A
key part of shamanism is what is termed journeying to the Underworld. The
Underworld is that place of energies, entities and intelligences which is
behind, interpenetrates and influences our physical world. Some people equate
it to a form of the astral world, that nonphysical realm that people go to
between incarnations, a world quite distinct from our physical reality, but it
is more a cross between the etheric, the nonphysical world just behind and
interpenetrating and, in many cases, supporting our world (and hence the sense
of similarity for those not paying attention), and … a parallel universe for
nature spirits and Nature sitting at right angles – metaphorically - to our reality.
Journeys
are usually done individually, seeking answers to questions, knowledge, power
or, in the last few decades, a cute or exciting new experience to add to one’s
lifetime CV.
Those
who know what they’re doing, however, can journey as a group. Harry was a red
haired Celt who knew what he was doing; Tara, Greg and Ky had been on plenty of
group journeys with him before, so they knew the drill also.
Harry
had set special stones around them in the shape of a canoe, and began his
drumming. The other three lay down, and went into trance with the ease of
practice, and would be joined by Harry after he split his consciousness – a
knack that had taken around three years of practice to develop – so that he
could also continue the drumming, as well as journey with them. Usually they
would come to an awareness of being in the canoe with paddles in their hand,
and would join Harry in the task of moving them along their journey by their paddling
– which could be strangely physically exhausting, at times, strange given that
it was all in some nonphysical realm, not the physical, where their bodies
would lay, more or less relaxed, although maybe twitching from time to time.
Greg,
who, with his dark hair and swarthy good looks was sometimes described as a
blue eyed homage to Omar Sharif, commented “Well, I guess I don’t have to worry
about blisters.”
Ky
replied “True, but I was getting so much practice for dragon boat racing.”
Ky’s
heritage was Asian – his name, in fact, was Con Ton, but a drunk has said it
sounded like Kyneton, the town he was living in at the time, and the nickname
Ky had stuck. Dragon boat racing, where long, relatively narrow boats were
moved at his speed by teams of skilled, trained paddlers, was a part of his
heritage – a part that had been adopted in his family’s adopted homeland.
Tara,
often the leader of their little group, laughed. “Hah! When you have even sat
in a dragon boat, Ky?”
He
smiled back at her. “Oh my parents took me to a few regattas in Hong Kong and
Malaysia as part of Harvest Moon or New Year festivals.”
At
that moment Harry appeared, slightly damp, and energetically paddling. He
slowed, and stopped, as he realised he was dripping on the control room floor
of ...
“Yes”,
commented Tara “It’s a submarine” and she arched her monobrow – a brow that was a heritage, according to her
mother, an Italian witch, of their mixed southern European ancestry.
“Do
you get mileage upgrades of canoes?” asked Greg.
“Maybe
it’s a covered version in case of rain?” suggested Ky.
Harry
stuttered, and then restated the obvious.
“It’s
… it’s a … a submarine.”
He
continued “I’ve never been on a submarine before, and this has never happened
to me. Or to anyone I know. Holy cow!”
“Cool,
eh?” commented Greg.
“Yes”
replied Ky, “but how do we control it? Where are we?”
“How
do we see where we are? And where we’re going?” asked Harry.
“And
WHY are we?” added Tara.
At
that, the intrepid foursome were quiet.
Greg
asked Harry “Can you feel your silver cord?”
The
silver cord was a link between the nonphysical and physical body that people
who astral travelled were often aware of.
“No,”
replied Harry “but I never can on a shamanic journey. It’s just not a part of
this way of working - not for me, at any rate.”
Tara
had walked to the front of what was evidently the control room. She’d never
been on a submarine before, but it looked like what she’d seen on movies. She
sat in what was obviously the helm – or the ‘steering station’, she found
herself thinking of it, and looked at what she was thinking of as the control yoke,
or what most people would call ‘the steering wheel’, although it was truly more
like the control yoke of a plane than a car’s steering wheel, as it could also
be moved backwards and forwards. She looked up at the display panels. They had
no writing or numbers on them, just swirling patterns of colours, almost like a
very mild version of kaleidoscopes.
“Think
any of this works?” she called out.
They
joined her, and Harry said “OK, I’m going to try my ordinary old psychic
sensing first.”
Greg
commented, respectfully “Friend, there is nothing ordinary about your sensing.”
They
smiled at each other while Tara rolled her eyes and growled “Love fest later,
work now.”
“Yes
boss” replied Harry.
“Yes,
ma’am” added Greg, clicking his heels smartly as he stood to what he thought of
as military attention.
A
few minutes later, they all had to concede defeat. None of the dials or knobs beside
the display screens did anything. Stunned, they sat in various places about the
control room. Curious and mournful, Ky placed his hand on the panel he faced. Immediately
it cleared, and he had a vision of – maybe of what was outside. He could see
balls of fire, some exploding, like a distorted view of stars in space.
Excited,
he yelled “Hey people! Look here – or no, touch the panels in front of you!”
Greg
rushed over to Ky and gazed. Harry reached out, hesitated, and then strode to
Tara and placed a hand on the panel in front of her. They could see a ‘star’
directly in front of them, and getting closer. In an instinctive reaction, Tara
wrenched the yoke over, and the star starting shifting to side of the screen.
Behind
them, Greg called out “Hey, it’s shifting.”
Harry
yelled back “Tara’s steering! Greg, get those two back corner panels, and look
behind us and to the starboard.”
“Starboard?”
“The
right – the side opposite Ky!”
“Oh!”
he replied, and enthusiastically complied.
“Hey”,
Greg commented, “There’s a big glow from the bottom of this screen.”
“Same
here”, added Ky.
Tara
could see the same, as Harry spoke.
“Tara,
effectively you’re flying underwater, or wherever it is we are. When you turn
the wheel, think of it as turning flaps on the outside of the plane, and that
sets up forces which turn us. If you do that gently, we should be able to see
what’s causing that glow.”
Tara
nodded, and turned, but hauled back on the yoke as she did so, and commented
“Let’s look at it while we’re going away, shall we?”
Harry
nodded, sweating, and moments later Greg yelped.
“We
almost collected that star!”
“OK,
people” Tara replied, “You watch and tell me what’s going on, and I’ll steer.
Harry?”
“Yes?”
“Can
you start thinking about what we’re doing here, and how we get out?”
Harry,
dependable, unflappable Harry, was sweating as the others looked at him. He
straightened, and flexed his shoulders. “Yep, I’ll see what I can work out.”
Harry
closed his eyes, and started meditating. “This .. submarine thing feels like a
shell … it’s almost like someone has set up some protection about us.” After a
pause, he mumbled “But who, and why?”
Moments
later, his eyes flew open, and he took his hand off the screen.
“Harry!”
He
ignored Tara, grabbed a set of headphones hanging nearby and put them on. His
eyes widened, and he grabbed another set and put them on Tara as he called to
the others to do the same. He slammed his hand back on the screen and grinned
as Tara’s eyes widened even more and she looked up at him.
“Yes”
he replied, “that’s sonar – and you can still hear me, right?”
She
nodded, as the others commented that they could hear as well.
Greg
added “What’s that sound in the background?”
Harry
closed his eyes to listen more carefully, and hazarded a guess that it could be
the stars they were going by. Greg nodded, and added that he was sure it was,
as he could hear them getting further away if he looked at the rear screen.
“So
these magical headphones work wherever we’re looking, folks”, he finished.
Tara
took a breath.
“OK,
so we’re now in control of this ... shamanic submarine, and we can interact
with the environment, and steer. None of that tells us why we’re here.”
“Or”
added Ky, “how we get back.”
The
three looked at Harry, who shrugged his shoulders and sweated a little more.
Greg
spoke. “Actually, it seems clear that someone put us here who had our wellbeing
in mind. Sure, they could have done so a little more thoughtfully, but we’re
protected, and have a little control. All we need is a guide of some sort.”
At
that they heard a clanging sound from the top of the submarine, and looked up.
Harry
grinned and laughed maniacally, and gently stopped Tara as she started to
wrench at the control yoke.
“It’s
our guide” he explained. “Just wait a moment.”
Moments
later they gasped as a dragon swam into view, turned to look at them, and
winked.
She
was a dragon in the Western style - with a somewhat rotund body and a tail, not
the Asian serpent style. Golden coloured with green eyes, she was a magnificent
sight.
“Wow”
commented Greg.
“Yeah
… what he said” added Tara.
“How
can it swim in space?” asked Ky.
They
looked at him and he shrugged. “I grew up with dragons – and dragon boats, so … no
big deal.”
Harry
coughed. “Well, first off, she is definitely a she.”
“Yeah?”
asked Tara, “so how do you know that?”
“She’s
been communicating with me – telepathically, I guess you’d say, this last
minute or so.”
“Why
you?” asked Greg.
“Ah,
people? Have a look. Outside. Is she … in pain?” said Ky.
“No”
answered Harry. He sighed, and continued “She’s laughing.”
They
looked at him.
He
sighed again, and explained “Team, meet Loren, my ex.”
Greg
and Tara kept a straight face for almost a half a second, and then doubled up
in laughter, muttering about ex’s who were only said to be dragons.
Ky
took the news more sensibly. “So … was she an astral ex, or … ?”
Harry
ignored the others and answered Ky. “Physical. This is one of the forms she can
take when journeying. She’s a more powerful shaman – well, a shamaness – than
me.”
Silence,
followed by some respectful glances ‘outside’, as they’d started referring to
the imagery they could get on the screens. Harry was powerful enough as a
shaman to be scary, at times, and if the dragon-shamaness outside was stronger
than him, then it would be prudent to show her at least a little respect.
“Hey”
noted Greg, “the screens are working even though we’re not touching them!”
“Never
mind that” snapped Ky, “Why are we in a submarine, being led by a swimming
dragon, in an environment usually associated with spaceships?”
“Actually,”
added Tara, “I’d like to know the answers to both those questions.” She looked
directly at Harry: “Has our guide got any ideas?”
“I’ll
check.”
His
face went blank as the others looked around their control room, and at each
other, and let the new knowledge sink in. Tara looked at the doors in the aft
and forward bulkheads, and wondered about their safety. For safety’s sake, she
visualised a blue pentagram over each, and was gratified that Greg and Ky noted
what she had done.
By
then Harry’s face indicated he was back, so they looked at him expectantly.
“Okay,
first off, we’re apparently in a very high energy - high both in frequency and
intensity – state, so much energy that we would be cooked if we weren’t
protected in some way –hence the submarine for us, and the dragon form for
Loren. She said the need to protect against energy from outside is more akin to
the imagery of a submarine than a spaceship, which has more pressure on the
inside and concerns about stopping stuff getting out, and that is why the …
being that has brought us here gave us that image, rather than a spaceship. The
being has apologised for hijacking our canoe trip, but is apparently desperate
for help, and we – and Loren apparently
fit the bill in some way.”
“Ah,
yeah, and what is that way, exactly?” asked Ky.
“I
don’t know yet –and that is because Loren doesn’t know any more yet, either, not because she isn’t saying.
Apparently more will be told to us when we arrive. Loren knows where we’re
going, so, for now, we follow her.”
He
shrugged, and Tara responded “OK people, Greg, you take behind and to the right
– where you were before, and Ky, you take the left.”
She
looked directly at Harry. “Harry, I want you right by my side. Everyone: if you
see, think or suspect anything, speak up.”
She
sat and grasped the control yoke again, and looked at some levers below a dial
that showed speeds ranging from “Full Astern’ to ‘Full Ahead’. They were
currently pointing at ‘Slow Ahead’.
“Reckon
this might govern the speed?” At Harry’s nod she replied “Tell your
girlfriend”-
“Ex-girlfriend.”
“Whatever!
Tell her we’re picking up the pace a little.”
Carefully
she eased the lever to point towards ‘Half Ahead’, and, after she found she
could cope with the stars speeding past more quickly, then towards ‘Full
Ahead’, and then she concentrated on following the dragon, as she effortlessly
led them.
Tara
was always a bit bemused by the way her intuition worked at times like this:
she just gradually found herself becoming focused on one particular star as
they travelled.
“Harry?”
“Tara?”
“She
that star there?” she asked, pointing.
“Yeah
…” he replied thoughtfully.
“I’m
thinking that is where we’re supposed to be.” Harry nodded, and she continued
“Can you ask Loren if she knows where we’re going?”
Harry
nodded, and closed his eyes for a few moments.
“Yes,
she’s feeling that as well.”
Purposeful
in their travels now, they felt as if they arrived just moments later.
Then
… well, what now, was the general feeling. They were paused at a fixed point,
not orbiting, seemingly impervious to physical things like gravity and heat
(and vacuum, in Loren’s case).
Tara
shrugged her shoulders, and the four looked helplessly at each other.
“What
now?” asked Greg.
Ky
asked Harry “Does Loren have any ideas? I’m feeling pretty … helpless.”
Tara
commented thoughtfully “I’d almost say I’m feeling … old – so old I’m …
decrepit.”
Harry’s
eye widened. “That’s it! Loren’s said you’re on the right path – we’re all
feeling unable to act, and Tara’s mentioned the feeling of age! This star’s old
– very, very old. She thinks we’re here to help it as it does so.”
Tara
and Ky nodded, but Greg looked thoughtfully at the display, and then added “I
think it’s more than that, people. I think we’re here to do an act of
euthanasia.”
The
other stared back at him in shock – all except Ky, who nodded, and added “You
know, when I was young, we had one of my grandmothers living with us. She used
to do the baby-sitting, and would entertain us – we all thought she was
wonderfully wise. But, about six months before she died, we used to find her
crying a lot. Us kids thought it was physical pain, but I found out years later
that she was crying because she didn’t want to leave us without her … her wisdom,
she thought of it as. The problem was, her wisdom had become dated as the world
changed, and we – we kept respecting her, but we … took her words with, as they
say, ‘a grain of salt’.”
Greg
nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking of something similar, in this case a great aunt.
She was also old, also being looked after by her family, but in this case, it
was the family who didn’t want to let her go. She was in pain – until just
before the end, when the medical staff increased her morphine dose. That was
when my cousins and their family were all almost in hysterics, screaming that
she had to be saved, she couldn’t be let die – it made a racket that caused
real distress for other patients and their families, but they didn’t care.
He
shook his head and added “The selfish gits.”
Harry
replied gently “Not all people have our knowledge of death, Greg. Not everyone
knows there is a better place to go to.”
Tara
started to snap back “Even if they don’t-” and stopped herself.
“Tara?
Even if they don’t?”
She
shook her head “No, I was wrong. I was going to say ‘even if they don’t,
there’s quality of life and respect for people’s wishes and respect for other
people generally to think off, but I don’t think that’s the point here. I think
we’re the point – the experiences and
perspectives we have. Somehow, we’re supposed to convey all that to this star …
though I’ve never heard of stars having a living essence.”
Harry
and Greg replied at the same time, Greg about the spirit named Sanat Kumara and
supposed by Theosophists to inhabit the earth, and Harry about a perspective
where the most evolved of beings were supposed to live and die as stars. Tara
smiled back at them.
Ky
asked “So how do we do this? How do we get this star – or the spirit in the
star – to move on? Or to want to move on? And what happens then?”
Harry
face went blank for a few moments, and then he spoke.
“Loren
says – well, her exact words were ‘Very wise questions, grasshopper’. And that’s
where I think we come in. Although we’re not aged, we went through a rough time
before we broke up. Now, looking back, we wish we’d had the thought that things
could be better. It would have taken just one person saying that, instead of
all our various sets of friends, some shared, some not, all trying ubiquitously
to keep us together, and we would have had a smoother parting, and got to our
current state of friendship much sooner.”
He
drew a deep breath, smiled at the image of Loren on the display screen, and
continued.
“That’s
our contribution.”
They
were silent for a while, then Greg spoke.
“Er,
people, see that set of displays showing all the flashing lights? I think that’s
the weapons system. I’m no submariner, but I’d hazard a guess that something is
happening that is the equivalent of loading a torpedo into the tubes, ready for
firing.”
Ky
almost whispered “And after?”
At
that moment Tara’s intuition kicked in again. Whoever had created the submarine
for them was benevolently inclined, and it felt right that they would have thought
of their safety and wellbeing. In fact, she felt she knew who had organised
this.
“It’s
OK! I think I know who set this up, and she wants us back after this.”
The
other blinked, and Loren turned her head back towards the submarine.
“It
was all set up – well, our being here was set up, by Sol – our Sun. She
answered the call for help of the star we’re looking at – so the star in front
is why we’re here, but the star at home, Sol, is how we’re here. She knows us,
she values and respects what we can do, limited thought it may be, and she wants
us back to potentially be of service in the future.”
The
others nodded at her, and she continued “Right! Let’s do this. Everyone, think
about what we’ve been talking about, particularly things being better after
transition.”
Tara
rarely used what had been described as her ‘command voice’, and often didn’t
know she was doing so, but it was exactly what was needed. The five focused
their minds, and watched, after Greg said the torpedo had been fired, as it
sped towards the star. Just before it hit, they felt the submarine turning, and
starting to speed, with a startled Loren drawn along in whatever passed for its
‘wake’, away from the star.
As
it faded into the distance, felt, rather than saw, an enormous flash as the
star become a supernova. At that, they found themselves in the usual canoe –
but a well singed canoe, with patches almost burned completely through, and
only handles left of their paddles, the ends where the blades should have been
charred and smoking. They weren’t alone: there was a fifth person with them, a
woman with hips and curves and rich, curling, dark hair cascading over her
shoulders.
“Hello,
everyone, I’m Loren.”
“Wow”
said Greg.
“Yeah,
what he said” added Ky.
Tara
rolled her eyes and added “Nice to meet you, I’m”-
“Tara”
Loren smiled. “I’ve actually helped on some of your journeys previously, and
Harry has told me a little of you – hello Greg, hello Con – or do you prefer
Ky?”
“Actually,
I do, these days.”
Loren
nodded graciously, and smiled back at him. She then looked directly at Tara.
“I
hope I might be able to help on some of your work in future, if that’s OK?”
Tara’s
eyes widened and her monobrow shot up. “Really? That’d be cool – I mean, it’s
fine with me, how about you lot?” She looked meaningfully at Harry.
He
smiled, clasped Loren’s hands, and replied “As I said, we’re actually quite
good friends, and work together often. And, in fact, you may have noticed a
certain Star found that the fact that our separation led to better things for
both of us to be something good?”
She
nodded at him, and looked at Loren. She smiled, and clasped Harry’s hand more
tightly, and, faking Ky’s accent, said “What he said.”
They
all laughed, and Tara went through what she knew would be a mere formality of
looking at Greg and Ky and getting their nods of acquiescence.
“Well,
looks like we’ve done a Beatles, and got us a fifth.”
Loren
took a breath, and replied “And like Sir George Martin, I’ll largely be
invisible. I don’t live in the same state as you guys and gal, these days, and
I’ll come visit you in the physical when I can, but I’ll be there when I can in
the astral – or the Underworld.”
Tara
nodded. “We’ll be glad to have you with us whenever you can spare the time –
that was fantastic work you did tonight.” She smiled, and continued “And I’m
guessing that, like our Harry here, you have other major projects … ?”
Loren
nodded.
“OK,
well, we’ll be very glad for your help whenever you’re available.” She glared briefly
at Greg and Ky. “And I think we’ll be well behaved.”
“Will
you?” replied Loren, and she winked at Greg and Ky before she disappeared.
Moments
after that, they found themselves back in the physical world, examining the
evidence that what they’d done had been major.
For
starters, they found their bodies had moved – to positions that more or less
corresponded to where they’d been in the control room. As they took that in,
Greg gasped and grabbed one of the stones Harry had set out to mark the limits
of the canoe, and rolled it so the outside was upright. It was blackened, and
slightly smoking. “It’s cool” he said, “well, cool on the floor and the inside,
but the outside is still warm to the touch.”
Harry
paled.
Tara
raised her monobrow at him.
“I
have NEVER seen – or heard, or read – of ANYTHING like that, ever happening.
Anywhere.”
Tara
took a breath, and summed up for them all. “Then I think I am extremely glad we
found ourselves aboard the good Submarine … “Shaman’s
Ex”, I’ll dub her. But I could do with a good cuppa, people, so let’s get
this tidied up. We can debrief over tea and nibbles.”
And
they did.
Copyright © Kayleen White, 2014 (where this date is different to the year of publication, it is because I did the post some time ago and then used the scheduling feature to delay publication)
I take these photographs and undertake these writings – and the sharing of them – for the sake of my self expression. I am under no particular illusions as to their literary or artistic merit, and ask only that any readers do not have any undue expectations.
If you consider me wrong, then publish me – with full credit and due financial recompense, of course :)
