Bardic Two Powers Meditation

The first working that the Order of Bardic Alchemy has created is a blending of many of the symbols we hold dear to us from our various Indo-European hearth cultures with one of our most consistent and effective magical traditions within ADF: the working of the Two Powers. This piece is designed to tie the members together through a common magical act that is rich in Bardic symbology and not specific to any particular hearth and is included in the outline as part of the Order Devotional.

Breathe deeply, Children of Earth, and allow your body to relax as you exhale.

Focus on your breath, blowing out concern and care for the world around you, breathing in the fresh and magical air from the Other worlds as it begins to swirl around you, lifting you into liminal space.

Find yourself standing at the base of the White Cypress tree, whispers of nymphs and dryads heard on the leaves as the winds gently dance among them. As you fall away into the sights and sounds around you, feel your feet begin to sink into the Earth.

As the moist, cool soil covers your feet, send your roots down, down, down, deeper through the earth, past the roots of other plants, rocks and clay until you feel the waters flowing beneath the Earth caressing your tendrils. At their tingly touch, feel the waters begin to ascend, filling you with the Waters that are all waters, the waters from deep within the Well of Wisdom that carry the potential for all things in the chaotic pools below the worlds.

Breathe in, and as you exhale, feel these waters ascend into your feet, filling your legs and settling into Cauldron of Warming in your belly where your health and well-being lie. Feel these waters mingling their healing powers with your life blood, carrying away unneeded and unwanted matter found there.

When this Cauldron is full, breathe in once more, and as you exhale, feel the waters ascend further into the Cauldron of Motion in your heart. As this Cauldron fills, see the tools of poetic inspiration that are stored there begin to float and churn as the weight of the Waters turns the Cauldron upright, filling your heart with the joy of the Waters of Imbas.

When this Cauldron is full, breathe in, and as you exhale, feel the waters ascend, filling your throat with the Soma that carries you away and into the realm of the Divine, filling your head with the joy of human life and divine connection, touching the lips of the Cauldron of Wisdom and pressing up and up until the Cauldron tips and begins to fill with the Mead of Inspiration, drowning your sorrows and opening you to the highest of spiritual and artistic expressions.

Breathe in, and as you exhale, see this Cauldron in your head overflow, sending the Waters of the Underworld cascading down your entire body, bathing you in the powers and the tools of the Chaos of Potential. Feel the waters flow in you, through you and around you. Become one with the Powers as they well up from below and fall gracefully back to the Earth all around you.

Thusly filled with the Underworld Power, send your mind’s eye to the Heavens, beyond the trees, through the sky and into the realm of the stars. Among them, a single star begins to shine brighter and brighter, drawing your full attention to its beauty and power.
Breathe in, and as you exhale, draw down from this star a beam of light, the essence of the Power that lies in its Fire. Watch as this beam of light travels toward you, passing through and collecting the power of the Stars in its path to settle on your head as though Awen has rained down upon you, sending a pulse of power throughout your body as the waters begin to change.

Breathe in, and as you exhale, feel the power of these Fires stirring and transforming the potentials of the waters as they enter the Cauldron of Wisdom in your head, shaping them into song and art, phrases of beauty and wisdom and elegance, changing these waters into the third, magical, combined power, the Triessence, the power of the Waters and the Fires combined to make a third power, more potent than the initial powers as they unite and expand one another as waves colliding and merging in the sea to form larger and larger waves of combined magnitude.

Breath in, and as you exhale, feel the Fires move down into your breath, sending shimmering light all around you. Feel them move into your throat and settle into the Waters in the Cauldron of Motion in your heart. Feel them mingle and transform the Waters in your Heart until the Cauldron overflows with this Triessence and falls down into the Cauldron of Warming in your belly. Feel this power overflow from the Cauldron, slide down your legs and disappear into the deep, dark waters below you.

Breathe in, and as you exhale, feel the combined powers within you moving your mind and your heart, connecting you to the powers below and above and filling you with the Creative Power, the Triessence, The Potential Energy that will charge and move everything it touches.

Hold your hands before you as though to cradle a cup. Breathe in, and exhale into your hands, feeling the powers from below and above you as they are drawn into your throat, carrying the bounty of your knowledge, wisdom and poetic power and fill your hands with a sphere of concentrated Triessent Power.

Focus your intent to Create, to Write, to Perform, to be Inspired into this sphere, and when you are ready, press this sphere into your heart, open your eyes and be prepared to use this power in the work that lies ahead.