Dark Curse (53 page)

Upon reaching the diagnosis of "soul departure," the healer-shaman is then required to make a spiritual journey into the nether worlds to recover the soul. The shaman may have to overcome tremendous challenges along the way, particularly: fighting the demon or vampire who has possessed his friend's soul.

"Soul departure" doesn't require a person to be unconscious (although that certainly can be the case as well). It was understood that a person could still appear to be conscious, even talk and interact with others, and yet be missing a part of their soul. The experienced healer or shaman would instantly see the problem nonetheless, in subtle signs that others might miss: the person's attention wandering every now and then, a lessening in their enthusiasm about life, chronic depression, a diminishment in the brightness of their "aura," and the like.

2. THE LESSER HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS

Kepä Sarna Pus
(The Lesser Healing Chant) is used for wounds that are merely physical in nature. The Carpathian healer leaves his body and enters the wounded Carpathian's body to heal great mortal wounds from the inside out using pure energy. He proclaims, "I offer freely, my life for your life," as he gives his blood to the injured Carpathian. Because the Carpathians are of the earth and bound to the soil, they are healed by the soil of their homeland. Their saliva is also often used for its rejuvenative powers.

It is also very common for the Carpathian chants (both the Lesser and the Great) to be accompanied by the use of healing herbs, aromas from Carpathian candles, and crystals. The crystals (when combined with the Carpathians' empathic, psychic connection to the entire universe) are used to gather positive energy from their surroundings, which then is used to accelerate the healing. Caves are sometimes used as the setting for the healing.

The Lesser Healing Chant was used by Vikirnoff Von Shrieder and Colby Jansen to heal Rafael De La Cruz whose heart had been ripped out by a vampire in the book titled
Dark Secret
.

Kepä Sarna Pus
(The Lesser Healing Chant)

The same chant is used for all physical wounds
, "sivadaba"
["into your heart"] would be changed to refer to whatever part of the body is wounded
.

Kunasz, nélkül sivdobbanás, nélkül fesztelen löyly.

You lie as if asleep, without beat of heart, without airy breath.

Ot élidamet andam szabadon élidadért
.

I offer freely my life for your life.

O jelä sielam jorem ot ainamet és so?e ot élidadet
.

My spirit of light forgets my body and enters your body.

O jelä sielam pukta kinn minden szekmeket belso.

My spirit of light sends all the dark spirits within fleeing without.

Pajnak o susu hanyet és o nyelv nyálamet sívadaba.

I press the earth of our homeland and the spit of my tongue into your heart.

Vii, o verim so?e o vend andam.

At last, I give you my blood for your blood.

To hear this chant,
visit: http://www.christinefeehan.com/ members/
.

3. The Great Healing Chant of the Carpathians

The most well-known—and most dramatic—of the Carpathian healing chants was En Sarna Pus ("The Great Healing Chant"). This chant was reserved for recovering the wounded or unconscious Carpathian's soul.

Typically a group of men would form a circle around the sick Carpathian (to "encircle him with our care and compassion"), and begin the chant. The shaman or healer or leader is the prime actor in this healing ceremony. It is he who will actually make the spiritual journey into the nether world, aided by his clanspeople. Their purpose is to ecstatically dance, sing, drum, and chant, all the while visualizing (through the words of the chant) the journey itself—ever)' step of it, over and over again—to the point where the shaman, in trance, leaves his body, and makes that very journey. (Indeed, the word "ecstasy" is from the Latin
ex statis
, which literally means "out of the body.")

One advantage that the Carpathian healer has over many other shamans, is his telepathic link to his lost brother. Most shamans must wander in the dark of the nether realms, in search of their lost brother. But the Carpathian healer directly "hears" in his mind the voice of his lost brother calling to him, and can thus "zero in" on his soul like a homing beacon. For this reason, Carpathian healing tends to have a higher success rate than most other traditions of this sort.

Something of the geography of the "other world" is useful for us to examine, in order to fully understand the words of the Great Carpathian Healing Chant. A reference is made to the "Great Tree" (in Carpathian:
En Puwe)
. Many ancient traditions, including the Carpathian tradition, understood the worlds—the heaven worlds, our world, and the nether realms—to be "hung" upon a great pole, or axis, or tree. Here on earth, we are positioned halfway up this tree, on one of its branches. Hence many ancient texts often referred to the material world as "middle earth": midway between heaven and hell. Climbing the tree would lead one to the heaven worlds. Descending the tree to its roots would lead to the nether realms. The shaman was necessarily a master of movement up and down the Great Tree, sometimes moving unaided, and sometimes assisted by (or even mounted upon the back of) an animal spirit guide. In various traditions, this Great Tree was known variously as the
axis mundi
(the "axis of the worlds"), Ygddrasil (in Norse mythology), Mount Mem (the sacred world mountain of Tibetan tradition), etc. The Christian cosmos with its heaven, purgatory/earth, and hell, is also worth comparing. It is even given a similar topography in Dante's
Divine Comedy
: Dante is led on a journey first to hell, at the center of the earth; then upward to Mount Purgatory, which sits on the earth's surface directly opposite Jerusalem; then further upward first to Eden, the earthly paradise, at the summit of Mount Purgatory; and then upward at last to heaven.

In the shamanistic tradition, it was understood that the small always reflects the large; the personal always reflects the cosmic. A movement in the greater dimensions of the cosmos also coincides with an internal movement. For example, the
axis mundi
of the cosmos also corresponds to the spinal column of the individual. Journeys up and down the
axis mundi
often coincided with the movement of natural and spiritual energies (sometimes called
kundalini
or
shakti)
in the spinal column of the shaman or mystic.

En Sarna Pus (The Great Healing Chant)

In this chant
, ekä
("brother") would be replaced by "sister," "father," "mother," depending on the person to be healed
.

Ot ekäm ainajanak hany, jama.

My brother's body is a lump of earth, close to death.

Me, ot ekäm kuntajanak, pirädak ekäm, gond és irgalom türe
.

We, the clan of my brother, encircle him with our care and compassion.

Opus wäkenkek, ot omas arnank, és ot pus fünk, álnak ekäm ainajanak, pitänak ekäm ainajanak elävä.

Our healing energies, ancient words of magic, and healing herbs bless my brother's body, keep it alive.

Ot ekäm sielanak pälä. Ot omboce päläja juta alatt o jüti, kinta, és szelemek lamtijaknak
.

But my brother's soul is only half. His other half wanders in the nether world.

Ot en mekem? ama?: kulkedak otti ot ekäm omboce päläjanak.

My great deed is this: I travel to find my brother's other half.

Rekatüre, saradak, tappadak, odam, ka?a o numa waram, és avaa owe o lewl mahoz.

We dance, we chant, we dream ecstatically, to call my spirit bird, and to open the door to the other world.

Ntak o numa waram, és muzdulak, jomadak.

I mount my spirit bird and we begin to move, we are under way.

Piwtädak ot En Puwe tyvinak, ecidak alatt o jüti, kinta, és szelemek lamtijaknak
.

Following the trunk of the Great Tree, we fall into the nether world.

Fázak, fázak nó os aro.

It is cold, very cold.

Juttadak ot ekäm o akarataban, o'sívaban, és o sielaban
.

My brother and I are linked in mind, heart, and soul.

Ot ekäm sielanak ka?a engem.

My brother's soul calls to me.

Kuledak és piwtädak ot ekäm.

I hear and follow his track.

Sayedak és tuledak ot ekäm kulyanak.

Encounter-I the demon who is devouring my brother's soul.

Nenäm coro; o kuly torodak.

In anger, I fight the demon.

O kuly pel engem.

He is afraid of me.

Lejkkadak o ka?ka salamaval.

I strike his throat with a lightning bolt.

Molodak ot ainaja, komakamal.

I break his body with my bare hands.

Toya és molanâ.

He is bent over, and falls apart.

Hän cada.

He runs away.

Manedak ot ekäm sielanak.

I rescue my brother's soul.

Aladak ot ekäm sielanak o komamban
.

I lift my brother's soul in the hollow of my hand.

Al?dam ot ekäm numa waramra.

I lift him onto my spirit bird.

Piwtädak ot En Puwe tyvijanak és sayedak jälleen ot elävä ainak majaknak.

Following up the Great Tree, we return to the land of the living.

Ot ekäm elä jälleen.

My brother lives again.

Ot ekäm wenca jälleen.

He is complete again.

To hear this chant, visit:
http://www.christinefeehan.com/ members/
.

4. LULLABY

This song is sung by the Carpathian women when a woman is miscarrying and they are trying to save the child. Because these babies can hear them inside the womb, the women sing them this lullaby saying, in essence: Stay—you'll be protected by love even from inside, until you are born.

Odam-Sarna Kondak (Lullabye)

Tumtesz o wäke ku pitasz belso.

Feel the strength you hold inside.

Hiszasz'sívadet. Én olenam gæidnod.

Trust your heart. I'll be your guide.

Sas csecsemõm, kunasz.

Hush my baby, close your eyes.

Rauho jo?e ted.

Peace will come to you.

Tumtesz o sívdobbanás ku olen lamt?ad belso.

Feel the rhythm deep inside
.

Gond-kumpadek ku kim te.

Waves of love that cover you.

Pesänak te, asti o jüti, kidüsz.

Protect, until the night you rise.

To hear this song, visit:
http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/
.

5. SONG TO HEAL THE EARTH

This is the earth-healing song that is used by the Carpathian women to heal the soil that is filled with toxins. Although referred to as a healing song, the women dance to heal the earth while singing.

Sarna Pusm O Mayet (Song to Heal the Earth)

First verse

Ai Emä Ma?e,

Oh, Mother Nature,

Me sívadbin lanaak.

We are your beloved daughters.

Me tappadak, me pusmak o ma?et.

We dance to heal the earth.

Me sarnadak, me pusmak o hanyet.

We sing to heal the earth.

Sielanket jutta tedet it,

We join with you now.

Sívank és akaratank és sielank juttanak.

Our hearts and minds and spirits become one.