Mysterious Studies

Imagination Exercise: Creating Your Inner Space

This is an exercise connected to the Dreams, Visions and Imaginings episode. In this imagination exercise we will create an inner space using your imagination. This will be a space that will function like an inner home or harbor where you can come to seek guidance from the inner/inbetween realms or come to practice using your inner senses. A space like this proved to be very valuable for me in my journey of starting to look inwards, as it made such an unfamiliar and at times scary journey feel safer and more familiar. It provided me with a place to land, instead of completely jumping into the unknown. See the video version of this episode [https://youtu.be/gmhhNNu7FqA] on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@minnamari] Access the Audio File for the guided part of this episode here [https://icedrive.net/s/4TRxtRafkBhVRitQvkN3591R6fPt]. Read the Written Notes here [https://mysterious.studio/imagination-exercise-creating-your-inner-space-notes]. You can use these notes to do the exercise on you own, or record your own version that you adjust according to your own wishes. Resources: This exercise is loosely inspired by a similar exercise from Laurie Cabot’s Book of Shadows [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27402075-laurie-cabot-s-book-of-shadows?ref=nav_sb_ss_4_11], which is a very useful resource for different meditation and visualization exercises. I have gone through all of them myself and been fascinated by the deeper and different layers that have opened up as a result. But if you don’t identify with the term “Witch” or approaches described as "witchcraft” this may not be the resource for you. The way I see it, these approaches are something that everyone has a natural birthright and ability for, and we don’t necessarily need to define them as any kind of witchcraft or magical practice. So I have personally taken some steps back from calling it witchcraft of magic, but you can describe it in that way if it makes it more fun for you to test it out, or if it makes you feel more empowered to use these terms. If not, then just consider this a continuation of a meditation exercise and you can think of it in more neutral terms.

Imagination Exercise: Connecting to Your Inner Senses

This is an exercise connected to the Dreams, Visions and Imaginings episode. In this exercise, I share a kind of “diagnostic tool” for getting to know, and testing out what your capability to visualize or imagine looks like. Is it easier for you to see or hear or feel? Do you have a way of visualizing in images, or as smells or just energies? In this exercise, I will first guide you into a meditative state, and then go through a list of 10 items connected to different senses that you can feel into. If you want to save the info, you can take a pen and paper and write out the ten numbers, and then next to each number, write out how strongly you felt that particular sense. For example from one to ten, with one being not at all and 10 being totally immersed. I recommend you to close your eyes during the exercise, but if you want to write down how strongly you felt each sense, you can peek at your pen and paper inbetween or try to scribble with your eyes closed. Or you can try to remember how it felt. See the video version of this episode [https://youtu.be/Wk7NsigVqUA] on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@minnamari] Access the Audio File for the guided part of this episode. [https://icedrive.net/s/h6YtvXfSbjgF7CPDX8BQyybGNbaP] Read the Written Notes for this episode [https://mysterious.studio/imagination-exercise-connecting-to-your-inner-senses-notes]. You can use these notes to do the exercise on you own, or record your own version that you adjust according to your own wishes. Resources: This diagnostic tool/approach is inspired by the more comprehensive diagnostic test that is presented in Mary K. Greer’s book 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/408553.Mary_K_Greer_s_21_Ways_to_Read_a_Tarot_Card?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_18] (a book that is an incredible resource for both tarot but going way beyond that, to also areas such as accessing the intuition or imagination, so I can highly recommend it for both). I have simplified the approach to focus only on the most usual senses: touch, smell, vision, hearing, taste.

Dreams, Visions and Imaginings

Dreams are real experiences, and there is a different type of knowledge that can be gained by closing the eyes and listening inwards. In this episode I share some of my first experiences of learning to trust the inner voice/intuition/subconscious. See the video version of this episode [https://youtu.be/wZJlul_j-pM] on YouTube [https://youtube.com/@minnamari]. Connected to this episode, I also share two imagination exercises: one for connecting with your inner senses, and another where you can create your own inner space that functions as a safe harbor from where you can travel further to access wisdom from the inner world. You can find the exercises as separate episodes in the episode feed. If you want to access the bonus episode where I share the dream that changed my life direction, you can join my Substack [https://minnamari.substack.com] as a paid subscriber. Books mentioned in this episode: The Secret of the Golden Flower [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/899173.The_Secret_of_the_Golden_Flower?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=81yTyTo5Q1&rank=1] by Lü Dongbin, Richard Wilhelm (Editor), Cary F. Baynes (Translator) The Red Book: A Reader's Edition [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18865998-the-red-book?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_22] by C.G. Jung, Sonu Shamdasani (Editor), Mark Kyburz (Translator). (Also available as a larger fascimile version [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6454477-the-red-book?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=kk7SstAia8&rank=1] featuring the artworks that Jung created for the book. But I have only read the reader's edition.) My Substack posts of dreams and visions: The Tree House [https://minnamari.substack.com/p/the-tree-house] - Substack post where I share a dream/vision I had about asking for permission. Garden Party [https://minnamari.substack.com/p/garden-party] - Substack post where I share a dream/vision I had about connecting to the Earth. Circuits [https://minnamari.substack.com/p/circuits] - Substack post where I share a vision I had on New Year's Eve 2022. Aquarius [https://minnamari.substack.com/p/aquarius] - Substack post where I share my research and active imagining meeting to connect with the mythological figure of Aquarius Pisces [https://minnamari.substack.com/p/pisces] - Substack post where I share my research and active imagining meeting to connect with the mythological figure of Pisces/The Fish

The Paradox of Perspective

Can we ever truly expand our view beyond our view? I don't know, but I seem to have a need to try. See the video version of this episode [https://youtu.be/lhUXpxchPfQ] on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@minnamari] (This time I have even created some visuals for the different symbols of the frameworks I discuss. But, just listening also works, if you prefer to do that.) In this episode I discuss two frameworks that can be used as a way to become aware of, and to try to expand, your perspective or your approach to life: the four functions in Jungian Psychology, and the four directions of the Native American Medicine Wheel. Resources mentioned in the episode: Seven Arrows by Hyemeyohsts Storm [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/377580.Seven_Arrows] Fourdirectionsteachings.com [http://Fourdirectionsteachings.com] - Website collecting teachings about the four directions by Lillian Pitawanakwat Psychology of the Unconscious by C. G. Jung [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/565633.Psychology_of_the_Unconscious] (though I actually read the Swedish version: Det omedvetna av C.G. Jung [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31449718-det-omedvetna?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=5UUJlRbK5T&rank=2]) Jung Personality Types: The Model of Typology [https://psychologia.co/jung-personality-types/] - Blog post about Jung’s personality types on the website psychologia.co [http://psychologia.co] This Jungian Life Podcast: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast/ [https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast/]

Knowledge is Overrated (or Misrepresented)

If knowledge is like an all-you-can-eat buffet, what would you eat? In this episode, I discuss the complex subject of what knowledge is and how it can be approached. A list of the books mentioned in the episode: Naiv. Super [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/604635.Na_ve_Super] by Erlend Loe (A book questioning the need to be knowledgeable.) Sand Talk [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45449501-sand-talk?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_9]by Tyson Yunkaporta (A very fascinating book about indigenous knowledge, and much more.) The Reflective Practitioner [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/134454.The_Reflective_Practitioner?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=FYRDsUAOsv&rank=1] by Donald Schön (A book about practical knowledge and reflecting in action) A list of a few of my favorite quantum physics books: The Tao of Physics [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10238.The_Tao_of_Physics?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=12fng99LCq&rank=1] by Fritjof Capra The Quantum Universe: Everything that Can Happen Does Happen [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12672387-the-quantum-universe?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Qocxe7F358&rank=1] by Brian Cox and Jeffrey R. Forshaw Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/738083.Meeting_the_Universe_Halfway?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=VR3PyaaAuV&rank=1] by Karen Barad