So in tonight's sleep story.
You follow Raven the Hedgehog.
She meets.
A curious goose called Faith.
And they set off together on a quest.
Traveling through meadows and woodland to a mountain monastery.
Where Raven engages.
In a magical ritual.
That brings a deep connection to the world around her.
Before journeying back home.
Changed and with a new purpose in life.
So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax.
And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep.
I don't know whether you'll drift to sleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.
And as you comfortably fall asleep.
You can take a moment to allow yourself to get comfortable.
And imagine a healing light,
Softly,
Slowly and gently.
Passing down from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
Relaxing gently down through you as I count.
From ten down to one.
And with each count your mind can quieten and calm as the muscles soften and relax.
And you can begin the process of drifting peacefully asleep.
From ten.
That healing light relaxing the muscles.
And the top of the head.
Around the back of your head,
Gently,
Carefully relaxing the muscles around the side of your head.
Around your temple,
Your forehead.
With each out-breath.
That relaxation can deepen so peacefully.
So comfortably.
As it flows down around the eyes and around the ears.
Nine.
That relaxation moving down around the jaw relaxing that jaw.
Allowing the tongue to relax,
The lips to relax.
To relax.
The nostrils to gently relax,
With that relaxation moving.
Carefully.
Slowly as that healing light passes down the back of the neck.
Softening and calming those muscles.
Around the sides of the neck.
The front of the neck.
Down from the head gradually,
Moving that calming,
Healing light.
Out across the shoulders,
The shoulder blades.
Relaxing those muscles.
Like a deep massage passing through your mind and body.
As that relaxation begins to move down those arms.
And I don't know which arm the relaxation will move down fastest.
Whether it'll be the right arm or the left arm.
But you can be aware of that healing light.
Spreading gently down those arms.
Around the biceps,
The triceps.
Down into the forearm.
Seven.
Moving all the way down to the wrist.
Palms of the hands.
Down to the fingertips.
And perhaps as that relaxation continues through those arms,
With each out breath that you take,
The arms can begin to feel heavier.
Or lighter or some other sensation.
As relaxation sets in.
And you know the process for sleep.
Is that the body begins to relax.
And while the body becomes physically relaxed.
So the mind begins to drift and dream.
Initially to brief reveries before settling on the first dream of the night.
Six,
And that healing light can spread down from the shoulders and down around the chest.
The upper back softening and relaxing those muscles,
Gently calming the breathing.
Helping you drift deeper and deeper into the experience.
5 the healing light moving down towards the stomach.
The lower back,
The sides.
Relaxing those muscles as it goes,
Bringing a deep sense of peace and calm to your upper body.
Releasing any tension.
Perhaps occasionally finding yourself shifting just a little.
To get more comfortable.
Four,
With that relaxation spreading down around your buttocks.
Down into the upper parts of your legs.
3 passing that relaxation down towards the lower parts of your legs,
Perhaps those legs feeling heavier and heavier,
Maybe as the body becomes deeply relaxed and your focus drifts inside more on what's going on for you and your mind.
You lose some awareness of the body as it becomes incredibly still.
To the relaxation spreading down to your feet,
Calming,
Softly relaxing.
All the way down to the tips of your toes.
And one.
As a final wave of relaxation pulses gently through you.
The top of your head down through your body.
All the way down to the tips of your toes.
As your mind begins to drift and dream and wander.
Into tonight's sleep story.
And the mist clung firm like a stubborn blanket refusing to lift from a sleeping landscape.
As the morning sun lightly raised its head above the horizon.
Raven the Hedgehog wandered out from beneath a hedge on the edge of the meadow.
Wading through the mist as it parted,
Around her in soft,
Slow,
Ethereal ripples,
Raven headed through the meadow to the herb garden for something to eat.
She prepared her food and then thought about what she'll do with her day.
She decided that she'd clean some of her most precious items in the stream at the far side of the meadow.
She headed back home,
Placed her cart outside of her home.
The cart had wheels made of densely woven grass and sticks for spokes.
And twigs for the body and handles.
She gathered up the items in the cart and set off,
Pushing the cart across the meadow.
The cart leapt about as it went over the uneven grass.
The dewdrops,
Which had been happily clinging to the grass,
Spraying everywhere as the cart pushed through that grass,
Parting the mist.
Water droplets rode raven through the meadow as she continued down towards the stream.
The items in the cart clattering and clanging.
The mist slowly beginning to rise like a curtain caught in a breeze as the sun climbed the celestial dome.
As Raven neared the stream she could hear its gurgling hidden in the mist and smell the increasing freshness of the air.
The rattling reeds lining the stream gradually revealed themselves waving above the mist,
Signaling the stream's location.
Raven slowed as she approached the stream.
Along with the items she'd carted to the stream to clean.
Raven was doused in the meadow's moisture.
She unloaded the cart onto the bank of the stream.
Placing everything in the order she planned to clean it.
Largest items first,
So that they could be the first items placed back into the cart.
Smallest items last,
To go back on top in the cart and to fit into the nooks and crannies of the other items.
The time she'd unloaded the cart and organized the items.
The mist was letting go of its final hold over the land.
The sky was bright,
Blue and clear.
The meadow was clear in all directions as far as the eye could see.
Butterflies and bees had now come out to dance from flower to flower.
Raven began cleaning the first items.
Moving them into the edge of the stream,
The water splashing around the items as she shimmied around them,
Rubbing and cleaning them in the flowing water.
Then moving the items near to the cart to dry out in the sun,
Ready to be placed back into the cart to take back home.
About halfway through the items,
Raven was scrubbing an ornate golden goose egg She'd received this egg as a gift many years before from her good friend Bear the seagull from Senegal.
Who claimed the egg was magic.
Bear found the egg buried in the heart of a stone circle that was thousands of years old.
Raven had left the egg as it was given,
In a silk pouch and covered in mud.
She decided now was the time to clean it.
As she scrubbed the egg,
She thought she noticed it move.
At first.
She didn't know if the egg moved itself.
Or if it was just the water or perhaps even movement of the stones beneath the egg that moved the egg,
But then it moved again,
Then started to crack.
Raven wondered if perhaps she'd accidentally broken the egg by getting it wet.
Maybe it was warmed by the sun and then had started to crack as it cooled in the water.
While Raven stepped back,
She watched as that egg cracked.
She noticed the beak of a bird breaking through the shell,
Followed by more of the shell breaking and the most beautiful coloured feathers poking through.
Another flex from within the shell,
And a larger crack appeared,
With a piece of shell falling into the stream and,
Like a boat,
Floating on the surface of the water.
Pirouetting with the currents sailing down the stream and out of sight.
So much for the present,
Thought Raven as she watched the shell breaking apart.
Within just a few minutes,
The only shell remaining was the piece the colourful and majestic goose was stood on.
It stretched and flexed its wings,
As if waking from the deepest,
Most pleasant sleep.
The goose didn't look young.
It came from the egg looking already like an adult goose.
In a moment of surprise for Raven,
The goose spoke and she could understand.
Goose introduced herself as Faith.
She said,
Everyone's got to have a little faith in their lives.
Geese can't smile,
And Faith said this with absolute sincerity,
So Raven couldn't tell if Faith was trying to be funny or not.
Faith continued to explain that she's a legendary goose.
There are five legendary geese.
They live to guide and then,
When it's time,
They build a golden cocoon around themselves and enter the deepest state of meditation which allows them to enter a timeless and spaceless place.
Some might describe as a spiritual plane,
A place where they have access to all knowledge and can recharge for when they next emerge from their cocoon.
Once the cocoon has fully formed,
They'd be buried deep in the mud within a stone circle.
The stone circle would be made of specific stones and of specific sizes and erected in a specific way.
That a resonance would be formed in that location on a crossroads of ley lines which would channel the Earth's energy to form a bubble of spiritual energy.
This energy would help deepen the meditation and would protect the egg from harm.
Usually,
Once it's time for the goose to return,
The people would carefully dig up the egg.
Let the egg settle for a while.
Before gently,
Reverently and mindfully washing the eggs.
This process stimulates the breakdown of the cocoon and the awakening and returning from their meditation of the goose.
Raven apologised for triggering Faith's awakening,
Stating that she didn't know,
She was just trying to clean the egg,
She didn't realise it would wake a goose.
She said,
If you've been transported here,
A long way from where you were buried,
And awoken here by me at this time,
Does that mean you've been woken at the wrong time by the wrong being in the wrong place?
Faith explain there are no mistakes,
There is no wrong time or wrong place or wrong being.
I awaken for the right being at the right time in the right place.
I am here.
The time is now.
This is the present.
This is your present.
While talking,
Raven begins to carry on washing the other items.
So,
If now is the right time for you,
Then why now and why me?
You've got to have a little faith,
Faith responds.
All will become clear in time.
Raven finishes cleaning all the items and places them all minus the egg.
Back onto the cart and begins dragging the cart back up through the meadow to her home.
The sun sets comfortably overhead as they walk.
On arrival home.
Raven unloads the cart.
Putting everything back where it belonged in her home,
While still talking with faith.
She's curious what guiding faith is here to do.
Faith explains that that is for Raven to find out.
She just knows she wouldn't be here if she wasn't going to be a guide.
So she must be needed as a guide.
There's a meditation that Raven can do that can find out how faith is needed at this time.
So after putting everything away,
Including the cart,
Raven says that she's interested to experience this meditative process which will reveal why she might need a guide.
Faith instructs Raven to sit quietly on the edge of the meadow.
Close your eyes and take a moment to centre yourself with a few deep,
Comfortable breaths.
Breathe in comfort and relaxation.
And breathe out any tension and worries.
That's it.
Notice the sounds around you.
Feel a connection with what you can hear.
The sound of the rustling of leaves in the trees and bushes.
The sound of birds singing,
Even the sounds of butterflies and bees flapping their wings.
Perhaps noticing the very faint,
Distant sound of that stream at the far side of the meadow.
That's it.
Just let your awareness expand through the meadow and beyond.
Start to notice the threads of consciousness which weave all things together.
Notice how the seed of consciousness is contained within every single atom.
To understand that consciousness is about the flow of information.
Consciousness arises when enough information can move.
And there's a difference between consciousness and conscious awareness.
Something can have consciousness and not be aware of that fact.
The awareness requires a feedback loop.
And a state of slow decay.
Raven absorbs herself in the meditation.
In experiencing that connection with the world around her.
Faith continues.
And you can begin to drift.
On the river of consciousness.
Flowing through the landscape.
In a way you never have before.
And if you let go and give in to the experience.
You can flow through all consciousness at once.
Following all paths and experiencing all possibilities.
Like entering a flow state where You're so absorbed in the present,
You aren't paying attention to how you're doing what you're doing,
You're just doing.
Raven takes time to absorb herself easily and effortlessly in the experience.
As faith quietens down in the background for a few moments.
That's it.
You can notice among the threads of consciousness,
One path becoming brighter than the others,
Illuminating a path and a destination.
You won't know what that one path has relevance to.
But you will discover it.
Raven notices out of all the gently pulsing and humming strands of light which surrounds her,
One strand begins to pulse brighter and louder,
Forming a path through the landscape to a bulb of light in the distance beyond her reach.
Hold on to that,
Faith says,
As you begin to drift back to the here and now.
That's it.
And Raven drifts back and opens her eyes,
Feeling so deeply calm and peaceful while also still having a sense of that path of light in her mind's eye.
That path you've discovered is the one to be taken.
I'll travel with you on your journey to help guide you.
At the end of the journey,
You'll meet with the Elders where they'll give you a magical elixir.
That elixir will do what is needed for you.
Once my work here is done,
You'll engage in a ritual which will return me to the Earth until the next time that I'm needed.
Raven invites Faith to stay for the night.
She prepares dinner and engages in discussing Faith's long life and her many experiences and encounters.
She shares about her time in Egypt,
Where she had to help a young prince to find what they needed to become the first pharaoh.
She helped a farm boy to learn how to lead a community and prepare to weather a drought.
She helped a fisherman discover a new land for his people.
She helped a woman to understand the power of the Earth's lines of energy and how those lines can be stitched together through the use of standing stones,
Positioned strategically on crossroads of the lines.
That woman was able to spread this knowledge through her community,
To build the first stone circle and then through other communities.
Construct stone circles around the globe.
This gave Faith many places which she could settle down to rest.
Prior to this,
There were limited locations.
There were select pyramids designed and aligned to channel the Earth's power where she could rest,
And a few natural locations.
Faith explained that it isn't about the flow of energy but about the flow of information and those locations have high informational flow,
Making those places a conduit for accessing universal knowledge.
The next morning,
Raven and Faith set off on a journey following that glowing strand of light.
As they walked,
So they talked on and off.
With long periods of almost contemplative silence and periods of deep and meaningful conversation.
They headed through the meadow.
They've begun to follow the stream,
Meandering through the meadows.
Before turning into woodland.
Raven may have smaller feet and legs.
She's much more used to walking through this landscape.
Faith,
Had to waddle through,
She could fly to where they were going.
But she would arrive long before Raven,
So she decided to walk.
As night began to blanket the sky with a dusting of specks of light.
The pair decided to stop and rest.
Faith shared more tales.
But also wanted to listen to Raven's stories to learn more about her.
And long after the landscape had fallen asleep,
Raven and Faith finally joined it,
Both drifting into the most pleasant dreams and deep reveries.
They woke up to the gentle warmth.
The morning glow spreading across the landscape.
They took a moment to stretch and have something to eat.
Before continuing on their journey.
Raven continued to hold on to the instinctive sense of where to go.
As if that glowing thread was woven into who she was as a being.
Continued walking through the woodland,
Listening to the echoing sound of birds singing.
The sound of a woodpecker drumming away on a distant tree.
And watching the dancing streams of light filtering through the dense canopy overhead.
After many hours of walking.
Bright light of open countryside became the backdrop to the far side of the woodlands.
And the pair continued to walk towards the light.
Eventually exiting the woodland.
Looking over rolling hills made up of a patchwork of fields and meadows.
Sheep and cows filled the fields,
While many of the meadows contained rabbits and deer eating the grasses and wildflowers.
Raven scampered over to one of the rabbits and explained that they were on a mission following an invisible path.
But strangely,
The path seems to have an unusual vibe in this location.
Almost like there's more than one way to go with one way being quicker than the other.
Rabbit shared that there's actually a secret tunnel buried deep inside one of the rabbit's burrows.
And if you're willing to dive into a rabbit hole.
Perhaps that secret tunnel is the quicker route to take.
The rabbit showed Raven and Faith to the rabbit hole and said,
Head down there and take a left turn.
There you'll see,
Right in front of you,
A small wooden door.
Pass through that door and perhaps it'll be the fast track you're looking for.
Raven and Faith wander along the rabbit hole.
Each step reverberating along the walls of the hall.
Until they eventually reach a crossroads.
At the crossroads,
They turn left and walk to the door they see in front of them.
He paused for a moment before slowly and carefully opening the door with a creak,
Getting a waft of air that gave the feeling this door hasn't been opened for a very long time.
They walk through the doorway,
Closing that door behind them.
And this secret tunnel is different to the mud-wooled rabbit hole.
The walls are smooth and grey with the texture of freshly moulded clay,
Each footstep offering just a dull thud.
Raven continues to feel the pull in the right direction as they walk.
Lining the walls of this path are torches which seem to almost pulse to life as they approach,
Their light flickering and dancing in the eddies of air caused by their movement through the otherwise still tunnels.
Looking forward into the darkness.
It looks like they're so far still to travel,
So it comes as a surprise when,
After what feels like not that long has passed,
They notice a door faintly illuminated in the distance.
They arrive at the door,
And as they open that door they're greeted by night-time in a meadow,
Looking towards the shadow of a tall mountain range,
Only noticeable by the absence of stars the mountains are blocking.
Walk out from the secret tunnel,
Turning to close the door behind them,
Noticing that the door is embedded in the wide trunk of an ancient tree.
Raven mentions,
We're nearly at our destination,
It's just up in the mountains ahead.
As it's night here,
They decide it's better to rest for the night and finish the trip in the morning,
Rather than trying to ascend mountains in the dark.
The next morning.
The two travellers begin their mountain ascent,
Following a winding path which weaves up the face of one of the mountains.
They can see what looks like a monastery carved into the rock of the mountain itself.
That's where we're headed,
Said Raven to Faith.
Faith could fly on ahead,
But continued to decide to just walk along with Raven,
Travelling at a hedgehog's pace.
And the higher up the mountain they climbed,
The stronger and colder the mountain wind became.
Eventually they reached the monastery.
The entrance to the monastery was a grand wooden door with a thick giant knocker and thick metal studs.
And Raven tapped gently on that door.
And in comparison to the sound of the mountain wind which was shuttling across the landscape and thundering past their ears,
The tapping barely makes a noise.
They wait for just a moment.
Before the door slowly and calmly swung open and they were greeted by a monk.
And this monk didn't say a word,
They just gestured for the two travellers to enter.
Raven and Faith entered the monastery,
The door being closed behind them.
They follow the monk down a cold,
Grey-stoned corridor,
Footsteps reverberating around the walls,
And into a chamber in the heart of this monastery.
Within the chamber sat a circle of chanting monks sitting around a pool of water,
The water vibrating in resonance with their chants creating somatic patterns.
As their chants and tones shifted,
So the patterns in the water changed.
Raven was guided over to the circle of monks.
Didn't pay her any attention,
They just continued with their chanting.
The monk crouched down to raven's height,
Picked up a small sacred cup,
Held it by the lip of the cup between the fingertips of their left hand,
While placing the right hand palm up underneath the cup,
And resting the cup gently upon their palm,
They turn the cup 120 degrees clockwise.
Released their fingers back to the starting position.
Turn the cup 120 degrees clockwise again.
Repeated the process of moving their fingers back to the starting position and turned the cup 120 degrees clockwise one final time.
Before sliding their left hand gently down the side of the cup.
Moving the cup slowly towards Raven.
Raven took the cup from the monk.
The monk gestured for Raven to head to the pool of water.
Then gestured for her to dunk the cup.
Into the vibrating water.
She dipped the cup under the water.
Filling the cup and raising it back out of the water.
The monk then gestured for her to drink the liquid.
As Raven drank,
So she could feel the coolness of that mountain water flowing through her body.
She could feel her senses expanding.
The water in the pool started to soften until it was as still and reflective as a mirror.
Raven couldn't tell if this was in her mind or in reality.
She looked into the water and could see herself reflected,
But that reflection evolved and shifted.
It stopped reflecting what is,
Started reflecting what could be.
It reflected a raven who was connected to all things,
Who understood the world on a much deeper level.
Who was a teacher of knowledge,
Sharing that knowledge and how to find deeper connections with other animals,
Helping to deepen and enrich their lives.
She watched as swirls of light and colour slowly fill the pool behind the reflection of herself.
The moment feels timeless,
Almost like a moment outside of time.
As the moment begins to fade,
Raven began to notice the sound of the chanting returning,
The movement of the water returning and a sense of time returning.
She backed slowly away from the pool and she could feel that something had shifted inside of her.
She handed that cup back to the monk.
And faith said.
It's time to go,
Time to head to the location where you'll perform the ritual which will return me to the earth until I'm next required.
They left the mountain monastery and made their way through the cold,
Walking back down the mountain.
At the foot of the mountain,
They decided to stop for the night,
As it had been a very long day.
They discussed what had happened,
The experience Raven had had.
Faith shared her thoughts on it.
She said that very often the being who needs the support doesn't realise they need it.
They don't realise there's a special path for them to tread.
And often,
Even after they start on their new path,
They don't know the impact they're going to have.
They just feel a calling,
Almost like a drive in a direction of change.
The next morning.
Began their travels to Stonehenge,
And it was a long walk south that took them many weeks to complete,
But in that time a deep bond formed between the two of them.
At Stonehenge,
Faith walked into the heart of the stones.
Raven took her position in a specific location outside of the stone circle and she began the ritual which involved reciting a specific incantation,
Followed by performing specific gestures and movements in front of the sun.
With this,
A humming built up from within the stones,
Followed by an electric blue pulse that struck at the heart of the circle.
Faith began to glow blue as she curled up and a golden shell began to form around her body from the base upward.
And the process took a few moments to fully form that cocoon.
And once formed,
The electric blue strands of light began dancing on the ground beneath the egg,
Churning up and vibrating the mud as the egg slowly and carefully sunk beneath the surface back into the earth.
And once fully covered,
The light immediately disappeared in a flash of silence.
Raven stood watching,
Nothing happening for a moment,
And reflected on her time spent with Faith.
Everybody needs faith in their life.
She said to herself as she turned and began the long journey home.
In a moment of rest.
During her journey.
While she was pondering her experience and her connection with all things.
She felt a presence.
Faith.
She noticed that faith was here.
Faith was a part of all that can be connected with.
Faith is always with you.
Faith is journeying through universal knowledge,
Learning,
Developing and preparing for when she's next needed,
While Raven continued to journey home.
And once finally home,
Looking forward to taking on her role as a teacher and a guide in her own right.
Raven rested for a while.
Ate some dinner,
Took some time to read before heading to bed,
Feeling that pleasure of settling down in your own bed after time away and finding it so easy and so effortless to drift and float peacefully asleep.
Into slumberland.
