Meditation practice

Rituals, spells, prayer, meditation and magical acts.
FrequencyDX
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Meditation practice

Post by FrequencyDX »

I thought it'd be interesting to start a topic about daily meditation practice. I'm interested to hear how others approach the practice of meditation, what "type" of meditation you mostly practice, etc, etc?

I first encountered meditation within the Buddhist tradition, specifically the Japanese Soto Zen school. I still attend a Buddhist meditation group occasionally, but mainly my practice of meditation is a daily practice at home. The style of meditation I use is awareness of the breath, a basic mindfulness practice. I'm still heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism, and esoteric Buddhism in general.

Discuss?
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Jiva
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by Jiva »

The first and probably most important and influential book I brought regarding meditation was Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. It basically contains the simplest information regarding breath meditation and completely clearing one's mind of thoughts. This is my most common form of meditation, but I have no regime: sometimes I meditate daily, other times I don't meditate for weeks. Julius Evola's The Yoga of Power is another book that contains information regarding breath meditation that I found particularly useful. A habit of mine is to take too long to exhale and therefore run short of air which ultimately results in the complete opposite of the desired effect: quick heavy breathing and a pounding heartbeat. Evola's advice has helped me to remedy this somewhat.

I don't aggressively attempt to remove thoughts from my mind. If something appears I let it fade out until it becomes inaudible; I gradually ease myself into meditation and usually just think of anything for the first couple of minutes until I'm physically comfortable. I try to make sure I'm alone in the house or in a completely secluded area as being jolted out of meditation is like being suddenly awoken for me. In this respect I'm curious as to how group meditation goes for you?

There's also a more 'active' form of meditation I practice, one that I based on some Kabbalistic meditations but that I altered as I find numbers difficult as symbols. Simply, I picture something as clearly as possible in all its physical beauty, then imagine it completely removed from any kind of existence, then attempt a reconciliation between the two. The basic idea is to consider everything a barrier and a gateway.

I don't think I've ever read more than 3 or 4 books that specifically mentioned meditation and none devoted solely to the subject. This might seem hopelessly naïve, but I prefer to have a more intuitive methodology when it comes to practice.
'Oh Krishna, restless and overpowering, this mind is overwhelmingly strong; I think we might as easily gain control over the wind as over this.'
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wayfareangel
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by wayfareangel »

Personally, I enjoy using prayer beads in meditation. It takes a little bit to memorize the prayers I want to use, generally one per bead with sets being divided by a larger bead where I use a mantra, but I enjoy having something physical in my hands that I can shift and feel. It adds to the experience for me, and helps me cut down on nervous hand movements.
Time for one more daring dream.
Fomalhaut
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by Fomalhaut »

We have several types of meditations in Star of Azazel. I will try to explain them in a nutshell below:

1. Meditation of Unity

In the meditation of unity, brother objects his attention to the observed or meditated information structure: how the apparently separated objects – people, natural phenomena, spirits, atoms – meet each other in the common foundation and are acting in one divine essence, where every pulse repeats and influences far in time and place.

2. Meditation of Depth

In the meditation of depth it is focused to see behind the world to the clean, black basic space. That space cannot generally be seen in this step as a space for brightness, but instead as a gaping depth pointing to every direction as emptiness, which is however spiritual fullness.

3. Meditation of Eternal Fire

In the meditation of eternal fire we concentrate to understand the explosive, continuous present and the continuous becoming of the whole existence’s sparkling basic dynamics. Nothing stays the same for even a moment, but the whole entity is continuously burning: like the fire our eyes physically see is the association of matter to oxygen and its vitality’s visible release to the space of more fine matter, as every tiny piece of existence wears itself through its nuclear fire right now.

4. Meditation of All-Pervading light

Light, shining without a material source to be worn out, is the eternal whiteness of the spirit, and that whiteness is the meaning of everything that exists. It is the basic matter of creation; first substance that itself is information, inescapable movement and dynamicity.
In this meditation it must be understood, that the world of the golden light is always present, more real than any apparent concreteness. This is not a metaphor. When the comprehension becomes completely clear, the body does not limit the soul.
"I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."
— C.G. Jung
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Silvaeon
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by Silvaeon »

I go in cycles of having a meditation practice, taking a long break, and then coming back to it over the years.

So far my experience has been a basic mindfulness practice, 10 minutes when waking up and 10 minutes before going to bed, focusing on the breath, trying to empty my thoughts but at the same time letting them be exactly as they are, acknowledging thoughts and emotions and letting them be in the present but always coming back to the breath. This is something I've been meaning to get back into lately.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying sounds very good, I'll have to check it out.
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Heith
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by Heith »

ShieldAnvil wrote:I go in cycles of having a meditation practice, taking a long break, and then coming back to it over the years.
I've found this to be a quite naturally occurring thing for me as well, on many things although on a faster pace. I had a conversation of a different practise with Frater Omoksha a while back, and even if the topic was different, the metaphor is fitting;

A flower that opens and closes, and then opens again.

So there is a rhythm to it, like day and night, even if it is not perhaps seen as a constant flow. It's true that one should strive for continuity in one's practise, and undoubtedly there is great development in the spiritual self if one does prayer work on a daily basis (/meditation). My own temperament is such that I do find it necessary to find that moment of focus and work on a regular basis, but for me making art is a form of meditation, or the results and thoughts are similar, even if my body is moving.
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Nefastos
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by Nefastos »

Perhaps a recent finding of mine could help some fellow occultist in meditation:

Since I recently had problems with solar plexus chakra (from too long lasting stress & its after effects) I finally started some physical meditation practices with Manipura, although I do not often use physical pranayama or other traditional physical yogic practices. Those didn't seem to work, and only after I received an inner instruction to use Anahata – the heart center – meditation even in the case to help solar plexus, I found relief. That was a positive surprise.

Although that ability to control the other gateways besides itself must be at least partially true also in regard to other centers, Anahata is the one where that "control over other bodies" is a de facto characteristic, as said in Sat-Cakra-Nirupana (& the six surrounding principles can be seen in the hieroglyphical hexagram presentation of Anahata). It is the point for the âtma-buddhi-manas' union, ability to bring about unity, and thus extremely important for the brotherhood's working. (I was also using the meditation of the heart cave of Anahata at the point when the first idea for the brotherhood presented itself in Polyharmonia.)
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Sothoth
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by Sothoth »

Sounds quite natural, because Anahata is the center. There are three chakras below and three above it. So let's meditate the sacred black heart!
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Polyhymnia
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by Polyhymnia »

Fomalhaut wrote: Tue Feb 18, 2014 11:16 am We have several types of meditations in Star of Azazel. I will try to explain them in a nutshell below:

1. Meditation of Unity

In the meditation of unity, brother objects his attention to the observed or meditated information structure: how the apparently separated objects – people, natural phenomena, spirits, atoms – meet each other in the common foundation and are acting in one divine essence, where every pulse repeats and influences far in time and place.

2. Meditation of Depth

In the meditation of depth it is focused to see behind the world to the clean, black basic space. That space cannot generally be seen in this step as a space for brightness, but instead as a gaping depth pointing to every direction as emptiness, which is however spiritual fullness.

3. Meditation of Eternal Fire

In the meditation of eternal fire we concentrate to understand the explosive, continuous present and the continuous becoming of the whole existence’s sparkling basic dynamics. Nothing stays the same for even a moment, but the whole entity is continuously burning: like the fire our eyes physically see is the association of matter to oxygen and its vitality’s visible release to the space of more fine matter, as every tiny piece of existence wears itself through its nuclear fire right now.

4. Meditation of All-Pervading light

Light, shining without a material source to be worn out, is the eternal whiteness of the spirit, and that whiteness is the meaning of everything that exists. It is the basic matter of creation; first substance that itself is information, inescapable movement and dynamicity.
In this meditation it must be understood, that the world of the golden light is always present, more real than any apparent concreteness. This is not a metaphor. When the comprehension becomes completely clear, the body does not limit the soul.
Can I find more in depth information about these meditations in SoA literature or is this something that will become more available to me after (hopefully) being accepted as a member?

I practice a form of mantra meditation very similar to the Transcendental Meditation method. A close friend of mine paid for TM training, but I was never really convinced enough to shell out that kind of money. The method of our meditation is very similar though, and I feel sometimes it's the only thing that can get me through a stressful day. I have the same mantra, and have found that after two years of consistent, daily practice I'm able to transcend into my true meditative state much quicker than when I started. I don't push thoughts away, but I don't encourage them either. They come and they go, but I'm constantly returning to my mantra. I focus on my mantra for about 15 minutes and then I put it away and just ruminate on what transpired during my meditation.

I read a book last year called Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World written by Matthieu Ricard, a French writer/Buddhist monk. In the book he talks about the power of meditating on compassion and love, and I sometimes change up my usual mantra meditation and utilize some of Ricard's techniques which have roots in Zen Buddhism.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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Smaragd
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Re: Meditation practice

Post by Smaragd »

Polyhymnia wrote: Fri Feb 22, 2019 6:09 pm Can I find more in depth information about these meditations in SoA literature or is this something that will become more available to me after (hopefully) being accepted as a member?
These can be found from The Book of Paths, which I believe is under translation from Finnish to English. Maybe frater Nefastos, Fatuus or soror Heith have some more or less vague idea of the publishing schedule. These meditations are a bit more towards the contemplative side, so the instructions doesn't differ much at all, although there is a bit more text to chew on.

I remember checking the bewildering TM course prices when I was just starting to get familiar with the world of occult doctrines, societies and practices. Happy to have gone a bit different path, but reminded of the organization I'm curious of the technique. David Lynch instructing students on the promotion videos was a symphatetic scenario.
"Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets”, Numbers 11:29 as echoed by William Blake
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