X-Minds

A country of sleeping volcanoes and alpine lakes that feed the adjacent rice fields. Few people know that close to this visible and palpable world exists another one – mystical Bali ruled by destructor demons on par with creator gods. Bali people believe that spirits of light and darkness follow humans throughout their life. And a person's fate depends on what forces he worships, good or evil.

This is Tyva, a unique place in the center-most part of Eurasia. There are no railroad links to this area yet, and flights are rare. And shamans, on par with lamas, to this day are the most revered people here. No important business is started without them.

Local inhabitants believe in eighteen demons who cause eighteen human ailments. One of the demons is responsible for the running nose, another — for cholera, the third one — for vomiting, the fourth one makes people paralyzed. Local exorcists, kattadiya, dedicate their ceremonies to a demon called Bahirava.

Titicaca. Sitting on its southern coast is one of the most ancient cities of the New World, Tiwanaku. It gave its name to an entire South American civilization that dates back to before the Common Era. Former city invented a curious acoustic contraption which mirrored the labyrinth of a human ear and could be used to hear whispering from a distance of up to fifteen hundred meters.

Mari worship the Almighty God, Creator Yumo, but when they need help in dealing with their everyday problems, they turn to numerous deities, goddesses and spirits. A special role in this magical realism is played by witch doctors. They talk to spirits, have a good command of black and white magic, and balance on the edge between good and evil.

Pyramids and hieroglyphics, the calendar predicting the end of the world, the tragic demise of the civilization, brightly colored fabric and climate of everlasting spring — that’s the standard package for an outsider. But few people know that the picturesque mask of smiling Guatemala hides a twilight mystical world full of archaic beliefs and practices.

Till this day, disciples of an ancient mystical practice live here. Ishmens – healers and prophets – are the only ones to have survived the demise of an ancient civilization, the advent of Christian missionaries, and all kinds of revolutions, wars and economic crises. Their power allowed them to carry the secret knowledge of Maya through centuries

Transylvania is famous for its ever-present vestiges of the Middle Ages. According to a Roma legend, “living strigoi” are witches destined to turn into vampires after their death. At night, their souls can fly to a Sabbath and drink blood of humans and cattle. And no advances of modern civilization are enough to convince locals otherwise.

Iceland is a country on a volcano. The land here seems to be breathing: scorching steam bleeds from the Earth's depths, geysers throw up water into the air, volcanoes erupt on a regular basis. Little has changed in local people with the advent of Christianity a thousand years ago: pagan ancestral beliefs are very strong here even day.

This land has always been at the crossroad of civilizations. Pagan rituals and beliefs here are so intertwined with nomadic lifestyle that they didn’t disappear even with the advent of Islam. To this day, wild energy of ancient tribes continues to live in local rituals — shocking, frightening and unchanging, like the folk belief in the magical power of baksy — fierce shamans of the wild steppe