Journey to the Dark Goddess: How to Return to Your Soul by Jane Meredith

Author:Jane Meredith [Meredith, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780992235
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Published: 2012-05-25T04:00:00+00:00

MAKING A MAP OF THE JOURNEY

Before you move onto the next stage of this journey to meet the Dark Goddess, and the next part of this book, take some time to make a map of your Descent.

Often the Descent itself is the most emotionally charged of all the stages of a journey to the Underworld, so distilling what you have learnt into some form of map is invaluable. You might want to make this part of your map in seven distinct stages, mirroring the seven gates – seven verses of a song; or an actual map with seven gateways on it – or you might choose to emphasize other aspects of descending.

A map serves several purposes. One is the recording of what you have learnt; literally recording where you have been. Another purpose is as a guide, for yourself on any return trip or for anyone who comes after you. Because we have largely been in denial and avoidance about the Descents in our life; slow to acknowledge them, rarely finding appropriate resources or support and mainly wishing only to get out of them as soon as possible (though this very wish may end up prolonging the visit) we have rarely been conscious enough to make good maps. There is also huge stigma associated with depression, withdrawal and inner reflection beyond a certain point; enough to ensure that our experiences in descending and being in the Underworld are not valued and our journeys rarely validated or examined in depth.

Even when we know ourselves to be descending we are rarely able to learn from our previous experiences, or from those of our mothers, sisters and best friends. Self-help books somewhat take the place of this in our world; they can be like a friend telling you of their experiences in the darkest places. Making our own maps we can better assist ourselves, those closest to us and – when we are bold enough to make them more widely available – we help make the whole concept more available and less shrouded in obscurity.

Writing

I love writing. For me, there’s nothing as satisfying as a journal entry made at the time I was experiencing whatever-it-was. It’s not just the words I’ve written; it’s the style I’ve used – poetic and flowing, stark and abrupt or factual bullet points – that tells me so much about what it was like. My handwriting, also – sprawled across the page, tiny and clipped, neat and orderly or interrupted with diagrams and stray thoughts (sometimes blotted with tears) – adds to this picture.

If you want to experiment with writing, beyond straight journal-keeping, you could try creating a seven-versed ballad for your Descent. Or a series of haikus (a Japanese form of poetry kept strictly to seventeen syllables). You could try writing in flow-of-consciousness; or maybe a travelogue, with everything described in detail, for future travelers.

If you are using the journal form you may want to make a series of entries. There will be the notes you took

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