- Manzan Gurme Toodei
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Manzan Gurme Toodei is the Buryat great goddess who is mother of all the western tenger and ancestress of all the patron spirits of shamanism. She is a daughter of supreme goddess Ekhe Ekhe Burhan, and "is possessor of the greatest power and spiritual knowledge of all the sky spirits. She possesses two great shaman mirrors in which she watches all that happens on earth and in the sky. She holds the great book of fate in which is written all that has happened, all that is happening, and all that will happen. ... Her most mysterious attribute is her great silver cup".[1] Her "silver cup ... may look like a small silver bowl or it may be as big as a lake. Manzan Gurme Toodei may touch it to your head, pour its contents over you, or ask you to drink. You may find yourself turned small and you may plunge into the depths of the mysterious liquid it contains."[2] (This vessel is analogous to the Holy Grail.) "In Buryat folklore the way to Manzan Gurme Toodei’s house sometimes reveals itself as a rainbow connecting heaven and earth."[3] (This rainbow is analogous to the rainbow bridge of Norse and other mythologies.)
When, according to legend, the odigon (shamaness) Shanaihan Shara performed a tuksavi ritual by flipping a tsatsal (spoon) into the sky, it "landed on the table of Manzan Gurme Toodei."[4] In sympathetic response, Manzan Gurme Toodei "tore her scarf in half, ... struck the ground with her staff", and transmitted the odigon's request to Esege Malaan.
Notes
Bibliography
Sarangerel (Julie Ann Stewart) : Chosen by the Spirits : Following Your Shamanic Calling. Destiny Books, Rochester (VT), 2001.
Categories:- Mongol mythology
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