Traveling between Realms

The following are guided visualization to lead you on a journey to Tir na mBan - The Land of Women; is a journey to gain wisdom. Enjoy.

Here are some tips before you attempt a journey: * Do not ever think your experiences are not real. So go into this journey in the right frame of mind. This is not ment for fun or sport but as a learning experience. *When in the Other-world respect the privacy of others whether spirits, the dead, deities, or other magickal travelers. *THE OLDEST RULE "Protection of Bread and Salt". If a being in the Otherworld invites you for a chat or to be a guide - you, as the guest, are under obligation to be at peace while you are there; just as the host is required to maintain this level of "friendship" for a minimum of a year and a day. You are not required to accept the offering - just be aware if you do you are essentilly bound in friendship & teaching to this person for a year and a day. **Make sure you wont be disturbed - no phones or kids ready to bother you whatever. Here is the Tir na mBan Meditation (from Celtic Women's Spirituality pg 176 by Edan McCoy) There re 3 ways to use this meditative technique. I will list all 3. These are guided meditation - meaning when you are first starting out you would get best results if you taped yourself speaking in a low quiet voice walking through the imagery. As you get more accomplished at meditations you wont need the guide, but its good at first. Prep: Close your eyes and slow your thoughts; breathe rhythmically and deeply. Center your spirit and let go. Focus inward relaxing your body from feet up through the top of your head. Then focus outward away from this time and place. Visualize allowing yourself to separate from your body and experience the wonders of the Tir na mBan. Find your self standing at eh center point of the right half of a double spiral. Cautiously put one foot forward, and begin to follow the spiral. You are aware the Otherworld is a limitless place with an almost infinate number of realms to explore. As you work your way out of the spiral, you feel the need to take form, or find a guide that will specifically help you into Tir na mBan. As you reach the point where the two spirals interconnect you will feel a change in pressure of the atmosphere. The world has become mroe fluid and light. Standing on either side of the path are 2 large dogs, one red and one white. These are the guardians of the gates of the Otherworld. They reguard you passively even though they are fearsome creatures.

Choose one of the following ~

A: Shapes-shifting: Feel your outer self becoming fluid with the world around you, changing into a vey feminine form. Feel your arms becoming (insert word for animal for ie. hooves, wings, paws, etc), and sense their power as the real you is enfolded in this new shape - Useally it takes up to 3 mintues for transformation to be complete.
You continue along the other spiral, moving clockwise through the counter-clockwise world of water and mist. Inward you travel in anever-tightening circle, until you come to a halt on the shores of Tir na mBan.
As you step onto the beach, you feel your other form returnign. The (insert animal words ie. feathers, pelt, etc) melts into your skin, and you look out of your own eyes once more.

B: Horse or Bird Guide
From out of the mist in front of you comes a guide to take you teh rest of the way to Tir na mBan. A beautiful (insert animal form: white mare or large black she-raven) comes to stand mystically in front of you, beckoning you to mount her. You climb willingly onto the creatures back.
You continue along the other spiral, moving clockwise through the counter-clockwise world of water and mist. Inward you travel in an ever-tightening circle, until you come to a halt on the shores of Tir na mBan.
You step onto the beach and dismount your guide. You sense she will be waiting for you when you return to this spot again for your return trip.

C: Silver Boat
From out of the mist comes a small silver boat to take you the rest of the way to Tir na mBan. You willingly climb into it, knowing it has been sent from the Otherworld.
You continue along the other spiral, moving clockwise through the counter-clockwise world of water and mist. Inward you travel in an ever-tightening circle, until you come to a halt on the shores of Tir na mBan.
You step onto the beach and climb out of the boat. You sense it will be waiting for you when you return to this spot again for your return trip.

Continuing on in Tir na mBan ~
From this place on the shore you see you are at the meeting point of 2 worlds. Behind you the world is misty and it is hard to see through the murky veil, but ahead of you in Tir na mBan it is summer, lush and green. A huge primeval forest spreads out endlessly before you. The only easy acces to it seems to be a small pathway right in front of you. The sides of the path are marked by 2 small cauldrons. As you approach you see they contain a dark red liquid. The path itself is dark red, as if stained by blood from thousands of years. The whole area radiates a sacredness, and throbs with potential life, and you feel your own heart beat in sync with it.
You follow along this blood path deep into the forest until you come to a grotto. In the middle of the grotto is a silver and gold throne, and on it is seated a Goddess-like woman clothed in flowing green robes. Upon her blonde head is a crown of gold that radiates like the sun and in the center of it sits the largest, clearest ruby you've ever seen. She exudes serenity an quiet power, and she seems at one with her surroundings.
All around her are the astral forms of woman like yourself who have come seeking the wisdom of Tir na mBan. At first it makes you sad to see how few women are lined up before her, waiting their turn to drink from a chalice. In comparison to all the women in the world, their numbers here are few.
When it is your turn the Goddess-like Queen offers you a drink from a large jewel-encrusted chalice. You approach the throne. The queen smiles at you with motehrly pride, and you take the heavy chalice and dring deeply from it. The potion inside tastes a little like milk nd honey, but it has a light, otherworldly texture and flavor that you have never before experienced.
You hand the heavy chalice back to the queen.
"Welcome to Tir na mBan," she sayes, "This realm belongs to you. Go and seek your wisdom, my sister."
With that comand you are free to explore this world at will. You move into the forest again, noting as you travel along how rich the landscape is in feminine imagery. Chalices, cauldrons, hares, does, horses, ravens, and pools of sacred blood literally enhance your surroundings.

*At this point you may explore the land of Women as you like - maybe visiting your ansestors, seek a vision in the cauldron of knowledge, seek out the Well of Segais (knowledge) that is traditionally guarded by a stag in the underworld, or you seek your shadow-self in the darker reaches of Tir na mBan. Your shadow self will have all your same fears, loves, hiopes and joys, strengths and failings. It will be neither good nor evil, strong nor weak. It will just be you. This discovery can be the most daunting aspect of otherworld travel, but it is one that will ultimately make you whole and give you spiritual insights you are not able to get otherwise.

Or you can go through a dream retrieval - The following guided meditation is for that :

Knowing that you must find your missing or unconcluded dream, you allow your intuition to guide you to the cave of dreams. You are lead throguh a misty land populated by fantastic creatures and images. In the center of a clear blue lake you see the mouth of the cave of dreams. The cave appears to be made of pure silver, and it glistens in the half-light of this dream world. Inside are all the dream images that have ever been made by women.
There is no boat nearby, or any apparently easy way to cross the lake to the cave. Then, knowing that in the dream world you can do anything, you step onto the lake and find you are able to walk on the surface of the water. You walk toward the cave enterance and take note that it has no guardian; its only protection seems to be the lake.
You step inside, and see that the cave of dreams is not dark. Many pathways lead away from this central chamber. Because you have been contemplating retrieving this particular dream while in your waking state, you decide to follow your instincts in selecting the pathway.
You walk through the narrow chamber, which contains an infinite number of closed doorwys. Most of the markings upon them do not look familiar, and you realize those roomsdo not contain the dream you are seeking. Finally you come upon a doorway that you know without a doubt contains yours. As you grasp the doorknob you vividly recal either the point at which your dream left off, or the feeling you had upon awakening from the dream you could not remember. You open the door, and step into the dream sequence.

*When ready to leave the cave- exit the door of your dream and follow the same path out of the cave as you used to ente. At the mouth of the cave, walk back across the lake and through the misty land until you are back in the forrest.

LEAVING Tir Na mBan:
Once you are back on the blood path, follow it back to the shore line. (If you have difficulty finding it will yourself to the shores.) Then follow these guides to leave:

A: Shape-shifting
As you stand on the shore, you feel the animal form tht you previously took reasserting itself, and you allow the transformation. Then you step off the shore and back onto the left-handed site of the spiral path, following it ever-outward to where it connects with the right-handed spiral. At this point your real form reasserts itself to your own physical body.

B: Horse or Bird Guide
On the shore, waiting for you, is the horse/raven that brought you here. You again climb onto her back and she carries you along the left-handed spiral, following it ever-outward to where it connects with the right-handed spiral. At this point you climb off of the guide and thank her for her assistance.

C: Silver Boat
On the shore, waiting for you, is the small silver boat that brought you here. You again climb into it and the boat carries you along the left-handed spiral, following it ever-outward to where it connects with the right-handed spiral. At this point you climb off of the boat. THe boat retreats back into the mists, awaiting your next trip to Tir na mBan.

Continuing your exit ~
You joyfully begin walking along the right-handed spiral, feeling Tir na mBan fading away from you as the atmosphere loses its fluidity. As you reach the center of the right-handed spiral you feel born anew. You feel yourself fading away from the astral world as a gental veil of space and time closes off your world from this one, and you say to yourself, "I am home".
Gently your consciousness transfers itself back into your physical body. Feel now the awareness of your physical self returning to your arms, legs, back, stomach and neck. Flex them and relish the joy of being a living human being. You are once again a part of the physical world. Open your eyes feeling exhilirated, energized and glad to be home with your new wisdom.

* I usually now write out my travels in my Book of Shadows so I don't forget any details.