I'm not a very formal practitioner of dehara magick or any type of formalized magick, but I do belong to the online dehara group and consider myself a friendly observer. I read posts of other people's experiences and am familiar with development of the various god and goddess forms. Thus, when I was visiting Storm this past May and she and members of the Lady of the Flame Iseum were going to perform a new dehara ritual together, I couldn't possibly resist participating!

This ritual was carried out with a group of five people. Before we actually started, Storm went over what would be going on and also explained that one thing that we might get out of it would be a chance to explore and visualize fictional worlds, something she and I would both find helpful as we're working on writing projects. Storm often uses rituals and meditations as a means of feeding her creative work.

In the ritual, you basically set yourself up in position to enter through a portal, stepping through into whatever world might be out there and waiting for you to play with it, waiting to talk to you, etc. It's not really a ritual where you "do" anything or ask for something.

Anyway, once the candles and incense were set along with other small room preparations, the ritual started out with a circle and drawing three signs, Ara, Neoma and Brynie, then calling for Agmara (energy) to come down and connect with everybody. After that, Storm and three other women invoked Aruhani, Miyacala, Agave and Lunil, each person saying an invocation and making a sign.

After damping all but one candle and lighting up four cups of mentholated spirits, Storm led us through the meditation, up to the point of entering the Gateway. We all sat and imagined riding a sedu (Wraeththu horse) which then morphed into its true form, a giant otherwordly beast traveling through space and time, through the
otherlanes into different realities, into void.

Finally we got to something up ahead which turns into a space we are at first outside but then inside, the Chamber of Gateways. It was totally black but then a stand comes out of the floor with a book on it, black paper with metallic writing appearing on it and we were asked to try and read it. Then we looked around and saw black mirrors appearing at the four corners of the chamber, at which point we had the option of picking one and entering the Wraeththu world beyond, created through collective dreaming, or our own worlds. Each of us saw something different.

For me the ritual went very well. I was on a huge horse and flying through the otherlanes everything seemed very white, as opposed to dark. For the chamber I pictured it as light instead of dark, as I kept thinking of the insides of this weird alien spacecraft (turned out to be alien) in the first ever episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The room was shaped like a cross / intersection with the mirrors/doors blocking the hallways.

Gradually I darkened the room, listening to the directions, and from there I had it dark and saw the book. For me the book had violet pages and the words were silver. I saw the name of my sedu, which I seem to recall was something like Anama, Enama, Anosa... sorry I didn't write it down absolutely right away.

At the appointed time, leapt through the mirror and explored the world I had wanted to, Tarimur, the land where the book I'm working on is set. Specifically I was in the Court of Lifegivers in the palace. It was nighttime and I was either playing or with the main character Mira as he walked in the courtyard under the night sky. It was a clear night and at first the sky was dark blue, then it was stunning black with white and silver and purple stars. The courtyard is huge with manicured gardens and pathways, then six stories of intricately carved balustrades, doorways, and columns out of purple stone. I imagined Mira on a walk on his own, later on in the story (the next part I need to write) for the first time enjoying his freedom (after being ill) and the beauty of his home.

Besides just the courtyard and sky, I also saw a dark blue jewel, which I saw was set in a crown of some kind. I started thinking of where it would fit into the story and found a place. I kept seeing blue and purple jewels. It all made sense because purple is the theme color for the character and situation.

I started to think about a sort of tryst / relationship I plan to develop for him in the story and how it could start out in the little garden at night, the two of them talking.

Right before Storm called us all back, I started to visualize Mira himself and imagined him sitting on the stool I knew was in the physical room with us. I pictured his light blue skin and white hair, the way his shirt was open at the front. I sensed he might be able to talk with me, although he really didn't. (Maybe later.)

Finally Storm called us back. We then dismantled the temple by saying bye bye to the dehara. (As things concluded, I noted that the entire opening and closing ritual and several other things closely mirrored things I had done with Storm during an intro to Wicca course the day before.)

Afterward we talked about everything. Two of us didn't really have much of anything show for us because one of Storm's cats had had a coughing fit right when we were supposed to pass through the mirrors. Three of us, however, had detailed visions we could describe.

Overall, I was impressed with this ritual and I think I will recreate it, or at least parts of it, to further aid me with the writing of my book, as I imagine it would be great for developing a sense for things, atmosphere-wise, and getting to know my characters. I think it could be a good in a lot of different ways.