The highlight of the Rooster’s intense year in 2017, was a transformational journey to Mongolia.

I had a strong call to go there, due to the shamanic practices, which go all way back to the pre-Taoism and the shamanism in ancient China; also was something in that land that was called… An opportunity came one year ago, and me and my partner Kris jumped in. As life unfolds in mysterious ways, a big challenge just before the mid-year turned life upside down, and the real reason to go to Mongolia was truly unveiled!

The journey to the unknown started as we had a contact, but we didn’t know much about him or her (you couldn’t tell by the big Mongolian name), Kris thought a woman, I thought a man; but what was important was that we both had a good feeling.

Guess?

Was a couple, our contact was a she, and her husband was helping her. She was a shamaness and our translator, as nobody else spoke English. When comes to ritual, healing and ceremony, you just feel and understand, after all, is the language of the heart; but when coming to details and messages from the spirits/shamans, you want to understand it all.

In Mongolia besides most shamans having another job and keeping a low profile, they have always an assistant, which is a close member of the family; and with the four different shamanesses from different tribes, I had a pleasure to meet, to be, to learn and to exchange, all were assisted by their husbands.

Why the shaman needs an assistant?

Because they receive spirits in their body. You have different kinds of spirits which come to support in different situations; so they go into a trance and need help, and someone to hear what the Spirit says (and sometimes translating from ancient Mongolian language to the modern one). This was something not new to me, as with my grandmother’s spiritual life, I remember this lady who lived in her house and use to receive the spirits in her body. Same thing, but done and ritualised in a different way.

“We have been waiting for you”. We heard.

Yes, we could feel definitely that!

Our first experience was just a few hours after our arrival. Went to shamaness simple house, a warm welcome, you always have to eat first and drink in a Mongolian home (even if you just have lunch). Was a very powerful first experience and insights, and this was just the beginning of what happened in the coming weeks…

She said we had to be in an Initiation ceremony.  Off we went, was all women shamanising, absolutely loved it!

That day I was honoured ‘by the spirit’ to receive “Tengri”, the Heaven, their God… I thought to myself ‘that’s a big responsibility, and the spirit answered, it is! Yes, they hear your thoughts. I also got a mouth harp (they use it as the drum, to go into trance…) and in this ceremony, as the shamaness was spinning in a trance as she was drumming, a snake (is not real!) from her long jacket went to the floor close to me, I picked it up to give back to her, but she said that belongs to me now. Having a strong connection with the snake as a totem (well, I do snake dance, the gipsy dance from India, and had a few other powerful snake encounters in different parts of the world). My Mongolian snake, as in their tradition has to be fed and cleaned with vodka! Yes, is Mongolian vodka and milk you give when doing offers to spirits, or you give both or just one it depends on the spirit.

The most special offering was in an important site just for women to go for blessings, is a huge breast made with rocks, to honour the Goddess, in the edges of the Gobi desert. I walked around it a few times until I emptied a 1.5l of milk with a small cup, receiving the blessings, which I did to the Jade Circle® and all women part of it, physically and virtually.

While in this magical place I visit some caves where people use to go and meditate for years until they reach, well the Taoist called the Tao or emptiness, the Buddhist called enlightenment, I meditate there for a while, wow imagining the years these dedicated people spent there… But I have to say my favourite part was the “womb of mother earth”, a hole in these rocks that you literally go through and come out the other side of it: rebirthed! Going inside this rock was like OMGoddess (I’m a bit claustrophobic), I can do this… and actually was fine and fun! And to wrap up this place was the “healing rock” which they believe have magic powers…

… And while in the desert, was this hill with the healing sand, if you were courageous to go up it barefoot in this very hot sand (which of course we were, Taoist high practice, we can walk on fire, so this was easy), you can feel and use this healing sand, and was surprisingly powerful!

More empowering insights and inspiration with another shamaness – very strongly actually by my ancestors, my grandmother and great grandmother, Medicine Women who support and guide me in my work, took the opportunity to share something that was time for me to know… More gifts received (feel so blessed and grateful) and then off to live with some nomads for a while, another sweet experience! I found my place to retreat, I absolutely was at one with the lovely wild nature and the nomadic life. Nature, the sky is so big and feels so close to you… yang and yin, heaven and earth in perfect harmony, this recharged me deeply. Of course, all this journey was done offline, with no phone, no Internet, switch off from the world for a few weeks.

Many more days and a few thousand kilometres after, we reached the huge lake in the north, close to the border with Russia, what an amazing place! We had another shamaness travelling with us, with such a powerful healing gift, I witness her healing on others, I use to believe in miracles, but just confirm they happen!

The shamaness of this lake was an old and famous one, from the reindeer tribe (same shamanism as practiced in Siberia).

We connected immediately, as I went into this small room where she was, I noticed she was wearing various rings and earrings with crystals; then from inside her top she lifted off a necklace with a big pendulum which looked like a face with two green (emerald) crystals as eyes; she pointing at these crystals and pointed into my green eyes and start shaking her head with a yes and a big smile, was no need translation, got what she was saying. She was so funny and SO wise! We laugh a lot together! Definitely, she could x-ray anybody, she sees through you. The strangest thing, was the night before I had a dream that my favourite hair stick (I designed them with specific crystals and use them to hold my hair), broke and I was very upset. So when I woke up I went down the lake, and in a water ritual I did, I cleared my hair stick, something was telling me that I had to detach from it. And so it was, a few hours later, as I met this lovely shamaness, I gave her my hair stick (without even thinking about the dream, realised that much later), and was the first time ever I felt to do this to someone; and she loved it! She told me to go back to Mongolia to meet her again, and I will!

This journey finished back in the capital meeting a shaman, the only man, with who his spirit I connected deeply. He told me that I could do the same, as they do, but without the spirit in the body… So what he decides: “Do it for me now!” He starts drumming, and me holding this heavy stick which is filled with silver and brass amulets (used for cleansing, protection, and this case as a rattle), and I reach my ‘trance’, I felt connected, I told him everything he asked me and everything was confirmed. But just imagine people looking from the outside, his family was there; when someone ‘shamanises’, the close ones take the opportunity to ask or request things to the spirit, and Kris in the outside like: “what is going on?!”. So never underestimate your psychic powers, I say that to others, so voilà, apply it to myself.

The interesting thing was that this spirit kept saying to us “when you come back to Mongolia…”

The next day off we go in the trans-Siberian train to Moscow, after a few hours we are arrested at the Russian border due to a visa (something that could be a minor mistake, flexibility is definitely not part of the Russian vocabulary – but my dearest Russian students, I love you!), taken out of the train in the middle of the night, passports taken from us, and put in the room. In the morning a dog came and sat below the window for hours, my only Russian friend there! We were just released on the afternoon to be put on the train deported back to Mongolia when our passports were given back to us! In Mongolia, besides our visas being stamped out we were welcome back nicely and everything went smoothly, making clear that it was a strong reason to be back, to finish what we started!… We had to be part of a fire ceremony and get the piece of the puzzle that completed the reason for this journey!

So here we go, no bad feelings with Russia, end up flying there (cosmic joke: the only flight tickets available was in the Russian flight company in business class!) and spend two days in surprisingly beautiful Moscow. Even with the ‘Russian episode’ (was literally like being in a movie! and not a pleasant one!), was overall an enriching and life changing journey from in and out! 

Here is an album with photos of this journey.

If you would like to learn about shamanic tools to apply in your daily life, you are welcome to the Tao of Shamaness Workshops April 2022:

On a Special New Moon:
Friday 1st April – 7 to 9pm GMT+1 (BST)
HAWAIIAN SHAMANIC HEALING Online

Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd April – 10am to 5.30/6pm (with big breaks between sessions)
TAOIST SHAMANIC HEALING Online

Saturday 9th & 10th April – 10.30am to 5.30pm
CRYSTAL SHAMANIC HEALING in London

© Anamarta