Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes.
-Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
When a shaman looks at a person in nonordinary reality, or during a journey, they see much more than a physical body. For that matter, all sentient beings appear as wildly complex energetic constructs. Further, many beings who do not seem conscious to physical eyes are sentient when viewed through a shamanic lens.
I will start by saying that the following description is merely a model. Mere words cannot describe the totality of even a single being. I will also use words in ways that others may not - and that’s OK too. If I say the word “blue,” I might be thinking of sky blue, and you might be thinking of a dark blue. It’s just a difference, and neither is “wrong.”
Shamanism is animistic and sees spirit everywhere. The natural world is full of conscious spirits - of trees, wind, animals, the Earth itself.
I like to use the analogy of an onion. Sentient beings, such as humans, have layer upon layer of “stuff.”
Most spiritual systems recognize that the physical body is the surface “layer” and acknowledge at least one other part of the person. We might call that spirit or soul. There are words in every language for this part of a being.
To create a model with huge pieces that can be easily understood, I’ll talk about at least three parts or layers of a person. Each one of those layers is infinitely complex.
Take the physical body. The human body has approximately 30 trillion cells. Medicine recognizes dozens of individual organs. The chemistry of the body is incredibly complex and not fully understood. And there are differences between each particular body.
You can see that the concept of the body is a massive oversimplification of an uncountable number of things working in concert. But us useful to be able to refer to the physical body as a shortcut.
I will refer to the three simplified parts of a person as bodies.
Physical Body
We’ve already discussed the physical body. This is the part of the person that has mass and exists in ordinary reality. Most people strongly identify with their physical bodies, even though it is one small part of them. It’s a little like saying, “I am my toenail.”
Astral Body
The next, more subtle body is the astral body. This is what many shamans refer to as the soul. Some would call it your spirit or your ghost. The astral body is an energetic part of you - you may have heard of astral travel. This part of you can be split into pieces, and parts can travel in nonordinary reality—this is what shamans do when they journey.
The astral body is some blend of form and formlessness. It is much subtler than the physical body. Shapeshifting in the astral body is quite natural. In trance states, shamans may perceive spirits as having specific forms, even if they are physically disembodied. This is the way spirit can communicate with the minds of humans in ways we can understand.
Essences or parts of the soul can also become lost during trauma. A soul retrieval ceremony is shamanic healing intended to heal this type of spiritual injury.
While you are physically alive, your soul is somewhat attached to your body. This connection is severed when you die physically. If you were to lose ALL of your soul, your body would not survive. I will talk more about this in a bit when I discuss how the bodies interact.
Causal Body
The causal body is entirely subtle; it has no form. I refer to this layer as the spirit. It is unchanging, whole, complete, and incorruptible. It cannot be injured or harmed.
The causal body is your spark of divinity. If you think of the creator (God or whatever name you have) as an ocean, this is like a drop in that ocean. Inseparable from divinity, yet still an individual.
At this level, time and space break down, so no form can exist. There are shamanic practices to access this level of Self (capital S here). It can be experienced as a center point of pure light that radiates infinitely in all directions. Even that is a mental construct to help our physical minds.
You can also think of the causal body as a field of pure consciousness in which everything you experience arises. It is the container for your consciousness and your cradle of creation.
How does this relate to shamanic healing
Shamans work primarily at the astral or soul level. You might see a doctor to work on a strictly physical issue, and a shamanic practitioner to help with the spiritual aspects of an issue that is reflected physically.
The astral body and physical body are close together; they are overlapping layers. Issues in one can affect another. For example, long-term physical illness may result in soul loss. Likewise, soul loss may result in physical problems.
There is a practice called transfiguration, where a healer journeys to identify with their pure soul essence, and this can provide needed healing energy to the spirits of others.
Since the causal body cannot be injured, there is no need and no technique for healing this aspect of another person or being.
Again, I would remind you that these descriptions are just pointers, like a map of a large territory. They aren’t meant to be exhaustive, and no map is 100% accurate.