Shamanic Journeying Read online

  When you have passed through this transition, you will arrive at the first level of the Upper World. If you are still seeing planets and stars as you journey upward, you have not yet reached the Upper World. Again, you will know that you are in the Upper World because of the sensation of having passed through a permeable threshold of some kind, after which the landscape will change.

  Although many shamanic traditions view the Lower and Upper Worlds as containing a definite number of levels, many of us have found that there is an unlimited number of levels, because the universe itself is unlimited. Each level will have something special to teach you, and it is up to you to explore them.

  The Middle World is the spiritual dimension of our physical world. Middle World journeying is a method for communicating with the spirits that live in all things present in physical reality. Shamans classically journey to the Middle World to find lost and stolen objects, to commune with nature, or to do long-distance healing work. Another great journey to take in the Middle World is a journey to the moon to ask about the moon’s different cycles and phases and how they affect your feelings and behavior. In this way, you can learn how to make changes in your life that are in alignment with your natural cycles, giving you an increased sense of well-being. You can also speak to the sun, the stars, and the elements in nature, each of which has much to teach us about how to restore balance in our lives.

  When you journey in the Middle World, you are in present time, traveling through our physical landscape. Simply see yourself walking out your front door and stepping into your garden, or traveling through space very quickly to look for something you have lost or to reach a more distant destination. You might take a Middle World journey to meet with the plants, trees, and rocks where you live, to learn more about them and come into balance with them. George Washington Carver was a very respected botanist who said he gained knowledge about cultivating plants from walking through the forest and talking to them. Shamans have always talked to the animals and the plants within and outside their journeys to learn about nature, cycles, rhythms, and the environment in which they live. However, do not rely exclusively on your journeys in the Middle World to connect with nature. You also want to spend time outdoors communing with nature, and hopefully your journeys will inspire you to do so.

  The Middle World can be a little complicated to work with, as there are many different types of spirits who live there. Some of the spirits who live there are deceased souls who have suffered traumatic deaths and have not successfully crossed over to the other side. Some of these spirits may not even know that they are dead. To assist them, you would need to receive further training than what this program can provide. In fact, there is a whole area of shamanic training called psychopomp work, which includes methods for helping souls complete their crossing-over process. However, it is fine to journey to speak to the spirit of a tree, a plant, a river, or the wind, or to meet the fairies, devas, and elves that live in the Middle World.

  During your journeys, you can choose to travel to the Lower World, the Upper World, or the Middle World. You can choose to engage in conversation with the spirits that you encounter, or you can simply move on. It is important to understand as you undertake shamanic journeying that you have complete control of where you go and whom you talk to. Part of the exploration and wonder of non-ordinary reality is to discover the qualities that go with the different territories—including a variety of landscapes—and what spirits live there. Our helping spirits have the ability to travel between the worlds and can accompany us on our journeys for transportation and support, regardless of where we journey.

  Finally, there are no set rules about what people should experience when they journey to each world, although I will describe some common experiences to help you understand the differences between the worlds. However, it is vital that you trust your own experience—rather than trying to replicate someone else’s—and that you remember that each person’s experience is equally valid.

  Chapter 3: Power Animals and Teachers

  As your shamanic journey practice deepens, you will find yourself meeting many different helping spirits. There are two main types of helping spirits that shamans consult and work with in their journeys: power animals, also known as guardian spirits, and teachers in human form. Power animals and teachers are found in both the Lower and Upper Worlds.

  Typically, you will have one or two main power animals, guardian spirits, or teachers who will work with you on an ongoing basis on the core issues in your life. In addition, some power animals and teachers will share specific lessons and skills with you and then move on, with new helping spirits appearing to take their place. With time, you will learn to trust your helping spirits—both your primary ones and your temporary ones—and rely on them for help and guidance. They will accompany you on your journeys throughout life.

  Power Animals and Guardian Spirits

  In shamanic cultures, it is believed that when we are born, the spirit of at least one animal volunteers itself to protect and guide us throughout our life—this is our power animal. When a person is consciously aware of his or her power animal, it is possible to communicate with it directly and ask them for help and guidance within a shamanic journey. When a person is not conscious of his or her power animal, they are still receiving invisible support, although they may not be aware of it. Some people report having whole teams of animals around them, but it is more common for someone to have one or two main power animals, with other helping animal spirits being more peripheral.

  Your power animal represents the entire species of the animal that is protecting and helping you. For example, you do not have the spirit of a specific eagle, kangaroo, or squirrel protecting you. Rather, you have the protection of the spirit of the entire species of eagle, kangaroo, or squirrel. It is very common to have a mythological creature as a power animal, such as Pegasus or a unicorn. You can also have an extinct animal volunteering itself as your power animal, since the spirit of an animal species is eternal. Therefore, it is not unusual for someone to have a type of dinosaur, such as stegosaurus, as his or her power animal.

  Today there are many books about the spiritual symbolism of different animals. Since shamanism is based on direct revelation, it is best not to rely on someone else’s interpretation of the animals that you encounter on your journeys. If you do not recognize the species of animal that you encounter, either by their appearance or their behaviors, you can refer to a resource book about animals in order to identify the animal. However, consulting a book on the symbology of a particular animal spirit will not help you discover the unique spiritual qualities the animal is offering to you. To uncover that information, it is best ask the animal directly what gifts, qualities, and support it is bringing to you.

  In my workshops, I often hear students report that on a journey an elephant volunteered itself to them as a power animal. When asked what he had to teach them, many students have told me that the elephant replied, “I am trying to teach you to lighten up.” However, you will not find that the elephant represents a message to “lighten up” in any symbology book!

  I personally received a very powerful teaching about this in the late 1980s, when I was doing quite a bit of traveling and teaching. Often, people who attend my workshops and lectures bring a gift for me. However, there was a particular period of time when I received a strong message through a series of gifts that I did not, at first, understand. To begin with, I arrived at a workshop and received two gifts that represented owl—an owl feather and an owl fetish. Fetishes come from the Zuni tribe and are little carved statues imbued with the power of a particular animal.

  I thought that it was strange to receive two gifts that belonged to owl, as I had never talked about owl being a helping spirit for me. But that was just the beginning! For the next month, gifts that represented owl kept appearing. The barrage of owl gifts culminated with a handmade owl mask, which one of my students had made for me. There was obviously a message in this, but I
did not know what it was.

  I journeyed to my main guardian spirit whom I have been working with since 1980. I asked him why so many people were giving me gifts associated with owl and why owl was coming into my life. He responded that owl not only sees in the dark but also has a particular type of radar that I would soon need. Then the journey abruptly ended. As journeys are outside of time, the word “soon” can be far in the distant future, so I did not believe that the reason for owl coming into my life was going to be revealed in the very near future.

  A couple of weeks later I was teaching a workshop in St. Louis. The workshop ended Sunday evening, and I had clients who would be coming for sessions with me early Monday morning in Santa Fe, so I had to take a late flight home. At one point during the flight, all the lights went out in the cabin of the plane, and the crew began walking up and down the aisles carrying flashlights. I assumed they were trying to let the passengers sleep.

  Shortly thereafter, the pilot made an announcement saying that he bet we were all wondering what was happening. Actually, I had not been thinking about it at all, but now I was suddenly very alert. He said that our plane had an electrical short circuit and that we had no lights—either inside the cabin or on the outside of the plane. In addition, we were about to fly through a lightning storm, and we had no radar to help guide us through.

  I immediately thought back to all of the owl-related gifts I had been receiving, and the answer I had been given in my journey a few weeks before when my helping spirit said that owl had a particular type of radar that I was going to need soon. Thankfully, the plane landed safely without any problems and I am certain that owl’s presence was part of the reason that we arrived safely that night. It was a profound teaching about how the universe was taking care of me by anticipating the help I would need and providing it for me.

  Now, if I had consulted one of the popular symbology books and looked up the spiritual significance of owl, I probably would have found something about transformation—but I certainly would not have gotten anything about radar, or that I was going to need this specific gift from owl in the not-too-distant future. What I learned is that when we do not go back into our own journeys to find the meaning of our power animals and their messages, we often miss the unique lessons they are offering us. Therefore, it is important not to look to others to interpret the spiritual lessons associated with your power animals—that is between you and your power animal. Also, what they have to offer you may not be consistent with your preconceived notions about their particular abilities and skills.

  It is also important to be aware of your ideas about the amount of power that different animals hold. I have watched people in workshops get upset because they have squirrel as a power animal instead of something they think of as more mighty and powerful, like bear or eagle. However, in non-ordinary reality, one species of animal does not have more power than another. All power animals have extreme power, and they each have unique and often unexpected lessons to teach us. A mouse has as much power as a lion, but they each have something very different to teach us.

  Trees and beings like elves and fairies can also be helping spirits. Since the spirits of trees and beings like elves are not animals, we call them guardian spirits instead. Plants are not usually considered guardian spirits, but are used by shamans around the world for their healing properties.

  In shamanic cultures, community life was very important. The process of individuation that we see as so important in our culture today was not important in indigenous cultures, as each individual needed to contribute to the community to ensure its survival. In some cultures, people belonged to certain clans where a power animal volunteered help to the entire group or community of people. Likewise, during my journeys for others, I have found that couples, families, and even organizations and businesses often have a power animal supporting them in non-ordinary reality.

  Occasionally, I have found in journeys that some mammals may demonstrate threatening behavior in order to show you how much power they have. It is not unusual to encounter a bear as a power animal that stands up in a threatening fashion in order to express its power. If that occurs, I would suggest that you ask the bear what it has to teach you about strength and power.

  There is one source of confusion regarding the appearance of animals in journeys that I would like to address—animals that carry venom and normally sting, poison, or bite humans. Insects such as ants, bees, and spiders can be power animals, although if you perceive them swarming in one area of a body they may be pointing to an illness. For instance, when a shaman goes into an altered state of consciousness and looks into the body of his or her client, he or she might see a reptile showing its fangs, or a localized swarm of ants. Similarly, snakes, lizards, and dragons can be power animals, but if they display their fangs or hiss at you, this may be a sign of illness. There are exceptions when the bite of an animal is meant to transmit power. For example, when I first met the white cobra, which is one of my helping spirits, she bit me on the neck; this was her way of sharing her power and transmitting her healing energies to me. I have met other experienced journeyers who have had the same experience with cobra. The important distinction to make is that the animal that has appeared to you is showing itself as a true helper. For example, some people have a big friendly spider as a power animal. However, this is quite different from seeing thousands of spiders swarming in someone’s liver.

  In shamanic journeying, your intention lets the spirits know what you are asking to be shown. When embarking on a journey where your intention is to meet a power animal or guardian spirit, that is what you will be shown; not swarms of insects. When the shaman journeys with the intention to be shown the spiritual identity of an illness, sometimes insects or fanged reptiles will appear, alerting the shaman to the location of illness in a client’s body.

  One final thing to bear in mind is that you do not want to brag about the identity of your power animal. As I said earlier, in shamanism when we brag about our power, we lose it.

  Teachers in Human Form

  The other types of helping spirits shamans typically work with are called teachers in human form. In a traditional shamanic society, these would be gods and goddesses of that culture, as well as ancestral spirits. Nowadays, people also meet a variety of other teachers, including religious figures such as Jesus, Mary, or Buddha. Some people meet inspirational historical figures such as Einstein or Hildegard von Bingen. Many people report having a deceased relative, such as a grandmother or grandfather, as a teacher. Others work with gods and goddesses, such as Isis, Osiris, and Hermes.

  It is important to remain open about the many forms of teachers who present themselves to you. For example, you might find a young child presenting herself as a teacher for you. Or when you are journeying about an issue, you might find a mirror being presented to you, meaning that you are to be your own teacher concerning a particular matter.

  I have had the same main guardian spirit since 1980, but I have found other helping spirits who support me with different issues in my life for a while and then move on. There are also power animals around me who help me and provide me with general support, but with whom I do not communicate on a regular basis. I also have had different teachers who have appeared in human form, although my main teacher is Isis, whom I first met in 1986 while I was on a vision quest.

  My guardian spirit is the one who does shamanic healing during my journeys for others. He also helps me answer questions in my personal life. Isis answers questions for me personally, and she also helps me when I write my books, when I am teaching workshops, and while I am lecturing at conferences.

  As with power animals, teachers are a source of healing and wisdom in our lives. For instance, Nancy, one of my students, had a very profound healing through ongoing work with her teacher. She had experienced abuse as a child and suffered from depression, for which she was taking medication. When she began journeying, she met her teacher, who was King James IV of Scotland. Since Nancy
was a schoolteacher, she decided to do some research to learn about the life of King James. She found many books about his life, and through her research she discovered that King James had been abused as a child by his father. She learned that he had healed himself and overcome his early traumas, and she realized she could also be healed. Through reading his story and journeying to him, Nancy finally put her past behind her and has been depression-free and off of antidepressants for years.

  Another student, Isabel, was planning to take a vacation with her husband in Hawaii. She journeyed to her teacher and asked if there was anything she needed to know before going on her trip. Her teacher told her to bring rope. Isabel was understandably surprised by this response, as she was not planning to backpack or go mountain climbing in Hawaii. She told her husband and some friends about the advice she had gotten on her journey, and they just laughed, but she decided to bring rope anyway, and she put some in her daypack. While in Hawaii, Isabel went for a hike on a popular trail with her husband in an area where there had been a lot of rain, which had caused several mudslides. At one point on the trail they slipped and became trapped, and Isabel used the rope to climb to safety.

  Similar to the way owl came into my life before I needed owl’s help, here is an example of how a helping spirit gave advice to protect someone from a future event. These experiences show us that we are loved and taken care of by our helping spirits.