Met Tiamat and was transported to another realm
This is going to sound odd and for people that don't believe in mystical experiences, I understand your skepticism, but I assure you that every word of this is true to my best ability to remember it.
Many years ago, sometime after I had moved back to Florida, I had a mystical experience out in the Apalachicola National Forest—A vast expanse of swamps, bogs, sinks, springs, pine barrens, oak forests and prairies that cover north Florida on a karst formation of plains and hilly uplands. It spans from the outskirts of Tallahassee westward to Wewahithcka and Apalachicola. I had went hiking along the lower Apalachicola River and inland into Tate's Hell State Forest and was going to hike back towards Tallahassee. The entire trip was to take a week, but I did take my motorcycle with me. A few of y'all might know of this otherworldly experience I had headed towards Florida SR-65 down some forest road winding it's way east to west terminating somewhere between Hosford and Sumatra. Specifically, it was off a path nearby as I had stopped to take in the scenery and camp out near where a small creek ran through a prairie.
It was spring. Early spring. You know, when it still hasn't quite given in to warmth. Fog had settled into the area for the morning and remained a good deal of the day before clearing up. I was just getting ready to leave when I noticed something unusual: a trail I had not seen or noticed coming out of the end of the prairie, leading up around to a hilly area.
A hilly area on the lower karst plain. That should not be there. This was flatland forest and I knew it. Something was wrong. I realized I somehow was not where I was before. I turned around to find the path leading back not to the prairie where I was but to a swamp.
Now, everyone who has hiked in these forests has heard stories of people going missing and honestly that thought has entered my mind. Had I suddenly clipped through to some remote part of the forest somehow? Maybe, but whatever was going on I could not go back so I followed the path until it reached a rather wide river—A river I thought was the Apalachicola River. The path opened up to a shallow beach along the river. I had noticed the trees around it were huge, massive oak trees which towered over the canopy. As I had reached the river the land became hilly and rocky. I still had no idea where I was or why I was there.
As I walked into the opening I saw something laying on an exposed sandbar near the edge of the river. It was a long plumed serpent maybe 20 feet in length. The dragon approached me as I stood on the shore. It looked me up and down. I was terrified. After all, this huge feathery snake-thing could easily tear me apart is staring me down from several feet away. It was a creature of tremendous beauty and terror. I had never seen anything like it and I will probably never see anything like it ever again.
Here's where things get weird: A few months later in the autumn I had heard someone tell me about a dragon that embodied the Apalachicola River and inhabited its surrounding land. I don't remember what the name of this serpent was, only that she was a important in the creation story of the Apalachee peoples who used to inhabit this land. Oddly, her role and form were oddly similar to Tiamat of Sumerian mythology. This at the time I did not know any of that. I still do not know nor could find any information online about this specific native goddess. If anyone knows what the name of this goddess is and her detailed story I would love you to get this information to me. But back to what happened.
Tiamat—as I shall call her since it resonates so much—did not speak to me, at least verbally. It did have a strong, controlled presence about her. A presence that told me I was not in danger. I eventually asked it where I was only to receive silence. I asked it who it was and why had it come here or if it knew who I was. To that I did not get an answer but the serpent had reared up. The waters of the river parted and became shallow revealing a ford with a dock. Below an old pathway was exposed that allowed me to pass over the river on a footbridge. An old preserved wooden and stone thing that didn't exactly look the safest. Who would know if it would still be there should I need to turn back? But also, who am I to refuse a spirit of the land, an invitation from a dragon? Certainly not me.
Once I had crossed the river the land had went from abnormally hilly to craggy, mountainous even. The trail seemed to cut off at this very large hill. On this hill was a mighty tree which was so massive, that the trail went under its roots into a cave-like area and back out. The hill must have been a good 600 feet tall, and this tree easily topped 350 feet. Much larger than any oak tree around today. It was like a giant oak tree unlike anything I had even seen. A behemoth that resembled the Mana Tree covered in ferns and moss. I could hear all sorts of birds singing its branches. It dominated the hill and its forest.
I felt compelled to go up the hill, taking a smaller trail that wound up the hill. It probably took about an hour and a half getting up there. Once at the summit I could see it was late in the afternoon—3 or 4 ish. I ate a lunch out my backpack and pondered the view from the summit.
I could see large hills in the distance and even further away I could see a couple very large mountains. Having just moved back from Oregon and traveled the country multiple times by bus and train I can tell you the difference. I know what I saw. These weren't tiny hills in the distance—they were snow-capped peaks. Far-off beauties that perhaps terminated what looked to be a valley. On one end I could see the coast, but it was not the coast I knew. In between, closer, but still far off I could see farms and villages. Further, I saw what looked like a start of a larger city with perhaps a few towering buildings. But nothing recognizable. This was a different land.
After I had my lunch, I decided to head back down and went further down the trail. Another couple miles before I came to another creek—a deeper, faster running creek which I knew would be dangerous to cross. The trail went alongside it and then turned off into a lake where an old abandoned dock had stood. Further back the trail terminated into an abandoned village where I met the only other person during this journey. An older man who I could not fully see as he was working some old food counter he made into his own storehouse and kitchen.
He told me "no one comes here much anymore" and told this was an old sacred spot that had been abandoned, but had been made a park which he took care of. Now, I want to say that I don't even know if the person I was speaking to was a human. I never directly say him and only caught glimpses of his silhouette and figure through the slats in the stand. He handed me a bowl of food, but what I am not so sure. It was delicious, and quite frankly worth the risk of taking meals from a stranger. The sun was going down. I asked if I could stay in the village until morning. He nodded and told me of a surprisingly well furnished wooden shack he had prepared for travelers which I was delighted to have stayed. There were some kind of electric lamps of an ornate design I had never seen before, tea, and a few books written in a language I could not read or begin much to describe. My host who was of few words was no where to be found to thank.
I went to bed and woke up the following morning to a similar, humid, misty chill. I was still in the village and decided to make my way back the way I came. By the hill, though and under this great tree, and down to the river and back over it. On my way back, I looked for the dragon. It was nowhere to be found. I sat at the banks wondering what I had just experienced. About an hour passed before I got up, headed back on the trail which lead strangely back into the prairie.
My heat and stomach sunk. I was in awe and confusion seeing the area where I originally set up camp—my motorcycle in the distance still parked right where I left it. I turned around to find the path I had taken gone—in its place a small creek bordering along an impassible thicket. What did I see? Where had I gone?
After that, I went home. I never spoke of it to anyone. I questioned whether or not it had really happened. My limited research I have done has yielded some interesting results. I have heard stories of people entering this forest and ending up in some strange, ethereal land. In addition to the link to Tiamat, this land has another interesting link to myth—many of the locals around the Apalachicola River used to say that the Garden of Eden was located somewhere along or near the river and its impenetrable thickets, swaps, and forests—that somewhere in these lands lies the gates to other realms.
I have to wonder if someone else, perhaps an eccentric preacher slipped through to this place, saw that most amazing tree and the lands beyond, and thought surely this must be Paradise. The entire time I was there, I felt no fear, no worry, I was at peace with myself. I even wonder what would have happened if I would have tried to push further. Would I have been able to see what was beyond? Something about the place beyond seemed familiar. It did seem to call for me and I wonder if it was also home.
To this day I think about this a lot. I still wonder why me? Why was I contacted by an ancient goddess to spend the night in that place?
So fellow lunarpunks, has anyone else here had a spiritual experience like this? Have you ever just been to another world to find yourself back? What was it like. Does anyone else here perhaps have any insight as to just what the heck happened to me?