a "time capsule" in a peat bog on the western fringes of Siberia. Now Russian experts say the remarkable relic contains encoded information on the 'creation of the world' - a message to modern man from the Mesolithic Era, during the pré-historic time.

German scientists are now close to a precise dating - within five decades - of the remarkable artifact, which is a stunning example of ancient man's creativity. The results are likely to be known in late February or early March, 2015.

The idol, 'scraped' using a 'stone spoon' from larch timber, is around 4,000 to 5,000 years older than Britain's world famous Stonehenge monument. The idol stands 9.2ft (2.8 metres) in height but originally was 17.4ft (5.3 metres) tall, as high as a two storey house.

Almost 6.5ft (2 metres) of the artefact went missing during Russian's 20th century political turmoil, though Siberian archaeologists drew images of all the pieces. It is a unique sculpture, there is nothing else in the world like this. It is very alive, and very complicated at the same time.

The ornament is covered with nothing but encrypted information. People were passing on knowledge with the help of this Idol. While the messages remain an utter mystery to modern man, the Russian academics have said its creators lived in total harmony with the world, had advanced intellectual development, and a complicated spiritual world.

There is a representation of a straight line in this idol, which could denote land, or horizon - possibly the boundary between earth and sky, water and sky, or the borderline between the worlds. A wavy line or zigzag symbolised the watery element, snake, lizard, or determined a certain border. In addition, the zigzag signaled danger, like a pike. Cross, rhombus, square, circle depicted the fire or the sun, and so on. But the marks could have multiple meanings for the ancient statue-makers who gave the idol seven faces, only one of which is three-dimensional.

If these are images of spirits that inhabited the human world in ancient times, the vertical position of figures (one above the other) probably relate to their hierarchy according to the researchers. Images on the front and back planes of the Idol, possibly indicate that they belong to different worlds.

If there are depicted myths about the origin of humans and the world, the vertical arrangement of the images may reflect the sequence of events. Ornaments can be special signs which mark something as significant.

Female Shamans and Medicine Women

Shamanism has been a spiritual practice that accompanied Mankind throughout history, since pre-history. However, such practices ended in most countries, but there are still a few shamanic tribal societies that kept these traditions going. In some of these societies, there is a preference for the practitioners to be female. There are lots of evidence abiut this fact, including in archaeological findings in Czech Republic, indicating that the earliest Upper palaeolithic shamans were in fact women and not men. Descriptions of female shamans describe these women as invokers of spirits of the gods, earth and ancestors, as well as being healers, herbalists, oracles, ecstatic dancers, diviners, shape-shifters, priestesses and shamanic journeyers. Female shamans or shamankas, are  located among the Tungus people, the Buriats, Yakuts, Ostyaks, and among the Kamchadals.

In the steppers and central regions of Siberia, the female shaman(s) possess greater power than the male shamans, or so it is believed. In general, the feminine element plays a very important and prominent role in terms of magic, sorcery, at least it is so among the Yakuts. Female shamans are dominant in some cultures where they ate to the forefront of the cult practice. Whether in ancient China or Japan, or Korea, South Africa, Okinawa, the Philippines, from northern California to southern Chile, female shamanism  is a widespread tradition.

Archaeological findings show us that all over the world, the female shaman was very important in the old societies. Such findings go all the way from the mediterranean, to scandinavia, far into the east of Siberia and down the southern hemisphere. For instance, the Ekven burial of a female shaman was found at Chukotka on the Russian side of the Bering Strait. A 2000 years old grave of an elderly woman with a wooden mask at her knees as well as other ritualistic and shamanic artefacts. Recurrent artefacts and examples of female shamanic practice are amulets, medicine bags, mirrors, and head-dresses shown by excavated regalia, as well as drums. Examples can be seen in southern Chile where female shamans of the Mapuche Nation use drums called kultran. Korean female shaman drummers use mudangs. Drumming would be accompanied by chants and invocations as is shown by the Mexican Indian shamans. An other example, during the Mesolithic period, it was found an interment at Bad Durrenberg which occurred 8,500 years ago. It was a woman around 25 years of age accompanied by a child of some 6 to 12 months of age. The grave goods and artefacts comprised those assumed to have a ritualistic and shamanic function.

Evidence of the primordial origin of female shamans is shown by the excavated burials during the archaeological works all over the world. Such burials have been found dating from the 5th century before our common era. These include the Priestess of Ukok ( as well as remains from south Kazakhstan, and the basin from the Ukraine to the Tarim. Archaeologists have determined that these ancient female interments in central Asia were shamanic priestesses. The mummified remains of a female shaman was from the 5th century BCE, and a kurgan of the Pazyryk Culture of ancient Altai. A Mummy of the Ukok princess was discovered and excavated in 1993-1997, and she has been dubbed as the Siberian Ice Maiden. This woman is also variously known as the Princess of Ukok and the Altai Princess, or Ochy-bala after the Altai heroine.

The burial of a female Natufian shaman was discovered in a cave site at Hilazon Tachtit ,in Israel, was dated to circa 12,000 B the common era. The Natufians of the southern Levant of 15,000 to 11,500 BCE were a nomadic people who lived along the east Mediterranean. The excavated remains were those of a diminutive, disabled ‘shaman’ woman of advanced years, in a specially constructed grave. The interment represents the ritual burial of one of the oldest human spiritual figures. There are many interments that show rituals and techniques, indicated by shamanic burials with especially placed animal bones, and in same places tortoise shells as well, and some times feathers.

Among north Amerindians, medicine women are as common as medicine men, especially among the Dakotas and the Creeks, with both occurring among the Inuit. As it is with shamans, the medicine woman and their healing practices, are not restricted to members of the male gender.

In ancient Greek mythology, in the temples of Argos, the goddess Hygeia was the daughter of Aesculapius. The fact that the great Mother Goddess Hera, as Lucina, propitiated at or presided over childbirth, and that the original goddesses were probably real medicine women. In remote antiquity women were engaged in the practice of medicine. In central Australia, the medicine is ranked equal to the medicine man just as the female shaman is the equal of the male shaman. Shaman women as medicine women, propitiated the spirit world and practised the healing arts towards their own sex. Medicine women were thus equal to the medicine man. Not only in the way they became, but also in social status, their role and function, but in all other aspects.

As has been shown by both female shamans and medicine women in many times, climes and cultures, it's not infrequently the idea that the female shamans prevails to such an extent that the most powerful shamans are women. The antiquity of the shamanic role of women is illustrated by the evidence of surviving rock and cave art which can be interpreted in terms of shamanism, fertility ritual, and rites of passage. Rock art in southern Africa can be analysed from two approaches, one that incorporates women issues within a framework of shamanism, and secondly, one that treats it as outside the understanding shamanism. Depictions on cave walls can be interpreted in terms of the shamanistic nature of the puberty rites of girls. A distinction has to be made between the meaning of the terms ‘shamanic’ and ‘shamanistic’. The word ‘shamanic’ refers to the practices and experiences of shamans, whereas ‘shamanistic’ refers to general beliefs and practices. The analysis can be, and have been, extended to an interpretation of cave paintings claiming that the art was the work of women. A recent study produced results, indicating that prehistoric female artists also helped create the famous ‘spotted horses’ cave mural and various others. The hand prints on the mural were dated to 25,000 BCE.  Many of the hand prints were smaller than female hands as established by analysis of digital ratios.The evidence appears to show that a large number of Upper Palaeolithic cave artists were women  confirming that  the women’s role in prehistoric society was much greater than previously thought. It is most likely, considering the role of women in primordial society as shamans, that ancient art was mostly the work of women. Hand prints on cave walls were analysed and show us that there was a gender difference between relative lengths of fingers. Men and women’s finger lengths are different. Even though another theory claims the hand prints may be those of adolescent boys, but some 75% of cave art hands are female.

Examples of hand print art in caves have been found in southern France, in Australia, Argentina, Africa and Borneo. In northern Spain hand prints were believed to date back to 40,800 years old, where of 32 hand stencils, 24 were female. Hand stencils support the theory that, not only were women actively involved in cave art, but that they were in their role of shamans leaders in ritualistic, fertility and magical practices as well, and many of which were also linked to rites of passage for other members of the community.

Shaman gathering in Tuva

The gathering of the most powerful shamans from different parts of the globe, have arrived in the Republic of Tuva in southern Siberia, near the border with Mongolia. Shamans from Sweden, Greenland, Mexico, Mongolia, South Korea, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, gathering at the festival devoted to the shamanic culture.

Asite from participants all over the world, this festival attracted shamans from four different corners of the regions of Russia. Altai, Khakassia, Yakutia and Tuva. All sorts of shamanic practices can been seen in this great event, such as drum rites, rituals, throat singing and meditation. The organizers also promise to hold interesting seminars and master classes on the spiritual practices of shamans and divination. Typical healing dances will also be taught to whoever wants to learn. The global goal of the festival is the revival of the shamanic traditions.

The festival is called "Call of 13 Shamans" and the idea came from its originator, the khoomei throat singing master Nikolay Oorzhak, a hereditary Tuvan shaman from the Black Heaven clan. 

The festival is taking place for the first time and so far without any sponsor support.

The honorary guest of the festival, the Mexican shaman Don Rogelio Carrillo, said that it was the similarity in the traditions of his people and those of Tuvans that drew him to the distant Siberian region.

Possible Origins of Santa Claus.

The Amanita Muscaria, a well known mushroom throughout the world, and still a mysterious fungus with hallucinogenic properties.

What i am about to write, may be the origins of the myth of Santa Claus.
Many of the traditions we see across the world that are tied to the Christmas holidays have a suprising similarity to the ancient traditions of  the Siberian Shamans. Through the description bellow, you can easily see the role of Santa Claus being filled by the local shaman. His gift to everyone on Christmas (Winter Solsitice), was to give dried out mushrooms that were hung by the fire with care.

In ancient times, our ancestors had a great connection with nature, so it is obvious that this tale starts with something from nature, a mushroom, it was not something that was man-made, far back, humans had a great care, love, respect for earthly things.
The name of the mushroom is Amanita muscaria, also called Fly Agaric. Muscaria is a psychotropic, causing visions and altered states.  It is also toxic, and must be handled in a particular manner so as to get the psychedelic effects without the toxic ones, there is no record of someone that has died because of these mushrooms, most animals love them and eat them and they dont die, of course animals have a diferent metabolism then ours and are use to these things, but also human eat it, no one has ever died so far, but yes.. it is dangerous.The shaman would collect the mushrooms in a bag and deliver them to families, who would then often hang them in socks around the fireplace to be dried, the mushrooms would be ready to "share" their revelatory gifts in the morning of the solstice.

Amanita Muscaria grows only beneath a Christmas tree (coniferous/pine tree) in a symbiotic, non-parasitic relationship with the roots of the tree. It used to be thought to be the fruit of the tree.

To this day Siberian shamans dress in ceremonial red and white fur-trimmed jackets to gather the magic mushrooms. First they pick and place the mushrooms to partially dry on nearby pine boughs which prepares them for ingestion and makes the load lighter. This may be why we decorate our Christmas trees with ornaments and bulbs, because the gatherers would always adorn trees with drying mushrooms.
The tradition of the Shaman was to go into the forests and collect these mushrooms that grow under pine trees or evergreen trees. The Shaman would collect enough for the entire tribe and then go to each of the houses, sometimes due to heavy snow the doors would be snowed in and the Shaman would have to enter through the smoke hole in the roof.
I am not telling that Santa Claus is of Red and White in is clothes because of this tradition, because everyone knows his comercial figure is in those colours because of Coca-Cola, this may be a coincidence, because shamans can dress in other colours in this specific day.

Also there is the myth of the flying Reindeers, well, that may be because reindeers love to eat these specific mushrooms, even at winter reindeers dig the mushrooms from the snow to eat them, shamans belive they can talk and interact with the reindeers that are also under the efect of the mushroom.