Meditation

Meditation is a vast subject and there is no way that I can cover the entire subject here. What I'm hoping to do is to pique your interest and give you a start. Regular practice of meditation techniques will begin a process of opening yourself to your intuitive and psychic powers and raise the level of your spiritual vibration. Your first step will be to find or to create a physical setting for your meditations. This needs to be a quiet area where you won't be disturbed, and free of distractions. The next thing I recommend is obtaining a few meditation tools. (Of course these aren't necessary, but they sure are nice!) This can be your favorite incense, a candle (or several candles), and some meditation music, or drumming CD's. If you already have an altar, you may want to place the candle/s there and use this as your focal point. Otherwise, you may simply burn one candle. Do what you can to personalize and create a sacred space for yourself.

Set aside a regular time for your meditation. A meditation exercise can last anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 or 6 hours. If you are a beginner, I suggest that you do the following meditation for 5 to 10 minutes daily for 2 weeks before advancing on your own.  If you are an early riser, you may want to do your meditation in the morning, before getting into the flow of the day. If you are more of an night owl, you may just naturally have more energy in the quiet of the evening after everybody else has gone to bed. Work with your natural rhythms.

Light the incense and candle/s.  Turn off any overhead lighting. Turn off your cellphone. Turn the music (if you have any) on low.

Sit in a comfortable, but upright position with your feet on the floor, or if you like and you are comfortable doing this, sit on the floor cross legged ("Lotus position"). You may even lay down if you prefer, as long as you don't fall asleep. The key is to be relaxed, but reasonably alert. I strongly suggest not doing the meditation in bed!

Take a moment to enjoy and appreciate your surroundings. Smell the scented smoke of incense and gaze at the warm glow of the candle.

Relax and take a few slow, deep breaths, in through the nose, and out through the mouth.

Program a magical trigger to help you shift into an altered state. Choose a Statement of Intent and use this statement to begin each meditation that you do. One example would be to start by stating: "I open my mind to the Universal Spirit." Raise your arms upward, with hands reaching toward the sky as you make your statement. Then bring your hands down and gently rest them on your thighs.

Take a deep breath, breathing in relaxation and peace, and as you breathe out, let go of any anger, frustration, or fear.

Take a deep breath and relax your mind.

Take another deep breath and relax your heart and your soul.

Gaze at the candle flame until you feel your eyes grow heavy.

Close your eyes.  Visualize the air around you filling with white light. Take a series of deep breaths, and feel this white light filling you up with each breath you take.

Inhale white light, and breathe out stress and tension.

Every time you exhale, see all of your tension and stress flowing out with the exhaled air.

It is time to allow your mind to become quiet and receptive. Thoughts may enter your head but do not try to suppress them. Do not try to stop or examine the thought, just let it drift on through.

You may experience seeing colors or images, you may have some unusual thoughts pass through your head, you may feel unexpected emotions, you might feel temperature changes around you, or hear things like music or words. Any of these are okay. Everyone is somewhat different. Don't let yourself worry. You will have time to think about it and examine the meaning later.

When you feel you have been in this meditative state long enough, allow yourself to slowly come back to your physical self. Take a few deep breaths, wiggle your hands and feet. Some people like to stamp their feet to ground and send the excess energy back into the Earth. Slowly open your eyes.

I recommend writing down what you experienced. Having been in a light meditative state, you might not remember everything later on. You may find it useful to start a Meditation Journal.