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About the Facilitator
A Żerca (cleric) is a member of one of the Polish indigenous religious associations, which is the oldest religious association in Poland and continues the pre-Christian faith of the Slavs. Marcin specializes in ritual matters, ethics, philosophy, and history. He is a researcher, he explores the common features of polytheistic spirituality. He is also a political scientist and educator. Moreover, he holds a position as a lecturer at the Academy of Żercs. Additionally, he actively engages as a social activist, leading annual cycles of meetings focused on Slavic, Prussian, and Indo-European topics..
Marcin is a co-founder of the "W Kręgu" association and the "Axis Mundi" spiritual community. Not only does he organize spiritual rituals, but he also arranges cultural-historical meetings to foster a deeper connection to indigenous spirituality. Through projects like "Roots" or "Ancestors' Stones," he reintroduces symbols of Indo-European culture to the public sphere. Additionally, he is an artist skilled in working with stone, particularly in the realm of pre-Christian sacred art in Europe, crafting pieces for places of worship. He builds stone circles for worship, spiritual exploration, and energy practices. Furthermore, he initiated and co-founded the Święte Gaje (Sacred Groves) in Poland. As a naturopath affiliated with the State Guild of Crafts, he specializes in fascial tissue therapies, leech therapy, and supplements his treatments with cupping, moxibustion, and fire massage. He leads a multifaceted life, embodying a Renaissance spirit with his diverse practical skills. He finds deep passion in horse training, rescue operations, history, theology, as well as spiritual practices, rituals, and ceremonies.
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NATIONAL TRADITION IN POLAND
SEARCHING FOR SLAVIC ROOTS AND ANCESTRAL TRADITIONS IN POLAND – MEMORY RETRIEVAL
When we talk about shamanism, we usually imagine an Indian with a drum or a Siberian shaman in a bear fur, and shamanism itself appears to us as something alien, from another culture. So can we look for shamanic elements in our native Slavic culture? Could shamanism be something as close, intuitive and derived from the observation of Nature as any of our other native traditions? Have you ever heard at school about Slavic deities and their intermediaries – “zhrets” or “volkhvs”? About pagan healers, wise witches and whisperers?
Unfortunately, in Poland we have very little source materials about who, among the ancient Slavs, acted as intermediaries in their contacts with the invisible World of Spirits and Deities, about healers, about people endowed with powers, although we know that such people certainly existed.
Oral traditions have barely survived, and the advent of Christianity in the 10th century meant for the Slavs the conscious and forced destruction of all memories of pagan beliefs and the people who were their Guardians.
However, we know that the Slavs were strongly associated with the spiritual and magical sphere. It was used in everyday life, in rituals, fortune telling and healing. In each community, a person with innate abilities, e.g. clairvoyance or fortune telling was naturally identified. They often learned this art from previous generations.
The few available written sources – such as the medieval Powiest Wremiennych Liet or Latopis Nestor – state that among the Slavs there were two types of people authorized and prepared for contacts with the Underworld and the Spirits of Ancestors – Zhrets and Volkhvs. They were usually endowed with natural powers to contact the Supernatural Reality and chosen by local communities as intermediaries with the Otherworld. The scope of duties of zercas and volkhvs differed from each other, because they dealt with slightly different spheres of spiritual life and served different deities.
In the eastern part of the Slavic region, the name Volkhv was used primarily. In other areas, magic was mostly done by Zhrets. In turn, the term guszlar was developed only after Christianization and gradually replaced both the words Zhrets and Volkhv.
VOLKHVS
The Volkhvs helped ancient Slavic communities in contacts with other dimensions and were close to the shamans appearing in other cultures. They were fortune tellers and gained contact with the afterlife during ecstatic dancing or with the help of plant intoxicants. They were usually considered to see more, i.e. veduns. This special attitude towards them resulted not only from their amazing ability to enter a trance, but also from the fact that they enjoyed universal respect and recognition among the people due to their knowledge and practical skills. They could cure diseases and heal people. Ecstatic states enabled them to prophesy and summon spirits. Thanks to these visions, they could predict the future, plan sowing and harvesting, predict droughts, floods and other events that could harm people. They were said to have the power to bring rain and to reverse “bad” weather phenomena.
Volkhv was also the guardian of the oral tradition, which was associated with the cult of ancestors and the preservation of family and tribal identity – usually old myths and stories were passed on by means of recitation or singing of songs accompanied by gusle. For centuries, the same method of disseminating messages was later used by various wandering around the world wanderers, lyre players and folk storytellers.
The Volkhvs were associated with worshiping the pagan god Veles – the ruler of the underworld and the world of the dead, but also the deity of forests, magic and magical ecstasy, the bestower of wealth and the protector of art, including poetry. They dressed in specific costumes – they were supposed to wear wolf heads and furs for the trance dance, and for everyday life they often wore badger or bear skins, and they braided bird feathers, bone ornaments or tree branches into their hair. The Volkhvs knew secrets inaccessible to others, were able to establish contact with their Ancestors and performed various ceremonies and rituals.
Volkhv, wołshebnik as a Russian term meant magic, but also falling into ecstasy, prolonged purring or howling, which could indicate the ability to shamanic chanting, i.e. using a specific technique of throat singing. In Pomerania, the word volkhvs was recorded, meaning practicing magic or enchanting. Yet another theory derives the origin of the word volkhv from the Germanic volva, meaning a seer.
The Volkhvs enjoyed great respect among the people, although they did not have much influence on politics. However, the state and church authorities severely condemned the Volkhvs - for example, in 1227 in Novgorod, four of them were burned at the stake.
The Volkhvs helped ancient Slavic communities in contacts with other dimensions and were close to the shamans appearing in other cultures. They were fortune tellers and gained contact with the afterlife during ecstatic dancing or with the help of plant intoxicants. They were usually considered to see more, i.e. veduns. This special attitude towards them resulted not only from their amazing ability to enter a trance, but also from the fact that they enjoyed universal respect and recognition among the people due to their knowledge and practical skills. They could cure diseases and heal people. Ecstatic states enabled them to prophesy and summon spirits. Thanks to these visions, they could predict the future, plan sowing and harvesting, predict droughts, floods and other events that could harm people. They were said to have the power to bring rain and to reverse “bad” weather phenomena.
Volkhv was also the guardian of the oral tradition, which was associated with the cult of ancestors and the preservation of family and tribal identity – usually old myths and stories were passed on by means of recitation or singing of songs accompanied by gusle. For centuries, the same method of disseminating messages was later used by various wandering around the world wanderers, lyre players and folk storytellers.
The Volkhvs were associated with worshiping the pagan god Veles – the ruler of the underworld and the world of the dead, but also the deity of forests, magic and magical ecstasy, the bestower of wealth and the protector of art, including poetry. They dressed in specific costumes – they were supposed to wear wolf heads and furs for the trance dance, and for everyday life they often wore badger or bear skins, and they braided bird feathers, bone ornaments or tree branches into their hair. The Volkhvs knew secrets inaccessible to others, were able to establish contact with their Ancestors and performed various ceremonies and rituals.
Volkhv, wołshebnik as a Russian term meant magic, but also falling into ecstasy, prolonged purring or howling, which could indicate the ability to shamanic chanting, i.e. using a specific technique of throat singing. In Pomerania, the word volkhvs was recorded, meaning practicing magic or enchanting. Yet another theory derives the origin of the word volkhv from the Germanic volva, meaning a seer.
The Volkhvs enjoyed great respect among the people, although they did not have much influence on politics. However, the state and church authorities severely condemned the Volkhvs - for example, in 1227 in Novgorod, four of them were burned at the stake.