photo: Alisdair MacDonald

Solitude, in and of itself, means nothing today. If I sit in solitude switching between Netfilx, the radio and my smartphone, the result will probably be loneliness rather than solitude - even if I don't recognise it as such. It will also be mentally noisy, and even when I switch off all devices, that noise is likely to continue. One result I notice from spending too much time media surfing is a shortened attention span and a lack of ability to focus. I need antidotes to this, and I need discipline to partake of the antidotes some days! Regular practice really helps. What I need is "soul-itude". Time spent honouring the needs of my soul. Turning off both the media chatter and the self chatter. Quiet in the environment provides a route to quiet within. Only when I am quiet am I able to listen, not just for a voice, but to listen with my very pores for a sense of the divine. Whether I am sitting in conventional meditation or riding a horse, my inward quiet and awareness provides my chance to hear.  

I'm the kind of person who longs for a regular schedule, but as soon as I come close to achieving one, rebels against it. Living in the country with animals, and at the mercy of weather and changing seasonal chores, I'm probably in little danger of ever achieving that regularity - particularly since I have so many competing interests. Can you sense the rush of thoughts there? What will I do first? What chores have I forgotten? Why don't I have more time to have fun?

The frustration of shortage.
There is an acknowledgement here of the frustration I'm sure others feel, too. I feel the shortage of fellowship keenly at times, whether in ritual or during the flatness of a Sabbat day spent without companions. One of the lessons that has to be accepted from Island life is that shortages are real, and if the Island's only shop is out of butter, no amount of money or complaints can change it, and all must equally go without until the next boat brings more. Some of us may be on this island by choice, others only by circumstance, and others are just visitors to the solitary path.

The need for simplicity.
I have found that ritual, far from adding another "chore" to my list, seems to simplify things. I know what is required, and I can get on with it. Rituals, like recipes, are best carefully chosen, tested and adjusted - but then they become second nature. It's how I learned to bake bread. What initially seemed like a lot of trouble to go through to eat healthier bread is now a straightforward and enjoyable process. This was something of a revelation to me. It happened when I decided to learn a couple of prayers. They were fairly short prayers, and the hard part wasn't learning them, it was remembering to say them. I ended up printing them out, sticking them onto pictures I liked, and putting them on my bedroom walls. It worked, and now these are a comforting and uplifting moment in my day.  As I've shared before, this was the origin of my meditation and prayer cards.

Valuing what you have at hand.
I can see myself doing something similar with the SDF daily devotions. I will value them, and no doubt personalise them, and enjoy knowing that perhaps others are doing something similar. I hope that I may gain a little extra strength to value and use the other gifts I have at hand as a result, and learn to spend a little more time in true "soul-itude."

Thinking about the current new moon, and an appropriate meditation, led me to this. The habit of calling the dark moon the "new moon" causes some confusion because it might seem to describe that sliver of light which soon appears as the waxing crescent, as in this painting. I really intend this kind of meditation to be done around the time of the dark moon. In music, we talk about the importance of the silence between the notes. In the same way, the dark moon is a time of pause, or suspension which defines the light and energy it frames. I also wrote in more detail about The New Moon in a blog post last month.

The terms "full moon" and "new moon" really describe a fleeting moment in the moons flowing cycle of waxing and waning. Any astronomer or astrologer will tell you that the moon is only truly full or dark for a fraction of a second. As the picture below shows, the changes in the moons shape always appear on our right as we look at the moon. So when the full moon begins to wane, the right side appears to be eaten away by darkness, and after the complete darkness of the new moon, the crescent of light begins to appear on the right side of the moons circle. This flow is nice to understand, in those moments when you glance up at the moon and may wonder "Is it about to be full, or was it fuller yesterday?" and "Is the new moon coming, or has it passed?"

You may have noticed that at the full moon people and animals tend to be restless, more emotional, sleep less, and so on. Tides are higher, there is more crime - everything is powered up and highly charged. So what about the time of the new moon? Generally, this is a time of calm, of waiting. I believe that it is a great time for deep meditation of the "empty mind" type. It is a great time to make peace with ourselves, with our surroundings and with one another in a serene setting - without effort, without discussion. Just to be.

So, personally, I would take the night and day of the darkest moon as a time to do nothing. I would create a still pond on which new impressions and inspirations may be envisioned as that glimmer of light begins to show itself in the coming few days. A sort of internal scrying. Then I might begin to make plans and take actions, working my way toward the full moon when the power is strongest. There is no one right way to work with the moons power. In some cases, I find that if I have a big, new idea I might only think and plan during an entire waxing period, and after the full moon begins to wane - I might simply let the idea begin to rest and think about it less. Then, as the moon begins to increase again, if the idea has taken root in my heart and mind, I will begin to work on it in a more concrete manner - laying groundwork, planting seeds and working with the increasing energy.

Using the natural flow of the moons energy in this way is healthy. It allows us times of rest and reflection, times of hard work and achievement. Contemplation and celebration each find their place. Catching hold of the power of the waxing and fuller times of the moon vs taking time to simply open ourselves to the quietest of guidance, and to rest, helps to keep us in balance. In a world where we are told that "we must fulfill our potential" it is easy to feel that we must make things happen, and also easy to give up on them a little and quit trying, to feel like failures, if they don't. Just as we need to find the balance of circadian rhythms of night and day, rest and activity in order to be healthy and productive, so we can also benefit from tuning in more to the rhythm of the moon.

Another way to think about this is in terms of launching boats. Someone launching a little dinghy from the seashore can use the rhythm of the waves to make it easier to get water underneath the boat, and to get a little boost to get moving, too. A larger vessel must wait for the daily tidal changes to be right in order to be safe, perhaps even in order to float. Did I mention that the moon controls the tides?

The stag seems to be following me of late. I see him as a friendly entity. Western Pagans might know him as Cernunos, Herne or a form of the Wild Man of the Wood. In natural history, the Red Stag (or Bull Elk to North Americans) is a powerful figure, bent on procreation above all else. Metaphysically, or metaphorically, I see him as representing fatherhood and therefore a deep creative impulse. A primal urge to make something, to bring forth a representation of ones deepest being as a gift to the future.

The Red Stag came up in a reading I did recently. Here is part of what I wrote about him in that reading -

The Celts talked of imbas or of awen. Words that might be explained, if not exactly translated, by other words such as breath, inspiration, muse, impulse, enlightenment and so on. Where does this come from? Although I have no firm answers, I think it's an important question. The answers may lie in each person's belief system. God ... some particular god or goddess ... the soul ... the psyche ... ancestral memory. I think the important concept is this: it comes from somewhere good. This inspiration, literally a breath blowing into us, and giving us life, is asking us to operate at a higher vibration - to bring that which is beautiful to light, to be shared. Just as there can be no ill reason why the stag wishes to procreate, surely there can be no bad energy in awen. (What the recipient does with it, I suppose, is another story.)

I've noticed that many people are worried about opening the door to awen in the form of meditation, or something like a card reading. Yet it is only a chance for a deeper version of a familiar experience. The experience of being moved by nature or art, the experience of creating something meaningful or of knowing something greater than ourselves. While you have probably experienced all these things in a very pleasurable way, you may have also experienced them as challenging at times. They may allow us to feel or release deep emotions, make us aware of our mortality, cause us to question our beliefs or simply to expend effort. However, we call the shots. We can walk out of the theatre if the movie is too graphic, or stay in our own garden rather than have an extreme wilderness experience, we can enjoy the creativity of raising kids, rather than painting the ceiling of the Sistine chapel.

When we meditate, we try in some way to de-clutter our thoughts. Whether we strive for an "empty" mind or a focused one, we are surely opening ourselves to imbas, as well as simply de-stressing. Fifteen minutes on the meditation cushion is unlikely to bring either nirvana nor terror, however, it could be the start of something good. It could be the start of enlightenment. It could become a chance for a regular visit to an island of peace, and a chance to begin to carry a little more peace within.

When I do a reading for someone, we are both opening ourselves to a high level of inspiration. How deep this experience goes depends partly on my skill and intention in delivering a reading. Once it is placed in your hands, though, it becomes your responsibility. You get to call the shots. You can take it lightly, with a grain of salt, if it doesn't suit you, or you can over think it to such a degree that it drives you a little nuts. (I hope you don't do that, of course!) I hope that it becomes a little piece of awen that moves through me to you. I hope that it inspires your life in some great ways, but you have to take it, and make it yours and work with it for this to happen. I do believe that this is another reason that you have nothing to fear from a reading. You deal with the material in your own time, on your own terms.

For my personal daily card draw I have my meditation and prayer cards shuffled in with my oracle deck. Today, this card came up. I thought it was interesting and appropriate, with all the thinking and writing I have been doing about the Cailleach and Bride. At the winter solstice, this card felt particularly appropriate, with the short days, and so on. However, it feels equally appropriate now, at Imbolc, with its theme of the natural cycles of death and rebirth in nature and in our lives. Looking at the cycles of nature and of the seasons we can all have certainty of rebirth to come.

Introduction
This is the third of three visions I had in meditation recently. These may have partly been the result of saying a prayer which is addressed to the three deities Brigid, Manannán and Epona - I don't know. However since the first two visions concerned Brigid and Manannán I couldn't help but half expect to have a vision concerning Epona in the third meditation. I tried to keep my mind out of the way, so to speak, but I admit that it was more difficult this time, as I had an expectation which was difficult to suppress. If you are coming in in the middle of this series, and I'm not making things clear, then you might like to read the introduction to part one here.

I went to the beach once again in meditation. It got very dark. Storm? Nightfall? Of course, I thought, based on the prayer, that I "should" have a vision of Epona. Hmmmm...

At some point I remember thinking/saying that I would really like to see those forests and pastures I saw from afar in the first vision, with Bride. We went somewhere like that, briefly. It was full of colour and also full of predators and she struck at them with her forelegs in anger.

Everything went black. We were going down into a deep tube or tunnel. I couldn't see/feel anything, it was hard to stay "present". I think it was the terror/bliss of loss of control. This went on for a long time. I sensed that I wasn't alone. She was still there, but I must face it alone. Dark. Black. Emptiness. A feeling that it would split me in two. Power - energy - terror - bliss - death - birth all in one.

Finally it became lighter. I saw a red orange swirling stuff. Are we deep in the earth? I long for the surface, for plants, soil, water - but she is only concerned with energy!

~ ~ ~

I came out at this point. I think I was trying to make a landscape in which to exist, and when I saw it, it was devoid of biological life. However, I believe that this was the work of my mind and I stopped there.

Thinking on this, Epona doesn't bring us baskets of fruit or grain. She isn't a horse, or a woman -- She is an aspect of the earth itself. Perhaps She is the earth. The animating force, the energy without which life is not possible.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like Moon Drum.

Introduction
This is the second of three visions I had in meditation. To read more about how this came to be, you can read the introduction to part 1. While I don't really see this as poetry, it just flowed in this format.

"This," He tells me
"Is part of you
For your land
Was once under the sea
Now you mourn
Salt without water
The bleached bones"

And I see
When He rises from the water
He becomes that robed
And bearded Father
On His sacred island
He is thus

And now He shows me
How His waters will rise
And the earth will be whole
And the land will recede
And the people of the land
Will turn on one another
And thus reduce their numbers
And the earth will be whole
But never the same
For the sea is ever-changing

artist: Osnat Tzadok

Out of this vision , in my "rational" mind I think more and more how foolish we are, how inflated in our sense of our abilities to think that we can "protect" Gaia from our kind. And if we're honest, we don't do it for Her, we are just trying to preserve our real estate, our playground, things we feel sentimental about, our way of life.

There is not one thing we have made which did not come from the earth - the concrete and glass, the rusting metal. We ripped it all from her breast, and when we push too far, a great change will come. Our plastic and trash and destruction will somehow be re-shaped as nothing more than strange deposits of minerals and organic material, and what is left of our race, if anything - will we be as the Fomorians or as the Tuatha de Danannán? Or maybe Manannán's children this time?

As I typed this from my handwritten notes just now, I also remembered that Manannán is the trickster, killing and re-animating the men of the fortress to make a point, as if it's nothing.

Continue to part 3...

Introduction
In meditation, like many other people, I have constructed through imagination a place. In my case, I take a ritual walk to a beach where often I enter at a door, to be greeted by a mysterious and kindly nun-like figure. She guides me through a beautiful spiral building to where I have something like an apartment of rooms, where I may meditate or meet guides and Gods. I may also go outdoors into a magical world. At other times, having reached the beach, I may choose to remain out of doors where I have also had many literally wonder-full experiences.

Most of the experiences, or visions, have felt quite personal. I may have shared them with a few friends. However, very recently I had three visions which I feel compelled to share. I don't claim that they necessarily contain any great message for humanity. I don't claim anything. They are what I saw when I meditated. Are they just the product of my imagination, or something more? I leave that to the reader to decide. Maybe it's not important to answer this. However, I feel that they did not come simply from my imagination. I feel that there is more to this - but I make no claim beyond "I feel". When the great Christian mystics had their visions, they were often in the awkward position of being accused of heresy or insanity. As a Pagan, I have no pope or bishop to approach for permission to publish, no panel of inquisitors. In this day, I am more likely to be accused of the heresy of belief. Ah, well!

I was on land again with the Lady, and she showed me the beautiful woods and pastures not far inland, where black horses ran and frolicked - and she said that this was for me.

Next she showed me that my body/spirit is a shrine, and this was represented by a kind of gothic chapel. She gave me a bright candle and showed me how this one bright light is all I need to illuminate this space.

I puzzled a little about Bride, Manannán, Epona - which goddess is earth, which is sky? I don't really think that the question can be answered but I understand that Bride is pure light.

Continue to part 2...

I love the way the world of meditation has opened up over the past few decades. I am old enough to remember the excitement, back in the 1960s, when "Transcendental Meditation" (or TM) became popular after the Beatles discovered the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. There was a lot of secrecy and controversy at the time about the method, its benefits, the cost of learning it, and so on. One thing is for sure, though, it brought the idea that meditation might be a good thing to the average westerner.

I never learned TM, but by the early 1980s I did take my first meditation class. It was an evening class at a local community college, taught by a lovely young woman, who assured us that there were many paths to the meditative state. We explored a number of different approaches, so that each person could find out what worked best for them. I love variety, and I'm so glad that this was my first experience with meditation. Over the years, I have not been a particularly consistent meditator, but I have never abandoned meditation altogether for very long, either.

Of course, meditation is such a broad concept, that several people can use the word and mean quite different things. Meditation might mean trying to empty your mind or to focus on one thing - such as an idea or something like a candle flame. It might mean deeply contemplating something, being mindful and aware from moment to moment, or repeating a mantra. It might even involve an activity like walking or singing. Then there is guided meditation.

Guided meditation can also mean a few different things, but basically means that someone takes you through a particular meditative practice using words. This might be simple guidance on how to quiet your mind and relax your body, or it might be an elaborately scripted inner journey involving a detailed visualisation of a place or a series of occurrences. Guided meditations are often recorded on CDs or MP3s, so that you can listen to them whenever your wish, and some of these have background music, nature sounds and other wonderful additions.

Books may also contain instructions for guided meditation. Sometimes, people like to record these for their own use by reading them aloud onto a tape or sound file, but many of them are simple enough to read through and remember how to do, especially if one does them a few times in a row. I have learned some of my favourite meditations from books. Like many things, this may depend on your learning style, but I would say that it's good to have a few meditation techniques that you can draw on, so that you don't always need to rely on an audio device.

At this point, some of you may be wondering how listening to someone talk can be a form of meditation at all. It sounds a bit too easy, like a gimmick, and not at all what you may think of when you think of meditation. There isn't an easy answer to this. Many traditional meditation practices involve time spent sitting in silence, or perhaps chanting. These are very valid approaches, and useful to many people. They can create a great deal of inner peace, mental discipline and order. Of course, many of these ways of meditation are taught to newcomers through verbal guidance, until the student is ready to "fly solo." The more modern concept of incorporating guided imagery or visualisation can be a little "fluffy" or insubstantial at times, but it still offers many of the benefits of relaxation and mental focus that other forms of meditation do, and has an advantage of being themed to suit the needs of the moment.

Themed guided imagery is an interesting new field. There are guided meditations available for just about anything you can imagine - healing, relaxation, sleep, sending good things out to others, meeting spirit guides . . . you name it! Much of it only works if the listener can relax and focus sufficiently, and I feel that this is one thing that separates the excellent from the average, just as much or more than the content of the imagery script. Some people who record guided meditations are more skilled at helping the listener to relax and let go in readiness for receiving the content of the imagery than others. 

There is plenty of evidence that meditation is a beneficial practice, both to the mind and the physical body. This study by MIT is on how meditation helps people ignore chronic pain, but I think it also give a clear idea of how it helps us ignore all kinds of distracting things in our lives - from mental "pain" to manipulative advertising and annoying people! Here are two more articles - one from the Mayo clinic, and another from Psychology Today. I purposely chose middle-of-the-road, widely respected sources for these links, so you'd know that the articles were more balanced.

But do all types of meditation benefit us equally? No, probably not. Or at least, the benefits will be of different kinds. However, quieting your mind and relaxing for a few minutes will have more benefits than you think, right off the bat. If you meditate frequently (not necessarily even for very long in a session) those benefits will really accrue, partly because you will get better at it, and partly because you will gain a little more control over your mind. Control which you can begin to apply when you need it - whether in stressful situations or to aid concentration and focus. At the same time, each meditation session will probably slow your heart rate and breathing, lower your blood pressure a little and have other good physical effects. Personally, I think that if all your meditation practice is based on the more traditional "quiet (or empty) mind" stuff, while the benefits may be immense, you may also miss out on some of the good things that guided imagery has to offer. In balance, if all you do is listen to a guided imagery MP3 every evening, you will also benefit - probably more or less depending on the quality of what you listen to. Hopefully you will also be learning to relax and stay focused, plus whatever other content your choices of listening are offering you, but if there is no period of quiet built in to the meditation, you may not be gaining much skill to meditate by yourself.

Most definitely, if you have tried one kind of meditation and it hasn't worked, rather than give up, try something different. If a quiet, more traditional, style of meditation hasn't worked for you in the past, try something that is a little more active - mindfullness, walking meditation or yoga might work better for you. If learning from a book didn't work, maybe going to a class will. If you don't want to spend money or leave the house - there are free sources of both "learn to meditate" courses and guided imagery meditation on the internet. If you don't like the first guided meditation you listen to, shop around! There are voices you will like the sound of, and some that may grate on you, just as there will be content that appeals to you and some that doesn't. Just begin somewhere!

Many people avoid meditation because they are afraid it won't work for them! They are afraid that they, of all people, just won't be able to do it. Well you can, and if you feel like you can't then I would say that guided meditation of some type, or taking a class, is the easy way in! Keep it simple at first. Choose a class that is definitely for beginners or recordings that are not overly long and involved. Definitely don't get hung up on whether you're "doing it right". You might want to look at it more as a form of recreation (which it should be) rather than putting labels on it like "spiritual practice". Also, if you have concerns about silencing your thoughts, because they might be blocking out things you are not ready to deal with, a guided meditation that simply takes you somewhere nice and relaxing and "recreational" will be perfect for you.

As I said earlier in this piece, some of the techniques that I fall back on the most are ones that I learned quite quickly from a book or that someone just told me about. They are uncomplicated and appeal to me because they are portable and they work. This is why I created the little guided meditation cards that I sell in the shop. I originally began making them for myself, knowing that I could salt them around the house or carry them around with me. The instructions for each meditation are right on the back of the card, but after doing these meditations a couple of times they are easy to remember, anyway. The great thing about them is that they remind me to actually take action! They are pretty and I enjoy picking them up and looking at them, and that also makes it easy to stop for five or ten minutes and actually use them.

I don't claim to be an expert on meditation, but I am always happy to help people if I can, so if you have a question about this topic, don't be shy about leaving a comment or contacting me.

Can I just admit, upfront, that I find it hard to explain the things I have to offer? I don't like to be pushy, but on the other hand, I need people to buy things - and these cards are only $3 each. So here is my very own "info-mercial", because if you don't know what I'm offering, and you don't know whether it's something you might like, we both lose.

Meditation and other spiritual practice should be a joy, not a duty. These cards can really help you get into the habit of doing a little meditation on a regular basis. They were a joy to create, and I really want to share them with people. That's why it was important to me to make them affordable.

Click here to buy cards.

One of these could look great on your desk, your fridge door or your bedside table. So is it just like a postcard? Oh, no no no! The front of the card is just the beginning...The back of each meditation card has a simple, short and clear meditation that you can easily do. There are two with nature themes (one is designed to do while going for a walk), another is great for worry and anxiety, there's one with repetitive phrases that's helpful if your mind tends to wander when you meditate, and one to do at the end of the day - to help you create a better tomorrow.

There are also two prayer cards. One is a bedtime blessing of the household, taken directly from the Carmina Gadelica (a collection of traditions from the Scottish highlands) and the other is a charm for the protection of horses, which I adapted from the same source. The backs of these cards feature a little cultural background material, and some thoughts for bringing them into the modern lifestyle. The bedtime prayer is addressed to "The Sacred Three" which could mean the Triple Goddess or the Holy Trinity. It could easily be changed to suit your beliefs. The protection charm is addressed to Epona, the Celtic goddess of horses. If you love horses, you will love the beauty of the poetry in this one.

Click any picture to enlarge.

Did I mention that these cards are only $3 each?
Flat rate shipping ($3 US/$5 elsewhere) - no surprises at the checkout!
The cards are even less expensive if you buy them in sets.

Even if you only find time to meditate occasionally, these cards should help and encourage you. However, regular practice has its benefits. Several of these cards are well suited to the end of the day, and if that's the only time you can find, it's definitely worth it. You will sleep better, if nothing else! These are short enough to complete when you are tired, without it feeling like a chore.