Psychopomping is the shamanic practice of helping the souls of the dead who are lost or stuck to move on, so that they do not hang around in the land of the living. It was one of the essential roles of the shaman in tribal cultures. In Therapeutic Shamanism it is a specialist area of work: someone who meets the unquiet deadUnquiet dead. The middle-world self become ghost: the ego that, having no body left to anchor it, lingers among the living instead of moving on to the Land of the Dead. Unhealthy for the living, and moved on by psychopomping. More about this and wants to help can ask their GuidesGuides. The Lower-World and Upper-World beings a practitioner works with and learns from, of whom the Power Animal is the first and foremost. True Guides are ethical to their core; the shaman’s power comes from the depth of these bonds, not from the shaman. More about this to deal with them, and, unless highly experienced, must never follow them towards the land of the dead.
What is psychopomping? #
Psychopomping is “A shamanic practice to help lost or stuck souls of the dead move on to the afterlife and not hang around in the land of the living.” It makes sure “that the souls of the dead depart the land of the living and do not hang around in the middle-worldMiddle-world. Ordinary physical reality together with its energetic layers: the realm of individuality, separation and mixed intentions, and the only realm where harm is possible. “If there is a hell, then it is the middle-world.” Read the full answer, as the dead are not healthy for the living.” Put another way, it helps lost or stuck souls of the dead “move on, and return to the light/Spirit”.1
Why did shamans do it? #
“Psychopomping, the practice of dealing with the unquiet dead, is one of the essential roles of a shaman in any tribal culture.” At an exhibition at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, full of shamanic objects from cultures all over the world, Paul Francis was struck by how hunter-gatherer tribes treated their dead. “It was crystal-clear that the hunter-gatherer tribes all saw the dead as being dangerous to the living.” They placed great importance on helping people make the transition when their time came. “Essentially, the dead had to go.”2
Why is it needed so much now? #
“In turning our back on shamanism, we lost our psychopomps.” At the same time, the sky religionsSky-religion. The vertical, hierarchical reordering of the sacred that the Fall installed, governed by the spell ‘up is good, down is bad’: transcend the body, escape matter, purify upward. The conditioning Therapeutic Shamanism works to undo. More about this began to fill people’s heads with frightening ideas about what might happen to them when they die, so that people became reluctant to move on after death. The result: “In cities and built-up areas, they are like a sludge that we wade through.”3
See Who are the unquiet dead, and are ghosts real?
How is it different from mediumship? #
Shamans would converse with the dead only to help them on their way: to persuade them to leave a living host, or to reassure them “and to tell them what to expect and what to do” while escorting them to the land of the dead. “But shamans do not see the dead as helpful spirits to work with. They are not taken on as guides and teachers. Nor are they kept around.” This “is in marked contrast to mediumship”.4 See Is mediumship healthy, from a shamanic point of view?
Who does it? #
Psychopomping is “a specialist area of shamanic work”. If we meet one of the unquiet dead, “you do not have to do anything. You can just walk away”, and until we are well experienced in both the Lower-WorldLower-World. The realm of Mother Earth: pure, unspoilt, wild nature, with no technology and no agriculture. Home of the Peoples and of our own Soul, and completely safe: feeling threatened in a journey is a reliable sign of not having reached it. Read the full answer and the Upper-WorldUpper-World. The realm of Father Sky and of Spirit: spacious, rarefied and clear, layered in tiers, offering not escape but perspective. Not better than the Lower-World: we ascend rooted, and bring the gifts back down. Read the full answer, walking away or seeking the help of someone more experienced is strongly advised. If we want to do something, we can ask our Guides to deal with them: “One of your Guides can act as the psychopomp, and take the soul of the deceased to the land of the dead, where it should be.”5
Why must we not follow the Guide? #
“Unless you are highly experienced though, in order to stay safe and not risk being possessed yourself, you must in no circumstances go with the Guide who is doing the psychopomping or go anywhere near the land of the dead yourself. I really do mean this. Seriously.” The Guide doing the psychopomping cannot be Power AnimalPower Animal. The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner’s first and foremost Guide: Panther, not “my panther”. Read the full answer, because we and our Power Animal must never be separated.6
Nor does anyone have to take this work on. “Being aware of something, and being the person who deals with it, are not necessarily the same thing at all!”7
See What is the Land of the Dead? and Who are specialist Human Guides?
