Working your Woo: Building Your Inner Temple 1.4
Setting your pathways — your first proper exploration of the Inner Worlds
When I went into my Inner World to open the doors to the four directions, I decided to open the North first. I was expecting a door and maybe a pathway leading…somewhere. It’s how I usually start out. As soon as I took three steps in the direction I had chosen as ‘North’, I suddenly found myself sitting in a sleigh piled with furs and blankets, pulled through a snowy landscape by a large cob horse with jingling tack and sleighbells. Unexpected Inner Temple Trolling: 2, me: 0. It was very much there though, not just a bit of brain theatre, the hiss of sleigh skids, the crunch of hooves on snowpack, the rough leather of the reins in my hands, and the utter stillness that only a snowy forest can create was all in evidence. It was beautiful and peaceful…and I have no idea what any of it is for. I think it leads me somewhere, but I’m not sure yet; time will tell. The important bit is that the way is now open, and ready to use.
It would be very easy to get sucked into decorating your Inner World temple like you’re playing Second Life (no, you agonised about what colour of carpeting to put beneath the centre pedestal of your Inner Temple). But setting up a nice visual display isn’t the core purpose for opening the temple. Yes, your Inner World space is a place of rest and peace and you can adapt it accordingly, but it is a place of power and work first and foremost. A properly functioning workspace needs to have inflow and outflow, otherwise you’re working in a vacuum.
It also needs to stay protected; I used work with four elemental glowing lines along the floor to my main core (sort of like leylines) from the four directions. I stopped doing this practice because I often felt like I was inviting things I couldn’t control into the centre of my working space. A door has a different feel to it; it can be left open, or it can be shut and locked, and I preferred that level of control.
Opening the ways to the four directions and to Above/Below is how you really get your practice going. Once the power from the universe flows, everything and anything is possible. This is an immensely powerful practice, and it will truly open your eyes to how strong Work can be. However, it isn’t always going to be a nice process, and it doesn’t make you the Grand Master of Woo. Woo for me manifests with a heaping dose of migrane, nausea and fatigue, angels are freaky, and the Worlds abound with things that don’t give a crap about your salt circle. Be respectful in your dealings on this plane, be humble in your power, and don’t act like a jerk. The planes are heavily populated by locals, and we are the new visitor on the block who rented a cabin for a weekend.
For the purposes of this practice, we will work with the premise I gleaned from my teachers and from decades of creating Inner Temples. Try it as I have written it, and then adapt it to suit your personal circumstance once you have more experience.
One word of caution; once you do this working, it means you are now on Google Maps in the Inner Worlds. This is both a blessing and a burden; you may be able to find the energy you need to work, but you also now are noticeable to anything else which may wish to find you. This is why I have put in the added protection of leaving the circle unbroken. Only invite energy into your space, and nothing else. If you wish to find someone — teachers, mentors, guides, what have you — you will journey out of the doors you are about to create. This again will make sure your space stays safe, secure, and powerful.
Please read through the ritual way below, because we’re going to open your Inner Temple and activate it for use. This is the last lesson in the series, but there are quite a few steps and it would be good to read through first so you know what to plan for in advance.
Turn off your smartphone and make sure you have some time to work uninterrupted. Do your purification before you begin work, whether by washing your hands, or a quick shower. Settle into your posture for your meditations, and proceed through your meditations to arrive at your Inner Temple circle, and then make your way to the centre altarspace or focal point you created in the previous exercise. Now, turn to the direction you have determined as East — if you can’t determine this, turn to your right, and understand this as your Eastern point from now on. Walk toward the circle edge in a straight line and stop at the edge of your salt or chalk circle.
Here, I want you to use your hand or index finger to draw a door in space. Do not swipe away the salt or chalk off the ground. It can stay where it is. Just work on the door itself, and allow a door or an archway to manifest before you. The east is the element of air, ideas, and inspiration. You could envision a door made of glass marked with the alchemical element of Air, or some other runic interpretation, or you could just let something come to you. It may change over time into something else entirely, and it may surprise you. Just understand in the core of yourself that you are looking at the way to the East.
Take a good look through the door, without stepping through. The view through your doorway may look totally unlike the view behind you, or it may look the exact same. It may change entirely over time. Any of these scenarios is fine. Just observe, and feel a breeze coming from the door, blowing into your temple space. Be consciously aware of the protection of your temple, which will stop anything coming in uninvited.
Now, look down at the left of the door that has manifested, and see a ball of golden yarn, with one end that sinks down into the ground, more like an umbilical than something tied to a nail. For the purpose of this exercise, this is your guide thread. Every time you venture out the Eastern door, you will carry this ball of golden yarn into your pocket. It will never run out, it cannot be cut, and you cannot use it. It may change shape: it may become a lantern, or a candle, or a light switch you can use to turn the East Porch light on (don’t laugh, it works!). But it will help to guide you back home once you’re done exploring the East ways, and you should make sure it’s there.
Leave the East doorway open; don’t close it for the purpose of this exercise. Now, walk to your right along your circle until you come to the demarkation for ‘South’ — this is why your working space can’t be too big, as you will need to use where your centre Temple space is in order to orientate — and do the same process. Here, you could use the alchemical symbol for fire on a plain door, the arch could be made of fire tornados, or a burning arch. As long as it represents this to you in some way. Look through the doorway or space beyond, and take a note of the surroundings. Feel the heat from inspiration, action, will and intensity coming from this direction. Look again for a candle, or a ball of yarn, or lantern or what have you (don’t rely upon the light of the gate itself).
Once this imagery has solidified, leave the South way open and walk to your right along the circle edge until you are directly opposite of your eastern doorway. This is West, and you may again bring forth the idea of water here; a door with the alchemical symbol, a door made of water hanging in space, or of coral and shells and kelp, or something along those lines. This is where your intuition and emotional/spiritual connection resides. Look through your doorway and make a note of what you see beyond, and take time note whatever home guidance tool has manifested beside the door. Leave this way open
Finally, make your way again along the circle to where you make the door for North. Go through the same steps as before. This may be a stone arch, or trees joined together, or perhaps look like a cave…or, if you’re me, apparently you end up in a forest drawn by a one-horse-open-sleigh. This is the direction of deep introspection, grounding, ancestral memory. Gaze into the area beyond and make a note of what you see, and manifest and reinforce your personal homing beacon or ball of golden yarn to guide you back. Leave this way open.
Now, walk back to the East way, and then down to the centre of your Inner Temple. This way, you are actively closing the circle rather than just cutting down from the North. Once you are at the centre point of your space and what you’ve chosen to represent that centre from the previous exercise (for me it kind of resembles Galadriel’s Mirror) concentrate upon the golden light from Above burning as big as the sun, and the light of Below shimmering and cool as the moon beneath your centre point. Allow the lights to come together into a brilliant star that meets upon the very surface of your centre point.
In whichever words you wish (as long as they are your own), call upon the four directions to join with your Inner Temple. It can be as simple as ‘I call upon the North, East, West and South to grant their energy and power to my sacred space’. There may be lights like leylines running to the centre of your Temple space and coalescing in your main altar. It may just be a sudden breeze that stirs around you, then fades. It may be more, or less dramatic, but once done, understand that your Inner World is now aligned to all directions.
Now, you may wish to stay in your Inner Temple a bit longer and familiarise yourself with the feeling of a fully charged space. This is useful because if it starts to feel ‘off’ in future, then you may need to reconsecrate the space. This is your workspace from now on…and yes, now is when you can fuss about adding furniture and touches which make it feel like your space. There’s nothing wrong with it. Just be sure before you leave this space to close all your doors and entries, much like locking a house before you leave.
And there you are: this is the basics of setting up your Inner Temple. There is a lot more which can be done from here: travelling each individual way and learning from who and what you find there, bringing your important spellwork to this Temple and moving away from creating altars in this reality (very useful if having a physical altar is problematic or dangerous for one reason or another). Once you have the rudimentary steps down, you can add what works for you. Experiment, play, and figure out what works best for you. The best way to do that is to use the space, not just plan it, and not worrying about what might happen if you don’t do it exactly as I’ve described.
I wish you a good journeys in a whole new realm of experience, learning, and power.
