J: Journeying

Now this is something I have not done enough of. I fall too easily into the trap of being too busy and don't often enough give myself the time for mediation and visualisation. Plus, of course, I find it difficult, and it's always easier to put off something that doesn't come easily, right?

Siberian shaman, drawn by Dutch explorer Witsen in the 17th century

Journeying (sometimes described as 'shamanic journeying'), in its simplest form, is a kind of visualisation where you take a journey. This can be guided, or free form, but usually there is some kind of musical accompaniment, often drumming. It can be specifically linked to kinds of wisdom - for example, you can journey into a Tarot card, or to get to know Gods from a particular pantheon - or you can let your Higher Self, Inner Self or subconscious (or whatever you choose to name it) lead you where you need to go. On such freestyle journeys, it can help to have a natural location in mind to visualise as your starting point. I usually use a forest, since that feels comfortable to me. What makes it a journey, rather than just a meditation, is the idea of movement, however pre-planned or left to chance that may be.

My problem is a visual one. I really struggle to visualise and to actually see anything. I can talk myself through any kind of meditation or visualisation, and I can imagine things, but in the literal sense of visualisation, which clearly links to sight, I fail. I wonder if it's because I am not, as the kids at school would say, a 'visual learner'. It's funny, because I can respond to visual stimuli - reading the Tarot would be a bit difficult otherwise! - but even when reading I don't 'see' things. I know or sense things, having learnt to trust my intuition, but there's no sense of getting visions or any degree of clairvoyance.