Here is a link to my latest blog for SageWoman Magazine, on their channel at Witches and Pagans: The Otherworld and the Sidhe
These past few months I’ve been working with the Otherworld and the Sidhe, trying to come to understand them from an experiential point of view rather than a mythological or academic perspective. We can read about it all we want, but the Otherworld must be experienced for it to be truly integrated into a particular tradition.
I’ve written previously about the Otherworld and the concept of duality last year on my other blog site as we approached Samhain, and have been pondering it ever since. Preparing myself for a conscious encounter, so to speak. I’ve encountered the Otherworld before, meeting beings on my wanderings out and about the landscape, but haven’t made a concentrated effort to really connect with them, whatever they may be and wherever they may originate. I’ve had difficulty in the concept of an Otherworld, for to perceive a conscious split between this world and the Otherworld interferes with my ambition of pure integration. Or so I thought.
The premise that I am now leaning towards is not so much a separation between the Otherworld and this one, but more of an overlay, a deeper perceived reality than what we can experience with our physical and mental awareness when it lies half-dormant. The Otherworld is this world as well, but on a deeper level. It is a Deeperworld, where beings exist that require a deeper connection to the landscape than on a superficial level. Perhaps I was simply getting too caught up in the name, the Otherworld. For me, in my journey towards pure integration, there is no Other.
The pitfalls of taking things too literally…
Cont’d – to read the full article, click HERE.
Down the Forest Path 
I met them a while back in my dream. They are guardians of some sort. Loved your description. I was later told that they are protectors of my inner child and a group I trust. Should look at it again
I like that – when I met a Sidhe woman for the first time, she was the guardian of a certain location in the countryside. she just appeared in the middle of the path, i could see her in my mind, and she flickered in an out of eyesight. very powerful!
will read up more on Sidhe, thank you for connecting me to it
Very interesting article. I have had similar experiences, which seemed very real at the time. Some ‘pleasant’ and energizing, others, less so and draining, even to the point of feeling very nauseous! Strangely enough, these were also at tumuli. I would like to understand more, but feel that it is something that we have to experience ourselves and not something that can be ‘learnt’ from books. Thank you for sharing this with us.
I wholeheartedly agree!
Love this article thanks! When I went to Otherworld in a shamanic journey I met a little person – I think the guardian of my garden – and I saw a mermaid in the water, with black eyes – and this huge white orb was checking me out. It wasn’t spooky like the Underworld but.. it was more like being inside a Grimms fairy-tale – in the deep dark woods and where everything is enchanted. I haven’t experienced anything like this – this cross-over between Otherworld and ordinary reality that you describe.
How wonderful! I’m not so sure there is an “ordinary” reality anymore, lol! x
Makes sense if you are seeing visions – you are walking the hedge rather than crossing it 🙂 a foot in both worlds!