Goddess the western world is in a state isn't it. Therefore an uncharacteristically nice post about witchy self soothing.
I'm a great one for white noise. It's actually astounding what it can do for you up to and including fixing tinnitus and helping sleep.
But it's strange to listen to and it doesn't conjure up any emotions or happy places. For that I prefer the ambient sound - there's loads and loads on YouTube - that also brings up the association of an experience or place. For example I like being on a train, so if I want to go somewhere nice I quite often put on the sound of a train journey and go off into fantasy land. It sounds more like the lower-frequency brown noise.
I mentioned having a happy place and of course this is a technique used in mental health therapy. In a slightly different form this technique is also used in many traditions of witchcraft. Here it is often used to make a virtual temple where you can go to in your head. Mine is an altar in a forest clearing. In the virtual temple you also of course have access to virtual magic that you don't have on the earth plane.
I was introduced to this by the very first book I read on witchcraft which was by Laurie Cabot. Her tradition has a technique called counting down to alpha, and she encourages a visualisation aid to help with this. I'm not good at getting down to alpha waves but I discovered that I'm damn good at visualisations that attain their own reality. So I did practice counting down to alpha with a visualisation of a spiral staircase. So a simple technique for this is simply to picture a happy place or refuge in your head. Let it become real, wander round it and experience what is there with your senses.
Years ago I seriously considering applying to be a lighthouse keeper (when there were such things) and in fact lighthouses appear a lot in my visualisation of safety and refuge. I don't agree with the standard dream interpretation of the lighthouse that it's about being a beacon of hope to others, in my case my lighthouse thing is purely because I'm antisocial! My lighthouse thing will go away for a while and then grabs me again and I'll start watching films about them and stuff. And a dream lighthouse makes a perfect refuge.
I have been very conscious as I've been writing this post how Freudian the imagery all is - trains, spiral staircases and lighthouses - and am making a point of saying it before anyone says it!
Yes, it is in a state... and the train has left the station. We all could use a refuge and Happy Place to retreat to right about now.
ReplyDeleteYes. Away from the hoards of people denying there's a train at all!
DeleteI love songs that represent the sounds of trains in them. Here's one of my favorites from someone I adore, Neko Case who spent a number of years in the Pacific Northwest and the mood of it still lingers in her songs. I grew up in a blue-collar railroad town. Sometimes I would "catch" the train from one end of town to the other (the non-passenger kind.) You had to get off before high bridge because once it crossed over it picked up speed and you wouldn't be getting until 200 miles later IF it slowed for Ellensburg, otherwise, you were stuck until Seattle or Everett. https://youtu.be/AMgkop02h7s
ReplyDeleteI also love lighthouses. I don't think of them as beacons of hope, but guardians that overlook the sea. The spiral staircase makes me think of the side view cut of a nautilus shell. Interestingly, I felt the need to wear my nautilus shell necklace all last week but I don't know why.
I love that song! Thank you for introducing me to her!
DeleteIs there something in your life that needs to be put into its correct compartment or place as symbolised by the shell? Although TBH needing to compartmentalize and order things would be a natural reaction to the news on a daily basis so that may not be that helpful!