Everything Under the Moon

Similar to astral projection, shamans claim to possess the ability to communicate with the afterlife. I myself have many natural abilities and have trained this one since birth. So... what do the people on here think about its effectiveness on here? Is it your second sight or just a self-induced placebo state?

Maybe it's a combination of these? Like especially if you knew the dead, your mind would pretty much know what that person might say, so I'm not sure you would call that a placebo.
In the case of the unknown dead, I'm sure a trance type connection would reveal a certain amount of truth.
Do you use a scribe? or how do you remember what was said while walking on the other side?
Bb, Firebird

It is hard to describe. It's not exactly like having a conversation with your mouth- using a language, but it's not really telepathic either where it is all happening in your mind. Maybe it is different depending on the person and their respective traditions, but with me, it always starts with little signs, precognitive dreams, spirit guides showing me certain prophecies, and then it finally becomes something physical. One movie that really stuck with me was Final Destination 3. That's the closest comparison I can think of for what it's like.

I come from an African Shamanic background, so I don't know if the tradition changes the way you receive it, or if it depends from one individual to another. I knew someone from Vietnam who did buddhist shamanism and what he described that he was capable of doing was incredibly different.

I'm not familiar with the movie but I'll look into it.
For me it's like getting an audible message in my ear but it is garbled or like it's coming down a long tube or something, with some echo and reverb. But unless I have someone scribe what I'm hearing I will not remember what was said, not with any great detail.
This is how I experience all communication that is not of this world, like contacting deity as well, sometimes with plant communication and sometimes with inanimate objects of historical significance too.
Imagine there are many tracks to spirit communication, some that would include consuming intoxicating substances. I'm of a mind that that needs special care, ceremony and assistants, but is very effective.
Bb, Firebird

Talking to the dead? Or evoking 'the spirit' of the dead? - which is an equally complex (or simple) concept depending on your world view and understanding of concepts like 'the spirit' and 'the soul' and just how everything is connected.

But even here l personally would not create boxes or definitions / limitations to what is actually occurring / capable of occurring.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/carljungde ... eal-2/amp/

-----‐‐--

I sit and I think.

The table I sit at is laid; I laid it for you

A simple plate for a simple meal; I made it for you

I light a candle and I welcome you home.



And as we sit in silence I think.



Of your pleasure at my visit,

the pride upon your face.

At the golden haired rascal sitting at your bedside,

bounding off, out to race, in the summer sun that lifts the shadow,

the stain upon your face.

Cutting through the miasma of your pain.

Never surrendering your victory,

Your victory.

Your name.



And I speak of my wife and your grandchildren,

Of my hopes and my dreams,

My fears and my follies,

And your smile brings me equal measure of joy and pain.

bittersweet

But is proper, it is right,

For love grows every time we speak,

Every time you speak to me.



And as I smile and as I think,

children caper in the street.

Dressed in motley;

Oblivious in their mischief,

revelling in their treat.

Well, my interest in creating this thread was to see if people generally agreed upon whether shamans did this or not, and if so, what it is like from their subjective experience, and already there have been three totally different responses including my own, so I wouldn't really call that putting it in a box.

If there is no agreed upon definition of what a certain phenomena is, though, then communication about it becomes impossible. The goal is to simultaneously avoid vagaries and schisms because that always causes drama.