Now is a good time to start learning to meditate.
Landcrafting has a lesser focus on meditation than some paths, especially ceremonial ones. Why? Firstly, the goal of daily meditations is to become calm, clear and focused. But this isn't always our goal. We are an experiental path; we learn by doing, and experiencing, and being in this world - and hyper-aware of it - rather than taking our awareness away from the world into a still, clear place. When we start doing rituals and magic, they will often be powered by emotion, impulse, loss of inhibition, anything but clarity.
Secondly because I suck at doing daily meditations. And thirdly because of priorities. If you can only do one daily 20 minute practice, spend that 20 minutes sitting out in the sun with a cup of tea, taking a quick walk down the canal at lunch break, or stargazing. Be present in this world.
Nevertheless - there are four sorts of meditative practice which will become useful to you as you progress. These are:
Insight - the witch gets himself into a focused, calm state. He then starts thinking about a question, or considering an image in his mind. Because he is calm, his subconscious and associative mind is far freer to make intuitive links and suggest new ideas. Combined with spirit work, the witch can use this meditation to invite Powers to help uncover new mysteries.
Visualisation - after getting into a calm state, the witch allows images to unfold in their mind. They may start by "forcing" the image - say of travelling into a hole at the base of a tree - and then allowing the subconscious to take over in the places you go and the people you meet.
Mindfulness - very important for your weekly walk. Mindfulness meditation is simply being aware of the world around you. You don't force any experiences, you just notice. What can you see? What can you hear? If you catch yourself thinking things - be aware that you are thinking things, but draw your awareness back to the present moment. A lot harder than it seems. But when a witch is fully mindful of the world as it is, she is more likely to be open to communing with the Powers.
Loss of self - some of our practices involve shapeshifting, taking on the form of animals or others, drawing the Powers down, and embodying them in ritual peformance. Learning how to enter trance state, and using that to take on the qualities of other creatures to slip your skin, is the fourth and final kind of meditation to practice.
Choose one to practice across a month. We have no special techniques as yet, but generic resources will work fine. < Lessons