Working with the spiritual dimension of the Middle World

Working with the spiritual dimension of the Middle World

If you have learned how to do a shamanic journey, with journeys to the Middle World to explore the spiritual dimension of our everyday world, here are some steps I would recommend for you to follow up on.  For those who would like to explore the spiritual dimensions of all that you see around you, but have not learned how to journey to the Middle World, all six steps listed below are available to you.

 

1)   Learn to observe the nature around you with focused attention to details in the shapes, the colors, and the changes.  What is new?  What is different?  What speaks to you?  This is a practice that leads to learning how to be fully present, in the now.

Learn to see, to witness, the extraordinary and the miraculous.  It IS there, we just often overlook it.  When we are fully present, the extraordinary becomes much easier to see, to witness.  Many spiritual teachers (such as Eckhart Tolle) write and speak about the importance of the now, the present.  This practice of observing the details in nature will help you manifest this teaching in your own life.

 

In more advanced shamanic journeying classes, participants keep a miracle log, recording miracles in their own lives. My own miracle log focuses on the miracles I see in nature, often just in my small garden, such as the one tomato plant that survived winter freezes. If you look at the location of this one ripe tomato on this tiny plant that grew in low-light conditions to produce this single fruit in late March, this is indeed an extraordinary event.  The green onions behind it are all transplants.

 

2) If you are mulling over a problem or an issue and want to find a solution or resolution, take a moment to look at the natural world. Even in a very urban environment, there are trees, or bushes or window boxes.  Or indoors, there are houseplants, rocks, crystals, or cut flowers.  After thinking of the problem or issue, notice the nature around you.  All of a sudden you will see the extraordinary, the “small” miracle, and this will help you answer the question that is on your mind / in your heart.

This can also be considered as looking for “omens.”  For example, in shamanic divination, you may learn how to look carefully at a rock after thinking of a question, and see the answer in the rock’s shape and lines.

3)   In the Middle World, take a moment to honor all the Spirits of Nature, or all the Hidden Folk.  Whether in a garden, or on a park bench, take a moment to sit quietly.  If you have learned how to do a shamanic journey, then journey with the intention to introduce yourself to a Spirit of Nature.  Or, just close your eyes, and in your mind’s eye, after asking permission of the Spirits of Nature, introduce yourself to the Spirit of the Tree in front of you, or the flower, or the bush, or the grasses.

Beautiful Painted Arrow (Jospeh Rael) describes learning to see the plant spirits with “deer eyes” by opening his eyes very wide (see pages 74-74 of his book House of Shattering Light: Life as an American Indian Mystic for a complete description).

 

 

4)   Thank the Nature Spirits or the Hidden Folk for helping promote the bounty you receive in your life, whether edible to the stomach, or edible to the eyes.

 

 

5) Practice expressing gratitude to the Spirit of Water, without which we could not live, the Spirit of Air, the atmosphere we need in order to breathe, the Spirit of Fire that warms our bodies and our spirits and provides us with light, and the Spirit of Earth that holds and helps grow our food, our housing, our medicines.

6)   Experience your sense of Oneness with Nature.  With all the diversity in nature, the colors, the shapes, the textures, the functions, you are part of Nature, you are, we are, One.  Feel that Oneness, experience it in every cell of your body.

 

 

For those who would like to deepen their experiences and use shamanic techniques in gaining knowledge, wisdom, spiritual awareness and understanding, and to help in healing ourselves and our Earth, there is much to explore.

 

For those interested in learning how to do a shamanic journey, I recommend the books and recordings found here.

 

For further information, I recommend Sandra Ingerman and The Foundation for Shamanic Studies.