The shamanic 'middle world' of nonordinary reality consists of numerous spirits of several types, including 1) the spirits of nature such things as wind, storms, trees, mountains and places 2) ancestral spirits ('ancestors' to such groups as families, tribes, guilds and crafts), 3) intrusions (such as those sent by malicious sorcerers to harm someone), 4) spirits of deceased persons who have not transcended (crossed over) to the other side, and 5) the whole worldwide bevy of gnomes, elves, faires and others beings that are nonhuman spirits.
The following exchange helps to clarify the nature of the fourth group (above) of these middle world spirits; those of non-transcended deceased persons.
“You say the middle world is ‘tricky’ and the spirits can be ‘ignorant’. Would you say it is dangerous?”
Yes. Middle world spirits are not singularly guided by compassion and may be motivated by their own best ends. Or they may be ignorant, which can lead to non-benevolent, or even malicious behavior. Upper and lower world spirits on the other hand, are unilaterally motivated by compassion. Though benevolence can be found in the nonordinary middle world, there is also self-interest and the possibility of destructive behavior. Looking at our ordinary reality, the withholding of sharing and providing for each other is simply ignorant, for when we treat each other with kindness and compassion, everyone benefits. Thus, when middle world spirits sometimes try to usurp the power or vitality of another, it is short-sighted because it ultimately reduces the vitality and life of everything, including themselves since they would (if they knew) be far happier once they crossed over!
Now, looking at nonordinary reality, the middle world is a kind of reflection of this. This is a complex and vast topic, and worth at least an entire course series itself. In order to give a flavor of what we are dealing with generally and treat the subject with any degree of fairness, I will focus on one kind of middle world spirit, that of deceased persons who have not 'crossed over'. To say such spirits are 'ignorant' is not out of disrespect, but because they simply do not know or believe that by transcending the middle world, they will go to a better place. 'Ignorance' here, simply refers to their lack of awareness or understanding that they will be completely satisfied once they allow themselves to continue on as a healthy part of the recycling vitality of the whole. However, instead of ‘going with the natural flow’, they hang out in the middle world, not transcending (crossing over) and can only survive – even in the barest of shadow form - by usurping the power and vitality of a living being.
This is why such middle world spirits are ignorant. In a sense, they have a ‘feast’ waiting for them on the ‘other side’. The ignorance is in that they do not know this or don’t believe it, and instead desperately remain, foraging for scraps of life force from living beings around them, which doesn’t belong to them and weakens those from whom it is taken.
Though these are only one kind of middle world spirit, they are ‘dangerous’ to the extent that we who are around them are not sufficiently empowered ourselves. When we are empowered, middle world spirits end up being little more than an annoyance. Intentionally working with middle world spirits is generally advanced work, demanding heightened personal power and extremely close relationships with our spirit helpers. It is unfortunate, for there are tons of people who out of curiosity or youthful excitement began to explore middle world spirit entities. The trouble is that what started as fun, ends up being harmful as they are subject to being saddled with drains on their own power and vitality. Some middle world spirits take advantage of human vulnerability, and finding a weakness, they find subsistence, kind of like a parasite.
“Why do we need protection; how exactly could we be harmed during a journey?”
When learning shamanism, a person typically starts out without full empowerment. This is simply to be expected, since the empowerment comes from the reintegration of our lost soul and power parts, as well as the increased alignment with and proximity to our upper and lower world spirit teachers and power animals. It just makes sense that on the practitioner’s learning curve, one starts by working in the upper and lower worlds and with the compassionate teachers and spirit helpers that are there. Since they are entirely compassionate (or else just part of the ‘scenery’), absolutely no harm can come from them. Upper and lower world spirits and their realms are where we find our learning, growth, and empowerment as we journey forward in our shamanic practice.
I always remind people to not engage in middle-world nonordinary activities until they have sufficient empowerment from the reintegration of their soul parts and power, and from their close work with their spirit helpers. The only exceptions to this are when one is working with their own ancestor spirits and is educated in how to do so through their own ordinary reality lineage, or when one listens to the voices of the nature spirits such as in communicating with trees. Without the preparation of education, the consequences can be unhappy. The potential harm comes from spirits who 'feed' on one's power. Such parasitic entities leaves one even more vulnerable to further ordinary and nonordinary situations. For instance, there are many kinds of virus and microbes that can attack a biological organism. The loss of shamanic power can be compared to the loss of biological immunity. When one loses a strong immunity, they are left with a reduced ability to fight off a virus, which will take advantage of this weakness. What follows is the potential even for further biological complications and loss.
Sorcerers are those who work with power in middle world ordinary and nonordinary areas. As you can see from the above, the source of their power is the life force of others. Their work, therefore, is necessarily malicious because their power demands extracting the life force from someone or something else. Naturally, such practitioners will find such power where there is vulnerability.
When it comes to the shamanic path to healing, recovery and wellness, shamanism focuses on regathering the fullness, wholeness and the empowerment of a person. It is helping one return to their true self by helping them gather and reintegrate any power and soul parts have been lost and held distant.
“Also, along with seeing spirits in ordinary reality, comes the ability to communicate with them, correct? The area I live in has many. Although I do not see them clearly I see many.”
Yes. You are already communicating with spirits. I instruct my students to specifically not work with middle world spirits during the first level of training, and then only in a very specific and highly focused way towards the end of the second level. The clarity of the appearance of any spirit is not something of simply the ordinary reality vision. What the shaman develops is his or her non-ordinary reality sight. In many cases, you will actually ‘see’ more clearly when your physical eyes are firmly shut and not confused by ordinary reality appearances!
Once I am more open to them, am I going to be hearing them talk to me all day? Will they be able to impress thoughts and ideas on me whenever they want?
‘No’ to both questions! The practitioner always is exercising the ability to open and shut the doors to nonordinary perception. I recall a talk Michael Harner once gave about one of his trips out of the United States when he was first looking for shamans from whom he could learn. He went hiking, and saw a man in the wilderness wildly wandering about, talking to trees and rocks, and clearly in touch with something beyond ordinary perception. Harner then returned to the village in which he was staying, and excitedly told his hosts that he thought he finally had found the shaman, and explained what he saw. At this, his hosts laughed uproariously and were quick to reply that the man Harner saw was no shaman. Harner was confused, and asked why. They responded something to the effect that the man was not a shaman because ‘He’s always that way.’
The point was clearly impressed on Harner by people who lived with and understood shamanism as a way of life: shamanic practice necessitates the ability to move deeply into nonordinary reality, and then return. The shaman is the healer and diviner for the village: if he or she cannot return, they cannot take the requests from the village to the spirit world and bring back the healing or divination that is needed. Thus, they are not a shaman.
“It seems there is a fine line between ordinary and non ordinary reality, and I am trying to get a better grasp of it.”
Sometimes the firmness of our ‘grasp’ actually takes a loosening of our ‘grip’! This is the best approach to thinking about the different realities. For instance, there really is no ‘line’ between the middle world ordinary and nonordinary realities, unless it is a human conceptual one. It is more of a matter of perspective. Seen in one way, there is ordinary reality. Seen in another way, there is the nonordinary. Furthermore, the middle world ordinary and nonordinary can be understood as mirrors of one another, or as superimposed realities atop one another, or as being completely integrated. The only way to ‘grasp’ this loosen our ‘grip’.
“You say working with (ignorant) middle world spirits can leave one drained of power and vitality. How might this happen?”
The draining of one’s power by a middle world spirit can happen in any number of ways. Here are just two scenarios.
In some parts of the world, a sorcerer might be hired to purposefully send an ‘intrusion’ in the form of a small middle world spirit, into another person. In such a world it is recognized that without adequate protection, these intrusions are received like barbed arrows that drain one of vitality and potentially open them up to misfortune.
However, such draining does not necessarily come from malice and it can be entirely unrecognized that there is a middle world spirit involved. For instance, perhaps a much loved relative passes on. Out of our attachment to this relative, people sometimes refuse to ‘let them go’. Perhaps that deceased person likewise refuses to move on (transition, cross over) because they are likewise attached to someone or some place. Such deceased persons become middle world spirits because they do not cross over. As with all middle world spirits, such a spirit can only maintain its existence by tapping the life force of a living being, which in this case may well be the one who out of love and attachment, refused to let them go. We know of such people: they are pining away, sad, and suffering. The relationship they maintain with their deceased loved one who is now a middle-world spirit, is draining them of their vitality.
“It is certainly possible to see them (middle world spirits) in ordinary reality, so I am assuming that it’s possible to communicate with them as well without a journey. However you say a shaman practices the ability to regulate the doors between realities- being able to close them as well as open them.”
Having the capacity to open and close the doors to the spirit world does not mean that we throw open all the doors. Such doors can lead to growth, vitality and empowerment, or they can lead to suffering and loss. Without training and empowerment, I discourage seeking out and working with middle world spirits.
My advice to shamanic practitioners regarding middle world spirits can be compared that given to the caregiving staff of a hospital. Patients with contagious disease are in the hospital all of the time. The staff, however, does not seek out these patients and work with their acute affliction without the training and protection that will keep them safe. Hospital staff may have the ability to open the closed door of a contagious patient’s room, yet they are educated to choose to not do so without training, protection and a specific healing purpose firmly in place.
However, such hospital protocols do not prevent hospital staff from becoming ill with disease contacted outside the hospital. We live in a world of disease and risk: this is the nature of the middle world, both ordinary and nonordinary. Our empowerment provides some measure of safety (such as by having a strong immune system) and our wisdom provides the rest (such as by taking ordinary precautions like keeping a distance from people who have a bad cough, washing hands, etc.).
“I am wondering how 'close' we have to get to these spirits before we are endangered. If we reach a level of consciousness in ordinary reality where we are able to see and or communicate with them... are we putting ourselves in harm’s way?”
Proximity to middle world spirits is the normal human condition: they are around us all of the time. The difference between being safe or not is in the degree to which we are personally empowered and have our own spirit help with us protecting us. Anyone who is at all disempowered is ‘at risk’ and since there are plenty of disempowered people around us, there are all sorts of people around who are suffering from intrusion by middle world spirits. However, most of our contemporaries are not aware that this is their problem. One puts him or herself in harm’s way when they go an extra step and invite such spirits into their life. One would not go looking for them without protection, for it would be like going into rooms with patients in a hospital who have airborne contagious disease without a mask, gown, and gloves.
I never recommend that practitioners work with middle world spirits without training and protection. Aside from taking one’s paths to the upper or lower worlds, first level students in my own training are told to move quickly up or down these paths and not pick up items seen there or interact with any middle world spirits if they are encountered. The only deviation from this is in a very carefully controlled journey with a protecting spirit helper into the non-ordinary middle world during the 9th unit, and only to a place that is validated as safe by our spirit helpers. Students do not actively work with middle world spirits until close to the end of the second level of training, and then only with highly controlled protocols.
Practitioner protection is gathered over time with the retrieval and reincorporation of one’s power and the gaining of powerful upper and lower world spirit help. The wise practitioner first focuses on developing a strong alignment with the compassionate upper and lower world spirits and gathering his or her own power. Aside from educated working with one's own ancestor spirits, or listening to the teachings from the nature spirits, working with middle world spirits before sufficient training and empowerment would be reckless at best. It is simply too risky.