Journeys
If you choose to record this exercise, place your tape player right beside your bed, so you can reach out with your eyes closed to turn it off at the end of the exercise.
- Close your eyes and feel yourself drifting into sleep. Your breathing is slow and easy.
- Let your neck relax. Let your shoulders relax. Feel your entire back relaxing. From head to toe, feel your whole body releasing tension.
- Now, visualize a long, long hallway in your mind. The walls and floors are made of glowing light. See the light, and see yourself slowly walking down the luminous hallway, with your Angel right beside you.
- At the end of the hallway you see a shimmering portal. This is the doorway to the Angelic Elevator.
- As you and your Angel get closer, the door slowly opens.
- Hand in hand, with one of its wings wrapped around your back, your Angel and you step into this elevator.
- When you do, your body is bathed in the purest, warmest light you can imagine. It soothes your body and flows deeply into every part of you, into every cell.
- You watch your Angel reach out with the tip of its wing to push one of the glowing buttons on the panel by the door.
- The elevator door slowly closes. Bathed in light, you and your Angel are slowly rising up into your dreams.
- If you are working with an affirmation, repeat it now, slowly, several times over.
- If you would like to ask your Angel a specific question, or seed a particular dream, now is the time to do it.
- Notice your breathing again.
- Feel yourself drifting into sleep.
- Together with your Angel, you are moving up, up, up into the world of dreams.
-Author Unknown
How do we get to travel beyond our own limitations and out and beyond the old barriers and cages of self? The ice river is a very ancient and also, a very well known way to do just that. It exists in many different permutations across the widest range of cultures; and it is a truly magical occurrence. Just as magical are the winter lands.
There is no accident in the fact that Superman’s “Fortress of Solitude” can be found at the North Pole, the palace of the Ice Queen and Father Christmas’s multi-coloured magical workshop “where all the toys in the world are made”. This is deep magic, very old, very powerful.
On this journey we do nothing but to scout these lands “beyond” and become more familiar with them, re-claim them as our own and begin to make a first connection to the magic which resides here and which truly, “cannot be found in any other place, in any other way”.
Many people spend a lifetime “looking for their magic” and this journey will show an aspect of this magic which is perfectly ours, perfectly our own and perfectly reachable – if we make the effort and seek it out with volition, get to know it and when the time is right, re-awaken it from its frozen sleep.
On a personal note, it was Ice River directly which taught me how to use my “night eyes” – to see the patterns of the energy world with a set of other senses than the physical eyes. What it might do for each individual of course, I cannot know – but I do know that I would like each person to at least travel there once and just make that first contact, so their own “north poles” are once again, a part of their world in awareness at least.
~Sylvia Hartmann
Ice River
Let’s transport ourselves for a moment
to a different place, a different time
of where the autumn turns to winter
scapes, a gentle merging as the sun
is low on the horizon and the air
tastes sharp and clear.
We would stand
in warming furs, well covered
snug within
and we would see ahead
a river white and wide
straight river, out into
the far perspective where
the banks have merged
before the low horizon
meets the single point
in distance.
And we would step upon
our starting point,
a frozen lake
so deeply frozen,
thickest glass
of white and blue
so solid now
beneath our feet
and as our feet
would quite without
our mind’s command
would now begin
to move and slide
and skate in
rhythmic pulses
left to right
and as our bodies
bend into the movement
and our arms begin
to reach as well
thus we begin
our journey
forward
upward
on the river white
and raise our eyes
to where the point
of far perspective lies
and we begin to travel
Faster, faster still
and lighter,
each forward pulse
increases the momentum
each forward pulse
adds speed and now we
seem to fly towards
the point of far perspective
where the land must
meet the sky and all is
one, and silent white,
pulse travelling
pulse carrying
pulse flying
as the point expands
and seems a light
that seems to grow
in brightness and
you know
the doorway
lies before you
as you keep your eyes
towards the gate of far perspective
as you approach
and it grows more defined
and clearer
in your vision
soft white
and pulsing with a beat
that is the same
that pulses in your body
that brings you closer
closer with each beating
of your heart
It grows
the doorway grows
and now it fills your vision
here it is,
here you are
here you have arrived
at the gate of far perspective
and another pulse or two or three
bring you into the white
and white is right
and all there is
and for a moment there is
nothing but the movement
on continuing and phasing
slowing from the impetus
relaxing down and slowing more
until you passed the gate
and you become aware and see: T
he winter world before you
and the river still
and frozen still it is for
you to travel glass and icy smooth
and yet it is a river and it turns
and loops through winter land.
Slowly and without the slightest effort
you begin to glide the Winter River
and you see all along
the banks on either side
fantastic landscapes, crisp and white
the sky so radiant blue above
and all is winter still
and winter reverend.
Gently you glide by
and you perceive
enchanted castles,
frozen wells
and there’s a knowing
that there’s sleeping things,
snug and safe
in timeless slumber
deep beneath
the sweeps and crests
of ancient ice
that lie a frozen ocean
stretching far
and further still.
Gently you glide by
and you perceive
ice mountains,
sparkling glass
fantastic sculptures
that are beautiful
and they are here
as they could be
not anywhere
but here
Gently you glide on
and know that this
is now a world
that others never seek
to seek, nor seek to
travel.
And as you travel,
and observe,
and as you travel
and you marvel at the beauty
and the clarity
the timelessness
and perfect beauty of the white
your world grows larger
and a part that has been
long denied
has taken and is taking now
its rightful place
at last.
And you can know
as darkness falls
and Northern Lights play
in the sky
beneath your closing arc
that there is magic here
that there is much
you never thought to seek
that you might think
of coming here again
to seek and find
to learn and love
to stand before
the vastness and the beauty
and you might find
the kind of treasure here
that simply cant be known
in any other way
in any other place.
Glide by
Beneath the banding lights
of dancing jade and purple,
celestial blue and green
in hues you’ve never known
you glide on by to find
the gate of far perspective
for your journey here
was one of recognition
and of admiration
and of re-connection
to a something
that you might have thought
you had forgotten
and yet that lives
and sleeps and breathes
forever in a beauty
that cannot be found
in any other place.
Beneath the diamond stars
in stillness you return
and close the distance gently
as the gate grows from the point
of far perspective
widening on your approach
and with a tiny sense
of deep regret
at leaving once again so soon
and with a small decision to return
when time is here and time is right
you move towards the growing gate of white
that takes you back and through into
your time of mind,
and back and through
into your time of here and now,
a gentle dis-so-lucian
of the magic and
a gentle drifting back to self
in thought, in mind, in
physicality
as your awareness of the here-and-now
comes back in gentle waves,
in gentle waves of feelings and sensations
here and now
and bright aware
retaining and remembering.
~Sylvia Hartmann
If you could shift
your point of view for just a moment, as you
now grow still
and silent within,
without a thought or care,
without a thought of worry or desire,
then you might just begin to feel:
A power tingling in your fingertips,
a breath that draws to you
a part of all there is, of which
you are a part,
and that surrounds you, buoys you, nourishes, protects
and reaches far and wide
and further still
into the deepest blues of oceans
the deepest greens of mountain lakes
and all the creatures that reside
in forest groves, eternal deserts
as above,
the stars are dancing.
Oceans of energy
and they lie at your fingertips,
for you to navigate and learn
to know the ancient arts
of balance, deep release
and once again restore
the Even Flow,
the perfect state of being.
Silvia Hartmann, 2001
Please take a seat and clear your mind of what fills it now and hear my words:
As you are sitting, close your eyes and feel the yellow of the sun..Reach up with your arms and let your fingertips touch that yellow..Now, lay back, with your arms extended and become a ray of the sun..As we all lay in a circle, we form the sun – we are all rays of this vivid starburst.
Look down to the Earth and see the fields ripe with the summer’s abundance..Find your self in the center of this abundance holding a large willow basket, eager to begin your autumn harvest.
Step first into an expanse of sweet corn..See the erect, regal, green stalks of corn..Observe a ripe ear on a particular stalk which extends to you..Under its scruffy whiskers kernels that sparkle like gold shine through. You are reminded of your own riches – both tangible and intangible..Reach out and pick this ear and put it into your basket.
Leave the corn field and enter an orchard; an apple orchard..See the beauty of these trees, these majestic symbols of the Goddess..Feel the fullness of her boughs – full of ruby red apples of knowledge..Reach up, way up, and pick two. Put one in your basket and eat the other. Taste and enjoy this fruit – for in this garden tasting an apple is not forbidden.
Now move toward an onion field which beckons you..Once green, now browning spikes point up to you, tempting you to dig below…Pull gently and the ground gives birth to aniridescent, opal bulb, full of body and character and strength..A vegetable with the power to make you feel the power of tears..Add this to your growing harvest.
Notice ahead thick bushes of ripened raspberries..Sharp brambles protecting their precious, succulent garnets..The sweet nectar of these berries remind you of your own sensuality – your own ability to feel, express, extend all that is soft and loving and warm to others..Take your time here and pick plenty of these supple jewels for your basket.
Step away now and look around you..Find a patch of fruit or vegetables that appeals to you..Enter it, admire its offerings, select a precious gem of your own to harvest..Choose a resource to sustain you in the rapidly upcoming time of cold and darkness…Capture some warmth and light and savor its presence.
With your arms now laden with this basket of bountiful treasures, it is time now to rest..Take your harvest to the grassy knoll in the sun just beyond and sit and bask in the glory of its healing heat..Rest in contentment knowing you have collected that which you need to give you strength and nourishment in the winter days to come.
Put yourself back in the sky now..Become the sun once again..Shine down upon yourself and your gatherings..Absorb the energy of the fruits of your labors, bless these seeds you planted in the Spring and nurtured to fruition through the summer..Be the sun..Shine down upon all that is good and good-giving..Give the light of hope to all you shine upon.
When everything you have touched with your rays is full of your brightness, open your eyes and rejoin our circle.
By: Angelica
Found at: Magickal Winds
Sit in an upright position in a chair, with your back straight, feet flat on the floor, and hands comfortably in your lap. If you wish, play soft inspirational or sacred music in the background.
Slowly take three deep breaths. On each exhalation, release all tension or negative thoughts from your mind and body.
Keeping your heart open and receptive, close your eyes. Imagine a ball of rainbow-colored light at the top of your head. Visualize it descending into the center of your brain.
Concentrate on that glowing energy, and direct it down through your neck and into your heart, feeling warmth and love. Continue directing it downward into your stomach and the rest of your organs and finally down through your legs to the soles of your feet and into the ground.
Now visualize this healing and centering energy and light coming back up from the ground and up the back of your legs. Slowly direct it up through the core of your spine and back into your head.
Imagine yourself being lifted gently into the universe. Keeping a sense of your meditative posture, see and feel yourself floating gently in outer space, surrounded by the stars and planets.
Realize that your body and the manifest universe are an inseparable cosmic creation of vibrating atomic polarities.
Realize that all the atoms in your physical body are billions of years old – composed from the exploding light of ancient stars and other electromagnetic energies.
Imagine yourself being pulled into a black hole of radiation, going past time and space into the dark womb of the universe. The silence of this black hole is beyond description – it is intelligence, as yet unthinking. Experience the peace and bliss of this all-pervasive intelligence.
Imagine this intelligence beginning to think and creatively to dream. Suddenly you experience a roaring sound and a spark of visible light spreads. Somehow originating in the sound, the light begins to radiate throughout the darkness. Creation has begun. You perceive vast clouds of many-colored lights that are the formation of galaxies and all the other creations of Earth, including your physical body.
Imagine yourself as the soul within the human body and that the sun’s rainbow-colored light is entering into your physical body. Now imagine streams of electromagnetic energy and waves of visible light pouring out of your body and creatively interweaving with the streams of energy that compost the universe.
Meditate for a momentum this web of light streams that connects your soul, mind, and physical body to the universe. Realize that through the divine inner light of your consciousness you are participating in the creation of this tapestry of light and life.
Gently bring your focus back to the planet Earth and the spot you occupy physical. See with new eyes.
~from Mandala by Judith Cornell
With one hand lightly on your heart, breathe easily and gently, feel the awareness of breath and heartbeat creating a clear, spacious place inside.
Breathe with the sound of the word bismillah (BiS-MiL-LaaH).
When we remember to connect our heart to the Heart of the Cosmos, we recall that, as the Sufis say, “God is your lover, not your jailer.”
~Neil Douglas-Klotz
In this exercise you will meditate on your skin, muscles, bones, and blood. You’ll discover that your blood runs not only in your veins, but also flows back in time to its ancestral source. Thus you can find or better determine your spiritual and magical roots, the exploration of which will be part of your own unique brand of magickal initiation.
Read through the exercise to get a good idea of how it flows, and then begin.
Get comfortable, quiet, and centered. Breathe deeply and relax your body. When you are fully relaxed, begin the meditation by thinking about your skin. Focus on how it feels. Maybe you have an awareness of how your clothing feels in the places where it touches your skin. It is through your skin that you interact with all things….
Think about this for a few minutes… It is through your skin that you interact with the world.
Now, think about how it is that your skin keeps you separate from all things as well. It contains you. Feel yourself as a being who is separate… you are quiet you are contained within yourself, and in that quiet containment you are relaxed, confident, and your spirit is free from intrusion and fear.
Now, feel your muscles and bones. One way to do this is to visualize them under your skin. Or you might move your body – the smallest possible amount – as you picture your bones solid, dense, and providing a frame, which, in your imagination, your muscles maneuver, vividly filled with vitality.
Feel your blood. One way to do this is to imagine it running in your veins. Don’t worry if you can’t really “feel” it, simply imagine that you are feeling it and that will be sufficient.
What does your blood tell you? Anything? Be open: see if you hear anything or if a thought pops into your mind or you get a sense of some feeling stirring in your body or idea peeking at you in your thoughts.
Say:
My blood is of a river,
my blood flows through the dark void of time and space,
back to its source.
What is its source?
Where did it come from?
What did my blood do at that time,
in that place?
Again, visualize the blood running in your veins… imagine it flows past you like a stream or brook, not in the sense it would if you were injured but in a miraculous, mystical pilgrimage… Imagine your blood flowing through a safe, comforting darkness… You are going to follow that flow as it moves to it’s source…
Now your blood arrives at its source. Perhaps you will suddenly get a picture of, or sense, an ancient people. You might encounter anything, the possibilities of what happens in this step are endless… you might encounter anything from a star in the sky to a specific race of people or species of animals or to a plant or even a mythical beast.
You might not see anything. You might instead hear, smell, or simply get a sense of your ancestral source; modes of psychic perceptions are endless, and no one is better than another. An idea, word, or phrase that comes to mind might be your psychic perception even if it makes no sense right away.
Note whatever it is that might be happening at that far-off time and place. Are you doing anything? Are your ancestors? Are there words or sounds? Do you have any feelings or impressions?
Are you given any gifts?
Say to your ancestors, even if you feel that you have experienced nothing in this voyage, “I thank you for this visit.”
Imagine, picture, somehow be aware of your blood traveling a long distance back through time and space… this is a dark, safe, and comfortable journey, your blood flows through this space carrying any gifts you’ve gained.
Now, be aware of your blood flowing all the way back to you, arriving with its new gifts. Feel your blood flowing through your body, replete with its new gifts and power.
Feel your skin… Feel how it interacts with your clothes… feel how it interacts with the seat under you… feel how it interacts with the air.
~ Francesca de Grandis