The lower world…

***I didn’t intend to write psychic and healing blog posts more than once a week, but even though I did write about my cat Sheba, I will continue my Sunday series on those topics.

Last Sunday, I wrote about Shamanic journeying and briefly explained the three worlds, the upper world, the middle world, and the lower world.

The lower world is where I learned how to journey. This is where I work with my power or spirit animal turtle, my lifelong power animal, but I have met with several others during different situations in my life.

The first time I tried to journey to meet my power animal, I didn’t know what to expect. Everley began playing Shamanic rhythmic drumming for our meditation group on a drum she made.

Everyone’s portals to the three worlds are different; mine is a huge redwood forest tree. The tree has a large hole or portal. When I step into the portal, I usually slide down the tree’s roots, twisting and turning until I get to the bottom. Some slides are crazy fast. Others are slower; I don’t know if that has a meaning.

There are three directions for me to go once I get there. If I go to the left, I am led down a forest path to a small beautiful blue body of water surrounded by large rocks. The sun is always shining on the rocks, and they are warm. 

If I go straight, I am led to a green meadow with wildflowers, and there is a bench made of wood and a back. This is where I usually meet power animals for the first time.

The first time I journeyed, I was led to the bench. I sat down and looked at the meadow and the woods surrounding the meadow. I was expecting to see an animal run or jump toward me.

As I sat on the bench, I looked down to my right foot, and there was a small green turtle. He said, “I’ll bet you were expecting something fuzzy, right?” It made me laugh because he was right. I told him I was, but he was adorable too.

Turtle is my power animal because I am impatient and like to do things fast. I don’t like to wait for things. It made sense to have a turtle; he has slowed me down immensely.

The third direction is to the right, down a path leading straight to a large cave. The first time I was led there, I was afraid. I could see the light in the cave down a dark tunnel. I felt whoever I would meet in the cave wouldn’t be soft and fuzzy either.

As I walked toward the orange-yellow light, I saw a fire and a large, mean-looking hawk. There were stones lined up like a classroom. Hawk was a teacher and very stern.

He told me, “Sit down squaw,” in a loud booming voice. This made sense to me why he called me this after I did another past life regression.

All I could think of was what I did and where the turtle was. Hawk was my power animal when I was out of control with different stressful situations, things that were worrying me sick, literally with my ulcerative colitis.

He showed me a hawk-eye view of the situation and how ridiculous I was to be so stressed and upset. After a visit with hawk, I was able to deal with whatever situation came up. Each time he led me to the cave, I knew he would scold me and show me the big picture; over and over again.

Over the years, I have had different power animals for short periods. Recently, I met a tiger. I had to face a situation that required the right timing, strength, and courage. 

I knew what I needed to do but was dragging my feet; after I saw the tiger, I knew it was time to have a discussion with a friend who was dealing with acute depression and on a path of self-destruction.

I spoke with my friend the next day, and the talk went smoothly. Now the ball is in their court to get help; it’s not my place to go further than tell them the truth. Even today, I don’t think they got help or spoke to the doctor.

Sometimes I go to the lower world to hang out with turtle. I always plunge into the water, swim to one of those warm rocks, and wait for him to join me. We sit together; it’s very relaxing and feels like paradise. Sometimes we chat; other times, we sit in silence, usually with him on my lap. I’ve never touched a turtle in real life, let alone kiss one on his head when I leave.

There are many times I try to go to the lower world with an intention or a question. Try as I might, sometimes I can’t get the portal in the tree to appear, and I know the journey isn’t going to happen. I guess it’s not the right time to find the answer I was looking for. You cannot bully your way to the other worlds; it happens when it happens, even though it’s frustrating when it doesn’t.

Whenever I do a house clearing, I call in turtle to help me, along with my three spirit guides and some Archangels. Turtle is there whenever I need him without going to the lower world; I have to ask for help. It’s like that when working with angels as well; they are waiting for us to ask for help. They can’t help us if we don’t ask, so I ask a lot.

When I was learning to journey with my meditation group Everley would change the drum rhythm when she did a callback. A callback is a rhythm for us to recognize to return to ordinary reality. Sometimes I am in the middle of something awesome in the lower world, and I hear the drumming get faster, then stop, followed by seven fast beats bringing us back then and there.

I’ve learned to journey without drumming and can return to ordinary reality by myself whenever I want during the journey. I wish I could explain it better; it just happens.

People who have a hard time with traditional meditation may find this easier than trying to think of anything. In my blog post title, Journeying, I added a link for anyone who would like to know more and possibly take a stab at it themselves.

Remember not to try too hard or have a preconceived notion of what will happen because it’s not up to us; it’s up to the other side. If you are frightened, it will not happen; the other side works with your comfort level and abilities.

One of our meditation people we found out was so frightened when trying to see their power animal it would not happen. Finally, after months of trying, the group journeyed to find out their power animal.

We all cried out at the journey’s end, “Bobcat!” If that’s not confirmation, I don’t know what it is; we were stunned and amazed! Right, Everley?

When journeying, it’s a bit like lucid dreaming, except you are aware of everything in the ordinary and non-ordinary worlds. You must focus on what you are seeing and learning and make mental notes to remember it.

When I journeyed with a group, we would all tell what our journey was like and try to decipher things. When I journey alone, I do the same thing. I recount what I sometimes saw out loud, so I would remember.

Some things don’t make sense to me for days or weeks, but when I figure it out, it’s always a moment of, “Ah, that’s what they were trying to tell me.” Sometimes you understand a journey immediately.

I plan to teach one of my friends how to journey in the next few weeks. I know she will be great at it and love the lower world since she is already so connected to nature and animals. We may both write about it; we will see how it goes.

Well, that’s another blog post in this series. Next week, I am planning to write about the upper world. It will take me a week to figure out how to explain it. It’s the most heavenly place in the three worlds with a lot to explore and learn. I’ve barely scratched the surface since I don’t go here often.

It’s difficult for me to get to, but when I am allowed, it’s the most beautiful place where all the Angels, Archangels, Ascended Masters, Spirit Guides, Buddha, Jesus, and the rest of the big guys reside.

The upper world is a place of infinite wisdom and where the Akashic Records are stored. It is a place of great respect and gratitude. Your power animal or a guide must take you to the upper world; you can’t go there alone. I hope you’ll join me as we explore the next realm through my eyes.

Today, I am in a cooking mood while tackling laundry. We have a very busy week coming up. We have a large order to fill and deliver to our Pennsylvania distributor in Albany, NY, on Thursday, along with our regular wholesale orders and farmers market spätzle production.

It’s definitely Oktoberfest season, and we are beyond grateful for every package and order we fill.

I’ve got some food posts on the back burner to write this week, as the cooler weather has produced some fall food cravings. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! 🙂

*** I always include images in my blog posts because I am visual and look for photos as closely as possible to what I am trying to describe. Thank goodness for Pinterest, which is where I find many of the images I use. I always give credit to a known source or photo credit.