Shaman Aayla. All Gods of the shamanic world: Tengri, Umai, Ulgen, Erlik. Images

Good day! My name is Ayla. I’m practicing hereditary Siberian shaman. Today I want to introduce you wisdom of Siberian shamans and copyright drawings in the book “Knowledge of Siberian Shamans”.

“Knowledge of Siberian Shamans”. First drawing – shamanic map of the World. We see here 4 deites of the shamanic world.

God Tengri, who lives on the East, God Ulgen – lives on the South, Goddess Umai stays on the West, God Erlik is on the North.

Shamanic map of the universe.

Flight of the Shaman.

The demon that abducted a man’s soul is trying to escape. The ancestor shaman is near the new shaman, surrounded by the escorting spirit-helpers, appearing from his overcoat. Every pendant on the shaman’s outfit is home for spirits. The shaman’s celestial wife is on his neck, showing him the way. She is the owner of the tambourine, a three-eyed creature with seven crests (yeti). The yeti is Ulgen’s daughter, the shaman’s astral wife. They are all chasing the evil spirit in order to return the soul to the man. The evil spirit is holding the man’s soul between his teeth. The weakened soul looks like a pale flaccid exhausted body.

Tengri.

The god of Eternity, he created the whole Universe. There is an open eye in his hands, the embodiment of the wise eye of Omniscience. The tent made of eyes is a thousand-eye sky. The stars were regarded as Tengri’s eyes. He is peacefully contemplating the primeval emptiness. His face shows harmony and tranquility.

Umai.

The goddess of the Present, Tengri’s wife. It is Umai who keeps and multiplies all the worldly goods. She gives humans everything necessary for living. The tent of the material prosperity is in a beautiful meadow. Umai sits solemnly near the tent on the soft cover of material blessings. In one hand she is holding a green tree branch symbolizing fertility, and a bowl of a abundance in the other one.

Ulgen

The god of the Future, Tengri’s youngest son. The creation of all new and unique things depends on him. He is responsible for creating things that have never been created before. He is holding a magic wand that makes desires come true. He is surrounded by a plenty of white clouds, which symbolize people’s aspirations, new ideas and pure souls of people preparing for a new incarnation on Earth.

Erlik.

The god of the Past, the memory and the underworld, Tengri’s oldest son. Behind him there is a rusty iron lock. In one hand he is tightly holding the serpent of seduction, in the other hand – a slip knot. Erlik Han is the one who takes away the surplus of worldly goods from people in order to clear the space for new projects and creations. He accepts the souls of those who departed and keeps them in his kingdom until the memory of them on Earth fades away.

Chocktal

The goddess of fire and home. She is holding a flame of 30 heads. Prayer: We kneel before you, our Mother Fire of 30 heads, We are asking you… (about this and that), don’t deprive us of your warmth and your mercy, keep us warm and protect us.

Tengri’s bow.

Tengri’s sons are holding his bow from both ends. He sends his arrows to the Earth, to Umai, impregnating her with new creatures and phenomena. Tengri’s bow in a human’s hands refers to human conscience; the arrows refer to his attention. Both should be directed towards Tengri, which means, the Eternity.

The World tree

People’s souls, getting ready for a new reincarnation, are maturating in the nests on the branches of the World tree. The fish is Erlik’s one-eyed guo-fish with two tails. The fish is the origin of all diseases. The white horse – the sacrifice to Ulgen – is not supposed to be killed. It should either be let go or not harnessed anymore. The sacrifice to Erlik should be eaten by the participants of the ritual. The skin goes to Erlik. Erlik’s underworld is under the tree. The eagle lays eggs, and then the souls hatch out. They are Tengri’s messengers.

The Kingdom of Opona

On top of the World mountain in Ulgen’s kingdom there is a milky lake – a symbol of purity, the origin of truth. It resembles the land of milk and honey from Russian fairy-tales. This lake is the source of 4 rivers. They refer to four Gods and four cardinal directions.

Poplar

The underground poplar without branches is Erlik’s poplar. The upper poplar is Ulgen’s poplar. It spreads its fluff around, and each fluff has embryos of animals and children. It is Tengri who sends the embryos of people and cattle. Cuckoos here are fortune-tellers. The embryos are flying to the animals and the woman giving birth. Animals are copulating in the background; men and women are hugging, the women are being impregnated with the embryos.

Altai Princess and Saosh Yant

The shaman’s execution

The shaman’s head on a pale, his decapitated body is being torn apart by spirits. The parts of the shaman’s body are boiling in the pot on a fire – eyes, heart, arms and legs. The shaman is stirring the brew with an oar. The blacksmith is moulding a new body for the shaman. He hits a piece of iron on the anvil with his hammer; the iron has a picture of a man on it. The spirits who have just eaten the shaman recover his body from pieces and give new body parts, which can be used in both the Upper and the Lower worlds.

The Ancestor Shaman scares away the evil spirits with his magic wand

Shamanic illness

The Ancestor Shaman takes the soul out of the new shaman’s body, and the monster spirits are eating his flesh. The soul, as a subtle body, separates itself from the physical body, and looks around, terrified. The physical body stands there, clutching its head and going mad.

Shamanic arankas

The disembodied spirit gets out of the deceased shaman’s body. This is his subtle body. The shaman’s tools are all spoilt – broken and torn; they are hung on a cedar next to the arankas.

Tambourine

Mandala has always been drawn on shamanic tambourines and helped shamans find directions on a subtle level, know the ways of misfortunes and diseases and how to reach Gods. There is a handle in the shape of a man on the inner side of the tambourine – it symbolizes the tambourine’s owner, the Ancestor Shaman, who helps the shaman on the earth, gives him knowledge, shows him the way to Gods and fights with evil spirits on his side. The string extended between the edges of the tambourine is a bow-string for the arrows that shamans use for fighting evil during the ritual of Kamlanie. A tambourine helps the shaman to reach the state of trance, call out for the force of Tyn-Bur ecstasy, get the helping spirits together by the sound of the tambourine and start the shamanic journey.

The Place of Strength

Kuday Kam and Saosh Yant are hanging ribbons on the shaman tree to connect to the Place of Strength.

Spirit possession of objects

Tyn-Bura

Tyn-Byra is the spirit of shamanic ecstasy. It helps a shaman to reach trance and start travelling across the worlds.

Sheden

This is where a shaman hides his spirit-helpers.

Kamlanie in a yurta.

The shaman in his subtle body is flying out of the chum with the spirit-helpers.

Erlik and the shaman

The shaman takes the soul from Erlik and returns it to the human.

Mirages

When events and objects are being formed on Ulgen’s subtle level, they have gas-like, cloudy, vague shapes – they are people’s dreams and thoughts. But the more they’re getting filled with the energy of desire, the more distinct and substantial they become. At the end they can materialize in the physical world.

Nest

This is the nest where a child’s soul is maturing before incarnation. The beast with wings – the mother – is sitting on the nest. Above the nest we can see the soul – Sur – given to a human being by one of the four Gods the human being is meant to be devoted to.

Ulgen is holding a rainbow ball – it is the soul Bosy (Russian: Бось), which he gives to the newborn. Above him we can see Tengri. He has an eye with wings in his hands. It is the soul Aiy (Russian: Айыы), which he gives to a human. It is the essence of a human being.

Yurta

The baby’s body is framed by the soul Sur in the form of a white contour. There is a rainbow halo above his head (the soul Bosy). There is a golden spherical gloriole from the baby’s top of the head to the tailbone (it is the soul Kut, given by Umai). It represents the life force and the family power, which Umai transmits through the parents. There is a third eye on his forehead (the soul Aiy). The baby’s mother and father are standing on each side, they also have halos and the golden shine from head to toe in the form of ellipses, because when a human is standing, it looks like an ellipse, not like a sphere. The golden shine forms the body’s aura. They wear masks, symbolizing the soul Tesy, originating from Erlik. The man has a laughing mask, the woman – a crying one. They are giving the baby the same masks on sticks. It symbolized the process of upbringing and assigning to social roles that take shape as the memory Toеsy (Russian: Тёсь). The baby is naked, which means he is pure and not affected by any social influences yet. Umai is above the yurta; she is holding a golden ball (the symbol of Kut).

Arankas

The deceased is lying on the arankas, the relatives and children are standing next to the body. A golden ball – the symbol of Kut that is meant to be transferred from the dead to the alive – is separating from the body and flying to the family. The ghost with the dead’s person face is in the air above them – this is Sur, separated from the body. A ghostly body with a rainbow halo (the symbol of Bosy) is soaring high. It has a mask on its face (the symbol of Toеsy) and Aiy’s eye. The body is being dragged along by two devils with wings – they are aldychis (evil spirits, Erlik’s messengers) who take people’s lives away.

The second death

When a soul completes its time in the world of the dead, it disintegrates. The soul’s parts now go back to the Gods that created them. On the left we see Erlik next to his rust castle. He is wearing a necklace of masks (the symbol of Toesy), and there is a skeleton at his feet; this is what stays with Erlik. Tengri is above, waiting for the third eye with wings: Aiy goes to Tengri’s world. Ulgen is on the right. He will get the rainbow ball Bosy, containing people’s aspirations and potentials. They will be implemented later, in a new life of this human or in another creature’s life.

Bridge

Somewhere in the kingdom of the past and shadows far away, there is a bridge across the lake of Sufferings and Sadness. It is made from horsehair and stretched between two rotten stubs.

If a soul doesn’t walk across the horsehair bridge to the world of the dead, it will stay on Earth among evil spirits and become a vampire (an upir) that causes harm to people.

This bridge connects the Worlds of the dead and the alive. A passed human’s soul should cross the bridge above the river of tears Toldyn, and only then it can reach the world of ancestors.

It can be very hard for a soul burdened with sins and attachments. Shamans often help souls to cross the bridge.

Nine roads

The shaman is showing the ways of diseases – Nine Roads – to the newcomer. Each road starts with a disease’s spirit, looking like a decaying body.

The newcomer gives each of them a part of his or her body. They are greedily devouring the body parts, the heart, etc., so that the shaman could treat the disease later.

Intermediate worlds

Tengri is above everything in the centre surrounded by flying eyes. On the left there is the world of the dead; people’s souls are hovering. On the right there is the world of bodiless existence filled with rainbow balls – this is what souls look like. Erlik is under Tengri on the left, Umai in the centre, Ulgen is on the right. We see the evil spirits and nine levels of the underground wor`ld under Erlik, and the world of good spirits under Ulgen. Ulgen is on the seventh sky, above the other six skies. Umai is above the lake, mountains and forests. We can see Ayamis, mermaids in the lake, and animals and Leshys in the forest.

These copyright drawings in the book “Knowledge of Siberian Shamans” will help you in teaching ancient shamanic wisdom. In oder to understand this knowledge deeper, of course I invite you to our our shamanic workshops. Come to understand secrets of ancient wisdom of Siberian shamanism for yourself and to learn how to apply them to your personal life.