Observations placeholder
M A Czaplicka - Siberian shamanism - On the soul
Identifier
003080
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The soul in Siberian and numerous other cultures is a set of functions that animates an entity be it an organ, a tree, a body, water and so on. The ‘soul’ of a thing is thus its animating software and everything has it. A thing with a soul is a recognise entity and in most cultures has a name – thus the concept of naming and the soul go together
A description of the experience
Shamanism in Siberia - excerpts from Aboriginal Siberia by M. A. CZAPLICKA [1914]
The soul is called wirit or uvekkirgin ('belonging to the body'). Another term is tetkeyun, meaning 'vital force of living being'. The soul resides in the heart or the liver, and animals and plants as well as men possess it. One hears, however, more about other 'souls'-those which belong to various parts of the body: e.g. there is a limb-soul, nose-soul, &c. And so a man whose nose is easily frost-bitten is said to be 'short of souls'.