This paper was written as part of my thanatology degree

Class: Afterlife Beliefs Across Cultures

Submission date: April 10, 2023

We live in ordinary reality, a reality we are comfortable with, a mundane reality that we are comfortable with.  However, there is another reality beyond the edges of our consciousness called nonordinary reality which is a dimension outside, but parallel to, the confines of ordinary awareness (Bowles, 2014).  Shamans deliberately traverse nonordinary reality and, based on stories of near-death experiences (NDEs), it would appear that some people on the verge of death also journey to nonordinary reality.

Although shamanic journeys and the experiences of people who have near death experiences, known as NDErs, are similar there are key differences.  In the remainder of this paper, I will define the shamanic and NDE experiences, and explore similarities in differences in how shamans and NDErs are called to nonordinary reality, enter nonordinary reality, explore nonordinary reality, and exit nonordinary reality.

Shamans and NDErs

Shamans

Shamans are men and women who travel to other worlds using what Eliade (1972) termed “techniques of ecstasy” (p. 6-7) that other healers, such as magicians and medicine men, do not utilize.  Shamans heal the living and the dead through journeys to nonordinary reality.  They heal the living by performing soul retrievals where they reconnect people with pieces of their soul that have been lost or stolen and by mediating between people and their gods (Winkleman 2017, 52-53).  They heal the dead by serving as psychopomps and accompanying their souls to the “Realm of Shadows”  (Eliade 1972, 8). 

Although the word shaman has Russian origins and there are some who argue that the only true shamans are those from that region, most anthropologists base the determination as to whether a culture is shamanic or not on whether they contain certain characteristics.  These include altered states of consciousness; an initiatory crisis involving a death and rebirth experience; the belief in illness as caused by soul loss or the intrusion of objects; and visionary These include altered states of consciousness; an initiatory crisis involving a death and rebirth experience; the belief in illness as caused by soul loss or the intrusion of objects; and visionary experiences (Winkleman 2017, 52-53). 

Shamanic practices have been found in cultures around the world including Australia, Laos, Mongolia, Korea, the Americas, and Russia.  Although many believe that shamanism is a relic of the past, shamanic practices continue to exist today both in unbroken traditions from some cultures and in reconstituted neoshamanism.  Shamans deal with matters of the soul and spirit, but shamanism is not a religion in and of itself, but is a religious practice that is incorporated in religions around the world including.  Vitebsky documented shamanic practices and/or beliefs embedded into Tibetan Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and other religions (Vitebsky 1995). 

Near Death Experiences

Similar to shamanism, near death experiences are a universal phe

Call to Nonordinary Reality

Those who enter nonordinary reality are called to do so.  For shamans, that path is long and can be arduous, while for those experiencing a near death experience the experience appears to be spontaneous.  However, the potential also exists that a near death experience may be a call to shamanism.

Shamanism

The path to shamanism varies by culture as in some culturess the role is hereditary through blood lines, in others it is passed to an initiate chosen by an older shaman, and in still others it is believed that the spirits choose shamans by giving them an initiatory challenge that they can choose to accept or refuse.  If they choose to refuse the challenge, the spirits will continue to push until they eventually say yes.  Initiatory illnesses can include a shamanic illness in which the appear to go out of their minds, babbling gibberish, running naked across landscape with no regard for their own safety, or spending weeks up in a tree or lying motionless on the ground.  During this period, the people refuse to undertake the onerous life of a shaman and are pursued and tormented by spirits who are determined to make them capitulate” (Vitebsky 1995, 57).  Although the shaman almost always capitulates, the pursuit can be painful and last for years.  It is through this initiatory illness that shamans obtain their power (Kinsley 1996, 14). 

After accepting their calling as a shaman, shamans in many cultures go on a solitary journey or vision quest to meet their spirit guides.  Sometimes these quests lead the neophyte shaman into the wilderness or the mountains.  Many initiatory shamanic journeys involve a symbolic death and letting go of old personality and character traits that no longer serve the individual.  Becoming and being a shaman is a difficult path and many shamans would not have embarked upon the path if the gods had not insisted.  Shamans are often known as wounded healers due to the experiences they have had to endure to become shamans.  The challenges that a shaman endures, leads them to experience a profound compassion for others. (Ingerman and Wesselman, Awakening to the Spirit World 2010, 5). 

NDErs

Entering Nonordinary Reality

Nonordinary reality is typically considered to include the lower world, the middle world, and the upperworld.  The lower world is similar to the world we live in, but it may have mystical creatures like dragons and fairies.  It is the place where our ancestors are thought to live (lower).  The middle world is the world we inhabit.  And the upperworld is a place of celestial beings and higher consciousness.  Although Shamans can choose to enter the lower, the middle, or the upperworld, based on descriptions of NDEs, it appears that NDErs typically enter the middle or lower worlds.

Shamans

To journey to nonordinary reality, shamans first enter an altered state of consciousness.  Shamans prepare for this altered state of consciousness in a variety of ways including fasting, water deprivation, extreme exercise, celibacy, sleep deprivation, and social isolation (Winkleman M. , 2013, pp. 48-49).  ,This altered state of consciousness can be entered through drumming, singing, changing, or ecstatic dancing.  In some cultures, pscyhoatcive substances such as (NEED NAME) are used (Eliade, 1972).

The rituals used to induce the altered state of consciousness very by culture.  For instance, Bayar Odun, a hereditary shaman from Mongolia, enters an altered state of consciousness by first bowing to the four directions, then drums and chants until she enters the state of ectasy required for journeys to other lands (Tedlock, 2005, pp. 95-96).  Ostyak shamans enter a shamanic state by first fasting all day, then eating three to seven pscyhedlic mushrooms to induce a deep sleep during which he will journey to nonordinary reality.  After awakening, he will reveal what sacrifices are required to heal his patient (Eliade, 1972, pp. 220-221).

Once a shaman has entered nonordinary reality, he will enter the lower, the middle, or the upperworld.  The entrance to nonordinary reality is typically a place that exists in both ordinary and nonordinary reality.  Or instance, Native American shamans in California used a hollow tree trunk or a hot springs as an entrance to the lower world while the Zuni people of North America used a hole in the ground to access the lower world (Harner, 1990, pp. 35-26).  Access to the upper world is typically through climbing a tree or a ladder (Eliade, 1972) and the middle world, which represents the spiritual side of ordinary reality, can be accessed by shifting consciousness the the spiritual dimensions of ordinary reality (Terravera, n.d.).  When I journey, I typically gain access to nonordinary reality by visualizing myself at the mouth of Mammoth Cave or at the top of Bell Rock in Sedona.

NDErs

Healing in Nonordinary Reality

Shamans

Shamans are healers who believe that illnesses can be caused by both ordinary and spiritual means including soul loss, spiritual attacks by spirits or sorcerers, and the intrusion of objects (Winkleman 2017, 52-53).  Shamans are also diagnostitionals and typically diagnose patients either by reviewing their physical symptoms or by journeying to nonordinary reality to diagnose the patient (Kinsley 1996, 13).  Typical shamanic diagnoses of living individuals are of soul loss that would be healed by a soul retrieval or the intrusion of a foreign object that would be healed by an extraction  (Hultzkrantz 1981, 90). 

Soul loss occurs when pieces of a person’s soul are frightened away, are taken by a spirit, or leave voluntarily.  Soul loss can occur when a person undergoes trauma such as surgery, shaming, bullying, betrayal, or accidents(Wahbeh, et al. 2017, 209).  To retrieve the pieces of a person’s soul, a shaman may first call to the soul to entice it to come back, but if the soul refuses to return, the shaman will go into the underworld to retrieve the soul piece  and return it to the person’s body (Eliade, 1972, pp. 217-219).  An extraction is necessary when dense energies caused by sorcery or unconcious or conscious thoughts take up residence in the body and interfere with a person’s normal functioning (Skelton 2010).  These intrusions can be exgracted physically by sucking it out, blowing it out, or massaging it away.  When physically extracted, these objects take the form of a pebble, a feather, or a similar small object” (Hultzkrantz 1981, 89).  Modern day shamans are more likely to use vocals, drumming, or similar methods to remove intrusions (Wahbeh, et al. 2017, 209).

Shamans also serve the dead  by acting as psychopomp’s and escorting the souls of the dead, particularly those who do not realize the are dead, to the spirit world.  Shamans fill this role ecauae they are familiar with the road to the underworld.  In some cultures as the Lolo, the shaman leads all the dead to their final abode, but in other cultures the shaman only fulfills the role of psychopomp if the dead man continues to haunt “is summoned to fulfill this role of psychopomp only if the dead man continues to haunt the land of the living beyond the usual period” (Eliade 1972, 209).

Modern day shamanic healers sometimes fulfill the role of psychopomp within a hospice setting.  Leslie Bryan is a shamanic practitioner who brings shamanic healing to hospice care and who sometimes performs psychopomp rituals for her patients.  She said, “During a psychopomp ceremony a shaman calls on helping spirits and fills himself or herself with their power before meeting the spirit that is stuck in the middle road.  She then helps the spirit realize that the body is dead, tells the spirit that it is time to move on from this world, and provides the spirit with assistance to proceed to the other world” (Bryan 2013, 182-183).  Bryan described several instances of psychopomp work within a hospice setting including helping spirits who were trapped in patient’s rooms move on and helping individuals let go and move safely into the next realm.  As she works in a hospice setting with patients of various religious beliefs, she works within a patient’s beliefs and does not assume they are going to the Underworld or the Upperworld. 

Community Healing

Shamans not only heal individuals, as community leaders they also work to heal their communities by helping hunters find prey and interceding on behalf of their community with the Gods.  One example of how shamans help to heal community is the shamans of the Inuit people.  For the Inuit, shamans were responsible for interceding with Sedna, mother of the sea beasts, when she withheld her sea creatures from their hunters because she was offended by the villagers’ actions.  Legend has it that Sedna was tricked into marrying a birdman who could not provide for her.  Her father came to rescue her, but when the birdman’s friends attacked the kayak, he was taking Sedna home in, he threw her overboard and cut off her fingers so she could not cling to the side of his kayak and tip it over.  Each of her fingers became a different sea creature and she became the Mother of the Sea Beast.  As long as the Inuit follow certain customs, Sedna ensures they have sea creatures to hunt.  However, if they break these taboos, she will withhold her sea creatures.  Hill said, “When distressed by violations of hunting taboos or by the suffering of her charges — usually seals and walrus — Sedna responded by keeping the animals with her rather than releasing them to hunters; she might also send sickness, bad weather and starvation” (Hill 2011, 409).  It was not only hunters who could break taboos and offend Sedna, women could also offend Sedna by menstrual impurities or by improperly butchering meat (Hill 2011, 410). 

When it became clear that Sedna was offended, a shaman was responsible for making a journey under the ocean to Sedna’s domain.  After she allowed him entrance, he would comb her tangled hair and she would tell him of all of the transgressions of the people.  Once the shaman returned from his journey, there would be a group confession as people shared how they had broken taboos with the community.  Eliade said, “Illness is presumably caused by violation of taboos, that is, disorder of the sacred or by the theft of the patient’s soul by one of the dead.  In the former case the shaman attempts to cleanse the impurity by collective confessions” (Eliade 1972, 289).   He added, “And the shaman, in the spirit language, demands the confession of sins.  One after another, all confess their miscarriages or their breaches of taboos and repent” (Eliade 1972, 297).

Escorts of the Dead

shaman’s movements across worlds.

Shamanic activities were typically concerned

with health. The shaman’s rituals played an essential

role in the psychic defense of the community, defending

“life, health, fertility, the world of light, against death,

diseases, sterility, disaster, and the world of darkness”

(Eliade, 1951/1964, p. 509). The theories of illness

typically focused on soul loss, which was considered to be

caused by spirits’ aggression or by theft by other shamans.

Other prominent causes of illness were thought to involve

spirit aggression and sorcery where health was affected

by the actions of ghosts and spirits, or the malevolent

action of other shamans, sorcerers, or witches. Shamanic

rituals typically involved the dramatic enactment of

struggles with spirits to remove them and recover the

patient’s soul. In addition to spirit-focused rituals with

a variety of socio- and psychotherapeutic functions, the

shaman’s healing ceremonies also incorporated physical

medicine—cleansing of wounds, extraction of objects,

and the use of herbal medicine.

NDErs

Exiting Nonordinary Reality

Shamans

NDErs

Summary

References

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