The Four Worlds the Shaman Travels, and Why We Begin in the Safe Ones.
Shamanic cosmology describes four distinct worlds. Together they encompass both the physical, material world of tangible reality and the Spirit World, which is itself divided into the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds. Physical reality exists only within the Middle World, while the Upper and Lower Worlds are purely spiritual domains, with no physical counterpart at all.
Understanding this map is one of the first things a student of shamanism learns, because where we journey matters a great deal, especially when we are just starting out.
The Upper and Lower Worlds
The Upper and Lower Worlds are inhabited exclusively by benevolent, compassionate, healing spirits. Every being you meet there is truthful and life-affirming, and these worlds hold no parasitic or malevolent entities, which makes them trustworthy places to receive deep and profound healing.
Transformative healing often asks us to become vulnerable, so one of the first prerequisites for a deeply healing journey is that we undertake it in a safe space. That is exactly why, when you are beginning, it is best to limit your journeying to the Upper and Lower Worlds, where safety and integrity are assured.
The Middle World
The Middle World is a different matter. It is home to a far broader spectrum of spirit temperaments and intentions, and its inhabitants are not all life-affirming or trustworthy. Some Middle World spirits are helpful or protective, while others are lost, mischievous, or even malicious. Some serve as guardians of a particular culture, place, or community, and may be hostile toward outsiders who enter a spiritually active area without respect or permission. In fact, our physical reality is a mirror of what is happening in the spirit reality of the Middle World.
Venturing into the Middle World calls for real discernment, much as navigating a large and unfamiliar city does in ordinary reality. You wouldn't stroll through the middle of Times Square with a stack of hundred-dollar bills hanging out of your back pocket; that would be a naive thing to do. We don't do that in the physical world, and we don't do it in the Spirit World either. Avoid indiscriminate interactions with Middle World spirits. It is not a place to idly dabble, to open yourself to whatever happens to arise, or to call in random spirits for fun.
And please, don't use Ouija boards or anything of the kind. When someone tells me, "a spirit spoke to me," I usually reply, "that's interesting, what kind of spirit spoke to you?" It matters that those beginning their spiritual exploration learn to think in these terms, and to understand that the same diversity of temperaments and agendas we see among people in physical reality exists among the spirits of the Middle World.
Safety Guidelines for Learning Shamanism
So the Middle World is unlike the Upper and Lower Worlds, where everything is trustworthy, life-affirming, and benevolent. This is why Shamanic Spirit Medicine begins by teaching students to journey exclusively in the Upper and Lower Worlds. We wait until you have cultivated the experience, the skill, and the inner strength required before journeying into the Middle World at all. Learned in the right order, on the right foundation, shamanic journeying is both safe and profoundly healing.
If you'd like to learn to journey this way, safely and in the right sequence, that is exactly how we teach it, beginning in Level 1.
— Scott Silverston