The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Dreamscaping or Spirit Walking is a very basic tool and has many uses – the most common for dealing with bad dreams and nightmares, or insomnia.



But beyond that, it is a first step towards walking the spirit path. From there, you can go on to gaining control over your life by claiming your spirit landscape as your own.



There is no absolute right way or wrong way – it is a purely personal journey, and you may wish to alter the following guide – its just one that works for me.



If you are unused to visualising, I will start with the easiest start – nothingness.



Of course, it is easier if you have a voice to guide you, and you close your eyes – so you might like to get a friend to read this out to you, or read it out loud yourself, and record your voice to play back later.



Imagine you are surrounded by a thick white fog – you see nothing but white, and you hear nothing. There is grass beneath your feet, and maybe you can just make out a little gravely path. You pick a direction and keep walking until the fog starts to clear a little and you come across a henge like structure – two stone pillars with a lintel across the top. There are strange spirals and symbols carved into the stone, and you trace them with your fingers. When you are ready, you pass through the pillars and walk onwards. The fog starts to clear, and you see the sun shining on a meadow behind you, and a small path winds its way through a wood in front of you.



You can hear birds, and you see butterflies playing in the sun, and a few wild flowers are showing here and there. The sun plays through gaps in the tree canopy, and is pleasantly warm. As you follow the path, you can hear the gentle babbling of a stream, and soon find the path comes to a little clearing with the stream running through it – it is only a couple of yards wide, and a few inches deep, so you could paddle across, or use the stepping stones to get to the other side. You stop a while here, and sit on a soft bank, leaning against a tree. This is a calm and peaceful place to rest, and is your safe place – your special place. You may rest here as long as like, listening to the babbling brook, and the birds in the trees. Maybe you would like to populate it with frogs and newts, or a few dragonflies. You might decide it leads to a wider stream or river, with a pool and a waterfall. This is your safe place.



Eventually though, you must move on – once you have fully visualised your special place, and have familiarised yourself with it. You must continue along the path, until it comes to a huge wall of rock or cliff, with a cave mouth at the end of the path.



It is very dark, but you can just make out a beast in the cavern – a huge hound! He looks ferocious, but he comes to you and licks your hand. He recognises you as the rightful custodian of this place, and lets you alone pass. This hound is the guardian to the entrance to your spirit realm.



You walk to the back of the cavern, your eyes getting used to the gloom, and able to make out a tunnel at the back. You follow the tunnel, which seems to slope downwards, and is so pitch black, you have to feel your way along carefully. Occasionally you stumble a little, and scrape your handson the rough surface of the cold walls – but eventually you see a circle of light in the distance. As you walk closer, the circle enlarges, until you can see blue sky – it is the opening to out of the tunnel. You stumble into the light, to find yourself on a hillside outside the tunnel, looking down into a valley.



You explore the valley, and at the bottom there is a river that winds and snakes into the distance. You run down the hill to the river, and follow it til it comes to a fork and a bridge. You cross the bridge at the fork to a small island between the two rivers, and you can hear a waterfall on the other side, but it is obscured by a thick mist in the centre of the island. You walk into the mist, and find it is clear in the centre – it’s a ring of mist. You wait for your power animal to arrive. It could be anything – a dog, a cat, a tiger, a horse – or even a mythical creature like a unicorn or a gryphon. Your power animal is the beast within you that gives you your strength and protects you. You wait as long as it takes, and eventually, you hear it approach. It comes through the mist towards you, and nuzzles your hand. You pet it, let it lick your hand. You run your hands over the beast, feeling it under your palm, getting to know it. You play with it – you may even mount it and let it take you for a ride through the valley. This is your valley, it is the landscape of your dreams. That is not to say there aren’t dangers – but you are safe in this part, and always safe with your defender and guardian – your power animal.



Eventually it is time for you to leave, and you say goodbye to your guardian. It has something in its mouth that it drops into your hand – a small gift and token – a link between you and your beast. It might be a stone, or a stick, or a ring. It could be a pendant, or it could be just a feather from its wings, or a strand of fur from its body. I cannot tell you, but you will see it in your hand, and you will feel it.



You must treasure this and remember it – hold it tight. Thank your beast, and make your way back through the mist, across the bridge and back up the hill. Grope your way back through the tunnel until you get to the large cavern. You show your gift to the hound, and he nods. If you should ever lose it, he will retrieve it and keep it safe for you. You leave the cave and walk back to the special place – the clearing by the stream. You could rest here for a while – but there is no need, because you are already perfectly at peace, so you follow the path back across the misty moor, through the henge, and you are awake again.



This is your first lesson in spirit journeys – I hope it is of use to you, and that it is not the last lesson you will take from me.