In-Body Journeying
Energy work frequently involves altering your focus so that you can “visit” another time and place. Destinations can include your own or another’s past, a historical site, another planet, a concurrent reality, a possible future situation, and just about anywhere or “any-when” else.
The ancient term for time-space travel is journeying. Journeys are usually conducted by the soul or another subtle part of the self. A journey can be performed for hundreds of reasons, such as to uncover the source of a challenge, unlock secret powers, gather a healing energy, gain insight for a decision, or boost a manifestation.
In this chapter I’ll explore the ins and outs of journeying, but even more importantly, I’ll be emphasizing a specific point, which is this: many of the contemporary versions of journeying are potentially dangerous or harmful.
The perils of journeying lie in the fact that journeying traditionally involves projecting a part of the self outside of the body. As I’ll explain in this chapter, this is a risky endeavor, yet journeying is a vital tool for transformation. In order to eliminate the hazards, I’ve developed my own journeying technique, which I’ll introduce you to in this chapter.
My journeying process is simple and elegant. It also allows you to remain in your body as you visit other places and spaces with virtually no limits. Ensconced in your body, you remain safe and protected, even though you’re expanded and “abroad.”
After learning more about journeying in general and the red flags involved in the standard processes, I’ll walk you through a short journeying exercise. After practicing this technique, grab an energetic passport and away you go! You’ll be employing versions of this journeying process through the remainder of this book.
What Is Journeying?
The medicine people of most cultures have conducted journeys across time and space and into different dimensions in order to assist the injured, hurting, or hopeful. They also have helped others perform their own excursions. How do these journeys differ from mental wanderings such as reminiscing about yesterday or planning tomorrow? These deliberate journeys have been traditionally conducted by a part of the self that leaves the body.
There are many parts of us that can conduct an out-of-body journey. These aspects include the soul or a part of the soul, but also another sub-aspect, such as an inner child, the mind, or our consciousness. We can also elicit the same experience in another.
Historically the soul has been the most frequent time traveler; hence, the most basic type of journeying is called the shamanic journey, soul flight, or soul journey. A more modern term for this travel is remote viewing. When remote viewing, a part of the self exits the body to visualize what’s occurring somewhere else. Another term is astral travel, which is a journey that occurs on the astral plane, a multi-level dimensional meeting ground for beings from various realities. Another commonly used phrase is out-of-body travel or having an out-of-body experience, or OBE. The acronym OBE perfectly depicts the state of roaming beyond the physical body. And what are those lucid dreams, the nighttime experience of feeling awake even when asleep, but the product of a sleep-induced journey?
There are dozens of reasons to undertake a spiritual excursion. You might drop into your past to uncover the cause of an injury. Maybe you journey to the Netherlands to challenge a dark force or an alien invader or jet into the future to redirect it. Perhaps you want to chat with spiritual guides, visit the land of the dead, work through an emotional trauma, examine your own or another’s health, or experience another way of being. As a tool, journeying is a vital way to create substantial results.
One of the reasons that out-of-body journeying works so well is that it involves freeing ourselves from the body’s limitations. This is also one of the reasons that traditional journeying is so dangerous.
The Problem with
Out - of - Body Journeying
A few years ago I stopped flying outside of my body or directing others to do the same. I was noticing the following side effects in the wake of a journey:
- • Bodily endangerment during the excursion.
- • Punctures or stretch marks in the auric field.
- • Intrusion or implosion of others’ energies.
- • Threatening interactions with dark forces.
- • Difficulties getting back into the body.
Why would an OBE create bodily discomfort or a wound? Think about it. The inner aspect of ourself that is journeying, which is usually a part of our soul but can also be a child-self or another part of our being, can’t exit without projecting through the skin and auric field, thus pitting or breaking the field. If the journeying aspect doesn’t return the same way, it can cause a new injury site.
When a part of us leaves, an empty space remains. A myriad of entities or energies can now leap in uninvited, including parts of other people or beings, dark forces, ghosts, or others’ feelings, diseases, or desires.
Consider also the vulnerability of the escaped self. Unless it’s energetically protected, it is exposed to whatever lies in the Great Beyond. I once had a client journey to a past life in which he had died from the bubonic plague. Although he worked through issues during the journey, upon returning he became violently ill for a number of days. He wasn’t actually sick with the plague, but the subtle energy of the disease had reactivated in his soul and dumped into his body.
Remember that the wandering self is just that—a wanderer. Sometimes our nomadic self knows where it’s going and how to get there; sometimes the path is more circuitous. It’s not like we journey with a compass or a GPS. Even if we make it to our destination and return in one piece, the pilgrimage can be exhausting. It might feel as if we’ve barely survived a gauntlet or been lost in a labyrinth.
So what’s a journeyer to do?
The key to connecting to any realm while remaining safe is to travel without leaving your body. This goal can be accomplished by journeying through your eighth chakra’s bodily site, the thymus.
Your eighth chakra, which was introduced in Chapter One, is officially located about two inches above your head. If you enter the chakra’s center, you’ll find yourself in a central space. Hallways branch in every direction. Each can be entered with a door. These passages access every dimension, plane of existence, and time period. Of course, to journey through the over-the-head center is equivalent to exiting the body. The good news is that you can achieve all the benefits of the eighth chakra’s interconnectedness by trekking inside the thymus. You see, the gateways to the universe are inside of you. The energetic arrangement of the thymus is identical to that of the above-the-head eighth chakra.
So if you want to experience safe travels, use the following exercise, which enables you to journey without even packing a suitcase. After all, there’s no flight to catch. The journeying is conducted internally.
A healing
--exercise--
In this version of the journeying exercise, you will walk the universe via your thymus. During the process you will select a hallway to enter and employ whichever intuitive style you are most comfortable with. Above all, you will learn a process that can be conducted safely, no matter where you are heading.
Step One: Preparation. Find a private space and make sure you won’t be disturbed. Breathe deeply and focus on your thymus area. You can focus on a concern or a destination or simply let the Spirit figure out where to guide you.
Step Two: Conduct Spirit-to-Spirit. Conduct Spirit-to-Spirit, affirming your spirit, others’ spirits, and the Spirit. While finalizing step three, which involves turning your will over to the Spirit, ask the Spirit to safely hold you inside of your thymus, the home of your eighth chakra. Now ask the Spirit to take you where you need to go and to accompany you on the journey.
Step Three: Journey. Request that the Spirit turn on the light around you. You’ll find yourself on a white marble floor. It is iridescent and beautiful. You are surrounded by the blackness of outer space, which glistens with stars.
The flooring is actually a platform in the middle of millions upon millions of hallways, which stretch from the center place like spokes on a wheel. Each of these hallways is available through a doorway.
The Spirit indicates which doorway you should pass through and assures you that although you’ll officially walk through the door, you’ll remain within your thymus. The entire universe and all dimensions are available inside of this eighth chakra center. With the Spirit’s assistance, you select a door, open it, and walk through. What you see, feel, sense, hear, or become aware of holds the answers to your query or shows you what you need to know. The Spirit will share teachings, reflections, and wisdom and then tell you when you are finished.
Step Four: Return. Walking back through the door, return to the shining platform. The stars blink out and your thymus reconfigures into a “normal” organ. Slowly the Spirit returns you to the recognition of your physical, this-life state. You sense your thymus and entire upper chest and then reengage with the remainder of your body. Breathe deeply and become aware of your environment. Thank the Spirit, the helping spirits, and your own spirit for this journey, and return to your everyday life when ready.
Summary
Journeying is the art of visiting other times, places, and dimensions. It is best accomplished inside of the body rather than by puncturing the auric field when exiting the body. The simple practice outlined in this chapter allows you to journey inside of your thymus, the in-body site for your eighth chakra. You are now prepared for the many journeying experiences you’ll conduct in the following chapters.