Journeying uses an altered state known as the shamanic state of consciousness, or SSC, usually entered with the help of a drum. What makes it shamanic is contact with the shamanic realms, not how deep it is: it can be as light as a daydream, the journeyer keeps some awareness of ordinary reality, and they can come back at will. Journeys do not have to be visual; they can come through any of the senses, including the ability to sense or intuit what is there.
What is a shamanic state of consciousness? #
A particular kind of altered state, known to researchers as the Shamanic State of Consciousness, often shortened to SSC.1 Shamanic people live with ordinary reality and shamanic reality side by side, and a journey is a time when they choose to immerse themselves more fully in the shamanic side.
Not every trance is shamanic. What makes one shamanic is contact: shamanic trance states “are characterised by being in contact with the world of the spirits.”2
How deep is the trance? #
It varies. “Being in trance is not a black-or-white thing, but greyscale, in that such states may vary from being very light, through to being very deep.”3 We slip into light trances all the time, daydreaming, driving or listening to music. Depth is not what defines a shamanic journey: “What defines SSC is not whether it is a light or deep state. Nor is it about the means used to enter SSC.”
The kind of journeying taught in Therapeutic Shamanism “usually is somewhere in between light and deep trance states. It is deeper than a light trance, and yet the practitioner still maintains some conscious awareness of what is going on in the journey.” A shamanic trance “can be as light as a daydream, something that we can easily snap out of.”4
How is the state entered? #
Usually with a steady drumbeat or a rattle, though there are other ways. The drum is “a means to an end, and only one way of entering SSC.”5 What matters is reaching the shamanic realms, not the method. How to begin a journey is set out in How do I prepare for a shamanic journey?
Am I in both worlds at once? #
In everyday life, a shamanic person keeps a foot in each: “healthy shamanic practice involves having a foot in both worlds”, and “Having both feet in the shamanic reality all the time is not shamanism, but madness.”6 A journey is a deliberate and temporary step further in: “To do a shamanic journey is to temporarily put both feet into shamanic reality.”7 Afterwards, both feet come back. That is why “GroundingGrounding. Returning fully into the body and physical reality; the bedrock of safe practice, and how every journey ends. More about this is the bedrock of shamanic practice”.
Can I always come back? #
You must be able to. “The ability to return at will is one of the differences between shamanism and psychosis.”8 “The ability to come back at will is essential”. This is why anyone who struggles to keep hold of ordinary reality should work on their grounding before journeying for themselves; an experienced practitioner may be able to journey for them instead.9 See Is shamanic journeying safe? Coming back is a matter of becoming aware of the body again.
Do shamanic journeys have to be visual? #
No. Many people who find journeying difficult at first are expecting it to be visual. Sight is the sense we most live in, and it keeps us anchored in ordinary reality: “It is for this reason that shamanic journeying is usually done in the dark, to cut sight off.”10 In some cultures, blind people were considered to be better at shamanic journeying.
Paul Francis’s own journeys are sometimes very visual and sometimes not at all. So “It is important to learn to pay attention to the non-visual.” A journey may come as sound, smell, taste, touch or feeling, as well as sight.
In fact, in Paul’s experience of teaching, “whilst some people’s journeys are pretty visual, most people’s journeys aren’t.” Often “it is more a sixth sense; a sense of just knowing what is there”: simply knowing that over there is an oak tree, and underneath it is a wolf. Chasing pictures gets in the way: “For many people, focusing on the visual is a sure fire way of setting yourself up for failure!”
What should I do if I cannot see anything? #
Turn to another sense. Sight is only one way in. Whenever he gets stuck in a journey, Paul turns to what he can smell, or hear, or taste, sense or intuit, and then the journey will start up again.11 A journey that comes through other senses is just as real as one that is seen.
Can my Power Animal move anywhere in journeys? #
Yes, and it should be with you wherever you go. “When journeying, always journey with your 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.” Asked whether it should come along, the answer “is always ‘yes’! There are no exceptions to this.”12 It is not limited to 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: “Your Power Animal both can and should come with you to both 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 and 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 too.”13
Very rarely it may go on ahead to somewhere too dangerous for you, but it will always leave you somewhere safe and come back for you. And “anyone or anything that tries to separate you from your Power Animal does not have good intent and is categorically not to be trusted.”14 See What is the role of Power Animal in shamanic journeying?
How do non-visual journeys get unpacked? #
In the same way as any other. The first question is always what the journey means to the person who had it: “in Therapeutic Shamanism the real and deepest meaning of the journey is what it means to the person whose journey it is”.15 Feelings and bodily responses are part of what the journey gave, and they are clues. Research afterwards then deepens the meaning. See How do I unpack and interpret a shamanic journey?
