Author and International Spiritual Teacher, Ann Varney discusses how the shamanic journeys of the hidden worlds can help you find love, abundance, and a deep connection with yourself. She offers in-depth insight into what to expect when you travel metaphorically to the inner worlds.
First of all, what is so special about a shamanic journey and what are the 3 hidden worlds that you can access in a different spiritual dimension?
A shamanic journey is a technique that came from a thousand-year-old spiritual practice by the shamans, in which they would set an intention to gain information about the tribal land, their ancestors and/or to gain insights into peoples spiritual sickness.
The shamanic journey is very different in today’s culture as it was performed generally with their tribe, and the Shaman was looked on with respect and idealism from their peers.
However, in today’s culture, I find that many people call themselves Shamans, even if they have only participated in an introduction to shamanism course. I find this very disrespectful of the Shamanic tradition.
I have trained in Shamanism for over a decade, but would still not consider myself a Shaman as I have worked closely with the traditional shamanic culture in Peru, and America. They actually find it laughable that these so-called ‘Shamans’ of today’s culture can call themselves Shamans.
The Shamanic Journey is an integral part of the Shaman, in the Shamanic Journey, we find the lower world, the middle world and the upper world. Although we do not necessarily visit all these Worlds in one shamanic journey.
When I teach students to initiate a shamanic journey, basically, I get them to listen to the beat of a drum in a receptive beat. I also teach them to use the beat of their heartbeat in a more advanced technique, as I have found within my practice, that a drum is not always handy.
This sends you into a trance state, where you allow the beat of the drum or heartbeat to unite you to the repetitive sound of the beat.
Which then relaxes you into a trance-like state.
You are now ready to visit one or all of the 3 different worlds that anyone can visit in the spiritual realm, even if you have never studied Shamanism.
I describe below the 3 hidden World’s:
Lower World
When you’re going into the lower world, you imagine first of all, that you are going downwards into the land.
- You can imagine that it could be going into a hole in the ground.
- It could either be that you’re just going into a tunnel.
- Going down into a cave.
- Down a set of stairs.
- Travelling down the centre of a volcano
- You could even go down a body of water
- Climbing down the roots of a tree
The list is endless and It could be anything that you, your subconscious mind, actually lead you into at the time.
Descending in any way, whatever metaphor your mind is letting you follow.
Many people think, when they hear of the underworld, it is something bizarre, which it is not at all. You’re descending into the lower world, simply for information.
So you always set an Intention.
Before you go into that trance state, you would write down on paper or in your journal, what your Intention is.
It certainly helps if you say out loud what your Intention is. ALWAYS remember to start off with a Clear Intention. If you go into any of the worlds without an Intention, you will go in confused, which means you have no direction.
One can never connect, without having an Intention.
What we mean by an Intention is that it could mean
- You want to manifest something.
- Embracing the love that you want in your life
- How do I allow myself to connect to my inner spirit?
- I want to connect with my spirit guides?
- Could I connect to my spirit animals?
- Allow my shamanic Guidance to help me in my life in the present
So the lower world could be filled with mountains, deserts, and dense jungles. There are no buildings, skyscrapers, cars, or digital products etc
It can be very colourful, sometimes I get my students to maybe think of Alice in Wonderland and how Alice in Wonderland really goes from hard reality to a non-reality, this is what the Shamanic Journey does.
When you go into these worlds, it’s full of landscapes and nothing is manmade in the lower world. This is really a great place to start.
Middle World
What is the middle world?
What can we expect from the middle world on this shamanic journey?
Working with the middle world, throughout my own journey, it is just like this world we are in now.
It is all about seeing yourself just as you are, in this presence, in this world.
It is just like walking out your front door, into your garden, like it is in reality.
The good thing, however, about the middle world, is that you can travel through space and time when you go into the shamanic journey.
What is the benefit?
It is really to help people if you’ve maybe lost something or when you want to reach a distant destination. The middle world is a very good place if you want to do distant healing as well.
It is also where we go looking for lost soul parts, as with the other Worlds. I find quite a lot of soul parts in the middle world.
Some people say it can get a bit complicated, but I don’t find it complicated at all.
You simply have to set the Intention of what it is you are looking for.
Set the intention first, because then maybe it could come to you as a metaphor.
This can happen in all the worlds, lower-, middle- and the upper world.
What do we mean by metaphor?
It could maybe be an image.
For instance, if someone was down and very lonely and in a lot of anxiety, maybe scared, or they had a fear of intimacy maybe, we would try to help them heal on this shamanic journey.
This is where you would go into this middle world and see a metaphor. A good example of a metaphor is of the beauty and the beast, the glass dome, and the dying rose, and in this way, we salvage that part of the person that is lost.
This is how we would then bring back the love. Sometimes there’ll be a love heart in that dome, or it could maybe be a key. The key is then to unlock the person’s heart, to open it up.
I could maybe be taken to a place where I see an old fashioned treasure chest. That old fashioned treasure chest is like one of those boxes within a box. Almost like Pandora’s Box.
Keep opening up the boxes within the boxes, I always do this very quickly because sometimes it may contain a beaten heart or the lost soul part.
Sometimes if someone is in fear, we could get just a single word.
Maybe the word ‘Courage’ or ‘Strength’ would bring back the essence of courage or strength to replace fear. If you are going to go into this, for yourself, remember to always go in with an intention.
Actually, you should always go into anything, with an Intention.
If you don’t go in with an intention, you will just get confused and you get lost, or you wonder, where am I going? What am I doing?
Sometimes it can take a little practice to actually do this Journeying.
Usually, if you know the difference between these 3 worlds, the lower world, middle and upper worlds, you will find it easier and easier the more you practice this.
Shamans go into these and have done so for thousands and thousands of years, and they talk about the animals and the plants that live within these Worlds.
Especially if you’re walking through a forest, for instance. You can get so much knowledge from doing these shamanic journeys.
What I find with the shamanic journey, that it is different from Meditation. Meditation is when you go into yourself and you’re getting inner guidance.
Upper World
There are many different ways of experiencing the Upper World. This is what I have found in my journeys and also my training.
Here is a brief description of what you could find in your Upper journey:
- Complete darkness, as if you’d just be in space.
- You are on a different planet.
- There’s just nothingness.
- You are in a crystal cave.
- You are amongst the stars.
- You are in a different dimension.
- You could also simply be in the clouds.
- And so much more….
The upper world really can be anything at all, maybe for you; it could tend to be brighter, with a spectrum of colours or complete darkness.
Your shamanic Journey will show you exactly where you are.
Also, it could be that in the upper world, you can’t feel your feet on the earth. You’re floating, you’re flying away. Sometimes you feel like you are flying into the sky at the speed of light.
Lower World
If I’m doing a shamanic journey, I always see myself starting at my base point, going into the Lower World through a cave with my Spirit Guide awaiting me at the entrance, or to my waterfall that I sometimes go to in the spiritual dimension.
Then if I need to go to the upper world to collect information or lost souls, I will go right up from the Lower World.
The reason for going into that particular location is for safety for yourself, so that you and your subconscious mind don’t get confused.
- You would maybe think you don’t know where you are going, as I sometimes am on the back of an Eagle, my powerful spirit guide, almost like he is some avatar and the Eagle takes me up. Just imagine the film Avatar, and the dragons.
- You could also maybe be going up as if you’re climbing up a rope or a ladder, or you’re jumping from the top of the mountain.
- You could even be going up as if you’re going over a ramp, or even up from the fire of the chimney.
- You could be in a tornado.
- You can even go up in a hot air balloon.
- You could even have a Disney character like Jack in the Beanstalk and you’re going up the Beanstalk.
- There’s no right or wrong way, just as long as you have the feeling of going upwards.
The Upper World in a Shamanic Journey is where we can really see the planets and the stars.
I have actually seen some people, whilst doing my training all around the world, who absolutely loved the upper world so much that they just didn’t want to come back.
They didn’t want to come back because they just felt so free, as they felt like they had finally gone home and were having an awesome experience.
Even if you love it so much, trust me, your subconscious mind, your superconscious mind, and your conscious mind will bring you back so you cannot get lost.
You always start with an intention, because that is the reason for doing this is to either get guidance or healing energy for your clients or the planet.
You will either start by going to the lower or the middle world first, whichever is easiest for you. Once you are there, it’s easier to go up to the upper world.
This is only a brief synopsis of the 3 Worlds as it takes months, even years of training to completely understand the 3 hidden Worlds, as you will always find something new within these 3 hidden World’s.
Featured Image Credit: Petr Sidorov (Unsplash)
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