Observations placeholder
Mircea Eliade - On Abaris
Identifier
004959
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Hans Peter Duerr – Dreamtime
Aristeas flew to foreign lands ‘like a bird’, while his body lay, ‘as if dead’, according to the testimony of a Sophist, Maximos of Tyros. Similar journeys were carried out by the Hyperborean Abaris, who would mount the arrow of Apollo or assume the shape of a raven
Mircea Eliade – Shamanism Archaic techniques of ecstasy
Carrying in his hand the golden arrow, the proof of his Apolline origin and mission, [Abaris] passed through many lands dispelling sickness and pestilence by sacrifices of a magic kind, giving warning of earthquakes and other disasters. A later legend shows him flying through the air on his arrow, like Musaeus. The arrow, which plays a certain role in Scythian mythology and religion, is a symbol of magical flight. The occurrence of the arrow in many Siberian shamanic ceremonies will be recalled in this connection