Staircase Induction

Your eyes are closed, and your spirit is calm. Breathe slowly and deeply, and clear your mind.

Imagine a spiral staircase, surrounded by total blackness. You feel pulled to this staircase, and desire to explore it, knowing that it will lead you to new worlds. Begin to move toward it. See it coming closer, until suddenly you are at the top step. For as far as you can see, the staircase spirals down, deeper and deeper, and is covered in red carpet. Begin walking down the staircase.

As you round the first curve, you see something painted on the carpet; the white number 1 clearly stands out against the red. Descend past this number, continuing deeper and deeper downwards, until you are now standing before the number 2. Continue past this, to the number three, and then four. Deeper and deeper down you go, past the number 5, then 6 . . . 7 . . . 8 . . . and 9. Continue on, until you finally reach the number ten. You are now in the crossroads of the physical and the ethereal realms. You are conscious of both worlds, and your body is calm and relaxed. Know that you are safe, and that if you wish to return to normal waking consciousness, then all you have to do is think about returning to it. You will immediately return to your normal state of mind. For now, you will detach your attention from the physical plane and focus entirely on the inner worlds.

The staircase ends in a dark hallway. The walls are close, and lit by burning torches that fling shadows across the hall. You do not feel afraid, and are filled with a strong feeling of protection. You know that you may return any time you wish, and are filled with confidence of your oncoming journey. You continue walking down the hallway. Ahead of you is a door, made of heavy oak.

Carving: Carved deeply into the wood is an image of a spider.

The spider is hanging delicately from a beautifully crafted web. You run your hand over the smooth wood of the door. It feels very old.

In the exact center of the door hangs a simple brass knocker. You slide your hand over, preparing to knock, but before your hand can close around the cool brass, the door opens. You are drawn to this room, and as you step through the doorway, you know that your journey is beginning.

You step over the doorway, into a world that is foggy. You can barely see what is before you. The air is neither warm nor cool. It is comfortable. The air smells musty, a bit like a library full of old books. The fog is heavy and covers everything. You are afraid of moving because you are unsure of what lies ahead. You timidly take a step, and pause to listen. You hear nothing, so you slowly take another step, and then another. The ground is composed of mostly gravel. You think that you may be on a road of some sort, but not being able to see to the sides makes you uncertain of this. Your first few steps have been uneventful; so you stroll along with a new sense of purpose, but you decide to take your time.

You are straining your ears, but hear nothing but silence. You are so caught up in listening that you do not see the edge of the road. It is covered in fog, and as you step over the edge, you realize what has happened. It is too late for you to balance yourself, and you fall. You cannot see what lies below you; everything is hidden by the murky fog. You are not afraid, you somehow know that you will not be hurt when you land and it is to be so. You land upon something that is sticky; your body bounces once, then again and you stop. The fog appears to be encircling this place, almost as if it emanates from here. You look down and discover that you can see through this thing you have landed on – and then you realize that you have landed upon a gigantic spider web! You cannot see how far the web spans because the fog closes in around its edges. The world is still quiet, and you are unsure of how to get down, when suddenly a gigantic spider, about the size of a dog, quickly drops down in front of you. You stare at her, fearful
for a moment, but she pays you no mind and begins to work on the web. You notice that you broke a few strands in your landing, and you take the next few moments to watch as the spider weaves the strands back together.

[Pause to contemplate the scene you are experiencing] After the web is complete, the spider quickly shimmies back up into the fog. You see the one silky strand that it travels back up glimmering against the fog, and then, as suddenly as it came, the spider is gone. Looking around, you realize that this is the land of the turning wheel, in which all things are intertwined with one another. You greet it, happily, as you would an old friend. Your journey has brought you to the land of the element of Spirit, and you decide to take the next few moments to explore and meet the entities that reside here. Stay as long as you like.

[Pause once more to remember what you have learned] The time has come for you to be on your way home. You are unsure of how you will get back home, so you make your way to the center of the web, where you landed. Looking up, you see nothing but fog. You can see nothing that will help you on your way back. You lower your head, and then you realize that this is the world of thought — the only way to reach the top is to will yourself there. You see yourself floating, up, up, and higher still, when suddenly you realize that you are floating! You are ecstatic and visualize yourself at the top of the cliff. You soon reach it and pull yourself up, glad to be on your own two feet again. You slowly begin making your way back to the door. It is as if you are being pulled, by some unseen force. The landscape is familiar to you, so you stroll casually along; taking one last good look at everything you have seen. You wave goodbye to all that you have seen, thanking them for what they have shared with you.

The doorway begins to loom before you, and you take one last glance behind you. As you turn back to the door, you are once again surprised by the huge spider, which has dropped down to say goodbye. You wish the creature well and watch as it quickly climbs back up. Again, you cannot see where it is going, and it soon disappears in the heavy fog. You have visited the land of the Spirit long enough. You know that if you ever wish to return, you may. You are always welcome here. With that thought in mind, you begin to walk toward the door and quickly cross the threshold.

Staircase Grounding

You are once again in the tight hallway. The torches have begun to burn down, and you know that time has passed. You feel the desire to return to your body and begin to anticipate your return. You close the door behind, taking one last look at the carvings of the Spider with her web upon the door, one more opportunity to run your hands over the smooth old wood. You begin moving down the hallway, heading for the staircase.

You quickly reach the staircase, with a huge white ten painted on the carpet. You begin walking up, past this number. You go past nine, and eight. The staircase curves upward, past seven, and then on around to six. Five . . . four. . . . Three . . . two. . . . And one. You are now in your normal state of waking consciousness. You remember what you have seen, and you can now take the next few moments to record these events in your mirror book.

Copyright The Summer Goddess and TaliLuna

This is actually one of five different path working exercises that will be posted separately. Use each one several times and each time you do use one of the exercises make certain you write down your experiences in some sort of journal kept for this purpose. If you write immediately following your exercise you will be able to remember more of the path working, our minds are structured to add things or fill in gaps in memory so waiting can sometimes change the result of your spiritual growth by changing what you would have written.

I am now going to re-post some of the information that was on my original site, The Summer Goddess.net. This was written by a member of our group that called herself TaliLuna. She did all of the research and wrote this path working herself.

There are two ways to use these path workings, the first is to record the path working with the elemental changes you wish to explore, then lay/sit in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed while you finish your meditations. The second method is to have a partner to assist you by reading the path working to you during the meditations. I feel it is easier to do by myself with recordings of the path working mixed with meditative music but which ever you choose, make certain you know which course you are following in the “map script” before you start and write down any experiences that you have right after you follow the map back to this plane of existence.

Elemental path workings

The following was written by TaliLuna. Each path working has a corresponding symbol that is to be “carved” onto the door found in the induction. This doorway is the doorway that leads to the astral plane. The symbol upon the door is my way of cluing in my super-conscious on what is about to appear. The induction may be continued without any description upon the door; however, the corresponding path working bodies have the description available for you to insert. These carving descriptions are listed before the body. Simply insert it in place of the brackets in the induction.

Staircase Induction

Your eyes are closed, and your spirit is calm. Breathe slowly and deeply, and clear your mind.

Imagine a spiral staircase, surrounded by total blackness. You feel pulled to this staircase, and desire to explore it, knowing that it will lead you to new worlds. Begin to move toward it. See it coming closer, until suddenly you are at the top step. For as far as you can see, the staircase spirals down, deeper and deeper, and is covered in red carpet. Begin walking down the staircase.

As you round the first curve, you see something painted on the carpet; the white number 1 clearly stands out against the red. Descend past this number, continuing deeper and deeper downwards, until you are now standing before the number 2. Continue past this, to the number three, and then four. Deeper and deeper down you go, past the number 5, then 6 . . . 7 . . . 8 . . . and 9. Continue on, until you finally reach the number ten. You are now in the crossroads of the physical and the ethereal realms. You are conscious of both worlds, and your body is calm and relaxed. Know that you are safe, and that if you wish to return to normal waking consciousness, then all you have to do is think about returning to it. You will immediately return to your normal state of mind. For now, you will detach your attention from the physical plane and focus entirely on the inner worlds.

The staircase ends in a dark hallway. The walls are close, and lit by burning torches that fling shadows across the hall. You do not feel afraid, and are filled with a strong feeling of protection. You know that you may return any time you wish, and are filled with confidence of your oncoming journey. You continue walking down the hallway. Ahead of you is a door, made of heavy oak.

Carving: Carved deeply into the wood is an image of a robin.

In the exact center of the door hangs a simple brass knocker. You slide your hand over, preparing to knock, but before your hand can close around the cool brass, the door opens. You are drawn to this room, and as you step through the doorway, you know that your journey is beginning.

The robin has recently landed beside the trunk of a tree, and a worm dangles from its beak. You run your hand over the smooth wood. It feels old.

You step over the doorway, into a world that is just beginning to come to life. The sun is beginning to peak above the nearby mountain tops. Everything around you is covered in dew, which sparkles like tiny diamonds. The air is cool, but not too cold and smells fresh. The scent of the earth is heavy upon the air, mingled with the light perfume of lilacs. Above you, the sky’s bluish-black depths are fading into purple and the last of the stars are beginning to wink goodbye. All around you, plants are sprouting and beginning to grow. The gently rolling mountains are scattered with flowers just beginning to bud.

Two birds land a few feet away in front of you. You realize that it is the robin; the reddish-orange breast quickly giving the male away. You take the next few moments to observe the robins playing.

[Pause to contemplate the scene] The birds suddenly fly away and you realize that this is the land of the East, and you greet it, happily, as you would an old friend. Your journey has brought you to the land of the element of Air, and you decide to take the next few moments to explore and meet the entities that reside here. Stay as long as you like.

[Pause once more to remember what you have learned] The time has come for you to be on your way home. You slowly begin making your way back to the door. It is as if you are being pulled, by some unseen force. The landscape is familiar to you, so you stroll casually along; taking one last good look at everything you have seen. You wave goodbye to all that you have seen, thanking them for what they have shared with you. Two robins appear above you in the air; you wave goodbye to them as well.

The doorway begins to loom before you, and you take one last glance behind you. You have visited the land of Spring long enough. You know that if you ever wish to return, you may. You are always welcome here. With that thought in mind, you begin to walk toward the door. You inhale one last breath of the lilac scented air, and cross the threshold of the door.

[Follow Staircase Grounding below to return home]

Staircase Grounding

You are once again in the tight hallway. The torches have begun to burn down, and you know that time has passed. You feel the desire to return to your body and begin to anticipate your return. You close the door behind, taking one last look at the carvings of the [Insert description] upon the door, one more opportunity to run your hands over the smooth old wood. You begin moving down the hallway, heading for the staircase.

You quickly reach the staircase, with a huge white ten painted on the carpet. You begin walking up, past this number. You go past nine, and eight. The staircase curves upward, past seven, and then on around to six. Five . . . four. . . . Three . . . two. . . . And one. You are now in your normal state of waking consciousness. You remember what you have seen, and you can now take the next few moments to record these events in your mirror book.

Copyright The Summer Goddess and TaliLuna

This is actually five different path working exercises that will be posted separately. Use each one several times and each time you do use one of the exercises make certain you write down your experiences in some sort of journal kept for this purpose. If you write immediately following your exercise you will be able to remember more of the path working, our minds are structured to add things or fill in gaps in memory so waiting can sometimes change the result of your spiritual growth by changing what you would have written.

The path working here in are the soul property of Sheila Wenninger (owner of TheSummerGoddess) and my anonymous friend that used the screen name of TaliLuna in past. As an owner of this path working I am giving permission for my readers to use the meditation for their own personal discovery or to pass the link on to their friends for the same purpose. I am in no way giving permission for this work to be reproduced for anyone’s financial gain. I have made some changes in wording for grammatical reasons and made other changes only to clarify abbreviation or shortcuts used by the author. Please respect her extensive work as I have done and bide by my wishes that she receive all credit for the work she has done.