106. The Spiritual Landscape in the Astral Body

© 2003 Athene Bitting All Rights Reserved

CVI

Aspects of the Astral Body:

Your Spiritual Landscape

Lecture based Questions:

1. Draw or describe a reminder or symbol of one of your helpers.

2. What is my Spiritual Landscape, and what is it for?

The Astral Body is a complex organism compared to the physical body. Because of the capabilities of the fourth dimension, your Astral Body is able to attend to many activities and types of consciousness at the same time. All these Astral actions have effects on the physical body and on the environment around it. Like everything in the Astral Body, the Spiritual Landscape is a constant fixture until the 3DI.

The Spiritual Landscape is only one facet(you could call it an organ, kinda like the liver) of the many-layered Astral Body. You could even call it an organ of sorts. Its function is to maintain the psychological parts of the psyche. Carl Jung dug into this subject as he discovered that fairy and folk tales had a profound effect upon and connection with the unconscious mind. The Australian Aborigines call it Dream Time.

Technically speaking, the SL is a mini-bardo that extends from your AB. It usually has features from nature, buildings, people, and animals. These are all parts of the Astral consciousness and therefore speak through the way that we interact with our circumstances and other people. Every experience that impressed your Astral Body has an image/replication living in your Spiritual Landscape, because it became a part of who you are.

3. What does my Spiritual Landscape look like?

Each SL includes natural scenes that have been important to a person throughout several lifetimes. It can be quite large—encompassing continents at times if necessary—and so you can imagine the variety of mountains, caverns, swamps, rivers, oceans, plateaus, meadows, cities, villages, castles, hovels, and suburban tracts that would exist there. Each place symbolizes something to the person. These tend to follow a universal meaning shared by nearly everyone.

4. Who are the people that live in my Spiritual Landscape?

Each person and animal in your SL is a living thoughtform that is also part of your personality.

So your archetypal parents are there, as are your archetypal brother and sister and other people that represent different creative or destructive parts of your generative self. These all fall into the main categories of animus and anima.

The animals that reside in your SL could be called totems. They represent certain gifts that you have collected throughout your past lives and can be helpful in overcoming problems.

Of course, your Dweller on the Threshold also lives here. This very important aspect heralds transitions in consciousness and challenges your repressed feelings.

5. How can I use my Spiritual Landscape to improve my life?

There will never be anybody but you admitted into this highly personal realm of drama and adventure. Therefore only you can change things in it that need to be fixed. By healing your SL, you also heal your life and your relationship to the people around you.

We can do this in the dream state, either in alpha or theta brain wave activity. When we do this while we are awake, we can impose certain ideas onto the SL that seem to be very effective.

For example, if you had an issue with your physical father, he probably shows up in your SL as several different people. He might be a king, a traveler, a hooded figure of mystery, someone who only is seen at night, etc. Of course, you must keep in mind that the relationship with your father is merely a reflection of your subconscious command, and is the product of many lifetimes of karmic choices. When you address these characters and make peace with them, you are doing more than addressing a single person. You heal your relationship with your “outer” father and also set the stage for future father-child relationships hereafter. You also increase your ability to succeed in worldly matters, as the father’s role in any family is to extend the bridge of power to the children so that they learn his skills in work and business relationships.

6. Exercise: Look Ho! A healing up ahead!

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul.

—William Ernest Henley, Echoes No. 4, In Memoriam R.T., Hamilton Bruce (“Invictus”), st.4

Although the outline is the same for everyone who reads this, the experience will vary with individual needs and feelings. When the story asks you a question, use only the answer that first flashes into your mind. There are no right or wrong answers, only indications of what will bring you to your point of healing in a certain matter.

•Sitting quietly so that your body does not distract you, breath normally. Your hands should be relaxed and not felt.

•Imagine that you are alone on the deck of a small golden boat, gliding along over the surface of a quiet ocean. Nothing to be seen for miles and miles but blue skies, fluffy clouds, and the seemingly endless sea of turquoise tropical water. There is no hunger or thirst, only you and the beauty around you.

•A dolphin approaches the boat and regards you. You need to ask the dolphin for directions to the nearest port. The dolphin says, “I will take you there if you give me the golden ring on your hand.” WHICH HAND IS THE RING ON?

•You give the ring to the dolphin, who slips it onto its dorsal fin and proceeds to swim ahead of your boat. Soon you see the outline of land ahead. You thank the dolphin for helping you so nicely. It swims off. You can see the golden ring glistening on the back of the dolphin as it disappears into the distance.

•When you enter the port, you enjoy the many colorful flags and banners flying and fluttering on the sides of the quaint buildings. The people there seem very busy and talkative. The port master is very distinguished and wears an elaborate uniform. You ask him how to get to the healing farm.

•He looks you up and down. “Healing farm! Where do you need a healing?” You point to the place on your body that you most feel needs work. WHERE ON YOUR BODY DID YOU POINT?

•The port master gives you the correct directions. You walk out of town and follow a path through a forest. IS THE FOREST THICK AND DARK OR DOES SOME LIGHT SHINE THROUGH?

•At the center of the forest is a large meadow, and here is the small farm that is your destination. Several people live here—an elderly married couple, a middle aged couple, some children and teenagers. All are relaxed and happily doing the chores of the farm.

•The elderly couple bring you inside to the farm house and have you sit at the kitchen table. They bring you a refreshing cup to drink. It looks yummy so you drink it down quickly. WHAT IS IN THE CUP?

•The middle aged couple bring you a plate of good solid food. The sight of it fills you with desire and you eat it with gusto. WHAT IS ON THE PLATE?

•The children ask you to play a game with them when you are finished eating. You play and play—Ring-Around-the-Rosies, horse shoe toss, checkers, and poker! You win at poker and the children present you with a beautiful prize. WHAT IS THE PRIZE?

•Now the women come to you and say that you must lie down for the healing to be complete. They put a steaming hot linen bandage on the place that needs treatment. They place magical herbs on the bandage and then another linen piece over it. They place their hands on the poultice and chant magical words. As they chant, the men beat enchanted drums to the rhythm of the women’s words. You feel a tingling and buzzing in the healing place. It gets warmer and warmer until it feels really hot. The chanting and the beating of drums continues for a long time. It seems as though you have been lying there for seven years.

•Then the chanting and drums stop and the women remove the poultice. The women say to you, “You must bless the illness that we have removed before you can be free from it.” You say, “Go with my blessing and good will into the Light. From now on, enjoy happiness and sweet living.” All the children yell a big cheer.

•You feel different from when you began your voyage. You thank your friends at the healing farm for their help. The men step forward and tell you, “Take this talisman with you as a keepsake of your difficulty. Remember that from now on, you have given yourself permission to be free from worry and trouble. Every step creates strength and healing.” You thank them and put it in your pocket. WHAT IS THE TALISMAN?

•You return to the harbor town and to your small boat. You float into the great ocean of peacefulness.