Rifting - A How-To Essay

(written for my brother in the craft: Richard King)

By John Stormm

       This is an aspect of my life long studies, that most will likely never be able to even relate to, but some might.  It requires a bit of knowledge and sensitivity to such things, and nothing I can write will give you that.  I’m hoping that enough of it is already present in the reader, and that what I write on this topic here, may make you more familiar with these aspects enough to experiment, and increase your own understanding of these things.

WHAT IS A “RIFT”?

       Rifts, are tears in what scientists refer to as the “space/time continuum”.  So are“doors”, “portals” and “nexus”, but those are contrived or constructed to be fixed where they are.  By whom and how,is a science lost to us now, but may be regained or re-found in our future.  A rift is like a “rip” in the side of a tent wall, where one might leave one environment and pass through to yet another.  I am speaking of parallel worlds and/or dimensions here.  In *some*instances, one may pass through such to find themselves many miles away, even on THIS plane of existence, from where they entered.  My personal caveat on this is:  If you’re at all familiar with the String Theory versions of parallel worlds, you should keep in mind that it is quite possible that the parallel universe that you come out in, may not be precisely the one you left behind.  I’ve had my suspicions about this for many decades, but honestly have no way of being sure for myself.  The differences can be very subtle ones.  Then too, is the understanding of what forces were used to cause the continuum to rip or tear.  I can share with you a little bit about what I know to better reveal where one may already exist.  But what originally caused such a thing, or the energies involved, is anybody’s best guess.

THE NATURE OF RIFTS AND PARALLELS

      Many people and creatures are sensitive to the closeness of Otherworld energies in places where the membrane or veils are thinnest or torn.  Artists and lunatics (in effect: people with extraordinary “right brain” activity) will be either drawn or repelled depending upon what seems to be on the other side.  Lunatics sometimes will claim to better “hear the voices” in such areas. Ley lines and other power fluctuations, natural and artificial seem to have their own influence over such a place, much the same as a “flow of air”might open a parting in a gossamer curtain. Drugged or inebriated teens hanging out in such an area may feel compelled to graffiti occult sigils and symbols to describe the effects they feel present there.  Often times, the rifts will open up into a different realm at night than they do in the daytime.  At one well known rift area locally, it was known that the rifts opened into brighter realms during the daylight hours, and into more nightmarish realms at night.  It was NEVER advised to travel those paths at night, though we HAVE done our own research into this.  Myself and my family solidly concur that it is a very dangerous proposition to be in those particular woods after dark, beyond any doubt.  You may find such tales of some of your own local areas to be a good indicator that you may have some consistent rift activity present.

         Darkness and light and other forms of electro-magnetic radiation will have some effect on the forces that cause these rifts to open or close like the gap in a curtain between worlds.  Rifts may also naturally drift a little distance in their own “breeze”.  Some seem to cling to a general area of about a quarter mile or so, on the average.  They can appear at ANY level:  Above or below ground, above or below the water surface, or in the air above.  There is a good reason why boats and planes disappear, from time to time.  If the particular rift has been active for any great length of time, there may be apparent differences in the nature of the flora and fauna present, that are found nowhere else in the same given area of land or sea.  If you notice them, such changes can be taken that there is such a rift occurring somewhere near by, usually at the heart of such an infestation.  There are also the chances that flora or fauna may have immigrated from one side to your own, though at MOST times, they cannot remain for more than an hour or so, before the universe corrects itself and moves the creatures of a differing frequency/vibration to the appropriate parallel world again.  This is one of the reasons that so many “crypto-zoological” specimens are often spotted in odd places on our globe, but no evidence of their supporting numbers, viable populations of genus or dens and habitats are ever found, when searched for.  Even when the most credible of witnesses have reported what they saw. The reason for this being:  They came from a parallel world or dimension, and over the space of a short time,after they were witnessed here, they naturally transitioned to their own plane of origin.  I have found this to be true of “rocs” or “thunderbirds” as reported via many aboriginal tales.  Whether the shamans entered the realm of the great rocs, or the rocs entered this one through an aerial rift; I can’t say with any certainty.  But you will find at least one instance of our spotting such in my short story:  “Through The Rift (as told by Scotty)” at BookRix.com.  Note: You don’t find evidence in THIS plane of a roc aerie or recent carcasses of such creatures,any more than you’ll find a viable population of plesiosaurians in Loch Ness or Lake Champlain, but on odd occasions, they ARE sighted and/or photographed, and no one seems to be able to explain why they can search, but not find them here.   My studies have given me ample reasons for my own plausible explanation of these.

       It IS possible, though complicated even at the best of times, to alter one’s frequency or “Schumann Resonance”, (a vibration or frequency common to a specific world or planet) so that longer, or possibly a permanent residence may be taken up in a newer world.  For those of you schooled in the Old Craft,you were raised upon the tales of children crossing into Gwynydd via “faery wraths” and warned to never eat or drink of anything in that realm, or never being able to return, or even return long after everyone they knew are long dead.  You will see or begin to understand the correlations of the ancient tales, with the quantum data presented here.  For myself, I HAVE eaten and drank in other realms and will attest that I can stay for a much longer time than normal in such a place, but still I shift back to this realm (Abred) whether Iwant to or not.  A normal “stay” in another realm in passing randomly through a rift, is normally an hour or less,for most people.  I can stay for a day or longer, depending upon where and how often I’ve been there before.  As human frequencies or resonance increase,and often in the mass  population “decreases”(mob mentality) to a lower vibration. The cusp of the age and time we are in, as described in the prophecies of a great many and varied cultures, does more than suggest that a certain natural and permanent transition of members of our human species, to a better or darker realm, as the case may be, is about to occur.

       As you explore these for yourself, you may notice that the world does not appear to be the one you are familiar with,and within an hour or so of exploring it, find yourself back in familiar territory again, not far from where you first entered the other, even if you remember walking for miles.  Time and distance do not always translate the same in both worlds.  Be prepared for this disorientation, as there is little to no effect that you may feel to let you know that you crossed over through a rift.  I’ve published short stories and full length novels based accurately upon many of these experiences.  I’ve done my level best to recount things as accurately as I could, and try to find all the relevant data to compare as I could.  But often I will find myself overwhelmed by all the changes and differences and get caught up in the details of one thing, only to miss something greater elsewhere.  I think you will better understand this after you’ve made a few crossings for yourself.

ACQUIRING A MORE SENSITIZED NATURE

      This aspect may be better understood by esoteric practitioners of yoga, martial arts or other meditational disciplines.  I, myself am a hereditary Danaan witch, and my natural proclivity is to gravitate towards “Danu”, a.k.a. Gaia, Mother Earth, Mother Nature as generations of my ancestors have before me, from Paleolithic times.  To the patriarchal folk among my readers:  One woman may seem pretty much like any other. But I would urge you to get to better know the woman before you, and you’ll better discern the differences between her and her sisters.  The same is going to be true in traversing worlds via rifts or such.  It is easy to become desensitized to Nature in the “civilization” around you now.  It appears that everything in it, is designed to separate you more and more from experiencing Nature as She is, and not what we try to make Her into, for our own conveniences.  For many, many millennia Danaans or any Nature based aboriginal peoples regained their proper mindsets and focus in very similar rituals.  I’ve made mention of the Schumann Resonance.  It is the planet’s natural resonance, and is scientifically described as such:  “They occur at several frequencies between 6 and 50 cycles per second; specifically 7.8, 14, 20, 26, 33, 39 and 45 Hertz, with a daily variation of about +/- 0.5 Hertz. So long as the properties of Earth's electromagnetic cavity remains about the same, these frequencies remain the same. Presumably there is some change due to the solar sunspot cycle as the Earth's ionosphere changes in response to the 11-year cycle of solar activity.”  They are at different ranges on different worlds. 

       The correlation with these is that our Alpha Waves in our own brains are around the same frequencies at our own optimum times.  Hence:  There is a scientific, and not a “religious”or mystical reason why I am suggesting the following exercises.  In essence, we want to lose the extraneous “noise”and find our calmer, more connected centers, to best notice the “ripples” we will find, once the “pond has been calmed”, so to speak.  Even in Danaan witchery, EVERYTHING has “cause and effect”.  One thing does not simply “pop”out of another without reason.  Something,however unseen or unknown has initiated the reactions.  Modern science loves to describe its “Big Bang” as:  In the beginning, there nothing…it all gathered into one place and exploded, and made everything else.  REAL science would find that unacceptable,and REAL witchery requires a knowledge of HOW and WHY, than just a mere WHAT to make things happen as we do.   So whether or not you are of the same ilk of witch as I, or not a witch at all:  I need you to try in your best way,to relate to what I am trying to share in this essay, and bear with me that there are substantial reasons for so doing.

 SQUARE HORSE BREATHING EXERCISE VARIATION

      In many Earth based, Nature cultures, “Mother’s Heartbeat” is drummed, and bare feet shuffle in their circle dance, never leaving contact with the ground.  This is how Danu’s children honor Mother Danu.

      For yourself, you will need to get yourself barefoot, at least for the duration of the exercise, though you can put your shoes back on afterwards to explore the area in.   Place your bare feet, a little better than shoulder’s width apart, with your toes rooting themselves in the soil, like the roots of a tree.  With your back straight and your shoulders back, chin level, and arms at your side comfortably:  Breathe IN through your nose, feeling as though the fresh air were traveling in, down your spine, curling back up from deep in your pelvis (charging your “tan tien”, a few inches below the core of your navel) up through your solar plexus and out through your mouth.  This is breathing with your expanding diaphragm, and not trying to expand your rib cage.  Breathe in deep and slow and force it all out thoroughly before taking your next breath. Repeat three or more times as needed, and then allow your breathing to go fairly still.  Much the same as the drum beat of “Mother’s Heartbeat”, bring your heartbeat and breathing down to a calmer, quieter level.  I want you to continue standing in that spot for a few minutes or more.  Without making a move or a sound, and becoming much as a tree, without making any conscious impact upon ANY of the natural environment you are in.  This can be in a desert, on a beach, in the woods or whatever natural area that you are about to explore.  Learn to be quiet and still long enough for the birds and wildlife to settle down around you.  Ask yourself in your mind:  What would be happening here if I were not present?  And let yourself fade into the environment until it is so.  This point is where you begin to connect with Nature, and becoming more recipient of Her,rather than constantly contributing to the ruckus and background noise in the world.  Now, you will be more receptive to the smaller and quieter details of life around you.  When you feel ready, you may put your shoes back on and begin your exploring with a more open and receptive mind to what Mother wants to teach you, and not what you “expect” to hear, or wish to impose upon Her.

TOOLS OF THE CRAFT

      There are a few things that I like to bring with me, for various reasons, and I will share them here with you, as well as my reasons for choosing them thusly. You can bring more or less as you will. Often times, I’ve brought various cameras and pieces of technology to try and capture and measure certain phenomenon. Radios, to see if any kind of transmissions were happening in the world I opened into.  Most of the time, these didn’t even produce static to hear.  But you will need to satisfy your own studies and curiosities.  A compass and a map, isn’t a bad idea, but don’t expect them to be fully relevant to the world that you find yourself in.  Sometimes the similarities are only the most superficial depending upon where you end up.  But they WILL come in handy when you transition back to your local plane, as you may not exit in precisely the same point that you entered, and how you traveled extra-dimensionally, may not appear to have much bearing upon where you end up here.  A good knife is always handy.  Not just the blunt athame’s that many witches favor, but something that you can cut a good staff with, if needs be.  Water to drink and maybe a piece of fruit or something to snack, in case you are a little longer out than you expect, are a wise choice.  A small hand mirror and a natural quartz crystal are a bonus to have with you.  I find the sphere shaped quartz the best for this work, and they really don’t have to be very large.  I’ve found an inch or so in diameter, to work wonders for me.

     There’s a number of good reasons for my choice of a “quartz” sphere, as opposed to a “lead crystal” sphere.  BOTH will resonate with whatever energies are pumped into them, but the lead crystal will dissipate those energies overtime.  The quarts has a peizo-electric quality to it, which is why you find it prevalent in so many of today’s technologies.  It resonates precisely with the amount of current or energies put into it, as in your digital watches,computer clock chips or even crystal radios. We are going to make use of this quality to manipulate a few other forms of energies, in order to have an effect on our environments and such.

        You can suspend such a crystal over a small hand mirror, to concentrate solar or lunar energy (light) through it so that it resonates with it, much as a piezoelectric capacitor might.  Another energy I find useful to pump into mine is “chi” energy, or my own “life force” energy, by means of placing the crystal on a stand before me and adopting the “square horse breathing” exercise that I mentioned previously and expelling my “chi” out through my hands, which are held close, but not physically touching the orb.  I would repeat this exercise on many evenings before my trips or other uses, to build up a considerable charge in the crystal.  As an aside, this stored “chi”has an EXCELLENT use in healing works in people, plants and animals in addition to what you can generate at the moment of treatment.  If your crystal is holding a charge well, you will feel it when you move your fingertips within an inch or so of its surface.  You will likely feel a field that is almost like touching a dry cotton ball. Sometimes, you’ll notice a pale blue “foxfire” effect flickering around the surface of the crystal in low light conditions.  The more energy that you can hold in it, the more effect it will have when you put it to use, and in rift areas, there is a particular use for this.

       If we go back to the nature of rifts, or even in correlation with the eight Sabbats on the Celtic Wheel of the year,there are certain times AND places when and where those veils are at their thinnest and the most unstable, to facilitate us “parting the curtain” to open and view, or pass through to the other side.   Where ley lines cross, earth energies are prevalent and certain times of the year, these rifts become more and more unstable, and by pumping a bit of this energy, combined from yourself and your crystal in the heart of such an area, you can force a crossing that you might not normally expect to happen.  It is even possible to use your hand mirror to focus sunlight into your crystal as well, to ramp up its vibrations to create more of an energetic ripple effect.  You can see a photograph of this effect in my short story “Parting The Veil Of Worlds” as published at BookRix.com or even among the photos of my Albums on my Facebook page.  Don’t be discouraged if you don’t make it happen EVERY time.  Some times, I know it will be a sure thing, and other times it’s a gamble.  I’ve been working and experimenting with these energies as a witch for the largest part of my 60 years now.  A lot of trial and error has gone into this study, and you should expect some too. Be sure to keep notes on dates, times, locations and methods used to increase your chances at further attempts. 

       Once you have actually breached a rift and traveled through it, it has an effect on your own natural EM(electromagnetic) field or “aura”.  Once you know the approximate locations of a few rift areas, you may be able to hike on through without all the fussing with extra energies.  You won’t always notice the passing until things start to get strange, and that depends upon where you pass into.  Don’t panic, how ever it happens or where:  You will naturally be “corrected”back into your normal plane after a short amount of time regardless.  All you have to do, is keep a cool, clear head and try not to act like an “invader”, and keep a fairly low profile.  Even a sasquatch or Jersey Devil never stays present in this plane for more than a short while, during a sighting, and in this case:  YOU are the crypto-critter.