An Intention to Guide Meditation Practice

Today, as I stand at the axis of the 2Three Worlds, and center of the Seven Sacred Directions3,
     I am grateful for the opportunities granted me by the gift of incarnation4,
     supported by the blessings of the gods and spirits whose unseen hands
     guide my steps. May I continue to be be shepherded by the adepts, mystics,
     and masters of old, those upon whose shoulders I stand5 so that I, in turn, may
     one day be found fit to shepherd others on the path of the Mysteries6.

Let me not squander this precious opportunity to free myself of delusion, fear,
    suffering, ignorance and all things that occlude the vigorous and vital flow of
    energy through my channels. May my energy body be healed, healthy, and whole
    that it may serve the highest purposes of fate, will, and Ma'at7.

May I practice this day and every day with discipline, determination, effortlessness,
    and equanimity. May I encounter all mind-states without attachment or aversion8.
    May I be steadfast in the face of all obstacles and difficulty, allowing
    all discomfort to be a means of insight, self-knowledge, and illumination.

May I enter without effort and clarity of mind into the Sacred Flame9 at my center,
    the inner gateway of Emptiness, the silent doorway to all worlds.
    Let me be ever-guided by its illumination and warmth and the blessings of

    my Akh10 who beckons me ever-forward so I may one day be worthy to be called
    Justified11 among the Ancient and Shining Ones12.

*Notes: Included to demonstrate that each turn of phrase has a purpose. Where certain concepts are open to interpretation, the interpretations are my own, guided my by own knowledge and experience.

1. This Meditation Intention is based both upon the intention I've been using to guide my meditation practice for a few years, but has been adapted to more clearly align itself to the Quareia curriculum.
2. Land, Sea, and Sky...Celestial World, Mortal World, Underworld...or any other tripartite conception of the Universe.
3. North, East, South, West, Above, Below, and Center
4. Acknowledgement that incarnation is truly a gift for which we should be grateful.
5. Acknowledgement and showing gratitude for the unseen assistance we receive from those beings that are, essentially, our spiritual ancestors who may or may not be our blood ancestors.
6. A pledge of willingness to be of service to those who come after us on the path.

7. Recognizing that Self-Realization/Enlightenment isn't merely a change of heart and mind, but instead rests on the cleaning, aligning, and strengthening of our energy body so that it is reflective of its own natural perfection...without blockages and pollution and dedicating our enlightenment to the principles of Ma'at.

8. One of the keys to fruitful meditation practice....being ok with what is and rejecting nothing that arises within consciousness.
9. Your inner, sacred Flame, doorway to the Void.
10. The highest aspect of the multiple soul, the Higher or Divine Self

11. He or she who, upon being judged worthy, is able to "go to their Ka." (ie. reunite with their Divine Self.

12. The gods and great powers

Prayer to Isis Panthea - A Modern Pagan's Prayer to the Great Goddess as Ground of Being

This is going to be, for me, a relatively brief blog post as its purpose is to impart the words I was inspired to put to paper, so to speak, upon arising from meditation this evening.

In all my years as a Pagan magician and mystic (30+yrs at this point) I have come to understand that all I need to know or experience, in terms of spiritual awareness, has ever been made available to me via the vehicle of committed spiritual practice. No amount of study, stimulating conversation with either like-minded or challenging souls, or intellectual rumination can help one come to terms with spiritual, magickal, and mystical realities the way dedicated spiritual practice can.

Spiritual awareness is, in this context, akin to falling in love.

No amount of reading up on the subject of falling in love can truly prepare one for the reality of what it really means to fall in love. Of course, one can read all about the evolutionary benefits of pair bonding, the neuro-chemical tides released by the brain when one feels love, or any number of brute, and often sadly reductionistic, facts on the subject of love as a biological reality. One may even accomplish being seen as either quite intelligent or as an insufferable bore, depending on the company one keeps, due to the ability to regurgitate such trivia on demand.

However, despite the fact one's brain is brimming with others' thoughts on the subject of love, none of this second-hand knowledge will be more than a footnote in the awareness of one who has actually fallen in love. The thoughts of others on the subject of love are swept away in a tsunami of personal experience that makes pale and shallow the pedestrian intellectualizing that once served as truth.

Such is the experience of the Divine for those who are willing to set aside being armchair magicians and mystics and who, instead, are willing to do the work and experience for ourselves what others merely talk about.

My theology is distinctly monistic (basically Panentheistic Dialectical Monism) in approach and though, nowadays, monism seems to have fallen on hard times within some sectors of the Pagan Community, I've never been one to pay much, if any, attention to the theological squabbles of others, I have always sought instead to follow the path of practice, study, and personal gnosis.

Isis Rising by Gilbert Williams

Prayer to Isis Panthea

It is not I who love, but you who love through me.

It is not I who touch, but you who touch through me.

It is not I who embrace, but you who embrace through me.

It is not I who perceive, but you who perceive through me.

It is not I who feel joy, but you who feel joy through me.

It is not I who weep, but you who weep through me.

It is not I who sorrow, but you who sorrow through me.

It is not I who rage and anguish at cruelty and injustice, but you whose righteousness is manifest both through the severity of justice the mercy of compassion who moves through me.

It is not I who reach out, but you who reach out through me.

It is not I who bring healing, but you who heal through me.

It is not my virtue through which I live in accord with Ma’at, but by you who are the heart of all virtue.

It is not I who breathe, but you who breathe through me.

It is you who are my Mother.

It is you who are my Lover.

It is you who are my Beloved.

It is you who are Sovereign of the Elements.

It is you who are Mother of the Gods.

It is you who are the Supreme Mystery whose veil none have lifted.

It is you who are both Seeker and That Which is Sought, both the Sacred Journey and its Destination.

It is not I who live, but you who live through me.

When I breathe my last breath, It is not I who shall die, but you who shall pass through the Gates of Death and it is not I who shall be reborn, but you who shall be reborn again to participate in the Great Dance, you who are dancer, the stage, and song.

Praise unto you Mother Isis, you who are my Guide, my Wisdom, and none other than my own Divine Self.

Thoughts on Magick, Mysticsm and Their Meeting in the Place of Devotion

Altar of Devotion By Rassouli

"O Love, O pure deep Love, be here, be now,
Be all – worlds dissolve into your
stainless endless radiance,
Frail living leaves burn with your brighter
than cold stares –
Make me your servant, your breath, your core."
-Rumi


Though it is often packaged as such in books geared to both a New Age and Pagan audience, spirituality is not merely an assortment of self-help concepts, processes and techniques presented in a flowery, mysterious, or inspiring manner (depending on the audience in question) and dressed up in mythic drag (being granted gravitas via a sense antiquity), true spirituality is instead about service to something higher than one's ego-self. In its healthiest manifestations, spiritual practice can, and often does, bring about profound and healing changes in both body and mind via the power of changed perception, healthier patterns of thought, diminished stress, the release of psychic baggage and an overall health promoting attitudinal adjustment.

The known beneficial effects of spiritual practice are most notable for those who, against the prevailing point of view of pop-spirituality, choose to ignore, consciously set aside, and temporarily forget these benefits when stepping in front of the altar. Seeing the healing, comforting, uplifting, and beneficial qualities of one's spiritual practice as primary, as opposed to as the side-effects of proper practice, is to place the cart firmly before the horse. To approach one's spiritual practice from a place of "lust for results" as opposed to a place of mystical relationship is to cause one's self long-term suffering in the form of wordless emptiness, an endless grasping and hunger for the shiny and the novel, and an endless seeking but never finding. The real secret is to approach one's spiritual practice from a place of self-less-ness or true self abnegation (ie. surrender). In doing so, the benefits of spiritual practice more easily manifest.

Paradoxically, by removing one's self from the equation via an attitude of self-forgetting when performing one's spiritual practices, one is immediately placed in a state of greater alignment, and therefore communion, with one's greater Self (Higher Self, HGA, Atman, Osiris, Christ, Isis, Horus, The Beloved, etc.) which is the very same Self partaken of by all things. As it has been said, "you must lose yourself in order to find your Self."

Not surprisingly, a magician may find himself initially recoiling from the idea of surrender. Early on, we learn that to be a magician is to be powerful and empowered. We learn to exert our intention and manifest our desires via the techniques of magick. Surrender is for the weak (ie. the religious). In some contexts this attitude would be correct. However, in this case, such an attitude toward the concept of surrender is wrong-headed and limiting. In the context of magickally sound devotional spirituality, self-abnegation can be seen as an act great power and will. It is no small thing, via an act of magickal will, to push aside the grasping selfishness of the ego so as to make room for the manifestation, within the magician, of his or her higher nature. To approach the concept surrender from the place of realizing that the "Will of the Gods" is none other than one's "True Will", the Will that transcends the ephemeral, is wisdom not weakness.

The realigning of attitude achieved through proper spiritual practice is something that is most vividly seen in the act of making non-reciprocal devotional offerings to one's God(s). The act of giving via taking one's time choosing and obtaining the appropriate offering(s), the implied power dynamic of the "lesser" offering service or gifts to the "greater" out of love, with no thought of personal gain, the act of unbesmirched self-offering, pushes the ego directly off the game board thereby leaving room for the reflection of that which is being served to expand within the magician. This happens naturally and effortlessly. If it is forced, devotion fails, becoming an act of ego-service as opposed to an edifying spiritual act.

Devotional practice is not about slavish obeisance to a power or powers beyond one's self, but is instead about alignment, the alignment of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The power of alignment, of aligning the self with the Divine, the self with the Self, naturally brings about a state of harmony and balance. As dissonance becomes resonance one experiences greater psychological wholeness, spiritual elevation and the healing of psychic complexes buried deep within the subconscious mind. Harmony and balance, the alchemy that takes place as the microcosm is consciously aligned to the Macrocosm creates emotional, psychological and spiritual health.

Acts of spiritual devotion are, via the attitude of consciously choosing to give of one's self, one's energy and one's intention, magickal in nature. Acts of spiritual devotion are also, via the kenotic nature of true devotional practice, acts of mysticism. The magick, through intent, action and conscious choice, makes room in the practitioner's consciousness for the work of the mystic, via kenosis, which invites (not commands) the effects of the unforced, natural Grace (the freely offered gift of the gods). In time, the Grace bestowed by proper alignment allows the self to realize the Self, the mortal to immanentize the Divine.

Thus are magick and mysticism made one in love.

Empowered Offerings Technique

Many of us do daily or maybe weekly offerings to our god(s), ancestors or spirits of place. I recommend daily offerings if possible because the act of making offerings deepens one's relationship with the god or spirit in question via the energy of reciprocity. You can only get if you are willing to give. This is the principle of sacrifice.

When one gives offerings, it is common to have objects on our altar that have been there for a while. They aren't perishable, so we leave them on the altar as we should, perhaps only removing them when we replace them with another offering. They may feel old, worn, dusty tired or otherwise meaningless at this point. Don't worry, they needn't be.

Your offerings are touchstones or anchor points of communion with your spirits or gods and as such (if they are valuable and/or meaningful) they can be, in a sense, spiritually/magickally resuscitated.

This technique is one I "received" in meditation. I call it the  "Empowered Offerings Technique." This technique is very effective at keeping the channels of communication open and is very powerful as it uses your own life-energy (often called prana, qi, chi or various other names depending upon the tradition of the speaker) as an offering to deepen communion between yourself and your spirits or god(s).

Empowered Offerings Technique

1.) Enter trance in whatever way is familiar to you. Maybe you breathe in a certain manner, maybe you know a process of self-hypnosis. Just do what works for you. 

2.) Rub your hands together vigorously until your palms warm. As you do this, will your life-force energy into your palms. Intend that *YOUR life force fill your hands. You are not, as during a healing process, channeling the energy of the universe, you are filling your hands with your energy.

3.) Place your hands over the offering(s) on your altar and intend and feel, to the best of your ability, the energy flowing from your hands into the offering(s). In your mind's eye or just with your "felt sense," whatever is easiest for you "see" or "sense" the offerings growing more and more brilliant as you slowly "pump" your hands (slight up and down movements) over offerings on your altar. On the downward "pump" really force the energy into the offering(s). 
Do this for a minute, maybe two at most. Don't overdo it because you are using your life-force energy and you don't want to weaken yourself. 

4.) Know that the offering(s) are empowered.

5.) Keep your hands over your offering, but now, turn your hands over so that your palms are facing upward. Cup your palms over your offering. Now, in your mind's eye "see" or "feel" the energy of the offering radiating upward toward the back of your cupped hands and flowing into them and through them...flowing out of your palms.

6.) Now, as the energy is rising, you imagine it billowing, as a great cloud, out of your upturned palms as smoke (the color can be white or gold or the color that is, for you, representative of life...such as green or red). Allow this smoke, glowing with both the energy of your offering as well as your life force, through the power of your magickal will, to fill all time and and space.

7.) At this point, as the smoke is filling all time and space, say a prayer of offering such as:
"May the smoke of this offering rise to the thrones of the gods, may it descend into their shadowed kingdoms beneath the earth. May the smoke of this offering travel the winding current of time and the vastness of cosmic space becoming that which is most pleasing to the gods. May this offering please the gods and draw their favor, bringing me in stronger alignment with their highest purposes for me."
(Something like this. Of course you can substitute "spirits" for gods and the name of your tutelary deity(ies) for the term "gods.")

8.) Sit with the energy all around you for as long as you wish. If you like you may pray or meditate in this, what is now, sacred space due to your efforts. At this point you may feel a certain power to any devotional work you may do.

9.) End the rite with whatever word or phrase is comfortable to you such as, "So Mote It Be", "Amma Iset", "Io Evohe Hekate", "Amen", "So it is done", etc.

You may do this rite every few days if you wish. If you are fit, healthy, strong and/or practice energy arts like qigong, you may do the rite every day. However, as a couple of my friends who have used this rite have discovered, using your own energy daily can be draining.

Feel what's right for you and go with your intuition.

I have found that when I have a close relationship with a god, this rite is powerfully energizing. 

My awareness and experience tells me that when this type of offering is made to a deity with whom have a close relationship, there is an automatic energetic exchange. It just seems to happen that way. You may find, as I have, that if you are willing to offer up a great deal of your energy that this rite may be a substitute for a blood offering. Try it and see for yourself.

Only do this rite, in any capacity, with gods or spirits you trust. You do not want to create a deep connection to just any being that you are not entirely familiar with.


(*Note that the Empowered Offering Technique rite can be altered via intent to use universal life energy or environmental chi as opposed to your own life energy in the manner of healers who act as a "hollow bone" for healing energy. In this case, simply draw life energy of the universe into you and empower your offering using this energy as opposed to your own.)