Some of the meditations i use for my shamanic path

Believer Your Country :

With time and meditation all things, are possible.

It is my opinion that the journey of self is the greatest and most important journey of life a person can undertake. For without this journey, our perception of everything around us is incomplete. To know oneself, is to know everything around us. Only when the journey of self is undertaken, can one truly start to understand ones connection with all things. To know oneself is to know the universe.

Meditation is key to almost all of a mystics abilities. Even rituals are designed to bring the mind into focus, and a meditative state by the mantras we say, and the actions we perform. Yet do we need them? Perhaps in the beginning yes, but over time one can learn to do the same thing with out the aid of words, and ritual, or tools.
Many do not believe this. Many are limited by teachings that are liner, and incomplete. Teachings that do not show them how to explore the vastness of the universe, or the vastness of the inner cosmos as well. Do this to accomplish that, do that to accomplish this, etc.
Magic is so much more than this and that. It is the power of creation, and destruction, for you can not have one without the other. For something to be created, something else must be destroyed.

If you do not believe me think of it this way.

Say you want to change something about yourself. A bad habit perhaps, does not the bad habit need to be destroyed before a better habit can take its place?
It is the same with all things in magic. To learn new things, old things must be emptied from ourselves.
For magic to exist in our lives, the belief that magic does not exist must be destroyed, to perceive magic, our old perceptions must be destroyed, and replaced with new perceptions.

YOUR FIRST MEDITATION EXERCISE

I find that meditation in nature far easier, and much more pleasant then in a house or apartment although it is not necessary to be in nature to meditate. Being in nature i think brings one closer to the energy's of creation, and makes it that much easier to link to the energy's of creation.

For this exercise find a quiet place outside, preferably in the woods, but if one does not live near the woods a park is ok as well.

first find a place to sit or lay down. Make yourself comfortable. now take a look around you see all there is to see, how detailed is what you see, what do you notice the sights sounds smells tastes and feels. Write this down in a journal.

Next close your eyes and take 10 deep slow breaths. Allow your mind to go quiet. If you start to get random thoughts, gently push them away. until your mind is blank. i find it helps to think of a black blank page.

Listen to all the sounds that are around you, allow them to fill with peace. The birds chirping, the wind in the trees, dogs barking children playing, etc.

Then smell all that is around you, allow the sent to fill you with peace. Smell the grass, the aromas of the flowers, the sent on the wind, everything.

Next taste all that is around you for this breath through your mouth, slowly i know it sounds kinda weird but you will be amazed at what you can taste, buy doing this. allow this to fill you with peace

Next Feel what is around you, the grass, the brease on your skin, the warmth of the sun, allow it to fill you with peace.

Finally open your eyes, and again see what is around you, the vivid colors, do you notice things you did not before? allow this to fill you with peace.

Do things look brighter, do they seem more colorful or vivid?
if not do not worry about it this can take time to master.

Write down what you felt during the meditation, the ideas that came to mind, what you felt. Over time you will discover that your perceptions of things will change. This is your first step into the world of the shaman energy practitioner.

Do this meditation daily for 2 weeks, then try to do two of the senses at the same time for 2 weeks, then try 3 and so on until you are able to use all five senses at the same time.

The above meditation came to me after a deep inner meditation of my inner self, call it intuition, or the spirits talking to me, or my connecting with the energy's of the universe, i know it works because i now use it on a regular basis, and now i feel and see things i never knew possible.

Mage Your Country :

Wow, SF
Thanks for sharing...I am going to try this...
Love and Light

Lightworker Your Country :

Thanks Shadowfox, a great meditation I have had great success with my self Smile

Believer Your Country :

Perception is very important. How we precieve the world around us the mystic energy we use, how it interacts with the energy around us and others.

In essence we are not but energy in its most basic form, we are made of all five of the energy's of creation. Earth, Wind, Water,Fire and Spirit.

Fire is the warmth our body creates, water and earth comprise most of the physical aspects of our earthly forms, and air is within us as we breath it. Spirit, our soul and our most basic connection to all creation.

Perception is important because without it we can not see, even the most basic of enery work. How the elements weave into a cohesive force that we can use to do our bidding.

when onc can see how the universal energy around us affects us and others, we become much more adept at using energy.

Even our spirit guides are energy, but they vibrate on a different frequency, so we must train and learn how to alter our perceptions to be able to effectively communicate with them.

Spirit guides are higher beings, that are our friends, teachers, protectors. They can be anything from a stone to a star or a spiritual being, they MUST be treated with respect at all times. One that does not treat his guides with respect will soon have none, untill he changes his ways. And may even be visited by a shadow guide. But more on them later.
Perception of self can be altered by what i call the journey of the inner cosmos. This is done by meditation, but instead of reaching out with your scences, delve within your self and explore. In this way you will discover exactly how we are all connected to the universe and everything within it.

A Simple Meditation for The Inner Cosmos.

First find a pace you can be undisturbed for at least a half an hour. Next you need to ground and center, these techniques are described in my section on energy magics on a different section of my site.

Next enter your meditative state by what ever method you find works for you, and listen for your heart beat.

Once you have found your heart beat, start to follow it to its source, let nothing distract you from you journey to the source and do not waver from the path that leads you there. Picture the path to the source like a golden road and all around is blackness. During this journey you will see and hear things, but do not be lead astray as these are the hidden things within yourself, some of which you will know and some you have hidden even from yourself, and are not yet ready to face. Just follow the road and things will be ok.

Once you have found the source slowly expand your scences, see what there is to see, hear what their is to hear, smell what there is to smell, fell what there is to feel, and taste what there is to taste.

This may take several attempts, as the journey is a deep one, and can take some time. Do this several times and each time you finish write down all you have witnessed.

Believer Your Country :

We live in a time with both a great blessing, and a great curse. Our great blessing is that never before have we lived in an age where so much spiritual information is available. We have all the religions of the world accessible to us. Even before such revolutionary changes occurred with the Internet, our local libraries and bookstores had a wealth of information on every topic, tradition, philosophy and ritual. In an afternoon you could learn about the Greek myths and mystery schools, Tibetan prayer wheels, Native American sweat lodges and the Kabbalah. You could learn about meditation, mantra, candle magick and astrology. Though some obscure teaching still remain hidden, for the most part you have access to the wisdom of the world.

Yet not everything is a great blessing. We also live in the time of a great curse. Our great curse is that never before have we lived in an age where so much spiritual information is available. Yes, you read it right. Our great blessing is simultaneously our great curse. We have so much to choose from, not only can be it be daunting to find material but also difficult to apply. With so much available, we run the risk of becoming fast food consumers rather than conisseurs. As we pick and choose, we often leave behind key teachings because they were not obvious to us. The path of the modern mystic is not easy, for we have to be educated on everything, and then synthesize our paradigms.

One of the most powerful teachings for me has been the comparison of cultures and understanding what is similar across many different traditions. The strange terminology used by each culture can sometimes blind us to seeing that at the heart of the teaching, they are speaking on the same topic, but simply using different words.

A fundamental teaching to many eastern and western traditions is the concept of the elements. The elements are five fundamental forces to both the universe and the human experience. They are described as archetypal energies, or qualities, but they are given a vivid image through the use of natural phenomenon. These symbols from nature help us understand the qualities of the elements better, but should not be mistaken for the elemental energies themselves. In the west we use the terms earth, water, air, fire and spirit. In the east, particularly traditional Chinese medicine, the terms earth, water, metal, fire and wood are used.

The earth element is not literally stones and soil, but the quality of stones and soil help us to understand the earth element. It is the quality of solidness, of rigidity and the physical, tangible world. The quality of water, fluid, clear, reflective, needing containment or boundaries described the energy of elemental water. While earth deals with our physical body, water is our emotions. Fire is intangible, it cannot be held, but simply perceived as heat and light. Our own intangible energy, our will, drive and passion is described as fire. Fire is often equated with the soul, our own individual spark of light. The quality of our mind, our intellect and memory is described as air or metal, depending on the system. The western mysteries bridge the two systems, as the mind is described as air element, but its tool is the metal blade, sharp and keen, as a mind should be. All of the elements are symbolized by tools, and these tools are also found in the tarot suites of swords, wands, cups and pentacles, for air, fire, water and earth. The fifth element, also known as akasha or ether, is the hardest to describe. It is the force from which all four elements rise and return to. Western mysteries simply call it spirit, but in China, wood, the living growing cellular life of the plant world, is its symbol. In the tarot, the twenty two cards of the major arcane, representing major spiritual experiences, are the cards of spirit.

The Meditation

Here is an exercise to help you work with the five elements and find balance in your life. Its a variation and modern adaptation of a ritual known as a Medicine Wheel or Medicine Shield and shares many parallels with other rituals honoring the four directions.

Start by finding a quiet place to do a meditation. Start by lighting a single candle, of if you desire, five candles, one for each element. The colors of the candles for each element in western magick are traditionally red fire, yellow air, blue water, green or black earth and white for spirit. While some of the colors dont always make sense, like yellow for air instead of sky blue, these associations are based on spiritual philosophies. In color therapy, yellow is the most mentally stimulating color, so it is associated with the mental element, leaving blue for water. If you have the space, you can put the candles around you, with green/black before you in the north, yellow to your right in the east, red behind you in the south and blue to your left in the West. Spirit can be in the center of the ring just between you and the north candle.

Get into a comfortable position sitting in a chair or cross legged on the floor with a cushion. Ideally you should be facing north, but if you are unsure of the directions in your space, we will assume that before you is your own personal spiritual north regardless of the compass. Breathe deeply. Count back from twelve to one, feeling yourself slip into a deeper state of relaxation as you count.

Bring your attention before you and think of the element of earth. Think about your body. Think about your health. Think about your finances. Think about your home. These are all the areas influenced by the earth element. Ask the earth element to take form before you. Using your imagination, how do you see your earth element? You might have a vision of a spirit, an animal or angel, or an image of your own earthy self. Communicate with this earthy spirit, through words, pictures, intuition and feeling. Does this element have a message or instruction for you? How can you be in better balance with the earth element? When done, thank it.

Bring your attention to the right and think of the element of air. Think about your mind. Think about the way you communicate. Think about your memories, your intellect and your education. These are all areas influenced by the air element. Ask the air element to take form before you. Using your imagination, how do you see your air element? Again, you might have a vision of a spirit, an animal or angel, or an image of your own airy self. Communicate with this air spirit and seek its wisdom. When done, thank it.

Bring your attention behind you and think of the element of fire. Think about your passion. Think about your desires. Think about your will, your creativity and inspiration. These are all areas influenced by the fire element. Ask the fire element to take form before you. How do you see your fire element? Communicate with this fire spirit and seek its wisdom. When done, thank it.

Bring your attention to the left and think of the element of water. Think about your emotions. Think about your relationships. Think about your family, your friends and lovers. These are all areas influenced by the water element. Ask the water element to take form before you. How do you see your water element? Communicate with this water spirit and seek its wisdom. When done, thank it.

Bring your attention to the center and think of the element of spirit. Think about your spirituality. Think about your beliefs. Think about your religion. Think about your purpose in life. Think about your relationship with the divine. These are all areas influenced by the element of spirit. Ask spirit to take form before you. How do you see your spirit element? Communicate with it and seek its wisdom. When done, thank it.

Feel the presence of all five spirits around you. As a team, ask them what you can do together to find more balance and harmony. When done, thank and release each, starting with spirit and moving to water, fire, air and earth. Count up from twelve to one and bring your awareness back to the world. Snuff out all the candles and take a few moment to write down any messages you received.

Having a healthy relationship with all five of these powers gives you a strong foundation for deeper mystical experiences, and a lens through which to understand teaching from across the world.

Mage Your Country :

Thanks again!
Love and Light

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