Pagan Thoughts

Inner Sun Exercise
      This can be used for anything from healing to courage and empowerment to vitality. It is a wonderful exercise to use when you are working on BEING the change you wish to see in the world or creating a preferred life experience.
     If possible, begin outside or in front of a window, with your eyes closed toward the sun. Feel the sun’s warmth and see the light through your eyelids. Visualize this light and warmth filling your body. See it fill every cell to overflowing and spread out into the world around you.
Now see a smaller sun in your center. See it expand and glow more brightly as the Sun energy merges with your personal energy. The light balances your body, mind, and spirit.
See and feel this glowing sun expand and shine more brightly. It surrounds you in a protective sphere of light.
      This inner sun will guide and protect you as long as you choose to work with it. Check it periodically for insight. If you are living a healthy life and walking the path you are meant to walk, your inner sun will glow brightly. If you are out of balance or working from ego alone, it will dim and waver.
      Similarly, your inner sun will be strong if you are being offered honesty from others. Lies and deception will cause your inner sun to fade.

Blessings of the fertile earth to you
Blessings of the wind and rain
Blessings of the deep blue oceans to you
Blessings of the trees of the grove
Blessings of the standing stones to you
Blessings of these and more
To you and yours forever

first published in The Seeing Stone, March 2004

I just tried the "transforming anger to light" meditation that I’d come aross earlier today (by complete chance), and I’m very glad I did - I very much needed it after almost losing a job opportunity because of my former manager. I still ave the potential of losing the job, so I decided that transforming my negative energy toward my old manager into the positive energy I’ll need to prove my ability tomorrow during my first day of work. I promised myself I would let whatever she’d said go unless my new manager were to inquire about it - otherwise, I’ll just focus on learning & proving myself tomorrow.

The meditation was very beneficial, as was my yoga session tonight. I could finally release all the stress I’d built up since 1:00 today, when I was informed of the situation. I used one of the few loose rocks that I’d found in my driveway a few weeks ago, to help me get the sense of grounding to the Earth. I visualized it being a conductor to the Earth as a means of transferring my negative energy ground-ward and positive energy upward back into myself. It felt wonderful. It seemed as though the light of the candle on my closed eyelids grew brighter as I felt the negative energy dissipate. I’m gonna go thank the person who posted it

1. Find a quiet place where you can sit down and concentrate. Preferably outside on a nice day, but you can also find a quiet place in your house where you feel at peace. Grab a pen and a piece of paper of clean 8 ½ x 11 notebook paper, sit in a comfortable position, and close your eyes. 2. Take a few deep breaths and think of emotional and sacred things in your life. These could be fond memories, certain people in your life, emotions, feelings, important objects, places, etc. If you think of negative things, immediately "sweep" them out of your mind. When you are done, you need to only be left with all of the sacred things in your mind. Relax, and concentrate until you feel you are "ready". When you open your eyes, let your list fall out of your pen and onto the paper. Just let it flow. I want you to write down everything in a list. Be as detailed as you possibly can about each sacred thing you can think of. (Remember, these are sacred things to YOU, and they can be anything that brings positive emotion into your heart) When you are done, turn the paper over. 3. Now, close your eyes again and think of everything that is NOT sacred to you. Think about your biggest long term problems, things that irritate you, things that make you sad. Nobody is perfect, think about your flaws as a person. Think about anything that brings negative emotion into your heart. Once you have brought them all into your mind, open your eyes and write them all down on the back of the same paper. All of these negative things will keep you from creating your sacred space. You will soon find out how to keep them out of your sacred space so that you will have a true place of power within you for spell work. Fold up the paper and get ready for the next step… 4. You’ve now got your lists. On the front you have a list of things that are "sacred" to you. On the back you have a list of all things that are NOT sacred (the things that bring negative emotions into your heart). Now, you will need to gather a few tools to use to finish the building blocks of your Internal Sacred Space. Gather the following items: * White candle in a holder * Matches, or a lighter * A glass (or ceramic) bowl * A glass of water Set them all up in front of you… 5. When you are ready, light the candle. Let it become your focus. Feel the heat and energy coming from the candle. Visualize it’s energy surrounding you, enveloping you in it’s light and warmth. Let it’s light fill the aura around your body. See this light purifying your energy, filling your heart with it’s pure, white glow. After you feel warm and pure from the light of the candle, take the paper and unfold it. 6. Slowly read the list of sacred things aloud. Allow yourself to pause between each one and think deeply on it. When you have gone through your entire list, say the following aloud, and with purpose: "These Sacred things that I see Make them all a part of me Help me raise the energy!" Now visualize each item from your list rising up off of the paper to brighten the white purifying light around you. 7. Next, fold the paper back up without even looking at the list of negative things. Gently hold the folded paper into the fire on the candle (be very careful not to burn yourself or anything around you). Once the paper catches fire, drop it immediately into the bowl. Now say aloud: "Cleanse the Space inside of me And rid all negativity I accept no less - So Mote It Be" 8. Now watch the flames carefully as they burn the rest of the paper while you focus on feeling your positive sacred energy full of grand emotions. Feel the energy again, surrounding you and cleansing your space with white purifying light, filled with all of your sacred things. 9. Pour some water into the bowl to put out the rest of the flames and ash to "cleanse" all the negativity from your space. Now snuff out the candle. You have now set up your basic internal sacred space that you are going to build on in the future. When you first set up your sacred space in this way, do this once a week for 4 weeks to reinforce it and grow the power of your space. (you can write down different things, or the same things every time) Going forward, you are going to want to do this once a month to keep your sacred space clean so that your Magick will work to it’s fullest and won’t be tainted with negativity.

Open the door and clear your mind…

Allowing Spirit In
Clearing Your Mind
After a full day out in the world, stories, words, images, and songs from any number of sources continue to play in our heads hours after we encounter them. Even as we lie in bed, in the quiet dark, our minds continue noisily processing all the input from our day. This can leave us feeling unsettled and harassed. It also makes it difficult to take in any new information or inspiration. Like a cluttered house that needs to be cleared if it is to have room for movement and new life, our minds need clearing if they are to be open to new information, ideas, and inspiration.

Too often, the activities we choose to help us relax only add to the clutter. Watching television, seeing a movie, reading a book, or talking to a friend all involve taking in more information. In order to really clear our minds, we need a break from mental stimulation. Activities like yoga, dancing, or taking a long walk help to draw our attention to our bodies, slowing our mental activity enough that our minds begin to settle. Deep breathing is an even simpler way to draw attention away from our mental activities. Once we are mentally relaxed, we can begin the process of clearing our minds. Most of us instinctively know what allows our minds to relax and release any unnecessary clutter. It may be meditation or time spent staring at the stars. Whatever it is, these exercises feel like a cool, cleansing bath for the brain and leave our minds feeling clear and open.

Setting aside time to clear our minds once a day creates a ritual that becomes second nature over time. Our minds will begin to settle with less effort the more we practice. Ultimately, the practice of clearing our minds allows us to be increasingly more open so that we can perceive the world as the fresh offering it is, free of yesterday’s mental clutter.

Meditation is not a religious practice. It is important to be able to focus on only one thing at a time and meditation helps in doing that. It has spiritual relevance too but let’s not go into that now. I don’t meditate in traditional sense. For me, meditation means to focus on my body and my inner self without thinking of anything else. So, when I exercise all I concentrate on is my body rythm and breathing pattern and that’s meditation for me. Swimming is also an excellent option in which you have to concentrate on your body movements and breathing in order to swim well.

Find yourself a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. You can light a candle or burn some incense, but this isn’t essential. Make yourself comfortable. Some people like to sit cross-legged on the floor, others prefer to sit in a chair. Me?….I prefer to lay down somewhere (either the bed, or the sofa). Laying down somewhere doesn’t always suit some people, as they may find themselves falling asleep…and that’s not the idea LOL Try to clear your mind of everything, including the things that are troubling you. This can be difficult sometimes…but persevere with it. If you fail a few times, it doesn’t matter. Keep at it. Some people have a special place they like to go to in their mind. This could be a woodland or forest glade, a deserted beach or a mountain top. When you’ve cleared your mind of all earthly thoughts, take yourself to your quiet place. If it’s a forest glade, visualise the trees blowing in the breeze and the sun shining through the trees. Take note of all the flowers, trees and plants that grow there. Notice their colours and smell their scents. You might decide to explore your special place…let your mind take you there. If your special place is a deserted beach, hear the lapping of the water on the shore and feel the gentle breeze and the sun’s heat on your body. You may hear seagulls in the distance. Notice the shells and pebbles that are lying around. Pick them up and examine each one…notice every detail. You see what I’m getting at? During a meditating session, some people like to have what is known as ‘white noise’ in the background…something like a fan, for instance. Others like to have soft music playing, or to chant mantra’s to take them into a meditative state. Try out different things, see what works for you. The process of meditation can take from 10 minutes, up to half an hour or so. The idea of meditation is to calm your mind and reach inner peace…even if only for a little while. When you’re done, picture yourself leaving wherever you are, and gradually become aware of your earthly self and your surroundings. It’s important not to rush this process. You may also feel like something to eat or drink. Listen to your body. You may also feel a little ’shaky’ or ‘disorientated’, in which case you’ll need to ground yourself (see my thread on grounding). It can be very difficult to clear your mind completely when first starting to meditate. Just go with the flow at first. Lay or sit quietly and think of your very favourite, peaceful place. As you wander around and explore your place in your mind, you will find that earthly thoughts will start to creep in again now and again. Keep pushing these thoughts aside and return to your place once more. Meditation gets easier the longer you practice it and don’t forget, if you have thoughts and worries, they’ll still be there when you’re done meditating. Meditation just provides a release, a break from these worries. Allow yourself that break. You’ll be far more able to deal with them if you do. And don’t forget, when you’ve mastered the art of meditation, you’ll be able to do it anywhere…even in a crowded room, or train/bus station. It’s learning how to ’switch off’ ~ no matter what the situation.

I haven’t done yoga or meditated in a while, and now I don’t know why. I did a quick yoga session; and my meditation was so peaceful, it was incredible! My final thoughts were of enlightenment- that I don’t need to be enlightened because it’s already within me, I just have to find the courage to use it!!! Other than that, I’d had images of stained glass & a doll with blue turquoise hair, a small tiara & a big, long, electric blue dress- I believe she was supposed to be an image of a priestess or goddess or something. Perhaps I will make the vision real someday

Instead of our typical attempts to outsmart the universe, mindfulness is a humbling process of surrender and gratitude. 

Cultivate space, endless space, around your thoughts and feelings.  Allow your spirit to inhabit your body fully.  Don’t buy into self-defeating storylines and beliefs.  Don’t try to force yourself to see the positive in life or repeat useless affirmations that you have no innate connection with. 

Instead, taste the perfection of this moment as it is. If you can feel in your bones that you are fundamentally OK and that life is precious, you will attract much more meaningful relationships with people, better health, more fulfilling work and more prosperity on all levels of being.  That is the power of mindfulness.

Kevin Doherty, L.Ac., MS

The candle meditation didn’t really do anything for me beyond burn a diamon-shaped image into my vision :/ Oh well. It was alright. I tried closing my eyes for a couple of minutes during the 10 minutes I’d sat there, but I realized it was still a little too dark (with 3 candles lit) for me to not feel like falling asleep. I felt very tense throughout the meditation (even with my eyes closed; I’m not sure why.

I did think it might be cool to try & switch up my meditation practices like this a lil bit. Meditate with the elements during the week. I should always be sure to do an unguided meditation for myself first, because (so far) they seem to be the most useful. I have fire (candle) and water (fountain), I just need to find a feather for air and a rock for Earth. Which reminds me- when Nick & I go to the mall to spend some of our tax returns, I wanted to go to the Galleria Mall, just to see if the science store is still open, and if they have any cool, cheap rocks/stones. I’m sure I could find something at Olcott, but I don’t wanna wait that long, hehe.