When you first hear of the “shamanic world”, your mind may conjure images of deep tree roots leading to the underworld below, or towering canopies stretching up to the celestial realm of the gods. But did you know that between these “upper world” and “lower world”, there lies a middle world，which often overlooked by beginners, yet inextricably linked to our daily lives?
Welcome to this realm that is both familiar and strange: the shamanic middle world. It is our physical world, and also a gateway to extraordinary spiritual experiences. Here, reality and the spirit world intertwine, and the ordinary coexists with the magical.
The Middle World: More Than the World We See
What is the middle world? The simplest answer: the physical universe we live in, encompassing all space and time. It is a place where all living things follow the cycle of birth, growth, death and rebirth. This is the world we know best, governed by physical laws like gravity and momentum.
Yet for shamanic practitioners, the middle world is far more than this.
It is a liminal realm, a crossroads where the energies of the upper and lower worlds converge. Imagine the trunk of the World Tree—it is here that the three worlds meet. Traditional witches cast a magic circle in the “middle world”, yet place themselves “between the worlds”. Every action in the middle world has the power to send ripples through the upper and lower worlds alike.
It is both a starting point and a hub: we live and perceive here, and from here, we embark on journeys to explore other realms.
“Sideways Paths”: Spiritual Travel in the Middle World
In the trial records of the Burning Times, there are frequent accounts of witches flying by night. Modern research suggests these are traces of out-of-body experiences induced by herbal ointments in European shamanic traditions. This “flight” was not physical movement, but a spiritual traversal across the horizontal plane.
What are “sideways paths”?
- The Second Road: A path walked in spirit form, parallel to the material world—some equate it to the astral plane.
- Energy Line Travel: These paths often align with ley lines, connecting sacred sites and ancient temple ruins across the land.
- Spiritual Highways: Legend says fairies, dragon spirits, and the deceased also walk these lines.
The key difference: Unlike the “vertical journeys” to the upper or lower worlds, sideways travel keeps you anchored in the spiritual layer of the middle world. You can visit physical locations, and also encounter goddesses, gods, and all manner of spirit beings.
The Sideways World in Culture
- Celtic Mythology: The Other world, accessible to mortals, lies not above or below, but “sideways”.
- The Benandanti Tradition: Frames the astral plane of the middle world as a battlefield where forces of health and fertility clash with those of blight and decay.
- Gateway Locations: Entrances to these sideways paths are often found at sacred sites, forest clearings, mountain valleys, and the confluences of streams.
Inhabitants of the Middle World: Our Spiritual Neighbors
The spiritual landscape of the middle world is rich and diverse. Learn to see with the shaman’s eye, and you will discover a world brimming with consciousness.
Earth and Fertility Deities
The sacred embodiment of the middle world is the Earth Deity. The planet itself is often revered as the feminine “Mother Earth” (such as Gaia in Greek mythology). Some traditions honor the land as a masculine force, or see grain gods as manifestations of sacred power. Whether Gaia or Demeter, the land and its vegetation are the very heart of the middle world.
The Elemental Kingdoms and Elemental Beings
The four classical elements—earth, air, water, fire—are the pillars supporting physical reality, corresponding to the physical, mental, energetic, and emotional realms respectively. While air and fire often resonate with the upper world, and water and earth with the lower, in the middle world, they blend and coexist, serving as our anchor in the material plane.
The wise beings of these realms are known as elementals. In some myths (such as the tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Ireland), these four kingdoms are described as four great cities at the corners of the world, existing simultaneously across all three realms.
Other Significant Spiritual Beings
- Land Wights: Spirit beings deeply bound to specific places—mountains, forests, rivers. Seeking their permission before entering a new location is a vital shamanic ritual.
- Nature Spirits: The conscious essence of plants, trees, and stones. They possess a “middle self” that can be called upon for healing and learning.
- Illness Spirits: The material world holds both life-giving and harmful forces. Just as an oak tree has a spirit, sickness, famine, and decay also have spiritual underpinnings. Some traditions fight against these forces; others learn to work with them.
- Spirits of Man-Made Objects: Not only natural things, but human creations—cars, computers—can hold spiritual power, a focus of study in urban shamanism.
- Messenger Gods: Hermes, Mercury, Odin, Legba, and others—these are shamanic archetypes who travel between the three worlds, serving as guides and protectors for middle world wayfarers.
The Wild Hunt and the World Serpent: Dynamic Powers of the Middle World
The Wild Hunt
A motif spanning countless European cultures: a divine figure leads a cavalcade of animals, hunters, fairies, and other spirit beings, traveling usually on the spiritual layer of the middle world. The leader may be a feminine deity like Diana or Hecate, or a horned god such as Cernunnos. This host is most active in the autumn and winter, near Samhain, and is seen as a protective force during the dark half of the year.
The World Serpent
Serpent energy is deeply connected to the middle world and the earth. The planet’s magnetic ley lines are sometimes described as living, serpentine forces.
- Norse Mythology: Midgard, the middle world, is encircled by the great serpent Jörmungandr, a symbol of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
- Greek Mythology: The Earth Goddess gives birth to Typhon, the giant storm dragon.
- Cross-Cultural Symbolism: From Leviathan in Judaism to the Ouroboros in alchemy, all point to the same truth—the middle world is a realm of life and change, constantly dying and being reborn, like a serpent shedding its skin: awe-inspiring, yet life-giving.
The Energy of the Middle World: A Spectrum, Not Black and White
The energy of the middle world is a blend of the upper and lower worlds’ energies. But shamans do not simply label this energy as “positive” or “negative”.
Energy exists as a spectrum:
- At one end: Subtle energy—more harmonious, light, and life-affirming.
- At the other end: Dense energy—heavier, stagnant, and destructive.
- And in between: Countless transitional states.
Andean shamans refer to these as sami (subtle) and hoocha (dense). Neither is good or evil; like yin and yang, they require balance.
The key to balance: Imagine the World Tree within you. It needs the sunlight, air, and rain of the upper world, just as it needs the soil, minerals, and water of the lower world. Life depends on both energies.
To live in the middle world is to learn to call upon or release different energies according to the moment:
- Offer your dense energies—fear, anger—to the lower world, and let the underworld deities transform them.
- After a deeply spiritual ritual, you need to ground yourself: release excess subtle energy, and call upon denser energy to return to your body.
Core Skill: Transmuting Energy in the Middle World
Traditional magic often teaches us to shield ourselves from harmful energy—by casting wards and creating boundaries. This works, yet it can foster a sense of separation and wariness.
Shamanism offers a more holistic approach: transmutation.
The Wisdom of the “Spiritual Stomach”
In the Andean tradition, the human aura (poq’po) has five energy bands; the one near the navel is known as the “spiritual stomach”. Shamans can open this energy center to “ingest” dense energy, break it down and transform it like digestion, then release the purified energy into the earth.
Simplified Practice Steps
- Enter a light meditative state and ground yourself.
- Bring your awareness to your solar plexus, and imagine an opening like a “mouth” forming at the front of your aura.
- Draw the unwanted dense energy into this opening.
- Transmute it within yourself—visualize purification by flame, or chant a word of neutralization.
- Feel the energy separate: absorb the subtle aspects, and release the dense remnants into the earth through your root connection.
- Close the opening and return to a normal state.
This practice holds a profound truth: we do not need to be on guard at all times, or feel vulnerable. By absorbing and transmuting energy, we recognize the interconnectedness of all things—there is no separation. We learn to identify and face what comes our way, rather than fearing and controlling it. Allowing energy to flow through us is a precious lesson in understanding: “Nothing can harm me, if I do not cling to it.”
Thus, the middle world becomes our most intimate spiritual practice ground. It reminds us that magic is not far away, and spirituality is not separate from the ordinary. Next time you walk in a forest, touch a stone, or feel the stir of emotions, remember: you stand on the trunk of the World Tree, at the crossroads of the three worlds. The earth beneath your feet is both home, and the starting point for infinite possibility.
Magic is not elsewhere. It lives in this living, breathing middle world—where reality and the spirit world intertwine—that we all traverse, every single day.
Reference：
- Harner, M. (1980). The Way of the Shaman. HarperOne.
- Ingerman, S. (1991). Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self. HarperOne.
- Matthews, J. (2002). The Shamanic Worldview. Thorsons.
- The Three-World View and Cosmology in Shamanism. World Religious Cultures
- Villoldo, A. (2005). The Four Insights: Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers. Harmony Books.
