The Shaman's Map
Legend and lore tell us that the physical body goes back to the earth (consciousness), our knowledge returns to the mountains, and our essence or soul returns to the stars, our local star being the Sun.
The Shaman’s steps of this journey are the dawning of light awareness or recognizing the self-proceeding the dawn.
The first step is the sun rising in the belly where all of creation rises in us. This light is the dawn breaking on a cloudless 
morning, a state of primordial purity—immense and vast, defying description. The blackness of death, caused by the collapse of the senses, recedes and is dispelled by the light of Spirit.
At that moment, you perceive the dawn as if from the top of the world itself; you are taller than the highest mountains. Not only is the breaking dawn occurring outside you, but you simultaneously feel the sun rising in your belly and all of Creation stirring within you. You recognize that you are one with the dawning light; you surrender to the luminosity around you, are enfolded by it, and become one with it. During this stage you encounter luminous beings, medicine people who assist you in surrendering to the light. Inka legends say that we are all star travelers. At this point in the dying process we can re–embark on our great journey through the Milky Way.
In the second stage the sun rises like the first day of creation where the manifestation of matter occurred. Everything appears as light and we recognize our luminous nature again. The shaman recognizes his own luminous nature and is no longer identified with their body or life, but with light. The luminous nature of everything starts to express itself as orbs of light; one differentiates into many.
If the person fails to recognize the dawn as the awakening of his own consciousness, the sun continues to rise in a million blinding dazzling colors. All of nature comes alive in a stunning display of sound and light. It is as if the first day of Creation were replaying itself. In this stage, the forces of nature manifest in their pure essence. Already the one has separated into the many. Water appears as fluid as light; the Earth appears as light; all of the elements are represented in their luminosity and coalesce into balls of energy. In this stage we have a second opportunity to recognize our luminous nature, to see that we are not separate from the dazzling light and energies around us.
A person who has been preparing their entire life for this moment can attain liberation through the complete unfettering of consciousness during the first two stages of death. Others, however, may experience an instant of complete enlightenment, only to slip back into unconsciousness. For them this process will go by in an instant, a flash of blinding light. They might not even realize they have passed through it.
These two stages are where the person attains freedom and has the opportunity for the Great Awakening. If these two opportunities are missed, then everything goes back into form; usually this happens for most of us in a flash. Total and complete enlightenment, if not recognized in that moment is a lost opportunity and the next stage begins.
The dawning of the light of awareness is what we prepare for. This is the dawning of the new day or birth, where the sun rises and the day breaks within you. It is where you recognize your luminous nature as light. The lore is if you can stay conscious in these stages and the new dawning then you can stay in the dawning of the light. If you do not stay conscious then you are caught in the dawning of the dark. It is at these cross roads where soul loss happens.
The windstorm of death is so mighty that many people become unconscious and awaken only at the third stage of the journey. We observe that we still have a form, that we are a man or woman, that we can be young and unaffected by disease. But the dawn of consciousness has passed, and we are not in the twilight of the day. The colors are not as sharp or well defined, even though our awareness is tremendously heightened. Our ordinary senses are not separated from each other. We sense with the totality of our being, and everything around us is alive.
It is important that we do our life review to release these heavy energies because in these seconds we are held or called by the places or persons that we have not completed our work with and we can become attached to them or become earth bound.
After these two stages we are met by celestial beings for the life review process. We travel to the level of the hanaqpacha or the four vibrations where there is no separation with god.
The lower levels are very dense, associated with the domains of the Stone People and the Plant People. Persons trapped in these lower domains undergo purification in a world of darkness; they have no eyes to see or hands to feel with; they only sense the vague presence of others. These are Earth-bound domains for humans (although they are perfectly nice places for the Stone People). Here we relive our pain and suffering. These are mirrored by the worlds of the Hopi where the First world is dark and devoid of light and the second world is light and green.
The higher levels are joyful and filled with peace. We rejoin our loved ones and bask in the light of Spirit until our next incarnation. We naturally gravitate toward one level or another, depending on how we lived our life. We can see those in the levels below but cannot be seen by them, we can only speak and interact with those in our level. The fourth level is our spiritual home, where we meet our ancestors and families.
The fifth world is the domain of luminous beings dedicated to assisting all humankind. Shamans who have mastered the journey beyond death return to this level. Long ago, when the shamanic death rites were first developed, this was a difficult level to attain. Today it is much more accessible. Trails have been blazed by the courageous men and women who have come before us. The prophecies of the Hopi and the Inka speak about our entire planet emerging into the fifth world. They refer to our entering the domains of angels.
Our goal is to die consciously, to go through the axis of the luminous energy field and back to the fourth world of our ancestors or to the fifth world of our becoming. Alberto’s mentor, Antonio, would jokingly tell him that the purpose of all of our training is, “to get out of this life alive”.