Meditation Obscuration
My relationship with meditation is a difficult one, fraught with all of the mental flailing and general stubbornness that I can muster.
I remember my first time trying to explore meditation. I was in my younger teen years, and I figured I would try to meditate on an amethyst that I had. I stared at this chunk of violet crystal as I sat on the bathroom floor, trying to focus. I expected this to be an earth shattering moment of clarity and power that I had only dreamed about. About five minutes later, I was still sitting there, staring at a rock, and not experiencing the explosion of energy I was expecting. In seven minutes, I stormed out in frustration.
Even now, my patience can fail me, but I am at least a little farther along my meditative path. Knowing its place and importance helps. That’s what I want to talk about today: meditation’s place in magic, and even a method of meditation that you may have not heard of before.
Meditation has a larger place in history than one might suppose. When mentioned, meditation can bring to mind the image of a Yogi sitting in lotus position, fingers locked in Mudra, and chanting a continuous Om. While that can be what meditation is for some, it’s actually much bigger. It’s found in many different traditions. Standing meditation is common in Qui Gong and Kung Fu. Seated meditation can be found in Druid and Christian traditions. There are even traditions that encourage meditation and movement!
There can be a lot of reasons to take up a meditation practice, but the main selling points to me are focus (especially in ritual) and relaxation. For anyone who has tried working in ceremony, you may have noticed that it’s easy to lose focus. It can be for me, anyways. Trying to call elements can be difficult if part of your mind is busy figuring out bills that need to be paid. Relaxation comes in (along with focus) when I am doing Reiki. I am trying to focus, relax, and let the energy flow, but I find that I easily get in my own way. Meditation can help that.
My normal meditation practice is usually married to my rattling or drumming practice. In my shamanic work, I am supposed to be rattling or drumming every day to get my brain into a Theta state. There, I practice acquiring information, and interacting with the spirit realm. While I rattle, I follow the sound, listening to it. Thoughts of the daily grind pop up and try to interfere, sometimes successfully. Other times, I can get into the zone I’m aiming for, and get a little work done. There is another tradition, though, that I have tried and would like to introduce you to.
The tradition of meditation that I want to talk about today is one that I’m trying to rework into my practice. I learned about it from John Michael Greer’s “The Druidry Handbook,” and it is an intriguing tool. It’s called Discursive Meditation, and it is the favorite method of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, an order to which I belong. This practice is not quite like the Eastern traditions where you try to find a place of “non-thinking,” but a practice of observing and directing your thought in a focused way.
Discursive meditation starts in a seated position with your feet on the floor. The Neo-Druids who created this style of meditation believe that crossing your legs in lotus position can cut you off from Earth energies, and is less conducive to the Nature orientated work that they stride for. Breathing and relaxation techniques are employed for the first five minutes or so to get your body relaxed and your mind ready to work. Then, you begin to think upon the theme of the day’s meditation.
The theme is ideally picked the night before meditation, and briefly touched on right before you go to sleep. This gives your subconscious a chance to sort of chew on it in your dreams, ready to tackle it during your meditation session the next day. It is suggested that the theme be no larger than a sentence or phrase. This is a great opportunity to pick something that you might be working on, should you be following a magical path. Perhaps it can be a symbol you are working with, or an herb, or stone.
After breathing and relaxing, internally repeat your theme three times. Now, you think about it. This might not be as easy as it sounds. I know at least for me it isn’t. My monkey mind starts chattering. I find my meditation on Rowan has somehow devolved to the dishes that need washing, or how much I disagree with the Game of Thrones theory that Bran is the Night King. The practice at that point is to gently stop and try to back track your way to the original theme. How did I get to Bran in Game of Thrones? Well, I was thinking about the godswood trees that he is fond of. Those tree leaves remind me of a red version of oak leaves. Oaks were sacred to Druids. Druids probably used Rowan, as it seems to be well rooted in Celtic traditions. And here we are, back at Rowan. Eventually, this should train the mind to recognize when it’s beginning to go off track.
The reason I like this method is its use in unpacking and dissecting knowledge. It brings magic work to an intellectual level, while helping focus and energy flow. I plan on using it to explore Oghams (the Celtic magical tree alphabet that I’ve previously mentioned) more, and try to adapt them to local trees, versus their traditional trees, some of which don’t grow here in northern Vermont. It should also help me in my focus with rattling, as well as my Reiki work.
Should you want to learn more about Discursive Meditation, you can check out the articles on the Ancient Order of Druids in America’s website here, or order “The Druidry Handbook” here.
Now, I head up to continue my work on my new workspace. We’ve been coming up with silly names for the second floor room that is now my herb lab, creative space, and general wizardry room, but, if you can think of something properly ridiculous, please let me know.
Until next week,
The Green Mountain Mage