Shamanism is tens of thousands of years old, and there are versions of it all over the world. All known versions share a "shamanic cosmology," or structure of the universe.
1. Everything in the universe has "spirit," and is therefore alive in a certain sense. Some spirits are far more complex than others, but even rocks have a basic "spiritual intelligence." I'n my own science-based understanding, I relate this to a quantum physics concept; There is a certain background intelligence to the entire universe. The universe must store information on how a rock is a rock, for instance, and on which quantum particles / waveforms are a part of that specific rock. So I equate "spirit" with "quantum intelligence" of the universe. Are you following me so far? The quantum stuff is my own layer and theory.
So in shamanism, there are the spirits of rivers, the spirits of mountains, the spirits of planets, and even the archetypal spirit of what a specific type of animal is.
There is the spirit of Crow, or the spirit of Deer. These represent the concept of the animal itself, rather than any specific example of those species. Still, each crow and each deer also has its own individual, unique spirit. Yes, they are part of the multiverse, which is another layer.
In shamanism all over the world, there is the waking, ordinary reality that we live in day-by-day. However, there is also a non-ordinary, spiritual reality that can be entered and journeyed through in a trance state - in my mind, a form of self-hypnotic meditation. The non-ordinary reality has three worlds.
In my mind, the human brain is a quantum computer, and while the "higher" brain functions give us consciousness and individual identities, the subconscious is another matter. The subconscious is shared through the archetypal spirit of a human, and is in fact a part of the quantum background intelligence of the multiverse. This is a powerful fact that has other implications, but it's not the time yet to dive into that.
The first of the three worlds in shamanic cosmology is the lower or underworld. This is the spiritual home of our ancestors and where they reside. It is bastardized by the Abrahamic religions as "Hell," or "Hades" in Greek mythology, but it's nothing like the place of torture that those fabrications present to discourage their followers from understanding shamanic concepts.
The lower world would be where a shaman would go to speak to the spirits of the ancestors for guidance, comfort, and wisdom in shamanic trance, if that was the purpose of the journey. The lower world would typically be entered by going into a cave, or a hole in the roots of a great tree in the spirit realm by the shaman while in trance.
Like the tree Yggdrasil in Norse tradition. In Norse mythology, it holds the three worlds in its roots, trunk and branches, binding them together into one reality.
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| Yggdrasil with animal spirits among its branches. |
The second world is the middle world. This is the non-ordinary spirit analog of the ordinary world we walk every day, and of the Cosmos as far as our telescopes can see. So walking about in a trance journey would allow you to "step into the matrix," so to speak, and to have conversations with elemental beings like the spirits of rivers, trees, mountains, or the Sun or Moon, or even Gaia herself. The middle world would be where I was in the journey where I spoke with Sol and with Sister Moon, and with Charlie, my raven guide. (See https://cherrystaff.blogspot.com/2021/12/drum-journey-12-04-2021-third-eye-being.html )
Then there is the "upper world," which is the abode of advanced beings like the spirits of Christ, Buddha, Odin, Zeus, angels, and more.
That would be accessed by some means of climbing into the sky or flying into the sky in a trance journey. Say, by climbing up Yggdrasil, or being carried into the sky by your spirit guide, which might or might not be a raven. It could be any spirit that chooses to take on the role of being your guide. Or guides, plural. Most people start with one spirit guide, and eventually develop relationships with several.
There can also be spiritual entities that are not benevolent towards humans. You can recognize these by the presence of dripping fangs. Consider it your spirit's way of recognizing an entity that you should stay away from and not interact with. Simply leave such a spirit's presence. They can't harm you if you don't engage with them.
When first entering shamanic trance to undertake a journey, you should visualize a path over a small creek or passing by a deep well, and leading to a place in nature where you feel at peace, safe, and calm. If you have a spot like that which you know in ordinary reality, all the better. You can visualize that as your starting place for shamanic journeys. As you pass the creek or well along the path to your starting place, throw a bag with all your daily troubles and worries in the bag into the creek or well. Let the waters of spirit carry those away, so that you can focus on the intention for your journey peacefully.
Once you arrive at your starting point, look for the spirits that you find there. If they don't have dripping fangs, ask if they are there to be one of your spirit guides. One of them or more will answer you, but usually it's just one at first. Ask them about themselves, thank them for their guidance, and ask them to show you the way to where you need to journey to for this particular intention, and to introduce you to the spirits you need to speak with on your journey. It could be an animal spirit, an ancestor, or an ascended master, or even a mythological god.
Now as to getting into a trance state, there are multiple ways. Some of them involve plant-based psychedelic drugs. I do not prefer such methods. Many methods of entering trance are through monotonously-repetitive sounds. Rattles, whistles, singing bowls, and perhaps the most well-known in our Western world, hoop drums - often called shaman drums. I use drumming for my journeys. You want a steady 105-120 beats per minute.
My Drum
Thrum, my Spirit Horse. Click on picture to go to a post with video of Thrum being played.
My drum isn't a natural hand-made drum, but it's uniquely my own. I personalized it and named it Thrum. It's not super large, but it has a very powerful sound. I found it of all places in the back room of a Guitar Center in Oakbrook, Illinois, atop a pile of unsold instruments, marked down to $26.00 - I instantly brought it home, and crafted the drum beater you see pictured myself. I also added the Autumn leaves with a coat of clear polyurethane to preserve them, and string handles on the back to suspend it and let it resonate more freely are made from old shoe strings our cat Taboo used to love playing with when she was alive.
What's important here isn't the materials, as so many would insist on, but the personal relationship with the drum. Remember, in shamanism, everything is alive with its own spirit. So it's the case with the drum. In many shamanic traditions, a shaman's drum is called his or her "spirit horse." They ride the drumbeats like hoof beats into the spirit world or non-ordinary reality. This, to me, is a much healthier way to trance than drugs would be.
Now, when drumming to experience a shamanic journey, it's possible to want to spend too much time in the spirit world, or even get lost there. So you set for yourself an intention to drum a "call back" at the appropriate time, to remind you to return to your starting point, and come out of the trance. The "call back" might be an intermittent staccato drumbeat, or some other drumming that is very different from the steady, droning drumbeats that uphold the journey trance. Check YouTube for shamanic drumming with call-back to find something like that.
Definitely, it's easier to journey if someone else is doing the drumming for you. It's a bit more effort to drum and journey at the same time - much like trying to sing and play a musical instrument at the same time. It takes practice.
So you can see why I consider shamanic journeying as a form of guided meditation, but it's also much, much more. It's deep and ancient.
Yes, quite a lot here, and if done responsibly, with compassion and goodwill, shamanic journeying can be very therapeutic.
The Pearl of Sorrow was inspired by a shamanic journey I had back in 2014 where one of Odin's ravens tore the pearl from my chest and flew away with it to Asgard. It wasn't painful, it was a blessing. It helped me start healing from a tragic loss I experienced as a teenager when someone I cared for very much was lost to schizophrenia at a young age, and others had died. It took the edge off the grief. So in the spirit world, having something torn and rent from your body can be a painless blessing instead of a maiming torture as it would be in ordinary reality.
It was about my Aunt Felicia, and my grandparents. Yes. Aunt Felicia was a wonderful person, only 11 months older than me. We were very close when I was 15. She and my grandmother moved back to Michigan before I turned 16, and by the time she was 18, she had developed full-blown schizophrenia and was institutionalized. I never saw her again. I'm still in touch with her daughter. I didn't even find out where Aunt Felicia was until I was in my late 30's. My grandmother refused to tell me. Aunt Felicia passed away at 49 years old from breast cancer while in a mental institution. I spoke with her spirit once in a journey, or a part of her spirit. Diseases like that, or traumas can fracture the soul or spirit in shamanic tradition. I spoke to the part of her spirit that was the young lady I knew who was my teenage confidant, and told her it was now OK to come home. She didn't say anything, just gave me a small smile and hug. Two or three weeks later in ordinary reality, she passed away. The Pearl of Sorrow was a few years after that.
Hard, heartbreaking, but also comforting at a very deep level.
So as you can see, this is almost like structured astral travel, and has been used for thousands of years for psychic healing, or relating to weather elementals, or the spirits of plants and game animals when hunting. In our modern world, the psychic healing would be probably the most common use for journeying.
If you decide to pull up YouTube drumming and give it a try, remember the notes of caution I gave you, but otherwise it can be quite wonderful. I've found that several short journey attempts of ten to 15 minutes are best. That way if you fall into a light sleep in the early attempts, you're more likely to have a successful journey in the later attempts.
Using an audio source that you control is probably best. YouTube would be calling you back at the wrong times - with ads. Lol
I think this post on the Cherry Staff might be a good one to close out our conversation tonight: https://cherrystaff.blogspot.com/2012/09/finding-my-drum-my-guide-and-first.html
Have a wonderful journey!
Dan
