Astral projection: The experience of one’s spirit, or consciousness, leaving the physical body while retaining full awareness and self-knowledge.
Astral vision: The ability to see all sides of an object at once.
Aura: The energy field that surrounds the physical body.
Automatic writing: The process of allowing a spirit to communicate through a medium via a computer, typewriter, or pen and paper.
Banshee: Fearsome spirits whose keening and wailing presage the death of someone in the family.
Brownies: Helpful but capricious house spirits.
Death coach: An old-fashioned spectral hearse that comes to collect the souls of the dead.
Dissociation: The perception of being outside of one’s physical body; perceiving one’s own body in the role of an observer. Generally a coping response to extreme stress or trauma.
Etheric vision: The ability to see through opaque objects.
Homeopathy: A form of healing that seeks to remedy the energetic origins of disease, rather than treating physical symptoms.
Leprechaun: The clever fairies that delight in outsmarting humans.
Out-of-Body Experience, or OBE: Another term for astral projection.
Portal: A point of entry and exit between the physical and spirit worlds.
Reiki: A form of healing energy.
Scrying: A form of divination in which the querent gazes into a reflective surface such as a mirror or body of water to gain insight into the present or future.
Soul loss: The shamanistic theory that a portion of our soul’s energy can break off due to trauma or grief and remain stuck in a certain time or place. Shamanically speaking, soul loss is viewed as contributing to illness and bad luck, as well as being a significant factor in not having sufficient energy to fulfill our soul’s purpose for this lifetime.
Soul retrieval: The process of restoring a person’s spirit energy by gathering up their lost soul parts and returning the parts to them. A soul retrieval is done through shamanic journeying.
Thought form: A form, usually inanimate, that exists on the astral plane. When a thought form becomes animated, or develops a will of its own, it’s called a tulpa.