Mongolia Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Silent Night

I’m feeling rather quiet at the moment. Lucky for me, due to the puppies needing to go out before bedding down for the evening, only moments ago I was standing underneath the night sky searching for stars. It was the Christmas Eve night sky, although technically it’s Christmas Day. And all I could comprehend in those moments was how silent the night was, which of course made me smile. Silent night.

As I stood outside tonight I could feel a similar magic to that of the Winter Solstice, which is as it should be, since there is a kinship between the two. Both celebrate the arrival (or return) of the Light, one literally and the other metaphorically.

Ah, Magic

I wish I could bring some magic to our circumstances right now. We need an infusion of light again. I’ve encountered so many people lately whose internal batteries are running low. And these are the people who are usually the buoys for others.

It’s never a good thing to have the optimists lose hope.

There is, of course, something to be said for the awe that can completely overtake our loss of hope when we look up. When we look up, our physical eyes can see the potential limitlessness of our existence. We realize there is so much more than the day-to-day worries that so often ensnare us. And even if we’re not sure what our next move is, when we look up (and especially when we can see the stars) it’s not hard to find the courage to trust the Universe to provide.

That’s magic.

Works of art from Mongolia – Photo: L. Weikel

The Next Few Days

Over the next few days, I’m going to be looking for the magic. And even as I write that sentence, I have to smile. Just look at the photo of the stockings hung on our mantelpiece this evening. They’re from Mongolia. Handmade by a collective of young people learning to make a living through honoring the skills cultivated in their culture over millennia, it feels like a miracle that I bought them there myself.

Who am I to have been lucky enough to experience life – if ever so briefly – on the Mongolian steppe? And what a blessing is it to have these tangible and exquisitely crafted reminders hanging on our mantel?

That, too, is magic.

Wishes

I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday, filled most importantly with love, warmth, connection, peace, and good health.

Don’t be afraid to look for the magic. And I’m saying this especially to those of you who are losing hope or finding yourself feeling sad or lonely. If you ask for some magic, it will come.

Believe.

(T+17)

Massive statue of Chinggis Khaan, Mongolia – Photo by L.Weikel

Return of the Mongols

OK, I know. I’m weird. I love me my Tuvan throat singing and I’ve not been shy in sharing that love with you, my peeps.

If you recall, I mentioned that even though I refer to throat singing in general as ‘Tuvan’ throat singing, it actually originated in and is endemic to the culture of southwestern Siberia (the Altai region), south central Siberia (Tuva), and Mongolia.

Of course, that’s because all of the political boundaries separating these countries didn’t exist back when throat singing originated. But just as there are languages, and dialects within those languages, that share a common root, the same applies to the phenomenon of throat singing.

Mongolian Folk-Metal

I’ve already given you a flavor of throat singing from the Altai Republic. And then some examples of Tuvan throat singing. Tonight I’m going to give you a fascinating and modern take on this form of singing by introducing you to The Hu, a Mongolian folk-metal band. Yeah. You read that right. Folk-metal.

And it is some crazy awesome music, if I do say so myself.

Beyond loving the 21^stcentury interpretation of my beloved throat singing, I find the cinematography in the video for this song (Yuve Yuve Yu) succeeds in capturing aspects of the astounding beauty of the Mongolian landscape.

I have to admit that the lyrics to this song stir something deep within me also. I resonate with the desire of these musicians to urge their Mongolian kin to reconnect with the legendary ferocity of their ancestors and their astonishingly successful leader. Their ferocious nature, though, remains an unmistakable core thread of their being, no matter where you look or whom you meet.

Reconnecting to the Ferocity of Life

But the ferocity is not what you might expect, meaning war-like or antagonistic expression. Rather, the Mongolians and southern Siberians (Tuvans) I’ve met live ferociously. They love and laugh and share themselves with a wildness and intensity that mirrors the harsh environment in which they live: the vast steppes, mountains, and taiga.

Indeed, I’ve learned a lot more about Chinggis (Ghengis) Khaan since traveling to Tuva in 2003 and then returning to Mongolia and southern Siberia in 2017. Fascinatingly, his values and beliefs resulted in the Mongols being instrumental in cultivating and disseminating education, literacy, and religious freedom throughout their vast empire.

There is something to the inherent wildness of the steppes and the nomadic way of life that appeals to me at the deepest level. Granted, much has changed in the way many Mongolians and Tuvans live, including moving to cities, such as Irkutsk, Kyzyl, and Ulaanbaatar. I feel it is the wild essence that The Hu are calling their countrymen and women to remember and reclaim.

I need to post. Maybe I’ll write more about this another time… In the meantime, I hope you groove to this as much as I do.