Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down.
Feel the surface beneath you,
The chair,
The floor,
The bed,
Fully supporting your weight.
You don't need to hold yourself up right now,
The earth is holding you.
Close your eyes and let out a long,
Slow sigh.
Let your shoulders drop,
Let your jaws soften,
Let your body relax.
Take a deep breath in and let it go.
This is your time now,
It is safe to relax.
Bring your awareness to the top of your head and feel a wave of warm relaxation moving down from the crown through your face,
Your neck,
Your shoulders.
Feel it moving down your arms,
Into your hands and fingertips,
Soft and heavy.
Feel that warm relaxation as it flows through your chest,
Down your back,
Your belly,
Your hips,
Softening as it goes into your feet,
All the way to your toes.
With every breath you sink deeper into stillness,
There's nowhere else you need to be,
Nothing else you need to do.
You are here,
You are present,
Guided by my voice and anchored with your breath.
As you breathe,
You feel gentle roots extending from your spine and the soles of your feet growing down into the earth.
Feel how deeply you are connected,
So safe,
So held.
Let your body relax.
Now,
You see yourself standing in a quiet forest,
The air is cool and damp,
Filled with the scent of moss and rich earth.
You are wrapped in a heavy,
Warm cloak.
You feel completely safe here.
Ahead of you stands a giant tree,
So vast its trunk could hold a small room within.
Its bark is gnarled and ancient,
Its roots sprawling like rivers across the forest floor.
You're drawn towards the tree and as you approach,
You notice an opening in the trunk,
Lit from within by a soft,
Golden glow.
You step towards it,
Feeling the crunch of leaves beneath your feet.
You step through the opening in the tree and find a spiral staircase winding down deep into the earth.
Faint light glows from between the roots,
Guiding your way as you begin your descent down,
Down the stairs.
Each step takes you down,
Deeper into the earth,
Deeper into yourself.
Down,
Down,
Down you go.
The air grows cooler at first,
But then warmer,
Pleasantly so,
As you move further down.
Tree roots curl through the soil around you,
Forming archways and windows.
This space feels open,
Airy and alive.
You are entering the belly of the earth.
You are safe here,
Completely safe.
The staircase descends into a vast underground hall.
The ceiling arches high above you,
Woven with roots and glowing softly from luminous fungi and flickering candles.
Small pools of still water reflect the light,
Casting gentle ripples across the space.
At the head of the room sits hell,
On a throne made of entwined roots and bones.
One side of the goddess's face is vibrant,
Alive,
Warm with colour.
The other is bare bone,
Ancient and serene.
Her presence is steady,
Accepting,
Unflinching.
She meets your gaze and gestures for you to come closer.
As you approach,
You feel her grounded,
Rooted strength.
There is no judgement or pretense here,
Only deep seeing.
Hell takes a small object and places it into your hands.
It may be a seed,
A stone,
A bone.
It can be anything that comes into your mind now.
Feel its weight,
Its texture,
Its meaning.
She does not speak,
But you sense her guidance within you.
It might come as a word or an image,
A feeling in your body or a knowing that bubbles up from within.
Allow and make space for whatever arises.
The goddess invites you to lie down on the soft earth at her feet.
The ground is warm and comforting.
The roots curl gently around you,
Holding you safely but gently.
You feel the weight that you've been carrying.
The roles,
The stories,
The identities that no longer fit.
You feel them falling from you now like old leaves from branches.
The soft earth beneath you receives them without judgement.
She knows how to turn loss into new life.
You can rest here in warm and comfort.
Letting go of needing to know what comes next.
You can rest now.
Hell assures you that this is not the end.
This is the fertile dark where new beginnings take root.
When you are ready,
Hell helps you to rise back up.
She looks at you and you know that she sees you in your darkness and your light.
You begin your ascent back up the spiral staircase,
Knowing that any time you need that deep rest cradled in the belly of the earth,
You can find the doorway and come back down.
For now though,
You travel up,
Holding the gift that hell gave you in your hand.
As you travel up,
Each step feels lighter and stronger.
As you go up,
The air grows warmer and brighter,
Until,
Stepping through the opening in the tree,
You find yourself back in the forest.
Your cloak is still around your shoulders,
But lighter now.
The forest alive with quiet possibility.
And now you bring your attention back to your body,
Feeling the surface beneath you.
Feel your breath as it moves in and out.
Start to wiggle your fingers,
Wiggle your toes,
And when you are ready,
Open your eyes.
