Astral Work and Ice Cream

Friday night, I worked with my magick partner. Normally, we get together to contact the Helpful Deity. This time we did some more ceremonial based work. Our goal was to astral project along the earthly plane. I wanted to see her astral form in my temple space. Then move outside my home and look around my street and come back. My partner would have been very content to simply stay put in the temple area.

I did the LBRP. I used the banishing pentagram specific to the elemental quarter rather than just banishing earth. Then I did the BRH. We performed a middle pillar together. I then called the hierarchy of Levanah. Each of us uttered specific prayers to those spiritual forces to aid us in our intention for this moment's work. Those prayers were specific to traveling along the earthly plane. The reason for that is that the last time we did this her prayer for my travel included the word 'desire'. I thought that may be why I landed in Netzach.

Once we sat in our chairs, I focused on the altar just like I focused on the plant Thursday night. Nothing happened. Nada. So, I focused on a shelf that until recently held earthly objects. This I felt but nothing happened. Nada. So far, not so good.

I was then struck by a thought. The goal was to astral project with my partner and see each other's astral form. So, I focused on her. Immediately, I found myself in a maze made of hedges. The hedges looked very much like this picture and about that height to me. I could have risen ever so slightly to see over them. However, there was no need. Working the maze was easy. At the end of the maze, I traveled through a tunnel of dirt.

I found myself looking at a not so densely wooded forest area. It was twilight. I saw my partner as a dark, nearly black, form amongst the trees. From my vision, she would have been standing in the center of the picture to the right in that small grassy cleaning. Several times she says felt me nearby but never saw me. The feelings were fleeting. From my perspective, I could see her movement but could never get close.

I am amazed at how these too pictures so closely match what I experienced.

My conscious mind thought I was making all this up as this was not the plan.

Upon my return, I found myself in a watery area. It was a natural setting but dolphin-like creatures came up out of the water. Unlike the picture, each had a mate going the opposite direction. This reminded me of Pisces. Though, I did not dwell on that.

Again, my conscious mind felt like I was not projecting.

I then found myself back in my temple space. Only it was on fire, lots of fire. The walls and ceiling were engulfed. My conscious mind did not interfere at all. Soon I realized my temple space was in my home, outdoors and vast. Yes, I realize those are contradictions. Work with me people! The hedge rows were on fire! I am not sure if these were stacked dried branches or the maze hedge rows previously mentioned.

 

There was smoke. There was an intense visual. I felt no heat, no fear. It never occurred to me that I may be burned. My very calm mind asked, "So, what is with all the fire?" A voice answered, "This is the energy you bring to ritual. You brought fire. Astral projection is air." Fair enough. The voice was not my normal internal voice. It was not my voice of wisdom nor my HGA nor the Helpful Deity. It may have been an angel's voice or the voices of the spirits called to help the ritual.

I say angels because I called upn the earthly angels of Sandalphon and Uriel at some point. I had done this with the plant projection and things worked out well. So I called upon them in "mid-flight" here as well. I never saw them in a form I would recognized in either instance. Why it could have been the called upon spirits from ritual should be obvious.

I returned to my body before my partner. Apparently, she'd been singing with a centaur in the forest. I waited until she came back, banished and closed the rite. 

We confirmed that we both of us went to the forest through a tunnel of dirt. Our descriptions of the forest were a strong match. In talking, we came up with some questions.

Was the watery place an earthly version of the qabalistic path of Pisces? Was the fiery event analogous to the path of Shin? Since we both clearly stated the desire to project upon this earthly plane and we both descended into the earth through a tunnel, where did we start from? Obviously, it was 'above' where we wound up. 

Most oddly, after we exhausted our ritual critique, I mentioned that I had a strong desire for a chocolate milkshake. She said that she had just been thinking of ice cream. As a rule, we do not socialize. We simply work together and send a few very friendly texts from time to time. This time, we went to Foster's Freeze and she bought me a shake and she had a root beer float. We talked about the ritual some more and made plans for repeating this one with one slight twist in the ritual. As we discussed this, I privately thought how great it is that we live in a country where we can openly discuss magick in a Foster's Freeze.

When I think of the power of a single candle flame and realize how much flame I created in that ritual, I am a bit taken aback. The former My Gal told me that when we first met and shared a CM requiem ritual my mentor did for his mentor, the energy I threw out at the sign of the enterer almost knocked her over. Being a magician means being on guard for flattery. Such things are dangerous. So, I never accepted her statement. I erred on the other side and chalked it up to her miss perceptions or her idealized view of myself. Now, I'm not so sure.