Imaginal Journeys in the Underworld

  “The Bodhisattva of Sleep” Once again, I didn’t seek out an experience this morning but one found me during meditation nonetheless. As usual, it came near the end of the meditation so at least I had a good 40 minutes of nothing-in-particular. I saw a twisted hellscape of a ruined forest. It was utterly destroyed but some sort of disaster. It wasn’t fire, though. No, the trees were snapped and twisted like they had been sheared down by a great wind but, even worse, everything was coated in black, tarry blood. It smelled awful. As I stood there, watching, I saw a bluish white glow that resolved into a great white stag. I knew this stag, of course. He is like the Woman in White but not quite as friendly. The stag was taking point, followed by a pack of white wolves who were trailing along behind him, not hunting him but forming a V behind him in the shape of an arrow. As they progressed across the ruined forest, they left only pure snow behind them; they were cleansing the place. Th...

  I’ve realized a couple of things lately: 1) I’m in a place where I need to learn how to trust my own soul’s guidance even though there is no one in my physical life who can verify its trustworthiness. 2) The Kosmos is much vaster than I even imagined and, at least the portion of it that I’m party to during these journeys, is both beautiful and disturbing. I’ve always relied on external guides. I can’t think of time, other than the past several years, when that hasn’t been the case. I’m uneasy trusting my own soul. Part of this is the curse of doing spiritual work because spiritual work schools specialize in making you second guess yourself, never allowing you to fully trust your experience. They do this for their own survival and other reasons. Even the Diamond Approach is guilty of this. You’re never quite there. Never quite whole. You always need more teaching to set you on the right path. Without it, you’ll fall into darkness and things will run amok. Well, I’m tired of this t...