Honestly somebody could do a thesis or dissertation on the shamanism and metaphysical bloodhounding because although shamanism is a rather primative practice, in existence cross culturally before “religion” came on the scene, and even though metaphysics is an ancient philosophy, the thought and deed go hand in hand. The bloodhounding comes from the “hunt”. A person that does shamanism as a verb is in fact “hunting” and a person that does metaphysical philosophy as a verb is indeed “hunting”. I think a person that becomes adept at both, simultaneously, can be described as a metaphysical bloodhound. These are not people looking for the “truth” or “religion”, but rather using tools in a creative and intentional manner to solve problems. I don’t want to make this sound all rosy and positive because in order to obtain the shamanism skills some suffering is in fact necessary, and not all those adept in shamanism have good intentions when they use the tools it offers. I view shamanism as a bridge to metaphysical concepts and ideas because for me personally it does me little good to go hunting in lower, middle, or upper world for something to bring back and to put into something else or someone else if there is no metaphysical information or understanding to be gained by it, because otherwise it would be like waking up and going through an entire day, dying the same day, only to wake up again and do exactly all the same things, die again, every single day exactly the same way, and for me it would mean a person cannot go on beyond the threshhold of ordinary reality (which is a shamanic term). So while I might spend some time in church, reading the bible, interpretations of it, the Koran, the Book of the Dead, Sutras, Mantras, and musty, dusty stuff encrusted with the sands of time until I nod off and slide off the chair, I spend a lot of time studying non-ordinary reality (again a shamanic term), frankly I have been doing that since I was a very young girl and before I was became aware of samsaric suffering. Most of us have, we just don’t know it. A part of non ordinary reality is death, but there are many other examples too, such as perception in seizures, trance, being able to absorb oneself in rocks, the sensation of flying or leaving the earthly plane, mental communication v. emotional communication, how “will” works, law of attraction, phenomenon of noise of the no noise, duality, vortexes, the effect of agreement, effect of non-agreement, the effect of vitiation, the effect of renunciation (exorcism not always the best thing to do), demonology (not all demons are bad or evil), metaphysical hierarchies (there are several), metaphysical worlds, finding lost things, finding lost people, finding lost souls (can be dangerous), guiding lost souls (not as dangerous as finding them), finding almost anything whether it is evil or good and figuring out how to quickly discern the difference because what is evil in ordinary reality is not always evil in non-ordinary reality. I am convinced beyond certainty that the kingdom of heaven is not far from us at all. But close does not count for horseshoes or hand grenades. I don’t know what it is going to take for me to get there but I sure do want to go. I am convinced that whatever it takes to get there varies from soul to soul, that some are closer than others and some are even waiting for others to catch up. But whatever it takes for me to get there my very soul depends upon so I feel an urgent obligation to my life in ordinary reality to figure out my place in non-ordinary reality. I don’t want to keep living then dying, and repeating that same process over and over again, never moving forward, never moving backward, never advancing in any direction. That, for me, would be an eternal nightmare. So in my studies I incidentally observe things, and notice things regarding others. There have been occasions when it wasn’t incidental at all, but intentional on my part but those have been very rare occasions where I asked for and got permission. But I am not a psychic, or a medium, or a clairvoyant, or a saint, so those intentional journeys I have taken for very specific purpose have been very treacherous for me where the risk was not returning to ordinary reality. I do not use substance or drugs to achieve existence in a state of non-ordinary reality for that very reason. It is something I don’t take lightly but only after a long period of introspective self examination, prayer, reflection and purification because the reality is the experience might be so fierce and horrific that it isn’t possible to make your way back. A person never knows when they are going to run into that kind of situation on a journey and that is why they will sometimes take multiple power animals with them when they go but even those might not be enough protection from beings that come at you from the left (whether animal or something indescribable) that ferociously guard realms and territories. Unless you have permission from something more powerful, those beings are not in the wrong. They are there to rip all intrusions to shreds over and over and over again, they represent the most primative aspects of yourself that knows you have really messed up because you are someplace you are not supposed to be and you did not get there in the normal way which means you definitely are not prepared for it and you have no right to be there. Doesn’t matter what time it is because all those places are eternal, there is no such thing as time there. Doesn’t matter what is going on with your corporeal body because you are not aware of it and might not ever be aware of it again. It is not a normal death where you float away from your body, and return to it to see your funeral and eulogy. A being trapped eternally in their own bad decision to go someplace they should not have went to in the first place, repeatedly dying painful, monstrous deaths over and over again without any way to escape, is an un-cool way to go. I am determined to avoid it if there is anything at all I can do to prevent it. Nothing in ordinary reality compares because if a person is bashed and hacked to pieces on earth at least they are only bashed and hacked to pieces just once but in that non-ordinary reality it is over and over and over again. I can’t speak for anyone else, only myself, but I know that can and does happen in non-ordinary reality. It might be some people’s idea of hell, or purgatory, but for me it is about being someplace you are not supposed to be either because you don’t have permission to be there or you made some kind of mistake, got lost, and wound up somewhere you do belong and are being attacked because of it. Its something the journeyer did wrong, not because the thing ripping you to shreds is wrong. It is all righteous to do it. If people think they don’t have any rights here on earth, just wait till they get beyond the trappings of earthly space and time, a different ball game. The kicker is they only have themselves to blame for it.