1earth1spirit

"According to most shamanic cultures, the universe is composed of at least three levels:

• Central Area is the world we know, the world of 'normal' human events.
• The World Below, underworld, underworld, usually associated with the dead and dangerous spirits.
• Nadsvijet, World Above, the Upper World, the heavenly kingdom is often referred to as a resident of the Sun, or as a field of transcendental consciousness. "

(Joan Halifax: The Shaman's Initiation)

Striking resemblance to a certain Monroe's nomenclature.

And the scene, the Middle World of shamanism, the normal reality of space-time as it is perceived by another body: that is, from the perspective of transcending physical matter.
Obviously this is a dimensional separation, as though 'passenger' can not see other people, they can not see him, to them he is invisible.

Shamanic Middle World is located between Upper and Lower worlds: a hierarchical progression that fits our mythological notions of hell 'underneath' and Raja 'above'. Human beings live in the middle, while shamans have access to all areas.

Thus introducing the concept of shaman and shamanism must explain the terms of trance and ecstasy, and trance and possession. The shaman is a friend of ghosts, we manage in their world and hence the name "Lord of spirits."

As far as trance and ecstasy, the difference is actually in the technique of arriving at an altered state of consciousness (ASC). Trans is achieved by movement (dance), noise (music), in a society (like the kind of performances), sensory (re) stimulation, without the hallucinations which leads to amnesia.

Ecstasy is the total opposite - to ASC's coming up in silence, solitude, immobility, where there is the presence of hallucinations, but the total absence of sensory stimulation, and remains the memory of that experience. The same such parallels could be explained by the concepts of spirit and soul.

It will be enough to say that the Slavic mythology knows belief in two souls, and this is especially seen in creatures like Krsnik and his alter ego in the form of the flies, and the birth of the second skin (caul), but also the legends that mention animals: bear (hibernation - relationship with the supernatural soul leaving the body at a time of deep sleep), wolf (change hairs) and snakes (there are other skin).

Coha, K.; comma, 15.07.2004.