Core Shamanic Practices: Journey Work, Power Animals and Healing

🕯 9 min read · June 25, 2026

Published by AfterDark Intuition · how we write these guides

Shamanism is humanity’s oldest spiritual technology — a set of practices for altering consciousness and interfacing with non-ordinary reality for purposes of healing, knowledge-seeking, and community wellbeing. Anthropologists have documented shamanic practices on every inhabited continent, arising independently in cultures that had no contact with each other, suggesting that the practices are a natural development of the human nervous system’s capacity for altered states rather than a culturally transmitted belief system.

The core technology is the shamanic journey: an intentional alteration of consciousness (typically induced by rhythmic drumming, rattling, or darkness) that allows the practitioner to enter what shamanic traditions call non-ordinary reality — a realm populated by helping spirits, power animals, and other intelligences that can provide guidance and healing.

Michael Harner and Core Shamanism

Michael Harner, an anthropologist at the New School for Social Research who trained extensively with Amazonian Shuar and Conibo peoples, extracted the common elements of shamanic practice across traditions and developed what he called Core Shamanism — a system accessible to people regardless of their cultural background. His 1980 book The Way of the Shaman remains the most widely used practical guide to shamanic practice in the Western world. The Foundation for Shamanic Studies, which he founded, has now trained thousands of practitioners in more than 40 countries.

The Three Worlds

Most shamanic traditions describe three realms of non-ordinary reality:

• Lower World: Reached by descending — into a hole in the earth, down a river, through a cave. The lower world is the realm of power animals and nature spirits. It is typically experienced as more natural, earthly, and vibrant than ordinary reality — not “hell” in any conventional sense.
• Upper World: Reached by ascending — through clouds, along a beam of light, up a mountain or tree. The upper world is the realm of teachers and guides who appear in human or luminous form.
• Middle World: The shamanic version of ordinary reality, which can be travelled in a trance state for purposes of locating lost objects or people, or working directly with the spirits of nature in this world.

How to Journey: Step-by-Step

The basic shamanic journey requires only a comfortable space to lie down, darkness or a cloth over the eyes, and access to shamanic drumming (recordings work effectively — the brain responds to the approximately 4-7 Hz theta-inducing drum beat regardless of the source).

1. Set your intention: A specific question or purpose. “I want to meet my power animal” is a classic first journey. Or: “I seek guidance on [specific situation].” The clearer the intention, the more useful the journey.
2. Find your entry point: An opening in the earth that you know from ordinary reality or imagination. A tree hollow, a cave entrance, a well, a hole between roots. This becomes your consistent entry point into the lower world.
3. Begin the drumming: Lie down, cover your eyes. Begin the drumming audio (approximately 4-7 Hz, 4-7 beats per second). Take three slow breaths.
4. Enter: Visualise yourself at your entry point. Descend. Do not force what appears — allow the imagery to arise organically. Move through a tunnel or passage until you emerge into the lower world.
5. Meet your power animal: Ask to meet your power animal. Notice what appears. (If nothing appears, keep moving, keep asking.) Whatever appears three times is significant. A power animal is always a wild animal; it will not be an insect or a domesticated animal in most traditions.
6. Spend time: Ask your question if you have one. Allow the interaction to unfold. Trust whatever arises.
7. Return: When the drumming signal changes to rapid beats (the callback beat), begin moving back through the tunnel to ordinary reality. Return through your entry point.
8. Ground: Open your eyes. Feel the ground beneath you. Eat something. Write what you experienced immediately.

Power Animals

The power animal is the central protective and guiding presence in core shamanism. Every person has one or more power animals whose energy and qualities supplement their own. A person who has lost connection with their power animal experiences what Harner called “power loss” — a condition associated with chronic illness, recurring misfortune, or general diminishment of vitality.

The practice of maintaining the relationship with a power animal — through regular journeys, through dancing the animal (embodying its qualities in movement), and through reciprocal offerings — is the foundation of ongoing shamanic practice.

The Shamanic Journey: Beyond the Basics

Once the foundational journey to meet your power animal is established, the shamanic journey can become a versatile tool for insight, healing, and connection. Seasoned practitioners often develop a personalized “shamanic landscape” where specific spirits reside and particular types of work are done. While the initial journey is often about discovery, subsequent journeys can be deeply purposeful, addressing specific life challenges or seeking wisdom from helping spirits.

Deepening Your Connection with Helping Spirits

Beyond the initial meeting, cultivating a relationship with your power animal and other helping spirits is key. This isn’t a one-time event but an ongoing dialogue. Consider these practices:

• Regular Check-ins: Just as you might check in with a trusted friend, make time to journey to your power animal regularly. Ask how you can honor them, what they might need, or simply spend time in their presence.
• Offerings: In many indigenous traditions, reciprocity is fundamental. While material offerings vary greatly by culture, in Core Shamanism, sincere gratitude, a commitment to embodying the animal’s qualities, or even a simple song or dance in their honor can be powerful.
• Embodiment: As mentioned, “dancing the animal” is a way to integrate its energy. This doesn’t require formal dance training; it’s about allowing your body to move in a way that expresses the animal’s essence, whether it’s the stealth of a panther or the soaring freedom of an eagle.
• Seeking Specific Guidance: Once a relationship is established, you can journey with more complex questions. For example, if you’re facing a creative block, you might journey to your power animal and ask, “What energy or perspective do I need to overcome this block?” The guidance might come as an image, a feeling, or even a direct message.

Navigating the Middle World and Upper World

While the Lower World is often the starting point for journey work, the Middle and Upper Worlds offer different types of wisdom and support:

• Middle World Journeys: These are often undertaken for practical, real-world issues. For instance, if you’ve lost an important item, a Middle World journey might involve asking your helping spirits to guide you to its location. It’s important to approach Middle World journeys with a clear intention and to distinguish between what you perceive in trance and what is verifiable in ordinary reality. Anthropologist Carlos Castaneda’s accounts, though controversial in their veracity, highlight how indigenous practitioners often navigate this realm with a deep understanding of its subtle energies.
• Upper World Journeys: These journeys are typically for seeking profound wisdom, spiritual guidance, or deeper understanding of existential questions. Here, you might encounter teachers, ancestors, or luminous beings. The guidance received is often more symbolic, philosophical, or archetypal. Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, with its universal archetypes, offers a psychological lens through which to understand the profound symbolism often encountered in the Upper World.

Avoiding Pitfalls in Shamanic Journeying

While shamanic journeying is accessible, certain misconceptions or practices can hinder its effectiveness or lead to frustration. Being aware of these can help you cultivate a more fruitful practice.

Over-Intellectualizing the Experience

One common tendency, especially for those new to spiritual practices, is to try and logically dissect every image or message during a journey. Shamanic journeying is primarily an experiential practice. Michael Harner often emphasized the importance of simply “going with what comes.”

• Trust the Process: The unconscious mind communicates in symbols and feelings, not always in linear narratives. Allow the experience to unfold without immediate judgment or analysis.
• Post-Journey Reflection: The time after the journey is for interpretation and integration. Writing down your experience immediately helps capture details before they fade. Later, you can reflect on the symbolism and potential meanings. Sometimes, the meaning only becomes clear days or weeks later.

Lack of Clear Intention

While a spontaneous journey can sometimes be insightful, a lack of a clear intention often leads to a diffuse, ungrounded experience. Think of it like setting out on a road trip without a destination – you might drive around, but you’re unlikely to arrive anywhere specific.

• Specificity is Key: Instead of “I want guidance,” try “I seek guidance on how to navigate this career transition with integrity.”
• Open-Ended Questions: While specific, your question should also be open enough to allow for unexpected answers. “What should I do?” can be limiting. “What perspective do I need to gain about this situation?” invites broader insight.

Disregarding Grounding Practices

Shamanic journeying involves altering your state of consciousness, which can sometimes leave you feeling “spaced out” or unmoored from ordinary reality. Neglecting grounding practices can make integration difficult.

• Sensory Engagement: After a journey, engage your senses. Eat something, touch the earth, listen to music, or take a walk. These actions help bring your awareness back to your physical body and immediate environment.
• Journaling and Sharing: Writing down your journey helps solidify the experience in your conscious mind. Sharing your experience with a trusted friend or mentor (if appropriate) can also help to integrate and process the insights.
• Mindfulness Practices: Techniques like those taught in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) can be excellent complements to shamanic work, helping to cultivate a present-moment awareness that aids in both entering and returning from altered states gracefully.

The Psychology of Altered States in Shamanism

From a depth-psychology perspective, shamanic journeying can be understood as a powerful method for accessing the unconscious mind and its vast resources. While shamanic traditions frame these experiences in terms of spirits and non-ordinary reality, psychology offers complementary insights into the mechanisms at play.

Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung’s concept of the “collective unconscious” posits that humanity shares a universal, inherited reservoir of experiences and images, expressed through archetypes – primordial patterns of thought. When a shamanic practitioner encounters a “power animal” or an “Upper World teacher,” they may be engaging with these archetypal energies.

• Power Animal as Archetype: A power animal like a bear or an eagle can be seen as embodying archetypal qualities of strength, healing, wisdom, or freedom. Connecting with these “spirits” can be a way of integrating these universal qualities into one’s personal psyche, leading to feelings of empowerment and wholeness.
• Teachers and Guides: The wise old man or woman, the divine child, or the trickster are all archetypal figures that can appear as guides in shamanic journeys. Engaging with them can provide profound insights into personal and collective human experience.

Theta Brainwaves and Hypnagogic States

The rhythmic drumming used in shamanic journeying (typically 4-7 beats per second) is known to induce theta brainwave states. These are the same brainwaves associated with deep meditation, REM sleep, and the hypnagogic state – the transitional phase between wakefulness and sleep.

• Accessing the Unconscious: In theta states, the conscious mind’s filters are relaxed, allowing for greater access to the unconscious mind’s imagery, memories, and intuitive insights. This is why journeys often feel vivid and dreamlike.
• Therapeutic Potential: The ability to access these deeper states of consciousness can be profoundly therapeutic, allowing individuals to process past traumas, gain new perspectives on life challenges, and foster creativity, much like certain forms of psychotherapy that utilize guided imagery or hypnotherapy.

The Placebo Effect and Belief

While often misunderstood, the “placebo effect” highlights the immense power of belief and expectation in healing. In shamanic contexts, a practitioner’s belief in the efficacy of the journey, coupled with the cultural framework of healing and spiritual guidance, can be a powerful catalyst for change.

• Empowerment Through Narrative: The shamanic worldview provides a narrative framework where individuals are not passive victims of circumstance but active participants in their healing and growth, capable of seeking guidance and restoring balance. This sense of agency is itself a potent therapeutic factor.
• Symbolic Healing: The “extraction” of an energetic intrusion or the “soul retrieval” of a lost soul part, while not literally physical, can be profoundly effective on a symbolic and psychological level, helping individuals to release emotional burdens or reintegrate fractured aspects of their self.