Twisted Tongues, Sacred Syllables: Uncoiling Language's Serpentine Connection to Shamanic & Vedantic Spirituality.

Shamans, Sages & the Linguistic Architecture of Reality.

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The Vedantic notion of Sabda Brahman – the idea that the divine Absolute reality manifests in the form of sacred sound – closely parallels the shamanic views of language described in the source article. For both the rural Chilean Mapuche priests and Peruvian ayahuasqueros, as well as Vedantic philosophy, language goes far beyond objective description or communication. Instead, it serves as an active conduit linking material realms to profound metaphysical domains beyond ordinary perception.

As the source text makes clear, for the Mapuche healers language intrinsically channels a vital spiritual power they call newen. This force does not merely signify external states symbolically but directly instantiates the sacred energies animating the world itself. The Mapuche term for “word” or “speech” – dungu – is the manifestation of newen that initiates their fertility rituals, passed from shaman to shaman in the invocation of nourishment from realms beyond.

In the Mapuche fertility ritual (ngillatun) the force manifests itself in the “word” (dungu). The ngillatun ritual is a significant event for the Mapuche people. It’s one of the only times when the different families and homesteads come together as a community. The ritual works to reaffirm social bonds and cosmological order.
At the centre of it all is the manifestation of newen, the inherent force that underlies everything. This force makes itself known at the start through various signs — things like recurring dreams or visions that certain individuals have. Perhaps the most striking sign is the reported appearance of a huge black bull emerging from the ocean fog.
These signs indicate that the time is right for ngillatun to take place. And it’s at this point that the priests, the ngenpin, enter the picture. There are two main ngenpin who are responsible for organizing the whole ritual. We could think of them as the head priests.

Likewise, for the Peruvian ayahuasqueros, intricate shamanic healing songs called icaros form a secret “twisted language” to access realms inhabited by spirits called yoshin. Through obscure metaphorical imagery, conventional linguistic logic gets bypassed to allow navigation of mystical terrain. The songs themselves act as tools to perceive and interact with normally unseen worlds.

This resonates profoundly with Vedantic perspectives on the metaphysical dimensions of language and sound, especially as expressed in ancient Sanskrit mantras and verses.

As the Vedas say, “In the beginning was Brahman, with whom was the Word. And the Word was truly the supreme Brahman.”

For Vedanta, primal vibratory creation arises from pure unbounded Universal Consciousness – Brahman – through the manifesting power of Shabda Brahman: “Sound-Brahman”. All syllables emanate from the One as embodiments of sacred sound frequently “stepping down” the eternal Om resonance into constitute worlds. Hence syllables themselves are sacred vessels channeling Absolute energies into the relative plane.

Mantras in particular, as highly concentrated sound formulas, allow the human mind to directly tune into cosmic consciousness vibrations. By resonantly chanting these seed sounds linking inner and outer universes, yogic adepts transcend ordinary dimensions, culminating in unity awareness.

For Vedanta then, language similarly acts as an activational portal bridging gross sensory planes with increasingly subtle realms of awareness. Words are creative conduits, dynamically linking micro and macro dimensions into reverberative unity. Human speech taps the underlying Pranava Om–humming background radiation of Being. Thereby the knower, means of knowledge and known cohere across scale into resonant alignment: the fundamental tone resonates through all instruments by sustaining sacred syllables.

Moreover, by recognizing language as an intrinsically energized manifestation aligning human and natural orders, these shamanic orientations unwind certain problematics within postmodern theories about cultural construction and linguistic relativism. By situating all existence within intersecting realms governed by natural laws and perennial principles, questions about arbitrary social construction or relativistic fragmentation of truth give way to an ecology of consciousness contextualizing intersubjective experience.

For Vedanta and shamanism alike, language remains empowered participation within the dynamically unfolding cosmic script through perpetually novel permutations seeking renewed self-harmonization. Words chant the world into ever-becoming revelation.

Some Western theories also connect language with the physical world. Jeremy Narby's "Cosmological Perspective on Language" explain how our molecular code led to symbolic language ability. So "twisted language" links directly with the spiralling structure of DNA. This means there is a feedback loop between microscopic and macroscopic levels. Language shapes biology which circles back to shape language.

In simpler terms, Narby believes language evolution follows patterns embedded in our biology, which follows larger cosmic patterns. So human speech is tied to genetic material, which ties into cosmic forces - through spiralling, twisting connections across scale.

Interestingly, the Yaminahua shamans employ twisted language and serpentine metaphor precisely for its mythic resonance with cosmic processes and permeable veils between worlds.

Shamans employ “yoshtoyoshto” language during healing ceremonies and magical rituals. The language helps induce modified states of consciousness in both the shaman and the patient. The shaman leverages obscure imagery and wordplay to disengage the rational mind so underlying subconscious dynamics can emerge. We discover this valuable information in Jeremy Narby’s book “The Cosmic Serpent.” The term yoshtoyoshto translates as “twisted-winding language.” Anthropologist Townsley interprets this to mean “twisted language.” The word “twist” shares an etymological root with “two” and “twin,” technically signifying “double and wound upon itself.”
In this context, “winding language” denotes contorted, serpentine and intricate language — also possibly “meandering,” “tortuous,” “labyrinthine” or “intricate.” The essential notion is that such language pursues an indirect, winding route around concepts instead of addressing them straight on. It “coils” around ideas rather than describing them directly.
The winding language enables the shaman to encircle subjects without colliding with them. Using normal words would cause a crash. But with twisted words, he can circle and view things.

Similarly, spiralling cadences across Vedic verses directly model metaphysical dynamics linking material and spiritual planes. Perhaps these multivalent interweavings of linguistic form, function and symbolism also suggestively gesture towards a deeper formative correspondence with the twisted ladder of DNA itself - nature's scripting torus underwriting visible epiphenomena.

Here scholastic elucidations of Sabda Brahman also offer illuminating commentary. As the Vedantic philosopher Bhartṛhari writes regarding the Brahman-Om-Word trinity at the dawn of time:

“The Word is Brahman, Brahman is the Word. This Word was at first indivisible. As from fire, deriving its energy from the absorbent of the rituals, issued, in the beginning, Oṃ that stands for the changeless Ātman, so from this again was breath produced.”

The worldviews explored here contain a common thread - the understanding that consciousness shines through all creatures while taking different forms. As Viveiros de Castro noted, a “monistic” view suffuses Amazonian thought, wherein all beings share the same interior awareness, simply looking out through different bodies.

Similarly, Vedanta sees the same boundless universal consciousness reflecting in each soul, although fragmentarily perceived due to our limited shells. Beneath multiplicity lies unity.

Crucially, for shamans and Vedantic seers alike, language facilitates soulful connection by allowing consciousness to resonate across bodily barriers. Chants, songs and secret tongues act as sonic bridges between humans, animals and spirits, providing a meeting point in consciousness where deep identification becomes possible even across species lines.

While rational analysis distinguishes self and world as separate, poetic wisdom recognizes the emanation of the same light. Plumbing linguistic depths reveal that light shines through all beings equally. Sterile segmentation yields vivifying identification with all our relations.

So from Amazon to India, kindred visions concur - behind language’s curtain see the singular light of spirit, the quiet voice of nature, the source of our very capacity for song. All creatures speak the same language at root. Chant together, children of Gaia!

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti...

Source:

Course, Magnus. The Birth of the Word: Language, Force, and Mapuche Ritual Authority. University of Edinburgh, 2012.

Narby, Jeremy. The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998.

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