Tag: Peace

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Connecting with the Ancestors to Alleviate Worry

Adam Sartwell

Ancestor work is always popular as the veil goes thin around Samhain. Some magic workers set up an altar or shrine at this time to our ancestors to connect and work with them. Many magic workers leave it up all year long. Our ancestors have lived through troubled times and their line continues through us. They understand what we are going through and can aid us in dissolving our worries and bringing strength and peace. Here is a spell to work with your ancestors to dissolve worries and put peace in their place. 

Gather two candles, one white and one black, some oil you associate with the ancestors, holders for the candles and an offering for the ancestors for doing this work for you. Go to your ancestor shrine or place where you work with your ancestors. Set up your candles with the black on the left and the white on the right as you are facing the ancestor altar.

 Call on your ancestors in your own words to come and work with you. Make your offering. Anoint the black candle and charge it for dissolving your worries. Imagine your ancestors before you, taking on your worries like little blobs of darkness and taking them away to be dissolved. Light the candle and start to confess your worries to your ancestors. Know that they are taking them, neutralizing them, and dissolving them so your energy won’t manifest them. When you are done say something like:

“I know worry is a misuse of my imagination, please take these worries and dissolve, transform, and neutralize them so they can do no harm. “

Then anoint the white candle and charge it with a visualization of peace or some other blessing you desire in place of these worries. Light the candle and connect to your ancestors as you chant:

“Take my worries and leave peace in their place.”

Chant this over and over until you feel like you are ready and change the chant to just repeating the last line. 

“Leave peace in their place”

Chant this until you feel it is done. Thank the ancestors for this work with you, leave offerings of gratitude, and go about your day.

Practice for Peace

Intuition Workout for Peace

Adam Sartwell

An intuition workout is a practice session working with your own psychic gifts to gain clarity around different questions. What I like about it is that you need nothing more than uninterrupted time, a space to do it, yourself, and a notebook or journal. No Tarot cards, runes, crystal balls, ouija boards, pendulums, or any other equipment is required. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of that stuff, but it can sometimes distract us from the powerful intuition that we hold inside us and become a crutch.

To get ready for the session take your notebook or journal and write out no more than three of these questions, or some you make up on your own, with plenty of space to write an answer after each. Questions focus our intuition on the answer. A curious psychic gets more information.

What fears do I have about peace?

What harmful beliefs hold me back from peace?

What old programing or memories influence my lack of peace now?

What am I learning about peace right now?

What can I do to create more peace in my life?

How can I personally contribute to peace in my household?

…in my town?

…in my country?

…in my world?

What do I need to know to find or create peace in my life?

Once you have chosen or made up three or fewer questions for your workout, put your journal and pen in your lap or set them aside, close at hand. Take a deep breath and begin progressively relaxing your body from your head to toes. Relax your mind, relax your emotions, and allow your spirit to open and shine. Count down, visualizing the numbers from 12 to 1 on the screen of your mind. Release the screen and let the count down of 13 to 1 gently take you deeper. When you are at your meditative level, affirm that you are opening your intuitive abilities with something like:

“I am surrounded by divine protection and I am now safely opening up to my intuition. My guides are around me guiding and protecting me. I can call up and understand any psychic information. I receive only the psychic information that is correct and accurate for me at this time.”

Mentally call out your first question, focusing all your attention on it. Then let the question go and visualize a blank screen in your mind’s eye. Relax and allow the information to come. It can manifest through any of your senses or a combination of them. You may receive a memory, an odd image, a voice speaking in your head, a feeling, or just a sense of knowing. Relax and receive. Know that it doesn’t have to make sense right away and could be symbolic. When you feel the flow of sensation and information has stopped, with a soft focus open your eyes and write down what you received in your journal. When done, close your eyes again, take a few deep breaths to deepen into meditative state once more, and ask the next question, repeating the process of asking, clearing the mind’s eye and allowing what comes to come. Again with soft focus open your eyes and write out your perceptions until you have answered all the questions.

Close out the session with affirmations of ending.

“I give thanks to my intuition and my guides for this session. I will retain and understand all information from this session. This session is at an end and I will return to waking consciousness.”

Count yourself up from 1 to 13, wiggling your fingers and toes to bring your consciousness fully back to the body. Count up again from 1 to 12, coming fully back. Give yourself clearance and balance. Ground yourself as needed.

Look over your intuitive notes. What came up? Write in the margins your possible interpretations of any symbols that may have appeared. Use the information that came up to help you create more peace.

May your practice bring you peace.

Blessed be!

Practice for Peace

Prayer for Peace

Adam Sartwell

Prayer is used in many traditions to communicate, praise, thank, and set intention. Prayer is often under-utilized in pagan religions because it is used so strongly in religious traditions that have tried to eradicate other religions, including paganism. That being said there is a great power in prayer that should not be overlooked just because it gets a bad rap. I have written a prayer for peace that you are welcome to use in your practice.  After it are two other prayers for peace: One by Fiona McLeod (William Sharp) that combines elements of both pagan and Christian traditions and has the feel of a litany. The other one attributed to Francis of Assisi, but can only be traced back to the early 1900s. Even if it can’t be traced back to him, it is a great prayer of peace used by many faiths to this day. All of these are inspirations for you to be able to write a prayer of you own or just inspire your sincere prayer for peace in the moment, from your heart. Which is the practice for this week. Write a prayer and say it every day this week.

Prayer to be Peaceful By Adam Sartwell. 

Deepest peace, That is the loving heart of the great spirit

Deepest peace, That is the clarity of the divine mind

Deepest peace, That is the manifestation of the divine Will

Radiant peace inherent in all the Gods and their work

Reflected in the perfect peace and perfect love of the circle

All of which I am a manifestation

May all my parts work as one in peace

May peace fill all within me

May I open to hold more

So in compassion and at need

I may overflow with it

Until all can enjoy relief from suffering,

In the holy peace of the Goddess and God,

And the enlightenment of the mysteries

In gratitude, I give thanks for all manifestations of peace

And the favor of the gods

May there always be peace between us

For the highest good

Harming none

Blessed be!

From The Dominion of Dreams. Under the Dark Star 

by Fiona Macleod (William Sharp)1895

Deep peace I breathe into you,

O weariness, here:

O ache, here!

Deep peace, a soft white dove to You;

Deep peace, a quiet rain to you;

Deep peace, an ebbing wave to you!

Deep peace, red wind of the east from you;

Deep peace, grey wind of the west to You;

Deep peace, dark wind of the north from you;

Deep peace, blue wind of the south to you!

Deep peace, pure red of the flame to you;

Deep peace, pure white of the moon to you;

Deep peace, pure green of the grass to you;

Deep peace, pure brown of the earth to you;

Deep peace, pure grey of the dew to you,

Deep peace, pure blue of the sky to you!

Deep peace of the running wave to you,

Deep peace of the flowing air to you,

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,

Deep peace of the sleeping stones to you!

Deep peace of the Yellow Shepherd to you,

Deep peace of the Wandering Shepherdess to you,

Deep peace of the Flock of Stars to you,

Deep peace from the Son of Peace to you,

Deep peace from the heart of Mary to you,

And from Bridget of the Mantle

Deep peace, deep peace!

And with the kindness too of the Haughty Father

Peace!

In the name of the Three who are One,

Peace! And by the will of the King of the Elements,

Peace! Peace!

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

May your practice bring you peace.

Blessed be!

 

 

Practice for Peace

Meditation for Peace.

Adam Sartwell

Meditation has many benefits. It can affect our ability to deal with stress, our emotions, focus, clarity, and a number of health issues. It can be also be a great way to gain peace. Throughout this blog series I offer different meditation techniques to help us gain inner peace, but also to foster it out in the world. The meditations in this blog will include passive mindfulness methods and more active meditations using visualization and journey-work.

I start most of my meditation methods with a progressive relaxation of the body, a visualized countdown and another countdown that just takes us deeper, since that is how we do things in my tradition. That countdown is used in reverse to get back out of a meditative state. This method is used in self hypnosis, the Silva Method, the Cabot tradition of Witchcraft, and in my own Temple of Witchcraft tradition to get your mind into a focused, meditative state. Many mindfulness methods do not use this countdown method but prefer to focus on a particular thought and hold it. I have found the mindfulness techniques enhanced by the countdown.

Meditation does not just benefit our own peace but can effect the people all around us. Multiple tests have been done to show that Meditation in 1% of the population of an area can reduce crime rates. This is called the Maharishi effect. Transcendental meditation was done in large groups in this study to see if the crime rate in DC would go down. This group meditation was shown to have the effect of crime decreasing in the area. This brings us to postulate that we are all connected in a field of consciousness and through meditation we can bring peace to those connected to us in that field. The unfortunate part of this study is that they did the study after the effect of a large groups practicing together. Many of us don’t have a large group we can meet up with to meditate. If our theory of a connective field of consciousness is correct, a personal practice done by enough practitioners in different places might have the same effect on the peace of their area.

All the benefit of the meditation practice are from regular use of it. Daily meditation brings about peace within us and can effect the field of conscious around us. This is a hard one for most people to factor in to their schedule. Commit to as much as you can. Sometimes starting small can get us into the habit of doing it more often then an overly ambitious practice. The following meditation is one to encourage peace within you, someone in need and radiate it out into the neighborhood. Make it your practice for this week if you desire.

Sharing the Peace Meditation

Imagine waves of relaxation flowing from your head down to your toes. Focus your attention on each muscle group as you relax. Let any tension flow out of your toes into Mother Earth to be recycled. Relax your mind and imagine all your thoughts are clouds being blown away by a gentle breeze. When you have a clear blue sky in your imagination, relax your heart, letting any emotions or stresses flow away. Let the light within your heart and your spirit protect and guide you.

Now we are going to count down into a meditative state by counting down from 12 to 1 and imagining it on the screen of our mind. Bring up on the screen of your mind the number 12. You can draw it or just imagine it appearing like a movie screen. Now it fades and you write 11 on the screen of your mind. Draw 10 on the screen of your mind. Getting more relaxed with each number. Draw 9 on the screen. Draw 8 on your screen. Draw 7 on your screen. Draw 6 on your screen. Feeling a deepening relaxation. Draw 5 on your screen, draw 4, draw 3. Draw 2 on the screen, draw 1.  You are now in a magical mind set where you have complete control of all of your abilities and powers for the highest good, harming none.

Release your screen and count down from 13 to 1, just listening to the numbers and going deeper: 13, 12 ,11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You are now in a meditative state where all you do is for the highest good,  harming none.

Imagine the space around you is filling with prismatic white light. This light seems to sparkle like an opal with all the colors of the rainbow. This light is filled with the radiance of all the colors and is a psychically-adaptive energy to fit all needs to bring about peace for the highest good. As this cloud of light begins to fill your surroundings, you connect with your breath. Take a deep breath, drinking in this energy and letting it fill you with peace. As you exhale, allow anything that needs release to be expelled with your breath. The expelled energy is so heavy it sinks into the earth to be recycled. Continue to take deep breaths, using this imagery of breathing in peace and allowing release. Until you feel you are filled with this radiant peaceful light. You may find that your spirit and even your body feel lighter after doing this part of the meditation.

The power of this peace is meant to be shared. Visualize a person you know who needs more peace or allow someone you know who needs peace to appear before you. In your mind ask if they will accept some healing peace to be sent to them. You should get a feeling or have them indicate yes or no. If no, allow another person to appear and repeat the process of asking. If yes, breathe in the peaceful prismatic white light and with your exhale visualize it being expelled from you to the person. Repeat the process until you feel like the person is “full” or they seem to not be absorbing any more light.  Say farewell with a blessing of “may you find peace.”

By this point you will probably feel full of energy still. To return us to a level full of peace but not overwhelming, as you breath in focus on the light you now contain. As you exhale, imagine any extra light you don’t need is released from your body like a misty, sparkling spray sending particles of the prismatic white light of peace out into your home. The next breath out into the street and area around your home. The last and third breath out into your town or neighborhood.

Begin to count yourself up to waking consciousness by counting first from 1 to 13: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13. Begin to wiggle your toes and hands as you begin to come fully back. Count yourself up again from 1 to 12 coming more back into your body with each number: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. You are now fully awake and refreshed. Bring your hands up above your head and sweep them down the front of your body and out away from the body saying. “I give myself clearance and balance, I am in balance with myself, I am in balance with the universe, I banish all that does not serve.”

May your practice bring you peace.

Blessed be!

Practice for Peace

An Introduction to a Practice for Peace. 

Adam Sartwell

 

With the new year just beginning, we seek to analyze how our last year went and what  are our goals for the future. As this year began to wind down I thought to myself “What would my new year’s goals be?” Usually I set myself some type of goal that will make me feel better about myself: losing weight, writing more, saving more money, watching more TED talks, cleaning out my closet, calling my mother more regularly and so on. I can admit that I don’t always succeed in these goals but it is more about me knowing what it is I want. This year feels different for me. This year has upset my inner calm and my ability to find the light in situations. I have to work harder to keep my spirits up and feel that aura of peace I feel from my connection to spirit. You may have noticed this in your daily life as well. So this year I thought I would make my practice one that restores this peace to myself and hopefully to the world.

The idea that came to me was one of spiritual practices for greater peace in our world. Though I find the word “peace” lacking in some ways to describe what it was I wanted to create in myself and in the world, it is the only word that came close for me to what I wanted to work on in this blog. My goal is to write throughout this coming year a blog of spiritual practices to bring about a peace that nourishes the practitioner and creates ripples of active peace and harmony out in the world.

I hope this blog inspires others to take up a practice of peace. Like any new year’s goal, you may have high hopes of your abilities to adopt new spiritual practice. This is good but to keep a disciplined practice one needs to know oneself. Know how much can you commit yourself to a practice of peace. Make your commitment to peace a goal you can achieve and feel good about. Your commitment might be a monthly, weekly, or daily session to work with the spiritual practices in this blog. Your commitment may be just to read and reflect upon it, and that is okay too. As I said I hope it inspires you to incorporate actions of active peace.

What is Peace?

The art of creation is to first define the creation and then to implement it. So the first step to creating a practice for peace is to define what peace is to you. Get out your journal, a piece of paper or start a new note on your device and write at the top of it “Peace is…” Give yourself a limited amount of time like one to five minutes. A time constraint makes us focus a bit more and prioritize what we put on the list. You can even start a timer. Start to make a list of free associations with what peace is under the title. Do it now before you read any further.

Below is my list:

Peace is..

Hope, tranquility, harmony, diplomacy, a deep breath, lack of war, lack of discord, a cup of tea, good friends, right action or dharma, the goal, drama free, at the heart of every dance, what I seek, connection to the divine, enlightened people, tolerant, kind, acting from the heart, an end to need, a happy family, the ten of cups, knowing and adapting to the pattern.

Your list of what peace is will tell you what you are moving towards when you say the word “peace.” It may have images of what you think of when you say the word or things you associate with it. Your definition of what you are trying to create is a good thing to go over before you start the spiritual creation process because it can show you what it is you mean when you say what you want. You may see harmony in your list and think that is a better goal then the word peace because, in your mind, peace is created by it.

The process of free association may also give you clues to how you can create that peace in incremental steps. Take as example “a cup of tea” from my list. I could make a blend of tea that is to bring me peace and make it into a tranquil practice to bring about peace in myself by making and enjoying that tea.

Now that you have connected a bit to your own definition of peace, write a short paragraph describing an ideal scene of peace. Describe it in all of your senses and make it as real as possible. The practice for this week is to get relaxed and visualize it when you can through out the day. You may find yourself changing the scene a bit with your day as you visualize it. Allow your mind to effortlessly create the scene as you create it in your inner senses. Always end with a moment of gratitude for this peace in all your ideal scenes to super-charge it for manifestation. Know that when you visualize an ideal scene you have created the reactions as if it was already true within your body, you have created a pattern on the causal plane and with gratitude charged it so it will come out of the casual into reality.

Below is my example of the ideal scene I am using today. Ever since the free association I have wanted some tea.

My ideal scene:

I have finished all my work for the day, the house is quiet except for its usual background sounds. I have just made some English breakfast tea with milk and honey. As I smell the tea my body releases all tension and I feel a wave of calm come over me. It is the relaxed, focused, and energetic calm that comes from a good meditation. I take a deep breath knowing that the infinite source is working toward the best solutions in all things. I feel a tingle of joy as I am grateful for this time of peace.

May your practice bring you peace.

Blessed be!