Journey 98 - Friend's Father

9/20/04: A Journey to check on a dear friend’s Father, undertaken at her request. Since my request for a meeting with him Saturday night, I had received quite a few signs in the past 24 hours concerning the timeliness of performing this Journey. Yesterday, I saw a rare Peace Eagle hovering before us as we drove back from breakfast with this friend and her husband. I later saw three Crows fly off before me..a rarity, as they are almost always in fours for me. I then saw the fourth fly over my house as we got home, signaling the house was rife with Spirit Power. Overnight, I awoke to hear two Crow calls in the dead of the night, around 2:30 AM. This is VERY significant, for Crows only call at night if they are being actively attacked by their nemesis, the Owl. And Owl is my prime Guide to the Upper world, so that means Owl was very close last night..and wanted me to know it! Today, on the road, a Blue Heron, for me the presence of the Great Spirit, flew across my car as close and as low as one has ever flown. And later in the day, a large shadow crossed the hood of my car, and I looked back to see a Peace Eagle hovering directly over the Path I had just driven. Finally, a darting Dragonfly came right up across my windshield..the latest in a long string of Dragonflies that had come very close to me during the day. So I knew this afternoon was the time to Journey. So after Lighting the Sacred Candle, Smudging and Rattling, I set the Drum CD and began my Shamanic Breathing while concentrating on my Journey Purpose. As I lay down, I found Owl coming up to me with eyes replicating my Azurite Stone. This Stone Person enhances the ability to see into the Spirit Camp, and so I put the actual Stone on my forehead. Owl then brought me over to sit around the flame of the Sacred Candle..a first for me. As we sat there, I noticed the immediate surroundings turned into small shrubs, and the Candle Flame a small campfire. It was night, and the Sky was peopled with thousand of clear, bright Stars. Several other of my Guides then appeared..my Lower World Guide, Crosses in Front, the Snake; and Black Panther. Again, a first for an Upper World Journey. The three of us banded together as Owl prepared us to take off with him toward another distant campfire in the Sky. As we got closer, I noted it became a Tipi, and we zoomed in through the bright red opening at the base. We then headed up the center of the Tipi of Fire, and the soot and bright red embers and Smoke became the Tunnel through which we ascended to the Upper world. As the Smoke thinned out, we came up to a flat, featureless plane, emitting a dim grey light. A single black male figure stood in the distance, alone, wearing a hat. The three of us approached him. When we got to him, he had removed his hat and was kneeling on one knee. His face and head were black and featureless, except for the glowing yellow eyes. He looked a lot like the other person I had recently visited in the Astral Plane. I introduced myself and my Guides in a loud voice and asked if he were my friend's Father. He nodded yes. I asked why he was here, and he said he was performing atonement. Off in the distance I saw tall grey log-like structures falling over in great numbers..beyond that, a series of additional campfires in the sky that seemed to be marking out the remaining time of his atonement process. One fire went out as I watched, and I could see Blue Spirit Energy suddenly coursing across his black body, adding more Spirit Life to it. I told him I came on behalf of his daughter, whom he knew of. He had a small stand near him that had a small flat “screen” that allowed him to look down on the progress of her Life, so he know of her recent marriage and jobs. I asked him if he wanted to pass anything along to her. He told me he used gently grab her face and kiss her forehead, and whisper, “my little sin" as a joke. He asked me to do this for him. He also mentioned something about telling her (or did he just think this..I can't be sure) that her crying wasn’t worth a plug nickel, so use a nickel to plug it! I promised to give her a nickel when it presented itself to me. He mentioned that while he was able to know of his daughter, he was not allowed to see or even hear of anything concerning his wife. But, he said, he knew she was still on the Sacred Path of this life since he had not seen her go by. I wanted to give him something of his daughter’s, but realized that I had not brought anything, and besides that would probably constitute interference. From here, I sank into the Theta State, from which I can’t recall much more than remembering being in a store shopping for clothes. When the Call Back Drum sounded, I said our goodbyes, and we returned the way we came as I thanked my Guides. This was an interesting result, in that in my prior experience I set the person free, while in this case the Father wanted to remain in his featureless world of grayness, and serve out his time. There weren’t that many Campfires left, but I couldn’t be sure how long each remaining one had left to burn.

Fire is the Element of Change, of new emerging from the ashes of the old. The fact this Journey is laced with imagery of Fire implies this transformation is occurring in her Dad as well.