otherworld

plural otherworlds · alternative other world

1. A world beyond death; an afterlife.

   Synonyms: hereafter, other side

2. A world other than the everyday world.

   We do not want, of course, to return to all the crudities and barbarities of the past; but also we do not want to become attenuated and spiritualized out of all mundane sense and recognition, and to live in an otherworld Paradise void of application to earthly affairs.

   1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 192

   1. A mythical abode of otherworldly beings.

plural Otherworlds

1. lifestyleThe other realms of existence beyond the world of mankind, especially the realms of the dead or the fairy folk.

   In these dreams the spirits of the Otherworld materialized in the shape of animals and spoke to them.

   1990, Michael Howard Thorson, Understanding Runes, page 21

   2 more examples

   It is a time when folk remember their Ancestors in the Otherworlds and when the veil between the worlds is so thin that, with a little magic, you could pass through it.

   2001, Wulf Hengestsson, Thunder issue 16&17 (Heathen Journal), The Tale of Aelfstan

   The spiritual skill that above all identifies the shaman is the ability to go into trance and journey through the Otherworld at will.

   2005, Diana Paxson, Taking Up The Runes, Weiser Books, page 207