Beyond The Veil

SM Stirling, Snowbrother (New York, 1985), Chapter 10.

This shaman goes to a place that I didn't know even existed:

in darkness, in a storm, in his tent, he burns herbs, crouches, drums and chants;

he peels away reason and sensation, rerouting sensory input into closed-loop circuits;

only internal sensation, blood, heart etc, remains;

a mental construct will monitor bodily functions in his absence;

leaving his body and the tent, he flies into the blizzard;

he perceives the storm's energy system, then scans backward in time and assesses its probability;

he learns that the storm was likely but also that its probability had been nudged;

he is able to walk along time "...as if it were a distance..." (p. 120);

he will recognize the individual style of this spell if he encounters it again;

when he senses his opponent's scrutiny, they communicate non-verbally and the shaman lashes out in fury;

of necessity, each returns to his body.

I have omitted some details in order to summarize this psychic sequence. There is a "...World Beyond the World..." (ibid.) and a "...plane of Absolute Essence..." (ibid.) where it is possible to experience the "Symbols," e.g., of the storm and of the shaman himself. There is a "...Veil..." (p. 121) with men and the storm on one side of it and these psychic or magical events on the other.

OK. Over to you. Read Stirling's account and see what you make of it.