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By Susanna Davies-Crook
At the Edge of Things:
A hypnosis spiral journey first conducted for and with the Oneiric Soils residents
Read aloud to another.
—-
Find a comfortable position. Perhaps cross-legged sitting upright, perhaps supporting underneath the sitting bones with a cushion or bolster or block or maybe laying supine and surrendered.
Drop the awareness down into the base of the body - rooted here as you are into the earth - the ground rising to meet you in support - begin pressing the pelvis forward and backwards, side to side - feeling into the line of the spine and when you feel that the spine is self-supporting and aligned, however alignment arrives in your body, begin to find stillness…
take your time to settle
drop in
the eyes begin to feel heavy, and as this heaviness drifts over the eyes you softly allow them to close
allow the eyes behind the eyelids to soften, the space between the eyebrows to soften, the jaw to release mouth loose, tongue released
We will begin together, in this space, taking three deep breaths to connect into this network of energy.
1, deep breath in, exhale release
2, inhaling, exhaling - all the way in, all the way out
3, final deep expansion, and let something go
A wave of relaxation. A wave of softness in the body and mind.
almost as if being in a body of water. As you arrive into stillness, the body of water becomes still.
the ripples slowly cease
until the water that around you becomes still, like glass, a reflective surface
diving into this depth
feel the weight of your body
allow the breath to return to its regular ebb and flow, like waves on sand drawing in, drawing out even, easy
Perhaps in this way as we journey together, thoughts might rise to the surface, and we observe and allow them to leave, like waves on sand, perhaps they leave an imprint as they recede, as we watch this imprint slowly fade too
return to the breath, allowing it to move however it wants to move through you, arriving and leaving, arriving, and leaving
and as you focus only on the sound of my voice, any sounds that arise only serve to guide you deeper, every sound making you more deeply relaxed and focussed only on the sound of my voice as you go deeper, these sounds wash in and recede, like waves on sand each wave lulling you deeper and deeper
beginning to feel deeply relaxed here, in this holding space, feeling the weight of the body, and if you would like to readjust your position, to lean into a seat or recline totally, take the time to do this, now
Wherever you arrive, bring the awareness to the soles of the feet, and notice a small circle of golden kindly light arriving into the soles of the feet, almost spinning here encircling the body, then bringing this up to the calves, the backs of the knees and the fronts of the knees, the fronts of the thighs and the backs of the thighs, the groin and pelvic cup, the lower belly and lower back, the hips and the upper belly, the ribs and the heart space all softening deeply
- feeling so deeply relaxed in the whole lower half of the body as we journey deeper into a state of deep relaxation.
The shoulders drop and loosen, the upper biceps and elbows, the forearms and wrists and finger thumb, forefinger middle finger, fourth finger and little fingers all relax and release - the upper chest and sternum often as the front of the neck releases and the back of the neck softens - all the little muscles between the neck and the head release now as you begin to feel so so heavy, five times more deeply relaxed, and the jaw relaxing, releasing the teeth and the tongue, the ears releasing, the eyebrows softening and the whole crown of the head feeling relaxed, the whole skull and body now bathed in golden light.
allow this light to gather above the crown of the head like a sun, and allow this sun to crack open, pouring this light down, cascading over the shoulders and in and over the skin until you are bathed, celestial, from the inside out
and as you drift happily through this deep relaxation, drifting deeper now into stillness, beginning to become aware of a little ball of light arriving into the forehead and starting to open, like an aperture
this golden light arriving, drifting, in through to the centre of the mind.
illuminating, like the centre of a cave.
allowing this light to slowly, gradually, fill the entire mind, to expand through the whole body. Cleansing, relaxing, softening. Allowing it to wash around, moving anything that needs to move until you are shining from the inside out, glowing. Allowing this light to recede like the tide, all the way back up through the centre of the mind to the forehead.
feeling so deeply relaxed and calm.
In this deep state of relaxation, you find yourself standing before a gate. Observe the gate. This is your gate and yours alone. Begin to notice what it looks like, what it is made of. You can reach out and touch the gate. Become aware that there is a lock on this gate and in your pocket there is a key. Take the key and unlock the gate.
Beyond it, there is a beautiful garden. This is your garden. Notice what you can, familiarise yourself with the plants and trees, become aware of any weather, texture, sensation on the body - a gentle breeze. Observe a plant close to you and begin to hold it, stroke it and feel the plant greeting you back as you exchange heat, energy and vibration together. Beneath the plant, beneath the leaves there is something slimy to touch and you see that there is a snail. As you look closer, becoming aware of this ancient world, you observe its path. In the near distance there are ten stairs leading downwards. Make your way to the top of these stairs and notice what they look like and how they feel on your feet as you descend.
Ten moving deeper
Nine stepping down
Eight deeper
Seven drifting deeper
Six deeper
Five looking around at your surroundings
Four deeper
Three so deeply relaxed
Two
One
Arriving at the bottom of these steps in front of a horizon at the edge of a vast ocean. Becoming aware that within this vast expanse you are both and all.
you are the ocean.
drifting with currents and then spinning like an aperture, arriving into this whirlpool. Drifting deeper as concentrated energy. Arriving almost as if you were spiraling down another ten levels. Drifting deeper and deeper as you drift down a sense of the light becoming darker and warmer, calm and comfortable, arriving as you spin down into the inky blackness at the edge of things.
The darkness envelopes you, a cloak of velvety blackness, warm and calming, held here for a moment.
feeling so deeply calm, so deeply relaxed, as you look down at your feet once more they cannot be seen, almost as if in this moment your body drops away and you float here, held, warm, between.
As you free float with your new freedom, new lightness, you transcend and move beyond. And the darkness itself drops away.
you are suspended, moving as you please in this darkness, and realising that this is not a void after all. Looking around and seeing pinpricks of stars
in the distance these pinpricks of stars as you move towards them, they grow,
galaxies spiralling around you.
Take this time to explore the light, manifest at the edge of time. These ancient worlds, spirals in the celestial expanse. Pick one light form that you’re drawn towards and move in its direction. Seeing perhaps that it is not one light but many smaller stars spiraling into these galaxies
as you see this unfolding before you like ferns unfold to the sun, beyond, in this pool of celestial light and knowledge, deep within each and every cell of your being. a wholeness from the dawn of things, true light might.
Ask a question to the expanse.
Receive an answer.
The sound of rain on grass brings you back to the roots of a tree, slick and wet with water. In the tree is a dry, warm path, and deciding to follow these roots begin to climb up through the tree and counting from one to ten we climb.
One, two
Three becoming lighter
Four, five
Six seeing an opening
Seven the opening grows wider
Eight
Nine emerging
Ten, back into the base of your garden, to the top of the stairs, refamiliarising yourself with the plants, the air, the weather, the trees. Maybe observing the snail on its journey.
notice the plants and trees are alive with colour
each cell a galaxy and within that galaxy a planet, a mind.
Leave your body once more and dissolve into the plants, into the light. A shimmering, gleaming, crepuscular hole that floats and drifts and drafts and currents between seas and oceans and clifftops and deserts to move with freedom, with ease, with love between all things.
Cells travelling, moving with intention, directional on tracks, travelling, traversing, spinning, joining.
trees rustle, they talk to each other, their leaves spill
life is colour
coiling in an endless dance
scent of the plants and forest entirely whole
everything is in sharp focus and perhaps as you return, you can hold that freedom, ease and love as you move between all things
Become aware of your gate in front of you. Take one last look around at the space and thank it for this time and this knowledge.
Move back through the gate, closing it behind you and allowing it to lock, placing your key back in your pocket.
Counting back from three, and on the count of three and only on the count of three, opening your eyes, all parts restored, feeling good.
One,
Two, taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, feeling the body
Three, opening up the eyes, wide awake, taking a stretch, taking a breath.
author’s note:
To think in voices
Galaxies gasp at the curl of a foetal yes and the bloom of blood and thought. The knowledge of the body and the beat. The dual metronome of pulse and breath and thud and rise, and fall. These are guides. Listen when people steal your breath and do not return it kindly, or bind your heart and do not let it burst with joy.
The Cathars lived and worshipped in France, near Carcassonne before being persecuted to extinction. They believed, “we are all divine sparks, even angels, imprisoned in tunics of flesh”.
In this peaked and pitted terrain of France, there is a cave said to have housed Mary Magdalene, lady of the rose, after Jesus’ persecution. She resided in the mountain and became a healer to the local folk and as such they kept her secret. There are icons of the chalice scrawled into the rock face, roses scattered, large carved stones that look like thrones nestled beneath the overhang and visions of the grail flicker in the devotional candles left by pilgrims to the Magdalene flame. Some say she was a tantric priestess and that without her acquired knowledge of the body as a pathway, Jesus could not have entered the death portal and returned. That the secret to life is the grail, and the grail is life, the cup, the womb - the curled serpent. Kundalini shows us the shape of DNA long before the sequence was mapped. Buddhist mandalas marked the formations of resonant frequencies and draw the cosmologies of cells before the atom was split. There are many things we do not know, and there is more than one path to knowledge. We will always know both more and less. Trusting the body is the thing I know. She, or they, will guide you. Do let them. Sound from them as loudly as you need. Sing across the ocean, scream from the clifftop as the wind rages. Hum to the yews and oaks of the ancient woods as you tread time in your steps. Write to know your mind. Speak as if it is your religion. Utterance is yours alone and it is the thing that is most easily stolen, or unknowingly gifted. Declare. Ask. Say what you want and what you need. Incant into the darkness to be answered by your own refracted light. Your very own prism. The frequency of your voice is as unique as your fingerprint and it is your weapon and your shield. Language is a door. Hypnosis can only be achieved through suggestion, through language. So words are a way.
I’ve seen angels in starlight. I've dreamed them in gates and gardens. I’ve met them in the street. I’ve loved them in my flesh. The Cathars felt that hell does not exist, only this place of suffering in incarnation. It’s one way to look at it. I prefer the tantric way, the flesh not as fall and shame but as portal. As door. To leave the cycle of human suffering and devote to compassion until all humans are far from the lick of this mortal tongue. That the way to transcend the flesh is through it. As is often the case, the only way out is through. True in life as in death. We spend at least some time in the shade of the apple tree, smeared bodily with our original sin. What beliefs light away from the shame of desire and the fear of what happens if we hold earth in our hands, blood in our mouths, dig our heels to the ground, speak in thunder and stand firm? There is much power in this body, in the celestial storm of creation, in this potential seed of thought unfurling from a pineal pine.
At the Edge of Things:
A hypnosis spiral journey first conducted for and with the Oneiric Soils residents
Read aloud to another.
—-
Find a comfortable position. Perhaps cross-legged sitting upright, perhaps supporting underneath the sitting bones with a cushion or bolster or block or maybe laying supine and surrendered.
Drop the awareness down into the base of the body - rooted here as you are into the earth - the ground rising to meet you in support - begin pressing the pelvis forward and backwards, side to side - feeling into the line of the spine and when you feel that the spine is self-supporting and aligned, however alignment arrives in your body, begin to find stillness…
take your time to settle
drop in
the eyes begin to feel heavy, and as this heaviness drifts over the eyes you softly allow them to close
allow the eyes behind the eyelids to soften, the space between the eyebrows to soften, the jaw to release mouth loose, tongue released
We will begin together, in this space, taking three deep breaths to connect into this network of energy.
1, deep breath in, exhale release
2, inhaling, exhaling - all the way in, all the way out
3, final deep expansion, and let something go
A wave of relaxation. A wave of softness in the body and mind.
almost as if being in a body of water. As you arrive into stillness, the body of water becomes still.
the ripples slowly cease
until the water that around you becomes still, like glass, a reflective surface
diving into this depth
feel the weight of your body
allow the breath to return to its regular ebb and flow, like waves on sand drawing in, drawing out even, easy
Perhaps in this way as we journey together, thoughts might rise to the surface, and we observe and allow them to leave, like waves on sand, perhaps they leave an imprint as they recede, as we watch this imprint slowly fade too
return to the breath, allowing it to move however it wants to move through you, arriving and leaving, arriving, and leaving
and as you focus only on the sound of my voice, any sounds that arise only serve to guide you deeper, every sound making you more deeply relaxed and focussed only on the sound of my voice as you go deeper, these sounds wash in and recede, like waves on sand each wave lulling you deeper and deeper
beginning to feel deeply relaxed here, in this holding space, feeling the weight of the body, and if you would like to readjust your position, to lean into a seat or recline totally, take the time to do this, now
Wherever you arrive, bring the awareness to the soles of the feet, and notice a small circle of golden kindly light arriving into the soles of the feet, almost spinning here encircling the body, then bringing this up to the calves, the backs of the knees and the fronts of the knees, the fronts of the thighs and the backs of the thighs, the groin and pelvic cup, the lower belly and lower back, the hips and the upper belly, the ribs and the heart space all softening deeply
- feeling so deeply relaxed in the whole lower half of the body as we journey deeper into a state of deep relaxation.
The shoulders drop and loosen, the upper biceps and elbows, the forearms and wrists and finger thumb, forefinger middle finger, fourth finger and little fingers all relax and release - the upper chest and sternum often as the front of the neck releases and the back of the neck softens - all the little muscles between the neck and the head release now as you begin to feel so so heavy, five times more deeply relaxed, and the jaw relaxing, releasing the teeth and the tongue, the ears releasing, the eyebrows softening and the whole crown of the head feeling relaxed, the whole skull and body now bathed in golden light.
allow this light to gather above the crown of the head like a sun, and allow this sun to crack open, pouring this light down, cascading over the shoulders and in and over the skin until you are bathed, celestial, from the inside out
and as you drift happily through this deep relaxation, drifting deeper now into stillness, beginning to become aware of a little ball of light arriving into the forehead and starting to open, like an aperture
this golden light arriving, drifting, in through to the centre of the mind.
illuminating, like the centre of a cave.
allowing this light to slowly, gradually, fill the entire mind, to expand through the whole body. Cleansing, relaxing, softening. Allowing it to wash around, moving anything that needs to move until you are shining from the inside out, glowing. Allowing this light to recede like the tide, all the way back up through the centre of the mind to the forehead.
feeling so deeply relaxed and calm.
In this deep state of relaxation, you find yourself standing before a gate. Observe the gate. This is your gate and yours alone. Begin to notice what it looks like, what it is made of. You can reach out and touch the gate. Become aware that there is a lock on this gate and in your pocket there is a key. Take the key and unlock the gate.
Beyond it, there is a beautiful garden. This is your garden. Notice what you can, familiarise yourself with the plants and trees, become aware of any weather, texture, sensation on the body - a gentle breeze. Observe a plant close to you and begin to hold it, stroke it and feel the plant greeting you back as you exchange heat, energy and vibration together. Beneath the plant, beneath the leaves there is something slimy to touch and you see that there is a snail. As you look closer, becoming aware of this ancient world, you observe its path. In the near distance there are ten stairs leading downwards. Make your way to the top of these stairs and notice what they look like and how they feel on your feet as you descend.
Ten moving deeper
Nine stepping down
Eight deeper
Seven drifting deeper
Six deeper
Five looking around at your surroundings
Four deeper
Three so deeply relaxed
Two
One
Arriving at the bottom of these steps in front of a horizon at the edge of a vast ocean. Becoming aware that within this vast expanse you are both and all.
you are the ocean.
drifting with currents and then spinning like an aperture, arriving into this whirlpool. Drifting deeper as concentrated energy. Arriving almost as if you were spiraling down another ten levels. Drifting deeper and deeper as you drift down a sense of the light becoming darker and warmer, calm and comfortable, arriving as you spin down into the inky blackness at the edge of things.
The darkness envelopes you, a cloak of velvety blackness, warm and calming, held here for a moment.
feeling so deeply calm, so deeply relaxed, as you look down at your feet once more they cannot be seen, almost as if in this moment your body drops away and you float here, held, warm, between.
As you free float with your new freedom, new lightness, you transcend and move beyond. And the darkness itself drops away.
you are suspended, moving as you please in this darkness, and realising that this is not a void after all. Looking around and seeing pinpricks of stars
in the distance these pinpricks of stars as you move towards them, they grow,
galaxies spiralling around you.
Take this time to explore the light, manifest at the edge of time. These ancient worlds, spirals in the celestial expanse. Pick one light form that you’re drawn towards and move in its direction. Seeing perhaps that it is not one light but many smaller stars spiraling into these galaxies
as you see this unfolding before you like ferns unfold to the sun, beyond, in this pool of celestial light and knowledge, deep within each and every cell of your being. a wholeness from the dawn of things, true light might.
Ask a question to the expanse.
Receive an answer.
The sound of rain on grass brings you back to the roots of a tree, slick and wet with water. In the tree is a dry, warm path, and deciding to follow these roots begin to climb up through the tree and counting from one to ten we climb.
One, two
Three becoming lighter
Four, five
Six seeing an opening
Seven the opening grows wider
Eight
Nine emerging
Ten, back into the base of your garden, to the top of the stairs, refamiliarising yourself with the plants, the air, the weather, the trees. Maybe observing the snail on its journey.
notice the plants and trees are alive with colour
each cell a galaxy and within that galaxy a planet, a mind.
Leave your body once more and dissolve into the plants, into the light. A shimmering, gleaming, crepuscular hole that floats and drifts and drafts and currents between seas and oceans and clifftops and deserts to move with freedom, with ease, with love between all things.
Cells travelling, moving with intention, directional on tracks, travelling, traversing, spinning, joining.
trees rustle, they talk to each other, their leaves spill
life is colour
coiling in an endless dance
scent of the plants and forest entirely whole
everything is in sharp focus and perhaps as you return, you can hold that freedom, ease and love as you move between all things
Become aware of your gate in front of you. Take one last look around at the space and thank it for this time and this knowledge.
Move back through the gate, closing it behind you and allowing it to lock, placing your key back in your pocket.
Counting back from three, and on the count of three and only on the count of three, opening your eyes, all parts restored, feeling good.
One,
Two, taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, feeling the body
Three, opening up the eyes, wide awake, taking a stretch, taking a breath.
author’s note:
To think in voices
Galaxies gasp at the curl of a foetal yes and the bloom of blood and thought. The knowledge of the body and the beat. The dual metronome of pulse and breath and thud and rise, and fall. These are guides. Listen when people steal your breath and do not return it kindly, or bind your heart and do not let it burst with joy.
The Cathars lived and worshipped in France, near Carcassonne before being persecuted to extinction. They believed, “we are all divine sparks, even angels, imprisoned in tunics of flesh”.
In this peaked and pitted terrain of France, there is a cave said to have housed Mary Magdalene, lady of the rose, after Jesus’ persecution. She resided in the mountain and became a healer to the local folk and as such they kept her secret. There are icons of the chalice scrawled into the rock face, roses scattered, large carved stones that look like thrones nestled beneath the overhang and visions of the grail flicker in the devotional candles left by pilgrims to the Magdalene flame. Some say she was a tantric priestess and that without her acquired knowledge of the body as a pathway, Jesus could not have entered the death portal and returned. That the secret to life is the grail, and the grail is life, the cup, the womb - the curled serpent. Kundalini shows us the shape of DNA long before the sequence was mapped. Buddhist mandalas marked the formations of resonant frequencies and draw the cosmologies of cells before the atom was split. There are many things we do not know, and there is more than one path to knowledge. We will always know both more and less. Trusting the body is the thing I know. She, or they, will guide you. Do let them. Sound from them as loudly as you need. Sing across the ocean, scream from the clifftop as the wind rages. Hum to the yews and oaks of the ancient woods as you tread time in your steps. Write to know your mind. Speak as if it is your religion. Utterance is yours alone and it is the thing that is most easily stolen, or unknowingly gifted. Declare. Ask. Say what you want and what you need. Incant into the darkness to be answered by your own refracted light. Your very own prism. The frequency of your voice is as unique as your fingerprint and it is your weapon and your shield. Language is a door. Hypnosis can only be achieved through suggestion, through language. So words are a way.
I’ve seen angels in starlight. I've dreamed them in gates and gardens. I’ve met them in the street. I’ve loved them in my flesh. The Cathars felt that hell does not exist, only this place of suffering in incarnation. It’s one way to look at it. I prefer the tantric way, the flesh not as fall and shame but as portal. As door. To leave the cycle of human suffering and devote to compassion until all humans are far from the lick of this mortal tongue. That the way to transcend the flesh is through it. As is often the case, the only way out is through. True in life as in death. We spend at least some time in the shade of the apple tree, smeared bodily with our original sin. What beliefs light away from the shame of desire and the fear of what happens if we hold earth in our hands, blood in our mouths, dig our heels to the ground, speak in thunder and stand firm? There is much power in this body, in the celestial storm of creation, in this potential seed of thought unfurling from a pineal pine.
Susanna Davies-Crook has worked professionally in the fields of contemporary art and media for over 15 years. Her experience spans the breadth of the creative industry. She has initiated and managed large-scale brand partnerships and immersive high budget exhibitions as well as small and innovative artist-led projects. Susanna is currently Head of Public Programmes at the Barbican.
By Susanna Davies-Crook
At the Edge of Things:
A hypnosis spiral journey first conducted for and with the Oneiric Soils residents
Read aloud to another.
—-
Find a comfortable position. Perhaps cross-legged sitting upright, perhaps supporting underneath the sitting bones with a cushion or bolster or block or maybe laying supine and surrendered.
Drop the awareness down into the base of the body - rooted here as you are into the earth - the ground rising to meet you in support - begin pressing the pelvis forward and backwards, side to side - feeling into the line of the spine and when you feel that the spine is self-supporting and aligned, however alignment arrives in your body, begin to find stillness…
take your time to settle
drop in
the eyes begin to feel heavy, and as this heaviness drifts over the eyes you softly allow them to close
allow the eyes behind the eyelids to soften, the space between the eyebrows to soften, the jaw to release mouth loose, tongue released
We will begin together, in this space, taking three deep breaths to connect into this network of energy.
1, deep breath in, exhale release
2, inhaling, exhaling - all the way in, all the way out
3, final deep expansion, and let something go
A wave of relaxation. A wave of softness in the body and mind.
almost as if being in a body of water. As you arrive into stillness, the body of water becomes still.
the ripples slowly cease
until the water that around you becomes still, like glass, a reflective surface
diving into this depth
feel the weight of your body
allow the breath to return to its regular ebb and flow, like waves on sand drawing in, drawing out even, easy
Perhaps in this way as we journey together, thoughts might rise to the surface, and we observe and allow them to leave, like waves on sand, perhaps they leave an imprint as they recede, as we watch this imprint slowly fade too
return to the breath, allowing it to move however it wants to move through you, arriving and leaving, arriving, and leaving
and as you focus only on the sound of my voice, any sounds that arise only serve to guide you deeper, every sound making you more deeply relaxed and focussed only on the sound of my voice as you go deeper, these sounds wash in and recede, like waves on sand each wave lulling you deeper and deeper
beginning to feel deeply relaxed here, in this holding space, feeling the weight of the body, and if you would like to readjust your position, to lean into a seat or recline totally, take the time to do this, now
Wherever you arrive, bring the awareness to the soles of the feet, and notice a small circle of golden kindly light arriving into the soles of the feet, almost spinning here encircling the body, then bringing this up to the calves, the backs of the knees and the fronts of the knees, the fronts of the thighs and the backs of the thighs, the groin and pelvic cup, the lower belly and lower back, the hips and the upper belly, the ribs and the heart space all softening deeply
- feeling so deeply relaxed in the whole lower half of the body as we journey deeper into a state of deep relaxation.
The shoulders drop and loosen, the upper biceps and elbows, the forearms and wrists and finger thumb, forefinger middle finger, fourth finger and little fingers all relax and release - the upper chest and sternum often as the front of the neck releases and the back of the neck softens - all the little muscles between the neck and the head release now as you begin to feel so so heavy, five times more deeply relaxed, and the jaw relaxing, releasing the teeth and the tongue, the ears releasing, the eyebrows softening and the whole crown of the head feeling relaxed, the whole skull and body now bathed in golden light.
allow this light to gather above the crown of the head like a sun, and allow this sun to crack open, pouring this light down, cascading over the shoulders and in and over the skin until you are bathed, celestial, from the inside out
and as you drift happily through this deep relaxation, drifting deeper now into stillness, beginning to become aware of a little ball of light arriving into the forehead and starting to open, like an aperture
this golden light arriving, drifting, in through to the centre of the mind.
illuminating, like the centre of a cave.
allowing this light to slowly, gradually, fill the entire mind, to expand through the whole body. Cleansing, relaxing, softening. Allowing it to wash around, moving anything that needs to move until you are shining from the inside out, glowing. Allowing this light to recede like the tide, all the way back up through the centre of the mind to the forehead.
feeling so deeply relaxed and calm.
In this deep state of relaxation, you find yourself standing before a gate. Observe the gate. This is your gate and yours alone. Begin to notice what it looks like, what it is made of. You can reach out and touch the gate. Become aware that there is a lock on this gate and in your pocket there is a key. Take the key and unlock the gate.
Beyond it, there is a beautiful garden. This is your garden. Notice what you can, familiarise yourself with the plants and trees, become aware of any weather, texture, sensation on the body - a gentle breeze. Observe a plant close to you and begin to hold it, stroke it and feel the plant greeting you back as you exchange heat, energy and vibration together. Beneath the plant, beneath the leaves there is something slimy to touch and you see that there is a snail. As you look closer, becoming aware of this ancient world, you observe its path. In the near distance there are ten stairs leading downwards. Make your way to the top of these stairs and notice what they look like and how they feel on your feet as you descend.
Ten moving deeper
Nine stepping down
Eight deeper
Seven drifting deeper
Six deeper
Five looking around at your surroundings
Four deeper
Three so deeply relaxed
Two
One
Arriving at the bottom of these steps in front of a horizon at the edge of a vast ocean. Becoming aware that within this vast expanse you are both and all.
you are the ocean.
drifting with currents and then spinning like an aperture, arriving into this whirlpool. Drifting deeper as concentrated energy. Arriving almost as if you were spiraling down another ten levels. Drifting deeper and deeper as you drift down a sense of the light becoming darker and warmer, calm and comfortable, arriving as you spin down into the inky blackness at the edge of things.
The darkness envelopes you, a cloak of velvety blackness, warm and calming, held here for a moment.
feeling so deeply calm, so deeply relaxed, as you look down at your feet once more they cannot be seen, almost as if in this moment your body drops away and you float here, held, warm, between.
As you free float with your new freedom, new lightness, you transcend and move beyond. And the darkness itself drops away.
you are suspended, moving as you please in this darkness, and realising that this is not a void after all. Looking around and seeing pinpricks of stars
in the distance these pinpricks of stars as you move towards them, they grow,
galaxies spiralling around you.
Take this time to explore the light, manifest at the edge of time. These ancient worlds, spirals in the celestial expanse. Pick one light form that you’re drawn towards and move in its direction. Seeing perhaps that it is not one light but many smaller stars spiraling into these galaxies
as you see this unfolding before you like ferns unfold to the sun, beyond, in this pool of celestial light and knowledge, deep within each and every cell of your being. a wholeness from the dawn of things, true light might.
Ask a question to the expanse.
Receive an answer.
The sound of rain on grass brings you back to the roots of a tree, slick and wet with water. In the tree is a dry, warm path, and deciding to follow these roots begin to climb up through the tree and counting from one to ten we climb.
One, two
Three becoming lighter
Four, five
Six seeing an opening
Seven the opening grows wider
Eight
Nine emerging
Ten, back into the base of your garden, to the top of the stairs, refamiliarising yourself with the plants, the air, the weather, the trees. Maybe observing the snail on its journey.
notice the plants and trees are alive with colour
each cell a galaxy and within that galaxy a planet, a mind.
Leave your body once more and dissolve into the plants, into the light. A shimmering, gleaming, crepuscular hole that floats and drifts and drafts and currents between seas and oceans and clifftops and deserts to move with freedom, with ease, with love between all things.
Cells travelling, moving with intention, directional on tracks, travelling, traversing, spinning, joining.
trees rustle, they talk to each other, their leaves spill
life is colour
coiling in an endless dance
scent of the plants and forest entirely whole
everything is in sharp focus and perhaps as you return, you can hold that freedom, ease and love as you move between all things
Become aware of your gate in front of you. Take one last look around at the space and thank it for this time and this knowledge.
Move back through the gate, closing it behind you and allowing it to lock, placing your key back in your pocket.
Counting back from three, and on the count of three and only on the count of three, opening your eyes, all parts restored, feeling good.
One,
Two, taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, feeling the body
Three, opening up the eyes, wide awake, taking a stretch, taking a breath.
author’s note:
To think in voices
Galaxies gasp at the curl of a foetal yes and the bloom of blood and thought. The knowledge of the body and the beat. The dual metronome of pulse and breath and thud and rise, and fall. These are guides. Listen when people steal your breath and do not return it kindly, or bind your heart and do not let it burst with joy.
The Cathars lived and worshipped in France, near Carcassonne before being persecuted to extinction. They believed, “we are all divine sparks, even angels, imprisoned in tunics of flesh”.
In this peaked and pitted terrain of France, there is a cave said to have housed Mary Magdalene, lady of the rose, after Jesus’ persecution. She resided in the mountain and became a healer to the local folk and as such they kept her secret. There are icons of the chalice scrawled into the rock face, roses scattered, large carved stones that look like thrones nestled beneath the overhang and visions of the grail flicker in the devotional candles left by pilgrims to the Magdalene flame. Some say she was a tantric priestess and that without her acquired knowledge of the body as a pathway, Jesus could not have entered the death portal and returned. That the secret to life is the grail, and the grail is life, the cup, the womb - the curled serpent. Kundalini shows us the shape of DNA long before the sequence was mapped. Buddhist mandalas marked the formations of resonant frequencies and draw the cosmologies of cells before the atom was split. There are many things we do not know, and there is more than one path to knowledge. We will always know both more and less. Trusting the body is the thing I know. She, or they, will guide you. Do let them. Sound from them as loudly as you need. Sing across the ocean, scream from the clifftop as the wind rages. Hum to the yews and oaks of the ancient woods as you tread time in your steps. Write to know your mind. Speak as if it is your religion. Utterance is yours alone and it is the thing that is most easily stolen, or unknowingly gifted. Declare. Ask. Say what you want and what you need. Incant into the darkness to be answered by your own refracted light. Your very own prism. The frequency of your voice is as unique as your fingerprint and it is your weapon and your shield. Language is a door. Hypnosis can only be achieved through suggestion, through language. So words are a way.
I’ve seen angels in starlight. I've dreamed them in gates and gardens. I’ve met them in the street. I’ve loved them in my flesh. The Cathars felt that hell does not exist, only this place of suffering in incarnation. It’s one way to look at it. I prefer the tantric way, the flesh not as fall and shame but as portal. As door. To leave the cycle of human suffering and devote to compassion until all humans are far from the lick of this mortal tongue. That the way to transcend the flesh is through it. As is often the case, the only way out is through. True in life as in death. We spend at least some time in the shade of the apple tree, smeared bodily with our original sin. What beliefs light away from the shame of desire and the fear of what happens if we hold earth in our hands, blood in our mouths, dig our heels to the ground, speak in thunder and stand firm? There is much power in this body, in the celestial storm of creation, in this potential seed of thought unfurling from a pineal pine.
At the Edge of Things:
A hypnosis spiral journey first conducted for and with the Oneiric Soils residents
Read aloud to another.
—-
Find a comfortable position. Perhaps cross-legged sitting upright, perhaps supporting underneath the sitting bones with a cushion or bolster or block or maybe laying supine and surrendered.
Drop the awareness down into the base of the body - rooted here as you are into the earth - the ground rising to meet you in support - begin pressing the pelvis forward and backwards, side to side - feeling into the line of the spine and when you feel that the spine is self-supporting and aligned, however alignment arrives in your body, begin to find stillness…
take your time to settle
drop in
the eyes begin to feel heavy, and as this heaviness drifts over the eyes you softly allow them to close
allow the eyes behind the eyelids to soften, the space between the eyebrows to soften, the jaw to release mouth loose, tongue released
We will begin together, in this space, taking three deep breaths to connect into this network of energy.
1, deep breath in, exhale release
2, inhaling, exhaling - all the way in, all the way out
3, final deep expansion, and let something go
A wave of relaxation. A wave of softness in the body and mind.
almost as if being in a body of water. As you arrive into stillness, the body of water becomes still.
the ripples slowly cease
until the water that around you becomes still, like glass, a reflective surface
diving into this depth
feel the weight of your body
allow the breath to return to its regular ebb and flow, like waves on sand drawing in, drawing out even, easy
Perhaps in this way as we journey together, thoughts might rise to the surface, and we observe and allow them to leave, like waves on sand, perhaps they leave an imprint as they recede, as we watch this imprint slowly fade too
return to the breath, allowing it to move however it wants to move through you, arriving and leaving, arriving, and leaving
and as you focus only on the sound of my voice, any sounds that arise only serve to guide you deeper, every sound making you more deeply relaxed and focussed only on the sound of my voice as you go deeper, these sounds wash in and recede, like waves on sand each wave lulling you deeper and deeper
beginning to feel deeply relaxed here, in this holding space, feeling the weight of the body, and if you would like to readjust your position, to lean into a seat or recline totally, take the time to do this, now
Wherever you arrive, bring the awareness to the soles of the feet, and notice a small circle of golden kindly light arriving into the soles of the feet, almost spinning here encircling the body, then bringing this up to the calves, the backs of the knees and the fronts of the knees, the fronts of the thighs and the backs of the thighs, the groin and pelvic cup, the lower belly and lower back, the hips and the upper belly, the ribs and the heart space all softening deeply
- feeling so deeply relaxed in the whole lower half of the body as we journey deeper into a state of deep relaxation.
The shoulders drop and loosen, the upper biceps and elbows, the forearms and wrists and finger thumb, forefinger middle finger, fourth finger and little fingers all relax and release - the upper chest and sternum often as the front of the neck releases and the back of the neck softens - all the little muscles between the neck and the head release now as you begin to feel so so heavy, five times more deeply relaxed, and the jaw relaxing, releasing the teeth and the tongue, the ears releasing, the eyebrows softening and the whole crown of the head feeling relaxed, the whole skull and body now bathed in golden light.
allow this light to gather above the crown of the head like a sun, and allow this sun to crack open, pouring this light down, cascading over the shoulders and in and over the skin until you are bathed, celestial, from the inside out
and as you drift happily through this deep relaxation, drifting deeper now into stillness, beginning to become aware of a little ball of light arriving into the forehead and starting to open, like an aperture
this golden light arriving, drifting, in through to the centre of the mind.
illuminating, like the centre of a cave.
allowing this light to slowly, gradually, fill the entire mind, to expand through the whole body. Cleansing, relaxing, softening. Allowing it to wash around, moving anything that needs to move until you are shining from the inside out, glowing. Allowing this light to recede like the tide, all the way back up through the centre of the mind to the forehead.
feeling so deeply relaxed and calm.
In this deep state of relaxation, you find yourself standing before a gate. Observe the gate. This is your gate and yours alone. Begin to notice what it looks like, what it is made of. You can reach out and touch the gate. Become aware that there is a lock on this gate and in your pocket there is a key. Take the key and unlock the gate.
Beyond it, there is a beautiful garden. This is your garden. Notice what you can, familiarise yourself with the plants and trees, become aware of any weather, texture, sensation on the body - a gentle breeze. Observe a plant close to you and begin to hold it, stroke it and feel the plant greeting you back as you exchange heat, energy and vibration together. Beneath the plant, beneath the leaves there is something slimy to touch and you see that there is a snail. As you look closer, becoming aware of this ancient world, you observe its path. In the near distance there are ten stairs leading downwards. Make your way to the top of these stairs and notice what they look like and how they feel on your feet as you descend.
Ten moving deeper
Nine stepping down
Eight deeper
Seven drifting deeper
Six deeper
Five looking around at your surroundings
Four deeper
Three so deeply relaxed
Two
One
Arriving at the bottom of these steps in front of a horizon at the edge of a vast ocean. Becoming aware that within this vast expanse you are both and all.
you are the ocean.
drifting with currents and then spinning like an aperture, arriving into this whirlpool. Drifting deeper as concentrated energy. Arriving almost as if you were spiraling down another ten levels. Drifting deeper and deeper as you drift down a sense of the light becoming darker and warmer, calm and comfortable, arriving as you spin down into the inky blackness at the edge of things.
The darkness envelopes you, a cloak of velvety blackness, warm and calming, held here for a moment.
feeling so deeply calm, so deeply relaxed, as you look down at your feet once more they cannot be seen, almost as if in this moment your body drops away and you float here, held, warm, between.
As you free float with your new freedom, new lightness, you transcend and move beyond. And the darkness itself drops away.
you are suspended, moving as you please in this darkness, and realising that this is not a void after all. Looking around and seeing pinpricks of stars
in the distance these pinpricks of stars as you move towards them, they grow,
galaxies spiralling around you.
Take this time to explore the light, manifest at the edge of time. These ancient worlds, spirals in the celestial expanse. Pick one light form that you’re drawn towards and move in its direction. Seeing perhaps that it is not one light but many smaller stars spiraling into these galaxies
as you see this unfolding before you like ferns unfold to the sun, beyond, in this pool of celestial light and knowledge, deep within each and every cell of your being. a wholeness from the dawn of things, true light might.
Ask a question to the expanse.
Receive an answer.
The sound of rain on grass brings you back to the roots of a tree, slick and wet with water. In the tree is a dry, warm path, and deciding to follow these roots begin to climb up through the tree and counting from one to ten we climb.
One, two
Three becoming lighter
Four, five
Six seeing an opening
Seven the opening grows wider
Eight
Nine emerging
Ten, back into the base of your garden, to the top of the stairs, refamiliarising yourself with the plants, the air, the weather, the trees. Maybe observing the snail on its journey.
notice the plants and trees are alive with colour
each cell a galaxy and within that galaxy a planet, a mind.
Leave your body once more and dissolve into the plants, into the light. A shimmering, gleaming, crepuscular hole that floats and drifts and drafts and currents between seas and oceans and clifftops and deserts to move with freedom, with ease, with love between all things.
Cells travelling, moving with intention, directional on tracks, travelling, traversing, spinning, joining.
trees rustle, they talk to each other, their leaves spill
life is colour
coiling in an endless dance
scent of the plants and forest entirely whole
everything is in sharp focus and perhaps as you return, you can hold that freedom, ease and love as you move between all things
Become aware of your gate in front of you. Take one last look around at the space and thank it for this time and this knowledge.
Move back through the gate, closing it behind you and allowing it to lock, placing your key back in your pocket.
Counting back from three, and on the count of three and only on the count of three, opening your eyes, all parts restored, feeling good.
One,
Two, taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, feeling the body
Three, opening up the eyes, wide awake, taking a stretch, taking a breath.
author’s note:
To think in voices
Galaxies gasp at the curl of a foetal yes and the bloom of blood and thought. The knowledge of the body and the beat. The dual metronome of pulse and breath and thud and rise, and fall. These are guides. Listen when people steal your breath and do not return it kindly, or bind your heart and do not let it burst with joy.
The Cathars lived and worshipped in France, near Carcassonne before being persecuted to extinction. They believed, “we are all divine sparks, even angels, imprisoned in tunics of flesh”.
In this peaked and pitted terrain of France, there is a cave said to have housed Mary Magdalene, lady of the rose, after Jesus’ persecution. She resided in the mountain and became a healer to the local folk and as such they kept her secret. There are icons of the chalice scrawled into the rock face, roses scattered, large carved stones that look like thrones nestled beneath the overhang and visions of the grail flicker in the devotional candles left by pilgrims to the Magdalene flame. Some say she was a tantric priestess and that without her acquired knowledge of the body as a pathway, Jesus could not have entered the death portal and returned. That the secret to life is the grail, and the grail is life, the cup, the womb - the curled serpent. Kundalini shows us the shape of DNA long before the sequence was mapped. Buddhist mandalas marked the formations of resonant frequencies and draw the cosmologies of cells before the atom was split. There are many things we do not know, and there is more than one path to knowledge. We will always know both more and less. Trusting the body is the thing I know. She, or they, will guide you. Do let them. Sound from them as loudly as you need. Sing across the ocean, scream from the clifftop as the wind rages. Hum to the yews and oaks of the ancient woods as you tread time in your steps. Write to know your mind. Speak as if it is your religion. Utterance is yours alone and it is the thing that is most easily stolen, or unknowingly gifted. Declare. Ask. Say what you want and what you need. Incant into the darkness to be answered by your own refracted light. Your very own prism. The frequency of your voice is as unique as your fingerprint and it is your weapon and your shield. Language is a door. Hypnosis can only be achieved through suggestion, through language. So words are a way.
I’ve seen angels in starlight. I've dreamed them in gates and gardens. I’ve met them in the street. I’ve loved them in my flesh. The Cathars felt that hell does not exist, only this place of suffering in incarnation. It’s one way to look at it. I prefer the tantric way, the flesh not as fall and shame but as portal. As door. To leave the cycle of human suffering and devote to compassion until all humans are far from the lick of this mortal tongue. That the way to transcend the flesh is through it. As is often the case, the only way out is through. True in life as in death. We spend at least some time in the shade of the apple tree, smeared bodily with our original sin. What beliefs light away from the shame of desire and the fear of what happens if we hold earth in our hands, blood in our mouths, dig our heels to the ground, speak in thunder and stand firm? There is much power in this body, in the celestial storm of creation, in this potential seed of thought unfurling from a pineal pine.
Susanna Davies-Crook has worked professionally in the fields of contemporary art and media for over 15 years. Her experience spans the breadth of the creative industry. She has initiated and managed large-scale brand partnerships and immersive high budget exhibitions as well as small and innovative artist-led projects. Susanna is currently Head of Public Programmes at the Barbican.
By Susanna Davies-Crook
At the Edge of Things:
A hypnosis spiral journey first conducted for and with the Oneiric Soils residents
Read aloud to another.
—-
Find a comfortable position. Perhaps cross-legged sitting upright, perhaps supporting underneath the sitting bones with a cushion or bolster or block or maybe laying supine and surrendered.
Drop the awareness down into the base of the body - rooted here as you are into the earth - the ground rising to meet you in support - begin pressing the pelvis forward and backwards, side to side - feeling into the line of the spine and when you feel that the spine is self-supporting and aligned, however alignment arrives in your body, begin to find stillness…
take your time to settle
drop in
the eyes begin to feel heavy, and as this heaviness drifts over the eyes you softly allow them to close
allow the eyes behind the eyelids to soften, the space between the eyebrows to soften, the jaw to release mouth loose, tongue released
We will begin together, in this space, taking three deep breaths to connect into this network of energy.
1, deep breath in, exhale release
2, inhaling, exhaling - all the way in, all the way out
3, final deep expansion, and let something go
A wave of relaxation. A wave of softness in the body and mind.
almost as if being in a body of water. As you arrive into stillness, the body of water becomes still.
the ripples slowly cease
until the water that around you becomes still, like glass, a reflective surface
diving into this depth
feel the weight of your body
allow the breath to return to its regular ebb and flow, like waves on sand drawing in, drawing out even, easy
Perhaps in this way as we journey together, thoughts might rise to the surface, and we observe and allow them to leave, like waves on sand, perhaps they leave an imprint as they recede, as we watch this imprint slowly fade too
return to the breath, allowing it to move however it wants to move through you, arriving and leaving, arriving, and leaving
and as you focus only on the sound of my voice, any sounds that arise only serve to guide you deeper, every sound making you more deeply relaxed and focussed only on the sound of my voice as you go deeper, these sounds wash in and recede, like waves on sand each wave lulling you deeper and deeper
beginning to feel deeply relaxed here, in this holding space, feeling the weight of the body, and if you would like to readjust your position, to lean into a seat or recline totally, take the time to do this, now
Wherever you arrive, bring the awareness to the soles of the feet, and notice a small circle of golden kindly light arriving into the soles of the feet, almost spinning here encircling the body, then bringing this up to the calves, the backs of the knees and the fronts of the knees, the fronts of the thighs and the backs of the thighs, the groin and pelvic cup, the lower belly and lower back, the hips and the upper belly, the ribs and the heart space all softening deeply
- feeling so deeply relaxed in the whole lower half of the body as we journey deeper into a state of deep relaxation.
The shoulders drop and loosen, the upper biceps and elbows, the forearms and wrists and finger thumb, forefinger middle finger, fourth finger and little fingers all relax and release - the upper chest and sternum often as the front of the neck releases and the back of the neck softens - all the little muscles between the neck and the head release now as you begin to feel so so heavy, five times more deeply relaxed, and the jaw relaxing, releasing the teeth and the tongue, the ears releasing, the eyebrows softening and the whole crown of the head feeling relaxed, the whole skull and body now bathed in golden light.
allow this light to gather above the crown of the head like a sun, and allow this sun to crack open, pouring this light down, cascading over the shoulders and in and over the skin until you are bathed, celestial, from the inside out
and as you drift happily through this deep relaxation, drifting deeper now into stillness, beginning to become aware of a little ball of light arriving into the forehead and starting to open, like an aperture
this golden light arriving, drifting, in through to the centre of the mind.
illuminating, like the centre of a cave.
allowing this light to slowly, gradually, fill the entire mind, to expand through the whole body. Cleansing, relaxing, softening. Allowing it to wash around, moving anything that needs to move until you are shining from the inside out, glowing. Allowing this light to recede like the tide, all the way back up through the centre of the mind to the forehead.
feeling so deeply relaxed and calm.
In this deep state of relaxation, you find yourself standing before a gate. Observe the gate. This is your gate and yours alone. Begin to notice what it looks like, what it is made of. You can reach out and touch the gate. Become aware that there is a lock on this gate and in your pocket there is a key. Take the key and unlock the gate.
Beyond it, there is a beautiful garden. This is your garden. Notice what you can, familiarise yourself with the plants and trees, become aware of any weather, texture, sensation on the body - a gentle breeze. Observe a plant close to you and begin to hold it, stroke it and feel the plant greeting you back as you exchange heat, energy and vibration together. Beneath the plant, beneath the leaves there is something slimy to touch and you see that there is a snail. As you look closer, becoming aware of this ancient world, you observe its path. In the near distance there are ten stairs leading downwards. Make your way to the top of these stairs and notice what they look like and how they feel on your feet as you descend.
Ten moving deeper
Nine stepping down
Eight deeper
Seven drifting deeper
Six deeper
Five looking around at your surroundings
Four deeper
Three so deeply relaxed
Two
One
Arriving at the bottom of these steps in front of a horizon at the edge of a vast ocean. Becoming aware that within this vast expanse you are both and all.
you are the ocean.
drifting with currents and then spinning like an aperture, arriving into this whirlpool. Drifting deeper as concentrated energy. Arriving almost as if you were spiraling down another ten levels. Drifting deeper and deeper as you drift down a sense of the light becoming darker and warmer, calm and comfortable, arriving as you spin down into the inky blackness at the edge of things.
The darkness envelopes you, a cloak of velvety blackness, warm and calming, held here for a moment.
feeling so deeply calm, so deeply relaxed, as you look down at your feet once more they cannot be seen, almost as if in this moment your body drops away and you float here, held, warm, between.
As you free float with your new freedom, new lightness, you transcend and move beyond. And the darkness itself drops away.
you are suspended, moving as you please in this darkness, and realising that this is not a void after all. Looking around and seeing pinpricks of stars
in the distance these pinpricks of stars as you move towards them, they grow,
galaxies spiralling around you.
Take this time to explore the light, manifest at the edge of time. These ancient worlds, spirals in the celestial expanse. Pick one light form that you’re drawn towards and move in its direction. Seeing perhaps that it is not one light but many smaller stars spiraling into these galaxies
as you see this unfolding before you like ferns unfold to the sun, beyond, in this pool of celestial light and knowledge, deep within each and every cell of your being. a wholeness from the dawn of things, true light might.
Ask a question to the expanse.
Receive an answer.
The sound of rain on grass brings you back to the roots of a tree, slick and wet with water. In the tree is a dry, warm path, and deciding to follow these roots begin to climb up through the tree and counting from one to ten we climb.
One, two
Three becoming lighter
Four, five
Six seeing an opening
Seven the opening grows wider
Eight
Nine emerging
Ten, back into the base of your garden, to the top of the stairs, refamiliarising yourself with the plants, the air, the weather, the trees. Maybe observing the snail on its journey.
notice the plants and trees are alive with colour
each cell a galaxy and within that galaxy a planet, a mind.
Leave your body once more and dissolve into the plants, into the light. A shimmering, gleaming, crepuscular hole that floats and drifts and drafts and currents between seas and oceans and clifftops and deserts to move with freedom, with ease, with love between all things.
Cells travelling, moving with intention, directional on tracks, travelling, traversing, spinning, joining.
trees rustle, they talk to each other, their leaves spill
life is colour
coiling in an endless dance
scent of the plants and forest entirely whole
everything is in sharp focus and perhaps as you return, you can hold that freedom, ease and love as you move between all things
Become aware of your gate in front of you. Take one last look around at the space and thank it for this time and this knowledge.
Move back through the gate, closing it behind you and allowing it to lock, placing your key back in your pocket.
Counting back from three, and on the count of three and only on the count of three, opening your eyes, all parts restored, feeling good.
One,
Two, taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, feeling the body
Three, opening up the eyes, wide awake, taking a stretch, taking a breath.
author’s note:
To think in voices
Galaxies gasp at the curl of a foetal yes and the bloom of blood and thought. The knowledge of the body and the beat. The dual metronome of pulse and breath and thud and rise, and fall. These are guides. Listen when people steal your breath and do not return it kindly, or bind your heart and do not let it burst with joy.
The Cathars lived and worshipped in France, near Carcassonne before being persecuted to extinction. They believed, “we are all divine sparks, even angels, imprisoned in tunics of flesh”.
In this peaked and pitted terrain of France, there is a cave said to have housed Mary Magdalene, lady of the rose, after Jesus’ persecution. She resided in the mountain and became a healer to the local folk and as such they kept her secret. There are icons of the chalice scrawled into the rock face, roses scattered, large carved stones that look like thrones nestled beneath the overhang and visions of the grail flicker in the devotional candles left by pilgrims to the Magdalene flame. Some say she was a tantric priestess and that without her acquired knowledge of the body as a pathway, Jesus could not have entered the death portal and returned. That the secret to life is the grail, and the grail is life, the cup, the womb - the curled serpent. Kundalini shows us the shape of DNA long before the sequence was mapped. Buddhist mandalas marked the formations of resonant frequencies and draw the cosmologies of cells before the atom was split. There are many things we do not know, and there is more than one path to knowledge. We will always know both more and less. Trusting the body is the thing I know. She, or they, will guide you. Do let them. Sound from them as loudly as you need. Sing across the ocean, scream from the clifftop as the wind rages. Hum to the yews and oaks of the ancient woods as you tread time in your steps. Write to know your mind. Speak as if it is your religion. Utterance is yours alone and it is the thing that is most easily stolen, or unknowingly gifted. Declare. Ask. Say what you want and what you need. Incant into the darkness to be answered by your own refracted light. Your very own prism. The frequency of your voice is as unique as your fingerprint and it is your weapon and your shield. Language is a door. Hypnosis can only be achieved through suggestion, through language. So words are a way.
I’ve seen angels in starlight. I've dreamed them in gates and gardens. I’ve met them in the street. I’ve loved them in my flesh. The Cathars felt that hell does not exist, only this place of suffering in incarnation. It’s one way to look at it. I prefer the tantric way, the flesh not as fall and shame but as portal. As door. To leave the cycle of human suffering and devote to compassion until all humans are far from the lick of this mortal tongue. That the way to transcend the flesh is through it. As is often the case, the only way out is through. True in life as in death. We spend at least some time in the shade of the apple tree, smeared bodily with our original sin. What beliefs light away from the shame of desire and the fear of what happens if we hold earth in our hands, blood in our mouths, dig our heels to the ground, speak in thunder and stand firm? There is much power in this body, in the celestial storm of creation, in this potential seed of thought unfurling from a pineal pine.
At the Edge of Things:
A hypnosis spiral journey first conducted for and with the Oneiric Soils residents
Read aloud to another.
—-
Find a comfortable position. Perhaps cross-legged sitting upright, perhaps supporting underneath the sitting bones with a cushion or bolster or block or maybe laying supine and surrendered.
Drop the awareness down into the base of the body - rooted here as you are into the earth - the ground rising to meet you in support - begin pressing the pelvis forward and backwards, side to side - feeling into the line of the spine and when you feel that the spine is self-supporting and aligned, however alignment arrives in your body, begin to find stillness…
take your time to settle
drop in
the eyes begin to feel heavy, and as this heaviness drifts over the eyes you softly allow them to close
allow the eyes behind the eyelids to soften, the space between the eyebrows to soften, the jaw to release mouth loose, tongue released
We will begin together, in this space, taking three deep breaths to connect into this network of energy.
1, deep breath in, exhale release
2, inhaling, exhaling - all the way in, all the way out
3, final deep expansion, and let something go
A wave of relaxation. A wave of softness in the body and mind.
almost as if being in a body of water. As you arrive into stillness, the body of water becomes still.
the ripples slowly cease
until the water that around you becomes still, like glass, a reflective surface
diving into this depth
feel the weight of your body
allow the breath to return to its regular ebb and flow, like waves on sand drawing in, drawing out even, easy
Perhaps in this way as we journey together, thoughts might rise to the surface, and we observe and allow them to leave, like waves on sand, perhaps they leave an imprint as they recede, as we watch this imprint slowly fade too
return to the breath, allowing it to move however it wants to move through you, arriving and leaving, arriving, and leaving
and as you focus only on the sound of my voice, any sounds that arise only serve to guide you deeper, every sound making you more deeply relaxed and focussed only on the sound of my voice as you go deeper, these sounds wash in and recede, like waves on sand each wave lulling you deeper and deeper
beginning to feel deeply relaxed here, in this holding space, feeling the weight of the body, and if you would like to readjust your position, to lean into a seat or recline totally, take the time to do this, now
Wherever you arrive, bring the awareness to the soles of the feet, and notice a small circle of golden kindly light arriving into the soles of the feet, almost spinning here encircling the body, then bringing this up to the calves, the backs of the knees and the fronts of the knees, the fronts of the thighs and the backs of the thighs, the groin and pelvic cup, the lower belly and lower back, the hips and the upper belly, the ribs and the heart space all softening deeply
- feeling so deeply relaxed in the whole lower half of the body as we journey deeper into a state of deep relaxation.
The shoulders drop and loosen, the upper biceps and elbows, the forearms and wrists and finger thumb, forefinger middle finger, fourth finger and little fingers all relax and release - the upper chest and sternum often as the front of the neck releases and the back of the neck softens - all the little muscles between the neck and the head release now as you begin to feel so so heavy, five times more deeply relaxed, and the jaw relaxing, releasing the teeth and the tongue, the ears releasing, the eyebrows softening and the whole crown of the head feeling relaxed, the whole skull and body now bathed in golden light.
allow this light to gather above the crown of the head like a sun, and allow this sun to crack open, pouring this light down, cascading over the shoulders and in and over the skin until you are bathed, celestial, from the inside out
and as you drift happily through this deep relaxation, drifting deeper now into stillness, beginning to become aware of a little ball of light arriving into the forehead and starting to open, like an aperture
this golden light arriving, drifting, in through to the centre of the mind.
illuminating, like the centre of a cave.
allowing this light to slowly, gradually, fill the entire mind, to expand through the whole body. Cleansing, relaxing, softening. Allowing it to wash around, moving anything that needs to move until you are shining from the inside out, glowing. Allowing this light to recede like the tide, all the way back up through the centre of the mind to the forehead.
feeling so deeply relaxed and calm.
In this deep state of relaxation, you find yourself standing before a gate. Observe the gate. This is your gate and yours alone. Begin to notice what it looks like, what it is made of. You can reach out and touch the gate. Become aware that there is a lock on this gate and in your pocket there is a key. Take the key and unlock the gate.
Beyond it, there is a beautiful garden. This is your garden. Notice what you can, familiarise yourself with the plants and trees, become aware of any weather, texture, sensation on the body - a gentle breeze. Observe a plant close to you and begin to hold it, stroke it and feel the plant greeting you back as you exchange heat, energy and vibration together. Beneath the plant, beneath the leaves there is something slimy to touch and you see that there is a snail. As you look closer, becoming aware of this ancient world, you observe its path. In the near distance there are ten stairs leading downwards. Make your way to the top of these stairs and notice what they look like and how they feel on your feet as you descend.
Ten moving deeper
Nine stepping down
Eight deeper
Seven drifting deeper
Six deeper
Five looking around at your surroundings
Four deeper
Three so deeply relaxed
Two
One
Arriving at the bottom of these steps in front of a horizon at the edge of a vast ocean. Becoming aware that within this vast expanse you are both and all.
you are the ocean.
drifting with currents and then spinning like an aperture, arriving into this whirlpool. Drifting deeper as concentrated energy. Arriving almost as if you were spiraling down another ten levels. Drifting deeper and deeper as you drift down a sense of the light becoming darker and warmer, calm and comfortable, arriving as you spin down into the inky blackness at the edge of things.
The darkness envelopes you, a cloak of velvety blackness, warm and calming, held here for a moment.
feeling so deeply calm, so deeply relaxed, as you look down at your feet once more they cannot be seen, almost as if in this moment your body drops away and you float here, held, warm, between.
As you free float with your new freedom, new lightness, you transcend and move beyond. And the darkness itself drops away.
you are suspended, moving as you please in this darkness, and realising that this is not a void after all. Looking around and seeing pinpricks of stars
in the distance these pinpricks of stars as you move towards them, they grow,
galaxies spiralling around you.
Take this time to explore the light, manifest at the edge of time. These ancient worlds, spirals in the celestial expanse. Pick one light form that you’re drawn towards and move in its direction. Seeing perhaps that it is not one light but many smaller stars spiraling into these galaxies
as you see this unfolding before you like ferns unfold to the sun, beyond, in this pool of celestial light and knowledge, deep within each and every cell of your being. a wholeness from the dawn of things, true light might.
Ask a question to the expanse.
Receive an answer.
The sound of rain on grass brings you back to the roots of a tree, slick and wet with water. In the tree is a dry, warm path, and deciding to follow these roots begin to climb up through the tree and counting from one to ten we climb.
One, two
Three becoming lighter
Four, five
Six seeing an opening
Seven the opening grows wider
Eight
Nine emerging
Ten, back into the base of your garden, to the top of the stairs, refamiliarising yourself with the plants, the air, the weather, the trees. Maybe observing the snail on its journey.
notice the plants and trees are alive with colour
each cell a galaxy and within that galaxy a planet, a mind.
Leave your body once more and dissolve into the plants, into the light. A shimmering, gleaming, crepuscular hole that floats and drifts and drafts and currents between seas and oceans and clifftops and deserts to move with freedom, with ease, with love between all things.
Cells travelling, moving with intention, directional on tracks, travelling, traversing, spinning, joining.
trees rustle, they talk to each other, their leaves spill
life is colour
coiling in an endless dance
scent of the plants and forest entirely whole
everything is in sharp focus and perhaps as you return, you can hold that freedom, ease and love as you move between all things
Become aware of your gate in front of you. Take one last look around at the space and thank it for this time and this knowledge.
Move back through the gate, closing it behind you and allowing it to lock, placing your key back in your pocket.
Counting back from three, and on the count of three and only on the count of three, opening your eyes, all parts restored, feeling good.
One,
Two, taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, feeling the body
Three, opening up the eyes, wide awake, taking a stretch, taking a breath.
author’s note:
To think in voices
Galaxies gasp at the curl of a foetal yes and the bloom of blood and thought. The knowledge of the body and the beat. The dual metronome of pulse and breath and thud and rise, and fall. These are guides. Listen when people steal your breath and do not return it kindly, or bind your heart and do not let it burst with joy.
The Cathars lived and worshipped in France, near Carcassonne before being persecuted to extinction. They believed, “we are all divine sparks, even angels, imprisoned in tunics of flesh”.
In this peaked and pitted terrain of France, there is a cave said to have housed Mary Magdalene, lady of the rose, after Jesus’ persecution. She resided in the mountain and became a healer to the local folk and as such they kept her secret. There are icons of the chalice scrawled into the rock face, roses scattered, large carved stones that look like thrones nestled beneath the overhang and visions of the grail flicker in the devotional candles left by pilgrims to the Magdalene flame. Some say she was a tantric priestess and that without her acquired knowledge of the body as a pathway, Jesus could not have entered the death portal and returned. That the secret to life is the grail, and the grail is life, the cup, the womb - the curled serpent. Kundalini shows us the shape of DNA long before the sequence was mapped. Buddhist mandalas marked the formations of resonant frequencies and draw the cosmologies of cells before the atom was split. There are many things we do not know, and there is more than one path to knowledge. We will always know both more and less. Trusting the body is the thing I know. She, or they, will guide you. Do let them. Sound from them as loudly as you need. Sing across the ocean, scream from the clifftop as the wind rages. Hum to the yews and oaks of the ancient woods as you tread time in your steps. Write to know your mind. Speak as if it is your religion. Utterance is yours alone and it is the thing that is most easily stolen, or unknowingly gifted. Declare. Ask. Say what you want and what you need. Incant into the darkness to be answered by your own refracted light. Your very own prism. The frequency of your voice is as unique as your fingerprint and it is your weapon and your shield. Language is a door. Hypnosis can only be achieved through suggestion, through language. So words are a way.
I’ve seen angels in starlight. I've dreamed them in gates and gardens. I’ve met them in the street. I’ve loved them in my flesh. The Cathars felt that hell does not exist, only this place of suffering in incarnation. It’s one way to look at it. I prefer the tantric way, the flesh not as fall and shame but as portal. As door. To leave the cycle of human suffering and devote to compassion until all humans are far from the lick of this mortal tongue. That the way to transcend the flesh is through it. As is often the case, the only way out is through. True in life as in death. We spend at least some time in the shade of the apple tree, smeared bodily with our original sin. What beliefs light away from the shame of desire and the fear of what happens if we hold earth in our hands, blood in our mouths, dig our heels to the ground, speak in thunder and stand firm? There is much power in this body, in the celestial storm of creation, in this potential seed of thought unfurling from a pineal pine.
Susanna Davies-Crook has worked professionally in the fields of contemporary art and media for over 15 years. Her experience spans the breadth of the creative industry. She has initiated and managed large-scale brand partnerships and immersive high budget exhibitions as well as small and innovative artist-led projects. Susanna is currently Head of Public Programmes at the Barbican.
By Susanna Davies-Crook
At the Edge of Things:
A hypnosis spiral journey first conducted for and with the Oneiric Soils residents
Read aloud to another.
—-
Find a comfortable position. Perhaps cross-legged sitting upright, perhaps supporting underneath the sitting bones with a cushion or bolster or block or maybe laying supine and surrendered.
Drop the awareness down into the base of the body - rooted here as you are into the earth - the ground rising to meet you in support - begin pressing the pelvis forward and backwards, side to side - feeling into the line of the spine and when you feel that the spine is self-supporting and aligned, however alignment arrives in your body, begin to find stillness…
take your time to settle
drop in
the eyes begin to feel heavy, and as this heaviness drifts over the eyes you softly allow them to close
allow the eyes behind the eyelids to soften, the space between the eyebrows to soften, the jaw to release mouth loose, tongue released
We will begin together, in this space, taking three deep breaths to connect into this network of energy.
1, deep breath in, exhale release
2, inhaling, exhaling - all the way in, all the way out
3, final deep expansion, and let something go
A wave of relaxation. A wave of softness in the body and mind.
almost as if being in a body of water. As you arrive into stillness, the body of water becomes still.
the ripples slowly cease
until the water that around you becomes still, like glass, a reflective surface
diving into this depth
feel the weight of your body
allow the breath to return to its regular ebb and flow, like waves on sand drawing in, drawing out even, easy
Perhaps in this way as we journey together, thoughts might rise to the surface, and we observe and allow them to leave, like waves on sand, perhaps they leave an imprint as they recede, as we watch this imprint slowly fade too
return to the breath, allowing it to move however it wants to move through you, arriving and leaving, arriving, and leaving
and as you focus only on the sound of my voice, any sounds that arise only serve to guide you deeper, every sound making you more deeply relaxed and focussed only on the sound of my voice as you go deeper, these sounds wash in and recede, like waves on sand each wave lulling you deeper and deeper
beginning to feel deeply relaxed here, in this holding space, feeling the weight of the body, and if you would like to readjust your position, to lean into a seat or recline totally, take the time to do this, now
Wherever you arrive, bring the awareness to the soles of the feet, and notice a small circle of golden kindly light arriving into the soles of the feet, almost spinning here encircling the body, then bringing this up to the calves, the backs of the knees and the fronts of the knees, the fronts of the thighs and the backs of the thighs, the groin and pelvic cup, the lower belly and lower back, the hips and the upper belly, the ribs and the heart space all softening deeply
- feeling so deeply relaxed in the whole lower half of the body as we journey deeper into a state of deep relaxation.
The shoulders drop and loosen, the upper biceps and elbows, the forearms and wrists and finger thumb, forefinger middle finger, fourth finger and little fingers all relax and release - the upper chest and sternum often as the front of the neck releases and the back of the neck softens - all the little muscles between the neck and the head release now as you begin to feel so so heavy, five times more deeply relaxed, and the jaw relaxing, releasing the teeth and the tongue, the ears releasing, the eyebrows softening and the whole crown of the head feeling relaxed, the whole skull and body now bathed in golden light.
allow this light to gather above the crown of the head like a sun, and allow this sun to crack open, pouring this light down, cascading over the shoulders and in and over the skin until you are bathed, celestial, from the inside out
and as you drift happily through this deep relaxation, drifting deeper now into stillness, beginning to become aware of a little ball of light arriving into the forehead and starting to open, like an aperture
this golden light arriving, drifting, in through to the centre of the mind.
illuminating, like the centre of a cave.
allowing this light to slowly, gradually, fill the entire mind, to expand through the whole body. Cleansing, relaxing, softening. Allowing it to wash around, moving anything that needs to move until you are shining from the inside out, glowing. Allowing this light to recede like the tide, all the way back up through the centre of the mind to the forehead.
feeling so deeply relaxed and calm.
In this deep state of relaxation, you find yourself standing before a gate. Observe the gate. This is your gate and yours alone. Begin to notice what it looks like, what it is made of. You can reach out and touch the gate. Become aware that there is a lock on this gate and in your pocket there is a key. Take the key and unlock the gate.
Beyond it, there is a beautiful garden. This is your garden. Notice what you can, familiarise yourself with the plants and trees, become aware of any weather, texture, sensation on the body - a gentle breeze. Observe a plant close to you and begin to hold it, stroke it and feel the plant greeting you back as you exchange heat, energy and vibration together. Beneath the plant, beneath the leaves there is something slimy to touch and you see that there is a snail. As you look closer, becoming aware of this ancient world, you observe its path. In the near distance there are ten stairs leading downwards. Make your way to the top of these stairs and notice what they look like and how they feel on your feet as you descend.
Ten moving deeper
Nine stepping down
Eight deeper
Seven drifting deeper
Six deeper
Five looking around at your surroundings
Four deeper
Three so deeply relaxed
Two
One
Arriving at the bottom of these steps in front of a horizon at the edge of a vast ocean. Becoming aware that within this vast expanse you are both and all.
you are the ocean.
drifting with currents and then spinning like an aperture, arriving into this whirlpool. Drifting deeper as concentrated energy. Arriving almost as if you were spiraling down another ten levels. Drifting deeper and deeper as you drift down a sense of the light becoming darker and warmer, calm and comfortable, arriving as you spin down into the inky blackness at the edge of things.
The darkness envelopes you, a cloak of velvety blackness, warm and calming, held here for a moment.
feeling so deeply calm, so deeply relaxed, as you look down at your feet once more they cannot be seen, almost as if in this moment your body drops away and you float here, held, warm, between.
As you free float with your new freedom, new lightness, you transcend and move beyond. And the darkness itself drops away.
you are suspended, moving as you please in this darkness, and realising that this is not a void after all. Looking around and seeing pinpricks of stars
in the distance these pinpricks of stars as you move towards them, they grow,
galaxies spiralling around you.
Take this time to explore the light, manifest at the edge of time. These ancient worlds, spirals in the celestial expanse. Pick one light form that you’re drawn towards and move in its direction. Seeing perhaps that it is not one light but many smaller stars spiraling into these galaxies
as you see this unfolding before you like ferns unfold to the sun, beyond, in this pool of celestial light and knowledge, deep within each and every cell of your being. a wholeness from the dawn of things, true light might.
Ask a question to the expanse.
Receive an answer.
The sound of rain on grass brings you back to the roots of a tree, slick and wet with water. In the tree is a dry, warm path, and deciding to follow these roots begin to climb up through the tree and counting from one to ten we climb.
One, two
Three becoming lighter
Four, five
Six seeing an opening
Seven the opening grows wider
Eight
Nine emerging
Ten, back into the base of your garden, to the top of the stairs, refamiliarising yourself with the plants, the air, the weather, the trees. Maybe observing the snail on its journey.
notice the plants and trees are alive with colour
each cell a galaxy and within that galaxy a planet, a mind.
Leave your body once more and dissolve into the plants, into the light. A shimmering, gleaming, crepuscular hole that floats and drifts and drafts and currents between seas and oceans and clifftops and deserts to move with freedom, with ease, with love between all things.
Cells travelling, moving with intention, directional on tracks, travelling, traversing, spinning, joining.
trees rustle, they talk to each other, their leaves spill
life is colour
coiling in an endless dance
scent of the plants and forest entirely whole
everything is in sharp focus and perhaps as you return, you can hold that freedom, ease and love as you move between all things
Become aware of your gate in front of you. Take one last look around at the space and thank it for this time and this knowledge.
Move back through the gate, closing it behind you and allowing it to lock, placing your key back in your pocket.
Counting back from three, and on the count of three and only on the count of three, opening your eyes, all parts restored, feeling good.
One,
Two, taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, feeling the body
Three, opening up the eyes, wide awake, taking a stretch, taking a breath.
author’s note:
To think in voices
Galaxies gasp at the curl of a foetal yes and the bloom of blood and thought. The knowledge of the body and the beat. The dual metronome of pulse and breath and thud and rise, and fall. These are guides. Listen when people steal your breath and do not return it kindly, or bind your heart and do not let it burst with joy.
The Cathars lived and worshipped in France, near Carcassonne before being persecuted to extinction. They believed, “we are all divine sparks, even angels, imprisoned in tunics of flesh”.
In this peaked and pitted terrain of France, there is a cave said to have housed Mary Magdalene, lady of the rose, after Jesus’ persecution. She resided in the mountain and became a healer to the local folk and as such they kept her secret. There are icons of the chalice scrawled into the rock face, roses scattered, large carved stones that look like thrones nestled beneath the overhang and visions of the grail flicker in the devotional candles left by pilgrims to the Magdalene flame. Some say she was a tantric priestess and that without her acquired knowledge of the body as a pathway, Jesus could not have entered the death portal and returned. That the secret to life is the grail, and the grail is life, the cup, the womb - the curled serpent. Kundalini shows us the shape of DNA long before the sequence was mapped. Buddhist mandalas marked the formations of resonant frequencies and draw the cosmologies of cells before the atom was split. There are many things we do not know, and there is more than one path to knowledge. We will always know both more and less. Trusting the body is the thing I know. She, or they, will guide you. Do let them. Sound from them as loudly as you need. Sing across the ocean, scream from the clifftop as the wind rages. Hum to the yews and oaks of the ancient woods as you tread time in your steps. Write to know your mind. Speak as if it is your religion. Utterance is yours alone and it is the thing that is most easily stolen, or unknowingly gifted. Declare. Ask. Say what you want and what you need. Incant into the darkness to be answered by your own refracted light. Your very own prism. The frequency of your voice is as unique as your fingerprint and it is your weapon and your shield. Language is a door. Hypnosis can only be achieved through suggestion, through language. So words are a way.
I’ve seen angels in starlight. I've dreamed them in gates and gardens. I’ve met them in the street. I’ve loved them in my flesh. The Cathars felt that hell does not exist, only this place of suffering in incarnation. It’s one way to look at it. I prefer the tantric way, the flesh not as fall and shame but as portal. As door. To leave the cycle of human suffering and devote to compassion until all humans are far from the lick of this mortal tongue. That the way to transcend the flesh is through it. As is often the case, the only way out is through. True in life as in death. We spend at least some time in the shade of the apple tree, smeared bodily with our original sin. What beliefs light away from the shame of desire and the fear of what happens if we hold earth in our hands, blood in our mouths, dig our heels to the ground, speak in thunder and stand firm? There is much power in this body, in the celestial storm of creation, in this potential seed of thought unfurling from a pineal pine.
At the Edge of Things:
A hypnosis spiral journey first conducted for and with the Oneiric Soils residents
Read aloud to another.
—-
Find a comfortable position. Perhaps cross-legged sitting upright, perhaps supporting underneath the sitting bones with a cushion or bolster or block or maybe laying supine and surrendered.
Drop the awareness down into the base of the body - rooted here as you are into the earth - the ground rising to meet you in support - begin pressing the pelvis forward and backwards, side to side - feeling into the line of the spine and when you feel that the spine is self-supporting and aligned, however alignment arrives in your body, begin to find stillness…
take your time to settle
drop in
the eyes begin to feel heavy, and as this heaviness drifts over the eyes you softly allow them to close
allow the eyes behind the eyelids to soften, the space between the eyebrows to soften, the jaw to release mouth loose, tongue released
We will begin together, in this space, taking three deep breaths to connect into this network of energy.
1, deep breath in, exhale release
2, inhaling, exhaling - all the way in, all the way out
3, final deep expansion, and let something go
A wave of relaxation. A wave of softness in the body and mind.
almost as if being in a body of water. As you arrive into stillness, the body of water becomes still.
the ripples slowly cease
until the water that around you becomes still, like glass, a reflective surface
diving into this depth
feel the weight of your body
allow the breath to return to its regular ebb and flow, like waves on sand drawing in, drawing out even, easy
Perhaps in this way as we journey together, thoughts might rise to the surface, and we observe and allow them to leave, like waves on sand, perhaps they leave an imprint as they recede, as we watch this imprint slowly fade too
return to the breath, allowing it to move however it wants to move through you, arriving and leaving, arriving, and leaving
and as you focus only on the sound of my voice, any sounds that arise only serve to guide you deeper, every sound making you more deeply relaxed and focussed only on the sound of my voice as you go deeper, these sounds wash in and recede, like waves on sand each wave lulling you deeper and deeper
beginning to feel deeply relaxed here, in this holding space, feeling the weight of the body, and if you would like to readjust your position, to lean into a seat or recline totally, take the time to do this, now
Wherever you arrive, bring the awareness to the soles of the feet, and notice a small circle of golden kindly light arriving into the soles of the feet, almost spinning here encircling the body, then bringing this up to the calves, the backs of the knees and the fronts of the knees, the fronts of the thighs and the backs of the thighs, the groin and pelvic cup, the lower belly and lower back, the hips and the upper belly, the ribs and the heart space all softening deeply
- feeling so deeply relaxed in the whole lower half of the body as we journey deeper into a state of deep relaxation.
The shoulders drop and loosen, the upper biceps and elbows, the forearms and wrists and finger thumb, forefinger middle finger, fourth finger and little fingers all relax and release - the upper chest and sternum often as the front of the neck releases and the back of the neck softens - all the little muscles between the neck and the head release now as you begin to feel so so heavy, five times more deeply relaxed, and the jaw relaxing, releasing the teeth and the tongue, the ears releasing, the eyebrows softening and the whole crown of the head feeling relaxed, the whole skull and body now bathed in golden light.
allow this light to gather above the crown of the head like a sun, and allow this sun to crack open, pouring this light down, cascading over the shoulders and in and over the skin until you are bathed, celestial, from the inside out
and as you drift happily through this deep relaxation, drifting deeper now into stillness, beginning to become aware of a little ball of light arriving into the forehead and starting to open, like an aperture
this golden light arriving, drifting, in through to the centre of the mind.
illuminating, like the centre of a cave.
allowing this light to slowly, gradually, fill the entire mind, to expand through the whole body. Cleansing, relaxing, softening. Allowing it to wash around, moving anything that needs to move until you are shining from the inside out, glowing. Allowing this light to recede like the tide, all the way back up through the centre of the mind to the forehead.
feeling so deeply relaxed and calm.
In this deep state of relaxation, you find yourself standing before a gate. Observe the gate. This is your gate and yours alone. Begin to notice what it looks like, what it is made of. You can reach out and touch the gate. Become aware that there is a lock on this gate and in your pocket there is a key. Take the key and unlock the gate.
Beyond it, there is a beautiful garden. This is your garden. Notice what you can, familiarise yourself with the plants and trees, become aware of any weather, texture, sensation on the body - a gentle breeze. Observe a plant close to you and begin to hold it, stroke it and feel the plant greeting you back as you exchange heat, energy and vibration together. Beneath the plant, beneath the leaves there is something slimy to touch and you see that there is a snail. As you look closer, becoming aware of this ancient world, you observe its path. In the near distance there are ten stairs leading downwards. Make your way to the top of these stairs and notice what they look like and how they feel on your feet as you descend.
Ten moving deeper
Nine stepping down
Eight deeper
Seven drifting deeper
Six deeper
Five looking around at your surroundings
Four deeper
Three so deeply relaxed
Two
One
Arriving at the bottom of these steps in front of a horizon at the edge of a vast ocean. Becoming aware that within this vast expanse you are both and all.
you are the ocean.
drifting with currents and then spinning like an aperture, arriving into this whirlpool. Drifting deeper as concentrated energy. Arriving almost as if you were spiraling down another ten levels. Drifting deeper and deeper as you drift down a sense of the light becoming darker and warmer, calm and comfortable, arriving as you spin down into the inky blackness at the edge of things.
The darkness envelopes you, a cloak of velvety blackness, warm and calming, held here for a moment.
feeling so deeply calm, so deeply relaxed, as you look down at your feet once more they cannot be seen, almost as if in this moment your body drops away and you float here, held, warm, between.
As you free float with your new freedom, new lightness, you transcend and move beyond. And the darkness itself drops away.
you are suspended, moving as you please in this darkness, and realising that this is not a void after all. Looking around and seeing pinpricks of stars
in the distance these pinpricks of stars as you move towards them, they grow,
galaxies spiralling around you.
Take this time to explore the light, manifest at the edge of time. These ancient worlds, spirals in the celestial expanse. Pick one light form that you’re drawn towards and move in its direction. Seeing perhaps that it is not one light but many smaller stars spiraling into these galaxies
as you see this unfolding before you like ferns unfold to the sun, beyond, in this pool of celestial light and knowledge, deep within each and every cell of your being. a wholeness from the dawn of things, true light might.
Ask a question to the expanse.
Receive an answer.
The sound of rain on grass brings you back to the roots of a tree, slick and wet with water. In the tree is a dry, warm path, and deciding to follow these roots begin to climb up through the tree and counting from one to ten we climb.
One, two
Three becoming lighter
Four, five
Six seeing an opening
Seven the opening grows wider
Eight
Nine emerging
Ten, back into the base of your garden, to the top of the stairs, refamiliarising yourself with the plants, the air, the weather, the trees. Maybe observing the snail on its journey.
notice the plants and trees are alive with colour
each cell a galaxy and within that galaxy a planet, a mind.
Leave your body once more and dissolve into the plants, into the light. A shimmering, gleaming, crepuscular hole that floats and drifts and drafts and currents between seas and oceans and clifftops and deserts to move with freedom, with ease, with love between all things.
Cells travelling, moving with intention, directional on tracks, travelling, traversing, spinning, joining.
trees rustle, they talk to each other, their leaves spill
life is colour
coiling in an endless dance
scent of the plants and forest entirely whole
everything is in sharp focus and perhaps as you return, you can hold that freedom, ease and love as you move between all things
Become aware of your gate in front of you. Take one last look around at the space and thank it for this time and this knowledge.
Move back through the gate, closing it behind you and allowing it to lock, placing your key back in your pocket.
Counting back from three, and on the count of three and only on the count of three, opening your eyes, all parts restored, feeling good.
One,
Two, taking a deep, refreshing breath of air, feeling the body
Three, opening up the eyes, wide awake, taking a stretch, taking a breath.
author’s note:
To think in voices
Galaxies gasp at the curl of a foetal yes and the bloom of blood and thought. The knowledge of the body and the beat. The dual metronome of pulse and breath and thud and rise, and fall. These are guides. Listen when people steal your breath and do not return it kindly, or bind your heart and do not let it burst with joy.
The Cathars lived and worshipped in France, near Carcassonne before being persecuted to extinction. They believed, “we are all divine sparks, even angels, imprisoned in tunics of flesh”.
In this peaked and pitted terrain of France, there is a cave said to have housed Mary Magdalene, lady of the rose, after Jesus’ persecution. She resided in the mountain and became a healer to the local folk and as such they kept her secret. There are icons of the chalice scrawled into the rock face, roses scattered, large carved stones that look like thrones nestled beneath the overhang and visions of the grail flicker in the devotional candles left by pilgrims to the Magdalene flame. Some say she was a tantric priestess and that without her acquired knowledge of the body as a pathway, Jesus could not have entered the death portal and returned. That the secret to life is the grail, and the grail is life, the cup, the womb - the curled serpent. Kundalini shows us the shape of DNA long before the sequence was mapped. Buddhist mandalas marked the formations of resonant frequencies and draw the cosmologies of cells before the atom was split. There are many things we do not know, and there is more than one path to knowledge. We will always know both more and less. Trusting the body is the thing I know. She, or they, will guide you. Do let them. Sound from them as loudly as you need. Sing across the ocean, scream from the clifftop as the wind rages. Hum to the yews and oaks of the ancient woods as you tread time in your steps. Write to know your mind. Speak as if it is your religion. Utterance is yours alone and it is the thing that is most easily stolen, or unknowingly gifted. Declare. Ask. Say what you want and what you need. Incant into the darkness to be answered by your own refracted light. Your very own prism. The frequency of your voice is as unique as your fingerprint and it is your weapon and your shield. Language is a door. Hypnosis can only be achieved through suggestion, through language. So words are a way.
I’ve seen angels in starlight. I've dreamed them in gates and gardens. I’ve met them in the street. I’ve loved them in my flesh. The Cathars felt that hell does not exist, only this place of suffering in incarnation. It’s one way to look at it. I prefer the tantric way, the flesh not as fall and shame but as portal. As door. To leave the cycle of human suffering and devote to compassion until all humans are far from the lick of this mortal tongue. That the way to transcend the flesh is through it. As is often the case, the only way out is through. True in life as in death. We spend at least some time in the shade of the apple tree, smeared bodily with our original sin. What beliefs light away from the shame of desire and the fear of what happens if we hold earth in our hands, blood in our mouths, dig our heels to the ground, speak in thunder and stand firm? There is much power in this body, in the celestial storm of creation, in this potential seed of thought unfurling from a pineal pine.
Susanna Davies-Crook has worked professionally in the fields of contemporary art and media for over 15 years. Her experience spans the breadth of the creative industry. She has initiated and managed large-scale brand partnerships and immersive high budget exhibitions as well as small and innovative artist-led projects. Susanna is currently Head of Public Programmes at the Barbican.