far

Poetry

The Shaman

John Delaney
issue three

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She was ‘selected’ to be a shaman at birth,

by spirits or ancestors, showing, later on,

signs indicative of that calling, like visions

and clairvoyant dreams. But she grounded herself

as a kindergarten teacher till retirement.

Now, for the last twenty-one years she has offered

her talents to the community, free of charge,

though she’ll gladly accept her clients’ grateful gifts.

She talked to us of rituals that she performs,

reading the special stones, being able to fall

into trances and speaking foreign tongues.

And I thought, as I listened, of fairy tales

she must have read to her classes, of scraped knees

she bandaged, of questions born of fear and wonder,

wanting comfort from their mommies: the benefits

of having worked all those years with little kids.

Mongolian shamanism is one of the oldest religions, dating back to 300-400 B.C. It includes medicine, a reverence for nature—all living beings have a conscious soul—and ancestor worship.