The Animal, Plant and Stone People are the other-than-human members of the family of beings that animists call the Peoples, the children 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, with Humans as the youngest of them. Each kind of being carries its own healing gift and teaching, freely given to any human who asks, and in Therapeutic Shamanism they are met as wise teachers in the Lower-World. Reconnecting with them is the healing for Power-lossPower-loss. Disconnection from nature, the web of life and our place in it: like being unplugged from the national grid. One of the two root causes of shamanic illness, healed by reconnection (not by soul retrieval), beginning with the Power Animal bond. Read the full answer, our disconnection from nature.
Who are the Peoples? #
They are all the beings of the living world, understood as kin. In shamanism, the Lower-World “is also the realm of ‘the People’ – Mother Earth’s children. As well as us, the Human People, there are the Animal People, the Standing PeopleStanding People. The Trees. More about this (the trees), the Plant People, and the Stone People.”1 Humans are not set apart from them: “For animists, we humans are one of the Animal People, cousins of the Plant People and Stone People, and part of an interconnected and inter-dependent web of life.”2
Why are they called “People”, and why the capital letters? #
Because everything is alive and conscious, and everything is family: in animism, “Everything is equal and part of one big family of beings.”3 The word “People” says that other beings are someones, not things (see What does it mean to say the world is alive and full of persons?).
The capitals mark which realm is meant: lower case for 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 things, and capitals for 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 things, so ‘panther’ in the middle-world and ‘Panther’ in the Lower-World.4 A bear in a forest is a bear; Bear, met in the Lower-World, is the wise being behind all bears.
Is there an order among the Peoples? #
An order of age, not of rank. “Hunter-gatherers say that the oldest and wisest of the Peoples by far are the Stone People. Next oldest and wisest (but still vastly younger than the Stone People) are the Plant People. Then come the Animal People, and then us Human People.”5 This makes humans the children of the family, in need of guidance, which is a call to humility rather than a ranking (see How does animism understand power and hierarchy?).
Why does every kind of being have a healing gift? #
A traditional story explains it. The Animal People were so angry at how humans were treating Mother Earth that they planned to wipe the Humans out. The Stone and Plant People called a great council of all the Peoples and said this was forbidden, because Humans are Mother Earth’s children and, as children, need help and teaching. “So, at the council, every type of Plant, Animal and Stone agreed to take on a healing gift and teaching, and to give this freely to any human who asked for it.”6
The consequence is remarkable: “When in nature, we are surrounded by thousands of things with healing gifts, knowledge and wisdom, and all given freely to us. All we have to do is ask.” See What is the medicine bundle?
What are the Animal People? #
All animals, including us. Their nature is shaped by one fact: “no animals can produce their own food. Because of this, all animals are predators.” They eat plants, or other animals that eat plants, and within the animal kingdom every animal is predator, prey or both, so “the predator-prey dynamic is intrinsic to Animal.”7 This makes Animal driven, restless, emotional and social, full of drives and relationships to navigate. “Being Animal is complicated.”8
Because humans are Animal too, we are so used to this restlessness that we rarely notice it, and new students often carry it into their journeys, which can be “very busy and restless, and full of Animal concerns and motivations”. Learning to recognise it is part of learning to meet the older, calmer Peoples.
Many animals are also highly emotional beings, with their own ways of thinking, communicating and bonding, and a growing body of science now agrees. See Do animals think and feel? Because the Animal People are kin, not a lower order of being, Therapeutic Shamanism does not rank them by how sentient or intelligent they seem. See Does it matter whether an animal is sentient?
What are the Plant People? #
Older, calmer and wiser than Animal. Being Plant is simpler than being Animal: “By contrast, Plant is chilled and relaxed.” Without the predator-prey struggle, Plants have no agendas: “They do not deceive, seduce, manipulate or keep secrets. Simply put, Plants never play politics.”9 Their consciousness is of a different kind from ours, collective rather than self-aware.
Trees, the Standing People, have a special place. Deeply rooted and reaching high, “trees epitomise both being deeply connected to Mother Earth, and reaching upwards to 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 (Sun). This is why they are seen as spanning the realms.”10 See What are Plant People and what gifts do they bring?
What are the Stone People? #
Far more than stones. “The Stone People are not just rocks, stones and crystals. They are physical matter.” They are the chemical elements and everything made from them, including water, air, sand and soil, and even phones and cars.11 Plants, Animals and Humans are Stone People too: “All physical things are Stone People, temporarily experiencing a particular form.” Someone once beautifully called Animals and Humans ‘the Stone People dancing’.
The Stone People are the oldest of the Peoples and the closest to Mother Earth herself. Their consciousness is very, very different from ours, so different that most modern people no longer perceive them as alive at all. See What are Stone People and what gifts do they bring?
How are the Animal People different from a Power Animal? #
A 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 is one Animal with whom a person has a committed, primary bond; the Animal People are all Animals. “Your Power Animal should be with you all of the time. There are no exceptions to this.” They are “your primary and most important link to the more-than-human world.”12 Other Animals also appear in journeys: “Indeed, the Lower-World is full of Animals. Some will just make fleeting appearances, whilst others may be regular companions.” They may help with particular kinds of work, while the Power Animal remains the constant companion. See What is a Power Animal?
What are Oversouls? #
An OversoulOversoul. A branch of Mother Earth representing the whole of a species: the single being all the individuals arise from. Lower-World work is always with the Oversoul, never an individual; environments are composite Oversouls, wheels within wheels. More about this is the whole of a species as one Lower-World being. “An Oversoul is a branch of Mother Earth in the Lower-World that represents the whole of a particular species.” Tiger Oversoul is all tigers; each individual tiger in the middle-world is a twig on that branch.13 “Think of the Peoples as being like a great tree that is rooted in Mother Earth and grows up and out of her.” The Stone People are the roots, Plant the trunk, and Animal a trunk diverging from Plant and branching into all the kinds of animal.14
Because “Individuality then is a characteristic of the middle-world, and wholeness is a characteristic of the Lower-World”, Lower-World work is with Oversouls, not individuals, which is why journeys are best described as “Next, Bear appeared” rather than “Next, a bear appeared”. See What is an Oversoul?
What do the Animal, Plant and Stone People have to do with Power-loss? #
Reconnecting with them is how it heals. “Power-loss occurs when we become disconnected from nature, from the interconnected web of life and our place in it.”15 In shamanic usage, power means life-force, and Power-loss is caused “by cutting oneself off from Mother Earth.”16 Reconnecting with the other Peoples is reconnecting with the web of life itself. “Anything that helps us to reconnect helps in healing power-loss. First and foremost in this is doing a Power Animal retrieval, as they are your most important connection to the more-than-human.”17 Working with the wider Animal, Plant and Stone People then deepens that reconnection. See What is Power-loss?
How does someone meet the Animal, Plant and Stone People? #
Through journeying, through time in nature, and through getting to know a being in the middle-world as well: journeying to meet an Animal Oversoul or a Plant Oversoul, getting to know a Crystal Oversoul, and researching the being in the middle-world as part of the work. In Therapeutic Shamanism the Power Animal comes first, and work with the wider Peoples follows once that bond is in place. This work is the subject of the Next-Steps course on the Animal, Plant and Stone People.
What do we owe the Peoples in return? #
Help in the middle-world. “It is a nonsense to ask for help from animals and plants in journeys, and then ignore their plight in this physical world and do nothing to help.”18 Whether through lifestyle choices, campaigning or volunteering, giving back is part of the relationship. See What is right relationship and reciprocity?
