Without imagination, the world would be incredibly bland, grey, beige and boring. It would be filled with grey boxes and grey-clad people. There would be no art, no sciences, zilch creativity.

In the halls of perceived madness, too much imagination is unhealthy and when it takes over and the person loses insight, it is categorised as Hallucinations; seeing or hearing something that is not there. However, the person seeing or hearing whatever it is, it’s definitely there within the experience, as they themselves can see it, hear it feel part of it. To them, it is indeed there. It may be not what it seems and one’s reaction to it can bring challenges and risks, but they do see it, they do hear it. So the definition to me is quite misleading.

Imagination is defined as; The faculty or action of forming new ideas, images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. The ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful. The last sentence resonates with me the most.

“The ability of the mind to be creative and resourceful.”

I always introduce the concept of imagination to others, as a doorway to other dimensions. Unless you are ripped open and fly into non-ordinary reality so fast you can’t think, the way to move into the multidimensional landscape is primarily ‘through’ the imagination and indeed the ‘senses.’ Shamans of old would use the drum along with their inner vision to navigate the hidden landscapes that the normal folk could not. Without an inner vision, they could not travel and some used plant medicine to enhance that vision.

The beauty of Contemporary Shamanic tools learned in line with the traditional guidelines of journeying is that you can head out into these landscapes, navigate the terrain and the encounters and then return back to this ordinary reality and use what you have discovered and experienced to assist you in enriching your daily life.

One of the primary issues that people find when they move in deeper into this inner dimensional world beyond the sanctuary, power animals and the lovely stuff, is that they will get lost, lose their grip, and go mad as they look deeper into their psyche and wounds. The path of Shamanism is not new age, it’s ancient and powerful and it deserves that respect.

And ex beloved of mine was very practised in the Shamanic lore and landscapes and probably one of the main reasons we stayed together for so long was that we spoke the same language (other than the plant medicine which was not my pathway) He would often wake up in a cold sweat being chased by ugly things in his dreams, over and over and over again. I did not journey him as we kept those boundaries quite strong. Your partner should not become your client so to speak. But I was always surprised he didn’t go into it Shamanically and dive deeper into his inner darkness to unpack it. On reflection, I am sure this had something to do with his emotional challenges in life and resistance to healing.

You see I am a deep diver, always have been. It’s not that I don’t want to cruise at the top of the ocean on the wave, its that I have always gone deep liking it or not. Fortunately, spirit also taught me how to breathe underwater and float to the surface again. That’s the way I learn.

I remember once when I was in Shamanic Training and heading into an atrocious other life experience. Back then they were referred to as ‘Past lives’. Nowadays I prefer to call them ‘Other lives’ and move beyond the linear viewpoint.

I recall moving through into the life that I found myself in and having the inner witness aware enough to be an ‘observer’ of the acute pain and rage. The life was filled with heavy deep running emotions, ones that would normally bring me to my knees and shatter me, but with my teacher holding space and being the best navigator I could ask for, I moved through it all and out the other side. Then with my imagination in tow, we cleared the debris within the spirit body of that life so I no longer carried the burden of it in this particular incarnation. Was this horrible life my imagination? Well, at the beginning as I was listening to her voice take me to the tree and into my sanctuary, yes I am sure it was and then as I travelled to where I was meant to heal, the vision that arose in me, I didn’t like, nor did I want. What did I have to do with this picture, this movie I have found myself in? I couldn’t relate at all. I’m not like that! In nightmares, I have now the ability to wake myself up if it gets too much or I don’t like where it’s headed. In this journey as a conscious willing participant, I could say stop! No more! I don’t want to go on! Get me the hell out of here! My teacher would have supported me if I was stubbornly determined, but being a curious being that I am and her being such a great guide, I wanted to know more about my part in this story, why would I do such a thing? I trusted the process, breathed through the fears and by the end with the cleaning up of the wounding, which my teacher was an absolute master at, the shadow imprint of that life was lifted.

When I came out of it after a big release cry, some grounding food and a cup of something warm, I wrote it all down as I find writing a brilliant reflection tool. As I wrote, I knew that this was not my imagination. Too many details, unexpected twists that I didn’t see coming, too many links to other things that I had no idea of and more importantly if it was my imagination I would have pushed for a different adventure to be created.

My imagination was the boat that took me to the shore of that life which had such a profound and life-changing impact. The imbalance that I always felt between my view of my ‘good self’ and ‘bad self’ was dissolved and from then on when I met something dark, be that an entity or thought-form I no longer ran from it and if I did feel scared, the fear was soon diffused and transformed.

The other week I was suffering from an upset stomach and felt awful emotionally. I refer to it as ‘Falling down the hole.’ I was weeping a lot, my eyes were stinging in pain, totally sound sensitive and irritable all at the same time. I am very impeccable about clearing myself after clients so I thought it was just my own stuff.

Having my stomach being so upset did not help my headspace. I threw everything at it, backed off on any foods that would exacerbate the yucky feeling, but nothing seemed to work. I was under a black cloud of depressing sludge, highly sensitive and desperately wanting to be completely alone. I do get the irony of that in these current world circumstances but on my own, I am better at sourcing the origins of where things originate. I went drumming and for a moment I thought it lifted but after about ten minutes the dark sludge-like feeling returned.

Mornings are when I get my best downloads/inner messages for my own wellbeing. They seem to ping inside me between sleep and wake. The following morning a ping sounded off.  ‘Sit and go within.’ I was still feeling horrid and my stomach squelched upon movement hence not being in good mind for sitting in insightful meditation and the tears were close to brimming over yet again.

After a small breakfast, I had the house to myself which is a rarity. I lite the candle, burnt the white sage, called my kin in and sat in receptivity. At this point, yes I used my imagination to help me open up, so I looked and felt for anything that was ‘yucky.’ Instantly I saw a dark shadow hovering over me, much like a cloak of black. Didn’t analyse just observed. Then I checked my psychic body and from the nape of my neck, I saw dark black metal claws burrowing into the open hole. Metal to me has always represented invasive shadow energy. I have learnt this over time in my encounters with unbalanced beings. So I moved in to clear it. I have mentioned before that this hole is often where shadow debris gets in. Mine for some reason that I have yet to grasp stays permanently open, always has. I have tried various things but it seems unnatural for me to close it. I am looking into that further now. Anyway, with the claws being released and returned to the source, via intent, acknowledgement, breath and yes imagination, for the otherworldly tools I may use to help release them, a very long dark eel-like thing flipped out. As I pulled on it and burped repeatedly, it showed itself to be a cross between an eel, an octopus and a giant slug. The burps kept coming as I removed this creature being, sent it back to the source and checked that nothing was left from it. Another ping message came to my insightful state. “You may feel somewhat bruised emotionally for a while but it’s now gone.” Then I checked in to where I attracted this Octyeelslug thing from. And zoom, I went straight to the origins and got the answer and what I had absorbed. You see as much as I clean myself psychically I am fundamentally an empath and am often of service to people who have suffered deep wounds. Most of the time I can be in my space with them but occasionally my inner empathy chip gets triggered and then I am open to taking some debris on.

It’s not their fault how it manifests in me. Once I absorb it, it’s then my responsibility. They didn’t send it to me, they just didn’t know what to do with it themselves. As a Contemporary Shaman of my particular bent, my path is to literally transform what comes through me. And that’s exactly what I had to do. Transform the yuck feeling in me and release it. Without my imagination, I would never have been able to trust what I saw and experienced to work with it. Without my imagination, I would have been stuck with the darkness above me and the yuck plugged into the back of my neck and it squelching around my belly.

That particular inner journey work took me 15 minutes tops. I got up and was fully released. I could feel my self, my vibration my peak state again, I was still a tad sensitive but as the day went on it completely eased. A day later I went to see my Herbalist/ Acupuncturist (yes he is working but in full accordance with the hygiene rules we have here) and asked him from an Acupuncture perspective about that point at the back of the neck. He said it was the C7, a very powerful point and that the meridians that spread out of it affect the whole ‘Immunity’ of the body. And in my mind, the immunity of the spirit. I had a cupping cup put on that spot before the rest of the treatment and with my centre of awareness returned, I moved into that point consciously. There was no debris there in any way. It was clean, and now it was getting some much needed soothing. I love cupping, other people think I’m nuts….ha! Go figure.

If I did not trust in my imagination from the early days of experiencing such invasion by shadow energies I really don’t feel I would have been able to release my self from it and the other horrific shadow encounters that I experienced.

Imagination on its own is fine, but it’s the navigation skills that one really needs to go hand in hand with it. Without that, you can be open too many impressions and visions and without knowing how to work with them safely you could do more harm than good and get yourself into a right energetic muddle.

My imagination helped me to create the original ‘Meditation for Sensitives’ in my first book, The Bridge Between Two Worlds. A Shamans view of Schizophrenia & Acute Sensitivity. After all these years, it still works, still proves itself every time. I clearly remember sitting on my bed in the room of the old haunted house (Yes it was fully haunted, but that’s another story) and being so bloody tired that the invasion just wouldn’t stop. Putting my back against the wall, not that I knew then but that hole at the C7 point always felt vulnerable. I trusted in what arose, what I saw, what I experienced. What did I have to lose? I was already going mad. Were they hallucinations? Seeing and hearing things that were not there? No, they were very real to me, I might not have been able to see them fully in this 3D world but when I closed my eyes….they were right there in my face, harassing me, tormenting me and invading me. And the voices came mostly when my head hit the pillow eyes open or not. I met them on their own turf (in non-ordinary reality) and learned the best way to negotiate for my own well being in that realm. That took some imagination. And the proof was that it worked. I was set free enough to then find my way to the teachings that have deepened my abilities, refined my recipe of wellness and held space for me ever since.

Imagination is not a dirty word. It’s the key to the door, use it along with good navigation tools and you will always find your way through the toughest times.

If you want to learn how to navigate better, book a session with me on Skype or Facetime.

Blessings

Odette

(c)Odette Nightsky 2020
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