Cossack-Sorcerers: The Secretive and Magical Warrior Society of Ukraine

[Kazimiera]

Cossack-Sorcerers: The Secretive and Magical Warrior Society of Ukraine

Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/myth...ukraine-009812



Almost everyone knows about Japanese Ninjas and Chinese Shaolin monks. Their combat skills are well promoted in Hollywood. However, few know that at one time in Europe there were soldiers, whose abilities were not inferior to the Japanese ninja or the Shaolin monks, and perhaps even exceeded them. These warriors were called the Cossacks and their combat skills extended to the use of sorcery.

Who Were the Cossack-Sorcerers?

In the 16th century, in the territory of modern Southern Ukraine, an organization was formed called the Zaporizhian Army, with headquarters in the fortress on the river Dnipro called Zaporizhian Sich.


Zaporizhian Sich , (reconstructed open Museum) 16 th century headquarters for the Zaporizhian Army.

Its members were drawn from various social strata of the population of Ukraine, which was then part of Poland, known as the Commonwealth of Rye. Its political structure was democratically organized, largely resembling the community of pirates of the Caribbean. The main occupations were hunting, fishing, trade, sea voyages to the Ottoman Empire and also as vassal of the Crimean Khan. The community also participated in the organization of rebellions against the Commonwealth, although they rarely participated in its military campaigns against the Moscow kingdom and Sweden. They called themselves ‘Cossacks to themselves’, which in translation from the Turkic language means ‘free people’.

Among these Cossacks who lived within the territory of the Zaporizhian Sich, there were said to be some with magic abilities, who were called the Cossack-Sorcerers. According to folklore, these were true war mages, of which legends were born. However, unlike the modern fantasy warriors, they did not throw lightning-bolts and issue fire from their staffs. Their weapons and abilities were somewhat different.


Model of the layout of Zaporizhzhya Sich in the site museum.

Cossack-Sorcerers’ Special Abilities

According to the people's imagination, the Cossacks were able to find and hide treasures, to heal wounds with spells, and to evade and catch bullets. They could withstand hot-rods, change the weather and open castle doors with their bare hands. They were able to float on the floor in boats, as if on the sea, to cross the rivers on rugs (sounds pretty much like a flying carpet to me) and instantly transport themselves from one side of the steppe to another. They knew psychotherapy, understood herbalism, and also possessed the art of hypnosis. There were also claims about the super-human physical training the Cossacks endured, and much more.

What were their Origins?

How the Cossack-Sorcerers actually began is shrouded in secrecy. Many believe that the Cossacks of legend have come from the ancient Slavic Yazykh priests of the Magi. It is said that after Prince Vladimir the Great was converted from Slavic paganism to Christianity in 988 and christianized the Kievan Rus, the priests did not agree that the prince should have accepted a foreign faith from Byzantium and so fled to the steppe where the warlords set up, teaching their followers in the martial arts.

However, these speculations do not have any historical or archaeological basis, although in the steppes between the Azov Sea and the Danube there did exist a stray Slavic population of Brodnici (cf. Slavic brodŭ) and the Berladnici, who are considered by some to be the prototype of the Zaporizhian Cossacks who participated in the internal wars of the Rus princes and the campaigns of the Turkic nomadic tribe of Polovtsy to Hungary and Bulgaria. But this group lived two centuries later than Prince Vladimir and there is no mention in their history that they professed paganism or among their leaders were sorcerers or pagan priests. Most likely, they were people from the social gentry, or prince expatriates, who escaped from their lands to the south of the steppe and were united in combat troops and participating in hostilities as mercenaries. They would often have been fought by Rus princes and Hungarian kings, of which there is evidence from that time.


"Rear guard of Zaporozhians" by Józef Brandt in National Museum in Warsaw.

A Claim of Aryan Descent

According to another version, the beginning of the Sorcerer class takes place among the Aryan tribes of the Bronze Age of the 2nd millennium BC, before their emigration to India from the steppes north of the Black Sea. It was alleged that among the Aryan tribes there were magic warriors, some of which went to India where they became known as Maharathi - soldiers who are capable of defending themselves alone against a large number of opponents with the help of martial arts and mystical practices. Maharathi is mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharata. The group that remained in the steppes of the Black Sea would then have become the basis of the sorcerers.

However, this version seems dubious because the history of the Black Sea peoples is well documented, even in ancient times. For example, the very first Herodotus description, which gave us a reference to the Scythians and the peoples neighboring them. Nowhere in this account does he mention an organization of sorcerer warriors. Other Greek and Roman historians also did not mention them. There is an account in the Rus epics about the Rus warrior Volga Vseslavovich, who could turn into animals, but no specific reference that could have ties over the centuries to Cossack-Sorcerers is known.
A Community of Refugees

Most likely, the Cossack-Sorcerers existed in the midst of all sorts of diviners, witch-hunters, black bookkeepers and forefathers of destiny. Indeed, among the Cossacks were not only poor brokers or peasants who escaped the tyranny of Polish lords and the attacks of the Tatars, as the official history says. Among the Sow Society, as the Cossacks called themselves, there were many diverse people with different professions. And it is obvious that among them there were people of magic professions who adapted their knowledge and skills to the military art of the Cossacks. It should also be noted that at that time wandering artists, circuses and magicians were spread among the Eastern Slavic peoples.


Cossack Watch over the Dnieper by Jozef Brandt (1841–1915).

Tricks, Illusions and Ninja Skills

Just as the Zaporizhzhya Sich was a melting pot for different people, it became possible that such a variety could exist among the Cossacks, sharing their knowledge, skills and abilities with them. By mastering this knowledge, the Cossacks could combine the practice of divination, charisma, and mysticism with the illusion and art of battle, as did the Japanese ninja. For example, the well-known Japanese stray ninja Kato Danzio (1503-1699) combines various mystical practices with illusive art. Such practices have long been adhered to by the ancient priests of Ancient Egypt and Babylon and medieval magicians who, speaking at Western European fairs, combine card divination, magic spells with card tricks, head offs and healing. Therefore, the word abracadabra, which originally had a mystical character, as a spell from illnesses and evil spirits, came to us, but eventually, under the influence of the use of its magicians, changed the character and began to be used as a simple circus magic spell.


Kozak Mamay on an old Ukrainian painting, early 19 th century.

A Foundation for Legends and Heroes

The Cossack-Sorcerer is just one of the many intriguing parts of the history of mankind, however, for the history of Ukraine, they became a very special entity. After all, the Ukrainian people, who toiled for many years under the yoke of foreigners, loved the idea of freedom and the success of their heroes. Even in the nineteenth century, a cartoon of a Cossack, Mamay, was hung in wealthy rural Ukrainian huts, which embodied the idealized image of a Cossack-wanderer, a wizard, a sage and a sorcerer in one person. Such heroes are plentiful in Ukrainian folklore and these stories will be told in future articles.

[Kazimiera]

Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/myth...onicles-009827



The image of Cossack Sorcerers was so popular that there are many legends about them. One tells of the Battle of the Cossacks against the Poles. As soon as the Cossack Sorcerer Kravchina (army) hit them, the Poles’ progress was halted. Bullets were flying, but the Cossacks caught them. And when it was necessary to cross a river, the Kravchina went forward and the river ran dry. Yes, legends say they made rivers run dry.

Another story tells of how the Crimean Tatars chased the Cossacks for a few days. When the horses and pursuers were extremely tired and there was not enough food, the Tatar Bei waved his hand and declared, ‘Let them escape, they will disappear in the steppe without food anyway.’ But the Cossacks did not have the mind for such a demise and were not going to disappear so uselessly. Each Cossack neck had an amulet that protected the owner from starvation. Thus, their path was threaded with firm, dark plants, and in time these eased their hunger and quenched their thirst and the Cossacks’ strength slowly began to return. No one died. And on the way to the Sich, two more Tartar troops were crushed by the Cossacks.


Cossack Mamay - the ideal image of a Cossack in Ukrainian folklore.

More than Whispers

As to the historical evidence, the first mention of Cossack Sorcerers is found in the work of Polish historian Bartush Paprotsky (1543 - 1614). According to him, Hetman Samil Soborovsky was a Cossack who knew how to magically create bullets. The Swedish ambassador and historian Peter Peterson (1570 - 1622), who was in Moscow in 1608, also mentions one CossackSorcerer, Corel, who was smart and miraculously helped Tsarevich Dmitry.

Another Polish historian, Martin Pashkovsky (16th - 17th centuries), discussed the powers of the Cossack-Sorcerers in his poem "Korogva Savromatskaya in Volokh" (1621), which is dedicated to the 1621 battle in Khotyn. In describing this confrontation between Poland and Turkey, he wrote about the Cossacks, saying they have nine souls and practiced sorcery.

Polish priest Shimon Okolsky (1580 - 1653), recalling the defense of the Govtov settlement of the Cossacks from the Polish army, tells about the use of magic by Cossack officers against the Poles in order to control their weapons.

From the anonymous historical work, "History of Rus" in the nineteenth century, it is known that during the uprising of the Cossacks under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnitsky against the Commonwealth, the Polish Tomasz in the town of Old Bykhov in Belarus shot the Cossack commander Hetman Ivan Zolotarenko with a silver bullet dedicated to the church, as legends said a normal bullet could not kill the Sorcerer.


Ivan Zolotarenko (? -1655).

According to the historian Svetlana Bessonova, the Sorcerers were buried face down so that the sun's rays did not touch their faces and they could not resurrect. Some people were also stabbed in the heart for the same purpose.
Sorcerer Training and Practice

We do not have the exact descriptions of how Cossack-Sorcerers learned the art of sorcery. But many of the practices have been reconstructed from historical and ethnographic records, oral history, and memoirs of the descendants of the Cossacks made by historians, ethnologists, archaeology amateurs, and martial arts experts who study Cossack techniques of hand-to-hand combat.

According to these reconstructions, training began from early childhood and was led by elder sorcerers who did something different each day with their students to guide them to the truth. Future sorcerers were trained in hand-to-hand combat, the ability to fight with sabers and capes, how to shoot arrows, pistols, and guns, horseback riding, gliding, and some esoteric practices.


Zaporozhian Cossacks Officer in 1720.

One such practice is an exercise called "Faster than the shadow." The young man would put his back to the sun so that he clearly saw his shadow on the wall. The task was as follows - to touch the wall with his hand without the shadow being there. This developed rapid reaction skills.

Another practice, known as "Seeing Your Size", was to find the relationship between a person and some elementary device so its use became as effective as possible. The young Cossack was sent to the forest for a stick which he had to use to jump over a high fence. If it was "not of his size" the chosen stick would not allow him to get the expected result. In addition, it was important where he held the stick – too high and the stick broke, too low and the jump did not send him up and over. That exercise could be altered by jumping with the same stick over a ditch. A sword had to be the right length, shape, and weight for a Cossack too. And his horse was chosen with the same requirements.

The Cossack-Sorcerers had another practice aimed to change one’s consciousness and to ‘stop time’. A young Cossack was handed a stick, which he had to hold in front of him with both hands and run down a mountain. At the bottom of the hill, in a place hidden from his eyes, a small stick was planted in the ground, so the Cossack tripped on it and started to fall off a cliff. The moment the Cossack removed his foot from solid ground led to a state where he felt he was one step away from death…it seemed that time had stopped. During this practice, the Cossack experienced an altered state of consciousness.


Naberezhnaya ulitsa, 1, Koktebel', Krym, Ukraine.

Cossack-Sorcerers in training had to practice “The Golden Mean” - to find out about medicinal herbs and be able to make medicines from them. This ability allowed them to study the effects of plants on the human body.

The practice of "Entering the rhythm" involved a Cossack walking in the dark over a pathway with stones thrown randomly across it. He would have to ‘find the rhythm’ that would prevent him stumbling over the stones.

The sorcerer learned to understand animals and how to interact with them as well. This would sometimes involve putting his left hand over the heart of a horse or dog and listening to its breath with his right ear. This work with animals meant that the Cossacks always had faithful friends at hand to guard the camp and a clever and connected horse in battle.


‘Cossack on duty’ by Józef Brandt.

They were taught to enter the spirit of a bird or other animal too. This could involve a Cossack standing on a hill watching a hawk soaring high above him. His heart would begin to beat at the same rhythm as the hawk flapped its wings and the Cossack slowly entered into a state of oneness with the bird, but with an awareness of what was going on around his body.

Another practice to alter the Cossack-Sorcerer in training’s consciousness would be to sit him in front of a wheel. Two marks were placed in exact opposite locations, or mirrored positions. The Cossack would sit motionless watching the wheel as someone spun it. After a time, the continued effort to track the markings would lead the student into an altered state of consciousness.

The practice of "full disclosure of forces" meant someone poured cold water over the Cossack and then he was left to sit under the burning sun. In the evening, he was left in the forest under an oak. When he next came to his senses, he was said to have acquired the energy of nature. Soon after he would be attacked on all sides to increase his reaction time - the next skill to be developed.

The ability of “true vision” was acquired at midnight in a marsh where there were six pillars with a fire lit at the center. The Cossack was forced to walk in a circle while being aware of both the light of fire and the darkness of the marsh at night. This training was intended to teach him to see light in the darkness. The practice was complicated because there were stones hung in bags that the Cossack had to avoid in the dark.


The Cossack was forced to walk in a circle while being aware of both the light of fire and the darkness of the marsh at night.

A very interesting technique was the transition for a man into a state of “awakened dream”. In this, a training sorcerer was led to a ring of fires at night. A senior sorcerer lit four torches and handed two to the student. The torches increased the light in the circle of fire and the young Cossack was attacked. The elder gradually chose the rhythm of the assault until the young Cossack's consciousness was overshadowed and he entered a semi-subconscious state.

In addition, future sorcerers were taught hypnosis and illusions.

The Skills of Cossack-Sorcerers, Myth or Reality?

In addition to legends, historical riddles, and speculation, nothing is known about the real skills of the sorcerers. We can only assume that they could accomplish their feats of magic in some way. To chant a “spell” or treat someone with herbs have been common practices in Shamanism. If the chant/spell has an impact on someone or not differs and is generally based on the people involved.


Shaman.

There are, however, a number of experiments conducted around the world which show that these practices could create a change. For example, Japanese scientist Emot Masaru (1943 - 2014) showed that certain words can affect water, when after pronouncing some words crystals of water form an ideal geometric shape and after others something that was far from beautiful came out. In many cultures, shamans have been said to have the ability to alter the weather – the true effectiveness of their efforts is unknown.

The ability to evade a bullet may sound weird, but it is quite possible. The modern Japanese samurai Isao Machia got into the Guinness Book of Records for cutting a bullet fired at him from a pistol. However, the idea that a sorcerer could catch bullets with his bare hands seems impossible. To do this, you need to either have strong telekinesis like Neo from the Matrix movie or be able to slow down time and the bullet’s flight.


Recreation of the Matrix Bullet Time scene.

The same is true about the ability to handle fire or other burning objects. This happens today when a person can walk across hot coals without flinching. The ability may best be explained with hypnosis, as in when someone could be told that a cold object is hot and really believes it is – he or she may even receive a burn through the belief.

The suggestion that Cossacks could glide on carpets or rugs on rivers can be explained as a trick or illusion. With some hidden additions under the rug they could make it look as if it was gliding or even flying. Japanese Ninjas had a similar idea and through the use of cunning hidden devices, seemingly walked on water. In the modern world, magician Chris Angel used an illusion to walk on the Thames River.


Vasyl Kornienko (1867 - 1904) The sorcerer floats on a carpet on the water.

If you consider it long enough, you can even figure out how sorcerers apparently opened locked castles with just their bare hands. American Illusionist Harry Houdini (1874 - 1926) easily broke free from shackles with his cunning, planning, and a bit of trickery.

With regard to the legends of Cossacks floating in boats painted on the wall or floor, this can only be done by hypnosis, when a person was induced to believe something which could not be real.

The ability to enter into a changed state of consciousness is also a long-standing real practice associated with hallucinogens, narcotic substances, and psychophysical practices such as meditation. The Cossacks used all these practices.


Meditation can sometimes provide an altered state of consciousness.

Such phenomena as the ability to enter the body of, or transform into, an animal such as a bird is still considered fantastic because sound explanations have yet to be found. Teleportation and the ability to resurrect the dead cannot be explained either because there is still no real confirmation of this, except in myths, legends, and biblical stories.

Sorcerers could have found treasures by dowsing, like when tree branches have been used to find water, treasures, or minerals. Some have also claimed the sorcerers were the ones who hid the treasures, though this has not been confirmed by historical facts.


Dowsing.

Chieftain Ivan Sirko and the Fate of a Sorcerer

Among the leaders of the Zaporizhian Cossacks there were many sorcerers, but the most famous of them was Ataman Ivan Sirko (1605/1610 - 1680). His life is full of legends. They claim that he was born with his teeth and he killed the devil. They also say that he could predict who he would fight and during battle he might take control of a horse, a wolf, or a hawk, or curse the enemy army, and that when his hand received the blow of a sword he only was left with a blue mark. It is not surprising that the Turks and Tatars called him Urus Shaitan (Russian devil).

The Turkish sultan issued a decree on prayer in mosques for the death of the sorcerer. And after his death, the Cossacks kept Sirko's right hand in hiding for five years as a charm to help win battles. As a talented commander and strategist, he took part in 55 military campaigns and never lost a battle.


Ilya Repin (1844–1930) . Ivan Sirko, 1880 - 1891 .

In 1775, the troops of Russian Empress Catherine II approached Zaporizhzhya Sich. The Cossack-Sorcerer and his companions fled to the Danube and built a fortress. Being on the Danube, the Cossack-Sorcerers used their skills to make advances in the war with the Russians and capture a city.

After the destruction of the Transdanubian Sich by the Turks in 1828, many Cossack-Sorcerers moved to the territory of Western Ukraine, then part of the Austrian Empire. Seeking peaceful lives, they gradually turned from warriors to ordinary peasants. They also gained some glory as village healers and seers.


Cossack Mamay, 1st half of the 19th century.

Those who fought for the territory of the Russian Empire became part of the Kuban and Azov Cossack troops as scouts or Plastans. The term Plastun in the old days meant a person who crawled i.e. worked in intelligence.

Plast Cossacks became famous in many wars with the Russian Empire, in particular in the Caucasian War of 1817 - 1864, when Russia tried to capture territory in the Caucasus, during the Crimean War of 1853-1856 against Russia, Turkey, Great Britain, France, and the Kingdom of Sardis, during the Boxing Rebellion in China from 1898 to 1901, when the Chinese were dissatisfied with the tyranny of European powers and created an uprising led by masters of martial arts, the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905, and the First World War of 1914-1918.


Kuban Cossacks, late 19th century.

[Anglojew]

Very interesting