Shamans return to the world of the living with conscious knowledge of the inner realms.
R. Grimassi
Shamanic line drawings trace a path through ‘swaying places’ (trials/obstacles) marked by water, sand & clouds.
The Book of Symbols 430
Ascent origin = ascendere (Latin) to climb, or freedom from weight. Oft paired with descent. May signify the volatilizing of a solid / the spiritualizing of matter / making conscious unconscious projections. Integration of polarities. In alchemy, ascent must necessarily be followed by descent, (shaman returns to body).
Descent may bring something suspended in the conceptual or potential into realization. It suggests burdens, sensuality-pleasure/pain. It coagulates and realizes. It is the volatile spirit that acquires matter. Transformation in the dark places must lead to rebirth, (unless you don’t return). Bring up your tempered self into consciousness.
I might have spent this entire life wandering listlessly in search of home, a sanctuary where I would not feel outsider. Over time, I pieced together experiences. Running after projected hopes always lead to more confusion and pain. The gates to strange beauty and mythical being, the echo and reverberation of existance’s uncanny mystery are inside my own mind. Indeed, my imagination, the imagination, is a portal and pathway into the Other World that I pursued: It is the meeting place of spirits, the seedbed of ancient trees, the clearing of the druid’s grove. The ladder descends into as quickly and endlessly as it extends outward, into the night. It descends into a place that is at once disorientation and rebirth. When I climb out, I remind my other selves to listen to the whisperings of the deep water that laps at my ankles as I go about my chores and daily doings.