S1 EP12: Listening to the invisible

In this episode of School of Shamanism, Giada turns to the deeper meaning behind the season’s theme: Walking Between Worlds.

So far, the conversation has explored fear, resistance, imposter syndrome, and the guilt of choosing yourself. But what is the second world we are walking into? What is the invisible world that so many spiritual traditions speak about?

Across ancient cultures, from the Dreamtime of Aboriginal traditions to the Otherworld of Celtic lore and the shamanic teachings of Siberia and the Amazon, there has always been an understanding that the visible world is only part of reality. Alongside the physical realm exists a subtler dimension of energy, spirit, ancestors and guidance.

In this episode, Giada reflects on why most of us lost the ability to perceive this world, how children naturally sense it before being taught to ignore it, and how our fast-paced, hyper-material culture has dimmed our intuitive senses.

She also shares practical ways the invisible world communicates with us every day: through intuition, dreams, synchronicities, symbols, the body’s sensations, and the quiet messages of nature.

Learning to perceive this realm does not require extraordinary powers, it begins with slowing down, paying attention, and rebuilding a respectful relationship with the unseen forces that have always been present.

Because the invisible world is already speaking.

The real question is: are you listening?

Connect with Giada Gaslini:

• Website: www.schoolofshamanism.co.uk
• Instagram: @‌schoolofshamanism
• Facebook: School of Shamanism
• Youtube: School of Shamanism

About the Host

Originally hailing from the vibrant city of Milan, I’ve spent the past two decades traversing the globe in a quest for spiritual and personal growth and combined with 25 years of international corporate work experience. From navigating the vast landscapes of Australia in a campervan to finding tranquility living in a Buddhist monastery in Nepal, my journey is nothing short of extraordinary. Along the way, I’ve delved deep into Buddhist teachings, yoga, and shamanism, becoming Shamanic Teacher,  Forest Therapy Guide, Esoteric Numerologist, Shamanic and Integral Yoga Teacher and Ikigai Coach. In 2013 I settled in Edinburgh, where  I founded the Art and Spirituality Centre, a social enterprise and the School of Shamanism, where I passionately help others on their own transformative journeys.

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Transcript

Giada 0:00

Invisible world hasn't gone anywhere, it's still there. We have just simply forgotten how to perceive it. Our senses have become blocked. Welcome back to School of Shamanism. I'm Giada, this is season one: Walking Between Worlds. We've covered a lot of ground so far in my podcast and YouTube, My Story, The Practical How, What Happens to Relationships when you walk this path. We spoke about fear, resistance, imposter syndrome, and last time the guilt of choosing yourself. Today I want to take you somewhere different. I've been talking about walking between worlds, which is the title. But we haven't really explored what the second world actually is. So the one that isn't visible, the one that most people don't talk about, the one that, if you mention it in polite company, might get you some strange looks. The weird one, the invisible world. So what is it? How do you perceive it? How does it speak to you? What is the invisible world? So, what I'm actually talking about when I'm saying the invisible world all the time, I'm not talking about imagination, um, not talking about fantasy or something that we have made up ourselves to let us feel better. I'm talking about a dimension of reality that exists alongside the physical one, the uh the real world, a realm of energy, of spirit, of consciousness that is exactly the real one. And every ancient culture knew about this, every indigenous tradition has a relationship with this world, the aboriginal one, they call it a dream time. The Celtic traditions speak of the other world. In the shamanic cultures across the whole globe, from Siberia to the Amazon, there is an understanding that what we see with our physical eyes is only part of the picture. The physical world is the world of form, matter, the things that you can touch, measure, prove, and it's the world of builds and bodies and buildings. The invisible world is the world behind that: the world of energy, of spirit, of ancestors, of power animals, of our guides, of the forces that shape our lives in the ways that we often don't recognize. Shamanism is the practice of walking between these two worlds, of being a bridge, of learning to perceive what most people have forgotten how to see. So why can't we see it? If the invisible world is real, why can't most people perceive it? Simple, because we were not trained to do so. Think about when you were a child. Many children have experiences of the invisible world. They see things, sense things, talk to beings that adults can't see. They have imaginary friends who maybe are not so imaginary. They feel energy in places, they know things they shouldn't know, and uh normally they are told it's not real. It's just your imagination, stop making things up, grow up. So we learn to shut it down and we learn to this to not to trust our own perception. We learn that only the visible world counts, and everything else is no sense. And on top of that, we live in a culture that's completely obsessed with the material, with what we can measure, with the success, what we can prove. We stay on screens all the time, we are disconnected from nature, and we are moving so fast that there is no space for this world. The invisible world hasn't gone anywhere, it's still there. We have just simply forgotten how to perceive it. Our senses have become blocked, but they can wake up again. And so, how do we start perceiving the invisible world? Um, first, we need to understand that it doesn't usually work like the physical sight. Um you're probably not going to see spirits walking around unless you have the gifts for that. Some people, of course, they they can see or hear them, but the invisible world speaks to us through different challenges, normally images. Sometimes it's feeling, sometimes it's a sense of presence, the energy of a place. You walk into a room and you feel that there is something different, there is a presence over there. And so it's something a little bit different. It's that information that drops in the channeling that we receive without knowing how it arrived to us. You think of someone and it's just calling. You have that gut feeling about a decision that then turns out to be right. That's perception of the invisible. And sometimes it's through the body. Shivers, tingling, a heaviness of lightness in certain situations. The body is an antenna, it picks up far more than the rational mind. And sometimes it's through dreams. The dream world is a doorway to the invisible. So messages come, beings appear, they they carry a real meaning into the waking life. And sometimes it's through nature, the wind that we can hear, we read the clouds, we observe the birds, the animals, when we are asking questions, which is one actually of the shamanic practice, the omen's walk. And we need to slow down in order to see and perceive the invisible world because we are living busy lives. So it's a subtle world. We need to be quiet. It doesn't shout when we're watching Netflix. If you want to perceive it, you have, of course, to slow down. And this is why stillness matters so much. The meditation, the time in nature, sitting by a fire, walking on your own, without chatting, without anyone else. And when you slow down, your perception opens. You just are able to see and feel things that you were not able to see before. But you need to create the conditions in order for this to happen. And this is why a shamanic journey, for example, works. When we drum, when we enter a trance state, we are shifting our consciousness. We are stepping out of ordinary perception and into a space where the invisible becomes visible, where we can meet spirits, receive guidance, and travel to other realms. And it's not magic in the sense of something supernatural, it's natural, it's ancient. It's the capacity that we all have, but simply we have forgotten it. So when we slow down, we start noticing the way this world communicates, which is through, as I said before, images, through symbols, synchronicities, in patterns that repeat until you pay attention in the numbers, in the song that keeps playing everywhere you go, the animal that you keep seeing, the word or phrase that appears in three different contexts in a day. And of course, they are not random coincidences. They are the invisible world tapping you on the shoulder, trying to get your attention. It also speaks through messengers. In the shamanic tradition, we work with spirit guides, power animals, ancestors, but messengers can also be people in this world. It comes through journeys, through dreams, sometimes with signs that we see around. It speaks through our inner knowing, the quiet voice that we can hear inside ourselves, inside our belly. And we just need to learn to trust that voice, which is one of the most important skills on this path. So we need to develop to learn how to develop a relationship with the invisible world. Because it's not a one-way of perceiving that. You just have to build a relationship with the spirits. You communicate, you ask your question, and you listen and you wait for the answers to come, you give offerings, you show respect. In the shamanic practice, of course, we need always there is an exchange of energy. So we need, of course, to offer some gifts that can be something simple that we place on our altars, a candle, flowers. And when you approach the invisible world with respect, with your humility, and with the genuine curiosity, then the invisible world always responds back. It offers guidance, protection, and healing. If you are not approaching in this way, you will not receive any answer, or if your mind is too busy, you will not be able to understand to decode the answer. So always approach the invisible world with gratitude, with the understanding that you are not the center of the universe, that there is no ego involved, and that actually it's just a simple, a simple way of communicating. So the invisible world is already speaking to you. Right now, today, exactly while you are listening or watching, you just don't go, you don't have to go to a retreat in the other part of the world to try to experience these things. You just need you don't need 10 years of training before you need you can qualify to perceive that. The question is: are you already listening? Are you able to listen to the way the universe is communicating with you? Are you ignoring all the coincidences? Write them down, keep a journal, for example. Start writing them down, and then you will see that at some point after a few days, maybe a month, they will make sense to you. And you will be able to read the patterns, to read the structure, the red thread that is behind these images, these happenings that are coming to you. But you need to pay attention, you need to slow down, pay attention around, observe, write things down, notice in them, and then let them go. And then allow the spirits to do the work, and then trust that the answer will come.