In Therapeutic Shamanism the future is not one fixed thing but a multiverse: there are countless possible futures, all of which happen, and the decisions we make, many of them unconsciously, decide which one we step into. Because there is no single future, nobody can journey to “the” future; what is possible, and useful, is connecting with future versions of ourselves, our future selves, for guidance. Those choices and that guidance have to be ethical and realistic.
What does “multiverse” usually mean? #
In physics, the best-known version is the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, introduced by Hugh Everett in the 1950s. In it, quantum states never collapse into one outcome; instead a single “universal wave function” keeps evolving, which the physicist and historian of science Paul Halpern likens to an ever-flowing river with many persistent branches. Other routes in modern physics lead to multiverse ideas too, and physicists remain divided about them, some taking them seriously and others doubting that they can ever be tested; Halpern’s own survey sets out to steer between enthusiasm and dismissal.1
The shamanic multiverse is a different kind of claim. It does not rest on physics, and it is not offered as a theory of quantum mechanics. It is a way of understanding time, choice and healing that comes from shamanic practice, and the two should not be confused.
Are there many possible futures? #
Yes. Shamanism is essentially a multiverse model. There is the universe where someone reaches the end of their street and turns left to go to the beach, the one where they turn right and walk into town, and the one where they stay at home. People talk about “the” future as if it were one thing, but the future is not set: there are countless different futures, all of which happen.2
This raises a question to think about. Of all the universes we could have ended up in, what decisions, conscious or not, led to this one?2
How much say do we have over which future we end up in? #
Some, though less than we might like. Some things we have no control over at all, such as the laws of physics, or the existence of the moon, the sea and spiders. Others are made by collective human choices, such as the existence of tennis, Sweden, child poverty and Monsanto, and on an individual level we may feel we have little real say in them. Many personal choices are made unconsciously, by our habits, the stories we tell ourselves and the scripts we live by. That is why habits are so hard to change.3
So the reason we end up in one future rather than another often lies in unconscious decision-making, shaped by unconscious patterns from past hurts and traumas, including the ancestral burdensAncestral burdens. Unresolved grief, shame, anger and trauma passed down the family line: never ours to begin with, but shaping us. Healed through recapitulation and disentanglement, becoming a ‘link-breaker’ so the burden stops here. Read the full answer we carry. Healing the past is therefore part of choosing the future. What can be done is to understand what we can control, step into that awareness, embrace our own power and take responsibility for the choices we make, whilst acknowledging what lies beyond our control. With those things we have response-ability, because we can choose how we respond. See Can we change the past?
Can we journey into the future? #
Not to “the” future, because there is no single future to go to. Reality is a multiverse with countless possible futures, so journeying to see what will happen is impossible. What is possible is something different, which is meeting the people we might become. See also What is divination, and how is it used in shamanism?
What are future selves? #
The versions of ourselves who live on in those possible futures. Although we cannot visit a future, it is possible, and beneficial, to connect with future versions of ourselves for guidance.
Two conditions apply. The choices we make about the future need to be ethical, because no true 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 or 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 GuideGuides. 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 will help with plans that involve unethical pursuits. And they need to be realistic, because otherwise it is magical thinking, and again no true Guides will help. It also matters which part of us is doing the choosing. Guides are far more disposed to help with plans that come from our Soul and Spirit than with plans driven by the desires, and the inherited burdens, of 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 ego. See How are Upper-World Guides different from Lower-World Guides? and Can we “manifest” whatever we want?
What does psychology say about our future selves? #
Psychology has come at the future self from a different direction. The psychologist Hal Hershfield, in his book Your Future Self, describes research on what he calls future self-continuity, how connected people feel to the person they will become. Brain-imaging studies suggest that people tend to think about their more distant future self in much the way they think about another person rather than as themselves. In his words, “in the brain, the future self looks more like another person than like the current self”.4 People who feel more connected to their future selves tend to save more and are more likely to choose the ethical path, since a dubious shortcut today offloads the risk onto that later self.5
That research is about how we imagine and treat our future, not about meeting future selves in journeys, and it makes no claim about a multiverse. What it does share with the shamanic teaching is the sense that the person we will become is someone we have a relationship with, and that the relationship can be healthy or neglected.
How do past and future selves fit together? #
As two ends of the same work. Journeying back to support a younger self creates healthier timelines and lightens the burden of the past; that frees us to make more conscious choices now; and connecting with future selves helps guide those choices. Healing the past and choosing the future belong together. See Can we change the past? and What is shamanic goal-setting?
