Tag: Religion and Spirituality

Blessing Cord

Planning

Adam Sartwell

The thirty-eighth bead on the blessing cord is the blessing of Planing. It is the blessing of earth in Hod. Hod has to do with our mental capabilities and mental faculties. When we apply this energy to the power of earth we get Planning. The blessing of planning helps organize our steps so we are more likely to get to our goals. This being said, don’t be afraid to change plans when you meet up with synchronicity or guidance that the goal isn’t for you. They say a plan is only as good as the first battle, and then it must change and adapt.

One of the concepts brought up in most human religions is that of the Divine Plan: that we are all here for a reason, we have a purpose, and the more we accept that we are working on this purpose, the more we are doing our great work. I feel like most of the people I read for are asking “what is my purpose?” or “why am I here?” These readings always make me laugh because they almost always say “well, I knew that” or “that is good confirmation” when the answers come through. Our plan or purpose from the divine is not just one thing or the lesson from one instance. Our purpose is what we naturally choose, mixed with our aspirations to make ourselves better people.

The “master plan” or “divine plan” is made up of all the choices and goals we make on a day to day basis. Not just what we consciously choose but what we choose with our whole being. We are constantly being guided by our Holy Guardian Angel and our Psychic Self. All the goals we work toward teach us more about ourselves and what our Great Work really is. The events that happen, the signs, personal development, and how the goal changes over time can teach us a great deal about the lessons of our “Divine Plan.”

The first step to having a plan is knowing what it is you want to accomplish. What are your

goals? There are two types of goals. There are means goals and end goals. A means goal is a specific goal as a step towards getting you to your goal, like getting a job to pay the bills so you can support yourself while you write the great American novel. The hard part of these goals is that you can eventually start to think of them your end goal. An end goal is more of the essence of what you want to do with your life. Like being happy, enjoying your life, feeling accomplished, and doing what makes you feel whole. The end goal is really the essence of what you desire.

To get a better feeling of what the essence of your goals in this lifetime are here is an exercise I learned from Vishen Lakhiani, CEO of Mind Valley, to get in touch with them. Get out a timer, a piece of paper and a pen. Separate the paper into three sections using a line of your pen. Write  one of these three questions across the top of each section: What do I want to experience in life? Where do you want to grow? What do you want to contribute to the world? When you have done that, set your timer to two minutes and begin to write your answers to the first question. Repeat the process with each question. The timer makes you go with your first instinct by not allowing you to dwell too long on each answer.

Now look over your answers. You may now have a better idea of what it is you want to create in your life. Now that you have seen them, you may want to form them into a kind of mission statement. Your mission statement may change over time but writing it out so you know what you feel is your mission in life is can clarify your choices that form your plan. If that seems too big for you, formulate what your goal is for the next five years or even just the next year. I like to make a list of my goals for the next year in the time between Samhain (Halloween) and New Year’s. Up here in the northern hemisphere it is a dark time full of reflection and celebrations with family. It is a good time to start thinking about the goals for the next year and to look back at the last year’s goals and how you did on accomplishing them. This can also inform your planning. What type of plan works best for you?

I then like to break up this year-long goal in my planner into goals for the month. This takes work to separate out what are reasonable steps I can accomplish to get to my goal every month. This is making a plan. I say “reasonable” steps because sometimes when we are in the planning phase we can get a little overzealous and over work ourselves. Always plan breaks from your work into your plan. The length of the breaks are proportionate to what it is you have observed you need to keep your balance. This could be a day off or a week off where you do something fun and relaxing. Breaks are important so we don’t have a break down. Make sure all these goals are done so you can change them when needed, not set in stone. Remember that a plan changes once it hits the battlefield. It is okay to change the plan and okay to change our goals when we find they were not exactly what we thought they would be.

There are times where planning seems to fail us and we don’t know what the next step is to our goal or even the steps to clear our path to it. We may be stumped on what the goals are and how to get there. The following meditation is a spiritual way to get a vision of a goal and the next step.

Meditation of Planning

Hold the Thirty-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.

The orange light surrounds you like a mercurial mist. Ask your guides and guardians to be with you to answer your questions. Ask the space around you:

“What is the best goal for me right now?”

Clear your mind and stare into the orange mists. A scene or symbol begins to emerge from the mist. You may have a thought, memory, feeling, or hear words in your head describing what your next goal will be like. Note all the sensory details about this answer. Suspend all doubt and take what comes first to your inner vision. Know that if you receive nothing, you may receive it in a dream or synchronicity in the physical world. Have faith in yourself and your process that you will recognize it at this time.

Again the orange mist rises and obscures the image or symbol. Your mind clears. Ask your next question of the space around you.

“What is the next step that is best for me?”

Again allow the mists to part and show you a vision of what your next step should be. Take in all the sensory details about this answer. Be open to it being something you might have not expected. A sign may show up in your daily life, so be open to perceiving it.

Thank your guides and the energy of this sphere for the answers you have perceived. State to  yourself that you will remember clearly all salient details of this meditation. The orange light rises again to obscure all from view.

Feel a gentle decent as the orange 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. You may want to write down your answers in your journal.

Contemplation

What do you want to experience in your life? Where do you want to grow? What do you want to contribute to the world? What is the next step towards those things? How can I better plan ahead to reach my goals? What have I learned about what types of plan works best for me? Am I willing to change my plans if necessary?

Blessing Cord

Connection

Adam Sartwell

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?

Blessing Cord

Industry

Adam Sartwell

The thirty-fifth bead in the blessing cord is the blessing of industry. It is the blessing of earth in Malkuth. In this blessing we take the power of Geburah and apply it to the earthly plane. Industry is the passion for work and creation. Industry is what we do to get all the things we need done done.

When I think of industry I start to think about some of the people I know who do craft-fairs. They personally produce a great deal of product with their many talents. They pack in as much crafting time before the fair as they can. There is a sort of furious fire of creation fueled by this deadline. Industry like this can bring stress because of the intensity of its energy, but it is this power that can help us achieve so much.

One of the things that can hold us back from the blessing of industry is the slowing effect of procrastination. We all avoid that which we feel is annoying or unpleasant, putting it off to the last minute, even though we know it is necessary or good for us. This makes changes more and more difficult. At times when I find myself doing this I make a list of all the things I know I should do and then rearrange the list for what I don’t want to do the most to be at the top. Then I take a day and just do everything I can on the list. I am always amazed how much less times it takes me to get things done then I thought once I just get started.

Another way I stoke the fires of my industry is using the Pomodoro technique developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. Basically you make a list of all the things you need to do. Then you choose one to work on for traditionally 25 minutes which is called a “pomodoro.” They are called pomodoros because the timer Francesco used was tomato-shaped and pomodoro is tomato in italian. During this pomodoro you focus only on the task at hand. Any time you think of something or want to do something else you write it down on your list and get back to the task you were focusing your pomodoro on. When the timer goes off, you take a three to five minute break and then start a new pomodoro on either the same subject or a new one from your list. After you have done four pomodoro sesions with breaks you take a longer break that is 15 to 30 minutes. If you finish before the pomodoro is up it is suggested that you focus on over learning. Over learning to study something to refresh you memory about it. I just clean if I have extra time in the pomodoro, there always is more cleaning to do.

In this meditation we take some of the energy and power of Geburah and send it to future moments and times where we need to have the fire of industry. You might want to make a list of the things you need to get a move on about and prioritize them so you are ready with a few instances where you are going to need the blessings of industry. Don’t choose more then three things for this meditation because with the get-it-done energy of Geburah we can also invoke the stress and anger of Geburah and unbalance ourselves. Stress and anger directed toward a positive end can be useful but too much can be unbalancing. Industry can also be turned into overwork if we aren’t careful. Use moderation and your good sense.

Meditation of Industry

Hold the thirty-fifth bead, the bead of the blessing of Industry, the blessing of Earth 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 fade and become a red sphere of light above you. At any time you can access the energy of Geburah by calling it down from this sphere. Before you conjure a picture of yourself doing the work that is on your list. See it in as much detail as you can. Ask the image of you doing this work what the reason is that you haven’t finished this project. Clear your mind and be open to any answers. It may be that the image changes or begins to talk to you to tell you why. You may get a feeling of knowing. Whatever the reason, forgive yourself for it. You may have a person show up as the reason you have issues getting this done. Forgive this person and embrace them.

Bring your attention back to the image of you doing the work you have put off. Draw down the red energy of Geburah with a breath in and with your exhale send it into the image of your work. See your image self surrounded in the red light. As you do, they begin to work harder on getting this project done. Time seems to speed up in the image until you are at the finish of the project. Breath in more light and send it to the image of the completed project. Begin to feel what it is like to have the project done. Use all your senses. Know that this project will be completed in the proper time. Release the image knowing that as it fades it goes into manifestation.

You may repeat this process with two other projects or continue to your return with the rest of this meditation.

The red light again fills your view obscuring all else. 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 are you procrastinating on? How do you feel about what you are procrastinating on? What are your reasons why you don’t want to do it? What actions will move you forward on your path? Can you change the way you think about your task so that you enjoy it or at least are relieved when it is done?

Blessing Cord

Concentration

Adam Sartwell

The thirty-second bead on the blessing cord is the blessing of Concentration. It is the earth of Chokhma. This blessing brings forth the focus we need to be able to be effective magicians and spiritual seekers. Many different spiritual and magical traditions have the beginning meditation of focusing all of your concentration on one thing and clearing your mind by bringing your focus back to that one thing. Our minds and surroundings are always trying to get our attention and by focusing our concentration on something we can clear our minds and increase our ability to do magic.

When I was in the second and third grade, when my teacher would be lecturing about something boring, I would focus my attention on one spot and see how long I could hold it. This became a practice when I was bored at home or at school. I would return my focus to the dot in a painting or the tack in my poster and focus all my attention on it. I sometimes couldn’t keep the focus for very long and would go into thoughts about cartoons or whatever suited my fancy. My teacher would call it “spacing out”. Without knowing it, I was doing beginner methods of concentration meditations.

Different cultures have used focused concentration on one thing to clear the mind in meditation for thousands of years. Some bring focus to our breath, a candle, mantra, chakra, and sometimes just the releasing of thoughts. Each time their thoughts wandered they would bring their concentration back to the focus.

With breath meditation you focus your thoughts on your breath. This could just be on your normal breath or focusing on counted inhalations and exhalations. Normal breath makes you focus on your natural breath. Counted breaths have a certain number for each inhalation, exhalation, and sometimes the pauses in-between. Such as breathing in for four, holding your breath for four, exhaling for four, and then holding out for four counts, and repeating the cycle.

Many Craft teachings start you out on concentration on a candle flame. You focus your concentration on the candle and try to think only of the candle. Sometimes you even let your eyes close and see how long you can hold the image of the candle in your mind. This builds both your concentration skills and the ability to visualize.

Mantra is a Hindu and Buddhist practice of focusing our attention on a group of words or one word. Usually a Mala or grouping of beads is used to count how many times it is said. The Catholic Rosary could be said to be a mantra practice since it is a group of words said over and over with concentration. There are many types of mantras for multiple purposes. For this concentration practice you can use one of the seed sound mantas like OM from the Word chapter. You can also use an affirmation which focuses concentration and also affirms the reality that you want to achieve.

One of the practices I loved from Kundalini Awakening: A Gentle Guide to Chakra Activation and Spiritual Growth is to focus your attention on a specific chakra in your body. Where our concentration goes, our energy flows. This is a gentle way of awakening chakras by simply focusing our attention on them. The attention sends our energy to that chakra. Usually this is done first by a balancing chakra meditation, then focusing on one, followed by another balancing to smooth out the energy.

When we are concentrating on anything, it is okay for our minds to wonder as long as when we become aware that we have wandered that we return back to the focus of our concentration. Having wandering thoughts isn’t failure any more than fatigue from exercise, it’s a natural part of the process of practicing concentration. Over time working with concentration you will be able to focus for longer and longer periods of time, just like building up a muscle. This is an important spiritual and magical skill to learn. Choose a method to focus on for this meditation. Breath, a visualized candle, or mantra work best for this meditation. A great mantra is the God name of this Sephira: Yod-heh-vauv-Heh. Set a timer for your practice of concentration. You can build up from a short two minutes to fifteen or more.

Meditation of Concentration.

Hold the thirty-second bead on the blessing cord, the bead of Concentration, the blessing of Earth in Chokhma.

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 Chokhma: Yod heh vauv Heh.

Focus your concentration on your breath, a visualized candle, or a mantra. Gently allow your concentration to rest upon this focus. Be gentle with yourself if you begin to think or daydream and just bring your concentration back to your focus. Let your focus be your whole world as you gently release all other thoughts. Let them drift away like a released helium balloon, like clouds on the breeze. Keep your focused concentration on your focus until your timer sounds.

Know that concentration is like a muscle. The more you work with it the stronger and more enduring it gets. Every time you concentrate your mind you are getting better at it.

Feel a gentle descent and let your screen of the mind shrink back to normal size.

Count yourself up to waking consciousness.

Ground and center as needed.

Contemplation

What steals your concentration and distracts you from your focus? Is there a thought that comes up a lot to steal away your focus? What do you concentrate on the most in your life? Does that focus of concentration embody where you want to go with your life? What goals do you want to concentrate and focus on?

Blessing Cord

Stillness

Adam Sartwell

The thirty-first bead on the blessing cord is the blessing of stillness. It is the blessing of earth in Kether. Stillness is a feeling of centeredness and active peace. From this “place” of stillness we can see how things in our lives are going to move. We can see the rhythm and cadence of all that is going on in our lives without being unbalanced by it.

I am not sure where I heard it or read it, but when Shiva lord of the dance was described he was said to be the stillness of the center and the whirling cosmic dance. He was both in motion and centered in stillness. This has always stuck with me. I know that ecstatic dance has sometimes put me in this place where I could move my body, yet my spirit was feeling centered stillness. Stillness is that clear, uncomplicated awareness of being. Some people feel this in passive meditation when the mind is clear. The dancing Shiva has it while his body spins and his center is calm like the eye of a storm.

The Wheel of Fortune, one of the major arcana tarot cards, depicts a wheel going round. One of the things I council with the Wheel of Fortune is that where you place your focus changes how the wheel affects you: If you are focused on the outside of the wheel, you experience a roller coaster of experience. On the high part of the wheel you are lucky, your life couldn’t be better, everything is coming up roses and you get so excited you just can’t stand it. At the bottom of the wheel, you are at your worst: life sucks, you have the whole world on your shoulders and you are at your most depressed. The wheel can make us feel like we are almost bipolar with highs of mania and lows of depression.

This is what we experience on the outside of the wheel. In the center of the wheel is the axle around which it rotates. It is the stillness in the center of the dance of this cycle. From the center you can feel the up and the down without it moving you out of your center. You can have the luck and adversity and neither shakes you out of your equilibrium. You are part of the dance, but you have the stillness and centering to deal with all the twists and turns of the wheel. All of the cycle pivots around you instead of the other way around. The center of the wheel is the stillness we need to maintain to learn all that the Wheel of Fortune, of life, has to teach us.

When we act from this place of centered stillness we are like Shiva dancing. We find the rhythm of the dance and are not unbalanced by its motion. From a place of stillness we can observe and predict the next steps. All our parts are aligned in stillness and we feel greater unity with all of creation.

Meditation of Stillness

Hold the thirty-first bead of the blessing cord, the bead of Stillness, the earth of Kether.

Count your self down into a meditative state.

Visualize the screen of your mind expanding into a sphere around you. You feel a sense of rising as your sphere begins to fill with radiant prismatic light. Resonate the God name of Kether: “eh-heh-e-yeh”

The radiant light flows through you, making your spirit body feel fluid as you become one with the light. This place is timeless and yet contains with in it all times. Around you images flash of your past, but you feel a disconnection from these experiences. You are a silent observer on the outside of your time-stream. Focus your mind and intention to see a time where you felt the stillness.

See the time you felt stillness before you. You are an outside observer of yourself. Observe what you are doing. Look at your posture and even observe the energies that emanate from you as you feel stillness. When you feel satisfied that you have observed enough from the outside, merge with this past self. Feel what they feel. See what they see. What are you thinking about? What are you feeling? Where in your body do you feel your stillness the most? How are you dealing with the current situation? Draw your spirit self into the place of stillness within this past self. Observe how it feels to be completely one with this stillness. Feel how everything around it flows and dances while it remains the pivot point of it all. Now that you have found this stillness, know that you can return to it at any time.

Project yourself back out to be an outside observer again. Move back into the white radiant light of the place of timelessness that is all times. Set your intention to see a time in your past, where you had lost this stillness and the dance was swinging you out of control. See this time before you. Again you are an outside observer. Watch your past self loose their stillness. Observe what your past self is doing and going through. Feel and observe the energies that emanate from you. What are your posture and expression like? When you feel ready, project yourself inside your past self. Observe and experience what loosing stillness feels like. Why is this happening? You are just an observer, so you can disconnect from these feelings and reconnect to your intuition. What is it saying to your past self? What is the lesson of this time?

Now feel your past self’s body. Even in this time of unbalance can you find the stillness? Where is it now? Connect deeply to the stillness and allow it to spread from this place where you found it. Change the scene of you loosing stillness until your past body and your present “body” are in the stillness once more. Feel things calm as you regain your equilibrium. See and observe how the scene changes when you are in alignment with your stillness. Move again outside your past self, leaving behind the sense of stillness. Observe how everything you experienced from the outside has changed. The energies flowing off you and your posture have changed. You have not changed the past, only the way your present self interacts with it.

Step back into the white radiant light that is timelessness and all times. Know that you can find your stillness in any situation by taking a deep breath and focusing your mind to where your stillness lives within your body. The images of your past selves fade and the light grows more intense. Then it begins to fade and you feel a slight decent as your screen of your mind returns to its natural color. The screen recedes to its normal size.

Count yourself up into waking consciousness.

Give yourself clearance and balance and ground, as needed.

Contemplation

When do you most feel the stillness? What throws you out of your stillness? How do you regain stillness after you have been thrown out of it?

Blessing Cord

Blood

Adam Sartwell

The thirtieth bead of the blessing cord is the blessing of blood. It is the blessing of water in Malkuth. Blood is the river that passes through the generations. Our blood has passed through our ancestors, through us, and on to the descendants who come after us. It is this river of blood that moves through us and gives us the ancestral patterns and memories of our people. Our blood holds within it the memories of all the ancestors who have gone before and all the memories of our descendants in the future as well.

When we talk about our family we say “they’re my blood” or use the adage “blood is thicker than water.” We acknowledge that our blood ties us to our people. Many have postulated that our past life memories could also be memories from our blood ancestors, passed to us like the instincts of birds to return to the same places as their ancestors. Whether this is a genetic transmission of information or a morphogenic field impression or something else doesn’t matter. It is true that we have information, patterns, and “blueprints” that are passed to us through the “river” of blood that flows through time.

The things that are passed through the river of blood are both good and bad. Our strong determination, optimism, decisiveness, as well as a weakness for sweets, want for a steady job instead of self-employment, or alcoholism, for example, are all passed through this connection of blood. We are deeply connected to our family and the information passed through the blood. Both good and bad are passed to us and can be awakened within us. They give us those peculiar talents that are passed to us and the addictions that plague us.

The best thing about this river of blood is that you can commune with it in your meditations to be able to go back and see why a pattern is within your psyche and change it, if you so desire. You can also go back and activate talents from your ancestors to deal with your life in the present. You are the product of a thousand loving choices and these ancestors have a vested interest in what you get from them and in transforming the harmful things that may have been passed to you.

In this meditation we visit the river of blood and use it to commune with the ancestors and the patterns passed on to us. You have the opportunity to call forth gifts and talents of your ancestors and transform the patterns harmful to you.

Meditation of Blood

Hold the thirtieth bead on the blessing cord. The blessing of blood, the bead of water 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 in the sphere of your mind. Resonate the god name of Malkuth: Ah-do-nai Ha-ah-retz

Explore your garden. You find a cave within the garden that leads deeper into the earth of your consciousness. As you walk into the cave, it spirals deeper and deeper. Finally the cave opens up into a cavern with a river flowing through it. This river is a bright red and blue. As you come closer, you can hear a heartbeat. Listen for your own heartbeat and allow it to attune to the rhythm of the river. Step up to the edge and dip your fingers into the flow. Tell it your intention to connect through it to your ancestors. Share if you have a particular intention to awaken or transform talents and patterns that are passed to you from the ancestors.

Feel if the river is ready to connect to you. If it is, step into the flow of the river of blood. As you get to waist depth, turn into the flow toward you. Ask to know where the pattern you want to release began. You may have an ancestor rise up from the river or you may see it played out on the surface or in the depths for you to view. See why this pattern started and why it has continued. You can trace this pattern down the flow from your ancestors to see why it continued in your family. Follow what you see until it comes to your generation.

Acknowledge why this pattern continues in your life now. Explain why you want to change this pattern that no longer serves you and your descendants. Thank the pattern for the aid it has given those who went before and then ask that it be transformed and released, putting your intention behind it. What is the effect within the river of this intent? Does the pattern boil out? Does it just fade? Thank the river for this healing and awareness.

Ask the river to show you the pattern you want to foster in your life. It may be a talent of an ancestor or their knowledge. Call this up from the blood. An ancestor may rise to talk to you from the blood or the pattern may appear on the surface of the river or in its depths. Ask to see how this pattern originated. See how it has served your ancestors in the past. Thank it for helping your ancestors and ask that it be re-awakened in you. Dip your hands into the waters of the river of blood and scoop up the pattern and pour it over your body to absorb it. Feel as the pattern mixes and mingles with your own blood and spirit. If an ancestor rose up from the river, you may embrace and merge to gain the pattern and awaken it within you. Thank the pattern for being with you and fill it with light so you can pass it on to your descendants in the river.

When you are finished, leave the river. Give thanks one more time to the river and your ancestors and descendants for their aid and love. Turn back and walk out of the cave into the garden of Malkuth. Return to where you entered and the garden fades around you. Allow it to fade as you feel a slight shift. The screen of your mind returns to its normal size.

Count yourself up into waking consciousness.

Give yourself clearance and balance and ground, as needed.

Contemplation

What are the gifts you have received through your blood? What are the weaknesses passed to you through your blood? In what ways could these strengths be weaknesses and what ways can these weaknesses be strengths? What will you leave to those who receive the river of blood after you?

Blessing Cord

Dream

Adam Sartwell

The twenty-ninth bead of the blessing cord is the blessing of Dream. It is the blessing of water in  Yesod. Dreams both waking and sleeping can help us in so many ways. Psychological thought says dreams are our subconscious trying to sort out all the things we observed and thought during the day and any underlying conflicts within ourselves. Every dream holds symbolism that helps us work out our unresolved feelings. It is well-documented that people also use their dreams to figure out things the waking mind just can’t grasp. The subconscious is also the part of us that holds our psychic mind. Dreams can be predictive and perceptive of things we consciously hide from ourselves.

Many inventors and scientists have used their dreams to figure out problems in their work and dream up new solutions. I am sure you have too, whether you know it or not. The issue with a dream is that we can’t fully understand its meaning sometimes because we are the dreamer. This is where a good friend comes in handy. It was surprising to me that sometimes in dreams we are like the metaphor “unable to see the forest for the trees.” A good friend or loved one can sometimes intuit what your dream symbols mean because they know you well enough.

You may not have a close friend who gets you in this way, and that is okay because there are many other ways to interpret dream symbolism. There are many books on the subject, and I find they have helpful suggestions, but our psyches are not all the same, and this cookie cutter approach doesn’t work for everyone. To determine your symbols consciously you could try listing out everything you remember from your dreams. All the nouns, adjectives, and actions should go into your list. Take this list and begin to free associate. Call out the first word or two that comes to your mind as you hear or see that word. You will get a feel of what the dream symbol means to you by seeing what you associate with it. To help organize your own symbols and what they mean, you can make an alphabetical card file of each dream symbol, or get an address book and write your symbols into the alphabetical sections.

Another way to interpret a dream is to go back into it in meditation. While you are in the dream, everything is alive and responsive. You can have a discussion with your grandmother’s table—or anything else—in the dream world and ask it what it means within the dream. In this way we get to interact with our dream symbols and get understanding of the dream at a rapid pace. In this meditation we go back to a dream and speak with its parts to get a greater understanding of the meaning of our symbols. If you don’t have a specific dream to analyze, you can ask to be taken to the realm of dreaming so you can experience a new dream and receive a message.

Meditation of Dream

Hold the twenty-ninth  bead of the blessing cord. The bead of dream, the blessing of water 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 misty purple light. Resonate the God name of Yesod: Sha-dai El-chai.

As the purple light begins to clear, you find yourself inside the dream you want to interpret or, if it is your intention, a new dream. Everything in this dream can speak and communicate with you. Colors, inanimate objects, animals, people, and whatever symbols you see or experience you can talk to and have them respond.

Begin with the nearest symbol. Say hello to it and ask what it is doing inside your dream. What is its meaning within the dream? Ask if it has a particular message for you in this dream. Take what it tells you at face value and ask it any questions you need clarity about. When you feel like you and the symbol have had a complete conversation, thank it for its help. Then move on to the next symbol and repeat the process. The more you interact with the dream, the more you will understand what the dream as a whole means. Don’t limit yourself to just going symbol-by-symbol; you can also ask the whole dream to explain what it means for you.

If any dream symbol seems reluctant or doesn’t talk at all, ask another symbol and ask it to explain the other. Ask another symbol why that one wasn’t willing or able to converse with you.

When you feel as though you have gotten the message from this dream, conjure forth the misty purple light to surround you again until the dream is obscured. You feel a slight gentle descent as the light fades from view. The screen of your mind becomes its normal color and shrinks back to its normal size.

Count yourself up into waking consciousness.

Ground and center, as needed

Contemplation

Consider the symbols your dreams present you: Are there ones that appear in your dream multiple times? What do they signify to you? When you think about your dream, how could it be interpreted in response to what you are experiencing right now in your life? Do you have specific symbols that happen when you are getting a dream that is beyond the normal? What would your  symbol be for a dream that was a message from spirit?

13 Days of Magic

Love

Adam Sartwell

The twenty-seventh bead in the blessing cord is the blessing of love. It is the blessing of water in Netzach. In a first run-through of all the words I thought would be the focus of these blogs, I listed this one as “emotion” or “feeling.” Though I think this is still true when we begin to feel the emotions in this sphere, the heart of them all is love. This idea of the heart of emotions being love came from a vision in one of my meditations. In it, I had Aphrodite rise from the sea and grow to be crowned by the stars. She told me that the highest form of emotion was love. She went on to tell me how the power of love was what brought things together and separated them. I asked for more clarification and she told me that love of others draws us together with others and that love of self and experience separated us. She then went on to say that neither was better then the other, just different, and each was a part of our spiritual journey.

This made me think of the alchemical operations of separating and coming back together to create a more purified whole. The processes of alchemy are always about separating to purify and unifying to create something more potent. This is what Nature does at a slower rate, for she is the great alchemist. This thought of how love was both separating and joining astounded me as so intrinsic to the understanding of its force that I had to share it with you.

Aphrodite then reminded me of the comic Promethea and the journey of the characters in the comic to Netzach. The characters go into the waters of Netzach and as they dive down they experience a whole gamut of emotions. The deeper they go the more they experience the knowledge and power of love. Until they come face to face with Aphrodite herself and feel divine love. Aphrodite wanted this to be the focus of this meditation for people to feel the heart of love beneath the waves of consciousness.

I thanked her for her insight and when I returned I laughed about how it would be weeks before I was able to write this blog. Aphrodite apparently wanted to get her request in early!

Meditation of Love

Hold the twenty-seventh bead of your blessing cord. The bead of love, the bead of water 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 find yourself at the edge of a vast ocean. You can only see so far out into the ocean before there is green mist clouding the horizon. The water is a luminous green, as if it was lit from within by an underwater aurora borealis. You walk up to the edge of the water and, as soon as your feet and toes touch the water, you can feel that this water is different. It is warm like bath water. When you touch it, you feel connected to it and everything, as though this ocean was more than ocean. This is the ocean of consciousness, a symbolic interface to the collective consciousness of all beings. You begin to walk forward deeper into the water. The delicious warmth of the water caresses you. As you get to chest level you feel yourself taken by a gentle current, pulling you out into the ocean. It pulls you under, but you can strangely still breathe normally and easily.

As you float down deeper into the ocean, memories and emotions begin to flood up. You may see them reflected in the waters or in bubbles. Let these feelings flow and release them. Let the current carry you through them. They are your consciousness clearing old emotions so you can embrace what comes next more fully.

Deeper and deeper you go into this illuminated ocean, until you begin to see a brighter light coming closer and closer. This light takes the shape of Aphrodite and, as you draw closer, you can feel the love in the water. It blots out all other feelings. As you get closer, you see that Aphrodite is bigger then you thought. She is a giantess filled with love. As you come closer she may give you a message or just allow you to look into her eyes and feel the enormity of her love for all. You feel your heart opening more then it has before, opening to love, and filling with it.

When you are ready, thank the goddess as the current pulls you back the way you came. As you rise, you notice the feelings you cleansed away don’t return and don’t have any effect on you. You are filled with the love of the Goddess. Finally you break the surface near where you began and can feel the sand beneath your feet. You wall back on to the shore. As your feet leave the ocean, you can feel the separation, but you are full of love and know that you can connect and separate at will.

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. 

What emotions do you feel when you think about love? There are many kinds of love, each one has conditions to it because we love our selves. How has loving yourself separated you from others? Is this a bad thing? How has your love of others made you lose yourself in Union? Is this a bad thing?

Blessing Cord

Forgiveness

Adam Sartwell

The twenty sixth bead in the blessing cord is the blessing of Forgiveness. It is the water of Tiphereth. I admit, as a pagan, forgiveness felt alien to me. It always felt like a Christian concept that had nothing to do with being spiritual and more to do with being a martyr. It wasn’t until I  heard that forgiveness isn’t for the other person, that it was really for you, that it made sense to me.

We unconsciously hold the energy of the disagreements and betrayals between people. Our soul’s path becomes strongly linked to the anger, hate, and resentment we feel for a person.  This energy is another thing that can block our flow to manifesting what it is we are truly here to do. We don’t have to forget what someone has done. We don’t even have to let that person back into our lives. By forgiving them, we let go of how they affect us.

If you had the flu last year and got it treated and now you are fine, do you still feel the sickness? No, you may remember the sickness, but you don’t feel it any more. This is how you want to be with forgiveness. You can remember what was done but it no longer holds any emotional charge for you. It is a good test to use for if you have really forgiven someone to imagine someone telling you how great they are doing now and how they have everything they want. If you feel any pain or anger, you haven’t fully forgiven them.

When you forgive and let go of this energy your holding both your lives will improve. When I have done the meditation that follows I have felt lighter every time. When we forgive, we make room for newer and happier circumstances, just as in the work of releasing with the previous bead.

Before this meditation, you may want to list all the people you think have done you wrong in some way and memorize the release statement.

Meditation of Forgiveness

Hold the twenty-sixth bead, the bead of the blessing of Forgiveness, the blessing of water in Tiphereth.

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 fades and you are in a golden field. Above you is a golden white sphere that represents the highest and best of the universe. Within it you might see Goddess, God, Great spirit, your guides, or your higher self. It is the highest guidance and power. Thank it for its presence in this work and ask for its aid.

Conjure the people you have to forgive. You can do this by calling up a person who is on your list or just calling out to someone you need to forgive. They appear in the field. Tell them what they did that you are trying to forgive.

Then say the following statement of release and forgiveness with all of your being:

“(Their name), I forgive you for your imperfections as I forgive myself for mine. I release (what you are feeling) I have against you. I forgive and release you to be who you are and to be happy. I release you to be free. With that I am free.”

After you feel it has done its work, the person begins to rise in the air to the ball of golden white light above you. As they float away, you are releasing them to the universe. You can then repeat the process with others on your list.

When you are done, say to yourself in this place of power. “I forgive and release you all, as I forgive my self for all. Blessed be!”

Golden light again begins to fill the area around you, making the world go opaque with the intensity of its glow. As the light fades, 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

Think about the people you have had to forgive: Is there a pattern to the story that manifests this pain? What are your contributions to this pattern? Can you forgive yourself? Can you forgive what was done to you? Can you release this pattern?

Blessing Cord

Release

Adam Sartwell

The twenty-fifth bead in the blessing cord is the blessing of Release. It is the water of Geburah. Geburah has great power but also brings hard lessons. The lesson and blessing it brings is release. Release needs to happen for us to have clear, flowing connection to spirit and our own life path. Sometimes it is a pattern we have been consciously engaging in that needs to be let go of so we can move forward. It might be something left over from our parents or a past life that needs to be released. It can even be something we manifested that is no longer good for us, like the junk in our house or a job that is no longer working for us.

In the craft we use the waxing moon to grow things and the waning moon to dissolve and banish. We get all excited during the waxing moon to start new things and make new manifestations. One of the best pieces of advice I have gotten was to make room for these new things in my mind, in my heart, and in my home during the waning moon. The older I get the more I see this as true. I now know that I need to prioritize what I keep and hold on to. I have created a lot and I have to be able to let some of the things I have collected go, whether they are destroyed or move on to a place where they can be loved.

This process can be hard. Ask yourself: Does this still serve me? Does it bring me joy? Does this help me along my path? Evaluate if this is something you still need. If not it is time for release. Make some room for new manifestations.

In our minds we may have patterns we need to release to be able to move forward in to the world we want. These old patterns can still be creating the things we don’t want in life and draining some of our energy or blocking our flow. Sometimes just making a list of what our limiting beliefs or patterns are can help us in this process. Get a piece of paper and write on it. “The reason I can’t have (your goal) is because…” Set a timer for two minutes and write down every reason that comes to mind about why you can’t have your goal. When the bell goes off stop and look at your list. These are the patterns you are going to have to clear away to help your manifestation come into being. Do the meditation of release and then rip up this list.

Meditation of Release

Hold the twenty-fifth bead, the bead of the blessing of Release, the blessing of water 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 fills you with the power to release. As the light clears, you are in a place that represents your mind. This could be a large garden, a house, a castle or any place that resonates with you. This is your special place. You have full control of your environment. Focus your thoughts on the first belief on you list to be lead to the place where this belief lives. Follow you intuition to the place where this belief lives. It will have a symbolic representation in your inner space. Once you have found it. Observe how it is reacting to the things around it. How does it affect your place. Touch it and ask to see when this thing was created. Why did it serve you then? Does it serve you now?

Begin to change the belief. In a garden of the mind this may mean weeding it out of the garden. In the attic of the mind it may mean cleaning it out to be dumped or burning it in the mental yard outside. In the castle you might want to put it in a catapult and shoot it outside. The solutions to changing this symbol of your old belief are infinite. Choose one that works for you.

You can now repeat the process with all the beliefs on your list. When you are done, feel how clear you feel. In a later meditation, plant or create some new beliefs that move you toward your goals.

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

Look around your home and begin to release the things that are cluttering your energy. Ask yourself: does this bring me joy? Does this serve a purpose? Is this in alignment with my great work? If it is not why keep it at all? Observe your mind. Are there patterns you could release to have a better flow and clearer mind?