The forth bead is the blessing of praise. It is the blessing of the Air of Chesed. Chesed is a sphere of mercy, generosity, expansion, and in the element of air I would say that it is expressed when we give and receive praise. Chesed is the home of the archetype of the Heavenly Father and it is no surprise to me that I would associate the word praise with Christianity. Praise has been around longer then the birth of Christianity and has been used by polytheism and all religions.
Praise is used to give thanks, to commune with deity, to encourage them to intervene in our lives, and to open channels to them. In daily life we give the blessing of praise to each other to do the same. The power of praise can be expanded to even be used toward anything in the universe. When we praise, we also empower the thing we are talking about with the power to do just what we praise it for.
Praise also has a effect on us when we use it for others. Our subconscious self is a bit more enlightened than we are and doesn’t see a difference between our “selves” and the thing we are praising. So every time we say something about someone or something else, our subconscious thinks we are talking about ourselves. When you praise the things you want in your life, your subconscious hears you and takes action to create that in your life. When you praise the goddess Aphrodite for her beauty and grace, your subconscious begins to think you are talking about yourself. You begin to see more beauty and grace in yourself. The tricky thing is that we don’t always know we are praising something. When you focus on the things you don’t want your subconscious thinks you are praising them. It begins to create these accidentally praised things. This is one way that we accidentally create suffering.
When we praise aspects of the gods we are invoking these aspects in our lives. This means we need to be very careful what aspects of a deity we call upon. This can also happen with the energies we invoke when we do the blessing cord work. The aspects of the sphere on the tree of life we are invoking with our meditation can effect our lives. I invoked the power of Binah with silent listening. I felt an ennui that usually accompanies Saturn work for me during the days I was working with silent listening. Using both clearance and balance and grounding and then moving on to the next sphere helped me mediate these energies.
When we do praise at a meditative level, we empower the praise more because we are more aligned with the subconscious self. We can mentally program ourselves in this state as if we were in hypnosis. We can use our praise of another to program ourselves for success. Giving praise is the first part of the meditation that follows. You can also give a blessing with your praise to someone in need. When you work at the subjective level of a meditative state your praise can become a blessing for another. In my own use of this meditation, I used my praise to bless a friend for the work they did in this world. I praised their sharp mind and clear expression which they already had. I also praised their health and vigor which at the time was not their experience. This manifested for them in part because of my praise of their health.
The second part of the equation is accepting praise. In our culture we have many unconscious programs about how we accept praise and if not it truly is absorbed. It is important that we actually take in the praise of others as well as give it to others. Remember the lesson of the blessing of silent listening and take in some praise.
Meditation to the Blessing of Praise
Hold the third bead of your blessing cord, the bead of Praise, the bead of the blessing of Air in Chesed.
Count your self down into a meditative state.
Allow the screen of your mind to expand to create a sphere around you. Feel a rising sensation as sky or electric blue light begins to fill the sphere. Resonate the god name of Chesed: El
As the vibrations expand outward from you, call out to a being worthy of praise. You can decide for yourself who that would be or let the great spirit guide a being toward you worthy of praise. This person walks toward you through the blue light. You see them surrounded in light. Begin to praise the attributes you most admire about them. Here is an example you can use or you can make up your own.
I praise your keen mind and clear expression.
I praise you for your open heart that loves me and mine unconditionally.
I praise your great work in this world that makes others want to shine just as bright.
I praise your body that is in excellent health and robust vigor.
These words seem to be filled with the blue light and flow to the being you are praising. You can see them taking them in and feeling your words’ blessing. They thank you and begin to recede into the blue light surrounding you.
Say to the blue light all around you “I am open to the blessing of praise.”
In the blue light you can see images and people who have given you praise in the past. Listen and be open to what they are saying. Really take it in and own that you are worthy of praise. When you feel ready, allow the images to fade. The blue light begins to fade and you feel a gentle descent. The screen of your mind returns to its natural color and then returns to its natural shape and size.
Count your self up to a waking state. Give yourself clearance and balance. Ground if necessary.
Contemplation:
How do you react to praise? Where did you learn that response? Is it still working for you? Who in your life do you admire and are you giving them praise? What about others do you want to create for yourself? Are you praising that accomplishment so you can manifest something like it?
