City Magick: Urban Rituals, Spells and Shamanism - Christopher Penczak 2001

The Hidden City
Meeting the Makers

WORLD: Lower World

COLORS: Black, red

ELEMENTS: Earth and water

TOTEMS: Rat, cockroach, ant, and all burrowing creatures

ARCHETYPES: Earth Mother, dark gods and goddesses, deceased spirits, guides

POWERS: Transformation, rebirth, symbolic knowledge, life guidance, initiations, emotional healing and balance, knowledge of family or clan, prosperity, power

The hidden city is the vast underworld found in every mythology. The world’s myths range from picturesque landscapes and happy hunting grounds to realms of hellish fire and brimstone. Even though I was raised as a Catholic, my personal images of the underworld are more of a primal forest lit by an unseen luminous underground Sun. Aztec mythology tells us that the underworld Sun is made of iron. When working in the city vortex, the underworld becomes the catacombs beneath the city. The tunnels are really sewers and subway systems. The caverns are hidden rooms and bomb shelters. There is a whole world beneath the city, both physically and spiritually. We barely dream of it, but it exists.

The underground realm is the home of the dead landlords, the kings and queens of passed spirits, like Hades and Persephone of Greek myth. The dark king and queen come in many forms. Their subjects consist not only of spirits of deceased humans who, from the waking of Earth, have made this unusual pit stop before relinquishing themselves to the great hereafter, but all manner of spirits and totems that may never have had a physical body. Since the hidden city is a realm of emotional healing and guidance, many spirit guides make their home there, communicating with their charges though underworld dreams and symbols, hopefully giving the guidance needed. We often cross the barrier and travel to the underworld as we sleep. Some of our more lucid dreams occur here, wrapped in our own subconscious symbolism.

When making direct, conscious contact with the hidden subterranean city, we experience trials, initiations, and rebirths. The death and rebirth journeys are common among shamans undergoing a shamanic sickness to awaken them. Usually, the journey occurs during fevered dreams or seizures. As they are being reborn in the underworld, a new element, a new bone, stone, or crystal, is added to them, marking this change and new power. City shamans may get a microchip implanted or computer-program-like wisdom downloaded directly into their nervous system.

All underworld journeys need not be so traumatic. You can go there anytime, visiting the dark tunnels for rejuvenation. You can seek out knowledge from relatives who have passed to the other side. Many find an underground spring flowing water through a tunnel, or special edible mold or mushrooms growing on a wall. By partaking of these spiritual sacraments on your vision quest, you transform yourself on all levels.

EXERCISE 11 -TRAVEL TO THE HIDDEN CITY

Prepare your ritual space. If you choose to use a sound accompaniment, prepare your material. Dim the light. Light candles and incense if you like. Get comfortable.

Start with the intention to travel to the hidden city. Think about its qualities. If you have a specific reason to journey there, such as healing, knowledge, guidance, or power, think about your reasons. If not, this can be an introductory journey to acquaint you with a new magical realm. Even if you have been to other underworld realms in other traditions, working with an urban environment and intention can yield different results.

Repeat Exercise 3, the chakra meditation (see page 25), and start it with the simple meditation technique found in Exercise 1 (see page 17). Visualize each chakra as a floor in a cosmic skyscraper. The elevator shaft carrying this energy is your spine. Continue on to Exercise 4 and affirm your protective shield (see page 27).

Before you, visualize the Worldscraper, a building of immense power connecting the sky city to the hidden world, and to the visible city in which you live. It towers above any building you have ever seen, cutting through to the hearts of the three realms. You stand before the entrance. Reaffirm your intention and ask your animal spirit to guide you. Then step inside.

Wander around this first-floor lobby. Search for your path to the lower levels. Let your guide lead the way. Will you take a path through the elevator, or down the stairs? You can count the steps or floors, leading to a deeper trance state. Are there other options for you? Explore and climb downward.

At the end of your descent, you reach the hidden city. The typical shamanic primordial forest is replaced by the concrete-jungle darkness of underground tunnels and caverns made from stone and concrete. You step into the concrete catacombs beneath the building. They seem to stretch forever into the darkness, mapped by water pipes and electrical cables. Your totem guide will lead you to the main hall, from which many other tunnels and rooms branch out. In this immense alley, you look around. What do you see in the darkness? The pipes and wires guide you, if no totem is available. Follow the trail that calls to you, for it is obviously leading you somewhere you need to be.

Explore your trail. In this adventure, you will meet spirits and deities to help you with your intent, if you have one, or you may simply acquire powers that allow you to introduce yourself to potential allies. Stay on the paths that feel comfortable and good for you.

Once the journey is concluded, follow your trail back to the elevator or stairwell and return to the first floor or lobby of the Worldscraper. Exit the building and bid farewell to your guide. Let the image of the building fade from your mind’s eye.

Reaffirm your protective shield, using light to clear and release any unwanted energies that may have crossed back into this realm with you. Make your shield burn bright, neutralizing and transmuting any harmful energies or thoughtforms. Again, violet is a good transmuting color. Ground and balance yourself after the experience, and write down any insights you gained from the adventure.

The underground realm is frightening for most people. I know I was scared to enter it the first time. I have no love for enclosed spaces or of the dark. The image of the cityscape underworld can be as frightening as a primal forest, if not more so, since daylight never touches the underground. We associate the sewers below us with disease, dirtiness, and death. Life, in its own form, does thrive down there. We send all the problems we want to avoid down the drains, along with our waste, our garbage, and our dead goldfish and baby alligators. The sewers and tunnels are not places we visit, except when taking the subway or crawling down in the basement to look for things we have almost forgotten. The underground is an image of our unconscious in many ways, spiritually and literally.

Overcoming my fear was pivotal for navigating the paths of city magick. When I started to work with these images, I tried to change the underworld back into a primal forest, when it was really the concrete tunnels that I needed to address. I was working and living in the city, not the forest. I was living in the modern world and had to deal with what I had a hand in creating. I didn’t like the images. They revolted me. And I felt ashamed for not being made of sterner stuff. On one of my first adventures in this realm, I met a being, a god, who showed me I had nothing to fear. Yes, it was dark and scary, and it’s okay to feel scared, but as long as I stayed true to my path, there was nothing to fear. That was a tremendous revelation. No one ever told me it was okay to be afraid. Being told it was okay to feel fear actually stopped me from feeling it.