Journeys to the spirit world

In my short story “An Occurrence on Interstate Five,” Grandma ferries her dogs beyond ordinary reality through an ancient, amorphous space. Her journey has inexplicable consequences witnessed by several people. My tale is a variation on the classic ghost story theme, in which spirit beings create physical effects in the real world.

But there’s a flip side to ghost stories: A person from the ordinary world enters the spirit realm. Visionaries, prophets, psychics and shamans are examples of people who claim to experience non-ordinary reality. Shamans, in particular, can supposedly then influence reality from the vantage point of the spirit world.

My first exposure to shamanism was “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge” by Carlos Castaneda (Ballantine Books, 11^th Printing: 1972). Castaneda’s doctoral thesis turned cult classic enthralled me and my college friends. At that time in our lives we were searching for meaning, wisdom, and guideposts in living. This book, about the teachings of Don Juan, a Yaqui brujo, suggested a Way leading to knowledge and power. Eagerly, we naively attempted the “magic” the author described.  We tried to find a sitio (a special spot of personal strength, pp. 19-20) in our dorm rooms. We searched for “power objects” (a feather or stone, pp. 10-13) while walking to class. And we wondered about the reality of Castaneda’s visions. Were they just drug-induced hallucinations? Or did Castaneda truly visit another world? Did he actually become a crow (p. 173)? Was he really at risk of dying from a witch’s conjuring (pp. 189-193)?

One possible take on the reality of the non-ordinary world, and one I endorse, is described in my book, “A Second Chance Life.” In it, Jude is a white man who follows traditions taught to him by his Indian mentor, a healer and seer named Tsitsuga’. Part of the traditions involve Jude journeying into non-ordinary realms. In the following scene, his skeptical friend Sara questions his experiences.

“Do you think your journeys are real?” she asked.

Jude had been confronted with this question countless times before. “Real as opposed to . . . what?”

“Real as opposed to, well, something you imagine. Something determined by inner, personal factors, including your unconscious mind.”

“I don’t believe I physically in this body journey to the spirit world or shapeshift or travel to other earthly places. My experiences are imagined, yes, they are images in my mind. Is mind real? Yes, I believe it is. It’s not physical, it’s something immaterial, but real nevertheless, and so are the spirit worlds.”

Jude felt Sara was testing him, maybe wondering how open he’d be to her skeptical, scientific input . . .

“But your journeys are personal, right?” Sara continued. “Determined by your own mind, and the places don’t exist unless you imagine them.”

“Sara, I can’t answer that. I don’t think there’s a way to know. But here’s something to consider: Spirit worlds can be agreed upon by a group of people. They can be accepted as “real” in that way. There are striking commonalities about spirit worlds in shamanic traditions from many different cultures.”

The shamanic traditions are fascinating to many people. Indeed, workshops which teach distilled, simplified shamanic practices proliferated in the U.S. after the publication of anthropologist Michael Harner’s excellent book “The Way of the Shaman,” (Harper & Row, original publication in 1980). Today, you can find hundreds of websites for non-Native American shamanic practitioners.

Ordinary people, coaxed by curiosity, have attended workshops and have taken shamanic journeys, learned some basic healing ideas, and even dabbled in shapeshifting.

Real or not?

You could try it and decide for yourself. I did, and decided . . .well, I’ll save that for the next post.