Observations placeholder
Mircea Eliade - Baiame's crystals
Identifier
006513
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Mircea Eliade – Shamanism Archaic techniques of ecstasy
The rock crystals that play an important part in the initiation of the Australian medicine man are of celestial origin, or at least related – even if only sometimes indirectly – to the sky. Baiame sits on a throne of transparent crystal. And among the Euahlayi it is Baiame himself who throws the fragments of crystal, doubtless detached from his throne, down to earth. Baiame’s throne is the celestial vault. The crystals detached from his throne are ‘solidified light’
References
- A W Howitt The Native Tribes
- K L Parker – The Euahlayi Tribe
- M Eliade – Significations de la lumiere interieure