Meditation is an extremely valuable skill for the beginning magick-user. Unfortunately, many students are dismayed to learn this and seek ways to skip it. I hear often from people that they can’t meditate. There are several reasons for this. First, many people are simply defining meditation in a different way. Most just haven’t practiced the skill. It is a skill. It’s not just a natural thing that happens. And it is essential.
What is Meditation Then?
Meditation is a very broad topic with many definitions depending on the tradition. When I speak of meditation, I am referring to a mental discipline that soothes the mind into focused attention. This focused attention can range from simply observing thoughts or impressions as they go by, to controlling thoughts, to banishing thoughts entirely. Each technique has its own benefits and meditation has been shown to be of physical, mental, and emotional benefit as well12.
Why Meditation is an Essential Skill for Magick?
Meditation helps the magick-user understand their own mind which is helpful for identifying the True Will and establishing intention.
Meditation also provides practice in focusing on concepts and emotions while excluding distractions such as unrelated thoughts and feelings, which is essential for spellcasting.
Meditation provides a medium through which a magick user can explore possible solutions to problems and discover the best path toward a desired outcome.
Meditation provides a foundation upon which to explore other altered states of consciousness including trance work and dream work.
Meditation provides a foundation upon which to build other magickal skills, such as visualization and astral projection.
Meditation provides a foundation for observing inner images and thoughts without judgment which becomes very valuable during divination practice.
Exercises in Meditation
You can begin meditating for as little as one minute a day. Once that is easy for you, extend the time minute by minute until you’ve reached 30 minutes a day. Set a timer so that you aren’t thinking about the time, just meditating. When you begin exploring a new meditative technique, go back to one minute and step up gradually once more. If one minute is hard for you, go to 30 seconds and work your way up.
Meditation should be done in a comfortable position. You can begin either lying down or sitting with your back straight for now and explore other positions later. There are special cushions you can use for sitting meditation that will help you keep your back straight and just having them around will remind you to meditate, but a comfortable chair or pillow will work as well.
Once you are comfortable, take a few deep breaths and focus on relaxing your whole body. Take note of any parts of your body that are difficult to relax. Give them a bit of a wiggle to loosen them up now and focus on stretching them later. Now you are ready to meditate.
Note: These are some exercises for you to try. Do not try to do multiple meditation exercises one right after another. Give yourself at least a few hours to digest before going to the next exercise.
Beginning Meditation
Exercise One
Focus on your breathing. Breath in One Two Three and Out One Two Three. Repeat until your timer goes off. In One Two Three. Pause. Out One Two Three. If you find yourself distracted (you will), just acknowledge the distraction and return to your breath count.
Exercise Two
Make yourself comfortable either lying down or sitting with your back straight. Close your eyes and be still. Allow thoughts to pass through your mind. Acknowledge them and let them go without judgment. Just observe them as they come and go. When your timer goes off, write down those thoughts that were the most persistent.
Exercise Three
Choose one of those thoughts that kept bothering you during your previous exercises and spend some time just thinking about that. If something else intrudes, acknowledge it and return to your original focus. There’s no need to become frustrated or discouraged if you get distracted, just gently lead your thoughts back to where they need to be.
Exercise Four
Find a place that is mostly isolated without a lot of activity. Using each of the senses available to you in turn, explore your space. If any of the usual senses are not available to you, skip it. It is not a big deal. Sit comfortably in the space you have chosen and focus on one of your senses. Hearing, for example. Close your eyes and listen carefully to your surroundings while ignoring all other senses. What do you hear? What can you hear that you didn’t notice before? What can you identify and what can’t you, using only your sense of hearing.
Repeat this exercise on a different day using only your vision. Look at the play of light, the way the wind moves leaves, the shadows of birds flying overhead, the twitch of the grass as insects move through it. Next use your sense of touch. Feel the change in air, the way your skin warms when the sun hits it and cools when a shadow passes over.
Bring a snack of fresh or dried, sweet or sour fruit, salty cheese or fermented vegetables, crunchy nuts or crackers and fresh, clean water or unsweetened iced tea. Focus on the tastes as you eat and drink.
You can use a blindfold and earplugs or earbuds playing white noise if your other senses get in the way.
Finally, return to the place and focus on how it makes you feel inside. Does it make you feel deliciously creepy? Or joyful? Or soothed? Or relaxed? Or melancholy? Does the play of shadows, a cool breeze or the sight of a bird flitting across your vision change the way you feel about this place? Do your feelings change after the sensory input has gone away again?
- Science Direct https://www.sciencedirect.com/search?qs=Meditation ↩︎
- National Library of Medicine https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=Meditation ↩︎
