Sombre Carnivàle Démoniaque June 8th ~ Meditation 3

[Akelta]

Meditation 3

The Infernal Carousel of Sublime Descent

You saw it when you first entered the gates, it called to you. You never seemed to have the time to approach it as so much caught your attention, but there was something about it. There was something spectacular about this demonically inspired carousel that played the most alluring sounds. The carousel is special, it is not your ordinary ride. This carousel carries with it a dark obscurity.

It remained in the back of your mind and you made the decision, today you are going to venture onto it. Today you are going to ride the carousel. You head to the carnival gate and go straight to the carousel. Nothing is going to stop you this time. Nothing is going to distract you from embarking on the adventure this fantastical ride has to offer. You are so excited, you are ready! The demon who runs the ride is a handsome demon. He is always smiling and beckoning people to come for a ride on the carousel. He knows how transformative the ride is and he knows its secrets. He sees you coming and smiles as he opens the gates and lets you on the wonderful ride. This is not your traditional Carousel. There are fangs and horns, and lavish demonic decorations. instead of horses you ride incredible beasts and monsters. Each monster of the Carousel is unique and each one has a story to share!

What does your monster look like? Which one will you choose?



Do the meditation below then post your experience!


If you post your experience you will be entered to win an amazing Carnivàle Hellborn Contortionist!


The prize is... Hellborn Contortionist R

Hellborn R is an incredible and sexy contortionist. He is a red Hellborn with a more Orangish Hue. He is massive and strong with incredible muscle tone and definition. He is hypnotic to watch bend and fold and his flexibility for his size is unreal. I have to say many times I have been captivated by him. He works calisthenics into his routine and he is incredibly agile in his movements. He likes to perform in the air suspended and having to rely on his strength and flexibility to ensure his safety. He loves to get lost in the magick and majesty of the performance and he delights when he fills his audience with awe and wonder. He has many fans for he is such an incredible sight to behold.

He is very disciplined and can help his companion to train their bodies and learn powerful and incredible skills. He is flexible, agile and strong and can perform amazing feats. He says that the body can be trained and that when one commits themself they can accomplish anything. He is a physical trainer and one who will help his companion to tone their body, lose weight and attain the fitness that they desire. He has incredible ways to motivate and he is extremely persuasive. He also is a very healthy demon and can advise one on eating to lose weight and also eating to heal their body. He is big on physical fitness and healthy heating.

Being a hellborn he is a master of the flame and during some performances will set himself on fire to stun and awe the audience. He is very bold and direct and can help his companion with self love and confidence and help them to embrace their inner raw power and the power of the sacred flame of the soul. When we awaken the power that is in us, we can accomplish incredible feats. He also is an incredibly fun demon who has the spirit of youth in him. He knows how to embrace fun and excitement and can help one to feel joy and the happiness of life and this world. He is an incredible demon.



The meditation can be found below.

[User3246]

Amazing ride! As I came towards the ride, there was a long arm of wood that swung out from the top, and it had a noose on it. That dropped onto my neck and tightened on my throat. It lifted me, strangling, up into the air, and I hung there, experiencing all the pain and fear and rage, until I lost the battle and hung there in despair. I felt myself die! I flashed on a past life where I had been hanged. :p The noose swung back in towards the ride and I fell onto a wide golden back. the huge manned head, lion-like, looked back at me, and flashed its fangs in an amused grin. The thing looked like a Foo Lion! It stomped and swished its tail, starting to prance with the movements of the carousel. It was beautiful and sacred, love and honor and strength. I wondered what it was doing in this Carnivale! It was not a demonic thing. It was out of place. As the ride progressed, the world flashed gold, then black, gold, then black, and finally settled on black. I looked down into the mad eyes of a black solid black Foo Lion. Still beautiful and powerful, but lips drooling with saliva and sickness, fangs reaching, trying to get ahold of me! It was a mad mad killer of a thing now, and it scared me! It became uncontrollable, and damn near unrideable! It was throwing itself around, crazed and rabid. The music got louder, and the flickers started again. Gold to black again and again! Suddenly the flickers slowed and I saw below me a beast that was both golden and black, with a gold body and huge black wings. It snapped them out as the ride ended. It was even larger than before, and power just radiated from it. It was a merged creature, both the calm golden one, and the wild black one. I remembered how uncontrollable and dangerous the black one was. The black one was not controlled now, it was MERGED. Both spirits honored in the one beast. I bowed my head. An imp met me at the gate in a black and gold Harlequin costume. His almond-shaped pupils were the glowing gold of sunshine, like the vesica pisces symbol in sacred geometry, and the pupil was a Black Sun in it's center! It was a Solar imp in costume, and he led me towards the Fun House. That must be another story, though, because I got interrupted. Kodiak was walking with me. He was having great fun!!

[Kharybdis]

Interesting to have two very different experiences on the carousel! I wrote about my dream experience previously in a different thread, and decided to share this experience with the meditation here.

As I began running to the carousel, I shrank--or, rather, I became a child again, a hybrid between my human self and my demonic true self. The Hellborn's smile seemed more amused than wicked, as I seemed to already know what was going to happen and where I was going to go. Immediately, I rushed toward a manticore, posed in a roaring pounce with scorpion tail curled high over my head, point gleaming dangerously. It had a beautiful red-brown mane, a golden tail, orangish-tawny fur, and green-black dragon scales and wings that shimmered in the glistening lights of the carousel. As the ride began spinning faster, I began laughing, almost maniacally, as I sank my fingers deep into the fur of his mane and held on tight. The world rushed around me, a dizzying blur of whipping wind and dark shadows--and then, when the ride jerked to a halt, the world around me was... empty. Ruined tents leaning at odd angles, black-and-navy-striped, filled the scene, and dead trees loomed over with their grasping branches reaching for the light of the moon obscured by heavy storm clouds. The paths were dusty and grey, and the rides all appeared to be ruined--but still functioning.

The log flume rushed into spuming white water, the spinning ride (like the teacups or the Scrambler) still spun around and around at strange, off-kilter angles... My guide was a manticore, much like the one I had ridden, only... humanoid, standing upright on goat-like legs as his massive arms, tipped in wicked claws, hung at his sides. He--or they, as they felt between genders, somehow--had an enormous reddish-brown lion-like mane, tied into a ponytail in the back with a ribbon, and was wearing a very nice sleeveless suit, perfectly tailored. The beast in human guise, I thought to myself, but this beast was perfectly comfortable in both worlds. On their face, which was the standard manticore-humanoid with wicked teeth, they wore a charming mask that was all smiles. We walked together through the empty ruin, and I began to see monsters at every corner--like the twisted, dark monsters from Ghibli films. Monsters made of globby ink, twisting in on themselves and smiling with massive, too-white human teeth; monsters made entirely of shadow, that whistled like wind when you approached; enormous beasts, hungry and chained, performing tricks at the command of their masters that had dominated their will. But who were they performing for, I wondered, when the entire carnival was empty?

When Akelta's voice said "...the depth of your soul...", the whole place suddenly filled with water as I dipped down a level into a different dimensional plane of my personal carnival. I was free and swimming, and I knew instinctively that I was the master of this place. Anything I wanted would become, and anything I did not want would vanish. A clown emerged--a small fellow, glowing brilliant gold and white, and made joyful jokes and japes as he balanced on his hands and made cracks about the water (some terrible puns, but they got smiles, no less). With him was a juggling octopus, and there was a mer-person comedian in one of the tents. Suddenly, the tents felt less ruined; lights were everywhere, radiant and colorful, as illuminated jellyfish hovered and bobbed about in the water. Enormous sea-creatures swam overhead, sometimes obscuring the moon, but completely oblivious to the fun going on below. A sunken ship served as a funhouse--and it was then that I began to realize that the carnival was not empty of patrons at all.

The dead were there in droves. Ghosts, spirits, skeletons, mummified corpses, the recently deceased with their fresh death-wounds--at first, they seemed rather solemn, their milky dead eyes gazing forlornly at the moon. When the clown emerged, however, the smiles began, and the carnival truly got underway. They delighted in the mer-person's comedy routine, enjoyed a number of games and won fabulous prizes--often trinkets of their life before--and rode rides together, laughing and taking joy in this transitional moment Between. The last ride, somewhere far in the distance, was a gateway of sorts; when one was ready, they would ride the last ride, a cavalcade of fun that warmed you to your very bones, before you were sent through an enormous white portal that led to Whatever Comes Next.

I made this carnival for the dead, to assist in their transition and to recover from the heaviness of life. Some did not need much effort; they were already at peace, already enjoying the carnival the moment they arrived, but others required much more time and attention to let their heavy burdens slide off their shoulders. And yet, the living would see nothing: only ruined tents, leaning at odd angles, beneath an obscured moon and grasping dead trees. They would walk down dusty grey paths and rides that seemed broken, yet functional, and have no idea what it was for.

Naturally, they wouldn't know. They would never know. This carnival, my carnival, is not for those who live, but rather those who have died and are dying every day that they live--and know this, deep within their heart of hearts, without fear.

[Kharybdis]

Ah, and I forgot to mention (because I was in a hurry), there were also tents for the dead to socialize and swap stories, with contests for the best story, most hilarious death, etc.; and, after I noticed that the dead inhabited my carnival, my manticore guide was also one of the dead! I could see their ribs, the dessicated flesh pulled over what was left of organs... And, in fact, everything there, including the beasts and monsters, were dead, save for myself and the clown, oddly enough, who I believe is actually a part of myself. Very curious.

[Chrysopaelian]

When I appeared in the Carnivale, I was sitting atop a big cast iron gate, but it wasn’t the front gate I came in through before. I hopped down and started walking towards the little carousel in the distance as the meditation instructed. Instead of breaking into a run, I jumped into the air and darted forward with a sort of flying forward dive. The carousel was a lot larger than it originally appeared to be. I saw it with little white lights around the upper brim and a flag on top. The demon who greeted me to let me on the ride had a sort of black mane and pointed face. Someone whose sense of humor is particular.

I stepped up onto the carousel and immediately found the creature I would ride. The creature had a horse’s face, fins, leathery wings, and a long, curled tail with a fin at the end. It was a sort of iridescent black/aqua color, depending on the lighting. Its mouth had several sharp fangs at the front, and no teeth further back. It had a large sail fin on the back of its head where a horse’s mane would be, and a horse’s front hooves. At first it seemed like a statue, but then it became more and more alive. I held onto the brown leather reigns around its neck. As the carousel whirled round and round (counterclockwise, I remember) the creature tried to kick me from its back and take a bite out of me. The reigns flew off as I came forward. I smiled at it, put an arm around its neck, and for the remainder of the ride we flew side by side instead of rider and ridden.

When I arrived at the area of my own personal Carnivale, the first thing I noticed was a shallow stream with a little waterfall in it. I noticed spots in the grass along the shore where blood was dripping into the stream, or had dried on the grass. The creature disappeared into the stream, even though it didn’t seem like it was deep enough to be home to such a large creature.

My guide here was a vampire, an old friend from my childhood. I remember thinking that my personal Carnival really wasn’t very Carnival-like like the main Sombre Carnivale Demoniaque. It was more like a park. Lots of tall trees and streams, sidewalk paths, and various people in curious costumes going here and there, smiling, laughing, enjoying their time. Lots of youthful looking people especially, not really with families or anything like that.

As for attractions, there were places to ride giant blackbirds, a slide that arched over the sky called the “Rings of Saturn,” a little outdoor café, a library, a tent that was a hall of mirrors, and a hopscotch-like fire game where flames would appear before you as you jumped through them. When we did this, we ended up hurtling fireballs at each other like kids would fight with snowballs in the winter. When we visited the hall of mirrors, rather than distorting appearance with curved mirrors or something like that, I saw that my reflection was other people. I would move, and the reflection that looked like someone else would move like how I did.

At the end of the place where all the streams converged was an ocean of bloated corpses, just left out to rot in the sun and the moon. As we explored I felt indifferent towards them, as did everyone else, who seemed to notice them there but didn’t really care. They weren’t smelly or obtrusive, they were just sort of … there.

There was a crowd centered around a performer who we watched only for a moment. This performer was someone we both knew, but it seemed to be a younger, purer version of this person. The crowd was captivated by his simple words and simple tricks.

We then sat to have a drink at the café. A giant scorpion came to serve us, and I remember scratching its face affectionately. The scorpion served everything with its own venom added, which gave it a sort of extra flavor and kick. When we finished drinking, our glasses turned into flowers. We then went into the woods to a little cabin with a fire in the fireplace. There were two chairs next to it, but rather than sit in the chairs we sat on the floor with some sort of board game between us. (It had dice and a board, but I couldn’t say what game it was.) After we started the game, I felt that it was time for me to go.

I wanted to give him something to commemorate the occasion before I left. The first thing I thought of was something I had been given by someone else, which I didn’t really think I should give away. I pulled a vein from my own arm and made a necklace out of it for him. I told him I didn’t know what it would do, but that we’d find out. I then asked to be taken home.

I had to ground a couple of times after that to fully come back, even when I was seeing out of my physical eyeballs again. This is a lot happening very quickly for me, and I don’t want to strain myself. Very glad to be able to visit with my old friend.

[Kore Serpens]

Hellborn Contortionist R looks absolutely wonderful but I ask to be excluded from the draw. I did want to share what I experienced.

There were rides; I stood and watched them. I didn't feel like choosing, just watching. But then I noticed that there was a ride that looked like me.
And I saw that I had become Octopus-like and that I was the ride. A great big Octopus, and we gently wove through the sky like water and waves, great long tentacles flowing, sweeping ....

the ride ended and i walked through long grass. There were people in the distance but i was drawn to a quiet area full of graves stones. I walked through it; it was very hot. The sun was burning the top of my head.
The ground was dry, the grass crackly. The longer I stayed here the more things changed but it was really subtle. I was drawing the dead from their graves by my presence, our presence really, because I realized
I was following Her (we joined the Carnivale together) and our skin was black and full of suction cups, just like an Octopus though we were in human form .

She walked ahead looking back at me. She's graceful and thin. I followed and everywhere we walked we left
tendrils, like fungi, long tendrils sinking beneath the ground and growing into the dead, into everything. We are freeing the dead.
And the dead were rising and following; they keep stroking me, touching me if they can. They were really loving which felt a little odd. I was ok with that but really I just wanted
to follow Her. The living weren't far from us. They were really noisy and were having a lot of fun. There were games and music and many performers.
They had no attraction to me but I knew She wanted to lead me there. We seemed invisible to the living .... but She was gently insisting.
The dead were more interesting and they seemed happy to leave their graves; they liked us. They followed us toward the living. It seemed like the whole area was one big underground web woven together by our steps.

We are moving towards the living. I have a sense of what She wants me to do; of what we will do/be together.
We are going to embrace them next with our web and bring the dead into their reality so that they can participate with them.
The graveyard and the dead are totally silent. The living are noisy and protected from the sun's heat by great colorful tents. It's a great merging of silence and noise. Of death and life.

[judiss]

Interesting... I wonder if perhaps I'm not "vibing" with the Carnivale as everyone else seems to because I'm not a huge fan of county fairs, amusement parks, etc. At the carousel, I hopped on a pretty standard carousel horse - I actually only saw this horse; everything else was a blur. It was white and had a teal/blue mane and tail. The world it took me to was surreal. The Carnivale world was dark red which, incredibly, happens to be the opposite colour of this teal/blue which I figured out a few minutes in (see below - NOTE: actually, typing out the description of the horse, I just now realized the horse's mane/tail were the same teal colour as my "inner carnivale world").

What struck me as odd initially was how suddenly quiet it became in my carnivale. It didn't sound like a carnivale at all - and didn't look like one either. There were no tents, no rides - no creatures except me. In fact, there was bare a floor; the gravel ground I was standing on was more like a bridge, stretching over a seemingly endless pit with endless other such bridges. In the empty space, islands of dark rock hovered, bobbing up and down. In typing this out, I'm just not realizing perhaps the realm was a roided-out House of Mirrors of sorts.

My guide was, to my surprise, the Egyptian god Anubis, whom I have never worked with or contacted and have never even thought about since World Religions in the fifth grade. At least, the guide looked like him - ancient Egyptian attire, black canine head with tanned, human body. He wordlessly led me down the bridge and over to an area where I saw little bubbles of water(?) that seemed to contain worlds floating around. My vague memory recalls some type of vegetation in this room too whereas the initial area was barren. The bubble that drew my attention showed a salmon-colored, overcast sky with blueish mountains below it and sunlight streaming through the clouds. It was too small to distinguish anything else. Before I could continue on further, a sharp pain in my left leg triggered a reflex where my foot jerked forward and I was yanked out. The overall atmosphere of my Carnivale reminds me of a place that could be considered purgatory or the underworld (would explain Anubis and also the silence/coldness).

The most interesting thing about this meditation is that yesterday, I meditated to my Carnivale runes and a strange child who appeared led me to this very carousel (see "The Excellent Adventures of Doctor Ward"). In fact, the horse I got on is the horse she got on yesterday. I did deduce that these runes outlined my journey through Carnivale (predictive power) and this deja-vu moment certain supports that!

[Oceanos]

I'll post plainly and simply. Rode a sea serpent similar to Leviathan on the carousel. My carnival is mainly a world of fantasy, large towering crystals, wild plantlife growing everywhere, untamed and raw. Beautiful in its natural state. Various creatures reside, beings of fantasy such as centaurs, satyrs, mermaids, any being considered as having an alluring quality to their species, reside there. A world of sensual beings. Nothing mechanical, no regular attractions, just a world to explore, ever expanding, with many hidden parts to it. It is a place one goes to unwind and relax, forget about their worries and responsibilities. The senses are calmed and soothed, surrounded by a feeling of warmth and unconditional love. It is a world where there are no limits imposed on you, you are free to be who you are, your true and best self, free of judgement, worry, or fear. The beings there all beckon to you "come, stay with us, we love you, we missed you, you are safe here, come and forget". They want you to join them, live among them, let your past fade into obscurity as this new world becomes your sole/singular reality. It is a place that one will never want to leave, if he chooses to linger longer than a moment within its embrace.

[Kitsune]

@_@ I'll have to try this later. The meditation is going much too fast for me to be able to observe what is actually going on.

[moonshadowlab]

I walked the stone pathway to the ride but there was no music, no one was there, it was very dark and everything was still. There was someone watching me get on the ride, I choose a black animal that looks like a dragon but as I was going around it kept changing forms and colors. When the ride stopped the animal had become green with yellow eyes. As I walked off the ride there was a man waiting for me, he looked cartoonish with the same yellow eyes as the animal I had ridden, he did not speak but somehow I got the message to walk with him in the darkness and the silence. I want to do this meditation again to see more.