Kepä Sarna Pus
(The Lesser Healing Chant)
The same chant is used for all physical wounds. “Sívadaba” [“ into your heart”]
would be changed to refer to whatever part of the body is wounded.
Kúnasz, nélkül sivdobbanás, nélkül fesztelen löyly.
You lie as if asleep, without beat of heart, without airy breath.
Ot élidamet andam szabadon élidadért.
I offer freely my life for your life.
O jelä sielam jŏrem ot ainamet és soŋe
ot élidadet.
My spirit of light forgets my body and enters your body.
O jelä sielam pukta kinn minden szelemeket belső.
My spirit of light sends all the dark spirits within fleeing without.
Pajnak o susu hanyet és o nyelv nyálamet sívadaba.
I press the earth of our homeland and the spit of my tongue into your
heart.
Vii, o verim so
ŋ
e o verid andam.
At last, I give you my blood for your blood.
To hear this chant, visit:
http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/
.
3. THE GREAT HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS
The most well known—and most dramatic—of the Carpathian healing chants was
En Sarna Pus
(The Great Healing Chant)
. This chant was reserved for recovering the wounded or unconscious Carpathian’s soul.
Typically a group of men would form a circle around the sick Carpathian (to “encircle him with our care and compassion”) and begin the chant. The shaman or healer or leader is the prime actor in this healing ceremony. It is he who will actually make the spiritual journey into the netherworld, aided by his clanspeople. Their purpose is to ecstatically dance, sing, drum and chant, all the while visualizing (through the words of the chant) the journey itself—every step of it, over and over again—to the point where the shaman, in trance, leaves his body, and makes that very journey. (Indeed, the word “ecstasy” is from the Latin
ex statis
, which literally means “out of the body.”)
One advantage that the Carpathian healer has over many other shamans is his telepathic link to his lost brother. Most shamans must wander in the dark of the nether realms in search of their lost brother. But the Carpathian healer directly “hears” in his mind the voice of his lost brother calling to him, and can thus “zero in” on his soul like a homing beacon. For this reason, Carpathian healing tends to have a higher success rate than most other traditions of this sort.
Something of the geography of the “other world” is useful for us to examine, in order to fully understand the words of the Great Carpathian Healing Chant. A reference is made to the “Great Tree” (in Carpathian:
En Puwe
). Many ancient traditions, including the Carpathian tradition, understood the worlds—the heaven worlds, our world, and the nether realms—to be “hung” upon a great pole, or axis, or tree. Here on earth, we are positioned halfway up this tree, on one of its branches. Hence many ancient texts often referred to the material world as “middle earth”: midway between heaven and hell. Climbing the tree would lead one to the heaven worlds. Descending the tree to its roots would lead to the nether realms. The shaman was necessarily a master of movement up and down the Great Tree, sometimes moving unaided, and sometimes assisted by (or even mounted upon the back of) an animal spirit guide. In various traditions, this Great Tree was known variously as the
axis mundi
(the “axis of the worlds”), Ygddrasil (in Norse mythology), Mount Meru (the sacred world mountain of Tibetan tradition), etc. The Christian cosmos, with its heaven, purgatory/earth and hell, is also worth comparing. It is even given a similar topography in Dante’s
Divine Comedy
: Dante is led on a journey first to hell, at the center of the earth; then upward to Mount Purgatory, which sits on the earth’s surface directly opposite Jerusalem; then farther upward first to Eden, the earthly paradise, at the summit of Mount Purgatory; and then upward at last to heaven.
In the shamanistic tradition, it was understood that the small always reflects the large; the personal always reflects the cosmic. A movement in the greater dimensions of the cosmos also coincides with an internal movement. For example, the
axis mundi
of the cosmos also corresponds to the spinal column of the individual. Journeys up and down the
axis mundi
often coincided with the movement of natural and spiritual energies (sometimes called
kundalini
or
shakti
) in the spinal column of the shaman or mystic.
En Sarna Pus
(The Great Healing Chant)
In this chant, ekä (“brother”) would be replaced by “sister,” “ father,” “mother,”
depending on the person to be healed.
Ot ekäm ainajanak hany, jama.
My brother’s body is a lump of earth, close to death.
Me, ot ekäm kuntajanak, pirädak ekäm, gond és irgalom türe.
We, the clan of my brother, encircle him with our care and compassion.
O pus wäkenkek, ot oma sarnank, és ot pus fünk, álnak ekäm ainajanak,
pitänak ekäm ainajanak elävä.
Our healing energies, ancient words of magic, and healing herbs bless my
brother’s body, keep it alive.
Ot ekäm sielanak pälä. Ot ombóce päläja juta alatt o jüti, kinta, és szelemek
lamtijaknak.
But my brother’s soul is only half. His other half wanders in the
netherworld.
Ot en mekem
ŋamaŋ: kulkedak otti ot ekäm ombóce päläjanak.
My great deed is this: I travel to find my brother’s other half.
Rekatüre, saradak, tappadak, odam, kaŋa
o numa waram, és avaa owe o
lewl mahoz.
We dance, we chant, we dream ecstatically, to call my spirit bird, and to
open the door to the other world.
Ntak o numa waram, és mozdulak, jomadak.
I mount my spirit bird and we begin to move, we are under way.
Piwtädak ot En Puwe tyvinak, écidak alatt o jüti, kinta, és szelemek
lamtijaknak.
Following the trunk of the Great Tree, we fall into the netherworld.
Fázak, fázak nó o saro.
It is cold, very cold.
Juttadak ot ekäm o akarataban, o sívaban és o sielaban.
My brother and I are linked in mind, heart and soul.
Ot ekäm sielanak kaŋa engem.
My brother’s soul calls to me.
Kuledak és piwtädak ot ekäm.
I hear and follow his track.
Saγedak és tuledak ot ekäm kulyanak.
Encounter I the demon who is devouring my brother’s soul.
Nenäm coro; o kuly torodak.
In anger, I fight the demon.
O kuly pél engem.
He is afraid of me.
Lejkkadak o kaŋka salamaval.
I strike his throat with a lightning bolt.
Molodak ot ainaja komakamal.
I break his body with my bare hands.
Toja és molanâ.
He is bent over, and falls apart.
Hän caδa.
He runs away.
Manedak ot ekäm sielanak.
I rescue my brother’s soul.
Alədak ot ekam sielanak o komamban.
I lift my brother’s soul in the hollow of my hand.
Alədam ot ekam numa waramra.
I lift him onto my spirit bird.
Piwtädak ot En Puwe tyvijanak és saγedak jälleen ot elävä ainak majaknak.
Following up the Great Tree, we return to the land of the living.
Ot ekäm elä jälleen.
My brother lives again.
Ot ekäm weńća jälleen.
He is complete again.
To hear this chant, visit:
http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/
.
4. CARPATHIAN MUSICAL AESTHETICS
In the sung Carpathian pieces (such as the “Lullaby” and the “Song to Heal the Earth”), you’ll hear elements that are shared by many of the musical traditions in the Uralic geographical region, some of which still exist—from Eastern European (Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, Croatian, etc.) to Romany (“gypsy”). Some of these elements include:
• the rapid alternation between major and minor modalities, including a sudden switch (called a “Picardy third”) from minor to major to end a piece or section (as at the end of the “Lullaby”)
• the use of close (tight) harmonies
• the use of
ritardi
(slowing down the piece) and
crescendi
(swelling in volume) for brief periods
• the use of
glissandi
(slides) in the singing tradition
• the use of trills in the singing tradition (as in the final invocation of the “Song to Heal the Earth”)—similar to Celtic, a singing tradition more familiar to many of us
• the use of parallel fifths (as in the final invocation of the “Song to Heal the Earth”)
• controlled use of dissonance
• “call and response” chanting (typical of many of the world’s chanting traditions)
• extending the length of a musical line (by adding a couple of bars) to heighten dramatic effect
• and many more
“Lullaby” and “Song to Heal the Earth” illustrate two rather different forms of Carpathian music (a quiet, intimate piece and an energetic ensemble piece)—but whatever the form, Carpathian music is full of feeling.
5. LULLABY
This song is sung by women while the child is still in the womb or when the threat of a miscarriage is apparent. The baby can hear the song while inside of the mother, and the mother can connect with the child telepathically as well. The lullaby is meant to reassure the child, to encourage the baby to hold on, to stay—to reassure the child that he or she will be protected by love even from inside until birth. The last line literally means that the mother’s love will protect her child until the child is born (“rise”).
Musically, the Carpathian “Lullaby” is in three-quarter time (“waltz time”), as are a significant portion of the world’s various traditional lullabies (perhaps the most famous of which is “Brahms’ Lullaby”). The arrangement for solo voice is the original context: a mother singing to her child, unaccompanied. The arrangement for chorus and violin ensemble illustrates how musical even the simplest Carpathian pieces often are, and how easily they lend themselves to contemporary instrumental or orchestral arrangements. (A wide range of contemporary composers, including Dvořák and Smetana, have taken advantage of a similar discovery, working other traditional Eastern European music into their symphonic poems.)
Odam-Sarna Kondak
(Lullaby)
Tumtesz o wäke ku pitasz belső.
Feel the strength you hold inside.
Hiszasz sívadet. Én olenam gæidnod.
Trust your heart. I’ll be your guide.
Sas csecsemõm, kuńasz.
Hush my baby, close your eyes.
Rauho jone ted.
Peace will come to you.
Tumtesz o sívdobbanás ku olen lamt3ad belső.
Feel the rhythm deep inside.
Gond-kumpadek ku kim te.
Waves of love that cover you.
Pesänak te, asti o jüti, kidüsz.
Protect, until the night you rise.
To hear this song, visit:
http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/
.