Wicca Meditation?

Everybody's talking about the importance of meditation these days. But what's it all about, really?

And does it have a place in Wicca?

Actually, it has a lot to offer your Wicca practice, particularly for ritual and magick.

So What's The Big Deal Anyway?

It's about developing the powers of the mind. When you meditate, you develop both mental strength and mental flexibility. This makes you able to access more refined spiritual levels.

This is a necessity for spiritual evolution and enlightenment.

Why? Because your mind is part of the container for the Divine. (Along with your body, heart, and soul.) Developing your mind prepares you to be a Sacred Chalice for the energy of the Source.

Meditation is a spiritual Power Tool. It is the direct line from a human mind to the Infinite Source.

Benefits of Meditation

There are plenty of significant benefits of meditation . . .

• Stress relief

• Blood pressure reduction

• Better sleep

• Increased energy

• Better health

• Elevated and stabilized mood

• Greater concentration

• Improved memory

• Clarity of thought

• Enhanced problem-solving

• Expanded creativity . . . just to name a few.

But these are not the real purpose of meditating. They're just happy side effects.

To understand the real value, you need to know what is happening when you meditate.

Let's start with a definition or three.

Meditation Definition

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary has this definition:

Swami Sivananda of the Divine Life Society defines it as

Swami Chidananda, in Guidelines To Illumination, writes that it is

J. Krishnamurti, in The Ending of Time , says that

So essentially, it is the spiritual practice of mental concentration upon (or openness to) the Divine, by which you can go beyond the small self that you normally think of as "you" . . .

• Daily concerns,

• Thoughts,

• Memories,

• Beliefs, habits, patterns,

• Hopes & fears,

• Even identity.

Why would you want to do this?

Because it's the best way we have to consciously connect with our real Self, and the Divine.

Meditating Witches

Probably all Witches meditate, more or less. To some degree, we use these skills when we use a grounding technique, do creative visualization, take a trance journey, focus on a spell, and create ritual.

For now, though, let's consider pure meditation — the emptying of self in the experience of the Divine.

How It Benefits You As A Witch

Many Witches have a meditation practice as well as Wiccan practices. Meditation is an excellent way to develop skills used in Wicca, particularly for Magick.

This practice enhances a Witch's ability to . . .

• Shifting consciousness at will,

• Entering the realm of the Divine,

• Connecting with deeper reality,

• Letting go of expectation of results,

• Allowing life to flow naturally,

• Focused concentration upon an intention,

• Increased awareness of subtle levels of existence.

These benefits naturally make meditating very alluring to Witches who seek to deepen their spiritual practice.

Wicca Meditation

But does Wicca have meditation as a spiritual practice?

There has been no direct lineage of meditating in Wicca, not in the way we usually use the word. The closest it seems to come is in rituals of Drawing Down the Moon, Invoking the God/dess, and tonal chanting. And of course the many visualizations and trance journeys have a lot of similarities to this practice.

Does this mean that Wicca has no interest in meditation? That depends.

In the traditional — that is, Gardnerian-descended — Wicca religion, no.

Traditional Wicca is very clear about what is and what isn't a Wiccan practice. And any comparable spiritual practices of the mind, if they ever existed among the pre-Christian nature worshippers, have been lost in the mists of time.

My belief is that meditating is common to every spiritual path, although not every religion. (This is one of the differences between religion and spirituality.) Not to mention the seemingly natural human propensity to enter meditative states, even while doing repetitive tasks.

So I feel certain that ancient Witches must have had some form of meditative practice.

But regardless of such speculation, in Wicca Spirituality, meditation absolutely has a place.

Wicca as a spiritual practice holds personal and spiritual evolution as the essential objective. And there is no more precisely designed practice for the evolution of spirituality than meditating.

There are others ways to access the Divine Within, but none of the others have the same depth or efficiency. If you want to reach your full spiritual potential, meditating is the golden road.

And it has a lot to offer your Wicca practice.

Which Meditation For Witches?

Okay, you may have realized by now that this is something worth exploring. But where do you go from here? There are so many varieties to choose from.

Many of them verge on visualization, and vice versa. Some are looser and some more disciplined. Some are easier for beginners and some are extremely advanced.

And to top it off, what's easy for one person may be seemingly impossible for another.

So how do you know which one to go with?

The topic of the next article is just that . . . tips on choosing the right practice for you.

With Brightest Blessings,

erin Dragonsong

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