In this week’s blog, I will be discussing the Three Worlds – what they are and how you can explore them. This week, I will be focussing on the Middle World, the place of our everyday existence, also known as ‘ordinary reality’. In the next blog, I will take a closer look at the Lower World and the Upper World.
What are the Three Worlds?
When you journey (see my previous blog, Journeying for Newbies) you can visit any of the Three Worlds.
It is quite a surprise when you first start shamanic journeying, to discover that people around the world report very similar perceptions of these Three Worlds. So, if I told you nothing at all, it’s quite likely that you would still report a rich, fertile Lower World and a dazzling, bright Upper World.
Why do people see the same worlds?
I think it speaks to their reality in some sense but the existence of the Three Worlds is also woven into humankind’s very fabric, through myths, legends, religions and our everyday experience.
Early humans visiting the Lower World explains why so many ancient gods (particularly those of the Egyptian pantheon) were perceived as half animal half human and explains the origins of the earliest known religion, Animism, a forerunner of shamanism.
Early humans visiting the Upper World explains why so many myths and religions have the concept of a Heaven somewhere ‘up there’, above or in the clouds.
Is this a concept from the Q’ero?
Whilst the Q’ero (see my forthcoming blog, Q’ero for Newbies) do not routinely journey to the Lower and Upper Worlds, they do still call upon the wisdom of the three realms and their associated archetypes.
In fact, Q’ero prophecies point to an eventual combination of the Three Worlds as yielding a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity.
Where does a journey start?
We always begin in the Middle World. This is our everyday reality, known to the Q’ero as Kay Pacha. According to the Q’ero, this is the source of both Sami, light energy, and Hucha, heavy energy. The Middle World is associated with consciousness, ego and identity.
On your very first journey, your teacher should have asked you to visualise a central anchor point from which all the other journeys begin. Most commonly, this is a tree. It can be one you know in ordinary reality or one from your imagination but make sure it is a tree that you can see vividly when you close your eyes.
Are there entities connected with this World?
The Middle World’s archetype is the Jaguar and its Keeper is the mythical feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl (see my forthcoming blog, Archetypes for Newbies, for more information on Jaguar and Quetzalcoatl).
Where can we go in the Middle World?
Since the Middle World is our own plane of existence, when we journey, we can travel to anywhere within our own planet, galaxy or universe.
It can be great fun to travel to lands you have not yet visited, or to stars that would take millions of years to reach by conventional means. My advice is to travel on the back of Quetzalcoatl and see where she takes you.