The thirty-seventh bead on the blessing cord is the blessing of Connection. This is the earth of Netzach. We live in an interconnected world. There is not an action that can be taken that doesn’t have an effect on the world around us. We are a collection of molecules swimming in a sea of other molecules. We label things with words and illusionary boundaries so that we can consciously function. We are all part of the oneness of all creation yet we dim down our perspective so we can make choices for the part of creation we “control”. Without these words of binding, we can’t express what it is we are consciously speaking about.
This is why when we have our own vision of oneness where we experience a dissolving of all barriers we can’t seem to put it into words that others would understand. People who have had this experience of being part of the Mystery of the All, more then just a part, have a hard time explaining it to those who haven’t felt it fully. This is perhaps why some traditions call it a Mystery.
Breaking the One down into parts is how our conscious mind makes sense of the swirling chaos of oneness. We separate things in our mind by naming them, placing limits on what they are and are not, and putting the rest of what they are out of our minds. We do this so we can focus on a particular part of the All at a time. Without this we could not do our work in the world because we would be constantly distracted by all the information coming in from all directions.
It is amazing how the universal consciousness lets us have our personal will about our connection. We can slip into a closed circuit of our personal consciousness and not have to be aware of the world around us. I would say that we can recede inside our own heads but even this is an illusion, for our minds and spirits are all parts of the One. We shutter ourselves into thinking that we can only be aware of ourselves and all else we have to see from our own perspective.
We can dissolve these barriers at a whim. Often the work of the magician is to be able to melt the self-imposed barriers so we can gather energy and influence. We do this through connection and merging. An exercise that comes to mind from Raymond Buckland’s Scottish Witchcraft is to get an ordinary stone and open up to connection to it. Imagine the barriers between you and it becoming more and more hazy. Feel the energy and spirit of the stone and begin to have an exchange of energy. You could use this to pack a stone with energy or you could do it to recharge one’s self. This small exercise leads to opening up to energies of the earth or a tree and having an exchange of power.
This merging and connection also leads me to speak about a trick of invisibility I learned. Imagine yourself and your consciousness, the lines of the boarders of your body come into your mind. Begin to imagine them blurring and becoming one with the scenery all around you until you are as one with all that is around you. Because you have let go of your conscious limits and boundaries, you begin to become unnoticeable to those who use their conscious mind to see the world. You disappear, just a part of the greater all.
In this meditation we return to the garden landscape of Netzach and try merging to connect to all that is around us in the garden. Then returning to our “separated” state to get a sense of the power of the blessing of connection.
Meditation of Connection
Hold the thirty-seventh bead of your blessing cord. This bead of Connection, the bead of Earth in Netzach.
Count yourself down in to a meditative state.
Allow the screen of your mind to expand until it is a sphere around you. Feel the sensation of rising as a green light begins to fill the sphere around you. Resonate the god name of Netzach: Yod-heh-vau-Heh Tza-ba-oth.
The green light surrounds you and becomes a mist. As the green mist begins to fade, You see a garden around you. This is the Garden of the Gods, a sacred space where you can connect to all of nature. Greenery abounds around you. Take some time to observe the plants and animals around you. Take in all the sensory details of the garden. What does it smell like? What does the grass feel like beneath your feet? What sounds do you hear?
Find a comfortable place in the garden. It could be leaning your back against a tree or a warm spot in the grass. When you have your spirt body comfortable in that spot, begin to imagine the boundaries of your spirit body blending and blurring. You are becoming more one with the scenery around you. Your skin becomes blended like in a painting. As you are now you can begin to sense yourself becoming one and merging with all the energies around you. You may experience the energies of connection to nature even more fully in this blended state. Feel the sea of energy that makes up the garden. Feel the vibration of the energy all around you. Trade energy with what is around you. Feel any tense or unhealthy energies for you taken on by that which can use or recycle that energy. As this energy moves out, newer and fresher energy that the world around you has to spare flows naturally flows in.
When you are done, visualize the boundaries of your spirit body firming, disconnecting from the blended state. Your skin becomes solid once more. As you become more separate from the energies you merged with, know that at anytime you can return to this connected feeling. You are always a part of this amazing creation.
Green misty light begins to fill the area, obscuring it from view. The green begins to fade as you feel a gentle descent. The screen of your mind begins to return to its normal size.
Count yourself up into waking consciousness.
Ground and center yourself.
Contemplation
How can you better connect with nature? What energies do you need to connect with more for the pattern of what you want to create in your life and the world? Why do we separate from the all? Is there another purpose to this disconnect that has nothing to do with conscious organizing?
