My Inner Journey Walker | Past Life Wild Woman

Image from Janey-Jane on Deviant Art

Introduction

During the Opening Gathering of my Four Seasons Journey we went on a Drum Journey to find our guides from the Upper, Middle and Lower realms (more on this later).
We were instructed to all lay on our backs comfortably and to cover our eyes without touching anyone beside us. Our teachers and the apprentices then drummed loudly all to the same beat.

This post is about my journey to the Middle Realm to find my Inner Journey Walker (my teachers were calling it an Inner Shaman but I feel uncomfortable using that word).

The Journey

I walked out into the wild Australian Bush where my Inner Journey Walker met me. She sat astride a deer (I believe it was a buck) and she was leading another one for me to ride.

I’ve seen her before in dreams and on other journeys I’ve made. She is a wild witch woman who’s dress is made from the fabric of the sky. Her hair is silver and flows down to the middle of her back.

We started to run barefoot through the bush – birds flying alongside us – until we arrived at a clearing where there was some sort of celebration. We began to dance around the fire with everyone else.

We then journeyed to a mountain where I met an male Aboriginal Elder. He had a long, grey beard and was sitting cross legged in a cave meditating. At the time I thought that he might be the male version of my Inner Journey Walker although I’ve never met him before.

We ran some more. This time we turned up to a tribe in Africa where I met their Medicine Man/Shaman (not sure of the correct term; I guess it changes from tribe to tribe?) who was androgynous. They had bones through their nose and short black hair. We danced some more around their fire in celebration.

Then my vision went black and I couldn’t see a thing. A hand then appeared from the depths and beckoned me in – we were back where we started.

I could smell mud and see lots of wild animals, mostly birds and deer. We were riding the bucks again.

Then, I picked up a black lantern which was full of smoke. My Inner Journey Walker and I cleansed the entire bush with these lanterns.

That was when the drumbeat changed to direct us back from the Middle Realm. An image of an eye flashed before me and then faded away slowly. That was when I said goodbye and thanked her for the dance. She kissed me on the forehead in farewell.

My Thoughts

It was like seeing an old friend and we were having so much fun that I didn’t want to leave. Afterwards I thought that maybe she was showing me who I was in my past lives as a Shaman/Medicine Man/Elder.

Goddess Archetype: Artemis

I’ve always had a connection with images of Artemis and the idea of bows and arrows – I’ve just never really been interested in doing any research on the matter. After completing this quiz in my 4SJ coursework I found that Artemis was one of the Goddess’ I relate to the most – coincidence? I did a quick look around on Artemis and what she stands for.
I mostly used this link as my reference.

Image by ArtemisiaSynchroma on Deviant Art (Click Image)

Basics

• Goddess of Nature and the Moon.
• Concerned with matters of the outdoors, animals, environmental protection, women’s communities.
• Practical, adventurous, athletic and preferring solitude.
• Childbirth.

Myths and Stories

• Artemis may have, early on, prior to later Greek patriarchal manipulation, been the Great Mother, triple in her power as Maiden, Mother and Crone. Artemis may likely be one of the oldest of all the Greek goddesses–belonging to the most ancient layer of human memory.
• Artemis’ mother was Leto, a nature deity who bore Artemis without pain. Artemis’ father was Zeus.
• Artemis, directly following her own birth–a newborn, herself, Artemis assisted as midwife to her mother, Leto, throughout a very difficult birth to her twin brother, Apollo. Artemis was subsequently considered a goddess of childbirth.
• Classic Greek historians, on the other hand, depict her as a virgin who never mothers a child of her own, shunning men and living in the forest on the fringe of the inhabited world.
• Mother of Birth and of Death/Huntress and taker of life – representing both the Light and the Dark side of the goddess’ nature.
• Makes sacred; solitude, natural and primitive living.
• Not flattered by or interested in male suitors. She turned one spying man into a deer and his hunting dogs, no longer recognizing him, tore him apart.

Weaknesses

• She tends to avoid her vulnerability in relation to others–hiding her emotional needs, even to herself.
• Artemis tends toward emotional distancing–difficulty trusting relationship.
• Growth for Artemis type woman is in developing her less conscious, human relationship side of herself.
• Artemis type needs rewarding and challenging goals toward which to strive, if Artemis is unable to find fulfilling self-expression in her life she will feel increasingly frustrated and depressed.
• Artemis women find that the non-stop presence of others hinders her presence to herself, therefore, requiring retreat into the solitude of natural world and offering reconnection to her inner self.

Strengths

• Self-directed, autonomous, focused consciousness.
• Her ‘masculine’ energy can be deeply transformed or sublimated in highly creative ways.
• Androgynous energy contained within converts to visions, mystical experiences, and a deep, enduring compassion for all of Nature.
• Solitary nature teaching her self-sufficiency & independence–prophesy, poetry, music, magic and healing.

Thoughts

I definitely relate to Artemis and what she represents. It should be very interesting to find out what she has to teach me over the course of the 4SJ.