Und solang du das nicht hast,
Dieses: Stirb und Werde!
Bist du nur ein trüber Gast
Auf der dunklen Erde.
(Goethe, Ges. W. Bd. 1, S.221)
Shamanic Thanatology
It took a long time of consideration before I decided to write on this complex theme. Describing my shamanic approach on Death and the process of Dying in english is very difficult for me, but I will try my best. Everyone experience the Death as something unique. Each Death of an individual is unique in its process.
Dying and the Death is omnipresent in our lifes. Every day peoples, animals and plants die in our surroundings. We cannot survive without bringing death to other beings on this planet - plants are living beings, too. Millions of cells in our body are dying to be replaced by fresh ones, on a daily base.
Life can be viewed as a continuous process of Creation and Destruction. But some day everyone of us will face the final fact of Death. Sometimes very surprisingly, but once in lifetime for sure. In germany the Death is successfully repressed (ousted) from everydays life. Dying and old family members are put away into special homes for old people or into hospitals. Far away from familiar surroundings these people then die after awhile. Most of them donīt receive a professional guiding through the dying process. During the last years this status quo have slowly begun to change. Thanatotherapy is growing more and more important in german hospitals and health-centers.
The uncertainity of the exact time and the way someone comes to death, i.e. is dying, is one of the biggest problems we mortals have with the Death itself. Established religions offer many answers for the things having to happen afterwards. The chrisitians believe in heaven and hell as a kind of place somewhere in the Other Worlds. In their believings it is a matter of god whether you are rewarded in heaven or punished in the Purgatory. Other religions know this moralic system of punishment and reward, too. Some religions invented the conception of incarnation (buddhism, some hinduistic religions) or similar concepts (some native religions). Most chrisitian priests I know only take the confession and conducting the last sacraments as a preparation for the dying process and the things thereafter. The knowledge of the dying process is lost in these routines. Dying persons donīt get really valuable informations on the things going on with them. Christianity and most other religions donīt describe the exact states of death and of transition, except the tibetan buddhism in its Bardo Thödol.
The tibetan Bardo Thödol describes in detail the various sensations of the dying person and what happens after the separation from the physicel body. It does not only describe the signs and the process of dying, it is also extremely valuable for us in offering hints for conducting our lives before death. The life is a preparation for the death, so to say.
Throughout the whole world shamans know the shamanic initiatiory crisis, during which the shaman dies and learnes many things in the spiritsworlds about his abilities and his helping spirits. After the crisis the shaman returns to life and uses the gained knowledge to help his society. Everytime a shaman makes his ecstatic journey he is dying again, because only the soul can travel where the spirits are. The shamanic journey can be viewed as a preparation to the final journey - the own death. During the journey we experience the other world and learn many things about the laws of the spirits world.
In the Non-Ordinary-Reality the concept of time has no meaning. Within the Foundation for Shamanic Studies this is being described with the term "Indian Time". One Minute in the NOR can last one hour in the common reality and one hour time in normal reality can be as short as a second in the NOR. Sometimes this can be confusing for the traveller. Events in the past can be visited, and the possibilities of the future can be explored in the shamanic journey. Most of the time the shadows of the past are of interest when trying to find answers for the clients problems. Sometimes these journeys take you far back in time and the ancestry of your client to important events which are the root of the clients problems. Events of the former life of the client can be seen during the shamanic journey. The indish concept of Akasha Chronicles is similar, but non-shamanic. Repressed events and forgotten experiences can be brought back and are being reunited by Soul Retrieval, afterwards.
The local continuity as we know it in normal life is in the NOR nearly non-existent, too. You can jump from one location to another in the spur of a moment - the term "teleportation" is suitable for this ability, if you want. However, some spirits dislike visitors popping out from nothing and thus it is better to reach the beings in the NOR with other meanings (Tiergeist, for example). The extreme flexibility of the NOR is a great problem for most beginning shamanic pracititoners. Quick the journey is labeled as "invented" or "fantasy" and is not taken seriously. The consciousness is taking a much bigger part in determining the appearance of the NOR then in normal reality. Many things come into existence just at the moment of thinking on them, they seem to pop up just in the moment of paying attention to them. This law is vital for the theory that after death everyone is entering his or her own heaven or hell. The experiences after death are heavely depending on the (sub)conscious expectations of the just deceased. Within the shamanic journey this flexibility has to be interpreted correctly. Then the shaman can derive informations out from his experiences for his surrounding society.
In comparison to the astral projection, which is much more known to esoterics then the shamanic journey, the shamanic thing goes a step further. The extreme flexibility of the NOR implies a level which is farer away from the physical "plane" then the one which can be explored with astral projection. To die "properly" the astral body disconnect from the physical body in the first place. The silver-chord is dissected. Then the soul is going on to a "higher plane" - the NOR.
In shamanic journey you can visit the place of the deceased ones. Such journeys are very intense and starter-shamans should make this journey in a later time, unless the spirits decide otherwise (as it was in my own case: After my first conscious journeys my deceased father appeared in my dreams. He spoke to me and told me that there are some parts of him at his dying place, which has to be brought back to him by myself. Then he confirmed most of the tibetan book of the dead, except the part dealing with the fantasies of the deceased after death. I had to learn how to bring parts of the soul back into the realm of the Death.) At the border to the Realm of Death guardians are often looking after you. They want to know what you want there in the Realm of Death and sometimes deny access. The myths of the world are describing this guardians very often (for example the greece river Styx with Charon the ferryman and Zerberos the hellish dog). If the access is denied then you have to obey this order! It can be unhealthy to the journeyman to trespass without allowance. Deceased persons can be visited within the Realm of Death, sometimes.
Sometimes you have to obey certain orders from the guardians or keep an eye on some taboos. Remember Orpheus and Euridice in greece mythology? Just that. The experiences you make in your Death-Realm can be of overwhelming beautiness. This can be such an mind-bogglingly experience that your wish to return to normal reality is stepping back. Thus you should instruct an assissting shaman to have an eye on your progress during your shamanic journey. If you are showing signs of unwillingness to return back he is remembering things to you, which you are going to miss in the Realm of Death and are worth to come back to life again.
The work with deceased persons is different, however. The shaman acts as psychopompos and carries the souls into the Realm of Death (just as Charon, the ferryman). You are guiding the soul to the border of their own Realm of Death and delivering them at this place. I myself choose the theme "I want to bring the soul of N.N. to the border of his own Realm of Death". Large traffic accidents often require the actions of a shaman, which brings the confused souls into the realm of death. People which have a clear vision of their post-mortem existence seldom need a shaman. Sudden death via accidents and people which have not any clear oppinion on their own place after death need much more the help of a shaman. The individual entrance to the Realm is varying for each individual soul. The normal reality sometimes react with synchrone events during psychopompos activities (sunrays breaking through clouds at the moment of opening the gate, for example).
Dying peoples possess an aura of death which can be feeled by the pracitced shaman. This aura I am personifying with the Death as it is imagined most of the time: A black robed skeleton with a scythe or a sword. Sometimes Death appears as a beautiful black haired woman, however. Thanatos and Eros are brothers! This aura can be felt by the dying person, too. Most of time it is misheld for anticipation of the forthcoming death.
Dying persons can be taught the basic principles of the transition - supposed the dying person is willing to accept your ideas. Shamanistic concepts can easily be adapted to religious backgrounds. It is not important to teach every detail of shamanic technics to them. However, if time allows and your client wants to learn more, you can proceed. As a medium for transition mandalas or circles can be visualized and painted on papers. The dying person then journeys through this mandala into the NOR. Again, it is sufficient for most clients when you teach them how to journey and how to find the poweranimal or the teacher. You can make guided journeys with your client to these instances, if the time allows it.
If you donīt have the time for hours of instructions because the client is dying just in the moment, the instructions can be shortened much more. Explain the principles of Transition in short phrases and guide the client with a painted mandala you took with and show him. Emergency situations like this are very difficult to handle, hope that you need not to act within such circumstances. If you have experiences with heavy accidents and the like you will agree on this.
In the moments of exitus the divine (or personalized) part of the soul leaves the body through the crown chakra. Some moments before this, the chakras open up and a general energetic flow towards the crown-chakra can be seen. The best moment to help the dying client crossing over is just at this moment of leaving. A successfull psychopompos-working can be conducted at these moments by the experienced shamanic practitioner even in silence. It is (here in Bavaria) the more common way for a shaman, because of the christianized believings which are prevalent in our country. I myself havenīt yet the opportunity to perceive the following: A friend of mine, herself a shaman, perceived that in rare cases the soul leaves through the cerebrum abdominale. I cannot verify this at the moment, but I think it may be of certain interest.
At this place I want to point out and emphasize that the work with dying persons is requiring a highly ethical approach. You need much personal strength to do this more regularly. In normal life you wonīt be confronted with death and dying much, except during war and the above mentioned situations. Shamans working in hospitals or at emergency services this article offered valuable hints for shamanic procedures and concepts.
© 1998 by Aufsteigender Adler |
