Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
The Upper World Journey
Enter a light trance via monotonous drumming and a fixed intention, ascend in imagination to the ‘Upper World’, and meet a teacher in human (rather than animal) form for guidance, instruction, or counsel.
Upper World journey: Set one teacher-worthy question. Lie down in a dim room and play fast, monotonous drumming (~205–220 bpm). Find something that rises — smoke, a tall tree, a mountain, a rope, a rainbow — and go up it. Push through the membrane into the Upper World, meet a being (usually in human form), confirm it will help, and ask. Return down the same way on the call-back beat, ground in your body, and write it all down. The drum induces the trance; the teacher is your own deeper wisdom in personified form — treat it as inner symbol, not literal fact.
What it is
This is the upward counterpart to the better-known Lower World journey. Where the descent journey goes down through an opening in the earth to meet a power animal (an ally encountered as an animal), the Upper World journey goes up — through a portal that rises into the sky — to meet a teacher, classically experienced in human form: a wise elder, a mystical or historical figure, a being of light.
Michael Harner, the anthropologist who distilled “Core Shamanism,” made this ascent journey the centrepiece of Cave and Cosmos (2013), drawing on thousands of Westerners’ journey reports collected through his Foundation for Shamanic Studies.
The method is the same sonic-driving technique as the Lower World journey, redirected upward. Read honestly, it is a structured form of inner imagery and self-inquiry; the tradition frames it as ascent to heavenly realms and contact with spirits, but the working mechanism is attention, expectancy, and the mind’s own symbolic imagination.
The Method
A faithful representative protocol following Harner’s teaching:
- Set a single clear intention. Frame a question worth bringing to a wise teacher — about meaning, direction, or how to live — rather than a trivial yes/no. Keep it focused (The Inner Creates the Outer).
- Prepare the space. Dim the room, lie down comfortably, close and if helpful cover your eyes, reduce distraction.
- Choose your drumming. A live drum or a recorded “shamanic drumming” track at the rapid, monotonous tempo Harner used for journeying (roughly 205–220 beats per minute) drives the Shamanic State of Consciousness (SSC).
- Find an ascent portal. Picture a real place from which something rises — the upward column of smoke from a fire, the top of a tall tree, a mountain peak, a rope or ladder, a rainbow, a bird that can carry you, a whirlwind. As the drumming begins, go up by that route.
- Pass through the membrane. Harner describes a threshold between worlds — a layer or membrane you push up through (often felt as resistance, a film, or clouds) to emerge into the first level of the Upper World. There may be several levels; let yourself rise until you arrive somewhere that feels right.
- Meet the teacher and ask. Wait for a being to appear, usually in human (or humanlike) form. Greet it, confirm it is willing to help, and pose your question. Pay attention to what it shows, says, or does — and you may ask it to clarify.
- Return on the call-back. A change in the drumbeat (a rapid “call-back” then four slow beats, in Harner’s signal) is the cue to come back down the way you went up.
- Ground and record. Open your eyes, feel your body, and write down everything immediately, then reflect on its meaning. You can return to the same teacher on later journeys. (Sourcing note: the upward portals, the membrane between worlds, and the human-form teacher follow Harner’s Cave and Cosmos; tempo and call-back details follow The Way of the Shaman and Foundation for Shamanic Studies teaching. The honest mechanism is examined in Section 5.)
Source & Lineage
Michael Harner (1929–2018) introduced sonic-driving journeying in The Way of the Shaman (1980), where the Lower World descent and power animal dominate.
He devoted Cave and Cosmos (2013) to the Upper World ascent and the spirit teacher, basing it on roughly five thousand journey reports gathered over decades through his Foundation for Shamanic Studies. → suggested node.
Distinguish from scholars of shamanism (e.g. Mircea Eliade), who described ascent/descent cosmologies but taught no practice. Compare Hank Wesselman and Sandra Ingerman, students/colleagues who teach related journeying.
The Traditions' versions
Lower World journey (Harner) — the downward sibling; an animal ally rather than a human teacher.
- Underworld descent (R.J. Stewart) — a structured downward visionary journey in the Western magical tradition.
- The Sacred Garden / Oversoul (Wesselman) — inner-world meeting places and a higher-self contact.,
- Ascent mysticism — Jacob’s ladder, the heavenly ascents of Merkabah mystics, shamanic “world tree” climbs across cultures: the upward axis-mundi motif Harner generalised.
- Active imagination (Jung) — dialoguing with an autonomous inner figure; structurally close to “meeting the teacher.”
- Inner-advisor / wise-being visualizations — guided imagery that conjures a counsel figure for advice; the same self-inquiry move in secular dress.
Common refinements
Forcing the ascent or the imagery. The journey works through relaxed attention; strain blocks it. Let the drum carry you up.
- No clear intention. Vague questions give murky journeys; bring one focused, teacher-worthy aim.
- Mistaking the first figure. Confirm the being is willing and benevolent; if a figure feels wrong, you can ask it to leave and wait for another (standard Harner guidance).
- Analysing mid-journey. Observe first, interpret later in journaling.
- Wrong tempo / casual drumming won’t drive the state; use a proper fast, monotonous track.
- Over-literalising. Treating the imagery as factual external reality (rather than meaningful inner symbol) invites magical thinking.