Introduction to the Two Powers Meditation

Guided meditations often have as specific intent: to show you something, to allow your mind to open to deeper thought around a topic or imagery, or to introduce you to someone, to name a few.

The Two Powers Meditation is a grounding and centering exercise that also guides the participants through basic energy attunement. The “guide” talks the participants through a series of images and energy movement practices in order to root them in the here and now as well as connecting them to the greater cosmos—all while maintaining a firm grasp on the self at the center.

Begin, seeker, with the breath…Centering
The beginning portion of the meditation guides the participants to feel themselves in their bodies, to mark their “you are here” point sin the cosmos and find the place within them that is the “center” of their beings.  It may be in a person’s abdomen where their center of gravity lies, it may be at their root chakra, it may be a quiet place in their mind that they have built over time as a point to regain composure. It is up to the individual to determine “where” their center is located. Taking a moment to simply breathe will slow down the thoughts in the mind and prepare the participants to begin the visualization.

Grounding: Connecting to the Earth Power
This first script of guided imagery leads the participants through a transformative process in which they become some sort of tree or similarly rooted, leafy being. Without beginning with “imagine you are a tree,” participants may elect to follow the imagery their mind selects for them based on personal experience and imagination. Some will see themselves as a tree naturally, some will become their favorite type of plant, and some will even remain humanoid while “growing roots“ from the portions of their bodies that are touching the ground (feet for those standing, feet and perhaps legs/rear for those seated). All of these are correct.

As the roots are sent downward, the participants are instructed to find water. This ethereal water beneath us is a metaphor for the power that lies within the earth, and by tapping this power to draw the energy upward, they allow their bodies to drain away the things that would distract us from the rite or working at hand. As the participants inhale and draw the water up, they may feel a cooling sensation in their “roots” that then translates psychosomatically to their feet and legs.  As the waters are drawn into the body, the physical manifestations may or may not accompany their journey, though many feel the waters as a “sense of heaviness” often ending in a tingling on their forehead in the third eye locale.

Drawing Down the Sky Power
The second half of the meditation is similar to the ground portion where the seekers went downward to find a pool of power, only in the opposite direction.  The guide has the participants, rooted to their seat, send their inner sight heavenward to connect with a “star” or “light” above them. Some guide may have the participants each choose their own star, while others may guide them to draw directly from the sun. Similar to the variations in growing roots, the type of upper-realm light energy is not an important distinction. It is of interest to note that the image of starlight chosen by the guide will be universal among the participants rather than chosen internally, making this a fundamental piece of creating the group mind necessary for working the rite.

As the participants reach outward from themselves, their grounding via roots into the earth will keep them from moving away into trance or falling out of sync with the other participants. Once the sky power is tapped, same as with the earth power, the rays of light are focused by the participants in their mind’s eye (using their imagination) to a single beam that shines down directly onto their heads. As this power touches the water drawn up in the first half of the meditation, the participants may feel the “water” changing, sometimes as a swirling sensation, sometimes as a warming of the “cool” waters. Others may find themselves looking at themselves from a third-party vantage and watch as steam arises from their flesh (however it may be appearing at that moment) as the heat from the sky power touches the water.  The psychosomatic sensations often travel down the participants’ bodies, sometimes faster than the guide describes, until they are spilling from their collective roots and into the waters of the earth.

Standing at the Center and Group Connection
The guide allows the participants to rest in this place where they are filled with both the earth powers cycling downward and the sky powers cycling upward, with each of them at the center of their own microcosm. After this connection is stabilized and the energy movements are fully controlled, the guide reminds the participants that though they are one at the center, they stand in a wider center, each one a single pillar in a “grove,” thus moving the entire group to the center of the cosmos in that moment.

Being at the center connected to one another is an important part of preparing those assembled to enter into the rite with a sense of purpose, relieved of the turmoil or mental distractions that were with them when they arrived, and primed for moving energy multiple times throughout the course of the service.

Solidarity Moving Forward: Ending the Meditation
The Two Powers ends with a releasing of the water and light energy and a rescinding of the roots to allow the participants to move about more freely and continue with the rite. This is habitually followed by either a group prayer or a song to maintain the headspace created by the meditation as the folk and ritual participants take their places and begin speaking and making offerings.

Liturgy: Placement in the Rite 
There are several arguments made regarding where the Two Powers fits into an ADF Core Order of Ritual. Some prefer this to be done prior to the processional to prepare the folk before any part of the rite begins. Others wait until the Earth Mother and Sky Father/Inspiration are called prior to tapping into the powers.  There is merit to both of these methods, though the recommendation is to look at the purpose and structure of the rite as well as the makeup of the congregation before making this decision.

Important questions to ask include:
• Are there children present? What ages?
• Are there a lot of other people around (public space, etc.)?
• Are there a lot of other noises (busy roads, etc.)?
• Are there other guided meditations present in the script, such as a gatekeeper meditation?
• How long is the rite and for how long are you allowed to use the space?

There are several other forms of grounding and centering that folks have used, and as long as the imagery and purpose are clear and relevant to the rite that follows, these options will provide the same types of results. Variations to the script include the addition of hearth-specific imagery, place-specific terminology, Earth Mother and Sky Father imagery, and thematic seasonal elements. Common alternatives include the Blood, Breath, and Bone meditation, Tree Meditation, among others.

Waters of Purification and Talisman Creation

A Talisman and Waters of Purification Blessing for a New Mother-to-be

[Mother-to-be] brings forth a string of beads (similar to a rosary) and a vessel for waters to place in her birthing tub.

As your womb swells to full fertile beauty,
We are blessed with spring all around us.
The flowers have been blooming, just as you have bloomed.
The trees have flowered, just as you have flowered.
The land sighs in relief as the snows of winter finally pass us by,
Just as you prepare to sigh in relief for the new blessing brought forth from your body—as a seed emerges from its casing to reach for the sun.
We bless this talisman, brought together by those who love and support you,
That it may be a source of strength and blessing throughout your ordeal.

Assembled folk, join your voice with mine to send our energy and love into this talisman that Brittany may draw on our love and support when she needs us,
no matter how far we may be from her.
In this talisman, we store for you our love.
In this talisman, we store for you our support.
In this talisman, we store for you our fellowship.
As this resides with you, so, too, do we reside with you.
With this beside you, you are never alone.

[Toning]

To seal these blessings within, we place this talisman in the Well,
Where the waters flow up from the bosom on the Earth Mother.
By the combined energies of those here,
By the power of the Mothers who have gone before,
By the power of Earth Mother herself,
Be sealed and holy,
Jewels of Birthing.
So say we all.

[Dip Water from the Well]

May these Waters,
Drawn up from deep within the Earth,
Bless your birthing waters,
Bringing you strength and easing your pain,
Guiding this new life into the world
In health, harmony, and joy.
So say we all.

Nine-Fold Mother's Blessing

A Blessing for a new Mother-to-be

[Mother-to-be], join us here at the hearth to receive the blessings of the Kindreds and the Folk.
For each part of the blessing, the [Mother-to-be] is censed in a full circle

May the Shining Ones bless you with love
That your heart may be opened to prepare you for the new love in your life

May the Ancestors bless you with clarity of mind
That your head may be sharp with wit for decision-making

May the Nature Spirits bless you with strength
That your body may be strong for the work required of you

By Fire, be blessed with inspiration
That your voice be made clear to prepare you for speaking your truth

By Holy Well, be blessed with purification
That your hands be made clean for the life you will cradle

By Sacred Tree, be blessed with attention
That your ears be made open to prepare you to hear and understand

The Land beneath you bless you with stability
That your foundation be not shaken

The Sea around you bless you with peace
That anxiety be kept at bay.

The Sky above you bless you with sunshine
That happiness spring forth from this birth experience

Nine circles made about you.
Nine blessings infused in your spirit.
May you be infused with the blessings that will support you in the journey ahead.
From the center of your being, growing outwards from your womb
Many blessings abound as you engage with the voice of your mothering.
Brittany, let these blessings strengthen you through your labor,
Let these blessings fill you with the joy of new life,
Let these blessings expand to your child and brighten both your lives.

By the Deities above,
By the Ancestors below,
By the Noble Kin by your side,
By the Fire,
By the Well,
By the Sacred Tree,
By the Land,
By the Sea,
By the Sky,
These blessings are sealed within you to use when you need them.

So say we all.

Pagan Consent Culture Reflection 4: Reclaiming Touch and Final Thoughts

In the excerpt, Phyllis K. Davis (1999) discusses the healing potential of physical touch. I have read several articles on the power of touch to bring healing and well-being, particularly emotional, to patients in the hospital. Working in a children's facility, I was exposed to the power of touch through the programs put in place to have volunteers come in and spend time holding the babies. Research shows that babies who are held grow and thrive far more than those who are not. We started to see greatly improved health outcomes for our little ones when we added physical contact with other humans outside of typical treatment protocols in a more holistic approach to healing.

The suggested activities seem useful to someone who is attempting to reclaim touch. As a person without touch trauma, I can see why one would need to practice things like asking for a hug in a group or exchanging back massages. These are the types of things one sees often at pagan gatherings--but what if these things spontaneously arise and trigger a victim of previous abuse? This is why ALL touch needs consent. When we decide we need physical contact, we must remember that our need is only one-half of the equation. True consent requires both parties to have the chance to make an informed choice and respond with enthusiasm or decline with grace without fear of retribution or violation.

As I move on from this work, I look toward fleshing out the final project into a full course designed to teach others what healthy small group dynamics look like, power differentials and how to handle them, and conflict resolution--all framed in an atmosphere of consent. Some of these lessons were easy, and some were difficult to learn, because societal mores tell us that social hierarchy dictates how much say we have (or, rather, do not have) over our own bodies, lives, and choices. Personal sovereignty is not a game. It is not something we should have lost, but it is something we need to work to reclaim. This work won't be easy, but I am in it for the duration. I hope you will join me.

Davis, P.K. (1999). The power of touch. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. pp. 192-209

Pagan Consent Culture Reflection 3: In the Midst of Avalon and ADF

I chose to read, “In the Midst of Avalon, Casualties of the Sexual Revolution,” by Katessa S. Harkey, because I had only recently heard about the Marion Zimmer Bradley (MZB) story of abuse a mere few weeks before the Isaac Bonewits accusations surfaced. Though this may be painful, I wanted to know more. The author writes from a historical perspective, citing many sources and leaving biases and conclusions out of the narrative, for which I am grateful. There are several points she raises that intersect with my current state of mind:

First, Katessa S. Harkey (2008) points out the difficulty in digesting accusations against a prominent individual posthumously (p. 204), because in most cases, there is "insufficient evidence to determine whether the posthumous claims are justified" (p. 205). This, from the commentary I have read, is where most of us lie in terms of Bonewits. Much like MZB, context from other areas of his life have added much fuel to the fire. Individuals have come forward revealing conversations they had with Bonewits directly expressing his views on Greek Love and “intergenerational relationships,” as MZB and Walter Breen called it--a practice that gives modern neopagans pause. This is definitely where many of us have stalled in our processing of the information.

Secondly, she discusses the apparent necessity many folks feel for separating an artist from the works, if this is possible. Do we now throw away all the work Bonewits has done to build this church to which we belong? Do we rebrand? Do we set the whole thing on fire and go our separate ways? These are the typical reactions readers had to MZB's works. It seems ADF members are experiencing a "psycho-spiritual tainting by association," and we are not entirely sure how to handle this (Harkey, 2008, p. 207).

Third, in Harkey's example of the underlying current of MZB's worldview as seen in Mists of Avalon, I am reminded of the underlying content in Bonewits', The Pagan Man, in which Bonewits himself muses on the mistakes he had made in his past regarding sexuality. Knowing a bit more about his personal life outside of ADF definitely informs the interpretation of his words in this title.
Finally, I completely agree with Harkey's (2008) conclusion that "we need to tell our history truthfully so that the mistakes of the past need not be repeated" (p. 212). It is in the spirit of transparency that we will heal from this. He must look at our flaws and the flaws of those who have gone before us, for these, too, hold lessons that will help us to evolve. If we deny or hide the ugly parts of our past, much like the accusations against MZB and Bonewits, they will return to haunt us and discredit us without us having the ability to engage in conversation, to right wrongs where possible, and to move forward with healing and dignity and a plan to keep these types of things from happening again. After all, that's why we're all here right now.

Harkey, K.S. (2008). In the Midst of Avalon, Casualties of the Sexual Revolution. Pagan Consent Culture. Hubbardston, MA: Asphodel Press. pp. 194-212.

Pagan Consent Culture Reflection 2: Consent, Consensus, and Compassion

In her article on Matriarchy and Consent Culture, Yeshe Rabbit discusses the imbalances of power common to patriarchal systems that concentrate power in top of their hierarchy. Traditional models are a pyramid: the largest group being the producers of power at the bottom, followed by the consumers of power in the middle, and topped by the Arbiters of Power (Rabbit, 2008, p.  33). In this model, the producers hold the majority of the power, but a culture of fear cultivated over decades or even generations keeps them from exercising this power. 

In a system like ADF with a consolidation of power in the top tier of the organization, there is little room for the voices of the folk with less power. Even when given opportunity to speak, they are often held back by their own fears of rejection and lack of hope in being heard, leading to silence as the form of consent for status quo. This is common when an organization belongs to a society with a similar structure. As Rabbit (2008) points out, “when pagans enter into spiritual relationships under a patriarchal system of power-over, in the effort to find the power we have been craving in the mundane world, we are susceptible to creating power schemes that replicate the imbalanced power dynamics to which we are accustomed” (p. 36).

The author goes on to describe what she refers to as the “Matriarchal “ model, which is essentially the same as the consensus decision-making model common to nonprofit organizations. In consensus-based groups, everyone’s voice is equally as important, and decisions are not final until buy-in is achieved from all parties involved. This is a helpful tool for maintaining healthy small group dynamics such as those found in a coven or local grove.

One of my classmates remarked that teaching compassion should be a first step: "if we learn to be compassionate, we will learn to be understanding to not only those that we will interact with, but also to ourselves.” Consensus shares its root word with consent, from the Latin, con, together, and sentire, to feel. It literally means, “to feel together.” Compassion, on the other hand, derives from the Latin, com, together, and pati, to suffer, and means, “to suffer together.” At first glance, it may seem these are synonyms, but I offer this: we must strive to maintain relationships through consent, through feeling together. It is only through consent that we will avoid the circumstances that cause the need for us to suffer together. Consent lessens the amount of suffering inherent in our relationships, and as a religion built on right relationship, this makes consent a far greater and more powerful virtue than compassion.  

Rabbit, Y. (2008). Matriarchy & consent culture in a feminist pagan community. Pagan Consent Culture.  Hubbardston, MA: Asphodel Press. pp. 31-42.

Home and Hearth: A Reflection at Imbolc

When thinking about what the concepts of Home and Hearth mean to me, my thoughts went to the notion of chosen family. As we age, we move away from the mandated family we were given at birth to a more collective, chosen family of individuals to whom we freely give and receive love in the many ways that fulfill our lives.

In ADF, our Indo-European paganism is divided into factions based on our chosen “hearth” culture. This has led to a lot of confusion and feelings of isolation for folks, including me, because much like our chosen family, we, as pagans, get to choose with whom we build relationship as allies among the Kindreds.

If you look around the Prairie Home, you will see shrines to Brighid, Freyja, Hekate, Thor, Persephone, and Sky Father…not to mention the amazing depiction of the Earth Mother above the community shrine. This is what our Hearth Practice looks like.

We each have our chosen allies with whom we walk through the world in reciprocal relationship for the benefit of us all whether they be human, Deity, Ancestor, or Not-God. We have a say in who gets to join us at our Hearth and for how long they will walk with us on this journey through life.

As many of you know, Rev. Sara and I are in the middle of a class at Cherry Hill Seminary entitled, Pagan Consent Culture. The very first article in the book for the course by the same name is a piece by John Beckett on the notion of Personal Sovereignty. In his article, “Culture of Consent, Culture of Sovereignty,” Beckett (2008) discusses our individual “right to rule” ourselves AND the “obligation to rule rightly” (p. 2).

Though I am not typically a fan of Beckett’s work, there is merit in this statement:

We have a right to rule ourselves and the obligation to rule rightly.

We have a right to rule ourselves. Our personal sovereignty gives us the right to make decisions on our own behalf. We get to choose who comes into our homes, we get to decide what we want for dinner, we get to choose what we are going to wear.

We also get to choose whom we date, to whom we lend money, and to whom we offer hospitality. We even get to choose whether or not we will hug someone, regardless of how many times we’ve hugged them before.

We are each the bosses of ourselves which shows the importance of consent. Our society has us in the habit of making decisions for others without their input or permission. Consent is the only way we can truly respect the personal sovereignty of those around us.

Now, we also have an obligation to rule ourselves rightly. What does this mean? It certainly doesn’t mean we will be perfect. I will be the first to admit that I have made mistakes—a LOT of them, but each one holds a lesson that helps me to keep from making that same mistake again, each time, treating myself with self-compassion.

Self-compassion, suffering with the self (Latin com-together, pati-to suffer), builds a practice of learning how to give compassion to others, suffering with others. From there, I can truly build a practice of consent (Latin con-together, sentire-to feel), of learning how to feel with others before suffering takes place.

Seeking consent leads to healthy relationship dynamics. This practice is what will aid me in maintaining my personal sovereignty without diminishing the sovereignty of others.

Being in right relationship with those around us includes being in right relationship with ourselves. Right relationship with ourselves is the “Home” part of the Home and Hearth.

Home is where the heart is, inside of each of us, and at our center burns the living flame around which we build our hearth of chosen family and allies.

In short, Personal Sovereignty is being in right relationship with ourselves that we may build right relationship with those with whom we choose to share our journey. This, for me, is the essence of Home and Hearth.