Synopses & Reviews
Chapter One
On this particular morning, like almost every other morning, my alarm went off at six o'clock sharp. The bus that would take me to the psychiatric hospital where I worked left exactly an hour later from a subway station a few blocks away. It was the last bus that would get me there on time, and I could not afford to miss it.
Today it was especially hard to force myself out of bed. My apartment was even colder than usual, and the sky outside was still dark, with sullen snow clouds obscuring the stars that might otherwise have brightened the night. The extreme cold in my room was a sure sign of a problem with the main furnace, and it meant I might not have heat again for days. Thinking of all this., I crawled reluctantly from under my warm blankets and prepared for a long day's work. After a quick breakfast of toast and coffee, more to warm myself than to furnish nourishment, I finished my morning chores.
The sheltered subway stop was, fifteen minutes away. I walked quickly with xny head down, protecting myself as much as possible from the wind. The wet snow only appeared soft and beautiful; as it covered my face, hands, and clothes and then found its way to the uncovered skin of my neck, I again felt a cold chill run through my body.
My hurried steps created a rhythm, to which I added my usual winter morning's chant. The words were said just under my breath, in that singsong rhythm of preachers and spell weavers: "I want to get a seat today. I want to get a seat today" This time of year I would be very fortunate to find a seat on the bus, and I desperately wanted the nap I would take if I had the chance.
It didn't happen. I arrived at the station to find a long line of people already waiting, ghostlike within their white snowy outlines. The slov4y falling snow glistened in the dim white light of the street lamps and in the moving red taillights of white apparitions shaped like cars, their engines silenced by the wind. This morning as I approached the crowd, it melted together into a cloud of translucent common breath resembling a long, sinuously curling dragon, belching tobacco smoke and cursing loudly at the cold wind and the late bus.
Every day the same dreary picture greeted me: thirteen one-story buildings built in the style of old wooden army barracks, painted a yellow-green color, with heavy, badly rusted iron grates covering their tiny windows. This place, provided the most important part of my life. This was my hospital.
Walking, through the hospital yard, I saw about twenty people leaving the building that served as the kitchen. They carried big metal buckets full of breakfast in their hands, and they hurried back to their wards in ahopeless attempt to keep their morning tea and gruel warm. I could hardly see them because it was still so dark, but I could hear their steps distinctly on the icy snow, accompanied by the metallic sounds of their buckets as they took separate paths to their different buildings. The same gruel was served every day. It was the only food available to us. The huge metal buckets, with their two metal handles and flat lids, reminded me of what one might use to feed inmates in a prison.
There were some patients whose mental state allowed them to do menial work within the hospital grounds. These privileged few wore identical long-sleeved gray jerseys with their ward numbers printed in big numerals on the back.
Synopsis
When the young Russian psychiatrist Olga Kharitidi set out on an impetuous journey into the snowbound Altai Mountains of Siberia, she never dreamed that her experience there would shatter and rebuild her view of reality. Among the wintry villages and pine forests of Siberia, guided by mysterious native sages, Kharitidi unearthed the wellspring of the worlds mystical traditions, discovered deep secrets of healing and magic, and encountered revolutionary teachings about the true nature of the human soul. "Entering the Circle" shares her thrilling adventure--and her stunning discoveries--with the world.
As a dedicated young psychiatrist at an austere state hospital in the former Soviet Union, Olga Kharitidi battled the difficulties of Soviet life and the constraints of medical science in her fight to save her suffering patients. Joining an ailing friend on a spur-of-the-moment trip into Siberia's Altai Mountains, Kharitidi was launched on an unexpected journey of revelation when she was taken into apprenticeship by an enigmatic native shaman. The wild adventure that followed would forever change Kharitidi's view of healing, science, consciousness--and the potential of the human soul itself.
"Entering the Circle" shares Kharitidi's remarkable true story and the revelatory teachings she received during her sojourn with mysterious sages of Siberia. Guided through bizarre, magical, and often terrifying experiences by her shaman-teacher Umai--and by a radical Soviet physicist whose studies challenged the very nature of reality--Kharitidi unlocked a storehouse of spiritual learning that had lain hidden in inaccessible Siberia for centuries.
Deep in Siberia, Kharitidis path ofknowledge led her ever closer to unlocking the secrets of Belovochi, also known as Shambala, a fabled civilization of highly evolved humans who have for eons spread their sacred knowledge through the world's great faiths, including Buddhism, Christian mysticism, Sufism, and Vedic Hinduism. She learned, through firsthand experience, that waking reality--the fabric of our daily lives--is only the near shore of our "Spirit Lake," the sea of transcendent consciousness and infinite possibility within us all. Kharitidi teaches us how to tap this hidden sea, and introduces us to the Spirit Twin dwelling in every soul, our gentle teacher and guide who can help us create our true selves, abandon outworn beliefs, and evolve into a fully awakened life beyond our wildest dreams.
Dramatic, fascinating, and eloquently told, Kharitidi's Siberian odyssey is both the riveting tale of one woman's journey and the story of the ultimate adventure awaiting us all: the discovery of the untapped wells of spiritual potential in every human soul.
Castaneda la Russea psychiatrists account of transformation through encounters with a Siberian shaman.
--Michael Harner, Ph.D., author of "The Way of the Shaman."
As with Castaneda and Redfield, Kharitidi grounds the ancient spiritual teachings of the shamanic tradition as she encountered them. Firmly set within an intriguing, factual contemporary personal narrative, "Entering the Circle" is one of the very few such] narratives that provides true insight. It is the one account that all true spiritual seekers will want to know."
--Paula Gunn Allen, author of "The sacred Hoop" and "Grandmother's of the Light"
Synopsis
Olga Kharitidi's debut book is a remarkable account of her spiritual adventure in snowbound Siberia. Joining an ailing friend on a spontaneous trip to the Atai Mountains, Dr. Kharitidi is taken into apprenticeship by a native Shaman who guides her through bizarre, magical, and often terrifying experiences that open her eyes to a wellspring of deeper learning. On the road to Belovedia, a fabled civilization of highly evolved beings, she encounters revolutionary mystical teachings while discovering ancient secrets of magic and healing. At once a modern odyssey and a timeless dreamscape, Entering the Circle is an inspiring story of personal growth and an insightful work about the limitless potential of human spirit.
About the Author
Olga Kharitidi was born in Siberia, in the former Soviet Union. She has traveled extensively throughout Siberia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, following the ancient wisdom that spread from Siberia to Central Asia, Tibet, and the Himalayas. She is now in the United States, conveying her knowledge of Siberian wisdom and continuing her path of exploration and discovery.