Soul flight

What it is

This practice involves entering a deep trance state to achieve ecstasy. Shamans use this altered consciousness to separate their spirit from their physical form. They believe the soul then travels to different spiritual realms. These journeys allow interaction with divine beings or ancestors. The movement often follows a vertical path through a central axis connecting the earth to higher and lower worlds.

Where it comes from

The roots of this custom stretch back to Paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies. Anthropologists suggest it may be the oldest human profession. Early shamans used visible transformations during rituals to prove they could influence unpredictable natural forces. This display built trust within the community by demonstrating communication with invisible powers.

How it is done

The practitioner enters a trance through specific techniques. Some become shamans via hereditary lines or personal quests involving illness and crisis. Others receive spontaneous calls. Training includes learning traditional knowledge from elders and receiving ecstatic teachings through dreams. The journey itself involves descending into dark underworlds or ascending to heavenly upper worlds.

Tools and materials

No physical tools are required for the internal journey. The concept relies on a three-storied cosmology. This worldview divides reality into the middle earth, a benevolent upper world, and a gloomy underworld filled with ancestral spirits. The axis mundi serves as the symbolic pathway between these layers.

What it is for

Shamans perform these journeys to serve their communities. Beliefs include using the travel to heal illnesses or provide protection. It is also used for divination and clairvoyance. Practitioners act as mediators between humans and gods. They may interpret dreams or escort deceased souls to the afterlife.

Who does it

Shamans are chosen through various paths. Some experience a crisis interpreted as personal death. Others inherit the role or undergo a rigorous initiation. Initiation requires both traditional instruction and ecstatic visions. The process transforms their identity, symbolizing a rebirth through the metaphor of the soul's flight.

Peoples and places

The practice appears across many cultures globally. Mircea Eliade noted its presence beyond Siberia and Eurasia. Ancient Egyptians viewed the Ba as a bird-like soul that could fly. Greek philosophers like Pythagoras adopted similar ideas of transcending the self. Orphic mysteries described the soul's liberation from bodily captivity.

What people believe

The worldview assumes a sacred structure of reality. The everyday world is distinct from a deeper spiritual truth. In ancient times, wisdom meant holding power over nature. Later, philosophy shifted toward self-transcendence. The soul is seen as divine but trapped in matter, seeking return to its origin through virtue or ritual.

How scholars and sceptics see it

Mircea Eliade studied these practices in Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. He identified ecstasy as the core of shamanism. Charles Taylor described a shift from a continuous cosmos to a disembedded worldview. Scholars analyze how the Axial Age changed the focus from power to self-transcendence and rational patterns.

Compare and confuse

It resembles out-of-body experiences in modern psychology. The Egyptian Ba and Greek Psyche share concepts of a mobile soul. Orphic and Pythagorean traditions adapted shamanic elements into philosophical systems. Plotinus described an inner vision that does not require physical travel.

Questions people ask about Soul flight

Good reading and sources

• Soul flight on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data