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Mircea Eliade - On stags and flying
Identifier
011394
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Mircea Eliade – Shamanism Archaic techniques of ecstasy
Among certain Mongol tribes the shamanic drum is called the ‘black stag’. Where the skin is from a roebuck, the drum is the ‘shaman’s roebuck’ (Karagas, Soyot) .
Yakut legends tell in detail of the shaman flying through the seven skies with his drum. ‘I am travelling with a wild roebuck’. The Karagas and Soyot shamans sing. And the stick with which the drum is beaten is called a ‘whip’ among the Altaians.
Miraculous speed is one of the characteristics of the Taltos, the Hungarian shaman. A taltos ‘put a reed between his legs and galloped away and was there before a man on horseback. All these beliefs, images and symbols in relation to the flight, the riding, or the speed of shamans are figurative expressions for ecstasy, that is, for mystical journeys undertaken by superhuman means and in regions inaccessible to mankind.