They are the four main parts of us, one for each realm, and each has its own needs. Spirit, 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 part, needs us to live ethically and compassionately; Soul, 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 part, needs an authentic life connected to nature; the middle-world self, made of stories, needs to understand and to love; and the body needs its physical needs met and to move as it was made to. Soul and Spirit are to be cultivated in equal measure, and they express themselves through a healthy body and middle-world self.
What are the four main parts? #
One for each realm, each with different needs. Each of the four “corresponds to (and is an aspect of) one of the main shamanic realms. This means, as we shall see, that each part has different needs.”1 “We are comprised of an Upper-World Spirit, a physical middle-world body, a middle-world ‘soul’, and a Lower-World Soul.”2 Keeping them in balance “is essential for health.”3
What is Spirit, and what does it need? #
The Upper-World part. Spirit “is pure consciousness. It is a fragment of Father SkyFather Sky. The sacred Masculine pole: pure consciousness, from which the Upper-World arises. Paired with Mother Earth. ‘Father Sun’ is the older name for the same pole, found in the first three books. More about this (or God, if you like)”, and it likes “to rise above things and see the bigger picture.” It has needs too: “This part also needs us to live in a way that is ethical and moral, kind and compassionate. If we do not live in this way then this eats away at us, and this part of us becomes ill.”4 Of all the parts it has the least individuality.
What is Soul, and what does it need? #
The Lower-World part, and our true self. Soul “is our true Self-identity. It is part of Mother EarthMother Earth. The sacred Feminine pole: pure potential, from whom all the Peoples arise. The Lower-World is her realm, and she is all the realms: “The Earth is indeed our Mother.” More about this, but it is also the unique individual that Mother Earth intended (and still intends) us to be.” Unlike the middle-world self, it “is not a collection of human-made stories.” Its needs are an authentic life and nature: “This part of us needs to live a life that is authentic, a life that is true to our Soul.” Without connection to nature, it withers and weakens.5
What is the middle-world self? #
The self made of stories. “It is made of the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and of the stories society tells us. It is the domesticated, socialised part of us.” It includes the ego and the persona, and two sub-parts, head and heart: “Head needs to understand, and it needs to feel understood. Heart needs to love, and it needs to feel loved.”6 It is also “our ‘soul’ with a small ‘s’”, the self “that most people mean when they use the word ‘I’.”7
What is the role of the body? #
It is a part of us in its own right, not a vehicle. “In shamanism, the physical body is not just some vehicle for the soul. It is not just some ‘thing’ we inhabit. Rather, it has its own consciousness, intelligence, wisdom, needs and drives.”8 Its needs are simple and often neglected: clean water, warmth, food, fresh air, shelter, safety, rest, and to be allowed to move as it was designed to.9 The body “knows the truth, keeps the score, and never lies.”
Why does Soul need a healthy middle-world self? #
Because the middle-world self is how Soul lives in the world. Soul cannot act in this world without it. “Our middle-world self is meant to reflect our Lower-World Soul… our middle-world self should be the vehicle through which our authentic Soul can express itself in the world.”10 The ego is a necessary interface with life here, and it is not the enemy: “The ego is not “bad”, it just needs to be of service and not in charge.”11 Trying to destroy it backfires; people who deny it “often end up having an ego that seeks to dominate and control, a ‘guru-complex’.”
Why is Spirit not enough? #
Because Spirit alone leaves us ungrounded. “Trying to transcend both our middle-world self and Lower-World Soul by focusing primarily on our Upper-World Spirit, unsurprisingly often results in becoming overly-detached, other-worldly, and ungrounded.”12 Soul is reached by descent: “We can never understand and embrace our Soul by focusing only on Spirit.”13 Without Spirit, Soul lacks perspective and discernment; without Soul and Body, Spirit becomes abstract and unhealthily detached from the living world.
How do the four work together? #
In balance. “This is what shamanism teaches, that we must cultivate Soul and Spirit in equal measure. Our body and middle-world self can then become the means by which we express our Soul and Spirit and be of service in the world.”14 See How are the realms related to Soul, Spirit and the middle-world self?
Is there an Upper-World self? #
In a sense. ‘Upper-World self’ is sometimes used as another name for Spirit. But Spirit is not an individual in the way Soul is: our Upper-World Spirit “has some degree of individuality, but not much.”15 It is more like a wave in the ocean than a separate person.
