Observations placeholder
Mircea Eliade - Shaman's Initiation whilst sick with smallpox
Identifier
000832
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Mircea Eliade – Shamanism Archaic techniques of ecstasy
Sick with smallpox, the future shaman remained unconscious for three days and so nearly dead that on the third day he was almost buried. His initiation took place during this time. He remembered having been carried into the middle of a sea. There he heard his sickness (that is the smallpox) speak, saying to him
‘From the Lords of the Water you will receive the gift of shamanising’ Your name as a shaman with be Huottarie (Diver)’.
Then the sickness troubled the water of the sea. The candidate came out and climbed a mountain. There he met a naked woman and began to suckle at her breast. The woman, who was probably the Lady of the Water, said to him ‘You are my child; that is why I let you suckle at my breast. You will meet many hardships and be greatly wearied’