Here are texts of some meditations for peace. I hope you find them useful.
March 31, 2018: What Matters
We have another Blue Moon, which falls during a time when both Mercury and Jupiter are retrograde. I’m struggling with these retrogrades, and adding full moon energy to it is tough.
Mercury Retrograde is when travel, communications, and electronics go wonky. Jupiter is the planet of expansion, so a Jupiter retrograde can warn of contraction or obstacles to material expansion.
Put them together, and it’s not fun.
Plus, this is the second full moon within the calendar month. A powerful moon. We had two blue moons within the first three months of 2018.
Got a headache yet?
So we use this full moon to breathe.
Instead of a guided meditation, we take the time to sit under this full moon, bathing in the light of this full moon, and breathe. We ask ourselves what matters to us. Not just on a tactile, material level, but on a deep soul level.
I hesitate to use the word “moral” because it’s mis-used by faux religious practitioners to rationalize their actions to cause harm and oppression to anyone they denote as “other.”
But it’s a good time to TAKE time and decide what is important to you on the deepest levels, and then figure out how to live in a way that supports it.
Take twenty minutes, thirty minutes, an hour. You might not find all of the answers, but you’ll learn something about what’s important to you.
January 1, 2018: Your Personal Song
Meditation:
You stand at the familiar high stone wall of the previous meditations, with its arched wooden doorway. You open it and walk through it, closing the door behind you.
You expect to find the now-familiar secret garden. Instead, you are in a vast field. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, there is snow cover stretching as far as you can see; if you are in the Southern Hemisphere, flowers and tall grass.
The full moon above you looks enormous. It feels close to the earth.
You feel small. A spec in the vast landscape.
You stand, motionless. And wait.
You hear a song rise, with the wind. It’s not a gale force wind, but more powerful than a breeze. It doesn’t chill you.
It sings to you.
The song was created for you. It is personal.
Listen carefully to the melody, the harmony, any minor chords.
Listen to the words.
Pay attention.
You have questions and fears and doubts. The Song of the Universe, on this moonlit night, was created to help you find the answers and create your new path.
You find yourself singing along with the wind, lifting your voice in joy and hope.
Raise your arms, laugh and dance.
You slow down, the wind quiets, the song ends. But it lives in your heart.
Ground, sending excess energy through hands and feet into the earth.
Thank the moon, thank the stars, thank the wind for the gift of song.
Go back through the door to your meditation space, filled with new resolve and purpose, understanding the actions you will take to shape the life you want.
Our next full moon is on January 31. Two moons in the same calendar month!
Blessings and peace to you.
Full Moon Meditation for December 4, 2017: What Do I Do With the Anger?
There’s so much anger at so many different factions right now. It’s especially noticeable because we are in both a Mercury and a Uranus Retrograde, and because the season of joy is upon us, and it’s often hard to feel joyful.
So this month’s meditation focuses on dealing with that anger. Suppressing it will make us ill; lashing out has negative repercussions as well.
Settle yourself in your meditation space, and do your preferred relation method to get yourself ready for the journey. As I stated last month, there are plenty of techniques; instead of repeating them, I encourage you to experiment and see which ones work for you.
Now, then, the Meditation, which builds onto what we did last month:
Before you is a high stone wall, high enough that you can’t see over it. Within the wall is an arched wooden door. Open the door and walk through it.
You are in a secret garden. Right now, it is December. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the garden is at rest. There is a light frost over everything. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, the garden is just beginning to awaken, with buds and leaves and fresh scents; small shoots are coming up through the soil.
You know you will have many opportunities to return to this garden and explore it fully. For now, you follow the path with the slight curve ahead of you. You pass a carved stone fountain. The water isn’t flowing today; it is in a frozen cascade. And that statue definitely winked!
Follow the path around the fountain and forward. The garden narrows, more trees crowd you. You walk through a small wooded area, and it opens up to a meadow.
A stream flows through the meadow, with a curved wooden bridge over it. As you cross the bridge, you drop any troubles and stresses you carry with you into the water, and they flow away.
On the far side of the bridge, you find a group of standing stones. They feel heavy, but not as cold as you’d expect.
Enter the standing stones.
There is a sense of centuries of history here, lives and emotions layered over time. Joy, fear, sorrow, love. The standing stones have seen it all.
A dark-cloaked figure waits near one of the stones. Tall, androgynous. Some will experience it as male; some as female. “You wanted to see me?” It asks.
“What do I do with the anger?” You say. “I’m so angry. It’s poisoning everything else in my life.”
“Anger is a catalyst,” says your companion. “Anger can save your life. You need to learn how to use it so it doesn’t cause harm to others, so it protects you and those you love, so it energizes you in a way to make things better without violence.”
“I’ve tried, but it feels so overwhelming.”
“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” The figure offers you a gloved hand. You accept it. A sense of safety and steadiness washes over you.
“Open your heart and listen to ways anger can be used as a positive, non-violent energy in your life,” says the figure. “Learn how to channel it into positive action.”
You stand, hand-in-hand, and open yourself to the possibilities. You feel grounded and steady, almost as if you were one of the standing stones.
You take in as much information as you can. You know you will have to think about it in the coming weeks and months, but there are some good ideas where you can use the anger for positive change without harming others.
You turn to thank your companion, but all you see is another standing stone, and this time, your hand rests against it.
Leave an offering at the stones. Walk back across the bridge, through the meadow, and through the garden. Feel free to stop at one of the benches near the fountain if you wish, before resuming your journey back.
Exit through the arched doorway in the stone wall and return to your place of meditation.
Write about what you learned, and refer to it as you make decisions and take actions in the coming weeks.
January 2018 will be a wonderful time for full moon meditations. We have one to start the year, on New Year’s Day, and another on January 31.
Blessings for this season of light, in spite of the retrogrades, in spite of the problems. May we find ways towards peace, joy, and love to each other and with each other, and work toward a better, kinder world for all.
Meditation for a Full Moon — November 2017
For years, I’ve talked about posting Meditations for Gaia/Meditations for Peace here, a year’s worth that people can work on together, or solitary, but in tandem with others.
I thought, why not start now?
Imbolc always made sense as a starting point to me, with these meditations starting at the full moon closest to Imbolc, but somehow, February always got away from me.
So we start with this full moon — Nov. 4, 2017.
We are living in dark times. Between war mongering, increased hate and violence toward those a particular faction deems “different”, and the denial of climate change, Gaia is in dire straits.
Sometimes it seems hopeless and overwhelming to even know where to start.
But one has to start somewhere.
We are not going to go through the basics of relaxation and meditation. There are hundreds of websites and books and courses that can take you through it. Together, we start from the point where you know how to settle yourself comfortably and enter the meditative trance state.
Feel free to read this meditation into a tape recorder and play it back, so you don’t have to read it.
Full Moon Meditation 2017 — Meet Gaia’s Envoy
Before you is a high stone wall, high enough that you can’t see over it. Within the wall is an arched wooden door. Open the door and walk through it.
You are in a secret garden. Right now, it is November. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the garden is at rest. The beds have been cleared and are back to bare earth. The shrubs are bare and quiet; leaves drop from the trees as you walk through the paths If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, the garden is just beginning to awaken, with buds and leaves and fresh scents; small shoots are coming up through the soil.
You know you will have many opportunities to return to this garden and explore it fully. For now, you follow the path with the slight curve ahead of you. You pass a carved stone fountain, which still flows with water. Is it possible that one of the statues winks at you as you pass?
Follow the path around the fountain and forward. The garden narrows, more trees crowd you. You walk through a small wooded area, and it opens up to a meadow.
A stream flows through the meadow, with a curved wooden bridge over it. As you cross the bridge, you drop any troubles and stresses you carry with you into the water, and they flow away.
On the far side of the bridge, you finish crossing the meadow. You enter another grove of trees. The path is soft with moss and fallen pine needles. They are old, tall, trees. As you listen, you can hear them whisper to you. They contain sacred woods — oak, holly, blackthorn, ash, hazel, aspen, cherry, more.
You see a small stone bench under an oak tree, set back from a lake. Reeds grow on the edge of the lake. You sit on the bench and wait, listening to the birds, inhaling the scents of leaves and moss and water.
You hear rustling and the reeds part to reveal a figure. It may be male, female, or androgynous. It may be an animal. It may be an elemental. It will take the shape it needs to take in order to communicate effectively with you.
“Hello,” you say.
“Hello,” it responds. “Are you waiting for me?”
“I am waiting for Gaia’s envoy.”
The figure smiles. “Then I am in the right place.”
“I feel overwhelmed,” you admit. “I don’t know what to do. It feels like any action I take is too small, too insignificant.”
“Every action matters,” the figure replies. “Watch.”
The figure picks up a stone and tosses it into the water. The stone sends ripples out. “Every action you take creates ripples across the web of connection. Do something positive, no matter how small, and it has an effect.”
“Where do I start?” You ask. “I want to do something useful to help heal the planet. To stop the path of destruction we’re on. I want to do something positive that harms none, but helps heal.”
Listen carefully for the message. The envoy will tell you a small action, or a series of small actions you can take in the coming months. The message will be different for each individual, but it will be active.
“Thank you,” you say when you’ve received the information. Remember, the information will be about healing, not harm. If you feel you are getting information that encourages you to cause harm, simply say, “That is not my path” and ask for a different, positive action.
“Until next time,” says the envoy, and melts back into the forest.
You leave a small token of thanks at the base of the tree and start walking back through the forest. In an instant, you are back at the bridge. Walk back over the bridge and through the garden.
When you are ready, return through the door, closing it firmly behind you. Count your way back up until you are back in your body.
Take a minute to follow your breath. Ground. Then leave another token of thanks somewhere in your physical space — either at a personal altar, inside or outside, or in a place that reminds you of the sacred space you visited.
Make sure you ground before re-entering your daily life. This is vitally important.
For the next month, act on the information in a way that causes healing, not harm. If there are days when you can’t act, at least meditate on the information, and make plans to act as soon as you can.
See you at the Garden Gate next month!
Older Meditations will be posted on an additional page.