In November 2013, I was conducting a workshop about Sidhe Wisdom, or Wild Spirituality, in Denmark’s Northern Jutland region. It was Saturday evening and our first day of teaching had ended. It had been a good day and I was feeling quietly cheerful. Upstairs in the room where I was sleeping, the atmosphere was fresh, as if a breeze had just blown through the place. Suddenly, I had an urge to sit with my back against the wall and meditate. I put pen and paper next to me in case I felt inspired to write down something. Sitting cross-legged with my spine straight but relaxed, I opened myself to the freshness of the presence, not only in the room, but also inside me. My mind was clear and open, and I sensed a cool brightness and clarity.

Focusing on the theme of Wild Spirituality as I ‘leaned into’ the atmosphere, I gradually became conscious of a distinct, living presence within me, as if someone was approaching. It was a dignified presence, very erect and individual, as if a person was addressing me – a physical person with distinct features, but with nature playing the greater part of the whole. I also felt the presence of rocks and forests and a northern tone in the approaching individual, a male who took the opportunity to share some condensed thoughts or images with me. Keeping my focus, I picked up the paper and wrote down what came from him straight to my mind:

“Our musicality comes from the fact that we listen with full attention to the notes of living beings and everything around us. The sounds dance on the background of silence. We listen to the language of sounds – the music of wholeness. The music of the earth and the mountains. The music of the water and the rain. The music of the air and the wind. The music of the sun and the fire. The crises and conflicts of human life hurt our ears. We are more inclined to withdraw. We have to overcome this inclination in order to stay. Humans think in separated words – as speech. We think in coherent verses – like music. Humans often act in separating ways. We act in combining ways like tunes in a song. Begin to think more musically. Melodious – tuneful. Learn to feel through connections – tonally. Try to act more organically, kindly, vibrantly.”

That was it. The atmosphere was permeated with fir trees, rocks, and the smell of moss and heather. I felt I was in the company of a kind, kindred spirit who was interested in exchange and who had stated a position and encouraged me to embark on a new journey. I gradually came back to my outer activity and read what I had written down. It felt fresh, as if the wind from the wilderness had blown gently through the room. Then the daily mind took over again: What should I do with this? Was my mind playing games? Was I drowning in a kind of wishful thinking, believing that I was now in contact with elves, like those in the world of Tolkien?

This was the beginning of a completely new exploration in the succeeding years. I had to stand by my clear impressions and neither exaggerate nor or ignore them. I decided to follow up on the encounter and to remain true to the benign new friend, no matter how the surrounding world reacted. I had to summon up the courage to deal with those reactions, for I knew it would be a tricky venture to claim that faeries, elves or Sidhe are in fact living realities close to our realm. The encounter further unfolded in learning about how we can discover amazing yet entirely natural things when our minds are ready. I started to learn practically, not just in theory, that reality is much more multidimensional than our brains are trained to relate to.

This is an excerpt from Søren Hauge’s latest book:: Untamed Breath: Quest for the Real You, WiseHeart Publishing 2019. — Ed.