A wild hedge separates civilization and untouched forest
Hedgecrossing, travelling, flying, astral travel, out of body experience, trance, altered states of consciousness… It doesn’t matter what you call it as all the words refer to the same practice. Hedgecrossing is a modern term taken from the German tongue less than a decade ago to refer to crossing between worlds in European Witchcraft. Even though the word is modern, magical practitioners have been “hedgecrossing” for millennia. There is no one way to walk between worlds – there are many. The ability to walk between worlds is found in both witchcraft and shamanism as well as ancient Pagan religions (especially those with ecstatic cults). It is experiential and cannot be taught to someone without the innate ability. It is something either you can do or cannot do. This is not folk magic – not everyone can walk between worlds. Certain factors predispose ability such as being caul-born, being born with the second-sight, a traumatic experience or near-death experience, being chosen by the spirits and granted the ability, and such-like. Some travel between worlds without realizing they have done so: “was that a dream, was it a vision? Am I seeing things?” You’d better find out! If one does not have the ability to commune with spirits, to talk to the gods, and to see between realms — one will not have the ability to walk between the worlds.
I have to say this – visualization and guided meditations are NOT walking between worlds or trancework – they’re painting a lovely picture of doing so in your head. If you are still in your head, you are not walking between worlds. Any practice where you are using only your imagination and not actually leaving this reality or your body is not hedgecrossing.
Crossing in the Body
Yes, you can cross between the worlds while still in your body. This requires an ability to achieve altered states of consciousness or perception (aka trancework) which gives one the ability to see into the otherworld and commune with the spirits dwelling there. You should be in two places at once when travelling in the body with a foot in both worlds. Your soul is still in your body but all your senses are in the otherworld so you can see, hear, and feel in the other realm. This can be practiced both indoors and outdoors. Crossing while in your body can be used to consult your deities, spirit guides, animal familiars, or plant allies. It can also be used to commune with land spirits (genius loci), talk to the spirits of a graveyard, or for divinatory purposes.
Walking between worlds while still in the body involves finding thresholds between the worlds and calling on the right spirit or god, or the right incantation in order to pass through. This also depends on the magical tradition you practice. If you have difficulty with trancework there are physical practices you can try instead. Such practices include: standing on the threshold of your front door while standing on one leg with one eye closed; finding a place in the wood where the forest meets a meadow and ask to be let in or simply stand there and read prophetic signs in nature; standing at a three or four-way crossroad; or go to a place where land, water, and sky are all present (the sea is best but a lake or stream will do). Other methods include drumming, ecstatic dance, and breathing or meditation techniques.
The dangers of travelling physically still in your body can include: getting lost in the otherworld; ingesting food or drink there without realizing you’re in the otherworld and having your soul trapped there; returning to your own realm to find years or decades have passed by since you left; or making malevolent spirits aware you can see them which may result in their attacking you or trying to possess you.
Crossing out of Body
In this method the soul leaves the body in the form of a non-corporeal spirit or by the spirit shapeshifting into the form of an animal in order to journey to the otherworlds or a destination in this world. The part of your soul known as the fetch is usually the part that does the most travelling. When it leaves your body it can take on the shape of an animal that you are the most spiritually connected to. How you travel when leaving your body can help you to find out what your closest animal familiar is. Do you run across the ground or climb trees? Do you soar through the air or fly to great heights? It won’t be easy right away. It may take try after try to actually free yourself from your body. It takes great trust – trust in yourself and trust in your spirit guides. You must love your body and want to come back to it when your journey is finished. This is very important. The best way to travel is to fall 
into the little-death which is the place between sleep and awake. Consistent repetitive drumming is very useful to induce this state. Dreaming is not travelling so if you fall asleep know that you were not successful. If however you fall into something resembling REM sleep within just a few minutes of lying down know that you are travelling because this type of sleep does not happen so quickly. You can also tell if you are not dreaming if you dream the same “dream” consistently all night from falling asleep until waking and do not feel rested at all. REM sleep is usually sporadic and broken up in to multiple dreams. Keep a blank book by your bed or in your temple space and write down your experiences so you can learn to tell the difference between dreaming and travelling. Once you know how to tell when you are travelling, start attempting to control your actions and reactions while experiencing it.
The Otherworld and Underworld contain many stray paths, wander down the wrong one while travelling and you will either come back insane, not come back at all, or something else will come back instead. Be aware of the risks before attempting to start out. When you are journeying you have no control over the landscape nor sometimes where you go or what spirits appear to you. But you still have power there and it is always the best and safest practice to have your spirit guides travel with you to protect you and give you advice while there. When you first decide to start walking between worlds it is best to have an experienced teacher present to guide you through the process and also to act as your “spotter” should anything bad happen. They can pull you back out, make sure a spirit doesn’t take off with your soul, or make sure a spirit doesn’t possess your body while you’re gone. It is also best to only travel when it is needed, not just for kicks or to try it out. Such reasons include to seek important knowledge, to seek help, to travel a great distance, or to meet with other witches or shamans you cannot in person.
The shamans of old would only journey between worlds if everything else they tried for a working failed first. They took many safety precautions before heading out – wearing protective ritual costume, protective amulets, or calling a guardian spirit to guard their body while they are gone on top of the spirits they call to travel with them into the otherworld.
If you do not have a teacher to rely upon it is best to work with your familiar spirits and the deities who guard the crossroads, the entrances to the other realms – both the underworld and otherworld – the psychopomps. Some can open a door so spirits can come to you, others open a door so you can go to them – the latter is much more dangerous. I would say start working with spirits before attempting to travel between worlds. The spirits can protect you and aid you while there, give you advice and help you stay on course for you purpose… whether it is gleaning hidden knowledge, retrieving the stolen soul of a patient, or battling an enemy. Keep in mind you may not like what you see while walking between worlds. There may be things that upset you or scar you and you may not wish to return. I have seen fields of death and have been frightened out of my wits. Some spirits will purposely scare you to see how you react and see if you can handle it. It is important to stay sane and grounded. To experience the fear, but let it pass through you and not consume you.
Further Reading:
- Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic by Emma Wilby
- Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath by Carlo Ginzburg
- Etheric Anatomy: The Three Selves and Astral Travel by Victor Anderson
- North Star Road: Shamanism, Witchcraft, and the Otherworld Journey by Kenneth Johnson
- Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages by Claude Lecouteux
An Excellent post. I had a few “Ah-ha” and “so that’s why” moments while reading this. These articles are greatly appreciated, especially by one who’s trying to figure this stuff out “alone”. I found this very helpful.
–Rick
I so enjoy the articles that you post. Often they somehow resonate with understanding that I didn’t even know to be there (If that is sensible).
Thank you very much fellas! Comments like yours keep me motivated to keep writing about things as I figure them out myself. One of the biggest lessons any magical practitioner can learn is that this is all real – the gods, spirits, the other realms, shapeshifting, and travelling are all real. The experience that leads to this knowledge can be both the most joyous and frightening time in a witch’s life.
You’re never alone Bluedruid, the gods and your spirits are always watching you and with you. Failing a physical teacher, you can always draw on them, but from reading your blog I’d say you already do
how do i get someone out of the other world…
If someone is dead they should stay there. If someone was astral travelling and didn’t come back or not all of them came back, I’d hire a shaman to do a soul retrieval. It’s serious business retrieving a soul.
It’s not uncommon for me to lie down and journey all night. Being aware of the world around my body, and simultaneously doing strange and wondrous things “also in my body”
However, the line between “dreaming” and “working travel” is not always very clear. You might be interested in reading Psychic Dreamwalking by Michelle Belanger (if you have not done so). Dreamwalking can be indispensable for working with others. Specifically, getting into the head-spaces that matter to them, and creating change.
This was an great post!
I truly enjoyed it.
There was so much information that i had never heard before.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Great post. I think one of the most important points you hit on several times is that it’s almost always necessary (and always preferable by far) to have spirits helping you, either directly or at least in an overall way. Developing long-term, complex relationships with a number of spirits is essential to most of this work, and yet often overlooked by modern practitioners.
Oh, and as for “crossing in the body,” another resource I’d recommend is Raven Kaldera’s work on “pathwalking” (same thing, walking in two worlds at once): http://www.northernshamanism.org/nine/index.html.
Thanks! I haven’t heard of that title, but I have visited his website before and was impressed. I love your comment as well – it is good to hear.
The only way I see modern practitioners cross in the body without the help of spirits is with their “circles” and other similar methods. They call on the elements and nondescript guardians of the four directions and sometimes are successful in opening a door to the otherworld. Others don’t realize opening a door is what the purpose of a circle is. Most of such rituals I’ve been to did not involve communing with spirits or deity in any way – just inviting them to watch their ritual or spell. After half a dozen times of this happening the spirits and deities just stop showing up.
People have forgotten about the spirits, have stopped believing in spirits, and have stopped leaving offerings to spirits. It saddens me and it saddens the spirits – they are lonely and some more than a little bitter. Most importantly they are REAL. But that’s a whole ‘nother bit of writing…
Slainte!
Sarah
this is an amazing and extremly helpful post. I love reading your articles and have yet to find a more helpful and informational blog. thank you sooooo much. Keep writing
Great post! My experience is limited to lucid dreaming, experiences much like Scylla is describing with the full awareness of my body as I’m going places, and then of being outside and being very aware that it’s not just outside, it’s that ‘other’. I’ve also danced with drum circles out of doors and felt catapulted, just about, by the energy this produces when the circle has its back to the wind. It is really unparalleled.
If I could make a suggestion…
It is really really important to be well and fully rested before practicing these nifty skills. If you body is exhausted from lack of sleep or overwork, your mind is not too far behind in the exhaustion area, and that can lead to errors in judgment and problems later on. Exhaustion from physical exertion meant to bring on an altered state is quite different from wear and tear on the body and psyche from not getting enough sleep and physical rest.
Thanks Sara! And thank you for sharing your experiences.
I agree that one should not attempt to travel when emotionally exhausted or overwhelmed as well as not when one is ill – just as with any magic. However, when one is experiencing emotional upheavals and has a heavy heart, they will not be capable of travelling anyway.
I disagree in part with your last statement though. Pure physical exhaustion is actually a traditional aid in leaving the body and communing with the spirit world; from the Native American ghost dancers to the ecstatic dance cults of Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Physical exhaustion has long been used as a tool/method for achieving a trance state and for fostering favourable conditions to leave the body. The local Coast Salish would make young initiates run up and down large hills or swim in cold water until they fell down exhausted and left their body (without falling asleep). Physical exhaustion fosters the spirit leaving the body by exhausting the body to a point the mind also stops and it is easy to want to leave an exhausted and sore body behind. The soul does not feel the body’s pain when they are separated, but the body is definitely affected by what happens to the soul in the otherworld.
It’s definitely not the most pleasant or safe method to use to achieve trance and cross between worlds, but it is an effective one (especially for those who have difficulty inducing trance and meditating). However, for those attempting to use it, I would recommend calling on your spirit helpers before trying it so they can help to keep you safe if it works.
Slainte,
Sarah
Thanks for replying, Sarah. I was actually drawing a difference between physical exertion-based exhaustion created intentionally to reach an altered state, and just being really really exhausted due to lack of attention to one’s needs. But packing them in the same group of sentences confused that, methinks.
My experience is that physical exhaustion from lack of attention to one’s needs, lack of sleep, too much work, etc, leaves a body very prone to invasive experiences where one is being pestered or physically hindered in their dreams. Which is just very nasty all around. Being under really intense stress will make this manifest as well, since the mental so easily manifests in the physical, and vice versa.
It’s all in intention. If I am going to dance until I drop, there’s probably a method and reason for that.
But if I have been working 12 hr days for months on end and subsisting on 5 hrs of sleep per night, my intention is probably just sleep where I can grab it. Meeting various and sundry is not part of the plan.
Indeed! Thanks for clarifying
First, let me say that I absolutely adore your website and your podcasts! I thoroughly love seeing the photos of your works-in-progress and your other arts. I can’t wait to check in everyday to see what new treasures you’ve shared
And second, thank you for this very informative post, among many others. I’m solitary, and in working alone, sometimes it’s difficult to know when to jump to the next level and when to hold back. Until recently, I’ve relied solely on my own experiences. Now that I’m seeking out knowledge and guidance (through books, podcasts and weeding through the plethora of websites to find solid information), it’s been very illuminating to learn from experienced practitioners. This post just drives the point home to me that I still have much to do before journeying in this fashion. I’ve had much trepidation in this area, and now I know exactly why. I’m not ready! Duh!
Your experience and wisdom just shine, and I cannot tell you what a relief that is
Thank you!!
Awesome post! This totally makes sense of something that is…well…hard to make sense of. LOL! And explains a lot of what I experienced growing up and thought was just plain crazy.
Thank you for this article. I have been having a reoccurring dream for the past few years. I am unsure when it started but this article gave me new thoughts on it. Sometimes it is the simple things that escape us. How a night mare can become familiar to become comfortable and the source of the fear become friendly over time. Very interesting to consider.
What you described is *so* true [obviously]. When I rode yesterday I started listening to drumming and was very sleep deprived so I slipped into trance easily. And when I read this: “If however you fall into something resembling REM sleep within just a few minutes of lying down know that you are travelling because this type of sleep does not happen so quickly.”
I was like OMG THAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME!!! Cause that’s not usually how I cross! I got so excited LOL.
Wassail!
Do you think that location has anything to do with ease of crossing? And by that I mean a home location. I have been in Spokane for a while now and it is so foreign to me, I feel stuck at times. The spirits of the Land here (especially in town) are so wary and angry. I have reached out to them, but they are flighty and distrusting. Which is, of course, perfectly understandable. The descendants of the Natives here are very proud and if you are not Native and surrounded by those that are you will be hardpressed to find a happy face turned in your direction.
Back in Montana, where I was born, it was easier for me to cross and to commune with the spirits of the Land. Here it is not so easy unless I go way out in the middle of nowhere. I am, of course, willing to do that but gas prices here in Spokane are not so friendly.
I suppose I will just have to patient and learn to cross all over again in a new place….
Regards,
Twisting
Nature spirits tend to only care about what you DO, not what you intend. If you are respectful of nature, watch where you step, help clear out nasty invasive species, leave simple biodegradable offerings, and just stop and enjoy nature and plants letting them know that you know what/who they are. Call them by epithets – i.e. “healer, long-life maker, mother of the forest” for Cedar or “stinging one, warrior, protector” for nettle. Touch them, spend time with them. Eventually they’ll give in and say “you’re all right, but the rest of those humans can still go to hell”.
Otherwise for travelling, do it indoors in protected ritual space before opening the door to the otherworld. It is safer and easier to journey to the underworld than within our middle realm anyway – the wild wood holds the most dangerous of spirits. Those of the underworld and the sea are more likely to be friendly or at least neutral towards us mortals. Don’t forget to tell nature and spirits that you are a witch/magician/shaman – you might be surprised how differently they react to you
Slainte,
Sarah
Wassail!
Ah, excellent. My uncle took me on a walk today to a very nice place that I didn’t even see when I was out hiking. It is a wonder what one can find even in a city like Spokane! I am used to going about five miles out of town and finding some excellent little clearing, but here it is different.
Unfortunately some drug addicts messed this potential area to bits and my uncle and I are going to clean it up and throw a nice curse against the offenders and then I am going to create a charm to protect it from further harm. I think it will be an excellent contact point as it is not that far from my home.
But thank you for your advice! As always I will take it respectfully
Yours,
Twisting.
Wow, this article was exactly what I needed. Sometimes, for many years, I have the experience of beginning to travel as I first fall asleep, but I usually don’t go far. I know I am not ready to go far, but it confirms to me that in the future when I’ve learned more, I will be doing this.
Fruitful1