“There is no art which does not required a study of the past; thus, the predictions of the seers are no less necessary for the future.”
Cicero
All art by John Collier
We are inevitably drawn to information pertaining to the world that is not readily or easily accessible… that of the Otherworld. With a bit of research and practice, we can easily start to uncover the secret world of vision quests, also called journeying and using divination gained through these experiences as a means to guide our life. Visions are the perception of tangible objects in the Outerworld or Otherworld which exist in our minds or imagination. They are in themselves, perfectly natural for the average person and when they don’t get out of hand or are overly disturbing and distressing, they can be an incredibly healthy mode of discovering ourself and our greater spiritual connection to all that is. Turning our thoughts inward, our imagination has free scope and countless images can appear before the mind’s eye which are not subject to the laws of real life.
To increase one’s visions, two things are suggested. When you’re first starting out, make sure you have questions you are asking yourself before you take on a vision quest or journey. This will help direct your thoughts and give consciousness direction at what you are seeking. You don’t always have to have a question of course and can freely imagine what you’d like and see where you ‘go’ in your mind. Meditation practices inevitably help as well as darkness, stillness, solitude and long monotonous drumming music. It also helps to be comfortable, warm and in a lying down position. A comparison is commonly made to seeing visions as we see stars… that it’s only in the darkness do the stars become more clear. The darkness simply really helps to turn your energy towards your mind’s focus into a more expansive and open conscious state. Important visions have been reported and recorded as an experience related to the divine since written records began. It is highly recommended and almost necessary to keep a journal to record your visions and journeys.
Artists are often one group who owe some of their greatest triumphs to journeying. Here, also, is a line between delusion and genuine magical phenomena that is often so faint as to escape attention. How will we know whether we are delusional or experiencing something genuine? We won’t… and yes that aspect can be perplexing. There is one caveat to know whether at least some of your visions are real. If and when you receive an answer that you don’t consciously or even unconsciously know, particularly when you ask a question about another person.
As an example, I once asked about the intentions of a boyfriend. I felt incredibly positive about the relationship at the time and just asked what can you tell me about them? The answer wasn’t positive and I was ultimately very shocked as it was so unexpected. I chalked it up at the time to my own inexperience or anxiety. However, a year later, what was previously shown to me was shockingly true. As this occurred more over the years, this allowed me to have a lot more confidence in my journeys and visions as well as intuition in general. However, it’s still healthy to err on the side of caution. It is a playful practice above all else and naturally this means to take things meaningfully but lightly in tandem. In times of old, visions held a huge weight among seers, kings, queens and their people in general. They held so much weight in fact that entire wars were started on mere visions.
If not done in darkness and in stillness to music, journeying or vision quests may have been done in old times as they are today with the assistance of psychedelic drug use. This is not to say I’m recommending that, but just logically, it needs to be addressed that it was and is a method of exploring the Outer or Otherworld. While, these particular methods are often more powerful or visual, it’s important to know that no drugs are needed to journey and that it is within all of our reach to do so just merely through meditation and the power of our own mind and consciousness. On that note, it should be said that another unintentional means of journeying is often unfortunately a result of drug overdose, coma or near death experiences.
Pythagoras noted the increase in human ability to have supernatural intuition when close to death. Aside from our motivation to glean possible answers to important questions, the human heart, attuned and acutely aware of our own mortality naturally seeks to lift the veil which conceals the secrets of life to come. This is where journeying and divination cross meaningful paths because only through journeying or prophecy can one accurately divine. There are two ways prophecy is attained. The first and most common way is when the seer is very present, awake and conscious and call on Otherworldly spirits, sacred energies or passed loved ones (in the Otherworld or other dimensions) to show them answers pertaining and relating to the client that came to them. This would be a practice that everyone is very familiar with through Tarot reading practices either done by a reader or through our own practices with our own individual tarot or oracle deck.
The second form of divination or prophecy is attained through actual visitation of the Otherworld by astral projection of one’s consciousness. It is said and known through old knowledge that one must master the ability to travel to the Otherworld first in their out of body form as a pure light being. Once this is mastered, we learn to visit what is essentially our ‘akashic records’ as they are commonly known. There, we can access through a great ‘wheel’ … the past as well as the future in which we are personally involved, although, there are limitations. Often there are multiple possible outcomes and this is purposeful and why the present moment is so important. We are in constant flux energetically and ‘free will’ is important for our spiritual growth.
Everyone has choices even if there are only so many finite possible choices (given our unique life and situation) and so, we may be shown multiple outcomes depending on which choices are made by all parties involved of say a major event, like a war. If multiple key players are involved and they each have ten different yet critical choices to be made in any given day, we may be shown fifty or more possible outcomes to the same event. In other words, the future can be known but only statistical probabilities rather than certainties. Unfortunately, throughout all of our written history, journeying and visions often accompany a perception of great misfortunes. Naturally, we are often seeking knowledge of these events in order to be prepared and essentially using divination as a means of survival. From this lens, divination may just be yet another function driven by spiritual and physical evolution which is always seeking to help not only us but other species, protect itself and continue to thrive. The scientific and the spiritual yet again are never far apart and in constant expanding relativity.
Other methods of divination are crystal ball gazing, gazing into a mirror, water or fire, throwing bones or certain sticks or runes, melodic dancing, walking around certain sacred objects like a well or tree three times and watching a swinging pendulum or clock hand. There are multiple facets of divination depending on what exactly it is that we are seeking.
Are we divining to look into the past, the future, to look into someone’s intent, to look into someone’s (or our own) akashic records or the past (to better understand ourselves). There is also the aspect of in the very immediate present, looking into and reading someone’s energy as they appear in front of us in the living moment. It is incredibly rare but some diviners have the ability to sense into someone’s past the moment they meet.
I once came upon a very wondrous example in the past of such a clairvoyant type of ‘present’ divination. The writer Heinrich Zschokke, gave in his autobiographical work ‘Eine Selbstschau’ a detailed account of his gifts as a seer. He noted that when he would meet anyone he had an innate gift of seeing in his mind’s eye somewhat of a long dream where he could picture their current life’s major events or whole last previous life. He always thought these were fanciful imaginings of his creative mind until one day when a woman left the room in his family’s house that he’d never met, he described to them what he perceived her history to be. Someone present that knew her well affirmed all that he speculated. Additionally, he once sat at a table at a party where a young man was present that he perceived had stolen his last employer’s money box. He went so far as to describe the room in which the box was stolen. The story caused a death like silence to fall upon the room as everyone stared at the young man. The young man embarrassingly admitted to all he had said. Fascinatingly, he mentions in the book that he never met another like him except one man. He said he was traveling through the countryside with his two sons and a peddler of oranges and lemons in one of the narrow passes of the Jura Mountains stopped him. He fixed his eyes on his for a long time and then stated that he knew him from a previous life and he began telling him of this previous life that even he himself could not recall.
As with all forms of divination, and in reality, all magical phenomena, there is a chance of these tellings or experiences being muddled up with delusion, biases and imposture. For every tried and true clairvoyant, there could be ten wolf in sheep’s clothing spouting off nonsense. Who can really say. The ancient oracles themselves often gave answers full of irony, sarcasm and humor. For as many accurate prophecies there have been many falsehoods and worse, falsehoods with ill intent, simply meant to sway opinions in their favor. Even the most absurd prophecies have caused a right ol’ panic amongst the populace.
As you begin your own journey with journeying and vision questing, with entertaining and gleaning what you can from the Otherworld in general, my first piece of advice is twofold and always the same. Be utterly brave to a fault and be playful. You cannot be spiritually harmed by anything unless you believe that you can and know that each life is and should be playful. In other words, let your visions guide and inspire you rather than derailing and overwhelming you. Take them to heart without taking them too seriously. As always, look and pay attention to the story telling in all of your experiences and the symbolism therein, rather than the literal. Sometimes, it’s healthier to focus on the meaning of the events rather than the events (and often tragedies) themselves. Play and experiment with various methods, music and locations until you find one that works for you.
The highest recommendation I could offer for assistance in journeying musically or through guided meditation is to look into the work of Robert Monroe and a lot of the musical or guided meditation tracks and work coming out of The Monroe Institute.
As far as a basic self guided meditation into the spiritual abyss of our subconscious, I would recommend tapping into the ‘Axis Mundi’ the world tree, the celestial pole through the worlds if you will. Lay down in a darkened room with or without a blanket and pillow. The important aspect is to be completely relaxed and even more importantly, during a time when there is little to no risk of being interrupted. Find a repetitive meditation drumming track of your choice and begin playing this with headphones. Make sure it’s on repeat or is at least 30 minutes long. This is not because the journey will necessarily be that long, but so there is no worry the song will end when you’re not ready. For 5 minute, focus on relaxing your body and mind and clearing out as much mind ‘clutter’ as possible. Starting from your feet, focus momentarily and relax every part of your body… your toes, your ankles, your legs and stomach and so forth up to the very top of your head.
Ask your question for spirit out loud (or to a specific god or goddess) and with strong emotion. Then the actual journey will begin. Imagine you are walking through an ancient and thick forest. Your animal ally is there with you walking beside you for comfort. If you don’t have one, do this journey to find out and ask. It’s usually the first animal that appears in the journey once you enter the tree. You may also have an ‘Ah ha’ feeling with this animal when you reflect back on your life and notice the ways it showed up for you in both good and trying times. A clear path in your mind’s forest becomes evident and leads to a beautiful and sprawling oak tree with a very wide trunk. Slowly walk up to it and draw a door with your finger (or imagine there is a door to open) that is large enough to step through. The door is emanating with light around it. Once you push the door open, the light is blinding. You step through and imagine yourself falling into the light. Let your mind flow where spirit leads it and see what characters, symbology and storytelling appear for you. The journey usually ends when it ends and somehow your consciousness naturally senses a finality and you organically retreat from the vision. This is usually when the answer is ultimately, received, and in my experience, it tends to last from 1 minute to 15 minutes just for a relatable reference.
Isla Skye
Isla is an American Irish mother of 3, teacher, author and herbalist that splits her time between the states and Ireland. She has been studying folklore as well as the Druids and related practices for over 20 years. Her hobbies are family time, reading, camping, hiking, visiting sacred sites, spending time with her many animals as well as writing and research.