Find a quiet place to relax, where you won't be disturbed.  Get in a comfortable position (WARNING - lying down, you may end up falling asleep before completing the meditation!) You might find it helps to light incense.

Breathe deeply and slowly, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Feel the tension leaving your body with every exhale.  Relax your entire body while breathing in this fashion.  It may help to tense up the muscles first then consciously relax them.  Start from the neck and work down through shoulders, arms, stomach, legs, toes, relaxing all parts of your body. Keep breathing deeply and slowly.

You are now ready to meditate....for self-guided meditations, read over the script until you can ad-lib it in your own mind.  Try to SEE it - like a dream.

At the end of your meditation you may just relax all the way to sleep, or slowly bring yourself to awareness by breathing deeply but not so slowly. Remember to leave the things of the meditation behind, letting them go out with an exhale; just as at the beginning you let go of the things of the day (tensions).

Go out in the woods, as far from civilization as possible, and find an old tree that you feel right about. (for some of you, this may be a quiet spot in a city park)  Sit down close to it and make yourself comfortable. Relax, close your eyes and concentrate. Breath slowly, breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. When breathing in, feel how all your blood and life is drawn to your heart, and when slowly breathing out, feel the life and blood spread through out your body.

Stretch out your hand and touch the tree, sit for a while then ask the tree to share of it's wisdom and memory's of ancient times with you. If it allows you, focus your mind on the tree, see it in front of you in your mind. Feel it. Follow it's root's down in the earth, feel how it gets life from earth and lives. Open your mind and enter the tree, become one with the tree, share your emotions and thoughts with it and feel the calmness that a long and still life gives. Feel the tree's thought's and memories and search for time's far away and long since forgotten. Drink water and life from the earth and feel how you get stronger. When you feel ready, bid the tree farewell and thank it for its help. Slowly open your eyes and rise.

Be sure to have much time when doing this practice, as trees has a different apprehension of time than we and you easily could be sitting there for some hours without noticing the time going by.

An alternative to this is:  Get some soil in a large mixing bowl and lie down on your bed (couch, whatever).  Let one hand fall off into the soil. Breathing deeply, slowly, evenly, In through the nose.....and out through the mouth.....feel the connection grow from your fingers to the soil. Feel yourself shrink until the soil is the Earth itself....  Feel the age of the earth, relax and let the strength cradle you. Listen for the whispers from the Earth and the other creatures who make their homes within it.

It is dawn.  I find myself in a forest filled with Aspen trees.  I raise my eyes and look for the sky, but the boughs looming overhead hide it from my view.  As I look up, feel the cool breeze of spring brush my face, and hear the sound of the rustling leaves. Blowing, laughing from the east,   brings thoughts of renewal and life. I follow the wind further into the soft shadows of the forest, inhaling deeply the strong scent of the trees.

I smell, too, the wafting hints of fragrant incense.  I follow where my senses lead me and come to a small clearing circled by burning censers filled with sweet-smelling oils.  Toward the east end of the circle is a staff.  I walk over to the place and swirl around as if carried on the wind itself.  They dance around my head and body, swirling around as if caught in a dance to unheard music.  Then, taking my attention from the spirits of the air, I look up to find further figures emerging from the mist.  First comes a woman with the beauty of the dawn. As she steps forward, each of the four winds, in turn, hasten from around here and fly, one to each of the four corners of the earth.  As she fades, there comes another whose form seems insubstantial, and seems to constitute both the image of a woman and a cow at the same time.  I look closely the attempt to solidify one form, but I cannot.

As this image fades, I am presented with the forms of two women who immediately remind me of the nighttime sky.  One glows with the pale light of the full moon, and her eyes hold the fullness of hidden knowledge.  The other, whom also seems to radiate cool starlight, seems to embody the possibilities of many lifetimes.  In due course, these figures too fade and I am left with only the mist of the elemental world of air.  Suddenly, three male figures issue from the mist.

They seem to be three aspects of one man, but each's attributes differ. The first glows with the light of the moon, seeming to be its protector. The second and third appear almost identical, except that one has a winged helmet and shoes.  As I sit and study the sameness and difference of the
three, they begin to fade, as does the fog. When the mist clears, I find myself sitting within the circle still clutching the staff in my hands.  I place the staff once again on the ground and rise.  I thank the element of air, and all it is associated with for sharing with me its wisdom, and leave the circle.

Charis

Fire is the easiest element to gain contact with, but if you are not careful it might draw you too far.  A candle is more than enough flame to start with, as this will give you more control.

Find a quiet place, indoors or outdoors, where you can be alone. Bring a candle and a match and sit down. Make yourself comfortable and breathe deeply and slowly, in through your nose and out through your mouth.  Let go of the things of the day, the tensions of the day.  Feel your toes/spine rooting in it's home, the Earth.

Light the candle.
Relax and put your arms or hands on your legs. Concentrate and focus all of your will on the flame. Gaze into it and let it fill you, It is all that is. When it draws you to it and wishes to share with you, accept and follow the flame with your mind and soul. You are no more flesh, you are the flame, you are fire.

You are calm and strength. You are determination and a will that will never give in. Feel how you live and expand everywhere. Give  yourself to the fire and let it give itself to you. Feel how you receive the defenders wisdom and knowledge. Let it fill your mind, it's  memories become your own.

If you have any questions, now is the time to ask...

When you feel ready or if you feel that you are loosing yourself, give thanks to the fire and bid it farewell, draw your mind back into your body and blow out the flame. Now close your eyes and open them again, Rise and feel how you are filled with new power and determination.

Find a place by a lake, sea or ocean that you like and sit or lie down so close that you can touch the water with your fingers.  If you feel comfortable with it you can be in a boat or even in the water. The important thing is that it feels right.  Urbanites and those not near
water, use a large mixing bowl filled with water.

Relax and look into the water, touch it with your hands. Breath slowly. Breath in through your nose and feel the smell of the water, let it fill you, relax and let go as you breath out through your mouth. Feel it as it touches your skin and stretch out for it.  Concentrate your mind and follow the water as it moves away from your skin. Ask the water to share with you and if it accepts, let your mind follow it. You are water, feel how you flow and touches earth, sand and beaches everywhere. Hear the
sound you make as you hit stones and earth around you. You are movement
and beginning of all life. Feel it.

Let the water fill up your conciousness and lead you. Let it clean away all pain and sorrow from your mind and soul. When you feel ready, draw your mind away from the water and back into your body, take your hands away from the water and take some deep breaths. Take some water in your hands and move them to your face and hair letting it out over you. Bid the water farewell, and rise.

If you are inside, empty the mixing bowl in the garden.

Find a comfortable place to sit and breathe deeply and evenly, in through the nose and out through the mouth.  Keep breathing until all the things of the day are gone, all the tensions are gone from your body.  Feel your toes root into the earth, or your spine grow down into the Earth, but do not draw up energy.

See:  On the top of your head is a dime sized circle of white light.  As you watch, it begins to spin slowly. Your desire is to touch Spirit. The circle of light expands to the size of a doughnut, spinning faster and faster.  The center pulses outward...

The center bulges as if being pushed from inside your skull, or pulled from Above...

The  center explodes like fireworks, like the turning on of a fountain, into a sparkle of light, flowing from the top of your head.

It feels strange but do not be afraid.

Slowly the particles  of light build up to a tunnel, a funnel, it connects to the sky.  And as you have given off energy, given off your desire for Spirit, now Spirit comes to you, fill you and you suddenly Know.....

A mirror is held before you and you laugh....

The power of the Old Ones is within you, you are the vessel for the intelligence of the Universe...

Now is the time to ask questions, for all is within....

As Spirit departs you recognize that it never leaves fully, that you and It are somehow the same, yet different.

You become aware of the earth beneath your feet, the ground of your roots.  You are safe. You are home.  You are yourself once more.

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