Sacred Journey Part 2

Everyday Sacred.

“Don’t be satisfied with the stories that come before you; unfold your own myth.” Rumi

“Honoring begins at Home.  Start with yourself, your family, your home, and your tools.  All are sacred.  If you have only been an armchair practitioner till this point-interested in magick, but never taking the leap because you weren’t close enough to the natural forces- then get up off the sofa and open your eyes…Open the door, walk down the street, and let the adventure begin.”  Penczak, xvi, Introduction to City Magick.

If where you are is the only place you can currently go, you can still visit the holy places where you are.  There is still the world behind the world. (“…we are all strangers in this world, and that part of the elusive wonder of travel is that during those moments.., we are forced to face that truth.” Cousineau)  Everything has a spirit of place, and these can be met, talked with.. The world will meet you where you are.  Set out with the intention to see behind the daily scenes. Pick the itinerary path for your vision walk.  You will also be lightly trancing, so pick fairly “safe” places.  Wear the gear that makes you feel magick, but also I find it helpful to pick unobvious things, to keep interaction with curious bystanders to a minimum.  I have jewelry that I enchant for various purposes.  Start with a prayer to your favorite Gods and guardians, and get your aura armor up.

I also play my soundtrack on my mp3 player as I go.  Get into a light trance, and let your eyes slide off physical things to see if you can see beyond, through, around them.  Your eyes are not quite meeting the details of the world.  I see the energy on things, or people, and get more impressions from people than usual about them, little glimpses of their possible lives.  I see glimmers of “other” things/people. I get other impressions if I touch things, a taste of their energy life.  Sometimes I like to pause as I go, and pick up souvenirs of the trip (“To be touched, we must, in turn, touch.” Cousineau), take pictures, write a little bit of my impressions as I go along.  I like to bring presents,  edibles for wildlife, sharing water with a plant, cleaning up other people’s discards…When you get to the place you are going, reintegrate into yourself. I ground, usually by touching the ground, reminding myself who I am in the everyday world, and thanking Everybody who kept me safe while I travelled.  Be a pilgrim of the sacred where you are, as well as out and about. 

“Reading old travel books or novels set in faraway places, spinning globes, unfolding maps, playing world music, eating in ethnic restaurants, meeting friends in café’s whose walls hold soul-talk of decades—all these things are part of never-ending  travel practice…”Cousineau .  Keep romancing the World, and it’s likely it will come to see you if you can’t get away to see it.

“Hymn to the Local Gods”- Shriekback

Where are the bones and the flowers?
Where are the shrines to the local gods?
They never write now or ring us
Whatever happened to the local gods?
What are their names? Where do they live now?
Where do we go to light a candle to them now?

They held the soul of the city
The streets were bright with the local gods
The days were sweet with their meanings
The nights were vivid with the local gods
The day they left we never saw their going
We woke one morning and the world was less than it had been

In the canals and the wastelands
Up in the spires, under the flyovers
Still you can see, with the right eyes,
The shining presence of the local gods
Stand in the silence you can hear them whisper
Hearing their laughter echo in the steel and stone

So leave a fire in the window
Pour the wine under the underpass
Let's all go down to the river
We'll go swimming with the local gods
They never died we only lost their number
All you can find here worship and more will appear