Ritual Actions of the Muses: Lab Notes

Session Four, 12/30/10

This session began with a meeting where Antero encouraged everyone to be more discriminating in choosing the sources we would work with.

Next to last group ritual - structure set up as a large triangle of altars (candles atop 3 columns) creating virtual pathways between each.  The intention was to assign each altar one of our personal trinity sources and explore the pathways.  I experienced a fading of my connection to time and space and became more and more drawn into a timeless experience where unfamiliar vocal sounds sometimes rose through me.

Final group ritual - room divided into 2 sections, southern area assigned to our personal foundation source, northern area assigned to the realm of the muses.  The ritual intention was to immerse ourselves in the foundation source to find sustaining care and then to simply enter the muse realm to discover what was waiting. 
Working with the foundation source of 'Vertical', I found a whistling action on the inhale and exhale.  I committed to this whistling without missing a breath.
On first entry into the muse realm I experienced being filled with light and could feel energy amping up in my body, especially in my arms and hands.  I found myself holding a certain position with my arms/hands and it felt important somehow to maintain it in order to remain in the presence of the muse.
After returning to the foundation source area and focusing on expanding opening of the crown chakra, the second entry into the muse realm was an exquisite experience of being gently stretched vertically in both directions out of my 'casing', almost like some kind of soft sea creature pulled out of its tubular shell.  The physical sensation was new.

  
Finally returning to the foundation source area, I spent time reconnecting to a downward, 'earth' and 'body' bound vertical connection and found a nourishing low tonal duet there with another participant.
The ritual ended with my total release of the amped up energy in NoForm.

Due to more awareness in choosing our sources, I personally experienced a deeper level of the work and sensed a deepening in the group as a whole.  It was most evident at the end of the session when we all had returned to NoForm.  The silence there was profound - a silence that felt charged with connection to the Void.

Ritual Actions of the Muses: Lab Notes

'Lunar Eclipse'
Dec. 20, 2010

Our first session began on the evening of a total lunar eclipse, which ended up playing a part in the session for me.

After choosing a trinity to work with in my personal warm-up, I decided to shift it to something more dynamic when we entered the first group ritual.  It was an immediate morphing of each component of the original trinity into the forces of Moon, Earth, and Sun (which felt even more charged given the impending Lunar eclipse that was approaching).  Throughout the evening I discovered various aspects of each force and explored finding movement and sound for each layer that was revealed to me.

After several group rituals exploring our trinities, we moved on to a group ritual of approaching the Muse.  Dividing the room into two areas, the first area that we would enter from No Form was dedicated to the melding and compositing of the three forces of our trinity.  The second area was delegated to the realm of the Muses, leaving it an unknown as to whether or not we would encounter the Muse there.

I experienced the first part of the ritual as a merging of parts of myself specifically using tones that initiated in the belly and the heart and met in the solar plexus,  directing outwards from there.  The commitment and power of this vocal tone steeled me to enter the Muses' realm. 

Immediately upon entering I had a strong vision of being hooked up somewhere around the heart and solar plexus area with a thin flexible clear tube that ran vertically upwards.  It was as if the Muse was extracting my 'tone' from my body as a pale opalescent liquid.  It was not frightening or unpleasant at all, and felt very natural, if a little exciting.  Eventually I became aware that I had been transformed into a large blue ragged winged creature.  Part of the pattern on my wings appeared slightly illuminated in a dark brilliant blue.  All the while I was continuing my toning, by this time it had become a pattern of two notes.  I remained stationary there until I had the sense that I had served my purpose and returned to the trinity area.  

After reconnecting to my trinity and finding a somewhat quieter merging of the forces I decided to enter the Muse realm one more time.  This time the atmosphere was quite different, quieter and calmer.  It seemed to me that the Muses were resting, hidden somewhere, but were allowing me to visit this foreign landscape with a pale sky and soft hills in the distance.  The colors were muted and I had the sense that it was early morning.  I stood there taking it in until the vision slowly changed into a blanker, icier version and I took that as my cue to leave. 

Both times that I entered and exited the Muse realm I experienced a strong electrical feeling on the surface of my skin, like supercharged 'goose bumps'.

My final time in the trinity area I experienced a feeling of completion, with a gentle slow rotating approach back to No Form.