What is the Shamanic Journey The Spiritual Journey Within

What is the Shamanic Journey — The Spiritual Journey Within

What is the Shamanic Journey?  It’s a technique developed by indigenous cultures for entering the spirit realm and walking the spiritual journey within.  Many people are called to take this journey; how about you?  Come find out how to do it.

Shamanic tradition tells us we create reality through the heart, and our experience of life is just a projection of either the ego or the heart.  The ego is bound by the conventions of the cultural narrative in which we are grounded, but such constraints do not bind the heart.

Some shamans, like Carlos Castañeda, talk about separate realities.  We learn to see reality with the heart instead of the ego.  It is a path that opens the mind to new realities.

Entering The Spirit Realm

The realm of the spirit world can be defined in two ways.  Some see it as an imaginary world inhabited by good and evil spirits.  This is the way religion sees this realm.   Others believe it is a separate reality we can reach using techniques that enable us to traverse other levels or landscapes of reality.

The process of this inward journey is found in many indigenous cultures around the globe.  Here, one can traverse a landscape of the mind, inhabited by many creatures or spirit guides that help us overcome personal obstacles and decipher the meaning of life.  This journey is not about entertainment or the belief in religion.  It is a process that helps us heal, integrate and find our spiritual gifts.

Entering the spirit realm should not be taken lightly.  The spiritual journey within is a voyage of self-discovery that enables us to face and overcome our fears.

What is the Shamanic Journey?

There are many variations on the theme of this process, but essentially the same formula.  First, rhythm is a crucial element that regulates heart rate and breathing.  Then the mind projects an inner world providing a lucid journey.

“A lot of things occurred to me with shamans in Peru.  There were a number of different kinds of experiences that you learn from doing rituals, and taking ayahuasca (a common tropical forest hallucinogen) is the key to understanding the native consciousness and perception of the world with the Peruvian shamans that you wouldn’t get unless you had been with them, but every shamanic tradition, including the Native American tradition of medicine and cleansing ritual, like the Sun Dance or the sweat lodge.” —  Fred Alan Wolf

A Shaman is a person who guides people through this journey in this realm of the subconscious.   However, you can take this inward journey by yourself.  This tool for changing awareness uses a range of seated and moving forms.

So, what is the Shamanic Journey from a psychological perspective?  Modern psychology uses this process to help clients face and heal past trauma or overcome phobias and addictions.  A therapist or Shaman can help their client face and understand the symbolism of the things they encounter during this inner quest.  A therapist or modern Shaman guides them through their journey and gives them the tools to practice independently.  Debriefing after the quest is just as important as the journey.

What is the Shamanic Journey from an anthropological perspective?  It is man’s first technology for exploring consciousness.  This traditional method is at the core of many indigenous cultures and serves as evidence of the historical importance of the inner quest.  It has been renamed or rebranded in Western cultures.  It makes the process marketable and can be used by those who would otherwise shun anything considered a Pagan practice.   You find under the names creative visualization, mind-scape, and guided meditation.

What is the Shamanic Journey from a spiritual perspective?  It is one of the basic tools for exploring human nature.  It allows us to create a landscape where we face and overcome past trauma and fears.

Not everyone is ready to see with their hearts.  Entering the spirit realm requires preparation and courage.   Every reputable teacher or Guru who can teach you how to open your heart will ensure you are ready.  Once you open your heart to see, it cannot be closed.  You cannot ignore what the heart sees.  Opening your spiritual eyes also opens your conscience.

The ego accomplishes this by shutting down the heart, where the portal remains closed to the spirit world.  The doorways open when we reach a specific amplitude, so keeping it below a certain level prevents opening.

All the familiar maladies keep amplitude low: fear, hostility, self-importance, depression, self-doubt, cynicism, and frustration.  Because of this, most people’s hearts are not open.

“Shamans see through their hearts.  Gratitude counters these ploys by the parasitical false personality and raises the amplitude high enough the heart-opening process.” — Awakening to the Spirit World The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation By Hank Wesselman, Sandra Ingerman

Opening your heart will also open your eyes to the consequences of humankind’s injustice and greed.  Because your conscience expands, you will feel the pain and suffering of others and the world.  When you see people misuse other people or the environment, you feel their pain.

Make sure you are ready to open your heart; open this portal to the spirit world.  You see both the internal and external worlds in greater detail when you do.  When you open your heart, it will expose your true motivations.  Your improved vision will enable you to experience the full range of emotions.  Many people today take drugs to numb their feelings.  Opening your heart will make this more difficult.

So, are you ready to see these things?  You may need additional inner work before you take this step.  Consult a physician before attempting this step if you have a history of mental illness.

We recommend learning and practicing as many preparatory spiritual technologies as possible to prepare you for opening your heart.

The Spiritual Journey Within

Entering the Spirit Realm

“Shamanic tribes like the Maori of New Zealand believe that the physical world we experience is a projection coming from each individual heart.  The Mayans and the Q’ero tribe in the Peruvian Andes have their versions of this basic understanding.

Their shamans know that self-importance, created by the Ego, is dedicated to keeping the powerful heart portal closed off enough to prevent Spirit from shining through.” — Awakening to the Spirit World The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation By Hank Wesselman, Sandra Ingerman (1)

Many scientists believe our reality is a holographic construct and something is behind the curtain directing its formation.  An intelligent force behind the curtain must provide order for the construct to work.  Rupert Sheldrake calls this managing force “Morphic Resonance.” He proposes that this universal intelligence is the unifying field that Albert Einstein was trying to identify.  Perhaps the Shaman already found an efficient way to access this force?

Some are born natural Shamans.  They can shift awareness between these different realities.  Shamans see through their hearts without the use of any technique.  They are what we call gifted, Seers, Healers, and various other shades of the Shaman.  They can bridge the gap between ordinary and non-ordinary reality and access the portal to the spirit world.

However, you don’t need to be born with this ability.  You can learn to traverse the imaginary landscape of your mind using the process the ancient pioneers developed.  All you need is a drumbeat to regulate your heart rate and imagination.  In this dream world, you will encounter typologies and metaphors representing aspects of your subconscious mind and your Spirit, the Observer of your experience.

The way to this extraordinary world is through an ancient process found around the globe, the journey of the Shaman.  Sadly, this universal method has been suppressed and rejected despite its value.

“It has always been the role of the shaman to go into an altered state of consciousness and track down where the soul fled to in the alternate realities and return it to the body of the client.” —  Sandra Ingerman

The Shamanic Journey Threatens Religion

Our modern culture, ruled by Abrahamic traditions, has no place for these gifted individuals.  They are a threat to the dominant cultural narrative.  So, outside of their home cultures, they are victims of persecution.

Shamanic journeying is the inner art of traveling to the ‘invisible worlds’ beyond ordinary reality to retrieve information for change in any area of your life — from spirituality and health to work and relationships.” — Sandra Ingerman

Entering the spirit realm and embarking on the spiritual journey within is forbidden by Western organized religion.  This process delivers on the promises that organized religion cannot.  The practice of this process is labeled as heretical, and anyone who uses them is labeled a Witch and subject to punishment up to and including death.  Western organized religion uses any means possible to protect its customer base.  And they will use any method they can muster, including everything from ostracizing to public torture and death.

The Shamanic Journey is a portal to the spirit world through the subconscious that does not fit into Western theology.

Ego A Necessary Tool of Consciousness

The ego isn’t our enemy; it’s a necessary tool.  The ego is the mechanism connecting our consciousness to our body.  Our ego has a default setting containing our personality and instincts.  It also roots us in the three default doors of consciousness, waking, sleeping, and dreaming.  Our culture fixates on the ego.  All advertising aims to satisfy the ego.  As a result, we cannot see through our hearts like shamans.  The emphasis on the ego smothers our heart connection.

So, ideally, we grow intellectually and spiritually as we mature and seek to push beyond these default settings.  However, the ego is just temporal and selfish.  Above all, the ego wants to maintain control.  It closes us off from Awakening and our Heart Center.  The result is that many people never go past these default settings.  As a result, many people never learn to see the world through their hearts.

We can’t do away with our ego.  We need to learn to use it as a tool instead of being used by it.  We need to take our rightful place as the Observer and move beyond the default settings of our ego.

The portal of the Shaman’s journey enables us to open other doors of awareness.  Shamans, the magical athletes of consciousness, have been engaging in this process for eons.  It provides us with the experience of proving there is much more to this reality than what we know as ordinary reality.

Spiritual Technologies

These are ancient technologies for developing your potential and healing your mind, body, and soul.  Here are some of the other processes you can investigate.  You can learn several by following the instructions in the articles.

In Conclusion

Shamans see through their hearts.  Are you ready to take this significant step?  The Shamanic Journey is a powerful portal to the spirit world.   Generations of spiritual travelers use this method.  Don’t let the name keep you from using it to explore your consciousness.  Some many gifts and messages await the traveler of the inward quest.

This journey follows a pattern that is found in many legends and stories.  Joseph Campbell refers to it as the Hero’s Journey (2).  You can download drum tracks to assist you in this journey anytime and anywhere.

References

(1) Awakening to the Spirit World The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation By Hank Wesselman, Sandra Ingerman.
(2) Joseph Campbell & Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.