"All In Good Time..."

An update on The Dark Mirror Man & The White Toad Working

Last night, as per the conditions of the working I did the night before last, I proceeded to apply some pre-bedtime techniques that are suggested by Robin Artisson to assist with dream work and recall - he makes some interesting points about the way early modern people lived and the way they experienced sleep in a pre-technology culture.

I then proceeded, upon tucking myself in, to engage in my first try at Hypnagogic Prayer. I have a fertile imagination and I have a strong grounding in visualisation - so if anything was going to be up my alley working wise, this was going to be it.

I'd planned out the visuals clearly in advance as per Robin's instructions (if you're not familiar, check out The Clovenstone Workings appendix). Thing is - it didn't at all go to plan. I'd intended to travel to my intended destination where the door would be ajar, I'd knock three times and enter of my own accord and there, in that little cottage which I could see as clear as anything would be the mirror on the wall and the white toad on the mantle above the fireplace. I'd then engage in a trance communication with each of them in turn slipping gently into a light sleep as I did.

It became clear to me - quicker than I had thought possible - that I'd slipped past light trance into light sleep pretty quickly. I'd intended to slowly approach the location I'd visualised. Nope - there I was, racing up this wooded dirt track as quick as my legs would carry me. The door was closed, not ajar. As per my plan, I knocked. When the door opened, this little (the only word I can think of is) babushka complete with headscarf ushered me inside.

No mirror on the wall. No toad. Just a large empty room lit at one end by the light from the fireplace that I had planned. In front of the fireplace, a large leather armchair - brown, studded.

The next thing I know - and I remember thinking to myself when it happened 'that neck, that angle, should those proportions work?' - He peers around the side of the armchair and looks me dead in the eyes. I don't feel afraid, but I can feel my body humming. My hands feel like they're burning. What I remember most clearly, other than that long craning neck, are the eyes. Bright red like coals.

I introduce myself. He did not. He knew I knew who he was. I asked one question: I had come here for answers to the questions I posed the other night.

The response came and with an almost scolding tone, but gentle, and with a smile (if the mouth of a goat can be perceived to smile) - "All in good time..."

And I woke up. With a jolt. Like that sudden start when you feel like you're falling.

I think I'm being prompted to slow down - that these things aren't to be rushed. That these relationships need cultivating slowly and with care. It made me think about the working I did the other night in the cold light of day. I'd jumped in at the deep end - I'd asked a shed-load of questions - I'd spent a lot of time making what could be perceived as demands, and not cultivating a relationship in any way. There was little by way of reciprocity. I also treated the working as a catch all for (potentially) two entities - I lumped them together and hoped that one size would fit all. That was, in hindsight, a mistake.

I'm going to revisit my methods moving forwards. Engage in some divination. Take care to plan these workings with more care moving forward. I cannot shake the feeling of how lucky I am that I've been told so directly and that, as I can tell, these spirits haven't just walked away.

This event has prompted me to set up this blog - as a means to meditate on pacing oneself in the spiritual activities I undertake from this point on as well as a place to share some of the work and inspiration that comes to me through my workings.