Shamanic Sickness in a Society Without Shamans, Part 4.
Psi Abilities and Spirit Induction
Psi Abilities
In the last installment, we learned that it might be possible for an evolution in our senses and/or perceptions during shamanic sickness. Through this evolution, an initiate gains abilities that relate to psychic phenomena. The person undergoing the initiation may be able to read auras, see spirits, and manipulate bioenergy. If these gifts come from a natural, albeit sped-up, process of development, what other abilities might occur? Let’s look at a few extra-sensory abilities reported by individuals.
Something to ponder about this phenomenon, and most of the other abilities we have discussed, is that they can have negative effects. Like the positive effects, the negative can be intentional or unintentional. Until the initiate learns that their thoughts can cause changes and manifest in the physical realm, they may cause harm to others accidentally. This causes deep shame and guilt upon discovery that they may have caused injury to those they loved simply by being too angry and focused on harm.
Remote Viewing
Remote viewing is the ability to experience a target from a distance. This target may be a person, place, or thing. It can also be something that occurs in the past, present, or future. A remote viewer experiences the target through their perceptual feedback system. In other words, the person who is remote viewing gains information about the target in the form of sensory perceptions. They will gain a sense of what the target feels like, what sounds are present, a sense of its vastness or limits, and possibly ascertain a sense of where it is and what is going on.
For some, it is still hard to believe that, both, the American and Russian governments developed remote viewing programs during the Cold War era. The American program began at SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute) with physicists Hal Puthoff and Russel Targ and Ingo Swann, an artist and psychic from New York. It evolved through twenty years and several iterations and gathered quite an exceptional group of participants and consultants. This includes Uri Geller, Pat Price, Lyn Buecanon, and on the peripheral, Jacques Vallee, just to name a few. Many assume the project was debunked, though new information has come out of the CIA files and testimony of the participants that suggest otherwise.
The initiate probably won’t be aware of this exceptional ability, or that all people can develop the skill. Instead, they will experience it sporadically, feeling the sensations of being at a place or interacting with some person they are thinking about. Often it will come out of nowhere, startling the individual. They might be thinking about a lost item and suddenly feel where it is located. Thoughts of a loved one might manifest the feeling of being where the person is and knowing what they are doing. Where there is now a formal process of doing remote viewing, initiates might not be aware of it, nor know what it is formally called.
Bi-Location
Without spending too much time on this, Bi-location is the ability to experience yourself in two places and/or times at once. It is a phenomenon attached to remote viewing due to participants, “in the flow,” experiencing accidentally. Some are able to hone this ability and use it consciously and control it.
Telepathy
We already discussed that a person might begin to gain insights about how others are feeling and what they are thinking. This phenomenon carries over to participants so that they receive flashes of insights, images, and sometimes the voice of a person they are thinking about or in their vicinity. Often it will be from individuals they are emotionally close to.
Psychokinesis
Often presented first as the poltergeist effect, psychokinesis is the mind/matter manipulation of moving some physical thing with mind or intention rather than a body. While the person begins to develop through shaman sickness, there are reports of random objects falling or flying off tables and shelves, electronics functioning irregularly, air currents moving where it shouldn’t be, and other phenomena. This presents as harassment in the beginning because the individual seldom understands that they are causing such things themselves. The phenomenon typically begins to happen when the person is highly stressed, angry, or anxious. When the person doesn’t know it is they who is doing it, it presents as a spirit attacking them.
We could speculate that possibly psychokinesis is developed as a touch integration. Some report being able to touch, pull, and push, a type of outer, undetectable, but very felt substance around us in which all people and things are. Doing this can cause movement and changes in physical items, or even sensation in other people. What’s more, is that many initiates come to realize that thought through the imaginal realm causes these manipulations also, without having to physically attempt to touch the ether.
It is important to know there are many paths of psychokinesis and that some are considered macro and others considered micro. These paths can be organized as elemental in nature such as pyrokinesis, hydrokinensis, geokinesis, and areokinesis. There are names for larger abilities that pertain to altering weather patterns, levitation, and the ability to manipulate larger groups such as swaying the performance of a team of athletes or redirecting a flock of birds.
Another thing to remember is that rarely do people gain a highly honed and powerful ability pertaining to psychokinesis. However, one must remember that some actually do. We will address a possible reason for some gaining certain abilities while others gain different abilities in our last installment.
Hands-On and Distance Healing
And now to a central phenomenon developed through shamanic sickness. Hands-on and Distance Healing, are forms of rectifying or correcting ailments in living things. These could be people, animals, plants, and even bacteria or viruses. One can develop a healing ability that affects multiple people at one time or be as selective as healing only a cell sample. Other names and similar practices include energy healing, Reiki, laying of hands, healing prayer, and many more. The basics of this phenomenon are that a person can readjust living tissue to alleviate pain, heal ailments, and correctly eliminate tumors, viruses, etc. A healer of this sort can prompt a good sense of being, increase the sense of energy and wakefulness, and some can alter moods.
There are so many facets to healing in this manner that it would be impossible to name or explain them all. Even now, there is a push to correct the misnomer of it being called, subtle energy healing because studies on a certain form of healing suggest there is no energy used or taking place while the healing occurs. To the researchers, it acts more like information. Readers can learn more about this by reviewing Dr. Bill Bengston’s work with the Bengston Healing Method. The research into this method spans several university trials and includes successful research experiments with infusing cotton, water samples, and even wave files with this healing information. Trials have touched upon, cancer, covid, Alzheimer, and athletic recovery.
Making this ability even harder to accept by many is the fact that it can work through the touch of the person’s hands, from any distance, and can also be triggered through petitioning and intention alone. Beyond healing, this ability can initiate spiritual awakening and the abilities we have been discussing in others, also. Some reports suggest that just being in the proximity of a healer like this can relieve pain or speed up recoveries. It is a valuable tool indeed, and central to shamanic sickness, as the shaman is the healer and intermediary of the spirits and ancestors. We will explore this in our final installment of the series as we bring all of this together for examination.
Channeling and Contact
Where healing is the first duty of the shaman, being an intermediary completes the entirety of the newborn shaman. Channeling and contact are forms of interacting with the spirits and ancestors. This includes entities of nature, ancestors, guides, those labeled as angels, and even aliens. Even though this is a paramount ability and responsibility pushed onto the initiate, we will leave it at this, for now until we delve deeper into spirit induction as an entirety.
Psi Abilities vs. Perceptual Integrations
The two primary differences between these abilities and those manifested through perceptual integrations are simple. One, it is harder to theorize how these abilities may develop, and two, these abilities can to an extent be proven or verified by outside sources. Remote viewing and bi-location can be verified given the right target. Telepathy can be proven by stating what the person is perceiving, Psychokinesis can be demonstrated to others. Healing, if the person is capable, is evidenced by the results experienced by the person being healed. And channeling and contact might be verified through information shared by whoever has been channeled or contacted.
So, now we have two sets of “symptoms,” one with a possible theory for their development, but highly improvable due to being more inward related, and the other, less possible to theorize as to their development through more verifiable. One thing is for certain. Without proper knowledge and education about these abilities, an initiate will quickly become lost to them. Guilt and shame may develop from correct or incorrect beliefs about causing harm. Learning what they are experiencing and how to manage the experiences are paramount to understanding the new aspects of themselves that have been revealed through this development and initiation.
What could possibly make things worse for one in the throes of shamanic sickness? How about the highly interactive experiences of entities unseen and much more physically tangible?
Spirit Induction
Spirit Induction is a term used to refer to the third stage or set of symptoms that are addressed during shamanic sickness. This stage introduces the initiate to conscious entities that further the development of shamanic abilities and knowledge. It includes all communication with spirits and ancestors during the initiation. These contact events constitute the actual harassment associated with shamanic sickness.
There is no doubt that there is a certain level of speculation when reading through this description and information. Other than the speculative theory presented in the last installment regarding the development of the body’s sensory feedback system, which suggests that some individuals may be able to perceive and experience entities that exist beyond our normal perception, I will leave it to the reader to form their own opinion. I can only offer what some have reported and what experiencing this phenomenon has taught me.
Interactions by “The Spirits”
Events and experiences deemed paranormal are never easy to incorporate into a person’s worldview. To experience them in a way that interacts with you is quite a different story within the same book. These experiences are truly reality-shattering. Being unable to stop the interactions leaves a person feeling victimized, defenseless, and completely powerless. This harassment also strips the individual of their biases and beliefs regarding what is possible. It is believed that the initial purpose of these harassments is to cause the use of new abilities and ego death, allowing the initiate to be reborn into the world with a newfound ability to navigate the many realms of reality.
Interacting with unseen entities promotes the growth of the initiate. In the beginning, it is the spirits that initiate interactions. Some will poke and prod the initiate, compelling them to utilize their newfound abilities to engage and perceive their surroundings. Many of these initial interactions seem to be meant to verify the person’s progress and skill in interacting and blocking certain affronts. Other entities interact for the sole purpose of truly harassing the individual, while still, others may interact with the initiate as if they are an interesting novelty, briefly poking at them before moving on.
There are even more entities that act in a way that reminds the initiated that they are undergoing significant personal transformation. This reminds them that the world they knew is now much larger and contains a greater number of conscious beings than they had previously believed.
Cross Categorization
Categorizing unseen entities with whom a person can interact is much more difficult than one would expect. There is a long history of unseen entities. Many entities have been grouped into races or larger conglomerates of similar beings. Among these groups are the Jinn, Angels, Spirit Guides, Guardians, the Faery Folk, Shadow Beings, Aliens, Demons, Daemons, Elementals, Psychic Vampires, and General ghosts and spirits.
Within these groups, there are entities that can be cross-categorized. Very often, this can occur due to our human biases and ignorance about things that we cannot perceive. Many groups known throughout history and myth have the ability to appear unseen or as shadows. This suggests that shadow beings, as a category, can actually include many groups together. The Jinn have been categorized as demons due to cultural biases that limit understanding of the fact that there is a multitude of kind, belligerent, dark, light, helpful, and not-so-helpful entities within this category. There are some accounts from experiencers who believe that Greys, a popular alien race, are actually the faery folk. Others suggest that they may even be the angels or watchers referred to in the Christian Bible.
Five Categories of Spirit Interaction
Because it would be impossible to include every category and description of every entity in every group, it would be easier and more productive for the initiate to understand the interactions until they have gained a sense of who and what they are dealing with. In my personal experience, I have categorized entities into five broad categories based on the level and type of interactions.
Initiators and the Five Categories
These are beings that facilitate the process of shamanic development for the initiate. Though they are a group that makes up a category, they are separate from the five below.
Why? It can be argued that all the spirits that interact or come into the awareness of the initiate are prompting their development. It is hard to pin down exactly which beings are doing this and which are not. Initiators can be identified in all other categories, as the reader will find as you continue.
Ancestors
For me and others, this includes apparitions, ghosts, and spirits of the deceased. There is much to be said about the differences among each of the three groups. This category is worthy of its own exploration and can not be explored so deeply here. For our purposes, the Ancestors are the spirits of the dead and passed who interact and guide the initiate. Some groups define all the spirits as the Ancestors, some do not. As far as how these spirits interact, some are residual sightings of a recorded event, some communicate, and others just reveal themselves.
The Curious and The Not So Curious
The Not So Curious — This category includes entities and beings that initiate interactions out of a passing interest in the initiate. These beings can be sensed before they actually interact. Sometimes, that is all the initiate may experience. Sometimes they actually interact with them, but the interaction is more like the entity is looking at something slightly interesting. It often reminds me of a child poking at an insect or frog just to see what it is and what it does. These entities leave as quickly as they come.
The Curious — Some individuals may have a longer-lasting interest and may dedicate more time to testing, exploring, and engaging. These individuals may choose to spend more time around the entity before they depart. Some may choose to stay and assist or “play” with the initiate for a longer period before continuing on their journey.
Bad Actors
This category includes entities that are often considered to be demons in contemporary societies. The members of this group often torment and inflict pain on an initiate. They are typically malevolent in nature. Excuse the lapse in correctness, however, these assholes instigate on an entirely different level, causing the most problems for the initiate. Because they are the most challenging, they can be considered part of the Initiator group simply because a person has to pull out everything in their arsenal to get rid of them. Sometimes, an initiate can only block their influence.
They will try them relentlessly, coaxing them to use the new abilities they are developing. Different types of terror tactics that these individuals can use range from inducing the sensation of worms and spiders crawling around, on, or inside a person, to attaching themselves to the back or legs of an individual for prolonged periods of time.
Very rarely will an initiate have to deal with Bad Actors that can cause pain and visual distortions. However, it does happen. One of my first encounters with Bad Actors was with a mischievous little creature that would create the illusion of throwing sticky balls of goo. These perceived balls of goo would then explode into the sound and feel of the sensation of hundreds of small insects. Among them was a visually perceived moth with small feather-like wings that would land on me, causing a sensation similar to a cigarette burn.
If this should occur to others, it is crucial to help them calm their emotional state and cultivate a sense of love by focusing on a person or pet and extending that feeling of love to encompass the Bad Actor and everything associated with it. I am not sure why this works, but it does. I will include a paper about this and other ways to deter bad actors at a later date.
Again, these entities can end up being initiators, spirits meant to develop the abilities of the individual, and could themselves develop into guides or Daemons (not to be confused with Demons, they are entities with prolonged relationships with the initiate that lead them in certain directions and end up being much more helpful than harmful. In this case, they present themselves as a bad actor as a trial-by-fire deal for the initiate.
The Annoyed
Occasionally, an initiate may encounter an entity and feel a sense of irritation, dislike, or annoyance emanating from it. It is best to back away and not investigate these entities. For whatever reason they are in the vicinity of the initiate, and they have no interest in interacting with them. I was fortunate to have a brief period of interaction with a group of entities that many refer to as Orbs or Intelligent Plasma Spheres (IPS) when I first started experiencing perceptual integrations.
During the experience, I noticed a rather large one whose outer “membrane” (for lack of a better term) felt as strong and dense as the material used to make water beds. The Orb immediately went from cool to scalding hot in less than a second. I ignorantly kept probing. Suffice it to say, it made sure I knew that if Orbs increase their temperature, it’s best to leave them alone.
Back to Safety and Society
Some entities fit into more than one category. Obviously, they do not address specific species, races, or entities. Classifying them in this manner better addresses safety. The categories create a simple system that reveals what to expect, how to interact, and what to look for when encountering them. Because the acceptance of initiation into shamanism through grand ceremonies is still a long way off in modern societies, it is already challenging to believe in the possibility of interacting with unseen entities. For now, it is more productive to know the field in which one must navigate rather than getting to know the players.
The Good and The Bad
We are getting to the heart of the harassment. Interactions with these entities, whether they are seen or unseen, verifiable or unverifiable, can be both unpleasant and mind-bending when they start to occur. Many of these entities from other dimensions interact with a sense of detachment as if they have a specific purpose and are determined to fulfill it, regardless of the initiate’s feelings or responses.
When contact begins, regardless of how the person responds, whether they try to resist or ignore the interaction, it persists. In the beginning, there is no sense of explanation as to what is happening or why. In contemporary societies, this can often feel like a demonic attack or an attack by the jinn, and who knows, some interactions may be just that. On a more positive note, not all interactions are like this. Some individuals are more neutral, more compassionate, and some may even be much more caring. Not all, but some. All categories provide different interactions for the initiate.
When Spirits Reveal Themselves to Others
Some of the entities that interact with the initiate can be witnessed by other people, although they often prefer to interact covertly. When these entities manifest to others, it is typically through poltergeist effects, UFO/UAP sightings, or they may choose to reveal themselves as cryptids. We will look at UFOs/UAPs more deeply in the next installment to understand that these entities and “ships” are more likely indigenous to Earth and nature than to alien worlds.
It can be argued that these entities manifest themselves to others in a manner that validates their existence in the individual’s social network. When this occurs, it often happens at times when the person feels a desperate need to be believed or validated. Most of the initiates I interviewed believe that they have come far enough to request this type of validation.
Entity revelation can also occur for others in a way that compels the individual to acknowledge what they are experiencing, initiating a discussion between them and the chosen witness(es). This situation is less discussed than the previous one, but it is worth noting. It raises the question, if the entities do this with those intentions, is there a bigger plan, or why and how do they feel confident enough to reveal themselves?
It speaks volumes about their enduring relationship with us and suggests their intention to actively support our growth and survival.
The Return Of The Spirits
It is evident that these entities and beings have been involved with us for a very long time. It makes one wonder, what caused us to lose sight of them, to cast them out of our cultural consciousness. More, why are they returning on mass?
There is a consensus that sightings and witnessing of paranormal phenomena are on the rise, more than just having better electronics to catch them can account for. Besides the heavy reintroduction of shamanic sickness, these other phenomena, such as cryptid and UFO sightings, what more may be going on, and are contemporary societies up for the mystery, let alone the answer?
Let’s return to the initiate. It is up to individuals to protect their own sanity and emotional stability. It is important to remember that some beings, including both the bad actors and those who are curious or indifferent, can go either way. When dealing with annoyed individuals, it is best to keep interactions brief and limited to prevent them from feeling the need to express their frustration.
Entities within the Mainstream
As stated above, for our purposes, there is a greater rationale to prioritize interaction rather than specific species or types of entities. However, there are some groups that have gained popularity in modern pop culture and mainstream interest. These entities include UFO/UAPs and aliens, apparitions and spirits, spirit guides, demons, and shadow beings. There is a lot of research and evidence relating to these beings that really should be brought to light. They have been studied and researched for the greater part of the century — honestly, much longer. Knowledge is power. Learning about them, and what research there is, can greatly alleviate the “symptoms” in this part of shamanic sickness.
Going Forward
We will conclude this series by addressing the inclusion of UFOs/UAPs and Aliens in shamanic sickness and a few other loose ends. We will look at the Imaginal Realm and what that entails, and an ability that initiates gain that can only be referred to as, Gaia Speaks.
A final wrap-up installment will discuss the implications of the increase in individuals who experience shamanic sickness and why it may be occurring. I will attempt to address any other loose ends and questions that have come up about the five-part series and introduce a few concepts that an initiate or those interested in shamanic sickness will want to explore further about Shamanic Sickness in a Society without Shamans.
D.J. Rees, June 2023
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