Sacred Mountains

On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.~ Friedrich NietzscheWhat mountains mean to me: in one word, awe-inspiring. Although we can measure them, our minds are incapable of actually grasping the very small or the very large things in nature: neither atomic particles nor astronomical distances. How big is a mountain, how much does it weigh? Our limited minds can only cope with subjective assessments such as how difficult is it to climb, how dangerous would an avalanche be? So the feelings it produces are awe, a little fear, and possibly exhilaration if and when we think that we have conquered the mountain - but in reality we never can.~ Professor David HuntAll the stories presented in this collection contain shamanic elements, so the obvious starting point is to explain what is meant by this. The term ’shaman’ is a controversial one. Initially employed by early anthropologists to refer to a specific category of magical practitioners from Siberia, the term is now widely used to denote similar practitioners from a variety of cultures around the world. This application of an originally culture-specific term to a more general usage has caused problems with regard to definition, with disagreements among scholars over whether certain features, such as soul flight or possession, or certain types of altered states of consciousness, should or should not be listed among the core characteristics of shamanism (Wilby,2011, p.252).IntroductionWhat are Mountains for you?Soul Captivation on White Bone MountainThe Magic Brush and the Golden MountainThe Legend of AmiraniThe Story of Jumping MouseThe Children of Hamelin: A Shamanic Journey into Mount PoppenbergThe Crystal Clear Waters of Mount ElbruzThe Vision Quest, Mount Sinai, and a Dream FulfilledMount AraratMount Koya-san, the Hermit’s Cave, and FujiyamaSacred TowersThe Fool on the Hill and the Book of MysteriesThe Tobacco of HarisaboquedThe Princess of the TowerAppendix:The Baal Shem Tov -Rabbi, Religious Formulator or Shaman?