Tree Meditation

Okay, here is a simple meditation that anyone can do.  It's going to take a bit of practice, so don't worry if you can't focus your first time.  It's like learning something new, be calm and easy on yourself.

To start with you can light some incense and play some calming music, though neither are necessary  what ever makes you comfortable.  Also make sure to do this in soft lighting, such as a lamp, or even better, a candle.  Be sitting up or laying down, and start to clear your mind.  Focus on your breathing.  Breath in for 7, hold for 4, breath out for 7.

Continue this until ready to move on, imagine yourself sitting beneath a tree, by a river, in the sunlight.  Feel the nature around you, the sun on your toes, the babbling water, the grass beneath you.  Feel yourself sink into the tree and become one with it.  Let the sunlight move from your leaves, turning to energy, and channel its way though you.  Let it work down your trunk into your roots, and out to the soil.

When you are ready come back, breathing in 7, holding for 4, and breathing out for 7.  This is an excellent exercise for grounding your magical energy that you raise during spells and rituals.  Meditating should be done regularly, around the same time.  It helps connect you to Nature, and thus divinity.  As I said earlier, don't be discouraged if you can't do it the first few tries, it just takes practice.

Magical Prayer

Just a prayer to recite before meditating.

From beneath me arises the energy of the Earth, my home and my foundation.
From above me pours down the light of the sun and the enchanting moon.
To my right hand flows the strength to control and direct, the power of magic.
To my left hand comes the skills to divine and to heal, the source of blessing.
Before me arises the perfected one I strive to become, my magical true self.
Behind me falls the one I was, and with it my discarded failures.
Around me circle the eternal stars, lamps of wisdom in the depths of space.
Around me grows the flame of life, the light of experience and understanding.

A Little Bit About Me and About the Blog

So, I suppose the first thing to do is to explain what this blog is all about.  It's about me and my journey to finding my own magic.  I will be studying The Craft during this year long adventure, and I have decided to use this to both share my experiences  and hopefully help others along the way, as well as the create my own sort of Book of Mirrors.  I plan to share everything I learn, as it was a long and difficult process to obtain the knowledge myself, and I hope to help other seekers of this enlightenment by making it more accessible.

And now I feel I should explain who I am.  I am a human on the precipice of something I yearn for, something I sense will bring me utter fulfillment.  It's been a couple of years since I started dabbling in The Craft, and everything about it rings true to me.  I was raised in a Southern Baptist community, and  as such, had never explored The Divine.  And then, completely on accident, I stumbled across Scott Cunningham.  This man set in motion the beginning of a quest for knowledge that has driven me for quite a while now.
I recommend reading his books, as they lay a fantastic foundation on what The Craft is and what it represents.  He is far more eloquent than me but, I will try my best to explain it all.

The Craft, or Wicca, as many call it, is a nature religion.  It is a celebration of the cycles of the Earth Mother, and a practice of all the magic we humans posses.  We are all gods and Goddesses ourselves, as we are born from The Divine.  It is beautiful and powerful, and it rings true in me in ways Nothing else ever has.  It is something I feel anyone who wants it has the right to posses, and so, in this blog, I will try to grant anyone who seeks it, the Majesty that is The Craft.