A meditation and a practice on grounding and centring.
Magic, like all things, is only performed ably when the practitioner is as fully within themselves as possible. Without being fully present with ourselves, within our own intersection of reality, we cannot hope to effectively move out from that place to enact change in the wider universe.
Simple, but difficult. Basic, but fundamental.
Easy to do, but just as easy to fuck up, too.
Ground.
Centre.
These are instructions given a lot, often without any in depth discussion of how to do these things. Of course, the meaning of the instruction is present in the simple directive itself. The Earth. Your balance. The dance between these two things. But, with more depth and thought into this first, beginning act of magic, all that follows will be performed more easily, powerfully and harmoniously.
Ground. Centre. This is the beginning of magic.
What are you doing when you ground and centre? in short, you're pulling yourself back into alignment with your Self. Day to day life, worries, pressures, to-do lists and obligations all pull at our essential selves. It's part mindfulness, part micro ritual, part muscle memory. Pulling yourself back to your Self, in the here and now, brings all your attention and energy into focus of the present moment.
re-establishing your being as present in the Here and Now gives you a solid jumping off point, a sturdy foundation, for your coming magical practice. The tree that doesn't have deep roots, is easily felled by storm and circumstance.
Stand, or sit. no, really. do it.
The Earth and it's dark enduring embrace is the beginning of this, as the inner darkness of our Mother is the beginning of our lives. Be aware of the solid earthy-ness of your own body. How gravity is working on you. Stand, and be aware of where your feet touch the ground beneath them. How the many bones flex in concert to support and balance your sacred body in this place, this time. Stand with your weight evenly distributed. Be centred over your feet, the midline of your body. The point of preparedness before action, is a point of balance and readiness.
Let your roots grow from those aware, connected feet. Down, into the nourishing darkness below. The earth holds us up, sustains our bodies, feeds our energy. Move downwards with your roots- twisting and twining into the depths below you. Held deep within this place, is the boundless energy of the Goddess, the sacred Earth. Stretch your roots towards this energy. It fills and and is made of the soil, of every being that has ever lived, died and given it's life force back into the earth; become verdant soil and loam and in turn, nourished small mosses and towering forests. All that we have ever known that has lived, thrived and died has become, in it's time, the Earth. Dust to dust is not just pretty words. We are all still here.
Once you have put down your roots, you can grow. Sap can rise, called from the deep where it rests in the roots and waits to flow and nourish. Feel the flow of blood within you- blink, and feel the glide of your eyes, swallow and feel the secret moisture of mouth and throat. the element of Water rules our hearts, our emotional responses, our plunging subconscious selves. Feel your heart beat within your chest; with every pump, the rushing of blood fills the branches and spreading twigs of your arteries- the same patterns as rushing rivers, the tiny tracings of veins on leaves. You are the water, the water is you. We are made of water. Descendants of the ocean, wishers for rain, lovers of the moon. Children of the tides.
You need to feel your heart, to be able to do magic. If you do not care about what you are doing, stop. If you cannot put your heart into it, do not do it. Your heartbeat is the drum that your magic dances to.
Breathe.
With every breath out, continue to push your awareness and your energy down, down through your roots. with each breath in, pull that connection back up and into yourself; into your chest, into your lungs and your heart and your centre. Nest that energy within your solar plexus; a branch on the trunk of your spine that sways in time to the beat of all things.
Breathe.
Now, reach your mind towards the sky, the stars, the brightness above us. From the centre of the Earth, all directions point towards the firmament; straight arrows into the infinity above our heads. Let the branches of your desire reach upwards- as far upwards, as you have rooted below. Rustle and twine towards the Sun, the reaching warmth that calls life from the Earth. With every breath out, grow ever upwards towards that endless, expansive, ever-moving light- as we are born, called into the wider, brighter, enormous world.
Breathe.
with every breath out, expand upwards into bright bliss, and with each breath in, draw down and allow that luminous energy to spark down each reaching branch, down into the core of you, illuminating your heart and solar plexus where your balance has stored all of the energy of Earth and Water, moments before.
Breathe.
Be here, in this central place within yourself. Hold yourself in abeyance, between Earth and Sky, between rest and action. Within you, here and now, is the centre of the universe. You, are the axis that all things turn on. World Tree, Yggdrasil of the Self, with your feet in the depths of Wisdom and your head in the light of Knowledge. Sustained by your sacred connections to Earth and Water, Air and Fire, supported by the Goddess and energized by the God.
Breathe.
From here, you are one axis; as above, so below. Extend your arms and your awareness from this single mindful point; allow your actions in these coming ritual actions to reverberate into past and future. Stand in the crossroads of time and space; where all things are possible. You are the sum of all your past actions- your future, is crafted by the Here and Now. Stand firm in the centre of this crossroad.
Now, you are ready to begin.
