Common difficulties include not imagining on purpose at the start, expecting them to be entirely visual, and bringing everyday thoughts, agendas and relationship patterns into them. Therapeutic Shamanism teaches journeying as a skill developed through practice, hollowing-outHollowing-out. The core, lifelong discipline of setting aside the middle-world self, its stories, agendas and preconceptions, so the Guides can work through us. The image: the shaman as hollow bone. Read the full answer and attention to which realm is being experienced. Some apparent problems are normal features of learning.
What can look like a problem without being one? #
Beginners may notice variations. In the preparatory exercise, some bits and some senses probably came more easily than others; this is normal. The mind may have wandered. Things may have taken some time and concentration to settle into a tangible form, and their forms may have been loose and changeable.
Some experiences seem vague or made up, while others feel real. Particularly early in learning, this mixture is normal, and there is no need to worry about whether you are making things up.
Journeying can be easier on some days than others. Stress, anxiety, worry and other 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 concerns can make it difficult. The chapter describes trying again at another time or on another day, as ways to continue practising.1
Why do beginners need to imagine on purpose? #
Because the journey only gets going when they do. Imagination has a part in getting it going, particularly when nothing seems to happen. Beginners may dismiss what they experience as “just” imagination, and in doing so prevent the process from developing.
At stuck points, willpower and deliberate imagining help. It is like telling a story, with attention to smells, sounds and sensations as well as what is seen. Practice gradually changes the proportion of what feels made up and what feels meaningful.
The fuller question of how imagination contributes is covered in Is shamanic journeying imagination, and how are journeys co-created?2
What if the journey is not visual? #
Many people who think they are struggling are in fact already journeying, but do not recognise it. Often the problem is dismissing non-visual things and not paying attention to them. Paul Francis’s own journeys are sometimes very visual and sometimes not visual at all.
The chapter describes his attention moving towards smell, hearing, taste, sensing or intuiting when a journey becomes stuck. The teaching is to pay attention to the non-visual, rather than making sight the sole test of whether anything is happening.
The detailed account belongs in What state of consciousness is used in journeying, and do journeys have to be visual? Here the relevant difficulty is the expectation: a non-visual experience can be dismissed before the journeyer has recognised it as an experience.3
Why do some beginners get stuck at the tunnel? #
The entrance is a place where some people get stuck, caught between literal, rational thinking and the imaginative way of entering the journey. A tunnelTunnel. The descent at the start of a journey. Still middle-world territory, all the way down: the Lower-World begins only where you emerge. More about this that seems too small can be taken as a physical obstacle, even though its form is being imagined.
The chapter describes imaginative changes to the tunnel or the journeyer’s size as ways through that obstacle. These are part of the published teaching about deliberate imagining.
The same chapter defines the axis mundi used for this introductory journey as a real natural place which the person knows, likes and feels good about. Its purpose is to connect the worlds, including the physical one. See How do I prepare for a shamanic journey?4
How can middle-world material be recognised? #
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 is pristine nature. Cars, roads, farms, fields and other features of domesticated modern life mean that the journey has not yet reached it. Metalwork and modern clothing do not belong there either.
Within Therapeutic Shamanism’s description of the realms, the genuine Lower-World feels safe. Uneasiness or feeling unsafe signals middle-world energy. Both the Lower-World and 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 generally feel slow and steady, whilst the middle-world very often can feel like things are moving too fast, disjointed or disconcerting.
The response taught is to recognise that material and reconnect with the Lower-World. Support for a difficult experience is covered separately in What support is there if a journey stirs up something difficult?5
How can relationship patterns affect a journey? #
People inevitably tend to bring familiar relationship patterns into their relationship with 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. Someone frightened of being hurt may find commitment difficult. Feeling undeserving of love could make it hard to let the Guides’ love in. Difficulty asking for help, accepting help or allowing someone else to lead can also enter the journey.
Impatience, stubbornness, suspicion, lack of suspicion, distraction and being underconfident are examples of what can be carried unconsciously into the relationship.
Changing such patterns can take a long time. They are usually deeply ingrained and have their origins in childhood experiences and the usually unconscious meanings and responses formed around those experiences. Hollowing-out includes becoming aware of what is being brought.6
Can a journey become too busy? #
Yes. Elaborate sequences that use Plants and Stones like ingredients in a spell miss the point. A simple, unhurried and uncluttered journey allows each being time to work its medicine. Really experiencing what is happening, how it feels and the details helps the journeyer learn about that medicine.
There is room for both doing and being. In the “Be Kelp” journey, very little happened in terms of activity, and yet it was deeply affecting. There are times to do things, and sometimes there are times to just be.78
Why can it be hard to remember a journey? #
Different people in a shared journey can forget different parts, even crucial ones, immediately afterwards. Paul also tested this by recording himself speaking a journey aloud, writing down what he remembered, and comparing that account with the recording. He was surprised at how much had already been forgotten.
Even a relatively short delay before writing meant forgetting significantly more. Recall improved with practice, but for the first few years he describes writing journeys down as a useful habit to cultivate. Bringing the experience back into ordinary consciousness takes practice too.9
