Sereptie

About this book

This article is part of the larger work Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives by Joan Halifax.Twenty years after becoming a shaman, Sereptie, a Nganasani or Tavgi Samoyed of Siberia, told the story of his initiation. Among Samoyeds and many other Siberian peoples, the election of the future nga (shaman) involved not only his shaman ancestors but also many deities and spirits, malevolent and benevolent, that were associated with elements in nature as well as powerful diseases. The future nga was chosen by these entities to pursue his profession, but the central event directing the novice was, inevitably, a severe physical illness or psychological crisis that opened the gate to worlds of nonordinary experience.