Welcome to The Forest. A long time ago, when we lived first in Darkest Norfolk and I first began to explore the process of journeying (a shamanic technique, which I suspect most of you know a bit about) I discovered my Cave. Ive written a fair bit at the Cave, on my blog. Most solstices and equinoxes I have shared some of what goes on there but Ive kept to myself a vision I had probably fifteen years ago, while I was spending time at the Cave. Night had begun to fall and I used to sit during the evening and night at a fire on the wide ledge in front of my Cave. One evening, I was instructed to light my fire and go to the edge and look down on the Forest. The Forest is a vast place and as evening falls it looks like a dark green ocean spreading to the horizon in every direction. Id always believed I was alone there but for the animals, birds, trees and other beings,as I had never seen other humans there. That evening I saw something different. As the light faded from the sky, I started to see lights flickering in the forest, often at a great distance, so far Id probably never reach them before morning light when they would disappear. Like stars coming out the lights appeared one by one, separated by immense distances that its impossible to convey. The Forest does not obey the normal laws we expect in everyday waking consciousness, so I got the impression that I could not gauge the true distance between me and each fire. I watched as the lights appeared and eventually I realised that each light was a night-fire like my own, lit for warmth and protection and to perhaps serve as a beacon amid the darkness. Over subsequent visits, I started to understand that at each fire was another soul, exploring this Forest, perhaps believing as I did that they were alone. When I first had this visionary experience, the internet was still a very rudimentary thing (remember dial-up and chat rooms?) and many of the people I was connected to via a couple of yahoo groups like Sacred Hoop, Bear Clan, Shamanic Christians, I am still connected to now. Some I have met in so-called Real Life, but most still remain words and pictures on my screen, yet are precious to me as friends. They are some of those fires I saw from the Cave above the Forest and I have the belief that many more are out there, lighting their fires and fearing they are alone in this vast Forest yet hoping they are not.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 10:18:13 +0000