Some Shamanic traditions see souls as moving through three types of trajectories: Descending, Ascending, or Illuminated.

When a soul is descending, the human experience is usually centered around survival, self-interest, and difficulty seeing other people’s perspectives, especially those of loved ones. Narcissistic behavior can be high on this list.

A soul in Ascension tends to be very aware of descending souls, their behaviors, and their choices. Ascending souls tend to avoid situations that could unnecessarily hurt others, go wrong, or complicate their lives. It is almost as if they simply want to do the best they can and eventually leave this world, at the appropriate time, as cleanly as possible. Descending souls, on the other hand, tend to leave a mess behind.

Most of you reading this material will probably be Ascending souls; a descending soul would generally have little interest in these ideas. By the way, all descending souls eventually figure it out and begin ascending. So, basically, all of us in this space have, at some point, been and done many of the things we now tend to disagree with.

Actually, we may be seeing those disagreeable things precisely because their energy is still lingering in the outer peripheries of our own fields of creation.

There is a third and much rarer class of soul. Shamans sometimes call them the Illuminated Ones. They are classified as Illuminated because they are no longer bound to a specific direction in their trajectory.

Both descending and ascending souls can evolve only in a particular direction: either toward density or toward light. Within the human experience, this process is often perceived as fate. This is one of the reasons unexpected things happen: accidents, lottery winnings, chance encounters, sudden losses, unexpected opportunities. They can all become part of the path a soul takes in order to experience its evolution.

Shamans see nothing inherently wrong with this process. We are trained to recognize it and, when necessary, allow it to unfold organically so that the person’s free will can develop through experience. There is no better teacher than experiencing cause and effect.

An Illuminated Soul is free from what we normally experience as “fate.” This means the person has become fully self-realized and self-recognized. They understand this material world for what it is within consciousness and learn to navigate it accordingly.

Their primary motivation becomes helping because they understand that, in this state of being, what is genuinely needed will be provided regardless of how the material illusion may appear at any particular moment.

Illuminated people live mostly in the present and help in the present. They intuitively understand that time is not simply linear, but whole. They also perceive space not merely as external terrain, but as an extension of their inner realm.

At this level of existence, Ayni—one of the fundamental principles of Andean Shamanism concerning reciprocity—becomes almost mathematically precise. These people can devote their lives to helping others, and the Universe responds by helping them in ways far greater than what they initially gave.

They have remembered something fundamental: evolution is ultimately not about becoming the strongest, the most powerful, or even the most intelligent.

It is about remembering, and returning.

Flavio Moy, CRP

Private Shaman and Transpersonal Advisor

Flavio@HealerShaman.com