Chapter 14 Finding Love Many of us turn to various forms of spirituality, when in fact our true needs might be best met by a dating site or social club. We are a social species and, in our crowded lives and crowded cities, human interaction has become stifled by stress and fear. Those moving to rural areas may find themselves even more isolated due to lack of opportunity, or not having the necessary skills and confidence to break through the barriers of natural reserve and become active members of their new community. Unless we are aware of our own true needs, we may become the willing victims of various cults…

Chapter 12 The Journey Building a Relationship with Our Inner Selves Much of the rest of this book will be about meditations to help us gain a more balanced stance towards the most common causes of stress in our lives. However, the foremost intention of meditation has always been to develop a relationship with our inner, or higher, selves. Carl Jung called it the Sacred Marriage, – the life-long attempt to gain full rapport between our Ego and our unconscious minds. One may see this as a spiritual journey, or as a psychological journey, -it matters little to the endeavor of finding our own pathway through life. Many who take…

Chapter 11 Finding Joy Only the most unfortunate among us will not have at least one memory of feeling safe and protected. The very fact that we have survived to this stage in our lives and we are reading this, assures us that we were kept warm, and fed at those times in our lives when we were at our most vulnerable. All of us can fall into the pit of despair, where we feel unloved and unwanted. Use this meditation as a reminder that we have known love and protection and that it is still around us. We carry it in, sometimes forgotten, memories. They may be buried deep…

Chapter 8 The Shamanistic Path I add this section for those who are interested in the spiritualistic or shamanistic aspect of meditation. This is simply an introduction to the world of the shaman. For those who wish to delve further, I would advise finding a reliable teacher to help them. In the last twenty years, there has been a widening of interest in the healing and spiritual practices of our ancestors and many have found a pathway back to a more earth-centred method of teaching and healing. As always, trust your own instincts. Find out as much as you can before becoming too closely involved with any particular individual. We…

Chapter 7 Meditating With A Spirit Drum One of the easiest and most effective ways to meditate is by using a ‘spirit’ drum. Having been a part of many workshops and drumming circles, I can personally attest to the simplicity and effectiveness of using ‘spirit’ drums for healing and journeying. If you have a few interested friends and somewhere to go to practice, – you will find that it is an amazing and uplifting experience. Should you wish to form a circle, you will find that spirit drums vary greatly in price. A lot of people use ‘bodhrans’ instead, as they are cheaper and can be bought from most music…

Chapter 6 The Third Eye Meditation The ‘third eye’ is positioned behind the forehead just above the bridge of the nose and connects to both halves of the brain. Believed by Rene Descartes to be the seat of the soul, it is widely written about in eastern and in ‘new age’ philosophies. It has strong links with sleep, hibernation, libido and ageing. It is believed by many to be a doorway for astral travel to the inner and spiritual worlds. An interesting fact to consider is that blue light and modern electric lights reduce the effectiveness of the pineal gland and interfere with sleep patterns. Red light, – such as…

Chapter 4 Western Meditation Techniques There are thousands of books on eastern meditation, but I wish to concentrate on the western traditions as they are less well documented and require much less time to master. These traditions have been hidden for hundreds of years until the early nineteenth century. Some were the sole province of the religious orders and others were carried on in secret, by various groups and individuals. Although the reasoning behind the various systems may seem flawed to the modern mind, I can assure the reader that these exercises work. My own belief is that these were discovered by trial and error and whichever techniques worked were…

  Kiara, The Final Episode   Kiara allowed herself to be placed roughly into the chair. The field around her made her feel disoriented at first, but she curled her mind into a small hard sphere inside her head. She had foiled the goblin’s machine before and she felt quite confident that she could again. When she sensed Moira approaching in the form of a spider, Kiara quickly protected her from the machine. They communicated briefly, then Kiara sent her back up to the relative safety of the web above them,. She allowed a small amount of her energy to be drained, until she could find a way to protect…

Kiara, Episode 14   The moment that Kiara touched the daisy, Moira became aware of her. She watched as she changed the daisy symbol she had given to her and hung it on her ear. The long corridor seemed dark and much too quiet. Moira could sense the servants huddled in the kitchen. She felt their uncertainty and drifted into the kitchen. Although they were unaware of her, they seemed to brighten a little under the influence of her presence. Cook was sitting at the big old wooden table in the centre of the room. The servants were all sitting around the table. Jed, the gardener, sat at her right,…

The Search for Meaning… After a lifetime of searching for answers and eight years of active involvement in the pagan community, I still ask myself, – “Why Paganism?” What is is about these diverse, colourful and eccentric people that has inspired me and helped me to live the life which I once saw only as a subject for analysis. In fact, was it Paganism?, or was it just the incredible psychic talents of my wife, Tina, which finally reawakened my own talents and launched me forward on my spiritual path? I suspect that the actual causes of my spiritual rebirth may be difficult to unravel. Strangely, it was just before…