As I have worked more and more with the Crane, I find myself coming regularly back to a place that is at the center of the worlds. Here, the three realms meet, with it being a place of land at the edge of the cosmic waters and under the great dome of the sky. It is connected to the Otherworld primarily through the agency of Garnaus, the Crane.
Originally, this inner locale was developed out of a workshop Rev. Kirk Thomas gave at Trillium in 2005: there, we learned how to visualize the gatekeeper in ritual, and Three Cranes then worked this sort of visualization into all our rituals. The visualization basically draws in the mists of magic and re-establishes the center of the cosmos where land, sea, and sky meet.
This place, here at the center of the worlds, began very much baren and devoid of anything except land, sea, and sky, and Garanus. I would not be surprised if most people within the Grove still viewed it like this. Over time, though, it has developed for me beyond being simply a place to meet the Crane, and developed into a place where access to the Otherworlds begins.
In my vision of this locale, the first thing to appear was the central fire. It's a fire of piety, one that I need to continue to feed myself: after long absences, it is often lower than it will be when I am there to tend it regularly.
It is unsurprising to me that this central locale also began to take on some of the form of the nemeton at Tredara and the nemeton at Brushwood, as well: these two nemeta have had a major impact on my vision work in the past two years, and so I find that just beyond the fire, off to the west, there is a trilithon that acts as a particular gate that takes me through to the places where the Clergy Order Work are done.
No matter what, Garanus is always there, at the edge of the waters, watching over me and providing guidance and joy. He is the primary connection I have to the Otherworld from this place, as most of the access here is mid-world based. The fire acts as a gate to the heavens, of course, but it is on the back of the Crane that I am most likely to travel to meet the Ancestors. There are paths that lead out into the woods that now surround the area, and a few paths that lead into the space (though I still commonly enter via the mists of magic).
It was a challenge for some time to rectify this internal space with my experience of other sacred spaces that are dear to me, but I have found that work has helped me to settle into a more relaxed notion of what is there.
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