The emergence of the arútam

When you wander near a river in the jungle, in the moon and lightning shine, the arútam will often appear in a fearful form. However if you have the courage to touch it with a hand, a feet or with the palo mágico, a sacred stick the shaman gave you, the arútma wakán will come to existence at that very time. Before the arutam soul merges with you in your chest, it'll tell you your dream, what the Ancestors have decided for your life and the arutam will give you the power to do.
You'll see the arutam just for a few minutes while listening to the dream. After that time the new soul may only appear to bring you some special message in a dream, never in a conscious vision nor in meditation.
There is also a method to evoke our own arutam in case of need and get it to come in a dream.

If you win the arútma wakán in an initiation rite or other ceremony, its emergence may be frightful anyway. The arutam will bring you power, good luck and courage, yet you are supposed to pick up a little bit of courage to win it!

Before the arútam comes on, a strong wind will rise.
Then the emergence of the arutam soul gives off an amount of energy which materializes in a special weather event, like a lightning or strong rainy wind. At our latitudes a sudden snowfall may occur too.
The uwishín who accompanies the arutam seeker, is usually aware that the quest was successful even before talking to the seeker: because at night a lightning fell near the camp or wind blew very strong.
However the energy release isn't always violent,in few cases it occurs gently and condenses in a rainbow the next morning.

These effects on weather always occur, even when the arútam quest takes place in Europe, as my students and I have been verifying in the past 3 years.

The arútams

Most of arutams are essential powers of Amazonian animals.
Even when the quest is done elsewhere, in the woods rather than rainforest, animals from Europe or from other places have never occurred to date.

Here is a list of the commonest arutams:

Panther (Black Jaguar)
Jaguar
Cougar
Tigrillo or Ocelot (small spotted cats)
Anaconda
Cayman
Tortoise
Eagle
Condor
Hawk
Toucan
Hummingbird
Owl
Guacamayo or Azulejo (red, yellow and azure big parrots)
Anteater
Bear
Lightning
Fireball or falling star
Tree
Waterfall
the Rainforest
the Sun
the Fire
Rock
Rainbow
Shuar ancestor, an arutam having a human form
Nunkui, Shuar name for Grandmother Earth. She looks like an old woman or a little girl.
Tuwa: an evil Spirit, appearing like a pig or a wild hog. It's the only negative arutam who predicts a disgraceful life. .


The detailed powers of these and more arutams are the topic of some workshops I hold in Italy.