Category: Blessing Cord

Blessing Cord

Clarity

Adam Sartwell

The nineteenth bead of the blessing cord is the blessing of Clarity. It is the blessing fire in Yesod. The sphere of the moon is so aligned with the element of water, it is difficult to think of it having a power of fire. I think of the fire of this sphere like the light of the moon: reflected light of the “vision” of the solar sphere of Tipereth. In this sphere we can use the power of the moon to reflect and gain clarity on anything that needs it. Yesod is associated with the astral realm and the wellspring of all thoughts and images that have ever been. It is the place where psychic information is paired with image and emotion. In this sphere, we can scry to a greater effect then we can here in the physical world of Malkuth. The images and insights we get from scrying in Yesod come clearer here because the images and symbols that give us information during scrying originate from here. 

Scrying is the art of using a reflective surface to gain psychic information. We have all seen the images of the psychic or fortune-teller looking into a crystal ball to see the future. Scrying was the method used by many psychics and magicians to gain insight and prophecy. Nostradamus was said to use a bowl of water to obtain all his prophesies. John Dee and Edward Kelly used a crystal ball and an obsidian mirror to scry and communicate with angels. In this meditation, we go to the moon pool to scry out answers, seeking clarity. As I said before, it is easier to scry in the astral so this is an interesting experience. This meditation will give you clarity around an issue. I have used it to help interpret dreams, gain ideas, or just to answer a question.

Meditation of Clarity  

Hold the nineteenth bead of the blessing cord. The bead of clarity, the blessing of air in Yesod. 

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 a purple misty light. Resonate the God name of Yesod: Sha-dai El-chai.

The purple light begins to fade and before you is the opening to a grotto. The night sky above you is filled with stars and a bright full moon. As you step into the the cave, you see that inside there is a still pool of water at its center. Above the pool there is an opening in the ceiling where moonlight streams down. The moon’s light reflects upon the water. The wind begins to stir and the surface of the water makes dancing nets of light ripples across its surface and the walls of the cave. 

Come closer to the pool of water. Get comfortable beside this beautiful pool. Fill your mind with the aspects of your question as you gaze at the pool. See the rippling light dance. When you feel you have expressed your question with your mind, say it aloud to yourself in this place. When you have voiced your question, allow your mind to clear. Take deep, slow breaths, releasing any thoughts about the situation. Allow the moon pool’s reflected light to smooth away all thoughts about the question so you are open. When your mind is clear and open, you may start to see shapes or images in the pool. Just observe them and allow them to come to you. You may perceive thoughts or feelings or hear words. Be open to the experience and try to remain in the neutral open-minded state. Allow the information to come without judgement. You can recount this later for your own interpretation. 

When the images stop, your answer seems clear, or you feel like you are done, begin to stand up next to the moon pool. Thank this space for its wisdom and clarity. Step back through the entrance to the cave. The purple light begins to rise, obscuring your view of the cave, and you feel a gentle decent. The purple light fades. The screen of your mind becomes its normal color and shrinks back to its normal size. 

Count your self up into waking consciousness 

Ground and center, as needed.

Contemplation:

What do you need clarity around? What can you move forward on now that you have this clarity? Do you sometimes get stuck in your search for clarity and not move forward with something? Psychic work is well and good, but sometimes we just have to move forward and do something in order to get the clarity of success or failure. 
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Blessing Cord

Daring

Adam Sartwell

The eighteenth bead of the blessing cord is the blessing of Daring. It is the blessing of fire in Hod. Daring your self to move past fear to do the things that you truly desire to do. One of the spiritual teachings called the magician’s pyramid or teachings of the sphinx says magicians should have four things in order to be great magicians: They must seek to know, to will, to be silent—and to dare. No act of magic can be made without daring to wish for what you want.

In a recent introduction to Witchcraft class, I was teaching the art petition spells in a group. Each student had to come up with something they wanted to create within their lives and put it into a petition so they could read it aloud and add the group’s energy and support to their spell. It was amazing how difficult this could be to those new to the path of magic. In our discussion of our spells they said how vulnerable they felt saying what it was they wanted in front of others, how it was hard to ask for the things they personally wanted, and how they feared doing the spell wrong. Each one dared to get past these feelings, to put forth a call to what it was they needed. I was reminded of how much magic there is in just the act of daring to cast a spell for what you want and need.

The blockage of fear is challenged by the power of daring and courage. Fear can hold us back from achieving our dreams. Fear can scare us into thinking we shouldn’t ask for what it is we want because we might sound selfish or be judged as weak for needing a desire fulfilled. Fear is an emotion that has helped us to avoid danger and that is why it can be so addictive.

There is an old joke where a guy walks by another guy spraying a spray in the air. The first guy asks “What are you doing?” The second guy says “Spraying anti elephant spray!” The first guy says “Really? How do you know it works?” The other guy says, “You haven’t seen any elephants around, have you?” This shows us how fear can become a ritual. We are so afraid of leaving the normal and everyday rituals of life because we are afraid of the catastrophes that could happen. So afraid we buy into the anti-elephant spray of beliefs built on fear because by sticking to using it, we never see any elephants—or the results we don’t want. We may never see these “elephants” we just fear that without our anti-elephant fear we will.

We have to confront these fears that stop us and see if they are truly well-founded. We have to dare to challenge them if we are to grow as individuals. Think of something you have always been afraid to do. Something that is good for you but you could “never dare” to do. In this meditation we will confront a fear and find the heart of its truth.

Meditation of Daring

Hold the eighteenth bead of the blessing cord. The bead of daring, the blessing of fire 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 rist around you like mist. In the mist before you call forth your Sword of Truth. It appears before you. Take up the sword. Feel it’s weight in your spiritual hand. Know that this sword has the power to reveal the truth of any situation. All you have to do is point it at a being and command it to reveal its truth. Connect with the power of the sword.

Call out to the fears that hold you back from doing what you most want to do. Command them to take form before you. They may look like spirits, a situation played out before you, demons, shadows, or any other myriad of nasties. Look upon the form and shape of your fear and observe it dispassionately.

Point your Sword of Truth at an aspect of your fear. Ask for its name and aspect. It may give you a name to call it and tell you what kind of fear it is. If it does not, ask it again with the sword. If this doesn’t work, ask one more time. If it doesn’t answer, tell it that it cannot be a real fear if it can’t be named and banish it.

If it names itself, ask if that is its true name. It may give you another name. Keep asking until it is a name of a fear that rings true. Fears can have many layers. Command this fear by its name to show you its root cause. What created this fear in your life? You may see a scene with a parent, a bad school experience, or even something that happened to you in another life. Experience the vision of this root cause. Using the Sword of Truth, point at this vision and say that you understand the creation of this fear and it now no longer serves your. Draw an X over the fear and say “I dissolve, neutralize, and banish this fear. It no longer has power over me.” The being of fear begins to fade and dissolve from view as you neutralize it’s root cause, as if it was unraveling.

Hold your Sword of Truth before you in vision and say a statement of affirmation about doing the thing you were held back from by fear for so long. An example would be: “I dare to be a freelance artist! I dare to find a fulfilling job” and so forth. You may hear a ringing or singing from your Sword of Truth if this has become your new truth.

Thank the Sword of Truth and allow it to return to it’s rightful place until you need it again.

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 normal size.

Count yourself up to waking consciousness.

Give yourself clearance and balance. Ground if necessary.

Contemplation

Give thought to how fear has held you back in the past. What do you need to have daring to do in your life? Is there anything that is really stopping you from doing what it is you love? If so, what is it and why?

Blessing Cord

Creativity

Adam Sartwell

The seventeenth bead of the blessing cord is the blessing of creativity. This blessing is the fire of Netzach. This Venusian sphere is the place where our emotions and feelings are expressed in art, beauty, or creativity. With creativity we give new forms to old energies, we give new life to our creations, and are able to reflect on our experiences through the medium of our choosing.

With each creation there is a destruction, as what was unfolds into a new creation all its own. Sometimes we fear destruction of the old and we hamper our creativity. We can fear what it will be like when we create some thing new from the old. Fears may arise as to what this creation’s impact on the status quo will be. Don’t let fear stop you from creating something you are passionate about.

A fact of life is that everything comes to an end. Each act of art or creation is impermanent. It will eventually change or be destroyed. Entropy eventually returns a creation back into the soup of energy so it can be used again to create something new. It is also a fact that every ending is a new beginning. Our newest creation is built out of all of the experiences and energies we have put into making it. When we create anything, we destroy something else. When we destroy, we liberate new energy to create again.

This is not just a spiritual principle, but an energetic one as well. We are constantly creating thought-forms in our energy body. These thought-forms dissolve back into our energy over time if they are not maintained by the energy of our attention. A thought-form is the blueprint for manifestation of that thought into reality. Author and teacher Orion Foxwood has a saying: “What is on the altar of your mind?”Every one of these created thought-forms is a prayer on the altar of your mind. Sometimes these thought-forms even go viral and begin to effect the reality  many people experience. We pick up these transmissions all the time.

Thankfully with the power to create also comes the power to destroy. We can dissolve any thought-form we think doesn’t serve us. We can empower the thought-forms that support our highest good. We can use a thought-form we created to also read the energy of a situation or person. For this meditation, have something you want to create in your life and something you want more information about in mind.

Meditation of Creativity

Hold the seventeenth bead of your blessing cord. The bead of creativity, the bead of fire in Netzach.

Count yourself down in to a meditative state.

Allow the screen of your mind to expand until it is 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 find yourself in a garden. This garden is an interface for you to see your thought-forms and interact with them. Look around your garden. Observe what it looks like. Everything here is a symbol for the thought-forms you have been putting into your energy field. Everything here is your creation, the garden you have planted and tended.

Does anything in the garden displease you or feel wrong to you? It could be represented by weeds, boulders, ugly clown statues, or anything that seems like it is out of place. Move toward this symbol and, if you can, touch it. Be open to what it has to tell you about itself. You may perceive this information in different ways. Sometimes the symbol will talk all by itself. What does it represent? Do you want to continue being affected by this thought form? If not, begin to destroy it or transform it. For weeds that would mean pulling them up and putting them on the compost pile, Moving, hammering, or chiseling the boulders down and using them to line the garden, or breaking up clown statues into a new mosaic. Any way you want to transform this energy into something new.

If you don’t think changing its shape is enough, remember in this place you are in complete control of your reality. By your will alone you can make unwanted things explode or dissolve, returning them into the energies from which they were formed. Try it on one of the symbols in your garden. When you destroy or change something in this garden, you are freeing up energies that can be used to create new things or feed what you truly want.

Now think of a situation or person you want to know more about or at least get a read on. Create a clear crystal symbol to use as a reading interface. It can be a crystal rose or a crystal garden ball. Let this thought-form be free and pure of any energies that might bias the reading. Then call some of the energy of the situation or person into the crystal. You will see an immediate change in the symbol. Note what color it becomes, How it feels to you now, and notice any images that come to mind when you gaze at your symbol. Sometimes the crystal or rose will change in appearance. Roses may grow roots, make more blooms, or even start to burn. Any reaction can be interpreted as information about that person or situation. You can even talk to the symbol to get information. When you feel you have gotten all the information you are going to get, destroy the symbol, freeing up the energy to return to whence it came.

Now find a free space in your garden to create something new in you life. It can be anything you desire, even a quality. With your will create a seed or seedling that represents your new creation in your life. Plant this into the soil of your mind. Give it the water and attention that it needs to thrive. Access the energy around you and give some energy and power to your new creation. Then walk away from it to the place where you became aware of the garden around you.

Green light begins to fill the garden again, 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

What are you creating right now? What is on the “altar of your mind”? What projects is it time to let go of so you can have more energy to create what you truly desire? What clutters up your physical and psychic space that could be removed? Think about how every creation is an act of destruction and every act of destruction is an act of creation.

Blessing Cord

Vision

Adam Sartwell

The sixteenth bead of the blessing cord is the blessing of vision. This is the blessing of fire in Tipereth. A vision gives us guidance along our path. It can give us the ability to choose, to embrace a new way, to let things go that no longer serve, and can give us new awareness. Visions have been sought out since ancient times. People with the “sight,” like the oracles of Delphi, were consulted for their gift of vision. Native Americans and other tribal cultures used the vision quest to find spirit guides, healing, and the knowledge and experience needed to attain adulthood, with adult responsibilities and wisdom.

Our modern culture seeks its answers in the human experience. We turn to books, to the internet, to our teachers, and all other places in the material world. We have forgotten that there is only so much a book, class, or online collection of information can teach us about ourselves and how we think the world is. We find ourselves searching and searching for something to guide us, in book after book, on site after site, until we give up hope. What we seek is vision. We seek out sacred knowledge from the All. We can only find reflected visions of our personal vision in others. We have to go out and experience the vision and be guided by our own knowledge of the truth. As the Charge of the Goddess says, “that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee.”

There is an element of trust and confidence inherent in this leap to find our own vision. We must trust our own abilities and knowledge. Our confidence must be high enough to know we can seek our own vision and find it. We must trust in the universe, divinity, and the spirit world that we will be able to find our vision. This is what the books of techniques, internet sites, teachers, and all other reflections of the vision prepare us to do, seek out our own vision of what we are and what we are here to do.

This meditation is a vision quest. You can use it to gain guidance on anything, but you must have a clear intention of what you are seeking. The intention can be something as broad as “show me what I most need to know” or as defined as “show me the animal guide that is working with me right now”. It can be anything where you seek guidance.

Meditation for Vision

Hold the sixteenth bead, the bead of the blessing of vision, The blessing of fire in Tipereth.

Count yourself down into a meditative state.

Allow the screen of your mind to expand into a sphere around you. Feel a rising sensation as your sphere begins to fill with radiant golden yellow light. Vibrate the God name of Tipereth: Yod-heh-vauv-heh el-oh-ah Vah-dah-ath

The golden light begins to loose its opaque nature and you can see that you are in a field of golden wheat. The sun is bright and you see a large tree not far from where you stand. Sunlight plays through its branches. This tree is the world tree, greatest of all guides, for it is a part of all, touching upon all worlds. Walk toward the tree. See the light play through the branches. Feel the bark of the tree. Feel this ancient being’s pulse of life. Tell the world tree your intention to gain vision. Tell it all about what you are looking for. The tree may respond by opening a gateway in its roots or you will become aware of a path, it may even call an animal or spirit to guide you. Follow the path of your awareness. Be aware of the surroundings as you pass through: Are there any plants or animals that stick out to you as you walk the path? These details can be as guiding as they are in dreams, because they may be symbols of your vision.

Follow the path until you come to the place where your vision awaits you. Let the landscape and the beings within it guide you. Anything is possible in the spirit world. If you don’t understand a part of the vision, begin to talk to it and ask what it represents. Even the inanimate has consciousness and can respond in the spirit worlds. Observe the details of your vision.

When you have gained all the vision you feel you are going to receive, give thanks to the spirits and the world around you for their guidance. Return by the path you took back to the world tree. Thank the world tree for its aid. Walk back to where you began the vision quest.

Golden light again begins to fill the area around you, making the world go opaque with the intensity of its light. As the light fades you feel a feeling of gentle descent. The screen of your mind begins to return to its normal size.

Count yourself up into waking consciousness.

Ground and center yourself. Begin to write down all that you remember, without editing or worrying about structuring it too much. Visions, like dreams, can evaporate like dew on a sunny morning. You will want to have as much information as you can.

Contemplation

Where have you gained vision in the past? Use dream interpretation books, free association, and your own knowledge of your symbols to interpret your vision. What do you need to do to enact this vision?

Blessing Cord

Change

Adam Sartwell

The fifteenth bead in the blessing cord is the blessing of change. This is the fire of Gebruah. Change is a constant in the universe. Nothing stays the same forever. Some things come back around, but eventually they change again. We can’t escape being changed by the circumstances of our lives. We are constantly growing, building, deteriorating or decaying.

One of the teachings we can draw from the images of Baphomet by Elphias Levi are the words written on Baphomet’s arms: SOLVE and COAGULA are the Latin words for to sepperate and to join together, respectively. Since Baphomet is a microcosmic view of the universe, neither male nor female, human or animal, it represents this power of change in the universe in these two concepts. These are the two sides of change. To seperate or divide into its component parts or to bring things together in a new shape or configuration. These processes are the two methods the alchemist uses to create a pure essence of the substance they are working with. This is why nature is considered the greatest of alchemists.

Change often has a rhythm and a cycle to it. These cycles of change are the small cycles that reflect the greater cycles of life. Take for example the life of a tree. Spring is birth and renewal, summer is the prime of life and growth, Fall is the decay and waning, preparing for sleep or death, Winter is dormancy and death—each has its place and is a reflection of the whole life of the tree. None is good or bad, it just is. No part of the cycle could happen without the other parts of the cycle. In this meditation, we go through the life of a tree to feel the changes and rhythms in change and that an end is not just an end, but also a new beginning.

Meditation of Change

Hold the fifteenth bead, the bead of the blessing of change, The blessing of fire in Geburah.

Count yourself down into a meditative state.

Allow the screen of your mind to expand to create a sphere around you. Feel a rising sensation as the sphere fills with a red light. Vibrate the god name of Geburah: El-oh-heem Gi-boor

The red light around you begins to become like a red mist of dawn in a grove of oak trees. Look around you at your feet and find an acorn. Take that acorn and dig a hole in the earth for it. Once it has been buried, let your body dissolve and become like liquid light. You pour yourself into the buried acorn. All your essence is within this acorn. Merge with this small life.

At your will, project yourself and your acorn through time so you can move through its life cycle. Feel the resistance as acorn-you grows roots, displacing the soil. Feel the resistance as you grow to break through the soil to the surface. Feel the growth as you become a young sapling. Sprout leaves to soak in the summer sun. As summer wanes you drop these leaves to prepare for the sleep of winter. What does it feel like to give up this part of yourself, returning it to the earth? Sleep well under the snow, until spring rises again and you bud and begin to grow again to feel the summer sun.

Your branches grow, only to have one branch break and fall off because of the wind. You persevere, knowing that the loss of this branch has opened up that space to let your other branches grow into to get even more sun. As fall and winter come again. Time marches forward at an even more rapid pace. You feel what it is like to grow up above the other trees. Grow and grow, season by season. Until you are a gigantic oak sheltering smaller oaks of your own. What is it like to have come into fertility?

Time marches forward to when your vitality begins to wane. The processes you have gone through become harder and harder until your tree begins to die and decompose. Feel the separation of spirit from the body of the tree. How it spreads and expands, feeding the spirit around it. Know that this is not the end only a new beginning for this tree soul.

The liquid light of you begins to separate from the tree spirit and reform into your spirit body. Take time to ground yourself into the shape that is you. Thank the tree spirit for teaching you the ways of change and its cycles.

The red light begins to fill your sphere again blotting out the grove. You feel a gentle decent as the red light fades. Your sphere returns to the shape and size of the screen of the mind.

Count your self up into waking consciousness and ground and center yourself.

Contemplation

What changes have you gone through in your life? How has this effected your journey? What changes do you need to make to create a better life for yourself and others?

Blessing Cord

Authority

Adam Sartwell

The fourteenth bead in the blessing cord is the blessing of Authority. It is the fire of Chesed. Authority is the power of sovereignty and inner mastery. We have the ability to be sovereign in our lives or we can give our power away to others and to circumstance. The more authority we exert in our lives, the more we can make changes in our lives and be better examples of how life can be to others.

Oftentimes, we don’t want to be the deciding factor in our lives. We let others choose what to have for dinner, where we go on vacation, how our governments are run, and a million other decisions. It feels easier to just release the responsibility for our lives to our partners, our families, our teachers, and to our government. We can then blame them instead of taking responsibility for our choices. Even the surrendering of choice is a choice, however, and we are still responsible for how it turns out when we give our decision-making power to another.

An enlightening view-point I learned from the Silva Mind Control method is that we can always talk ourselves into or out of doing anything. We often come up with reasons and excuses for why we are not doing something or why we want to do something. The only reason we truly need is that we want or don’t want to do something. We add to our mental to-do list things that we think we “should” or “ought” to do; what we think others want us to do or what would be the “right” thing to do. My friend Matooka says, “Don’t should on yourself”.

We also need to have the authority and mastery of our lives to be able to give ourselves permission to take a break. With my own busy partners, I have had to ask them why they can’t give themselves permission to relax. Sometimes I jokingly say “I give you permission to relax today and just enjoy” like I was the king in the situation. It does bring me to the idea of how we are inner sovereign of ourselves and the way we manifest by giving permission.

In this meditation I use some words of power. Words of power is a method of using a declaration or a grouping of affirmations to manifest change. I learned about it from the books of Marion Weinstein. The concept is that you begin by invoking spirit, stating within that the spirit is or contains a manifestation of what you want to become, that you are either in alignment with that greater spirit or an embodiment of that spirit. Then you speak your affirmations of what you want to be. A statement of release and transformation follows for the energies you have released in the past that are not in alignment with your goal, to turn them into what your goal actually needs. Caveats for the work to harm none and be for the highest good. Lastly a declaration of it is so like “so mote it be” “so be it” or “amen”.

These words of power can be used to manifest anything. They are even more powerful when spoken in meditation for they are delivered to the deepest parts of the self faster that way.  Within the following meditation, you are given some words of power to speak in a sacred inner temple. Read them over and make sure you have the gist of them before you do the meditation. Give yourself the authority to change them to suit your aesthetic.

Meditation of Authority

Hold the thirteenth bead of your blessing cord, the bead of Authority, the bead of the blessing of Fire 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

Around you a temple begins to come into shape. This is the temple of your inner authority. You are sovereign and master within this temple. It may resemble your inner temple or a place in your life where you feel in control and commanding. Look around and observe this place. Are any of your guides or spirits present here to witness? Here is the place to invoke the words of power to proclaim mastery over your life. You can use the words of power that follow or you can make up some of your own.

“I call upon the Goddess, God, and Great Spirit
who contain within them true authority, mastery, and sovereignty
of which I, (name) am an embodiment,
to hear this declaration:
I am the sovereign of my life
I grow into greater self-mastery every day
I take responsibility for my choices and make corrections when needed.
I am the greatest authority when it comes to me.
In humility, I ask to be crowned in wisdom, power, and compassion.
I release and transform all that does not serve to become greater self mastery.
All aspects and parts of me work in harmony toward self-mastery
for the highest good with free will to all, harming none
So mote it be!”

After your proclaimed words of power, you may hear an astral bell or just the words moving outwards and echoing in the temple like the whole universe is listening. There may be shifts within the temple or things that are suddenly changed about it. Observe these changes to interpret them—like dream messages or omens about your own path to mastery. Thank any spirits or guides who have joined you in this place.

The blue light begins to fill the temple until the temple fades to blue. Then the blue light begins to fade as you feel a slight decent. The screen of your mind begins to go back to its normal size and color.

Count yourself up into waking consciousness.

Give yourself clearance and balance. Ground if necessary. Write down your experience.

Contemplation

Where do you need to take more responsibility for your life? What is it you have been putting off? Are you taking care of yourself as well as others? Do you feel like a sovereign in your life?

 

Blessing Cord

Passion

Adam Sartwell

Passion is the blessing of the third of the fire set of beads and the thirteenth in the blessing cord. The blessing of passion is the fire of Binah. In this blessing the holy desire sparks will and when it goes into the forming power of Binah it becomes passion. Passion brings creativity, fertility, and builds in power to overcome resistance. Passion for our holy desire, powered by our will brings us into alignment with our own divine essence.

Passion for art, music, learning, or anything else rewards us with enjoyment and the peace of knowing we are fulfilling something within us. Passion can be creative or receptive. You could be passionate about doing theater or going to see theater productions. Do not limit how your passion can manifest.

Many times we move away from our passions because of the needs of our daily lives. We get wrapped up in making money, seeing to the needs of our partners, parents, and children. We begin to stop focusing on the passions that lead us to our end goals and get mired into our means goals. Our means goals are the things that help us survive, like getting and keeping a job. We soon forget that our means goals are just things that are a means to the end goal of what you truly value and are passionate to do with your life.

With every passion there is resistance. There are reasons we just can’t do what we are passionate about and setbacks. Every incubating chick in an egg has to muster enough passion for life to break free of its shell. The shell protected it while it grew, but once it grew enough to be uncomfortable with its limitations it begins to push against the egg and break free into experiencing its passion. Resistance can be something that holds you in your egg or the challenge to embrace your passion and build your strength to escape into greater passion and fulfillment. We need to stop fearing our resistance and see it as a sign that we must build the strength of our passion to break through it.

In this meditation you will connect or reconnect to your passions and be able to recognize the places where you feel resistance to them being fulfilled. In it we will train the mind to build passion until it overcomes resistance.

Meditation of Passion

Hold the thirteenth bead of the cord, the bead of the fire of Binah, the bead of passion.

Count yourself down into a meditative state.

Allow the screen of your mind to expand to create a sphere around you. Feel a rising sensation as the sphere begins to loose all illumination until you are surrounded with a black endless void. Resonate the god name of Binah: Yod Heh Vauv Heh El-oh-heem.

In the inky blackness you see a shape forming before you. It looks like a pod forming before you. It grows out of the darkness and seems to be a indigo blue. It looks like a giant rose bud that has not yet opened. This pod holds your passions. Touch the pod and call out to your own passions to manifest within it. The pod seems to light from within. The sides of the pod become clearer and brighter.

The sides of the pod become translucent and within you can see yourself engaging in your passions. Those things that feed your soul. The images of your passions are filled with color and intensity. Even from the outside of the pod you can feel the intensity of the passion contained inside. Imagine that the contained passion is growing in strength until the light of the images is so strong you can hardly see it.

Reach forth again and step into the pod and feel the intensity of your passion. Give yourself time to feel it fully. Experience the passions that feed your soul and allow you enjoy your life. Let the passion integrate with your being until you feel that you are being contained and need to break free.

Bring your attention to the sides of the pod around you. Reflected on the sides of the pod are the reasons and excuses why you have not been fulfilling your passions. Observe these reasons as flittering images. Know that these are just the resistance that is helping your passion grow in strength and not obstacles in your way. After you feel you have observed them say to these images, “You are the resistance that builds the strength of my passion. I will blossom into who I am meant to be.”

Return your attention to the passion building in you. Feel it like an energy growing in intensity until it suddenly causes the edges of the pod begin to curl away from you at the apex of the pod. As the energy builds the pod blooms out into a flower below you and your passion seems to radiate out of you like you are a star-bright jewel within this flower. Feel what it is like to be this radiant being of pure passion and delight. Look around, you may see other pods opening and awakening to passion seemingly in response to your opening. They may look like stars within the inky void.

When you are ready to return, let the images fade, knowing you can call up this passion at anytime. You will know that when you feel resistance it is just building your passion.

As the lights fade and the void fades, you feel a gentle decent. Your screen returns to its normal shape and size.

Count yourself back up to waking consciousness.

Give yourself clearance and balance. Ground if necessary. Write down your experience.

Contemplation

In what way does your passion manifest: art, poetry, herbalism, writing, reading, learning? Do you express this passion in your life? What is the resistance that is helping you build your passion so you can overcome it and express it even more strongly?

Blessing Cord

Will

Adam Sartwell

The twelfth bead on the blessing cord is the blessing of Will. The blessing of Will is the fire of Chokmah. In western mysticism there is the concept of two different types of will. There is the personal will we use to go through our daily lives and complete our own desires in this world. Then there is the Divine Will which is what we use to go toward our Great Work. The Great Work is the reason we are here in the first place. It stems from that Holy Desire we experienced in the last meditation. Divine Will is usually capitalized to denote that it is the greater or true Will. Our personal will may not always match our Divine Will. This is where we start to get off the track that spirit wants for us.

For example, say the divine wanted to experience a creative artist. The Divine Will of the person who is created to carry out this is to be artistic. This person goes through many experiences through out their life and decides through personal will that they would rather be an investment banker instead of a artist. That person never feels like they are living up to their full potential. Spirit has ways of telling this person they are in the wrong field but those signs are not always followed. For this example, the person finds that they have been fired because the company they have given their time to is doing cut backs. They apply to different places but can’t seem to get back in the door. While all of this is happening they see a sign for a art class and remember how good it felt to paint and they want to feel it again. So while they are searching for a bank they being to paint. They paint all their feelings out onto the canvas. All the despair, moments of happiness, and all that they are experiencing. The class has a small art show at the end that is visited by an art dealer who is taken by the art of our divine artist.

This is a bit simplistic an example but it is to give you a taste of how Divine Will can make you feel more yourself when your personal will is in alignment with it. The meditation for this blessing is about clearing ourselves of anything that is not in alignment with our Divine Will. The inspiration for this meditation is from Vivianne Crowley’s The Magical Life, where her own meditation of Will uses the chakra system and she aligns it with the planetary energy of Mars. Since this blog uses the system of Qabala, I have adjusted this to go through the tree one pillar at a time within the body of the practitioner.

Meditation of Will

Hold the twelfth bead on the blessing cord. The Bead of Will, the blessing of fire in Chokmah.

Count yourself down into a meditative state.

Allow the screen of your mind to expand around you to form a sphere. Resonate the god name of Chokmah: Yod heh vauv Heh

You feel a rising feeling as the sphere begins to fill with gray misty light all around you.

Above you see a great ball of opalescent white light. It begins to descend until it is directly above you. A beam of light begins to emanate from it, connecting to the space just above your head. As it touches this space, a sphere of light seems to open to it just above your head. You feel a cleansing of this space where Kether resonates in your body. The beam fills up this center until it is completely cleansed of all that does not serve your Divine Will. The beam then beings to flow down into your throat, cleansing the space that is the eleventh sphere called Daath. The white light begins to fill this space, clearing it of all that is not in alignment with Divine Will.

The beam descends into the area of your heart. Awakening and clearing the space where Tipereth is in your body of all that doesn’t serve. Then it descends into your pelvic bowl. Here it begins to clear Yesod within the body. The beam descends further down into a sphere just beneath and around the feet that connects you to this world, the sphere of Malkuth within the body. This area is cleared of all that does not serve your Divine Willl. Let the beam descend further out into the earth below you.

Bring your attention back to the sphere above you as the light begins to flow down the right side of your body. At the right side of your head it touches the sphere of Binah, cleansing away all that doesn’t serve. From here it flows down to cleanse Geburah at your right shoulder. The beam descends down to just above your right hip, cleansing Hod. When this area is cleansed it flows down the right side to your feet, down through Malkuth.

Bring your attention back up to the ball of light as the beam expands and flows down the left side of the body. It flows to the left side of the head, cleansing the area of Chokmah. The cleansing flow descends down into your left shoulder, cleansing the sphere of Chesed. When it is cleared and aligned with Divine Will, it flows down into just above the left hip to cleanse Netzach. The beam cleanses this area and then descends again to Malkuth.

Feel the cleansing beam expand again. Sense the current of Divine Will cleansing you of any thoughts, feelings, complexes that are blocking your Divine Will. Feel purpose begin to fill your every particle, filling your aura and your entire energy body. The flow expands until you are encased within a column of pure Divine Will and purpose. Ask your self “what is my Will?” Let your mind clear and be open to receive answers in the form of sensations or visions. Just experience these freely and allow analysis to come later.

Become conscious again of the gray misty light around you. Feel a gentle decent as it begins to fade and your sphere becomes its normal color. Allow the screen of your mind to return to its normal size.

Count yourself up into waking consciousness.

Give yourself clearance and balance.

Ground if necessary.

Contemplation

What is your Will right now? Is your own personal will in alignment with your Will? Why or why not? What action could you take right now to enact your Will?

Blessing Cord

Desire

Adam Sartwell

Desire is the first bead of the fire quarter of the blessing cord. Desire is the blessing of the Fire of Kether. While doing my course of study with the Temple of Witchcraft, I had a profound vision when we were meditating on Chokmah of what I call the Holy Desire. It was a version of why everything in the universe was created.

In the beginning there was nothing but Kether and because the Great Spirit is everywhere without limits it could experience nothing. So it separated with a spoken word. One part of it speaking and one part listening. This yearning for experience is the Holy Desire. From this one Desire all was created and continues to be created, preserved, and destroyed. This desire also made a multitude of expressions and experiences all had by the Great Spirit in Kether because the separation is always followed by return and reintegration and the Great Spirit still has no limits but can experience them through us and everything that is.

I wrote This poem about it:

Holy Desire

From nothing and all

the holy desire

of self on to self

the speaker to the listener

the word divided us

in it we found

joy and sorrow

pleasure and pain

laughter and tears

and through them

our love is made pure

of self on to self

our holy desire

for nothing and all.

Meditation of Desire

Hold the eleventh bead of the blessing cord. The bead of Desire, the fire of Kether.

Count your self down into a meditative state.

Visualize the screen of your mind expanding into a sphere around you. Resonate the God name of Kether: “eh-heh-e-yeh”

You feel a rising sensation. Your sphere begins to fill with radiant opalescent light that seems to hold all colors inside it. As the light begins to wash over you, feel your own limits beginning to dissolve into the oneness of the Great Spirit. Express your desire to experience the Holy Desire that created the universe and the more personal and particular Holy Desire that your life fulfills.

You may feel a shifting expansion as you move through time and then a concentration until everything seems to be in one point, one “place,” one “time”. Feel the limitless oneness of this time before time. Connect to as much as you can and feel the Holy Desire of the great spirit. Know that we as beings of space and time may experience it in the way our subconscious mind can explain it, through our own symbols and experiences.

Now move forward in time to when the Holy Desire builds to a crescendo and the word is uttered and heard. You may experience a rush of expansion and a separation as one part speaks and the other parts of you listen. Continue down the new flow of time, seeing some of the Holy Desires as they create, become destroyed, and reintegrate into the one. This is the alchemy of creation and destruction.

Now focus your mind to the time just before your birth. Feel again the oneness of the Great Spirit and sense the Holy Desire creation wanted to fulfill in you. This may come to you in symbolic form. If you don’t perceive anything, know that you may see it in a dream later as the vision filters into your conciousness. Know that this Holy Desire that brought you into being changes all the time and is more complex then our human minds can comprehend at times. We fulfill these Holy Desires just by being our true selves.

Once you feel like you have gotten a sense of the Holy Desire that created you. Move forward in time until you are in the here and now. Experience again the radiant opalescent light of Kether filing the space around you. It begins to recede, leaving your sphere of the mind as you feel a gentle descent. Allow your screen to return to its normal size.

Count yourself up to a waking consciousness.

Give yourself clearance and balance. Ground if necessary.

Contemplation

What is the Holy Desire you express? Why did spirit choose to form into the being that is You? Can you ever truly fulfill this desire? Does this experience of the Holy Desire change your own concept of self and your purpose?

Blessing Cord

Breath

Adam Sartwell

The tenth bead on the blessing cord is breath. This is the manifestation of air in Malkuth. Malkuth is the physical world, where the inspiration that started out in Kether comes into manifestation. Our breath is a powerful blessing from the gods. Not only does it allow us to survive it can be used to regulate our emotions, change our consciousness, and gather energies for change.

There are many different breathing techniques to master, but in this meditation I have chosen one of my favorites, which is Pranic pore breathing. Prana is a Sanskrit term from India which means the energy that is in all things. It is associated with the breath and the power of air. Pranayama is the practice of different breathing exercises that raise the Prana in your system.

The exercise that follows for this bead in the blessing cord can be used in multiple ways. Just on its own with no intention it can fill you with the vital energy of prana. It can also be focused by intention to gather a frequency of prana that matches your intention. So you can breathe in the prana of love, peace, joy, harmony, or some other ideal. You can also use it to breathe in energies of cabala spheres, planets or elements by using their corresponding colors or visualizations of their energies. When I set an intention for it I like to say something to evoke that energy around me so that I can breath it in. An example would be:

“By the infinite divine manifestations of the two who move as one. I surround myself in the energies of (planet, intention, element etc). May they fill this space so I might breathe them in.”

You could also tailor this meditation to your intention using incense corresponding to your goal. I like to do this exercise outside because I feel like the Prana is clearer and more energized by nature. It will work inside too, but it really rocks outside!

Pore breathing concentrates on your skin and pores to breathe in the energy that is all around you. This meditation can be enhanced by wearing light clothing or going sky clad but works perfectly great clothed. I have done this one in the middle of a snow storm in January in northern New England with all my winter layers on and it worked perfectly, so don’t get too worried about what clothes to wear (or not wear).

One of the dangers of this exercise is that you can overload your body with prana. Using the grounding and centering techniques at the beginning of this blog will help make sure you don’t blow your circuits. If you are working with one of the elements or one of the planetary energies it is recommended that you don’t work with one energy too much because you can unbalance your self and your relationship to the other planets and elements. This exercise can also be used to gather energy to fulfill a spell or creative visualization. To do this at the end of the meditation, imagine the energy you have gathered being sent from your hands, third eye or heart too your visualization of your end goal until it glows with the energy of the prana you sent.

Meditation of Breath

Hold the Tenth bead on the blessing cord. The blessing of breath, the bead of air in Malkuth.

Count yourself down in to a meditative state.

Allow the screen of your mind to expand out around you forming a sphere. Feel the slight shift as a garden begins to grow up around you on the sphere of your mind. Resonate the god name of Malcuth: Ah-do-nai Ha-ah-retz

Bring your focus to your skin. Imagine the pores of your skin are becoming more open and porous. You may feel a slight tingle all over your skin as it begins to open a bit more.

You can evoke the energy or intention you are working on now with this short evocation while visualizing the energy filling the room.

“By the infinite divine manifestations of the two who move as one. I surround myself in the energies of Vitalizing Prana (or you can enter intention here). May they fill this space so I might breathe them in. So Mote it be”

Begin to breathe in the energy around you from your newly opened pores. Imagine the energy filling you as you breathe in. Hold your breath for the count of three to let your body absorb it. As you release your breath you are breathing out the opposite of the energy you just breathed in. As it leaves your body, it is dissolved and flows away from you. Breathe in again of the energy of your goal and repeat the process until you feel “full” of the energy of your goal.

You can send this energy out toward a goal or just absorb it into your body.

When you are done, focus on grounding any excess energy into the earth to be recycled. When you feel more grounded. Imagine that your pores are returning to a normal amount of openness.

Become aware of the garden around you in your sphere. Allow it to fade as you feel a slight shift. Your screen of your mind returns to its normal size.

Count yourself up into waking consciousness.

Give yourself clearance and balance and ground some more if necessary.

Contemplation

In all types of situation bring attention to your breath. Is it relaxed? Is it hectic? Is it appropriate for the situation you are in? Does changing the breath change your experience of this situation?