Journey and Trance Work

I'm not really sure of another way to put it other than 'spiritscape' simply because of vocabulary differences. In the Kaldera book referenced earlier on, he talks about traveling the Nine Worlds but that's not a thing I do. I know there's other worlds out there, and certainly some of the Fae I work with travel to other worlds - maybe Faerie, although they don't call it that though.

I... travel out of my body. I guess the new-agey term would be astral projection, but really, I'm just out and about, interacting with spirits that are close to the earth-side of reality. I have the impression of physical objects around - things like buildings still look like buildings, and so on - but can't interact with them aside from seeing them and walking through them. Living things are more of a blur of energy than anything recognisable - much like spirits are when I notice them in the physical world. Sometimes people notice me when I'm journeying, sometimes they don't. Spirits are definitely visible and solid there though, and notice that I'm there. I'm under some protection so most of the locals leave me be, and the house is safe because the house spirits, myself and my sister have a good working relationship. He looks after us. Traveling other places... it varies.

Urban areas are a blur of lights and electricity, and the spirits there are rather more technological and domestic in nature. Less animals. Roads register as a blur of light and energy and are dangerous to walk through, because you feel yourself getting dispersed, like walking through a river in wilder places. I generally shape-shift to travel when journeying meaning I can generally jump or fly over them. There's a different spirit population around at night from day, but the roads are always very constant.

My city was a planned city, and I live close to the Parklands ring which surrounds the city. Traveling there is like suddenly entering the land as it was before the city was built. It's filled with displaced spirits from the urban areas and is a metropolis in terms of population. A very large and feral ecosystem condensed into a small area, with spirits of all kinds. In the physical it's only a kilometre thick, but it gapes and yawns. The further you go from the road - they cut through like arteries, making islands of wilderness - the more space distorts. In the deeper parts there's gates to elsewhere. I don't go through them, I haven't the need. The animal spirits here can and do attack traveling through if they feel hungry or if you've slighted them. It's their ecosystem, one of the few left after the city removed their former homes, and they remember and resent the fact that their territories once were bigger. Walking is safer here - attacks don't generally come from below, as it's largely the birds that are aggressive. Flying is dangerous, as it makes you a target. The magpies are especially territorial. You can work with them though, if you approach in the right way and are prepared to make the right offerings. Most aren't that interested unless what you're doing is immediately relevant or of benefit to them.

There's a few areas which have been claimed by the Fae, and it's usually very obvious because the energy there is different, there's sometimes a cluster of foreign spirits, and it's usually very clearly got magical things happening there. I don't really have too much to do with most of them to be honest, I just know that some of them live there, and some of them come to visit.

There's also a few places which register as 'holy places' to the city. Note that I don't say 'to the land', as the level I'm at is interacting with urban spirits by and large. I've encountered the Aboriginal spirits all of once and I was quite young at the time. These places are often some of the beautiful hidden and slightly unearthly feeling places in the physical. Some of them are sites of festivals during parts of the year, where both spirits and humans alike mingle in the same area for a time, and the atmosphere is almost that of a carnival. Others are so forgotten by humanity that the spirits and fae have taken over and made them home. Most people sensitive tend to assume these places are haunted and stay away. I don't generally see the dead though. Ghosts appear just as insubstantial there as they do in the physical, albeit a bit more visible. I'm fairly certain that there's ways and means to travel towards the Underworld but I haven't tried, and don't think it'd be wise to. I have no idea where I'd end up, and don't want to intrude on the realm of a God I don't work for.

I've briefly visited the spiritscape of other cities interstate when visiting, out of curiosity, but haven't headed far for reasons of safety. I'm not about to blunder around in unfamiliar territory, particularly not when some of my patrons are specifically attached to my hometown.

Traveling around in the spiritscape gives me some insight into how spirits interact with us. People generally are about as invisible to spirits as spirits are to them, but magic is visible and gets their attention, as it's more or less the only way some of the lesser spirits can see some people. Sigils, wardings and the like may as well shine a spotlight on the person who cast them - sure, they're warded, but they're now visible.

I don't necessarily run into manifestations of the Gods there, mostly because they don't actually live there - most have their own homes, so if they come down to that level of reality it's generally for a reason or they're passing through. Truthfully, I doubt I'd necessarily even notice a God traveling through though unless I was intended to. Appearances and size are deceptive. Makani, my patron Daeva, takes any number of forms, with the smaller ones being almost like someone folding fabric to fit into a mould, because he's there but condensed. When he disperses into his full size his wings can cover the city, but he generally doesn't. One of the more terrifying things I've seen was him engaging in conversation with Odin. I have no idea what was said, the conversation wasn't for my ears, but just for that moment I got a glimpse of the sheer scale and incomprehensible size - history, power, weight, significance - of them and it was awe inspiring. And then it was over and Makani was condensed again so he looked like just another spirit and Odin had moved on, business taken care of.

Sorry, this has been a very rambling stream of consciousness kind of post, but I hope it was in some way helpful? I really don't wander far, and have no need to at present when most of those I honour exist within my city itself.

@ Roguebiologist- many thanks for sharing your view of you city's spiritscape- most interesting. Similarly I've learnt to build a way of working with the landscape and spirits of my local area through their guidance and that of my patron without following books or protocol, which I feel can be an impediment to direct experience and developing one's own way of working.

roguebiologist wrote: I'm not really sure of another way to put it other than 'spiritscape' simply because of vocabulary differences. In the Kaldera book referenced earlier on, he talks about traveling the Nine Worlds but that's not a thing I do. I know there's other worlds out there, and certainly some of the Fae I work with travel to other worlds - maybe Faerie, although they don't call it that though.

Me: I haven't gone ... um ... worldwalking, either. I'm traveling some kind of spiritscape, but I have no idea if it's internal, external, or something to which neither term can be applied.

roguebiologist wrote: I... travel out of my body. I guess the new-agey term would be astral projection, but really, I'm just out and about, interacting with spirits that are close to the earth-side of reality. [snip] Roads register as a blur of light and energy and are dangerous to walk through, because you feel yourself getting dispersed, like walking through a river in wilder places.

Me: oooh, now this is really interesting. Roads as the urban equivalent of waterways.

roguebiologist wrote: I generally shape-shift to travel when journeying meaning I can generally jump or fly over them.

Me: I haven't done the shapeshifting thing, not yet, anyway. I asked once, and the crow I was with laughed at me.

roguebiologist wrote: There's also a few places which register as 'holy places' to the city. Note that I don't say 'to the land', as the level I'm at is interacting with urban spirits by and large. I've encountered the Aboriginal spirits all of once and I was quite young at the time. These places are often some of the beautiful hidden and slightly unearthly feeling places in the physical. Some of them are sites of festivals during parts of the year, where both spirits and humans alike mingle in the same area for a time, and the atmosphere is almost that of a carnival.

Me: Hhmmm. I wonder if that is the case in other urban centers? I can't imagine what the spiritscape of someplace like, say, Bourbon Street in New Orleans or the National Mall in Washington DC or Times Square in New York must be like.

roguebiologist wrote: I'm fairly certain that there's ways and means to travel towards the Underworld but I haven't tried, and don't think it'd be wise to. I have no idea where I'd end up, and don't want to intrude on the realm of a God I don't work for.

Me: I've traveled to the edge (I think). This spiritscape that I'm mapping includes a cave that leads to a black underground river with a columned grotto on the far side. I've met a nymph there, but I have no idea as to her name.

roguebiologist wrote: People generally are about as invisible to spirits as spirits are to them, but magic is visible and gets their attention, as it's more or less the only way some of the lesser spirits can see some people. Sigils, wardings and the like may as well shine a spotlight on the person who cast them - sure, they're warded, but they're now visible.

Me: that's funny. I've read the same thing in several (fictional) urban fantasy novels. I wonder how much real stuff is actually slipping into or being deliberately inserted into those books?

roguebiologist wrote: I don't necessarily run into manifestations of the Gods there, mostly because they don't actually live there - most have their own homes, so if they come down to that level of reality it's generally for a reason or they're passing through. Truthfully, I doubt I'd necessarily even notice a God traveling through though unless I was intended to. Appearances and size are deceptive. Makani, my patron Daeva, takes any number of forms, with the smaller ones being almost like someone folding fabric to fit into a mould, because he's there but condensed. When he disperses into his full size his wings can cover the city, but he generally doesn't. One of the more terrifying things I've seen was him engaging in conversation with Odin. I have no idea what was said, the conversation wasn't for my ears, but just for that moment I got a glimpse of the sheer scale and incomprehensible size - history, power, weight, significance - of them and it was awe inspiring. And then it was over and Makani was condensed again so he looked like just another spirit and Odin had moved on, business taken care of.

Me: wowza ....

roguebiologist wrote: Sorry, this has been a very rambling stream of consciousness kind of post, but I hope it was in some way helpful? I really don't wander far, and have no need to at present when most of those I honour exist within my city itself.

Me: yes, this was very helpful! And really neat! Thanks.