What is a pathworking and does it work better than meditation?
A pathworking is a visualisation technique used in alchemy that aims to create change within the mind and wellbeing.
Pathworking vs Meditation
Whereas meditation usually asks the practitioner to clear the mind of thoughts or to focus on a specific thought or intention, pathworkings look to enlist the imagination to create encounters across astral planes (imagined realities) to transmute (invoke) emotional and psychological states of mind.
Invocation simply means to hold a perspective within your own nervous system.
As you begin this work you will find you will likely struggle to do this for periods longer than five minutes. This may even frustrate you.
Some people struggle to visualise images in their mind’s eye, if that is you just remember that sight is only one perspective – enlist the help of the others to help you perceive an astral plane.
Sight is only one perspective – enlist the help of the others to help you perceive an astral plane.
Benefits of Pathworking
Example of pathworking – in the video below (as well as the one at the beginning of post) I guide you into the perspective of a house plant, but you’d be surprised at how much this pathworking may come to move you.
Why the Imagination?
Unfortunately, for far too many of us, the reality is that the imagination acts more like a weapon against us. When we imagine scenarios not yet happened, of failures or shame, we experience real physical stress.
But just as it can wreck havoc in the form of anxiety and depression and debilitating fear, the creative imagination can also send us into the stratosphere of passion and clarity.
A pathworking doesn’t promise to instantly make you a Banksy or full of purpose. But certainly, if nothing else, it will help you to flex and stretch that big sexy imagination of yours.
And consistent stretching becomes a matter of physics, inevitable and observable probabilities.
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Guided Pathworking
A guided pathworking is where one person (ie: a shaman) guides another through an astral plane (imagined reality) – this can be especially beneficial to those who struggle to sit and focus on their own and need the assistant of sensory queues, such as music, to help invoke the imagination to a level of emotional transmutation (ie: create a change in emotional state or wellbeing).
I just recorded a pathworking written by Phil Hine inside of Condensed Chaos (disclaimer affiliate link) titled after the ancient Egyptian god featured in the journey.
It uses music and sounds to help place listeners in an Ancient Egyptian world where a hawk-headed god awaits at the cross roads of the universe.
Listen to Ra-Hoor Khuit Pathworking >>
The Key to Pathworking
The key to successful pathworking is to attempt it when you are alone and able to really relax into the story and music. You want to be able to abandon your physical body for a moment in time while you travel inside of your own mind. Park it somewhere you can trust and try to do it when you yourself are in a good headspace.
Imagine yourself a method actor who is slipping into another perspective, remember it gets easier the more you do it.
If you enjoy this guided session check out a personal favorite; The Omen Storm.
Enjoy!
Are Pathworkings better than Meditation?
Meditation and pathworking are similar and much of the same and both practices are beneficial to the alchemist. Meditation is a form of centering, crucial for effective conjurings whilst pathworkings are a form of conjuring (invocation/evocation/enchantment/illuminations). Neither is better than the other – if I had to choose between the two and was strapped for time, I would probably recommend sticking to a baseline meditation practice before any alchemy work.
More Guided Pathworkings
Retroactive Illumination Pathworking
Click here to download more free guided pathworkings and meditations
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