Hedgecrossing with Stag

stagkingswife:

Hedgecrossing or astral travel for me can begin very much like meditation.  It can be practiced like a guided meditation or a visualization exercise, but that visualization takes on a life of its own and instead of creating the world around you the world is independent and you react to it

Now when I say visualization I don’t mean just sitting still and trying to picture things, if that works for you great, but it doesn’t work for a lot of people. Try to engage as many of your senses as you can:  see things, hear ambient noises, smell the air, feel earth under your feet and the wind on your face. Practice this until you get super comfortable with this. Take yourself on walks around your neighborhood or through your favorite park.  As you get more comfortable with this you may start to notice things happening or appearing that you didn’t create or that you can’t control. In my experience these weird occurrences is the Otherworlds leaking over into your visualization.  Get comfortable with this happening, learn how to differentiate between what exists on its own and what is a creation of your mind.   When you feel confident with this it’s time to be moving on.  This is when you start trying to get across the Hedge, the Veil, whatever you want to call the boarder between this world and others.

When I sit down to intentionally leave my body and travel to the Otherworlds I have a standard path I take.  This is how I generally teach people to begin crossing the Hedge, and so far it’s been successful.  It goes like this:   

1. Get yourself into a light trance like state.  Do this however works for you, dancing, drumming, whatever.  

2. Once in you begin to feel a little detached from your body, maybe a little numb, a little dizzy, proceed with your usual meditation ritual, play your music, sit or lie however you want, burn incense, however you’ve been practicing.  

3. Begin by visualizing stepping out of your body.  Turn around and look at it, see it exactly where you left it, waiting for you to come back into it.  Walk out of the room you’re in, out of the building, and onto the street.  

4. Walk down the street until you come to the nearest intersection or crossroad.  

5. At that intersection, instead of the usual buildings or or landscape you see a train station.

6. Walk up to the platform and wait for the next train.  When it comes to the station get on, the conductor will ask where you’re going, tell them where you want to go. The train will take you there.

7. Practice!  The more you practice the better you’ll get at navigating the Otherworlds, and the easier it will become.  

This of course isn’t the only way to get to the Otherworlds, this is just how I do it.  I’ve always had a harder time staying in this world than getting to the Otherworlds, so it’s very easy for me to begin with a little visualization and let the Otherworlds take over.