Sometimes getting started can be challenging. Although an end goal of meditation is to get past our everyday conscious minds and "ego selves," we can use thoughts prepared ahead of time to help keep our minds focused. The goal of the following suggestions is to help the individual come to the realization that what we think of as "self" is "ego," and that true consciousness can exist independent of this ego self. Thelemites will recognize this as development of "True Will" over the animal ego self.
What is the benefit? Well, aside from the pure joy and divine oneness that can be experienced in a connected meditative state (if enlightenment isn't enough for you), some great benefits to meditation are the practical applications of independent consciousness. Once we realize that our conscious mind can exist independent of our bodies, we can then correlate to practical applications -- astral projection, past life regression, clairvoyance. All of these and more are built upon this basic theory. Again, it is one thing to know of a theory, and quite another to actually have a realization, or to incorporate something into our personal belief system.
Before beginning this meditation, be sure that you are neither hungry nor too full from a big meal. It is a good idea to have already emptied your bladder and bowels. Do not be concerned if your emotional or mental state is not at its most centered. It is often when we are most uncentered that we can realize the most benefits of a meditation session. It is important to release any physical tensions in your body because your thoughts have a direct connection to tensions in your body, and vice versa. Take a few moments to do some basic stretching or hatha yoga exercises.
Before starting, have some object in front of you to serve as a focus point, which will help you both enter into the meditative state and to reorient yourself after. This object might be a religious item or a favorite picture of an outdoor scene or loved one; I like to use a lighted candle. It is not necessary to cast a full circle, although some practitioners may prefer to.
Begin by taking three deep, long breaths. Begin to find your center and ground your energy. (For more information on centering and grounding, see the series of articles by Erika in Widdershins.) The Meditation
You are in a safe place. You are about to enter into a very deep, very comfortable state of mind. You will be fully alert to any physical emergency or danger and be able to respond immediately. You will remember all that you experience. You will awake feeling refreshed and renewed.
Getting in Touch with the Body
Think of a good dinner you've had recently, maybe with a special friend... Think of the satisfied feeling you have had after a big delicious dinner. Where in your body do you perceive this feeling?
Think of a good movie, show, musical act or magick ritual you've seen and really enjoyed... Think of the good feelings you have had while enjoying this event. Where in your body do you perceive this feeling?
Where do these feelings come from? Where do our wants and desires to connect come from? Where do we come from? Where does our consciousness, what we call "self-identity," come from? Ask yourself: "Where do I come from?" For the answer we must make a journey... a journey outside of what we perceive as day-to-day reality. We must go under. We must go deep within... deep within ourselves. We must go to that other place. There is always another, as we shall learn.
At the beginning of time, there was the Goddess. She existed and still does today as we exist, living our day-to-day lives. We work, we play. We eat, we drink, we make love. We perceive the world through our eyes, through our brains. We walk around on the surface of reality, making a big fuss about how well we are playing the social games created by humanity, like a child's game of house: dramatic play.
Even the Great Ancient Goddess must first divest herself of worldly things before crossing to the other place.
You are in a safe place... you can allow yourself to fully realize the following concepts without repercussion, knowing it will be all right in the end. Our intention is to return.
The Journey Down
Imagine you have lost your job or source of income. Imagine your funding has suddenly been cut off. How will you pay your bills? How will you keep your commitments? How will you support those depending on you? Your pets? Really feel what it would be like to right now -- have no monetary income. Do you still care for yourself? Will your family think less of you? How will this effect your love life? Do you value yourself differently?
Now, imagine that due to some unforeseen event you have no residence, and no one you can stay with. If you live with another, focus on your being in this situation independently; your roommates are on their own now, too. You have no income, and no residence... You are homeless. How do you feel? Where will you sleep at night? How will you wash your clothes; wash yourself? Where will you eat? How will this affect your love life? Are you less of a person?
You are in a safe place. Truly give yourself this opportunity and realize what it would be like. You will not have negative repercussions from this exercise... it will be all right in the end. We intend to return.
Now... you try to speak, but you cannot. You have no voice. You have lost your voice. How does it feel? What will you do to communicate your needs? How will you get a job? How will you ask for help? How will your friends and family react to you? How will this affect your love life? How will you care for others? Still we go further... now, you are in a foreign land. You can hear others speaking in words, but you do not understand them... you cannot speak, you have no home, no income. You can hear them, but they do not hear you. You cannot read their letters. You do not know the name of the land you are in. How does it feel? How will you go on? How will you care for yourself? Do you still care for yourself? Are you less of a person? Your friends, your family, your lovers, your pets... these are all gone now... You have divested yourself of all these things for this journey.
Take a moment to be aware of your body. Be conscious of the feeling in your limbs. Feel your pants or skirt against the skin on your legs... feel your shirt against your torso and arms. Feel the carpet or couch next to your hands. Be aware of your living body.
Now... allow yourself to experience this... What if you were missing a leg? Imagine that you are missing your right leg... How does it feel to not have a leg? Do you have a sense of loss? How would this impact your day-to-day life? Imagine that both of your legs are gone, as if taken in an unfortunate accident. How does if feel to not have legs? How would this impact your day-to-day life -- your going about, your love life, your career plans, your Craft? How would you look at yourself without legs?
Allow these thoughts to come to you, knowing you are in a safe space, but really... what would it feel like if? There are people in the world with bodies like this, and they wake up and live each day as we live each day. Imagine you have no legs. How would you view yourself?
(Upon practice, the practitioner may wish to further explore this train of thought. Progress to imagine what it would feel like to be without arms.)
Now we must journey deeper to the core, deeper... you perceive a thin separation between you and some other place. A veil... it's thinner now than before. You have divested yourself of the mundane, and the other is now within your reach. You have no body.
Where are you? Are you? Do you exist? You have thought, right?
I think, therefore I am.
Mark and remember. Realize it. Consciousness transcends physical reality. Consciousness exists outside of physical space.
The Other Side
Now there is nothing... What is nothing? Nothing is a singular concept which encompasses everything. Think about it. Everything. We are a part of everything. You are not lonely; you are connected with everything in nothing. How can this be?
In the dark... you are not alone, you perceive there is another. Imagine a small speck of light. The other. There is another, you realize your existence by realizing there is another... Boom-boom, boom-boom. There is another: your hear it, you perceive it... You know you are because you see your reflection. There is another: your mother.
You are; the other is. You are the other is. One, two; one, two. On, off; on, off. The heartbeat: boom-boom, boom-boom. One, two; one, two; male-female; one, two; one, two; the computer: on, off; on, off; 1s and 0s; 1s and 0s; the heartbeat: boom-boom, boom-boom. One, two; one, two. It is a perception, a spirit, an intention. Feel the longing to join with the other. You are together in everything, right? But there was nothing. Now you perceive the other and want to join in everything. You rise from the deep, from the earth...
The Reconstruction
Our bodies are an organization of protoplasm. Strings of protein linked together in a particular way. The particles are made of carbon with silicon and iron and many other chemicals known to us from the periodic chart. Where do these elements come from? They come from the atomic reactions in the stars. Your body is made of the same physical particles that were constructed through fusion reactions in the stars, combined on the earth, protein molecules strung together and organized into protoplasm. The same stuff that we walk on each and every day, the same stuff that makes the stars, this is, literally, what composes our earthly bodies.
Mark and remember. Your body is literally made from the earth.
How do the molecules come together? Swallow. Swallow again. There is moisture in your mouth: spit. Tears in your eyes. The ocean is the beginning of all life. Water is the medium that allows for free-flowing protein molecules to combine with others into protoplasm. Water is inside our earth bodies. It is blood that flows that allows for movement internal to our bodies. It carries wastes; it cools us; it carries our sperm and eggs. Hot, salty, sweet semen; red menstruation. The ocean is the beginning of all life.
Mark and remember. Your earth body is, literally, filled with water.
Take a deep breath. We take air into our bodies. We encase the air. We don't usually see the air. We often don't feel the air, but it exerts 14 pounds of pressure per square inch on our bodies... Do you realize that? Fourteen pounds per inch! The plants give off oxygen as a result of their chemical reactions, and we take in oxygen... We give off carbon dioxide as a result of our chemical reactions, which the plants take in. We are joined with the plants through the air. Do you remember when Mt. St. Helens erupted? The ash was everywhere... it affected the sunsets in Pennsylvania, so far away, but I remember it too. Even in the deeps of the ocean, plants and animals exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide gases... Air is an irrevocable connection that joins all life into one thing on this planet.
Mark and remember. Your earth body, filled with water, literally encases air, which is, literally, exchanged with every other living thing, plant and animal on this planet.
What else do you feel? Are you cold? Are you hot? The internal temperature of your body is 98.6 degrees... It's perhaps 50 degrees outside... How do you do that? How do you contain that energy? Do you know what it feels like to be in 98.6 degree weather? Imagine you are in Nevada, and the temperature is 99 degrees. What does that feel like to the outside of your skin? It feels like a furnace... like a furnace... your body takes in oxygen, combining it with other pieces of matter (earth). You transform this into energy, energy that allows you to move and to grow to take in more air, to transform the oxygen into carbon dioxide. You are almost twice as hot inside your body as it is outside. Do you realize that?
Mark and remember. Your earth body, full of water to transport internal functions, encases air that connects all life, which fuels the fire that allows you to move and transform.
Now, if we take a clay model and put some water into little pathways inside of it, and allow for a hole for air to get in, and even warm it... is it alive? No, you are alive... how are you alive... Where did you start?
It is spirit! It is the intention to join from the beginning... You start with your spirit -- it is the akasha principle... the intention of life... That is what starts the process. Consciousness is not dependent on chemicals... Chemicals are dependent on consciousness.
Allow the elements to flow freely in your body and awareness. Realize how very much you have in common with every, every thing on this planet. You are made of the same stuff. You are elementary, the same as your cat or dog or bird. Realize it.
Imagine yourself rising up... your body forming of the earth, your limbs growing from small buds... into beautiful physical methods of connecting with the world... Move your limbs. You are climbing up, up and out... You are returning to your life, your friends, family, lovers, pets, home, jobs. You perceive earth around you, but you breathe fresh air. Up and up... you are coming out, you are coming up into the surface world... you are... born...
Open you eyes. Allow yourself to focus on your focal point for a few moments.
Allow a moment to adjust... feel... write down your impressions and experiences for future reference.
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