My Journey To The Otherworld . . .

One summer's night, fourteen years ago, I had the good fortune to journey into The Bright Lands of Ceugant and be able to come back to this world to tell the tale. (For those of you that are unfamiliar with Welsh Cosmology, Ceugant is The Highest Of Realms - The Home Of The Gods - The Otherworld).

Now while this was my 4th of seven NDE's (Near Death Experiences), I have always found this particular NDE to be one of the most "powerful" (for lack of a better word) of them all.

The NDE that this particular event took place in, was what I refer to as my 'Air' death.

You see, each of my first four deaths corresponded to one of the four elements: Drowning (Water), Brown Recluse Bite (Earth), Scarlet Fever (Fire) and Asphyxiation (Air). The other three NDE's all happened Aug. of 2006 in my car crash, when I died three times in the Life Flight helicopter on the way to the Hospital. But I digress... let's get back to that summer's night...

This was a night of glorious passion... and as my love and I are very adventurous, well, let's just say that things got a tiny bit out of hand and before he knew it I was no longer breathing. But my soul was very much alive and traveling fast - backwards.

You know how people say that when they die, they see a bright light at the end of a tunnel and they begin to travel towards it? Well not for me - I was floating in total darkness, but I could feel myself moving, at a very great speed, as if I was in a roller-coaster going straight backwards at Mach 10.... then, all of a sudden, I start to slow down, WAY down. And that's when the best part began... all of a sudden, I realize that I am slowly, gently, moving backwards out of the center of a beautiful, red poppy!

I can't be sure, but I think I am in the form of a honeybee! Because of how I move away from the poppy... and because I just "feel" that I am a honeybee. (Which is really interesting, because my birth name is Greek for "honey-bee" and honeybees in ancient times were considered to be messengers to The Gods). So as I move further back from the poppy, I begin to change and take human form and I realize that I am standing naked in an immense field of red poppies! They go on and on for as far as the eye can see... simply breath-taking!

And to the North of me, (how I know it's "North" is beyond me, I just know), there is the most perfect shaped, purple hued mountain I have ever seen! It is glorious! There is no snow on this mountain, just shades of purples and blues... and the sun is shining down upon me, I can feel it's gentle warmth, but there is no sun in the sky anywhere - nor any clouds! Just a perfect, cloud-free, azure sky with a gentle breeze blowing in my face.

So here I am thinking, "I must have died... and I am with my Gods now... this is The Summerlands... how beautiful..." and the feeling of the most absolute comforting love and happiness washed over me and I felt as though I never wanted to leave - when WHAM! I am being pulled backwards at such a fast rate that I can't see anything around me, and with a great force I am once again back in my body in this world.

I am so blessed to have known this experience, because I'll tell you what - it has surely given me the reassurance of that Shining Land beyond! I meet folks who say, "Yeah, but how do you really know that there's something beyond this life?" and I can honestly say that I have seen that Sacred Otherworld, The Holy Mountain... and I know for a fact that there is something out there beyond this mortal life.... and it is LOVE.