Observations placeholder
Dr Joan Halifax -Uvavnuk, the Netsilik Eskimo woman hit by lightning
Identifier
000414
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Dr Joan Halifax – Shamanic voices
Uvavnuk, a Netsilik Eskimo woman, achieved her great power in one extraordinarily dramatic instant. According to Knud Rasmussen, a ball of fire came down from the sky and struck Uvavnuk senseless. When she regained consciousness, the spirit of light was within her. Her great power was used only to help her people. And when she sang,
"all those present were loosed from their burden of sin and wrong; evil and deceit vanished as a speck of dust blown from the hand. And this was her song:"
The great sea has set me in motion
Set me adrift.
Moving me as the weed moves in a river.
The arch of sky and mightiness of storms
Have moved the spirit within me,
Till I am carried away