The twenty-eighth bead in the blessing cord is the blessing of Expression. This blessing is the water of Hod. Expression is the art of creating to convey our thoughts, feelings, spirit, and sometimes just our love of creating expression. In our world, we have a lot of reasons why people shouldn’t express what they want or perceive. Social norms lead us away from making public spectacles of our selves. We are told to be quiet, don’t make a mess, and that our art isn’t very good. Over time we begin to hear this outer voice in our heads coming from us. I took an art therapy course in college and I remember one of the continuing education students leaving the course. She was a talented musician but when it came to art she didn’t have any confidence in her skills. When confronted with the requirement of creating an art piece for class of her first memory she couldn’t even pick up the brush. She professed she had no skill at art and thought that she would be able to create music as her art therapy. The teacher said that wouldn’t work for the confines of the class. The student became very upset because she just couldn’t do art. She dropped the course before the next class. I always wondered how she became so closed off to all other types of expression but music. She and her children were all talented in music. I wondered if she had only been encouraged to express herself as a youngster without judgement whether she would have been able to paint that memory. I wondered what the music she would have wrote for it would have sounded like.
Expression of our art is so important and powerful. In my later work, I found teaching kids to do art and encouraging any expression made them feel more confident. They were able to share what was on their minds and hearts more easily. They were calmer and happier because they could express what was inside. We just need a safe space where we can express those feelings. In this meditation we go to a place of expression and let loose our inner selves. I encourage you to express your experience in physical art by painting, drawing, making music or whatever your art may be.
Meditation of Expression
Hold the twenty-eighth bead of the blessing cord. The bead of expression, the blessing of water in Hod.
Count yourself down into a meditative state.
Allow the screen of your mind to expand until it is a sphere around you. Feel a sensation of rising as your sphere begins to fill with an orange light. Resonate the God name El-oh-heem Tza-ba-oth.
Feel the mercurial orange light rise around you like mist. As the mist begins to clear, you are in a white room with no furnishings. All around you are just blank walls. This a place that calls out for expression. In this place your mind and thoughts can paint whatever you please onto your room like a blank canvas.
The first step is to start to create your expression. You may just want to splatter paint against the wall or make a detailed outline on the walls. It is up to you, it is your expression. Get into your expression and paint whatever you want to in this space. Get into the process of creating and really feel it. In the meditation you can fix any mistakes easily, but realize that any mistakes can lead your expression in a different way. Really get into the process. The process of expressing is part of the value of the experience. Connect all your senses into your creation. Feel the paint, the clay or other medium. What do you smell as you work? Feel the passion of expression. Claim this expression and love it just as it is. It is beautiful because it is yours. Express in this space fully with only the limitations that you choose. Here you can paint, sculpt, or do any art you want. This is your expression. Let your feelings flow out onto the walls of this room.
When you feel ready. Observe your room. Are there any things you would like to change about it? Make those changes now. When it feels right to you. Let this expression and place go as the orange misty light begins to obscure your work.
Feel a gentle decent as the light begins to fade from your sphere. The screen of your mind returns to normal coloring and then shrinks back to its normal size.
Count yourself up to waking consciousness.
Give yourself clearance and balance. Ground if necessary.
Contemplation
What are the underlying feelings that came out when you expressed yourself in the space? What was the process of expression like for you? Will you try and recreate a part of your room of expression in the physical world? How did you feel after you had expressed what is inside of you?
