You find yourself floating in the midst of an ocean of water. The water cradles your body in its warm embrace and you feel calm and at peace. As you open your eyes you find you are suspended halfway between the surface and the seabed. As you look up you can see an immense white light and as you look down the light from the surface penetrates the water so you can see the seabed.

You can see a coral reef stretching from horizon to horizon, teeming with fish and sea mammals of all sorts, shapes, and varieties. You drift down towards the seabed so you can better examine all these wondrous creatures. As you glide gracefully down you see a circle of white sand in the midst of the coral reef. Unbidden you glide down towards it and stand in the circle. You can feel the sand under your feet and toes and it feels cool and soft.

Directly in front of you is a cave. It is not dark but somehow filled with light. Your curiosity aroused, you walk into the cave. The walls are covered with a myriad of shell and plant creatures. Mussels, oysters, sea moss and various others that you cannot identify and whose shapes have never been seen before. It does not strike you as odd that all these diverse creatures are gathered in one place. Rather, you feel the sense of harmony that exists between them.

The floor of the cave is filled with the same sand - white, soft and cool to the touch. You wiggle your toes in it. Tiny grains of sand cling in-between your toes and you laugh softly, sending small bubbles spiralling upwards in the water. As you look around, you see that some areas of the cave’s walls are more thickly clustered with creatures than others and you wonder why.

As you venture further into the cave, you notice that the further inside you go, the more diverse the creatures become. One in particular catches your eye and you step closer to examine it. It is a strangely pulsating green colour, the deep green you find in the depths of an undisturbed forest. As you watch it, you notice that rainbows are appearing and disappearing on the surface on the creature. Entranced, you continue to watch.

A soft voice whispers in your mind: "Welcome" and you calmly answer: "Thank you". It does not strike you as odd that the voice is in your mind, rather it seems fitting and you remain calm. It does not strike you as odd either that somehow you are able to breath and speak underwater - rather, you accept it as part of the gift you have been given.

The voice bids you to sit on a boulder near the creature and you comply. It is only now that you notice that you are naked and you remain undisturbed. It is fitting to you that you are naked in this water-land. The boulder feels cool and smooth as you seat yourself. The creature continues to talk to you, telling you what it is that you need to know and then gives you its name, so that you may call it whenever you have need to.

After the creature has finished speaking you notice that the cave is filled with white light which bathes you and you feel refreshed and at peace. You thank the creature for the words it has given you and bid it farewell.

You stand up and walk out of the cave onto the patch of white soft, cool sand. You feel your body rising in the ocean water until you are suspended horizontally halfway again. You relax and your breathing is calm and gentle. Slowly you come back to the place you were in before you started the journey.

WildSpirit© 1998

NOTE: The above image "Atlantis Rising" was kindly loaned by Apollo