The Otherworld

The Answers are in the Otherworld

 

There is another world that lays alongside this one, like the twin roots of a great oak. In this Otherworld live all the hidden things— our departed loved ones, the old deities, the spark of new ideas, the Earth’s soul, our creativity. Running directly parallel to this existence, the Otherworld, as it’s understood in Celtic mythology, encompasses everything we cannot see. It is the mystery, and it is so much larger, and wiser, than the world we can currently perceive. It is so big, in fact, it is the invisible building block of our reality.

According to researchers, only 5-15% of what we know, the information that is stored in our brain, is consciousness. The unconscious guides nearly 95% of our experience here on Earth. Like icebergs, only the tips of our greatest mountains exist above the ground. Even science affirms that we are more space than actual matter. In one statistic, it was said that if all space was removed from all matter on Earth, everything in existence would fit into an object the size of an apple. It is not hyperbole to say that we are literally made from mystery, and it is from this underground, otherworldly mystery that the truest answers arise.

We are living in a time where it seems like there are endless problems that need fixing and yet, every time we try to cast into the world around us for answers, we come up empty handed. If we are only relying upon the world of the known, the established systems, the histories we’ve been handed… the issues we are facing as a world seem impossible to heal. But if we dip our hands into that vast stream of the Otherworld, there are solutions we have yet to imagine.

 

 

I used to feel self-conscious about my tendency to live in another world. As a kid, I felt most comfortable in that place of imagination, fantasy, feeling and dreams. To me, the Otherworld was just as real as this world. By the time I entered high school, however, I had learned how to silence that world so I could focus on becoming a part of the accepted reality around me. But I never lost my connection to the Otherworld. How could I? We are literally made from that Otherworld, and, as it turns out the Otherworld is place from which all innovation can arise.

Artists and inventors nearly always say their best creations come from a meditative space of connection and new research shows that daydreaming is actually an incredibly important part of reality creation. When we daydream we are literally trying on new ideas for our life, seeding our future with these new visions. Even sleep dreams, that nightly journey into the Otherworld, are full of life-changing information. Some of the greatest revelations in history came from the dreamtime— including Einstein’s theory of relativity and the structure of the atom. When we give ourselves permission to tap into the Otherworld, we touch into new possibilities for ourselves, and the world we are a part of creating.

We live in a time where it seems essential that we stay glued to the newsreel, and yet every new piece of information only deepens our existential dread. We feel guilty taking a break and yet circling the same content is clearly a dead end. To say the way forward is unclear would be an understatement… but perhaps that’s exactly what we need at this time. A reminder that the answers we most need won’t come to us from pushing ourselves to try and make sense of a senseless world, or rebuild with the bricks from a crumbling system. This currently reality may not be working, but another way is possible. It is there, just waiting to be discovered in the mist-touched and mysterious depths.  The answers are in the Otherworld and what we need are people who are brave enough to slow down so they can tap in.

 

 

I had a vision the other morning, as I sat outside watching the first leaves fall, yellow as sunlight, to the earth. I saw the forest of humanity— in all our current panic and upheaval— dotted by these shafts of light, beaming up from the canopy. Each ray of light was a channel, bringing in new inspiration, hope and vision. Each ray was a person here on this Earth who hadn’t lost their connection to the Otherworld, who was willing to still tap into the unseen and let that guidance flow through them. In this vision I could feel the Earth being fed, very literally, by this steady stream of nourishment from the Otherworld. And I could feel hope waiting for us. After all, in the Otherworld, the dream of a healed Earth is still very much alive.

As we move into the wheel of the year held by Samhain, we tip into one of the most profoundly mystical seasons. A time when the veil between the worlds thins and we are invited to dip our hands into this stream of vision flowing from the great and wise mystery.

If you’ve been feeling the need to step away for a day, to tune into another world, to take long walks, meditate or create… consider this the permission you’ve been waiting for. No matter what whirlwind is happening in the world around you, it is important to take the space you need to touch into another way of being. To sense the subtleties. To sleep, rest, dream, envision. And if you’d like even more support on the journey, check out Herbs for the Otherworld — our most popular class, and a direct channel into this other way of thinking and dreaming. Because the answers we are seeking lie in that Otherworld, and we need people who are willing to go into that space in order to retrieve them.