An Intro to Pagan Journey Work

Journey work is a foundational way to access the gods because it allows us to set the stage for encountering the liminal.

I've been wanting to make the deities a bigger part of my pagan practice for a while and so that brings me to journey work. Also sometimes called path workings, these are great ways to intentionally encounter the gods. I recently led one for my local pagan group, with lights dimmed and twinkle lights lining the floor, casting a soft intimate glow through the room. Some of my own most intimate spiritual experiences as a pagan have occurred been while doing path workings.

So first off, what are they?

Path workings are like guided meditations, sort of. You relax your body and prepare for a mental journey. Like in a meditation, you can read or listen to someone narrating the scene, describing where you are and what's happening. The difference is that in a path working, we feel that we are really experiencing the scene on some level. We create this location on the astral plane where we are able to go and interact with spiritual beings like deities or guides. And arguably, the more we use this spiritual practice, the more solid and easier to access that place becomes for us.

The path working that I led for my group described walking through a wood until we finally came upon the Celtic goddess Brigid tending a flame. By the end of the working, the goddess had imparted a message to each participant and given them an open-ended gift. We went around the room and discussed what everyone had been given and considered the possible meanings behind the gifts. The fact that we weren't told exactly what the gift was allowed for everyone to have a more personal and meaningful experience with the goddess.

Gnosis, or Encountering the Gods

Path workings involve personal gnosis. "Gnosis" means "knowledge," particularly the knowledge of spiritual mysteries. And so personal gnosis (sometimes called UPG, or unverified personal gnosis) is that knowledge of the gods or spiritual world that is uniquely discovered by you; it's deeply personal. On the other hand, there's universal gnosis. For example, Brigid is a goddess of poets and healers. This information comes from mythology that has been handed down and has become universal knowledge pertaining to Brigid. We all accept this.

So what does personal gnosis look like? This could be something Brigid imparts to you alone, such as that there's really nothing she would love more than if you gave her offerings of blueberries on the regular. Totally random, but you get the point. No one is universally offering blueberries to Brigid. No blueberries to be found in her mythology. It's just you, blueberries and Brigid. And that personal gnosis is totally valid on your spiritual path.

When you begin doing path workings, you will want to find some open-ended meditations with flexibility built in (like the unspecified gift from Brigid) because you want to have the chance to experience the gods for yourself. On the even more open end of the spectrum, you can even create a location on the astral plane where you go and explore on your own. If you have a vivid imagination, this could be entirely of your own making but I find it helpful to have a starting point. Maybe use the same location you met a deity in a guided meditation, such as the grove of trees where we found Brigid.

Resources for Getting Started

I have a few personal favorite resources that have aided me in creating the kinds of experiences we're talking about. They would make good starting points if you're looking to explore this spiritual practice on your own.

Goddess Alive!: Inviting Celtic & Norse Goddesses into

Your Life by Michelle Skye

This book works its way through the Wheel of the Year with

a meditation centered on a different goddess for each

sabbat. These are really well-written meditations that allow

for the kind of freedom we've been talking about where you

will have the opportunity to really experience things for

yourself. I think they'd make a pretty excellent introduction

to journey work.

Avalon Within: A Sacred Journey of Myth, Mystery, and

Inner Wisdom by Jhenah Telyndru

If you are into Avalonian mythology or have ever enjoyed The Mysts of Avalon, this book may be for you. It's a really great intro into the Avalonian Sisterhood tradition of paganism and is full of exercises (including guided journeys) to help you experience and grow within that tradition's framework. One of my most memorable path workings took place in a location described in one of this book's exercises.

Wizards Tarot by Corrine Kenner and John J. Blumen

I was totally intrigued by this tarot deck because of its description

and I think it could really live up to the intrigue if you commit to

using it in a path working-type way.

From the deck's description: "Step through the doors of Mandrake

Academy . . . where you will don the robes of a magical apprentice

and learn from your instructor―the tarot... Progress through the

78-card Rider-Waite-based deck and explore twenty-two enjoyable lessons, as taught by the Empress, professor of herbal magic; the Hierophant, professor of mythology; and other traditional figures who hail from the Major Arcana."

With the deck manual and the beautifully-rendered scenes on the cards, you can lay back and enter the scenes, ready to encounter the fascinating characters described. This is admittedly the most open (and therefore probably most difficult) of all three suggestions because there are no guided meditations and the experience will entirely rely on you interacting with the characters and learning what you will from the Empress, Hermit, etc. (And you could of course use any tarot deck with an extra bit of imagination.)

Your Turn to Journey

I know that if you're not used to this, it can sound weird. Strange. Like some complicated type of adult make-believe. And it does heavily rely on imagination, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Imagination can act as the foundation for spiritual encounters and yep, even personal gnosis.

Whether you think of it as an elaborate psychological ritual, a literal trip to other planes or something in between, it has the potential to be a pretty solid part of your spiritual practice. I would challenge you to set aside some time to try it, journal about your experience, soak it in, and see what you think!