A reader asked me to be more specific about Olga Kharitidi and her shamanic experiences in the Altai. Here you go:
Olga Kharitidi is a psychiatrist from Novosibirsk, a big city in Siberia. In the early nineties Kharitidi visited the Altai, where she learned about shamanic healing practices from a local female shaman called Umai. At least, that is what Olga Kharitidi claims.
More than 300 years ago Peter the Great decided to reform the Russian Orthodox church. Not everybody agreed with his decision, and some left the Russian Orthodox church. They call themselves Old Believers and fled to Siberia--far away from Saint Petersburg.
Small communities of Old Believers still exist in the Altai, and I’m staying in one such village called Multa.
The longer I am in the Altai, the more stories about mystical experiences I hear. Most stories are the result of a rich imagination in combination with a big ego. Real mystics do not advertise their experiences. Fake mystics, however, cannot stop talking about the mysterious things that happen to them.
Our horseman on the trip to Belucha is not exactly mister nice guy, but his dog Bobbik makes up for that.
After spending a few days near Akkem Lake we climb a steep mountain pass of 3000 metres with spectacular views and camp on the other side on a small plateau. It rains. On the pass there’s ice and hail. The blizzard makes it hard for people to find the path and several hikers lose their group. We were lucky to cross the pass just as the blizzard started. An hour later the rescue team at Akkem Lake closed the way up the pass.
About sixty years ago people from outside started to visit the Shaman's Stone in a valley close to Akkem Lake. Although Roerich--a Russian mystic and writer who searched for Shambala--never visited this valley, his symbol was engraved in the big Shaman's Stone. The stone is surrounded by small pyramids of stones, erected by visitors who believe that there is a direct connection here between the centre of the cosmos and the centre of the earth.
Seen from a high mountain pass Akkem Lake shines like a jewel set in green pastures. After 5 days of traveling--a faster route exists, but we took a detour--we arrived in Akkem, Altai at White Lake. Locals consider this lake "dead" and the lake we’ll visit next – Kucherla – "alive".
Our first day of the trek ended in rain and thunder. Huddled around a campfire, we tried to stay warm, but the night was cold and damp. In the Altai a few sunny days are usually followed by rainy days, but luckily the sun was out the next day.
October 9, 2010
