Meditation to meet the Dark Mother

Finding Our Dark Mother

Hekate in the Underworld

Pathworking by David Rankine

Sit down, close your eyes and relax, finding a comfortable breathing rhythm. In your mind’s eye see yourself as you are now sitting in the room. Fix this image in your mind’s eye, so you can see yourself clearly, as you are in the room. Be aware of the walls around you, the floor below and the ceiling above. As you see yourself in the room, see a white mist start to fill the room, rolling in, becoming more and more dense until all around you is white mist, you are surrounded by white mist.

And now the white mist starts to disperse, fading away and leaving you standing on rocky terrain, in front of a cave mouth. Standing to the left of the cave mouth is a yew tree, and to the right of it is a white statue of Hekate, bearing a torch in her left hand and pointing to the yew tree with her right hand. As you take in your surroundings, a beautiful young maiden steps out of the cave, wearing a white tunic, with brown hair and eyes. She offers you two silver coins, obuli to pay the ferryman, you realise. She points at the tree and tells you to pluck a sprig of yew from the tree. When you encounter Kerberus, you must hold the sprig of yew in front of your mouth and blow through it into his nostrils to calm him down.

You thank the maiden and she again gestures, this time into the cave, and tells you that is where your journey will lead you, down into the underworld. You walk past her into the cave, which is lit by torches in brackets on either side, along the walls, and you see that the cave narrows to a tunnel about twenty yards into the rock-face. You walk into the cave and start to walk into the tunnel. The tunnel is lit with torches in brackets on alternate walls every thirty yards, and as you walk you notice that the tunnel is gently sloping downwards. You keep walking, and the slope of the tunnel becomes steeper.
After a while you hear the sound of running water ahead, like a rushing river. The tunnel opens out into a mighty cavern, with a huge river running through it. Looking across the cavern you can just make out the other side, through a mist which rises off the water. As you stand at the riverbank, a boat appears through the mist, punted across by a black-robed figure. The boat reaches the bank where you stand, and the tall, black robed figure, whose face is hidden in the cowl of his robe, silently extends his hand. You realise this is Chiron, the ferryman, and offer him a silver obulus as you get in the boat.
Silently he punts the boat across the water, and as he does so you glance down through the light mist into the water. Spectral figures float in the water, and you know these are the souls of those who cam without the coin to pay the ferryman, and who cannot cross the river Styx to continue their journey. You look up again and see you have reached the other bank of the wide river. As the boat stops, you thank Chiron, who does not reply, and disembark, onto the bank. There is another tunnel in the cavern wall, leading away. This tunnel is lit in the same manner with alternate torches, but it has a flat floor and does not slope.

You walk along the tunnel, with some trepidation as you can hear a loud barking, like several large fierce dogs. However you keep walking and soon the tunnel opens out into another cavern. At the far side is another tunnel, but in front of it stands a huge three-headed black dog. He is growling and barking at you with each of his heads, but you notice there is a chain around his middle neck, which is tied to the wall. Heartened by this you approach, holding the sprig of yew in front of your mouth.

As his middle head darts down at you, you breathe through the yew into his nostrils, and he immediately calms down and goes silent. He seems to have lost all interest in you, so you hurry past him into the tunnel. This tunnel only continues a short distance before it opens up into a huge cavern, its ceiling so high you cannot see it. The walls have a myriad of different colour crystals embedded in the rock, and a marble plinth in the centre of the cavern bears a silver bowl with a blue flame burning in it. The light from the flame is reflected by all the different coloured crystals and reflected throughout the cavern, filling it with a rainbow of light.

You approach the altar, but as you come close to it, the altar disappears and the beautiful figure of Hekate stands in its place. She wears a simple white tunic and a silver circlet in her hair which is embedded with diamonds that shine like stars, or perhaps they are stars. A girdle with a ring of keys on hangs around her waist. Yet despite the disappearance of the flame and the plinth, the cavern is still filled with the rainbow hues of light reflected by the crystals.

Hekate smiles at you and points to the far wall behind her. Amongst the crystals you can see a simple lead-rimmed circular mirror hanging on the wall at head height. As you approach the mirror, Hekate’s voice follows you, and she says “This is a mirror of visions. You may look into it and see the past, the future, other times and other lives. It is for you to work your will on the mirror and see what secrets it will divulge.”
You stand for some time gazing into the mirror, seeing visions and endeavouring to call up images that you need to see. After a while Hekate speaks again, and tells you it is time to depart now. You turn to face her, and realise you do not have a gift for her, as you will need your other coin to cross the Styx again, and you might need the yew sprig again. Looking at the play of a smile on her lips, you know Hekate is aware of your predicament. She tells you, “The best gift you can give me is to follow my ways and spread the mysteries, radiate magic in your actions, and make the world a better place through your deeds.”

Pledging to do so, you thank Hekate and with a backward glance at her, you walk towards the entrance you came in through. You walk down the tunnel into the cavern where Kerberus now lies on the floor. He ignores you as you speed up your pace and hurry across the cavern and down the next tunnel to the bank of the river Styx. The silent figure of Chiron is waiting in his boat to take you back across the river, and as you step into the boat you hand him the second obulus.

Chiron punts the boat across the river and soon you are back at the other bank. You disembark and thank him for his service, but he ignores you and silently punts off into the mist. With a shrug you start to walk up the steeply sloping tunnel towards the surface. As you walk the slope of the tunnel decreases and becomes gentler.

  Soon it has levelled out and you are standing once more in the cave opening out to the world. You walk out of the cave and gaze at the yew tree on your right. You approach the tree and hold the sprig of yew to the branch where you removed it. The sprig reattaches itself as if it was never plucked. Turning around you look again at the statue, and see that Hekate is no longer pointing at the yew, but holds a torch in each hand.

As you stare at the beauty of her statue, and consider how lifelike it is, you notice a white mist rolling in, becoming more and more dense, surrounding you and obscuring your surroundings, so you can no longer see the statue or the tree, or the cave. All around you is white mist. And now the mist starts to disperse, and as it does so you see once more the walls around you, the ceiling above and the floor below. You become aware of yourself in the room once more. You have returned from your journey to meet Hekate in the underworld. Open your eyes and record your experience.