Deborah Lipp

Often these meditations are guided imagery. I take you on a visual journey. Sometimes, I give you affirmation-type meditation, where you reinforce a goal or concept in a meditative state. Sometimes, a meditation creates a feeling-state, a transformation of consciousness.

Another kind of meditation is meditating on a thought, with the goal of attaining insight or understanding. I cannot call this “insight meditation” because that is a very specific thing, but the idea is to create meditative insight rather than just “thinking it over.”

A homework assignment I often give my students involves meditating on an element. But to do this in meditation is not the same as “thinking it over.” You’re not wracking your brain on “What is Air?” and searching for the right answer. Instead, you allow the concept and question to move through your meditative state. Like this:

Ground and center.

Imagine Air. Air is around you. Notice what it is like. Just observe it, and notice qualities as they appear to you. Notice any thoughts you have about Air. Follow these thoughts down whatever windy path they take, bringing yourself back only when you’ve left the topic of Air behind.

That’s really it. Observation, reflection, following stray trains of thought while using a focused state to bring that train back when it takes a sider too far. Often, I start such a meditation by stating my question aloud (like “What is Air?”). There’s no “thinking about” in the sense of working your brain, it’s just bringing the possibility of insight into your consciousness.

I like to use this technique when doing ritual chores, like when cleaning up after ritual or polishing my pentagram. It keeps the mundane chores sacred and often opens my mind to new observations.

You can use this kind of reflection on any problem. Remember: Don’t worry over the problem, simply observe it and see what you learn.

Having been raised Jewish, I had no familiarity with a rosary until I began to study Hinduism, where it is called a mala or a japa mala. In Buddhism, they are known as juzu or nenju. A mala generally has 108 beads, an auspicious number in Hinduism and Buddhism. The use of a mala or rosary is quite effective for meditation.

For each bead, you say a mantra, prayer, or a thought upon which to meditate. The rosary allows you to rid yourself of notions of time. You are not meditating to a clock-time, or to a count, you allow the rosary to set the time for you. When you reach the head bead or fringe, you are finished.

Holding your rosary in your dominant hand, grasp the first bead between your thumb and middle finger. Take a deep breath, let it out, and say your mantra. Use your forefinger to move to the next bead, and repeat the process.

I have lately been experimenting with using specifically Wiccan phrases instead of Sanskrit mantras. Certainly you can use Om or Om Shanti Shanti Shanti. But try one of these (from The Charge):

My Law is Love Unto All Beings.

All acts of Love and Pleasure are My Rituals.

I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.

Ground and center.

You are going to take a walk through the woods. If you like, you can begin from one of the paths that you found behind your Meditation Cottage a few weeks ago.

As you walk on this lovely green path through the woods, you notice a delightful array of sounds. A breeze moves the leaves in a whisper. Birds sing. Cicadas hum. You can feel the sun through the trees, touching your skin and dappling the path. You walk a long way.

The further you walk, the more that sunlight penetrates through the trees. The path becomes a bit brighter. You notice that you no longer hear sounds. You seem to have come to a place where there are no birds or insects to accompany you. You continue through the bright, silent woods.

You come to a field, and it is full of sunlight. You walk into the field and are dazzled by the brightness and the warmth. The sun is strong on your skin; pleasant but intense. As you walk through the field the sun becomes brighter and brighter, almost blinding. At last you see only a white light, but you continue to walk.

You walk through light. After a while your vision begins to clear. You are in a formal garden, still brightly lit, but utterly different from the natural field you left behind. The garden is beautiful; fragrant with cultivated flowers and herbs, and you see lovely benches here and there. There seems to be music coming from all around you. In the distance is a large gate, but you have no interest in it and do not approach it.

There is someone waiting to meet you in the garden. Who is it? Spend the rest of your meditation in the garden with this person. Stay as long as you like.

When you are ready, leave the garden and enter the field of light. Cross through the blinding sunlight until you again see a field, and then a path into the woods. Walk through the woods, which become greener and then populated with birds and insects, until you reach your entry point. When you are ready, open your eyes.

After this meditation, drink cold water and eat some bread to help you ground.

The other day I dropped the coffee pot. It didn’t break.

But as it hit the floor (with an anti-climactic thud) I heard the glass shatter and felt the shards flying.

With all the work I do with meditation and imagery, it is fascinating to me that, when startled, the mind can do it all by itself without help. That what I’m working to create with various mind exercises is something I actually do naturally when I’m not trying.

Lovingkindness is a specific form of Buddhist meditation. I am not a Buddhist, nor an expert on Buddhism. My understanding of this form of meditation may be flawed. However, whether accurate or inaccurate to true Buddhist lovingkindness meditation, I find this a valuable and profound exercise, and I practice it, if not regularly, with frequent irregularity.

This is an advanced exercise. If you are not good at grounding and centering yet, you should not be doing things like breathing in negativity.

Ground and center.

Visualize your center as a gently glowing orb filled with love. Your center is love and love suffuses you. Note the color of this loving glow. Note its temperature and texture.

Visualize your glowing, loving center expanding. It fills your body and reaches beyond you. Each time you exhale, your loving center moves outward, larger and yet just as strong, just as loving, just as kind.

Exhale and send love outward, filling the space around you.

Inhale deeply, and exhale until your loving glow fills your home, touching all who live there (human, animal, and plant) with love. As you inhale, you take in the negativity that prevents your household from feeling love. Take that negativity and allow it to dissipate as it comes near your glowing center. It cannot touch you, you are protected by your loving glow.

Inhale and bring the negativity into you, where it fades to nothing. Exhale and send love. Inhale, and heal the negativity in your household, exhale, and replace it with love.

As you breathe, in and out, in and out, the loving glow expands and expands. Now it encompasses your neighborhood. Inhale the negativity and allow it to dissipate without touching you. Exhale love and fill your neighborhood with love. Inhale the petty arguments, the gossip, the coldness and fear, allow them to dissipate; they are gone. Exhale love. Shower your neighborhood with love and compassion.

Continue to breathe in and out, in and out, and see how your glow can expand. Can you reach beyond your neighborhood, to your community? Can you exhale love to your state? Your nation? The world?

You may find with practice that your glow expands more easily. Because this is a meditation about expansion and giving, it is important to always encompass at least your home and neighborhood, but the first time you try, you may or may not be able to reach beyond that. Soon, though, you’ll find that you can, and indeed, the more loving you send out, the easier it is.

Meditation Room #1
Meditation Room #2
Meditation Room #3

Let’s return to your meditation room. Every time you return there, you reinforce its power and usefulness as a place of meditation, peace, and knowledge.

Ground and center.

Return to your outdoor place, and take a moment to enjoy the serenity and beauty you find there. Notice that you feel renewed just being there.

Step up to the cottage door. As usual, the key is in your pocket. Take a moment to look around and assure yourself that this is your beautiful and safe place.

Today we’ll spend time outdoors, so go back outside and look at the exterior of your cottage. You have been approaching the cottage from the front, but now, walk around the left side to the back. It’s really beautiful here. Take a moment to examine what it’s like. Is it wild and unkempt? Manicured and gracious? Is it sunny? Shaded? Spend time learning the nature of this outdoor place that is a part of your meditation cottage.

Notice that there is a perfect place for you to sit. It may be a lawn chair, or a stone, or a soft spot on the ground. It is exactly what you wish it to be, and when you walk up to it and sit down, you are exquisitely comfortable.

As you look around from this seat, breathing in the comfort and beauty of the place, notice that you see one or more paths leaving your back yard and going off into the distance. Whenever you want to, you can explore those paths, and know that you can always return to the safety of your cottage.

Sometimes, when doing guided meditations, you are instructed to start at a path. You can always choose one of these paths, and it will always take you where you set out to go.

Spend as much time as you like in your back yard, noticing plants, listening to bird song, inhaling the scent of wild or cultivated herbs or flowers. When you are ready, walk around the other side of the house, back to the front, and then return on your usual route home.

Sometimes life brings us to a crossroads. We have multiple opportunities. Something changes. We can go back and or forward or off to some strange side path. Because our culture is dualist, we tend to view our choices as either/or: Forward or backward, single or married, old job or new job. But really, there are many times when it is wiser, more empowering, freer and more fun to view a crossroads going in many directions: Old job, new job, or go back to school. Single, married, dating without commitment, dating several people, group marriage, or sacred prostitution. Life gives us many opportunities, and it serves us to visualize paths that are open and, perhaps, unexplored.

Ground and center.

Imagine yourself out of doors. Feel the gentle breeze, the warmth of the sun on your skin, and enjoy the sound of birds in the trees and the rustling of leaves.

Notice that you are walking on a path. Observe your feet moving beneath you, carrying you forward, step-by-step. Feel the strength in your body that moves you freely and resolutely along this path. It may be that there are obstacles, but you step over or around them easily.

As you continue along your path, you find yourself at a crossroads. There are several different ways to go. None looks immediately better than the others, but you feel calm and peaceful. You stand in the center of the crossroads, feeling a pleasant anticipation. Soon you will know which way to go. For now, you stand and look around, turning so that you can see down each path in turn.

Now recall the glowing ball of your center. Notice that the glow is reaching outward, that your body is visibly glowing from the center. It is a lovely, warm feeling and you tingle with it.

Allow the light from your center to expand as it will, and notice that it reaches more towards one or two paths than towards others. Gently allow the light to move further down its chosen path or paths, illuminating them.

Turn around again, looking at each path, those in shadow, and those illuminated by your own glow. Notice now if you feel more drawn towards one. Notice which paths you are certain you won’t take.

When you are ready, when the light from your center and your own inner call agree, step upon your chosen path and continue walking. What does it feel like? Are you comfortable? Excited? Peaceful? Anxious? Allow yourself to explore your feelings as you walk, looking around yourself and observing the path you have chosen.

You may repeat this meditation as often as you wish during a period of transition in your life. You might do it daily, and choose different paths on different days. This exploration can help clarify your real-world choices.