. Shamanism   What is Shamanism? "shaman" (pronounced SHAH-mahn) Over tens of thousands of years, our ancient ancestors all over the world discovered how to maximize human abilities of mind and spirit for healing and problem-solving. The remarkable system of methods they developed iS today known as "shamanism," a term that comes from a Siberian tribal word for its practitioners: Shamans are a type of medicine man or woman especially distinguished by the use of journeys to hidden worlds otherwise mainly known through myth, dream, and near-death experiences. Most commonly they do this by entering an altered state of consciousness using monotonous percussion sound. From: Shamanism.org     On this page we will deal mostly with Siberian & Mongolian Shamanism.   Buryat Mongolian Shamans   The Upper and Lower Worlds and the World Center Throughout Siberia as well as among many Native American groups people believe that there are three worlds laid upon one another in the universe. In some ways, ideas about the upper and lower worlds seem to imply a concept of parallel worlds rather than that of three worlds being literally stacked like layers on a cake. While the sky is believed to be infinite in depth, shamanists nevertheless insist that there is a doorway to go beyond the heavens. In the same way, while the earth is believed to be deep and solid, there are many passages which allow spirits and shamans to penetrate beyond to the lower world. Another aspect of the idea of the other two worlds is the fact that they are very similar to Earth in that they too have a sun, moon, forests, and humanlike inhabitants. The dwellers of the upper and lower worlds are invisible in our middle world, and people traveling from here to those worlds are likewise invisible. The presence of such intruders will be betrayed by a sudden crackle in the fire, barking by foxes, or by being visible to shamans.   (Mongolian) The lower world is basically similar to this world except that its inhabitants have only one soul, rather than the three possessed by human beings. The ami soul, which causes breathing and warmth in the body, is lacking, so lower world dwellers are cold and have dark blood. Furthermore, some of the dwellers in the lower world are actually the suns souls of human beings awaiting reincarnation. The sun and moon are not as bright as in this world; the Samoyed say it is because the sun and moon of the lower world are actually half rather than full orbs. The lower world has forests, mountains, and settlements just like this world, and its inhabitants even have their own shamans. The ruler of the lower world is Erleg Khan, son of Father Heaven. He has authority over the disposition of souls, when and where they will incarnate. Shamans often must appeal to him when recovering souls which have prematurely wandered away to the lower world before the body has died. Outside of these situations, people from the middle world rarely enter the realm of Erleg Khan except after death. Travel to and from the lower world goes by many routes. One route is by way of the World River, which flows into the lower world, and its entrance is protected by Mongoldai Nagts, who prevents souls from entering the lower world before the body is truly dead. Nevertheless, sometimes souls slip through and must be retrieved before the illness caused by the soul’s absence causes permanent damage. Travel along the World River is very perilous and it is full of rapids. It is said that when a shaman falls dead during a lower world soul retrieval it is because the trip was too dangerous and his soul was lost. During his journey to the Lower World the shaman also may need to confront and placate Mongoldai Nagts and Erleg Khan and convince them to let the soul return. The lower world may also be entered through caves, whirlpools, springs, or one of the many tunnels through the earth which lower world beings use to travel up to this world. The upper world, like the lower world, appears very similar to this world. The upper world, however, does not normally house the spirits of human beings, although shamans may travel there. It is brighter than this world, some legends say that it has seven suns. Descriptions of the upper world say that it resembles the earth, but nature in that world is still unspoiled and its inhabitants still live in the traditional ways of the ancestors. The ruler of the upper world is Ulgen, who is also a son of Father Heaven. Sometimes the brightness of the upper world will be revealed when the doorway between the worlds is opened. This will be seen as rays of sunlight shooting out from beyond the clouds, and prayers said when this occurs are especially powerful.   Tuva ~ Siberia/Upper Mongolia   Travel to the upper world requires flight, and shamans often change themselves into birds in order to make the journey. They may also ride upon a flying deer or horse for the journey. The route may be straight upward, or toward the south, to the source of the world river. Some accounts of shaman initiations involve travel to the upper world and initiation by the spirits there before the shamans’ initiation in this world. Another way of travel to the upper world is climbing the toroo, Tree of the Universe, which is represented by a tree at shaman ceremonies. The shaman will climb the tree while in a state of ecstasy and his soul will at the same time ascend the actual toroo tree to the heavens. Yet another route is suggested by the Dagur Mongol word for shamans’ power dreams—soolong. In standard Mongolian solongo means rainbow, and the shaman may be traveling in his sleep over the rainbow to the upper world in order to retrieve the information he brings back from the dream. Earlier in this chapter the ger was said to represent the center of the world. In reality, each person stands at the center of the world in his own consciousness. Shamans in doing their work also locate themselves in the center of the world during their rituals. Many different images are associated with the center of the world. The most familiar one is that of the place of the fire in the ger, which is the meeting point between the earth and the axis connecting the three worlds. The other is the toroo tree, which also creates an axis as well as a pole for ascent and descent. Siberian and Mongolian traditions locate the tree at the center of the world, but also in the south, where the upper and middle worlds touch. By the world tree, which some say "stands at the border of day and night", the world river enters the middle world from the its sources in the upper world. According to the traditions of the Altay, Bayan Ami, lord of the forest animals, will be encountered during the ascent of this tree and will grant the shaman geese to assist him on his journey to the upper world. The top of the toroo tree touches the sky by the pole star, the altan hadaas, the sky nail which holds up the heavens. The other image of the center of the world is the peak of Mount Sumber, the world mountain. The peak at the center of the world is close to the pole star, and its roots rest upon a turtle in the lower world. Text Courtesy Of: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/2146/mongolia/cms.htm   Soul Retrieval Excerpt from an article Called: Shamanic Healing: We Are Not Alone An Interview of Michael Harner by Bonnie Horrigan Anyone who's had a trauma, from a shamanic point of view, may have had some loss of their soul. By soul we mean the spiritual essence essential throughout one's life as we describe life in our culture, which is from conception or birth to the time of death. The techniques for healing soul loss are soul-retrieval techniques, and one of the classic shamanic methods is to go searching for that lost portion of the soul and restore it. Until about 8 years ago, most people in the Western world felt that soul retrieval was a superstitious practice that had no validity, but things have turned. I must say that a major reason is the work of my colleague, Sandra Ingerman, the author of Soul Retrieval and Coming Home. During her shamanic practice in Santa Fe, NM, years ago, women who had had significant childhood abuse would mention in the course of the sessions that they had removed themselves psychically from the situation at the time of abuse. Sandra immediately recognized, as a practicing shaman, that the person's soul to some degree had left the body (if it had left completely, the person would have been dead), and therefore the logical thing was to retrieve the lost portion of the soul and bring it back. So she then started doing soul retrieval for these people who had had significant childhood traumas, and the results were astounding. Today, this work is an important part of shamanic healing practice in the West. Indeed, if you ask a group of people, "How many of you feel you've lost part of your soul?" it's typical that everybody raises their hand. At some deep level, there is a natural awareness of this problem. By the way, even a minor trauma can result in some degree of soul loss and can be treated. Another major technique in shamanic healing work is extraction. Extraction involves removing a spiritual intrusion. Just as there can be infections in ordinary reality, so there can be spiritual intrusions. We don't mean that "evil" spirits have entered. It's more like termites in a wooden house. If you've got termites in your house, you wouldn't say those termites are evil, you'd say, "I'd just like to get them out of the house." In this same way the shaman works to remove things that interfere with the health of the body, such as spiritual intrusions, and extract them. This is not done through journeying. It's done through working here in the Middle World in an altered state of consciousnes.     http://www.shamanicstudies.com/articles/857415539.htm