Core Shamanic Practices: Journey Work, Power Animals and Healing

🕯 3 min read · June 25, 2026

By Elena Sol · Astrologer & Numerologist

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.

Elena Sol

Astrologer & Numerologist

Elena Sol studies the symbolic systems of astrology and numerology and their roots in cultural history. She is interested in how these frameworks help people reflect on identity and timing, and writes with a healthy respect for what they can and cannot claim.

Read Elena Sol's full profile →