Artist: DJ Furth
Edition: 1/1
Gennadiy is descended from an ancient line of Buryat shamans. His particular form of practice, called darkhan or blacksmith shamanism, involves licking a red-hot iron and blowing on those who come to him for help in order to clarify their energies and purge them of their problems.
This portrait shows Shaman Gennadiy in his traditional shamanic clothing, performing a cleansing ritual and in his everyday clothes in the forest on Olkhon Island.
He shared with us the ongoing revival of shamanism in the region, “Before, under the communists, they didn’t understand. But people are beginning to understand now. Whenever something is wrong, they are coming to us, to the shamans. And we explain to them, we clarify, that you need to live like this or you need to live like this, get on your road, find your road, do not be mistaken.”
Similar to Shaman Margarita (#10), Gennadiy alluded to the fact that shamans receive knowledge about people which might be damaging. But, he said, “I have no right…I don’t want and I have no right to do bad things to people, you see. I must not even say bad things about them. I work to help a person, to correct him, to put him on the right road, on the right path.”
When asked about what takes place during his shamanic ceremonies, he explained, “When I start working, I summon my ancestors. I summon them and they are sort of entering me, or they are next to me. Whatever they ask I say, and they tell me what this or that person has to do.”
“When we perform rituals for [people], we say: you have forgotten your grandpa or your grandma. And, you see, you cannot forge them. They are always next to us, always. They come in dreams. They want to say something. And you can’t be afraid of it. You have to talk to them. If this understanding existed long ago, people would live differently.”
As to the specific actions of the ceremony, he explained, “I lick the iron, sprinkle vodka on him and in the meantime I am growing this life for him, driving it back into the body.”
He emphasized strongly the importance of clarity of mind and self-love as well, saying “There is faith inside yourself, inside you yourself, and under no circumstances can you lose this faith.”
“It’s the most important thing for a human — not losing his mind. And the soul must always remain clean.”
When asked about the topic of love, Gennadiy lit up. “Love? Love, you have to start it all from yourself. If you love yourself in a good way, the whole world will seem lovesome. If you will hate yourself, then the whole world will seem completely gray to you. So love yourself because how you love yourself is how you will see the whole world.”
He explained at length his perspectives on the natural world: “As a matter of fact nature is the mother, you have to talk to her, you have to understand her, in the same way that you do with the water, with the trees, the flowers, the weeds. You need to grasp it all.
He explained further: “Everything that grows is a living creature. You need to handle it very gently.”
“You have to believe that a tree is a creature that can talk. To talk, to ask…you have to know how to listen.”