Travelers and other lessons

As you journey in the Otherworld, you will meet other beings.  Some of them will be projections of yourself, others will be guides, and some will be other travelers.  Every being, great or small, has a lesson to impart in the Otherworld.  It is up to you to decides if and when and how to engage some of these teachers.  The ones I met, will not necessarily be the ones you do.  If at any point a being makes you feel unsafe or scared, feel free to break off that contact and leave.  Things in the Otherworld can only hurt you if you let them.

With this in mind, I will share an experience I had.  In my travels, I often perform mundane tasks such as cleaning my home or cooking food.  Once, while sitting beside a campfire, I was approached by another.  Hooded and hidden, I never the less, invited the being to sit.  he or she, never spoke, only watched the stars and enjoyed the warmth of the fire.  Did I learn something?  Probably.  It was a strange experience.  Silence, for many of us is uncomfortable.  Sharing a meal or fire with a stranger is not a common experience for us.  Our own personal bubbles protect us the waking world from many interactions with strangers, we all bump along, against each other's bubbles with out actually interacting.  I am still processing the experience.

May journeys be blessed with experiences and lessons that strengthen and enlighten you.

The Desert

This journey expands your geographic knowledge of the Otherworld.  Travel south and east, away from the ocean, over the mountains that cradle the lowlands between them and the sea.  These are the desert lands, a place where you can learn to spot hope and life in seeming desolation.  Notice the light here is bright, harsh and strong; it heats the rocks and backs the earth.

Unlike many of the other places you have been led in these journeys, this is a place of austerity and unique adaptation.  The plants, animals and beings that inhabit the desert are important teachers; their power is in their ability to adapt, to persevere, to thrive in a harsh, demanding world.  Here, more than any other place you have been to, requires balance.

Look around at the faded desert shrubbery.  It looks nearly dead, doesn't it? The leaves look dry and brittle, but touch them.  They are surprisingly soft and supple.  The wood of these bushes is cracked and splintery, but they harbor a secret: these fibers have the amazing ability to hold what water comes their way and save it for when it's really needed.  Keep looking.  Do you see how many different animals are here?  From tiny mice, to families of quail, snakes, hares, coyotes, and many others make their home in this land.

The inhabitants here respect one another.  They understand that their lives, and deaths, are part of the great cycle of being.  A snake may eat the mouse, and in turn become food to an eagle, who dies and feeds the land itself.  If one species becomes overpopulated, they all feel the effects of that imbalance, sooner or later.  It doesn't matter whether the species is a grass or predator.  They are equally important.  They have all developed amazing adaptations to survive the heat of the day, the cold of the night, and the lack of regular rainfall.  They blend with their environment so carefully, as to be invisible.

Spend some time observing the careful, subtle balance and beauty of this place.  Do you see how dependent each species is on the others?  Do you identify with a particular animal or plant?  Do you see yourself reflected int his environment?  Watch as the day changes to night.  Do you see a new world here?  Enjoy the exploration of this desert.  It's secrets and lessons are many, and it will take time to learn them.  You may also find traces of other travelers, of peoples who have lived there.  They may be hidden or careful preserved.  Take your time, embrace your bravery and explore.

The Barren Valley

Among the green hills, there is a barren valley. Once this place was thriving and beautiful, fruitful and fertile. Farms and small villages dotted it, and it's reputation for fertile soil spread.  War, for generations, marched back and froth across this valley.  Livestock were killed or escaped.  Crops alternately burned or rotted in the feild.  Homes blazed.  Now this place is an unmarked graveyard for those who coveted it.  Broken weapons and armor, bleached bones and broken objects mark where soldiers fell.

In this place, you can respectfully look around trying to recognize messages about your destructve or covetous tendencies.  Does a broken cottage remind you of something? Or maybe it's the tarnished and damaged heraldry on a shield.  Are you a survivor of wanton and nonsensical warring?

This barren, war torn valley is a place to mourn, to listen to the messages of the past.  Cry your tears, feed the land, and one day, it will return to it's former glory or be overtaken by nature.  The sorrow and anger of the place will diminish and it will hold other lessons for us to learn.