Vision Night

For the past month-and-a-half I have been sleeping in extremely late to the point that I have been waking up in the afternoon, and this erratic pattern of sleep has devolved into me almost being entirely unable to catch even a moment of sleep at all during the evening!  Unfortunately, last night was no reprieve from my seeming insomnia as I shut everything down several hours early and lay in bed with my eyes closed for what seemed like hours, and still sleep would not come.  Eventually I thought I would try to lower my brain waves down into an Alpha State of Consciousness, which has usually worked in the past without fail.  But, while it did not result in any restful sleep for me, in the middle of the process of "deepening" my Alpha-state, I ended up having not one, but two, very brief visionary experiences before my Conscious Mind could realize what it was observing:

In the first vision I found myself standing on a carpet of soft green grass in the midst an ancient Neolithic stone circle.  Then, I saw a rather large Raven--the epiphany of the Goddess whom I serve, The Morrighan--who carried a long black coiled silk chord in Her beak that was punctuated along its length by a series of white, almost translucent, spherical beads.  She flew in a pattern of three concentric circles within the perimeter of the Stone Circle before flying away as ordinary Consciousness eventual grasped hold and escorted me from my vision.  I believe that the Goddess wants me to craft for Her a strand of Prayer Beads for use in both worship and spell-work.  Traditionally, a Prayer Chord is employed for Devotional work with a spirit of a Deity; while a Witch's Ladder--within contemporary Traditional Witchcraft--is typically employed to keep track the number of chants in a spell when necessary so as not to interfere with the work of the Mind.  In Folk-Lore, however, a Witch's Ladder is what we would imagine to be a "Witch Chord" or "Spell Chord" that has a chiefly Magickal function and operates to make some change to our own or another's reality.  We usual tie Objects of Power in them, affirming the spell with each knot we fashion.  In antiquity, however, Witch's Ladder's were believed to be Magickal Charms of Great Power.  Each knot could contain wind or storms, with a greater effect for each knot that was untied.  Sailors may have kept such a chord on their ships, purchased from the village Wise Woman or Cunning Man, as a safe guard when out at sea during a time when ships were propelled by their sails instead of by a motorize convention.  But, a Witch's Ladder could just as easily be modified for use in acquiring a lover or wealth.

My second and final vision of the night involved me standing in the heart of a very small Medieval village somewhere in Europe as a large brown bear was attacking, having wandered into the Village Square from the forest, presumably in search of food.  From what I remember, there was a woman in her early twenties and a child standing on opposite sides of the street, with the bear in the between them.  I am unsure if I was supposed to be the young woman or the child, but the woman screamed for the child to run who was frozen in fear.  The bear, however, hearing the woman scream behind it turned and took her life with one swipe from its massive claw before giving chase to the young girl.  It seems relatively certain to me that I may have experience the final moments of a past life.  I do not feel that the woman and the girl were related, but they were clearly very familiar with each other as one might expect in a village of this size.

After these two visions, sleep still did not come as I tossed in bed for what seemed like hours before my mind finally managed to quiet down and give me some precious rest.  Over the coming months I shall keep my readers informed of the progress on the design and creation of my Pagan Prayer Beads for An Morrighan.

In Her Service,

Wade MacMorrighan