The Shamanic Journey & Addiction Recovery: Part 1
How shamanic journeying supports healing from addiction and trauma. How to embark on a shamanic journey and integrate what you learn and discover.
First thing’s first. What’s a shaman anyway? And what the heck are we up to?
A shaman is someone who’s in relationship with spirits and can employ them on behalf of an individual or community to help solve problems here in ordinary reality.
The shaman engages with these spirits through the shamanic journey. This is a means of gathering information, knowledge, and power while in partnership with the spirits. The shaman then returns with these gifts to use for our benefit.
Traditionally, the shaman was an essential component of society. Their role was to maintain a healthy relationship between the activities of a culture and the natural world around them. This interdependence and ongoing conversation was considered a vital part of society’s day-to-day endeavors and how it stayed healthy.
Why should you learn to journey?
Somewhere along the path to modernization, we’ve silenced this conversation and lost touch with this interdependence. We divested the shaman of their societal role. We relegated our innate abilities to hear the messages and receive knowledge, information, and healing power from spirit to “authorities” (who tell us that they know better).
Many people today are experiencing a void due to this disconnect from spirit and Nature. In response, many are also seeking to fill that void with the only thing that fits: one’s own ability to engage in and receive direct revelation from spirit—without an intermediary and without censorship.
Today, we’ll explore how the shamanic journey is one way of doing exactly that and how we can apply what we receive to healing—specifically in addiction recovery and trauma resolution.
We’ll address the following:
What is this journey?
Where do we go?
How do we get there?
Exactly what spirits do we meet?
How does this help with recovery from addiction and resolution of trauma?
Let’s take these one by one.
What is this journey?
Shamans have existed on every continent and in all ancient cultures. While the methods they use to journey vary, all involve a change in consciousness.
Some such methods include:
Rhythm and music (African dance)
Repetitive movement (Sufi spinning)
Ingestion of mind-altering substances (Elysian mysteries, psychedelic renaissance)
Dreaming (Iroquois and Australian Aboriginals)
Breathing techniques (Yogic, Holotropic)
Deprivation (such as of sleep, food, shelter, and/or personal contact—as in The Vision Quest)
Many of the same methods take other forms and names in today’s world. Participants report experiences similar to those of the shaman, whether or not that was their original intention and whether or not they received specific guidance.
For our purposes (which take legality, simplicity, and effectiveness into account), we’ll be focusing on how to achieve this state of altered consciousness by using a steady, monotonous drumbeat.1
Because this method is not as physically invasive and involuntarily forceful as many of the others, it does require some learned abilities. Through this method, we are participants riding the line between watching things unfold and actively employing the guiding instructions.
To achieve this monotonous drumbeat, we can bang on our own drum and enter into trance, or we can use a recorded drum track while we lie down, cover our eyes, and put on headphones.
Once we have these logistics in place, we can employ the guiding instructions, which you’ll find below. But first…
Where do we go?
Using the term made popular by the author Carlos Casteneda through his works on The Teachings of Don Juan, where we go is called “non-ordinary reality.” This is the place of spirit, which is separated from our “ordinary reality” by a veil that keeps the two separate.
Once we pass through this veil and enter the realm of spirit, what we find is that there is amazing congruency among ancient cultures around the geographical layout of this realm.
Generally, it is divided into three parts:
The Upperworld
The Middleworld
The Lowerworld
One of the most common “maps” laying out the territory of these three regions of non-ordinary reality is seen in The Tree of Life.
We find this imagery in the traditions of the Norse as Yggdrasil and the Celtic people as Crann Bethadh. We also find it in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, as well as throughout the African continent.
Each culture has their own name for it. But, whatever we call it, this Tree of Life has branches reaching up into the Upperworld, roots digging down into the Lowerworld, and a trunk growing in this Middleworld.
Meanwhile, the Chinese call them: Heaven, Person, and Earth. Going up, in the direction and with energy of Yang, into the cosmos of the Upperworld. Going down, in the direction and with the energy of Yin, into the Earth’s Lowerworld. And here we are, as a Person, existing in the Middleworld—harmonizing the Yin-Yang forces of existence.
We can understand a bit more about these worlds through the tales of modern storytellers. Taking a trip to the Upperworld, we pass through the veil of clouds in Jack and the Beanstalk. Going down into the Earth through the tunnel of the rabbit hole, we discover fantastic places of the Lowerworld in The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. And dreaming for twenty years, we are transported through time and the Middleworld in Rip Van Winkle.
Whether we’re going up to the Upperworld, down into the Lowerworld, or out into the Middleworld, there are two main points:
First, we are not alone. We are following the shamans who have ventured into these realms since our earliest beginnings. These places are known, and there is trusted help waiting for us there in the form of our compassionate spirits.
Second, we are entering into another reality—one that is just as real as the one we reside in here. Like those dreams we have, which upon waking “feel even more real than reality,” this non-ordinary reality abides by different rules and has different inhabitants and relationships.
The shamanic journey is the vehicle that propels us through the veil and into the three worlds of non-ordinary reality.
We’ll cover how to do this next. First, we need a place to venture out from. This should be a place in Nature in ordinary reality that you know and that you have good, deep feelings about. Also one that you can bring into your mind’s eye clearly and in detail.
Do that now.
For a trip to the Lowerworld, choose an opening into the Earth, such as a cave, animal hole, or tunnel made by tree roots. The requirement here is that you can see the opening clearly but do not know where this opening ends up.
For a trip to the Upperworld, you can follow the path upward provided by large trees or smoke from a chimney or campfire.
For any of these, and especially for a Middleworld journey, make sure your ordinary reality place is one of safety, grounding, and even a sense of Home.
Close your eyes and bring yourself into this place. See it in all of its colors, then bring in the other senses of smell (e.g., What season is it? Spring smells different than fall.), feeling (e.g., Feel with your mind’s eye the ground upon which you stand and the sun on your face.), hearing (e.g., wind, water), and possibly even “tasting the air.”
Make note of these. You’re working your senses in ways that are probably new—they’re like muscles that need to be flexed in order to get stronger. Opening your senses in these ways prepares you to receive the information of your journey and grounds you into your ordinary reality starting place.
Now that you’ve got these down, we can go through the step-by-step process of how to undertake the shamanic journey.
How do we get there?
Generally speaking, the steps of shamanic journeying go something like this:
Setup: Find a quiet place to lie down with your back on the floor, making sure you’re comfortable but not so relaxed that you’ll fall asleep. You want to maintain strong focus during the journey and do not want to doze off. Many journeyers designate a particular blanket for this specific purpose. (Note: If you have any physical concerns that would limit your ability to perform this—or any of these requirements—don’t attempt anything beyond your normal range of comfort. The journeying process can be adapted so that anyone can undertake it.)
Focus: Turn off any phones, alarms, buzzers, etc., that could possibly interrupt your journey. Have your equipment and/or materials that you will use to record your journey close by.
Lights: Lower all lighting to the point of necessity. This should be a level that allows you to safely turn the lights back on when you’re finished. You may also wish to cover your eyes while journeying to prevent seeing any light, which may prove distracting. A bandana, eye mask, shirtsleeve, piece of cloth, or your arm can work.
Drums: Once you’re situated in your space and have completed the above steps, start the drumming audio track (you can use the free one available in The Sober Shaman’s Medicine Bag or one of your own that keeps a pace of about 200 beats per minute). Other instruments, such as the rattle, didjeridu, bell, or chimes may also be used, but we generally suggest starting with drums.
Starting Place: Your visualization will start with your place in ordinary reality. Again, this is somewhere in Nature that you’re familiar with and have good feelings or memories around. It can be from your childhood or an opening you saw this morning. (For a Lowerworld journey, just make sure you don’t know where the hole eventually opens to or ends up.) To begin, bring the place into your mind’s eye with as much clarity and using as many senses as possible. For example: What season is it? What time of day? What’s the temperature? What’s the weather like?
Intention: State your purpose for journeying aloud, and send it three times with strong intention into the direction you’re traveling. For example: “I am journeying to the Lowerworld to meet my guiding spirit. I am journeying to the Lowerworld to meet my guiding spirit. I am journeying to the Lowerworld to meet my guiding spirit.”
Go: Begin your journey by going up, down, or out. For example, if going to the Lowerworld, enter into the opening and visualize a tunnel that leads down into the earth. Go through this tunnel while keeping your senses open. Is it damp or dry? Is it rocky or soft dirt?
Through: Eventually you’ll pass through the veil. Whether like clouds into the Upperworld, or the tunnel down into the Lowerworld, or out of your physical body and into the Middleworld, you’ll open up into a landscape of non-ordinary reality.
Emerge: Emerge from the clouds or tunnel and enter into the realms of non-ordinary reality. It may appear as a landscape from ordinary reality or may look completely different. Summer beaches made of winter snow, barren deserts in the middle of tropical islands, an undersea medieval golf course, etc. In this reality, the possibilities are limitless!
Calling: Call for and send out with a strong intention the desire to be met by your guiding spirit. It will come. It may be in the form of an animal, a human, an angel, or any combination thereof. When it does, make and maintain as much eye contact as possible. As spirits approach you in this world, be sure to address and treat them with the courtesy and respect you’d like to receive yourself. Ask them questions as you would any new acquaintance, and be sure to establish that they are indeed your guiding spirits. If they are or are not, they will tell you through words, actions, feelings, or perhaps some other way. Find out how communication is performed here. This is a new and particular “muscle” that must be trained to become effective in this world. If you do not meet a guiding spirit, keep sending out your intention. You can also ask spirits that you meet but which are not your guides to take you to one that is. Keep trying. Eventually our guides show up. They want to help as much as we want help.
Moving: You will discover how to travel in this world of non-ordinary reality. Go with your guiding spirit, and do the things that are necessary in order to carry out the specific purpose you came for. Travel will be another new “muscle” that’s revealed and trained.
Return: After a set amount of time (often between 5 and 15 minutes; sometimes longer if preferred), the drummer or recording in ordinary reality will issue a “callback.” This is a break in the pattern and a change of speed in the drumbeat. During this time, stop whatever you’re doing in non-ordinary reality and tell whomever you’re with that it’s time for you to return to ordinary reality. Thank all that you’ve seen, met, and done as you come back the same way you went along your journey. This will include everything in the non-ordinary reality landscape—back up the tunnel or down through the clouds or back into your energetic field, and finally, back into your body waiting in the ordinary reality place in Nature from where you started.
Back in Ordinary Reality: Upon return from callback, the drums will cease and you’ll feel yourself fully back in your physical body. Take your time. Sit up slowly and proceed to record the journey using whatever means you decided beforehand. Some prefer writing in a journal, while others prefer talking into a recorder. Experiment to see which is best for you.
Share: You may wish to share the events of the journey with your partner, other journeyers, or a shamanic counselor.
And that’s it! How to get there, do the work, and come back with the knowledge, information, and power we require for the tasks and healing we need to do in ordinary reality.
Next, let’s take a look at who is providing this help.
Exactly what spirits do you meet?
You will meet your helping and compassionate spirits. There are two primary reasons for this:
First, this is the clear and focused intention that you’re sending ahead of you, before embarking on the journey.
Second, these spirits want to help and are awaiting your call.
It’s like puzzle pieces fitting together: You send a call for help with Yang energy through the veil. It’s received and answered by spirits in non-ordinary reality, where they hold the Yin energy of healing information, knowledge, and power.
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
—Lao Tzu
“You can’t always get what you want. But sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”
—The Rolling Stones
What form your helping and compassionate spirits take is often a surprise. This is a good thing.
Generally speaking, we all hold heroic fantasies of being in partnership with “the big spirits” and may desire to be met in non-ordinary reality by a dragon, bear, or Merlin…only to end up with a salamander, shrew, or hobbled old ancestor.
Don’t judge. Treat your new spirit with respect, and honor their answering of your call. We have no idea what they may offer us.
Upon first meeting a spirit ask:
“Are you my helping and compassionate spirit?”
Often, the true nature of a spirit isn’t revealed until we make this direct inquiry.
From here, move through the following:
What’s your first impression? Is there an overwhelming sense of love and connection? Is there trepidation and hesitancy? Is it yours or theirs?
Can you look directly into their eyes? This is the “standard” way to make connection. Then, view it from three different angles; in each, look into their eyes. What’s it like to see the spirit in this way? What’s it like to be seen by the spirit in this way?
How do you communicate? Words? Actions? Feelings? Focused thoughts? A deep knowing?
Listening to the answers you receive and paying attention to how they’re transmitted may be the first part of your learning.
Working in the shamanic realms often requires expanding our perspective, which in turn expands our abilities, which may then be the next parts and necessary components for healing and growth.
How does taking a shamanic journey help with recovery from addiction and resolution of trauma?
I’ll answer this question in two ways: First, with a traditional response. Second, with what I’ve discovered through my own recovery and in working with clients.
Traditionally, there are a number of healing events that can occur during the shamanic journey, and these can appear in a variety of forms. Common themes include flight and travel to other worlds, merging to become as-one-with your spirit, dismemberment or obliteration of “your form,” seeing through your spirit’s eyes, becoming one-with-all-things, and many others.
If your trusted helping and compassionate spirits invite you to participate in any of the above, you should follow their lead. The spirits know.
These actions involve healing through three basic means:
Power Retrieval
Soul Retrieval
Removal of Intrusions
And they correspondingly are the medicines for the three basic shamanic pathologies:
Power Loss
Soul Loss
Spiritual Intrusion
All of these can be powerful and essential parts of your recovery, growth, and healing. They can occur spontaneously during a journey, or they can be planned using specific intention, preparation, and ritual.
These are traditional shamanic ways that have helped many recover from addiction and resolve trauma. And while this is not an either-or scenario (indeed, any of the traditional ways of healing may occur during what I’ll share next), I’ve found it useful to guide the journeys so that they provide more immediate, tangible answers to an individual’s questions and situation. That way, we can explain any information received in plain English and the individual can more readily integrate it.
In my own process and work with clients, this means…
More specific questions get more specific answers.
While traditional shamanic healings are time-tested in myriad cultures across every continent, the work that I’ve dedicated myself to—and what I’ve found essential in my own recovery and that of my clients—is to take shamanic journeys to specific places in non-ordinary reality led by very specific intentions.
I’ve found that more specific questions yield more specific answers. And when we have this kind of information, we can more easily understand how to apply it when life presents opportunities to do so—because these moments are the precise points in the cycle of addiction when we must leverage our new awareness and employ the power to change.
Natural patterns offer an invitation and opportunity.
Shamanic cultures living in conversation with spirit derived great wisdom from observing the cyclical patterns of Nature. Whether we’re considering the seasons, stars, movements of animals, or growth of plants, certain events and patterns cycle and repeat through time.
This provides a tremendous opportunity to learn and apply the same wisdom to the problem of addiction. In other words:
Addiction does not need to be as overwhelming, unknowable, and mysterious as it sometimes seems. Addiction follows the same simple and predictable patterns found elsewhere in Nature.
By studying these patterns, we have a clear and reliable map of how addiction unfolds and can see and understand the way trauma informs its creation.
Following this map, we can pinpoint the places of opportunity—meaning, where we can leverage our strengths and break the cycle once and for all.
The Sober Shaman’s Path of Recovery
I call my rendering and practice of this map The Sober Shaman’s Path of Recovery.
It follows Three Principles, which are how I explain and lay out the timeless pattern of addiction and the universal truths underlying it. In condensed form, it goes like this…
Addiction recovery follows three basic principles:
Addiction affects the whole person.
Addiction is a cycle.
Addiction impacts every relationship.
Principle 1: Addiction affects the whole person.
Addiction affects our mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects. Thus, we can use the information, knowledge, and power gained during shamanic journeys and apply it to heal every aspect of the whole person.
Principle 2: Addiction is a cycle.
As a participant in the cycle, we know firsthand how an addiction perpetuates and keeps itself alive—from the deep, underlying beliefs rooted in trauma and lying at the core…to the machinations of mental planning for relief…to the frantic acts of acquisition…to the communal rituals of using…to the inevitable lying and covering up—which then validate the original core beliefs and plant the seeds for addiction’s next go-round.
Seeing this through the spiritual eyes and experiential knowing of shamanic journeying provides us with insights and shows us where our cycle of addiction is weakest and where we can break it once and for all.
Principle 3: Addiction impacts every relationship.
Employing the spiritual conversation to our most intimate relationships causes the entire dance and dynamic of that relationship to change—not only with our closest partners, but also with our intimate relationships to society, career, Nature, and spirit.
These Three Principles guide the way through the rocky terrain of recovery from addiction and healing from trauma.
This is by no means the only map—just the one that I’ve created while on my own journey and while helping others.
And, it’s not finished. This map—like the landscape of recovery—is always growing and evolving as we learn to speak new languages and incorporate new approaches.
That’s one of the beauties of using universal principles and timeless truths: There will always be new ways of seeing and interpreting “the truth” and applying it to those who need it during our current time.
That’s exactly what the shamanic journey—and your ongoing conversation with spirit—can help you with as you grow, heal, and travel along your own path in recovery.
Now you.
Have questions or thoughts? Wondering where and how to get started?
Join me for a conversation in the comments or email me directly at: Randy@AlchemistRecovery.com.
If you’d like to go on a guided Medicine Journey or do a Shamanic wRites exercise, you’ll find them in the The Sober Shaman’s Path of Recovery Free Preview here. See you inside.
With All Good Medicine,
Randal
How do we know if we should go to the lower vs upper world? I want to try this weekend but want to make sure I’m going to the right place. Do they serve different functions?