Witchcraft: Daily Practice - Day 7

Meditation

Meditation is a very useful way of connecting or helping reconnect you to your spiritual pathway. It is literally a direct line to your subconscious, spirit, the divine, whatever you want or need to connect with. Meditation can help ground and calm you and centre your energies. It is one of the usual answers to everything: ‘how do I find my purpose’, ‘how do I connect with a deity’, or ‘how do I find answers’. But it really is a multi-purpose item to have in your spiritual toolbox. There are a multitude of ways to meditate with all kinds of different techniques, but the basics always work well for me.

Prompt:

•             Decide whether you want to just allow your mind to wander, follow a script or listen to a guided meditation – experiment and see what works for you. If you are working from a script, read it over a few times to set it in your mind before you begin. If you are listening to a guided meditation, get it set up before you start, so it is ready to just hit the play button. I find using headphones/earphones works well with guided meditations, as it cuts out background noise and focuses the narrative.

•             Find a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed.

•             Make yourself comfortable, either sitting in a chair or lying down.

•             Cover up with a blanket as your body temperature drops when you are meditating.

•             Light incense or an oil burner if you prefer.

•             Put on some background music if it works for you (some people prefer silence), try different sounds such as drumming, singing bowls, nature sounds or your favourite songs.

•             I find closing my eyes helps, and wearing a slightly weighted lavender eye mask works really well.

•             Focus on your breathing, slowly in and out; release the stresses on the out breath and inhale positive, calming energy on the in breath.

•             If you have a purpose for meditation (connecting with the divine, perhaps), then plan some idea of the scene and journey before you begin. If you do not have a specific focus, perhaps pick the scenery of a favourite place to give you a starting point.

•             And begin…

•             If random thoughts enter your head, just acknowledge them and let them go. Sometimes it can be difficult to beat down the mind monkeys; the ability to do so comes with experience and a bit of trial and error.

•             Accept that sometimes you just are not in the right frame of mind to meditate.

•             Know that just a few minutes of daydreaming counts as meditation.

•             Falling asleep during meditation is absolutely OK to do; sometimes it leads to very insightful dreams.

•             You do not need to meditate for hours at a time. I usually aim for around twenty minutes, but even five or ten minutes is better than none at all.

•             Remember to come out of meditation slowly, opening your eyes, stretching your fingers and toes.

•             Have something to drink and ground before you get up and about.