Journeying

With the waxing of the moon this week, I have decided to start anew - meditating and "journeying".

The stories of my journeys will be on a different blogsite - one dedicated to a Crone's growth; however, the first of my latest journeys can be told here.

Journeying is done in conjunction with meditation and is actually a guided meditation - with someone telling you where you will be going on the journey. What you learn from the journey is usually a life lesson. A journey can be done with someone else doing the spoken guidance or with the guidance of your own internal "voice."

I begin all my meditations, be they silent meds or journeys, the same - by drawing a circle. Drawing a circle creates sacred, protected space. I draw my circle by calling to the Four Directions: East for Air, South for Fire, West for Water and North for the Mother Earth. I then call upon the Ancient Ones (the Ones Who were here before humankind) and my Goddesses to be with me in my circle. Next I "ground" - a small ritual that connects me to Mother Earth and Father Sky. I then sit before my altar and light a candle to the Goddess, asking for power and protection. The circle, the grounding, the candle all are parts of ritual to mark the sacred and to protect me - I only want Beings from the Light to be in my sacred space.

I go into my med and then my internal voice takes over, guiding me around the Sun, through the fire and to a meadow. My meadow is vast with yellow-green grass and blue wildflowers. At the edge of the meadow is a forest with a winding path. I "walk" through the meadow to the path, then down the path to a clearing in the middle of the woods. In the clearing sits a stone cottage with climbing roses, gardens, birdhouses and a cat sitting on each deep window sill. In each journey I am met at the cottage by my guides and/or people who have been in my life or who are in my life. Each journey is a lesson I need to learn or a revealing of a path I need to take.

One of my guides, a grandfatherly type who calls me "Daughter", has been with me as I traveled around the sun, through the fire, across the meadow and down the forest's path. He's been with me because of who I was to meet at the cottage. Standing in front of the cottage was Mark, smiling at me. Silently he leads me around to the back of my cottage to show me a colonial herb and flower garden that he has built for me - a garden just like the one I always told him I wanted. Still without saying anything we walk back to the front of the cottage; he hugs me and waves goodbye, walking away.

I'm standing at my cottage door with only "Grandfather" who asks me, "What have you learned from this lesson, daughter?"

I think for a moment and say, "That Mark left me a garden of memories to cherish and nurture."

Grandfather seems to be happy with that answer. "People come into and go out of our lives. Instead of mourning their leaving, we should celebrate the time we've had with them."

I leave Grandfather standing by the cottage door, walk down the path through the woods, and across the meadow. I walk through the fire and around the Sun. I find myself in front of my altar, staring at the Goddess candle, remembering my lesson to cherish the memories.

Some people reading this may not believe in guides; they may not believe in the existence of the meadow, the forest or the cottage. But I believe and that's all that matters.

"So mote it be."