I found this ritual on another site; it was written by Simone Bötker from Denmark
Hello everyone! Thank you for all the good posts here on the site. I would like to share a little ritual from our last shaman gathering this weekend. It comes from the Siberian tradition that I have learned. Autumn is "Erlik" time, a time for cleansing and transformation. This is an outdoor cleansing and healing ritual. You will need some birch bark and, ideally, one person to drum throughout the entire ritual. The shaman connects with the patient (who is standing) by placing their hands on them. The shaman then "scans" the patient's body all the way around, up and down, using their drumstick (the drumstick is balanced on 1-2 fingers and reacts in the places where there are "problems"/imbalances). The shaman has now found the areas in need of help/cleansing. He/she then takes a piece of birch bark and rubs/massages the various areas with it. During this process, the birch bark absorbs all the imbalances/impurities. When finished, the bark is set on fire and the burning bark is passed around the patient's body to remove the last of it. If you cannot burn the bark, you can bury it in the ground instead. Finally, the patient is harmonized with gentle strokes from the head down into the ground.
It feels very good to be cleansed in this way. It helped me with pains in various parts of my body. I would love to hear about your experiences and different ways of cleansing and healing. Thank you from me.
